Peculiar Feeling

9 months soon passed by in a blink of an eye. During this period, not much has occurred as life continued, waiting for no man.

In the Silva Estate, Acier had recently just given birth to a baby girl, Noelle. Shortly afterwards, she had sent word for Merlin to attend, along with Mereo.

Inside of her bedroom, Acier was holding Noelle in her arms as she looked at her lovingly. Merlin and Mereo were by the side of her bed, with Mereo having conflicting feelings on the matter.

The both of them were now 17, looking more mature than before with Mereo's hair becoming wavier as it hung behind her.

Merlin still looked similar to before, with the only notable change being his hair growing longer behind him.

Acier turned to the two and said, "No one else knows that I am still here. I have already spread the word that I have died from childbirth."

Mereo frowned and said, "You're going straight to the battlefield, aren't you?"

"Yes," Acier said, with a gentle smile.

"The Magic Knights need you, Lady Acier," Mereo said, urging her. "So why are you risking your life to…"

Acier gave a soft laugh and said, "As a Magic Knight, once you decide you're going to step out onto the battlefield, you fight for the people and your kingdom without thinking twice about risking your life, right?"

She then handed Noelle over to Mereo, whose eyes widened as she held her in her arms. Acier then continued, "Once a woman holds her child in her arms, she will try to protect that baby's life at any cost, in a similar way to the Magic Knights."

Mereo looked down onto the tiny face of Noelle who was sleeping peacefully. She then turned to Merlin and handed her over to him. After this, she faced Acier and gave her a sudden hug, saying, "Thank you, for everything you have done for me."

Acier was stunned for a moment, but then smiled and hugged her back. Separating, Mereo turned to leave the room, leaving Acier alone with Merlin who was holding Noelle in his arms.

"I know that she will be safest with you," Acier said, looking at Noelle in his arms.

Merlin shook his head and said, "Are you sure you don't want to tell Mereo the truth?"

"She'll find out eventually," Acier said, standing up and donning her Magic Knights robes and battle gear.

"I'm going to tell you again how stupid this is, but I know I can't stop you," Merlin said, with a wry smile.

She gave one last look towards Noelle, stroking her face and then steeling her resolve, she said, "Send me there."

With a sigh, Merlin opened a silent portal next to him that expanded into a rectangle. Stepping towards the portal, Acier gave one last glance to Noelle and Merlin, before stepping through, the portal closing behind her and disappearing.

The room was then filled with silence, as Noelle started to stir awake and cried loudly. Not knowing what to do, Merlin started to panic as he ran to the door.

Opening it, he saw Mereo, Fuego, Nozel, and his siblings standing outside. He then said, "What do I do? She's crying? I have no experience on how to handle this."

A wetnurse then appeared from the side and took Noelle away to be fed, while Nozel and his siblings looked solemn. Nozel was the only other person who knew the truth besides Mereo, Fuego, and Merlin, with his siblings thinking that their mother died giving birth.

"Don't be too sad now, you two." Merlin said, ruffling Nebra and Solids hair, saying, "Your mother wouldn't want to see you in this state now, would you? Besides, you have a little sister to take care of now, so make sure to cherish her, just like how your mother cherished you three. Remember, she's what your mother left behind for you two to take care of."

Nebra and Solid both nodded solemnly but took his advice to heart. Looking towards Nozel, Merlin saw that he had steeled his resolve, putting up a strong front in front of his siblings.

"Give me a moment, I'll be out in a bit." Merlin whispered towards Mereo, to which she nodded and left along with the siblings.

Standing in the hall with Nozel, Merlin saw him staring into empty space, lost in his own world.

"What are you thinking of?" Merlin asked him.

Nozel turned to Merlin, but stayed silent for a moment. A single tear rolled down his eye, to which he wiped away quickly, saying, "Why? Just… why?"

Walking backwards, Merlin leaned on the wall behind him. "There was nothing we could do. She wanted this."

"What does it matter in the end?" Nozel quipped back, his voice rising slightly. "Why didn't she want to just stay here? Why did she have to go there, and throw her life away? I should've gone with her. I just let her leave. If only you..."

With that last line, Nozel's words trailed off. He lost himself in that moment, trying to direct the blame, to find somebody to hold responsible for all of this, and he put his own friend, Merlin, in that position. He was projecting.

"I didn't mean that…" Nozel whispered, rubbing his head in frustration and regret. He backed up and lightly hit his head on the wall behind him, letting his body slide down, sitting on the ground and leaning on the wall.

Merlin shook his head, walking over to stand next to him, saying, "I lost my parents at a young age, so I don't know what you're going through. Your siblings are going to look up to you from now on. You'll need to be strong in front of them, but for now, you can rely on me for a bit.

After a few minutes of silence, Nozel used the back of his hand to clear his eyes and stood up, muttering, "I apologize… for earlier. That was unsightly of me."

"There's nothing to apologize for. I also wished I could've done something, but I would just be stepping to my death at this stage. We aren't strong enough yet, not by a long shot."

"How strong are Devils?" Nozel asked.

"Very," Merlin said without hesitation. "I faced a weaker one, but still, you shouldn't underestimate them. I had to spend several weeks preparing, and that almost wasn't enough. It was by pure luck I got the upper hand." His memory flashed to the scene of him being transformed into his Pure Mana state.

Sighing, Nozel looked up into Merlin's eyes, saying, "In the future, once I become strong enough, I'll go and find the answers myself. And avenge my mother."

Patting his shoulder, Merlin nodded, "I'm sure you will. You'll be getting your Grimoire next year, and when you do, you can truly start on your journey to becoming stronger. For now, you should go find Nebra and Solid, they'll need their brother."

With a nod, Nozel turned to leave, but stopped for a moment, saying, "Thank you…"

"Don't mention it," Merlin said, turning to leave the other way. "If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask."

Walking down the main stairs of the mansion, he came into the main hall and saw Mereo standing at the entrance.

Mereo came and nudged him, hinting for him to follow her. Bidding the other's farewell, he followed her out of the Silva Estate.

"What is it?" Merlin asked.

"I'm going to be leaving the Magic Knight's squad." Mereo declared.

Merlin nodded, saying, "I knew you were going to, so, where are you going to go?"

"I'm not sure," Mereo said, looking out of the Royal City. "I'm going to live in the wilderness from now on so that I can become more powerful in the future. I was offered a position to become the Captain of the Crimson Lion, but I turned it down. This is the best path for me if I want to become stronger to protect those that are dear to me. You as well, even if you are more powerful than me."

Merlin smiled and said, "I'll support you in your decision, but Fuego is going to be quite mad just so you know since you're throwing away the chance at becoming a captain."

"Bah, he'll do fine without me, so what if he complains, I'll just beat some sense into him," Mereo said. She then moved forward to hug Merlin, whispering to him, "I won't be seeing you for some time, as I need to do whatever I can to become stronger on my own."

Merlin then flicked her forehead and said, "Did you forget? You can just communicate with me whenever you feel lonely." He then tapped the necklace around her neck.

"Haha, that's right." Mereo said. She then gave Merlin a short kiss before backing away. "I'll still come back from time to time. Someone has to keep an eye on you at least."

"Haha, whatever do you mean…" Merlin said, looking away.

Mereo narrowed her eyes, saying, "Remember this, if I find out that some hussy tried to seduce you, I'll break her in half."

"Now now, who would even want to try and seduce me? You're giving me too much credit." Merlin said, flashing her a smile as his hair changed to a rainbow color once the clouds above them cleared out, with the sunlight landing directly on him as his hair swayed in the wind.

'Any girl with a decent pair of eyes would wet themselves seeing you right now.' Mereo thought to herself, almost getting too absorbed in Merlin's ethereal appearance as she shook herself awake. Sharing one last kiss, Mereo then departed from him and immediately left for the wilderness without telling anyone else.

"Wait, don't tell me I'll have to be the one to explain the situation to everyone? At Least leave a letter or something." Merlin said, dreading having to face the Vermilion family and telling them their daughter ran off to train in the wilderness.

"Nah, I'll leave it to someone else. Since Mereo is going out to explore, I might as well do the same. I've been meaning to visit the Demon's skull in Hage Village for a while now." Merlin said, manifesting a cloud underneath him as he sat down on it and started to fly towards the Forsaken Realm.

Why the cloud? Well, Merlin always complained that a broom was too uncomfortable to sit on, and when Nozel heard this, he just told him to make something more comfortable then. So Merlin thought of what would be the most comfortable seat to travel on, then thought of clouds and voila, now he uses a white cloud to travel around with, making it quite a sight for people who happened to see him fly past them.

Exiting out of the Silva Estate, Fuego tried to find Mereo and Merlin but couldn't spot them anywhere. Even when asking Sebastian, he was still left in the dark, causing him to roam the noble district for the whole evening before giving up, deciding to continue his search the next day.

...

Travelling towards Hage Village, Merlin was pondering over a few matters, such as the rumours that he had heard about the Demon Skull.

"It's quite incredible that something that big existed in the past, even more so for the 1st Wizard King to defeat it if what was written about the battle was true," Merlin said, laying on the cloud as he made himself more comfortable, sinking into it.

"Now, this is the way to travel," Merlin muttered, staring at the night sky above him as he wondered what the Stars were like up close.

After a few more hours of travelling, Merlin finally arrived above the small village on the outskirts of the Clover Kingdom. The houses were mostly underdeveloped with several of them randomly located within a wide grassy plain. The biggest landmark however was the huge skull of a Demon, located just outside of the Village.

Flying towards it, he saw that on top of the skull stood the statue of the 1st Wizard King, who defeated the Demon. From here, Merlin could see all the way towards the Kingdom's Noble Realm unobstructed due to the height of the top of the skull.

Floating down to the skull, Merlin stepped off the cloud and walked towards the Statue with the appearance of the 1st Wizard King. However, when he got closer, he felt peculiar energy coming from it.