Merlin who was ordered by Arturia arrived at Margrave Mathers territory.

He was walking on the road between the forest while holding his wand. His hood was lowered to hid his face, but his white clothes and hair were standing out.

The road was empty, with not even a carriage passed.

While walking, Merlin was looking around cautiously. Mabeasts were roaming around in the world, he wouldn’t lower his guard like a fool.

The only reason why he chose to walk instead of taking a carriage was simple, so he could enjoy it.

It was not like being with Arturia didn’t enjoyable for him, but he also loves seeing the world with his own eyes, not through his clairvoyance.

“Hmm, there is nothing unusual.” He muttered while touching his chin with his right hand.

No bandits, no Mabeasts.

Without the existence of Bandits on the road, the journey was smooth sailing. It made one wonder, how could there not be a single bandit on the road between the Capital of Lugnica and Margrave Mathers territory.

Either the Knights order was competent, or there was no bandit in the first place because of the Witch Cult’s existence.

Merlin would love the first possibility because that meant Lugnica was strong enough to eradicate the Bandits in their territory.

“However, I felt no presence of people in this area, that’s a bit … strange.”

Mathers was a Margrave. It was strange that there was no big city on his way towards his destination.

In the report of Frederick and Ryan, they also said that there was only a village near Mathers’s mansion, Emilia’s residence.

“I tried to look at the boy using my clairvoyance, but somehow it was blurry. There is a bounded field strong enough to block it, that’s interesting.”

The reason why he visited the Mathers territory was that he couldn’t look at the boy.

His clairvoyance was blocked by someone or a bounded field that surround the boy. He then tried to look into the so-called best Magician in Lugnica, Roswaal L Mathers, but the result was the same.

‘Arturia knew about that, and she asked me to investigate the Mathers territory. Hahaha, I’m glad that she’s smart. She’s a genius in strategy and art of war after all.’

Merlin was happy that his King in this time was smart enough. There was a lot of Arturia that he accompanied, no, Merlin accompanied through times and timeline.

Arturia Lily, or so he called her, was the most naïve one amongst the Arturia in other timelines.

‘Zelretch give me a nice present before sending me to this world, to my King.’

That was why Merlin remembered all kinds of Arturia he accompanied through his life.

‘But now I need to focus on my job.’

He arrived at a village that was mentioned in Frederick and Ryan’s report. It was a rather small village, but the villagers seemed to look happy with their situation.

The children were running around happily while the adults were working on the field and drew water from the well.

Normal daily lives of villagers, and Merlin could sense something outside of the village.

‘Bounded field?’

He felt Mana surrounded the village, and the source was some sort of talisman. It was a bounded field, known as a barrier in this world.

‘I heard from the report that it was made to protect the village from Mabeast attack. I need to study it later.’

Merlin was interested in the barrier, but it was not the time for him to analyze it. He entered the village and immediately became the center of attention.

One of the adults in the village, an elder approached Merlin.

“Hello, are you by chance a traveler? Welcome to Irlam village.”

Merlin just know the village name, and he nodded his head.

“Yes, I am a traveler that passed through this village by chance.” Merlin answered the elder with a smile on his face.

Although the upper side of the face was hidden by his hood, his mouth was still visible.

The elder smiled back at Merlin.

“Hohoho, you are a peculiar traveler then. The forest around this village is filled with Wolgarms, I advise you to not cross the small bridge that led to the forest.”

“Thank you for your advice, may I stay in this village for an hour or so? I have been walking since morning, and it was now noon. I plan to rest for a while.”

“Don’t worry, you can stay. Most of the villagers were evacuated to a different place, and now it was just around 20% of us here. We are happy to lend you a place to rest if you want to.”

Merlin narrowed his eyes a little at the information that the elder gave him.

That was right, the village was evacuated. Frederick and Ryan also said that, but there was only 20% of the villager left in the village?

Where did the rest of the villagers go?

“If I may ask, what happened to the rest of the villagers? No, why did the villagers need to be evacuated?”

“It’s difficult to say it, because it’s related to the Witch Cult. But, do you want to hear it? It may change your decision to stay in this village though.”

“I don’t mind, please tell me about it. Maybe as you can see, I’m a magician, I can protect myself.”

The elder turned his attention to the wand that Merlin held before sighing.

“Follow me, it’s a bit of a long story so let’s find a place to sit.”

Merlin nodded his head.

“Please lead the way.”

The elder went to the center of the village, there was a fountain there. He sat on the fountain and asked Merlin to sit beside him.

He then started his story, from the time when Subaru just arrived and suddenly shouted to leave the village.

The villagers trust the boy’s word because he saved the children from Wolgarms when he visited the village.

They followed his words and some of the villagers, the old and children, were evacuated to Roswaal’s Mansion that was located near the village while the majority of the villagers were brought to a different place called Sanctuary.

The elder also told Merlin that they were evacuated because of Witch Cultists’ attack.

When Merlin asked the elder about Sanctuary’s location, the elder said he didn’t know the location of this Sanctuary, but the place was suggested by the maid that was working on the Roswaal’s mansion.

Merlin finally got a clue, this Sanctuary must be the place where the boy stayed right now.

“Thank you, I think I will leave this village now. If what you said is true, then I will need to move right now. Thank you very much for the information, elder.”

“Hahaha, no problem. Stay safe, young man. Traveling alone is dangerous, so buy some mount like a ground dragon when you have money.”

The elder was kind enough to give Merlin more advice.

Merlin smiled at the elder and pulled a gold coin from his pocket.

“Please take this as a token of my gratitude.”

The elder looked dumbfounded when he took the gold coin. He looked at it with his mouth gaped, then he turned to Merlin.

“You-“

When he looked up again, Merlin had disappeared. There was only a petal of flowers on the ground, and the elder was looking around in confusion.

“Who is that young man?”

---