But things developed in a way that caught Merlin off guard. Before he could find the right moment to make his move, he heard Ange’s familiar voice in his mind: “Holy crap, I just remembered it was the day after the Kingdom of Lyman’s National Day. Mephitis was taken to Rice Forest by that con artist who took him in, who was planning to kill him to silence him! Should I go save him? But that’s the protagonist’s job.”
Mephitis the person who invented that magical phone thing?
Merlin had no idea what a magical phone was, but he vaguely understood that it had to be something that transcended its era. Otherwise, Ange wouldn’t think that the thing this person created could make him fabulously wealthy.
But considering the other party’s identity as a con artist, could this also be part of his scheme within a scheme? Using some “transmigrated into a book” or “protagonist” angle to lure Merlin into believing that this Mephitis fellow’s so-called magical phone was genuinely valuable, prompting him to go rescue the man, only to be tricked into investing money in the end?
When it came to someone who might harm his sister, Merlin instinctively assumed the worst.
“But I don’t even remember exactly where in this forest this happened anyway. After all, this was a novel I read in my past life there’s no way I could find the spot even if I tried, right? I should just keep gathering magic herbs. And what if this is one of those worlds with that mysterious world-force where the main plot absolutely cannot be altered? Even if I tried to find him, I’d fail due to all sorts of inexplicable coincidences, and in the end, the protagonist would still be the one to save him. Unless I stayed with the protagonist.”
Merlin frowned. The other party was still employing his con artist tricks, making Merlin believe that he himself was the “protagonist” from the novel the man spoke of that way, Merlin would willingly take the bait and be deceived!
This magic that allowed him to hear the other’s thoughts was deliberately cast on him by that man!
It was even possible that the man had already figured out how to leak certain parts of his inner thoughts to Merlin while concealing the rest of his plans!
So how could he get rid of this ability to hear that con artist’s thoughts? Merlin had examined himself thoroughly but found nothing.
But given the current situation, Merlin felt he needed to go to the town hospital and book an appointment with a specialist.
Although it was only a town hospital, because it was adjacent to Rice Forest, they were extremely skilled at handling all sorts of bizarre and unusual conditions.
Just as Merlin made up his mind, he suddenly felt something brush against his foot.
Looking down, he saw a fluffy ball of fur with a strange coloration it had a pink gradient, with the deepest shade on its back that gradually lightened toward its underside.
Merlin immediately identified what this fluffy ball was it was a magical beast, scientifically known as a Fluffball, a creature only at the level of an apprentice mage. However, they weren’t particularly numerous and could be considered a somewhat endangered species.
Throughout this summer vacation, Merlin had been entering Rice Forest from time to time to complete quests he’d accepted to train himself. Over a month had passed, and he’d only seen Fluffballs a few times. Why had one suddenly appeared at his feet now?
And as a mage, he hadn’t even noticed its presence!
This pink, adorable fluffy ball used its tiny paws, hidden beneath its long fur, to grab Merlin’s shoe. Its pink nose, buried within the fluff, sniffed around inquisitively, while its small black beady eyes were filled with confusion.
It was only at this moment that Merlin realized he had concealed his form so why had this fluffball, whose strength was only at the level of an apprentice mage, managed to detect him?
Was it because of his scent? But this magical artifact of his had always performed quite well. Merlin had used it many times in the Les Forest, and it had only ever been discovered when facing those with particularly keen senses of smell, or those stronger than him, whether human or magical beast.
Yet the fluffball’s sense of smell wasn’t actually all that exceptional.
Just as Merlin was thinking about retreating and going around the fluffball, this pink, enormous mass of fluff suddenly let out a series of squeaks, then began blowing bubbles.
Yes, blowing bubbles that was a trait of fluffballs as magical beasts. They blew bubbles when happy, blew bubbles when sad, blew bubbles when startled in any case, they just had to blow bubbles.
Moreover, the color of the bubbles it blew matched the color of its fur. Experienced hunters would track fluffballs by following these bubbles.
Because while fluffballs were hard to find, they hadn’t yet reached the point of being truly endangered. Combined with their strength being only at the apprentice mage level, quite a few pet companies bred them. Merlin had even once wanted to buy a fluffball to give to his younger sister.
But perhaps because of their teacher’s influence, his sister didn’t want a fluffy creature as a pet at all. In the end, she raised a flame serpent that didn’t have a single strand of fur on its body.
Just as Merlin was about to dart backward, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him.
He whipped his head around instantly and saw Angor sprinting over from behind, having cast an acceleration spell on himself.
This made Merlin’s entire body tense up immediately, terrified that he might accidentally reveal something.
Although he knew that in Angor’s eyes, he was completely invisible right now, the fluffball at his feet, which kept blowing bubbles, had caught Angor’s attention. What if Angor came closer and discovered an invisible object? Wouldn’t that immediately expose that something was wrong?
So Merlin carefully sidled away, but that constantly bubble-blowing fluffball still shuffled its tiny paws and ran toward him!
At that moment, Merlin felt cold sweat about to break out on his forehead. If Angor truly caught him red-handed, wouldn’t he become nothing but a perverted stalker?
And even if the other party was the most oblivious liar, wouldn’t he then suspect that Merlin was onto him?
Was he really supposed to play the role of a madman crazed with love? Just thinking about it made Merlin feel like his reputation was about to be ruined!
The ability of this magical artifact he carried was called Vanishing Trace a spell that only archmages could cast. But because his own strength was only at the mage level, its effect was relatively weaker, though it could still deceive other mages.
Vanishing Trace allowed one’s form to blend with the surrounding scenery and dampened the sounds produced by the user’s movements. The higher the caster’s mage rank, the better the concealment effect. At the level of a grand mage, one could completely eliminate all sounds emanating from oneself.
But Merlin clearly hadn’t reached that level, so once Ange drew close, Merlin didn’t dare make any major moves, afraid the other might notice something was off.
However, the little furball at his feet seemed to have taken a liking to him. Even when he shifted his steps, the fluffy creature kept blowing bubbles and hopping closer to him.
At the same time, Ange was also steadily approaching him, and had even crouched down right in front of the bubble-blowing furball, now mere inches away from Merlin!
Merlin barely dared to breathe, not daring to make a single unnecessary movement, simply watching Ange interact with the little furball.
Wait, something felt off. Weren’t furballs supposed to be timid? Why wasn’t this one running away from Ange at all?
Perhaps it was due to Ange’s magical attribute?
Ange looked at this rare pink furball before him and was absolutely charmed to the point of his heart bubbling over!
He wasn’t at all surprised that this timid furball showed no fear of him, because his magical attribute was wood-type, and his talent was fairly impressive. As a result, animals that favored wood-type magic would naturally feel incredibly drawn to him.
But this furball seemed a bit strange, why had it suddenly started blowing bubbles? Judging by its behavior, it didn’t seem frightened at all, and it hadn’t eaten anything just now either.
Ange watched as the furball squeaked at him, even propping itself up on its tiny hind legs to stand upright.
Ange was utterly charmed, reaching out to gently stroke the creature’s abundant pink fur. The furball immediately squeaked happily, blowing bubbles from its mouth.
But in an instant, the furball dropped back down to the ground, then turned and scurried off in a certain direction.
Was it leaving now? Ange thought to himself.
But the furball only ran a few steps before tilting its head up and squeaking toward one direction, blowing pink bubbles as it did so.
Though Ange was young and lacked extensive experience, he was highly alert. The furball’s simple series of actions was enough for him to notice something wrong.
At first glance, the furball’s front paws seemed to be planted firmly on the ground, but if you looked more carefully, you could see that both front paws were actually hovering in the air!
If it were using a levitation spell, the force exerted on its front paws wouldn’t look like that. This posture clearly indicated it was stepping on something!
And the furball kept squeaking and blowing bubbles toward one direction. On the surface, that area looked completely empty not even an insect flying by but Ange’s guard was already up, so he instantly swung his staff!
Vines Run Wild!
The vines that had been lying dormant around them suddenly surged wildly, lashing out toward the direction the furball was squeaking at!
Immediately after, Ange cast a levitation spell, pulling the furball toward him in an instant.
But before the furball could float over to him, Ange saw a burst of blue magical light explode outward.
The wildly surging vines were instantly shredded by churning currents of water, scattering into fragments on the ground, and a figure finally revealed itself before Ange.
Wait, this guy with the short black hair fading into blue at the tips, those blue eyes, and that ridiculously gorgeous face isn’t he the same handsome man he’d just spent a wild night with?!
Why would the other party be hiding nearby using invisibility?!
“Damn, I think I’ve really run into a creep! I used to think this guy was a sunny, cheerful big puppy, but now he’s clearly a yandere psycho! No wonder he took advantage of me when I practically handed myself over yesterday!”