The old woman quickly realized she had spoken words she was not meant to.
She had blabbered, thinking the cat was out of the bag already, but she had been wrong.
"L-Let's go back. This feels like just another di-dirty trick of Isaac."
Zara grabbed Merlin's hand and tried to pull him away.
But Merlin remained rooted on the spot.
He didn't look at Zara nor the old woman. His gaze was fixed at Isaac.
"The potioneer is lying. If this was the truth, Zara would not be so afraid of you. Her fear is not acting. I can say that much with confidence."
"She did something stupid, and the result scarred her. Wouldn't you say that makes sense?"
"Stupid…? Is that how you talk about someone's trauma—"
"Stop shouting at the wrong person. I'm the one who should be angry for nearly having my life destroyed for something I did not do."
Merlin clenched his teeth, hearing those words.
He turned his head and looked at Zara.
The words he was going to say were something he did not wish to say. He knew how wrong it was to say them to a victim of an incident like the one Zara went through.
But he had to confirm.
"Zara, do you know that old woman?"
"N— No, I—"
Zara shook her head.
Merlin's face grew colder.
He was not stupid enough to notice an obvious lie.
"Did you spike Isaac's drink with Lust Potion?"
"I…"
"Did you do it?"
"…"
"Answer me, Zara."
"…"
"Zara."
"H-He would've done it in the future either way. He always stared at me with a creepy gaze, and he made rude remarks."
"…"
This time, it was Merlin who fell silent.
Zara felt her stomach drop when she saw his changing expression. Shock, betrayal, regret, anger.
She forced herself to speak, unable to bear the thought of Merlin hating her.
"I didn't want to do it. But this was the only way to break the marriage. Sob, sob, trust me, Merlin. I—"
Tears began to fall through her eyes. But Merlin didn't console her.
Zara gave excuses desperately, but each word only made Merlin's face darker.
He turned to the Zara's knight in the end.
"Take her back. Her condition is going to relapse at this rate."
"Me-Merlin, listen to me—"
"Go back for now."
Merlin pried the hand that was desperately trying to hold him, and apologize. Zara began to cry loudly.
The knight took her away, forcefully as she tried to cling to Merlin.
Isaac didn't spare Zara another glance, and looked at the knight who had brought the potioneer.
"You, take that old hag to Merlin's room. He will bring her along to Duke Falcon when he goes to their estate."
The knight, confused by Isaac's words, gave an awkward nod, and left. The knight was too stunned by what he had seen, but he knew this was not his place to say anything.
After only Hazen, Isaac, and Merlin were left in the room, the protagonist faced Isaac.
There was guilt in his eyes, and he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly as if unable to choose his next words.
"Apologize for trying to kill me already. How long are you going to make me wait?"
"You knew?"
Merlin's eyes widened.
"If you fire seven Ignis Spears at someone who hasn't awakened, anyone can tell you are trying to kill them."
"Oh."
Merlin nodded, as if noticing the fact only now.
Isaac went back to his desk and began to rummage, searching for the hidden 110 Gold Coins. He needed that money.
As he searched, he spoke, "Well, I know you are not going to apologize, so—"
"I'm sorry."
Isaac stopped rummaging through the goods and turned around. There was faint surprise in his gaze.
The narcissist, self-righteous, and arrogant protagonist apologized?
Isaac had been prepared to hear something like [Zara was wrong, but we couldn't trust you due to your past behavior. Our lack of trust is your fault.]
'I guess his personality is different now that this is a real world.'
Isaac went back to rummaging for gold coins.
"Go and deal with Duke Falcon. Tell him the truth and stop the assassination."
Merlin nodded. He was surprised Isaac knew about the assassination, but he didn't question him this time.
As for following Isaac's words, he was planning to do that even if Isaac didn't ask for it.
Silence appeared in the room.
While Isaac searched for gold coins, countless thoughts passed through his head.
'Now the immediate threat on my life is gone.'
'I don't need to waste my time on running away, and I can focus on training.'
Getting stronger needed resources, enlightenment, techniques.
He had enlightenment, and techniques from his past life.
He needed resources.
By using resources, he could shorten the time needed to get stronger.
'In my last, I needed fifty years to reach Awakened (Intermediate) in Magic Core, and First Layer (Intermediate) in Weapon Element.'
'This time, I will reach that realm in ten— no, five years.'
With his knowledge and experience, reaching such a high realm in just five years was possible.
Even if it wasn't, Isaac would make it possible.
Isaac didn't realize he was gritting his teeth in anger.
The sole reason for the existence of his goal was to kill the person who reversed time.
Barely suppressing the anger seeping into his voice, he spoke, "Merlin."
"Yes?"
"Do you know about a God who can control time?"
"What?"
Merlin frowned.
Isaac understood his confusion. He had asked a weird question suddenly.
Coupled with the fact he knew about Zara's ploy, and Duke Falcon's assassination plan, Isaac surely looked suspicious.
But Isaac couldn't care less about that right now. He needed answers.
And…
'It doesn't matter even if he is suspicious.'
'When I die, time would reverse, and he would forget everything anyway.'
That thought strangely stung him. it reminded him Sylvie must have forgotten him too.
He suppressed those feelings as quickly as they rose. He couldn't let anything weaken his resolve.
"A God who can control time?" Merlin had a thoughtful expression. "Isn't that just a fairytale?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, because for a God like that to exist, Time Element would be needed. But Time element doesn't exist. Since no one can control Time, a God of Time cannot exist."
Isaac froze.
He turned back to look at Merlin.
"Time Element doesn't exist…?"
"Yes."
Isaac couldn't understand how this was possible. There was a Time Element in the novel—
'No. I have confirmed this world is similar to the game, not the novel.'
'Maybe there was no Time Element in the game due to balancing.'
This didn't make sense. If there was no God of Time, how could someone reverse time?
Was Merlin lying?
'No. It would be easy to confirm if Time Element exists, or not. I would just need to visit the library. Merlin wouldn't be stupid enough to lie about something so obvious.'
Isaac gritted his teeth.
He had one lead to follow and catch his enemy, and now he had lost it.
He took deep breath and calmed himself.
Right now, he needed to focus on getting stronger.
As long as he grew stronger, more paths would open up before him. Paths that would allow him to search for his enemy.
There were things only powerful people could do, after all.
After making his decision, he spoke, "For the duel's reward, I want you to create something for me."
"You don't need to use your reward for the duel for this. I will do it regardless."
"What?"
For the third time, Isaac turned back to look at Merlin, stopping his rummaging.
"I… want to apologize for trying to kill you. I know just creating something you is not enough. But I hope it will be at least a step in repenting for what I did."
Isaac had a strange expression.
"So, you are okay with doing free labor?"
"…Huh?"
"For my reward, I was going to have you create something for me for free. Creating what I want would require extensive labor. I was not going to pay you a single penny for it."
Merlin had tried to kill Isaac, even if he was being misled. Isaac was going to work him to the bone to make him repay for that.
"W-Well, I still stand by what I said," Merlin said. Although it was weird how Isaac talked about labor—as if the work was going to take a lot of time—Merlin could still handle it. 'At most, it would take a week. I should do at least this much.'
"Alright then, you can leave. I will draw the design of what I need by tonight. Come back then."
…
Merlin's POV
Merlin left Isaac's room and let out a sigh.
'I almost killed an innocent person.'
There was a high chance Isaac was a reincarnator like him. Still, it didn't reduce his regret. He had nearly killed someone for wrong reasons.
All because he was fooled by Zara.
Merlin's feet halted.
He was planning to go towards the road to take a carriage for Duke Falcon's estate.
But for a moment, he hesitated.
'Should I go talk with Zara?'
Zara had been in the wrong. There was no doubt about it.
But she was also scarred by the incident.
She likely thought she could break the engagement if she spiked Isaac's drink with Lust Potion, but what happened after was not something she could have prepared herself for.
The incident scarred her, and gave her trauma.
Her actions were stupid.
But children were stupid.
'If I leave her now, her mental condition would deteriorate.'
Instead of punishing Zara, he needed to help her change for the better.
A sigh escaped his lips, and his feet turned towards Zara's room.
…
Isaac's POV
"Take this money, and bring me a Griffin's Heart."
"Understood, Young Master."
If Hazel, his fox-kin maid, was confused why he suddenly needed a Griffin's heart, she didn't show it on her face.
Isaac could tell she had countless questions. How did Isaac know he was being framed? Why hadn't he told anyone until now that he was innocent? How did he know about assassination attempts?
…Did he know she was feeding information to Merlin about him?
But those questions didn't matter to Isaac.
He waited for several hours, and took the Griffin's heart Hazel brought back.
"Leave the room, and don't let anyone enter for the next three hours."
"Understood, Young Master."
After she left, Isaac opened the box. The Griffin's heart was encased in a glass cube.
He opened the cube, and took a bite of the heart.
Griffin's heart wasn't actually its heart. It was the refined Mana Core of Griffin. Eating it would allow one to gain huge amount of pure mana.
The amount of mana was so large that it would cause one's body to burst. As such, Griffin's heart was mostly used to power artifacts, or array formations.
Overwhelming amount of mana entered Isaac's body.
His muscles began to spasm. His five senses went haywire. Colors began to sing, and he could taste noises.
He took deep breaths, holding back the urge to puke, and used Mana Breathing Technique.
Humans, by nature, could not absorb mana from the air. They could only gain processed mana present in food items.
On other hands, monsters could absorb mana through their skin, and elves could absorb mana through air by breathing.
In his last life, Isaac had studied countless records in the royal elven library, and built a Mana Breathing Technique.
It allowed him to breath and absorb ambient mana.
He used the technique now.
Ambient Mana entered his body, slowly moving towards the location where his Magic Core needed to be.
The huge amount of Mana gained from Griffin's heart followed the ambient mana he was breathing in.
He gathered both types of Mana and compressed them. Hours passed.
Finally, something cracked inside Isaac, like a glass shattering. His Existence was elevated. All the mana in his body was suddenly sucked into a point, and then it bloomed, forming a Magic Core.
[Rank: Unawakened → Awakened (Beginner)]
He opened his eyes, and exhaled white mist.
He continued using Mana Breathing and stood up, clenching his fists.
"I've finally awakened. Now, I should be able to use my Element properly."
He moved to the corner of the room where his sword was, and picked it up.
During the duel, he had used Mana Breathing Technique to temporarily use ambient mana to power his Weapon Element
Such a method had a short duration.
But now, he could use his Weapon Element without worrying about things like time limit.
"I'm Awakened (Beginner) in Magic Core, and First Layer (Beginner) in Weapon Element.
"My Magic Core will slowly gain more mana through the Mana Breathing Technique. I can also speed up the process by using resources.
"So ranking up my Magic Core now only needs time and money.
"For Element, I need training. My body can be strengthened somewhat with Weapon Element already, so I'm close to First Layer (Intermediate). If everything goes well, I should reach it within one year."
That speed was extremely fast.
To compare, all academy students were currently Awakened (Beginner) in Magic Core and First Layer (Beginner) in one Element.
Most of them would stay at this level for at least ten years.
Only a few prodigies could reach First Layer (Intermediate) in two or three years.
These prodigies usually awakened their Magic Core around the age of ten.
That meant they trained for roughly ten years before reaching First Layer (Intermediate).
Isaac only needed one year to reach the same level.
Moreover, First Layer (Intermediate) was the point where most people hit their limit.
They would never rank up again.
These people would be given the title of [Knight] by the kingdom.
They could join the Royal Knights or become Court Mages.
Those who broke past their limits and reached Awakened (Intermediate) in Magic Core and First Layer (Intermediate) in one Element would be granted the status of [Nobles].
This was the level Isaac had reached in his previous life.
As for those who reached Awakened (Advanced) or First Layer (Advanced), they stood at the peak of humanity.
Only ten such people existed.
They were known as the [Ten Stars].
Isaac's father, Duke Wright, was one of them.