Arthur Pendragon felt that something was wrong with his manservant lately.

Generally speaking, although Merlin seems to be a little dumbfounded, a little slower to work, a little disrespectful to the prince, and has all kinds of magical flat throw skills, there is no doubt that his mental state is still in the range of normal people...... And now, seeing the little valet with a smirk on his face and wiping the same floor over and over again for half an hour, the newly enthroned King of Carmellot could not convince himself that the abnormalities of Merlin these days were all hallucinations of his imagination.

"Merlin." Putting down the quill in his hand, Arthur rolled his eyes with ease, "Wipe the floor of the bedroom like this, are you trying to murder the king?" ”

“…… Oh. ”

Merlin was stunned for a moment as he glanced at the shiny stone bricks under his hand, then changed places with the bucket and continued to giggle.

“……”

Arthur was now absolutely sure that there must be something wrong with this kid.

"Mei-lin-" elongated tones, each note seemingly turning a thousand times in the air. All of Camelot knew that whenever the king called his valet by his name in this tone, it meant that someone was going to be unlucky.

“Yes，sir？” Reflexively stood up, Merlin still had an expression of surprise on his face.

"You'd better be honest with me—" Leaning back in his chair, Arthur crossed his arms around his chest and raised his chin toward the little manservant, "did you go to the tavern with me again, or with some girl in the forest?" ”

"Of course not."

Never figuring out how he could have left Arthur with the impression of 'going to the tavern whenever he has time' and 'going to the girl when he has time', Merlin didn't hesitate at all, and immediately opened his mouth to retort:

"You think I'm as idle as the royal chef every day?"

He was right. As Arthur's personal servant, he had to get up early in the morning every day to make breakfast for the king, serve the king to get up, accompany him to the council hall, train with the knights, clean the room, wash clothes, polish armor, clean the stables, etc.; And as the greatest mage of all, Amoris, he also has to find time to practice magic, put up with the bad temper of some royal fools, and protect Arthur's life from accidentally disappearing...... To be honest, he has been living in Camelot in the past few years more tired than he had in the previous twenty years combined.

For example, he had just been distracted for a few minutes by thinking that there was another boy in the family who was as unusual as him, and Arthur was like a bear that smelled honey, and he was forced to give him a satisfactory explanation...... Although, even if he casually told some lies, the cabbage head with no IQ couldn't hear it.

"Merlin, I think you've been having a good time lately."

Arthur clearly missed the point that Merlin was trying to make. In fact, no matter what they were talking about before, as soon as the words 'royal vegetable head' came out, he would be completely distracted as if he had been stepped on his tail.

Just put your feet on the table. Arthur picked up a silver wine glass and played with it, squinting at his manservant, who would never learn to respect the king:

"My shirt needs to be washed, my chain mail needs to be polished, the room had to be reorganized, and the boots in the corner...... Oh yes, and since you still have time to talk back to me, of course you wouldn't mind brushing the entire Knights' horses by the way, would you? ”

“……”

Completely speechless. The mage was absolutely confident that if he dared to say half a word, Arthur would let the cup in his hand come into close contact with his head.

- His fate is twisted enough, and there is no need to add the item of 'being smashed into a fool by his own Destenny'.

Obediently turning around with a pile of dirty clothes, Merlin rolled his eyes at the ceiling in a vague way. The moment he stepped out of the door, he skilfully ducked to the side, just in time to watch a silver plate fly out of his cheek and hit the wall across the corridor with a 'clang'.

"Remember to bring me dinner on time."

Behind him, the smug King added lazily.

"I'd rather forget about it." With the wind coming from afar, the last note of the manservant, Merlin apparently snorted from his nose:

"There's no room for a hole in your belt, Mylord."

Arthur: "......" hehe.

So, when West heard the movement and looked up, the first thing he saw was not a living person, but a large mess of 'rags' that stumbled through the door.

His eyes twitched unconsciously, and he caught a glimpse of the familiar brown boots under the clutter, and the bright saliva pockets that loomed brightly. He sighed silently, and with a swipe of his hand, he floated all the stuff in Merlin's arms that was about to bury him.

"Bring this work home again, Gaius hasn't swept you out yet?"

Counted a few pieces of chain mail in mid-air that were so dirty that they couldn't be seen in their original form, as well as small knick-knacks like clothes, boots, rags, and so on. West turned from the window and watched as the boy grabbed the berries on the table and took a big bite, his eyes full of smiles that he didn't even know about.

"It's easy to use magic when you get it back." Muttering something vaguely, Merlin waved his hand in the air with the fruit, his brows furrowed:

"Arthur always gave me so much work that I couldn't do without magic. Casting spells in the palace was easy for others to find out, so I had to quietly bring them back. ”

"Is that so?" Shaking his head with a smile, West snapped his fingers, and the pile of clothes in mid-air that urgently needed to be cleaned by the mage seemed to be conscious, neatly stacked on the table: "But it's actually easy to be found at home, right?" After all, there are not a few people who come to Gaius every day, and most of them don't have the habit of knocking on doors. ”

Just like the other day when he was still in bed to recuperate, the Gaowen knight who pushed the door in without saying a word. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't have any ill will from the brain waves, and Merlin had returned just in time, the two of them might have had to fight in Gaius's cabin.

"Ahem...... Gao Wen is usually like that, he is used to it, don't mind. Obviously knowing what the boy remembered, Merlin secretly bent the corners of his mouth, and stared at West with a pair of big wet eyes, full of anticipation:

"What's more, isn't there still you? Whoever comes close to this place will remind me to take back my magic in time, right? ”

“…… That's just as well. ”

The heart said that I have only been here for a few days, and you have already learned how to call me. West shrugged helplessly, but he wasn't annoyed. Instead, a chair was dragged from the corner, and the black-haired mage watched as he happily chanted the incantation, dutifully acting as his humanoid siren.

Satisfied watched the young man obediently stand by the side, showing that he would toss as he wanted. Merlin walked around the area between the clothes that had begun to wash automatically, clearly feeling a sense of accomplishment for his work.

At that time, more than half a month had passed since the mage had retrieved a half-dead 'hermit' in the forest. With his own powerful recovery power and the careful care of the healer, West was already able to get out of bed and continue to plague the world. And since the first in-depth search of memories, West, who understood what kind of era it was, quickly established a very harmonious friendship with Merlin - for the boy, the history here was obviously very different from the Arthurian stories he had read, and a mage who concealed his identity and served as a valet for the king was indeed quite interesting; As for Merlin, while West denies that he knows magic, the strange ability is undoubtedly as unique as his own. And sometimes, it's really exciting to have a companion who knows what he really is capable of, and who can also do what others can't, at the very least, you know that you are not the only outlier in this world, who can stand at the same angle as you, look down on the world with the same eyes, and no longer feel an indescribable loneliness as before.

After experiencing the magic of being teleported by people's hearts that day, and listening to West's grunting about a lot of things like "mutants" and "superpowers" that he didn't understand, Merlin also had a general understanding of the teenager he picked up. He didn't quite know exactly where he came from, but he didn't reject, or even hoped that West would stay here, at Camelot. And because he didn't know how he fell into this timeline, and he wasn't sure if using the time ability would cause any permanent and irreversible effects on his body, West didn't seem ready to leave for the time being. So the two of them worked with Gaius and declared that West was a relative of Merlin, but when he came to visit Camelot, he was favored by the court physician, so he stayed behind to fight him.

"Looks like I'm going to have another son again."

Because Merlin's arrival had taken over the only storage room in the hut, West had to live with the boy. Gaius sighed and brought in a bed and squeezed into the room where there was nowhere left, and some worries that the cost of living would have to be doubled in the future.

"Although I am nominally a physician's apprentice, I spend my time serving Arthur. Gaius really needed someone to help him. ”

I am very satisfied with this arrangement. Merlin didn't complain about having another big person stuffed in his house, but was glad that someone could help him at work...... This way, Gaius doesn't have to ask him to wash the pot when he comes home from exhaustion.

And West clearly didn't disappoint them. After being told by thousands of times that he must not use his abilities in front of people, he really acted like an ordinary teenager, carrying a backpack every day to follow Gaius back and forth between the various households in Camelot, and occasionally when it was not useful, he would also take the initiative to go to the forest to help pick herbs or something--the berries in Merlin's mouth just now were his achievements in the morning--after living for so many years, it was not without experience of surviving alone in the wilderness, and this little thing was obviously not difficult for him.

"What are you going to do later, Serena Williams?"

It is estimated that he has brought himself into the identity of "West's relative". Merlin slapped the young man who didn't know what he was thinking in a daze, without the slightest awakening of a seriously injured patient who had just recovered from a disease, and the nickname was quite smooth.

"Huh? Probably to see if Gaius needed help. ”

was a little stunned by the shooting, and didn't react for a while, West subconsciously spoke:

"He's supposed to finish the potions, and I'll be in charge of getting them to the people who need them...... Well, it seems like he wants me to brush his leech tank? ”

“…… Seriously, it's not a fun job. ”

Probably remembering what had happened to him, Merlin's shoulders trembled visibly. Although he was indeed trying to express his sympathy, West still felt that the expression on this kid's face still looked like schadenfreude.

Raising an eyebrow, he stretched out a finger and tapped at the corner of his forehead menacingly. He watched the boy's face collapse instantly, raised his hand to signal his surrender, and a smile quietly crossed his blue eyes: "This looks like you have such a good experience...... Before I came, you must have been going crazy, right? ”

"Not really."

'Oa' ran into his little room, took his and West's clothes out and threw them into the cleansing magic. Merlin casually agreed, picked up two more fruits from the table, and threw them into the boy's arms.

"Anyway, don't come back too late. I'll be back when I'm done bringing dinner to Arthur and I'll cook for you...... I know you think Gaius is only good at making potions. ”

Merlin's words ended with a very subtle pause. The corners of West's mouth twitched, apparently knowing that the boy must have thought of the first time he tried the old doctor's soup—though he had tried hard not to spit it out, anyone who saw his expression distorted to the point of incomprehension should know what the hidden evaluation of the bowl of soup was.

- Anyway, at the end of the day, Gaius really didn't say a word to West.

"It's May Day in a few days, and the palace should be very busy. Arthur is going to have a dinner party, and I think you're going to love it. ”

Reciting the incantation silently, in an instant, the piles of clothes and chain mail were automatically folded and stacked neatly in the air. The black-haired mage picked up the results of his afternoon, winked at West, and hurried out of the room for his next job.

- To be honest, it's a lot easier to have Merlin doing the housework.

Looking around, the boy had cleaned up the house with magic before leaving. West touched his chin and remembered that Xavier Manor, which had to be cleaned by many hourly workers every month, would save him a lot of trouble if he could keep a Merlin at home.

"Almighty ** teacher, ......"

smiled and sighed with emotion. The 'hermit' under the fence shrugged, and then picked up the shoulder bag hanging by the window. After all, no matter what, mutants also have to eat, and in order for Gaius not to sweep himself out of the house one day, he had to accept his fate to help the doctor do some chores.

……

…………

At the same time, somewhere in the border forest of Carmellot.

In the dimly lit hut, a candle that was about to burn out flickered, and a small dim silhouette was reflected on the ground. At the humble wooden table, the once spirited Queen Camelot sat quietly, raising her eyes to look at the man standing uneasily in front of her, her pupils full of endless coldness and evil.

"The best assassin among the Saxons, huh?"

Playing with the delicate dagger in her hand, Mojana smiled casually, and lowered her voice very softly: "I want you to kill Arthur Pendragon, can you do it?" ”

"Absolutely." As if smiling, the man leaned over and saluted, burying his head very low, but it was not difficult to hear the imperative in his tone, "As long as it is what you order, I will do it at all." ”

"Very well, let's do it at the May Day dinner...... As long as Arthur dies, I will be Camelot's only rightful heir. ”

He stood up, his eyes full of sharp viciousness and madness. She paced a few steps in the cramped cabin, as if suddenly remembering something, and stopped in front of the man again.

"Remember, if possible, kill the valet Merlin at Arthur's side. For some reason, because of that kid, our plans always fell through when it mattered. ”

“…… I know. ”

A little cold sweat oozed from his forehead, and a trace of panic flashed in the man's eyes. Straightening up, he hesitated, but finally spoke cautiously: "But, Merlin? ”

"He was Gaius's apprentice. If you don't find Arthur, be sure to follow Gaius. Raising her chin, Mo Jiana said lightly:

"Since they are all about killing, let's kill all possible threats together...... If you can't, you don't have to come back. ”

“…… Yes，mylady。 ”