“Say, want to help me?” Merlin stared at Arad, staring at him.

“Put a request at the guild if you want me to help you with anything,” He replied.

“You’re an adventurer, after all,” Merlin smiled. Thud! Aella caught her by the head, “What are you talking about?”

Merlin stared at her with a smile, “I want to hire him as my assistant,”

“I don’t trust your experiments,” Aella growled at her.

“Hehe,” Merlin laughed, “I can offer spells as payment. I will even go as much to enchant your weapons.” She ignored Aella and looked at Arad.

“Not interested,” Arad replied immediately. It wasn’t like he didn’t care. He was just scared she might discover his identity. Her saying they met before terrified him to the bones.

She’s dangerous,

^I know, in our last fight. Merlin was trying to catch me alive. Otherwise, I would have died.^

Then, can you stop staring at her chest?

^I can’t help it. It’s bigger than Aella,^

Merlin slowly approached Arad, sitting beside him, “Say, would you work for me?”

KA-DON! CLANG! Arad swings his blazing fist at her without hesitation, sending her body toward the forest. A glass-like dome covered Merlin’s body as she floated mid-air, “It’s illegal to assault someone,” She said, landing beside the trees.

A knife appeared at her neck, “How could a corpse report us?” Jack said from behind her. “Your barrier won’t work against attacks unnoticed by you,”

“Hoho!” Merlin laughed, “It’s the same with how fighter block with a shield,” With that, she swiftly pointed her staff at Jack’s stomach. BANG! Blasting him to the back with an air strike.

As Jack’s body flew backward, his smile pulled a string. “Since when?” Merlin gasped, noticing the wire around her ankle. ZIP! The wire tightened, hanging her to the tree from one leg.

“ARA!” Merlin cried, trying to keep her robe upright. “Just joking!” She let go, and her robe didn’t flip.

Alcott stared at them with a wry smile, “Merlin, don’t abuse them too much,”

Merlin looked at him with a smile, “Ara! They are abusing me,”

SWOSH! An arrow approached Merlin’s head, so she waved her body to the side to dodge it.

“Hora! Sora!” she said with a smile, wiggling from right to left, dodging Aella’s arrows.

“Hehe!” Merlin smiled, hitting Jack’s wire with her heel and cutting it. Thud! She fell to the ground, standing on one leg. She then pointed her staff at Aella, “How about this?”

Green veins rose from the ground, tying Aella and taking her bow.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Arad engulfed his fists in flame, rushing forward toward Merlin.

Merlin spread her arms, “Come here. I will hug you!”

KA-DON! Arad swung his fist at her with a blazing explosion. TAP! Merlin slapped his fist away without effort, “Hehe,” her giggles only served to anger him more.

KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON! KA-DON!

Arad started swinging a barrage of fists and kicks at her, which she easily deflected with a smile.

“I’m a wizard, you know? I’m supposed to be weakest at melee combat,” Merlin smiled, grabbing Arad’s hands and stepping on one of his feet with her heels, “Let me show you how to swing a fist,”

Thud! CLAP! BAM! Merlin pulled Arad’s hands together, headbutting him in the face before kicking him the jewels, twisting his shoulder, sending two liver shots, and finishing with a punch to the nose.

GRRR! Arad stood solid, unfazed by her attacks, as his eyes flashed red. With his face, he pushed her fist away, “And you lack strength,” He immediately hugged her. “Two birds with one stone,” He said, his body igniting with Flame cloak

“KYA!” Merlin screamed as her body burned.

“Just kidding,” She appeared behind him, pointing her wand at his back, “That was a clone,” Arad found himself hugging a goblin’s corpse.

BAM! She blasted him toward the trees.

Thud! Merida appeared behind Merlin, swinging her long blade. SWOSH! SWOSH!

Merlin weaved between the attacks as if they were nothing, smiling, “Hera! You’re quick!” She smiled.

“How could a wizard move like this?” Merida growled, swinging faster but to no avail. It was like Merlin knew all her attacks.

“Let’s say. I had a bad experience in the past since I couldn’t dodge.” Merlin deflected Merida’s blade with her small wooden wand.

Thud! Aella joined in, swinging her dagger at her. “Ora!” Merlin leaped back, “Die!”

With Aella and Merida swinging simultaneously, it was six attacks per second at Merlin, but even with that, she had no problem dodging. “I’m starting to sweat a bit,” Merlin smiled, leaping into the sky.

Aella and Merida waited for her to fall, but the woman started running on air like it was nothing.

“Catch me if you can!” Merlin laughed.

Ginger sighed in the back, “That’s Alina’s archmage. She isn’t even taking you seriously.”

CLING! A fish hook flew from the forest, catching on Merlin’s clothes. “What’s this?” She looked at her back.

Jack smiled, handing the wire to Arad, “Here you go, chief!”

CRACK! Arad wrapped his legs around a tree so he won’t be pulled up and started pulling her down. “Come down so I can burn you to ash.” He growled.

Merlin looked at him with a smile, “You could have only asked me,” Merlin flew directly toward Arad, relieving the stress on the string and causing him to hit his head on the tree.

Arad immediately recovered, standing up and swinging a fist at Merlin. CLING! With a single swing from her staff, his flames faded. “What’s an ugly spell? As if Amber taught you and then attempted to sculpt the magic yourself,” She sighed, throwing Arad on the ground.

Arad immediately stood, swinging a fiery kick at her.

“STOP!” Merlin said, smiling, touching Arad with her staff and paralyzing him, “I also feel that you are holding back. Your flames can get hotter, can’t they?”

Merlin dragged him toward the camp, lifting her hand up, “I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m running out of MP, and too much stress will only cause me wrinkles.” She then put Arad beside the flame. “I can teach you how to cast magic like a master. Care to be my student?”

“No,” Arad replied as soon as she released him.

Merlin sighed, “Do you know that I have ten boxes of studentship requests collecting dust?”

“I don’t care about how much people want you,” Arad looked away, ^You’re too dangerous to stay around,^

Merlin seemed to think momentarily, “Can we talk in private? I can even let you touch them,” she squeezed her chest.

CRACK! Aella caught her by the back of her neck, “What did you say,”

Merlin pointed her want back, “Here you go,” With a flashing light, she turned Aella into a small frog. Lifting her and putting in her chest, “This can be you!” She looked at Arad.

KA-DON! He swung a firey fist at her, but she deflected it. “No use,” Merlin sighed, putting Aella on the ground and turning her back. “I was sure you’ve been staring at my chest for a while,”

“Stop spitting nonsense,” Arad growled at her while checking on Aella.

Found her weakness. She has three.

^What are they?^

^As I said before, you can knock her with lightning magic if you touch her. The second one is that she can’t cast two spells simultaneously. Her barrier won’t activate mid-casting. And as Jack said, she can’t find an attack that she doesn’t know of,

^Her interest in me will only increase if I used lightning. Amber said dual-element sorcerers are rare. I don’t think I can sneak on her, and she’s too skilled to be caught in the middle of casting.^

Let’s attack her in her sleep,

^That’s an assault! I will find a way to hit her now.^ Arad thought a bit, ^I will ask to touch her chest. And then rip it off,^

That’s more of an assault than my idea.

Merlin stared at Arad, “You look a bit confused. Are you okay?” she smiled.

“That’s none of your business.” Arad sighed, sitting beside the campfire.

“I believe it’s my business to think of someone trying to attack me,” She glared at Arad.

Aella glared at her, “What are you after?”

Merlin looked at her, “To be honest, nothing. It’s true that I need someone immune to fire to help me build the heater before the winter. That would prevent the commoners living inside the walls from freezing to death.” She sat beside Arad, “People like you are quite rare, and I haven’t seen one after the one named Jeremy.”

? Merida looked at her, “My niece?” ｂｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

“Yeah, I heard of what happened to him. Sorry for your loss,”

Merlin then stared at Arad, “If I needed your help, I would send you a message through the guild. Is that fine with you?”

Arad stared at her, “How much are you paying?”

“Depending on the problem. Even I, the archmage, do need to report the expenses to the city council.” Merlin smiled.

Alcott called Arad, “The city is sponsoring the project, and you might get a low pay if you took gold. Ask her to pay you with spells instead. She can provide those from her own collection,”

“Hey, Alcott! Don’t tell him that!” Merlin stared at him.

“You offered spells earlier. I was listening.” He stared at her, “Arad. Merlin is an expert spell caster and an enchanter. She also has a lot of experience in hand-to-hand combat. You won’t find a lot of people like her.”

Merlin smiled, “Ara! You haven’t praised me for a while,” she stretched her arms, “Is dinner ready yet?”

Merida approached her with a covered plate, “Here is your dinner, lady archmage.” She handed it to her with a bow.

Merlin smiled, “I thought you were trying to kill me earlier, but I like your manners.”

When Merlin opened the plate, she saw two vein-covered white balls. “What is this?”

“Woodland goat boiled testicles!” Merida said with a thumb up.

“You!” Merlin growled, and Aella took the chance to grab her by the arm, smacking her on the ground. CRACK!

Merida and Aella looked back at Ginger, and she gave them a thumbs up. It was her idea.