"My whole life I have been running. I have never found a place to call my home," Merlin said to Laila. "But I want that to change that. I want to build a kingdom I can call home, a kingdom where prejudice or hatred does not exist."
"A kingdom where children don’t have to be afraid of being sold into slavery," Merlin said as he looked at the young girls he and Laila had just freed.
The 10 young girls looked like they had never known a life beyond slavery, and Merlin wanted to change that.
"So what should we do with them?" Laila asked.
"We can’t just leave them in this kingdom. I’m afraid they might end up in the same situation we found them in," he said. An idea came to his mind, but to achieve it, he would end up owing someone.
"I will take them to the Sol kingdom. Hopefully the Sol king and Xolo agree to take them in," Merlin said. He held Laila’s hand and kissed it before saying, "You should go back to the inn. I will teleport the girls to the Sol kingdom, and I will be back soon."
"I promise to take you on an actual date next time," he said, and she just smiled.
ACADEMY
The moment Merlin teleported back to the kingdom of Zaloa, he heard noises coming from the inn they were staying at. Was it another fight? he thought to himself.
He summoned his magic staff, ready to fight any foe in front of him. But when he looked at the person making the noise, he pulled back his staff.
A man in a uniform which looked like an officer’s stood outside their inn. He was shouting at Alexander and Dante.
Merlin walked up to them, confused by what was happening.
"Is there a problem, sir?" he asked the officer. He looked at Alexander and Dante, and they looked like kids who had just been caught by their parents.
"Are you the guardian of these boys?" the officer asked.
"Yes, I’m their older brother," Merlin answered, still confused by what was happening.
"Alright. Sir, you do know that it’s illegal for children under the age of 18 to not be in school, right?" the officer said.
Merlin just gave him a dumb look. In most kingdoms, someone the same age as Alexander would already have a wife and kids, but it seemed this kingdom was much more advanced.
"I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know. We just moved to this kingdom recently," Merlin said with an awkward smile.
"Alright, I won’t fine you for this since you didn’t know. But these kids have to be registered to the alchemy academy, now," the officer commanded.
"Alright, sir, I will do as you say," Merlin said, acting like an actual adult. The officer gave them one final look and walked away.
"I don’t want to go to some school, Merlin," Dante complained. The boy wasn’t a big fan of being around strangers.
"You really aren’t thinking of applying us to this school?" Alexander said.
Merlin knew his answer would not be well received by the boys. Sigh. "I’m sorry, guys, but I still have a lot of work to do in this city, so you will either go to school or hide out until I’m done with my research," Merlin answered.
The boys knew which of the two was better so they didn’t even bother answering.
"Come on, let’s go inside and tell Laila and Damon," Merlin said to the boys.
The moment Merlin told Laila and Damon about taking the boys to school, they agreed. It was a perfectly good idea for them to be around kids their age and learn how to be normal kids for once.
"It’s a perfectly good idea. I wish I could go to a school where they teach magic, but I doubt they would enroll someone as old as I," Laila said.
Merlin just smiled at her and didn’t want her to feel left out in magic lessons. "You will be getting private lessons from me, hon. So don’t worry about it," Merlin said.
"But won’t it be hard for the school to teach them since they use Uzu rather than magic?" Damon asked a sensible question. And the others looked at Merlin, waiting for his answer.
"It will be alright. Uzu works in the same way magic does. And humans can’t differentiate between Uzu and magic, so as long as the boys don’t stand out that much, they will be alright," Merlin said.
"Alright, then we better get going to this school," he said.
***
Everything in the kingdom of Zaloa amazed them. A city that was founded by alchemists in order to bring new technology and magic to the world.
When Merlin and the boys stepped out of the "strange vehicle" as they called it, they found themselves staring at a huge building. Children in white uniforms were all around, playing and casting spells.
"Whoa," Alexander uttered in surprise.
The excitement in the kids eyes changed as soon as they realized the students were looking at them, or Merlin to be exact. They were surprised by his height and his apple green eyes that glowed.
"They seem to have taken an interest in you," Alexander mused.
"Yeah, I noticed. Let’s go in before they try to touch my face," Merlin said with an annoyed look.
The hallway of the school was lit up with strange crystals, and on the walls they showcased paintings of the gods and the 10 great kings, portrayed as heroes of man.
The sight of those paintings made Merlin angry. They were lies being portrayed as the truth.
"Let’s find the offices," he said to the boys.
They continued walking through the school in search of the headmaster’s office, and they seemed lost until they bumped into a young girl around the same age as Alexander.
"Hey there. Where can I find the headmaster’s office?" Merlin asked.
"Oh. It’s the first door to the left," she said as she pointed towards a straight hallway.
"Thank you," Merlin said, and they continued their journey to the headmaster’s office.
Knock, knock. Merlin’s knock could be heard throughout the quiet hallway, and a voice answered from inside the office.
The moment Merlin opened the door, a familiar face greeted his sight.
A man with dark brown hair and golden eyes. He was a huge man, making even Merlin look like a regular human.
The look on Merlin’s face wasn’t one of surprise but anger. He summoned the chaos weapon in his hand and jumped on the headmaster’s table, and pointed the sword to his throat.
"What are you doing back here, Perseus?" Merlin said.