บท 26: 26 - Corpse and Jack
After the end of the weapons demonstration, Merlin drove back towards the castle in one of the King tigers, as for his want to ride on the new T-54A? That was nonexistent
'The USSR's tanks are way too claustrophobic…'
Though he would definitely consider buying some more tanks from the infamous red army in the further as they were relatively cheap and well-tested designs if one looked past the poor manufacturing some of the early models of some more famous tanks of the red army suffered from
'Right… I should check if the payment has been delivered… Speaking of payment, is that Erik?'
Merlin popped open the hatch before he climbed out onto the turret of the King tiger and looked ahead and saw Erik, the merchant from the Edwardo company who he had escorted to the capital he stood and waited next to a carriage, when he saw Merlin arrive he showed a smile and walked over Merlin as soon as he jumped down from the King tiger and spoke
"I've come to deliver payment as due"
Merlin nodded'
"Let's see it then"
Erik nodded and gestured for Merlin to follow him over to the carriage where he took out a chest and put it on the ground before he opened it, inside was filled with silver coins, Merlin simply nodded and asked Erik
"Do you mind taking a job for me?"
"I would be honored"
"Then deliver this chest and contents to the border city of Jera and make sure all of it gets to the local orphanages"
Erik looked baffled for a few moments before he muttered
"You sure are generous Lord Merlin"
Merlin showed a smile before he shook his head, those very orphanages were likely overfilled due to his actions the last time he was in Jera, he asked Erik
"How much do you want in commission?"
Erik showed a smile
"If it's for the orphanages then I'll do it for free"
"Fine, I won't complain about that, I'll look forwards to our next transaction"
"Me too Lord Merlin"
After saying his goodbyes to Erik Merlin returned to his room, as soon as he stepped into the room however he felt something was wrong, he quickly spotted what was wrong, a girl he didn't know lay on his bed, seemingly asleep, Merlin retrieved the bayonet from his inventory and swung it around in his hand as he spoke as he hid his other hand behind his back, in it was the Colt M1911 he had drawn from the Gatcha when he still was in the wilderness
"You have exactly 10 seconds to tell me why you are here"
The girl shot up from the bed at once before she spoke
"I wasn't sleeping!"
"...Now it's 6 seconds"
"Wait wait wait! I'm here to get you for Jack!"
Merlin cocked the Colt with an audible click as he asked
"Who's Jack?"
"Gregory's captain!"
Merlin looked at the girl for a bit before he sighed and returned the Colt to his inventory, that was his trump card and he wouldn't reveal it to anyone, then he spoke
"Lead the way"
The girl raised a finger and spoke loudly
"First you have to guess why I wasn't sleeping!"
Merlin sighed, he felt that this slightly pale girl was a headache and a half already, then his senses sharpened as he gazed at the girl for a bit, she looked a little embarrassed from being the subject of such an intense gaze, then Merlin realized it, why he had not discovered her presence before he opened the door
"You have no pulse..?"
The girl widened her eyes slightly before she showed a smile and struck a pose
"That's right, I wasn't sleeping because I am eternally sleeping!"
Merlin looked a little disgusted as he muttered
"A talking corpse… Welp, it's not the strangest thing I've seen"
Then he sighed before he raised his right hand that still held the bayonet and asked
"So are you going to lead the way or what?"
"Right-o! This way-o!"
Merlin sighed before he muttered
"Annoying"
The corpse looked visibly hurt
"Geh, that's cruel to call a cute girl as me annoying!"
"Yeah yeah, lead the way already"
"...Sure, just put away the knife"
Merlin showed a smile before he nodded and returned the bayonet to his inventory, then he followed after the corpse that walked out of the room, though just as it opened the door it was stopped by Jane that stood in its way with a smile as she clearly had heard the entire conversion due to her super senses, Jane walked over and gently took Merlin's hand before she stated
"I am coming along"
Merlin felt a certain overbearing pressure from the smile Jane had on her face and nodded, so did the corpse, after walking through a few hallways and secret doors the 3 of them arrived in the underground barracks, Merlin looked around before his eyes centered on a seemingly empty spot as he called out
"I see you"
The sound of clapping sounded out as a middle-aged man appeared, he had greying hair and sharp green eyes, his slender frame gave Merlin the impression of a snake, the snake-like middle-aged man spoke
"My name is Jack, officially I am the captain of the royal guard"
Merlin stroked his chin and looked around the underground barracks before he spoke
"This doesn't seem very official"
Jack nodded
"That's right, unofficially I am the captain of a death squad named '12' we eliminate people for the crown"
Merlin showed a smile and narrowed his eyes slightly, as he did the tanks parked outside the walls started up and silently pointed their barrels towards the castle as they zeroed in on the supporting parts of the castle structure he had identified during his earlier walk
'Now I am kind of glad that mom drilled all that otherwise useless architecture knowledge into me…'
While Jack couldn't see the tanks, he noticed Merlin's eerie calm as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand, then he nodded approvingly as the faint amount of bloodlust he had been leaking fainted like dew in the morning sunlight, Jack of course also felt the not-so-faint bloodlust coming from Jane that stood next to Merlin, so he decided to give up testing Merlin for now and picked something up from a nearby table and handed it to Merlin, Merlin opened the small case and found a monster core inside, a grade 5 one, he showed a smile and put it into his inventory and added it to the incomplete blueprint
[Ding! Grade 5 magic beast core added, final part of the blueprint revealed! View now?]
'Yes…'
[Ding! The final part of the incomplete android Mk 2 upgrade blueprint revealed: 1 x watcher eye]
"What the fuck is a Watcher…"
Both the corpse and Jack heard Merlin's mutter, the corpse raised its hand before it spoke
"A Watcher is a grade 2 magic beast that's found in urban areas"
"I need the eye of a Watcher"
"For what?"
"God if I knew, basically the ----- gives me quests, wait… S… ------"
Merlin tried to speak the word 'system' out loud, but no sound left his mouth, then came a notification from the system
[Ding! Revealing the presence of the system will result in punishments, the user is asked to keep his mortal mouth shut and simply act out his part]
Merlin felt a chill from the monotone voice of the system as the blood drained from his face before he felt weak and wobbled before he sat down on a chair, then he felt his heart slowly being squeezed by an invisible hand, Jane touched his forehead and called out to him in concern
"Merlin, what's wrong?"
Merlin felt the invisible hand carcass his heart ever so softly for a few moments before the sensation disappeared again the next moment, he hurriedly made up an excuse
"I am fine, I'm just a little anemic… Anyways I need the eyeball of a Watcher, can you help me out?"
Jack looked over at the corpse before the corpse asked
"Why are you looking at me, Jack?"
"Well you always have weird things laying around"
"What! Take that back! Well, I should have a couple of Watcher eyeballs laying around, one moment, I'll go get them…"
The corpse walked further into the underground barracks and soon returned with a large glass jar field with a clear liquid where around ten eyeballs floated around, then it reached its hand into the jar and retrieved an eyeball the size of a golf ball and handed it to Merlin
"Here"
Merlin hesitated for a moment before he took the eyeball and sent it into his inventory at once, then the monotone voice of the system sounded out
[Ding! Blueprint complete! Appling upgrades to humanoid android crews..."
Merlin waited for a few moments before a splitting headache hit him as the voice of the system sounded out again
[Ding! User's brain and extended nervous system is currently undergoing an upgrade, please brace]
Then Merlin's vision went white before he passed out...
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