The Knight of Death sat across the table and calmly drank tea.
He had black hair and black eyes.
He was only middle-aged, but his wrinkles and sunburnt, rough skin made him look much older.
He wore a gentle smile.
Two knights in black stood behind him.
They brought coffers and placed them in front of Isaac, then stepped back and stood still.
Isaac stared at the Knight of Death. He did not touch his tea or the coffers.
"It’s our first meeting, Sir Isaac. I must say, the tales of your looks do not do you justice. I almost thought I had met a god who descended to our world," the Knight of Death said with a smile.
"Why are you here?" Isaac asked, instead of responding to the flattery.
"I came on behalf of the Human King to thank you for your neutrality in the war. If you had sold your Communication Technology only to the heretics, the battle would have been much harder for us," the Knight of Death said , not taking offense to Isaac’s blunt tone.
Isaac snorted.
The king of Halran Kingdom, along with almost the entire royal family, was already dead.
The Human King had taken control of the capital city, including the Royal Patent Office.
He already had the documents that explained InstantSpeak’s Communication Technology.
Even if he could not understand it fully, he could still build it by copying the designs.
The Knight of Death was just giving empty flattery by thanking Isaac for staying neutral.
His real goal of the meeting was likely different.
"These—" the Knight of Death said as he tapped the coffer near him, "—come from the Human King as a token of thanks."
The coffers were filled with gold coins. Each one could hold ten thousand coins, and there were five.
"If that is all, then I will leave. I am busy," Isaac said.
"Haha, I see we came at the wrong time. Sir Isaac looks quite busy. Still, we have something more to say. You can treat it as a small request from the Human King. Will you hear it before you leave?" the Knight of Death asked.
Isaac stopped and sat back down.
The Knight of Death took that as a sign and continued,
"The war has reached a critical stage. The false king is dead, but the nobles still resist. We will win, of course. However, if you help us, we can win much faster."
"Get to the point."
"Haha, do not worry. We are not asking you to stop selling Communication Technology to the nobles. That would make you a target. However... you can sell us the decryption keys.
"You created InstantSpeak, so you understand the encryption on the message packets. If you give us the method to decrypt them, we can spy on the nobles and defeat them.
"Of course, we will not reveal your name.
"We will claim that we discovered the method ourselves. With the Knight of Conquest—the headmaster of the Academy and the wisest man alive—on our side, the nobles will believe us."
He finished speaking and waited.
Isaac did not answer. He only stared at him.
Minutes passed.
The Knight of Death understood the answer, and chuckled.
"Did you know, Sir Isaac? I can sense death. Everyone who reaches the First Layer (Beginner) of the Death Element gains this ability."
"..."
"As my mastery grew, I also learned to sense bloodlust. Right now, I feel strong bloodlust from you. You feel angry because I killed your father, don’t you? That is why you refuse the Human King’s offer."
Isaac frowned.
Was he angry?
He could not tell.
In the first place, why would he feel angry if the Knight of Death killed Duke Wright?
’...Is it because I have Isaac’s childhood memories?’ he wondered.
"I did not kill Duke Wright," the Knight of Death said.
"..."
"I did not kill him, and I know who did. So let us make a deal. We will have a Sacred Duel. If you win, I will tell you who killed him. If I win, you will give us the decryption details. It’s a fair wager, I would say."
Isaac tapped the armrest in a steady rhythm.
The Knight of Death smiled.
"I can feel your bloodlust growing. You surely want to know the answer. Of course, the chances of your victory are almost zero.
"So, if you accept the duel, I will reveal the killer’s name before the duel starts.
"This way, you will not have to worry about losing and failing to know the answer. Of course, if I win, we will still pay you for giving us description keys," said the Knight of Death.
Isaac let out a sigh.
He stood up and dusted his clothes.
"You are misunderstanding something. I do not care about Duke Wright or his killer. It seems you are trying to provoke me, but it is useless.
"As for the decryption keys, it is impossible to sell them. Merlin created the Communication Technology, and he supports the nobles.
"He will notice any attempt to spy on the messages and change the encryption immediately," Isaac said.
"If you do not care about Duke Wright, why do I sense bloodlust from you?" the Knight of Death asked, ignoring the topic of the technology as Isaac walked to the door.
Isaac did not answer.
He opened the door.
Behind him, the Knight of Death looked down at his teacup.
His smile had disappeared.
He spoke without turning, "Your father must be beating his chest in shame to have such an unfilial son."
"I apologize for not seeing you out. I have important matters to attend to," Isaac said.
He stepped out and closed the door behind him.
The Knight of Death and his two followers left the orphanage shortly after.
Days passed, then weeks.
The war reached its climax.
Countless innocents died along with the nobles.
Merlin became a war hero. He was incredibly busy. Yet, he would always find time to return to the orphanage, bringing children whom he managed to save.
The protagonist looked miserable, blaming himself for not being able to save more people.
Whenever he stayed at the orphanage, he climbed to the roof at night.
He would stare at the stars and drank until he fell asleep, as if he could not sleep without alcohol.
Each time, Isaac would have to carry him down and tuck him into the bed.
Merlin never asked Isaac to join the war, even though he was one of the few people who knew Isaac’s true strength.
He never asked Isaac for help, nor did he questioned Isaac for his reason for staying out of the war.
Maybe he regretted forcing his ideals on Isaac once before. Maybe he did not wish to risk his "friend’s" life by asking him to join a war they were guaranteed to lose.
Two years passed.
The war’s conclusion had been all but confirmed.
The nobles were defeated. Now, just the official crowning of the Human King was left.
But before that, the Human King ordered a purge: No more than 10% of the citizens shall be left alive.
The territory that held Isaac’s orphanage stood on the purge list.
Citizens begged the Human King and his soldiers to cancel the order or at least explain it, but he ignored them.
During that time, Merlin came to see Isaac.
Heavy rain fell that day.
Isaac opened the back door of the mansion.
When he saw Merlin, he understood why he had not come through the front. The children would have seen this .
"You look like shit."
"Tell me about it."
Merlin gave a weak smile.
Rain soaked him completely.
His left arm hung limp.
His face, from the top of eyebrow to chin, was torn open, and bleeding heavily.
Black veins wriggled around his neck, showing he had been poisoned.
"Come inside. I’ll call the healer."
"Thanks."
Merlin tried to walk but limped and almost collapsed.
Isaac caught him before he hit the floor. He pulled the protagonist’s arm over his shoulder and helped him walk inside.
Isaac was prepared to hear his drama queen antics—about how Isaac was suddenly acting kind and helping and how it was weird—but the protagonist simply smiled.
"Thank you. It’s hard for me to walk right now."
"Mhm."
Isaac took him to his room, laid him on the bed, and called the healer who lived at the orphanage.
The healer was shocked and asked how Merlin was alive with those injuries, let alone speaking as if the pain he was feeling was a mere inconvenience.
She cleaned his wounds, treated what she could, wrapped him in bandages, and tucked him in.
She apologized for not being able to cure the poison. Merlin told her she had done enough and said he would handle the rest.
Two days passed.
The children somehow found out that Merlin had returned. They rushed into his room and cried when they saw him.
Some refused to leave him, even going as far as to sleep with him.
The caretaker tried to pull them away and told them Merlin needed rest.
They cried harder and refused to move.
In the end, Merlin told the caretaker that he had recovered enough and did not mind the children staying.
Many of the children had been saved by Merlin.
He also brought gifts whenever he returned, and during his stay, he would play with them and show them magic tricks.
The children loved him.
They didn’t want to leave him alone, seeing his condition.
They were afraid he would disappear like their parents.
Six days later, the caretakers finally convinced the children to leave for a short time that afternoon.
Isaac sat on a chair and peeled an apple.
"So? Why did you come back?" he asked.
"Wow, that’s how you greet a friend who came back half dead? I knew it! Isaac is heartless. He doesn’t even see me as a friend. I’m just a nuisance to him." Merlin sniffed his crocodile tears while lying on the bed.
Isaac looked at him for a moment, seeing him back to his usual self, then returned to peeling the apple.
"The Human King’s forces know about your escape route," Merlin said after a while.
Isaac’s hand stopped.
He looked up from the apple and stared at Merlin.