Chapter 45 – Merjen

Ed was sleeping comfortably for a long time. He was in the Pendragon’s mansion located at the Royal road.

Even a demon couldn’t get into this place easily. Until now, the demon Nafthael had been constantly sending beasts to keep him awake, but seeing the number significantly decreased, they seemed like nothing now.

Ed was sleeping, but suddenly felt something and ran out of the room with his frozen arrow.

When he was down the hallway, Arin was also running with a shield and a holy sword in comfortable clothes. They both stopped in front of Sophia’s room and made eye contact.

Ed kicked the door and went inside. He could see Diego floating in the air.

What was most surprising was the spirit that hugged Diego. The translucent form of the body had a familiar face. Ed asked the spirit, pointing an arrow at him.

“Juan?”

At Ed’s call, the eyes of the spirit floating in the air headed for Ed.

-I didn’t know I’d see you again like this.

“Do you remember me?”

-I asked you to take care of my son. Diego looks well.

Arin, who was standing behind Ed, seriously wondered if she should throw her shield.

Ed put his arrow back and asked Juan.

“Please put Diego down and we can talk.”

-I’m sorry. I’m just so happy to see him after a long time.

Juan put Diego down and looked at Sophia lying next to him.

“What happened?”

Juan’s eyes turned toward Diego’s ring on his index finger.

-Only those who succeed in my power can wear this ring. It’s a ring that only Diego can wear. And because I wore this ring, the seeds of the magi began to blossom, now the power of the ring awoke. And that power called me out.

Ed was amazed. Diego’s energy called out Juan, a strong demon.

Ed looked up and down at Juan and asked.

“Does it mean Diego can summon you?”

-Yes. But his powers are still weak.

Ed stayed still and looked at Juan. He does not have the power of a strong demon yet. Since Juan is a spirit, he cannot exert as strong power as before and cannot use physical force.

“So Diego can summon you…”

-That’s right. But Diego’s magi is only about to sprout. He missed me so much that I appeared in such a hurry, but I have only three minutes left with his current magi.

“Can you catch an intermediate demon in 3 minutes?”

-It’s not easy. If I use my strength, that time will be greatly reduced. But it might be possible.

Ed knew that Juan was not joking. Diego said he would contribute his own, and he was able to summon Juan, a higher-level demon spirit, even for a short time.

Juan looked back at Ed and Arin as his body gradually blurred.

-Please continue to take good care of them.

Then, Juan’s body completely disappeared. Ed laid Diego down, who fell back on the bed. Ed smiled bitterly when he saw that Sophia had not woken up in this fuss.

“The trip must have been tiring for her. Seeing that she hasn’t woken up in this noise.”

Ed covered Diego with a blanket and left the room with Arin. After they left, Sophia slowly opened her eyes. She reached out and touched the ring on Diego’s hand.

Now she can relax her mind. She knew that Juan wanted to protect Diego even after he died. Swallowing tears, Sophia hugged Diego in her arms.

When he opened his eyes in the morning, Diego could see Sophia getting up first and looking down at him. Diego raised himself in a relaxed appearance.

“Mom, did you wake up early?”

Sophia reached out her hand and touched Diego’s cheek.

“Diego. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. What about you, mom?”

“I slept well, too. Should we go look around the house together?”

“Okay.”

Diego smiled brightly when his mother had now fully regained her vitality. He doesn’t know what cheered his mom up, but he thought it was a good thing.

“Let’s have something delicious to eat.”

Diego hugged Sophia and smiled brightly. Sofia also slowly touched Diego’s hair.

At breakfast time, Diego smiled brightly and said.

“Can I go check the Royal road with you today?”

Ed nodded at his words.

“Of course. Is there anything you need to do today?”

“In the royal road, there is a palace, the hall of the Astron Church. Archbishop Benedict is here, so I’m going to meet him. He’s an important person to my siblings.”

Ed recalled that it was Archbishop Benedict who gave Aaron the token. Perhaps he is a benefactor who led both Aaron and Arin to the Astron Church.

Ed nodded at the words and looked back at Diego.

“Then let’s go there together. It’s your first time on the royal road.”

When Thane heard that, he spoke.

“What a shame. I had a lot I wanted to show you.”

“Today, I’ll take Diego and Sophia to check the royal road.”

“Sure. I have a few things to take care of anyway.”

Thane said so and beckoned to the butler. As the butler standing behind Thane approached, Thane whispered something to him, handing Ed the pocket given by the butler who returned before finishing the meal.

“I put some pocket money in there to wander and get some snacks. Are you going to have lunch outside?”

Judging from the weight, he seemed to have put at least 30 gold. Ed remembered the time when he only earned around 10 golds even if he caught a lower demon.

“Sure. Do you have any restaurant recommendations?”

“There is a lot of places to walk around, so you should take Doug with you. The royal road is so wide that it would be hard to see without a carriage.”

“That’s great. Did you hear from Grant yet?”

“I heard that it would take about three days.”

If he meets Pendragon two days later and Grant three days later, he will be able to finish his work on the royal road roughly.

“Then I’ll eat breakfast and come back.”

“Okay.”

After breakfast, Arin was on her horse. Arin decided to move separately because she knew the way to the palace.

“See you in the evening.”

Arin nodded and drove away first. And Ed climbed with Diego and Sophia on Doug’s carriage. The size of the carriage was not large, but it was able to run without being blocked while on the royal road because it had the royal family patterns engraved on it.

Diego was busy looking outside the window of the carriage and explaining this and that to Sophia while looking at the royal road. Sophia was responding while listening to Diego’s words, but when she made eye contact, she seemed to know that she pretended to be sleeping last night.

Still, thanks to Juan’s appearance, she seemed to be trying to make memories with Diego for the rest of her time. Ed was relieved to see her cheer up.

They heard Doug’s voice outside the carriage.

“Is there any place you want to go?”

Ed looked back at Diego and Sophia. If the two wanted to make memories, Ed thought there would be no such place here.

“Is there any place for your family to visit?”

“There are puppet shows and operas, but operas are held only in the evening.”

“Then, please go to the puppet show place.”

“Right.”

Diego’s eyes turned round when he heard about the puppet show.

“He could only watch uppet shows on his birthday.”

“You already seen a puppet show?”

“With my father.”

Diego spoke and looked at Sophia. She smiled and held Diego’s hand and replied instead.

“His father always used to do it for him on his birthday. There was a theater that used to come to our village, so he could see it every year.”

Doug said outside as he drove a carriage.

“There are five permanent theaters on the royal road. Do you have a favorite puppet show?”

Diego and Sophia answered at the same time.

“The Pendragon Chronicles, a free knight.”

Doug smiled brightly.

“The Pendragon Chronicles, a free knight, is one of the most popular puppet shows in the royal road. There is a permanent theater, so let’s go there.”

Ed looked at Diego and Sophia smiling brightly, making eye contact with each other.

Don’t they know that the place where they spent last night was the Pendragon’s house?

Ed never told them in particular, but he didn’t know that their favorite would be Pendragon.

“You’re coming with me, right?”

“No. While you’re at the theater, I’ll go do something else. I’ll be back before it’s over, so have fun with your mom.”

Sophia said thank you. Ed glanced at the place. Doug’s skills have not been clearly seen, but Ed was sure it was enough to protect the two.

Ed gave Sophia the pocket that Thane gave him today and said.

“Eat something delicious while watching the puppet show. You can spend all the money, so have a good time. If you need anything, tell Doug and he’ll listen.”

Sophia received the pocket and put it in her arms. Ed glanced outside and told Doug.

“Can you stop the carriage for a second?”

When the carriage stopped, Ed opened the door and looked back at Diego.

“Have fun. See you later.”

“See you later.”

When Ed stepped out of the carriage, Doug looked back and said.

“The Moon Shadow Theater on the central street of the Royal road. It’s a two-hour puppet show, so we can still make it time.”

“I’ll see you in front of the theater in two hours.”

Ed smiled as he looked at Diego waving out of the window as the carriage moved away.

Ed, who was looking at the carriage moving away, turned his head and looked at the royal road.

On the boulevard in the royal road, people were walking busy, and carriages and horses were going back and forth on the boulevard.

No one took a leisurely look around. Ed walked on such a street and thought about where to spend his time. Diego needed to spend time with his mother today.

Ed, who was walking like that, was led by a fragrant smell and walked away. As he walked a little, the food alley appeared. Ed walked there and began to watch.

The most tempting thing was grilled skewers. Ed picked up the grilled skewers and asked.

“How much is this?”

“It’s 50 coppers each.”

It’s a price that makes your eyes pop out. As expected, it was a royal food alley. Ed threw one silver coin and picked up two skewers. When he took a bite, it suited his taste, perhaps because it was full of charcoal scent.

There were enough snacks to eat in the food alley, so he took a step with the idea of tasting them one by one for fun. He thought it would be good to cool down for the first time in a while and felt a frightening gaze as he walked.

Ed stopped walking and looked around as if he were facing a beast. There was no way a beast could walk around the royal food alley, so Ed, who was looking back for someone, was surprised to find a girl squatting down.

She had purple hair and her cheeks were so hallow because she was starving. Her gaze was all over the skewer in Ed’s hand.

Ed shook the skewer just in case, and her eyes followed . Ed sighed at the appearance and stuck out a skewer to the girl. The girl looked up at the skewer and looked at Ed.

“Are you giving it to me?”

When Ed nodded, the girl hesitated and snatched it like lightning. And she inhaled the skewer. Ed didn’t think she’d be able to feel the taste or anything if she ate like that.

It was cute to see her chewing with her lips closed. Ed wondered what this girl was walking around like this on the royal road. She looked older than Diego, but she did not look older than 14 years old.

Ed couldn’t believe this kind of girl had such a beast-like look.

“What’s your name?”

The girl, who was chewing the skewers, looked at Ed with a wary look. Ed threw her a skewer because she looked pitiful, but she had a good reaction. Ed decided to go his way, assuming that one skewer was enough.

Ed walked in search of other snacks in the alley. But the girl caught Ed’s cape. Ed looked back and the girl swallowed what she was chewing in her mouth and replied.

“Merjen.”

Ed looked down at Merjen, who spoke. Merjen looked up at Ed and said.

“Help me.”

“I don’t want…”

Ed shook off this informal little girl’s hand and tried to go away. But, an unusual orb was seen between her cape.

It looked like she carried several luxury goods.

This girl is a mysterious magician. A mysterious magician is hungry onpuppet the royal road.

“What do you want me to help you with?”