"Here, it's still as tall as it was back then."

Merlin stood on the sea cliff outside the port of mercy, he stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down, these dozens of feet high sea cliff is not an insurmountable height for him now, but for Merlin back then, he risked his life to complete the leap of survival.

"Have you ever jumped from here before? Merlin. ”

Icarus, whose lenses were filled with data and field measurements of the cliff, said to Merlin:

"When you were a normal person?"

"I wasn't an ordinary person back then."

Merlin looked out at the ocean at dusk, the sunset reflected on the horizon was so beautiful, and the seabirds were flying around on the reflecting light, and the ships on the sea made Merlin's vision look so magnificent.

He replied to Icarus:

"I wasn't as good as I am now, but I barely got a little bit stronger, and I was in a bad luck situation, and in order to solve my own problems, I traveled around the land, and I met Bruce, and we arrived together in Port Grace, and then he went to Europe, and then I went from here overnight to Florida, then to Texas, and then back to New York."

"Well, I was so embarrassed."

Merlin stood on the edge of the sea cliff, crossed his waist, reminiscing about the past, and said:

"Giving everything just to get a hope of liberation, and always worrying about whether the ability to lose control will hurt others."

He was silent for a few seconds and said to Icarus:

"But if you think about it, I'm actually facing the same situation now, being trapped in the bureau and not being free, the shackles called responsibility, the burdens that have been given, and the things I have to face... Maybe nothing has changed in the past 14 years. ”

"But you're getting stronger."

Icarus advised:

"You don't have to go along with it like you used to, and you have the right to choose."

"Choosing to throw in the towel? Or choose to obey? ”

Merlin shook his head, he looked at the sea in front of him, listened to the tide lapping at the reef at dusk, and watched the dark red raven's spirit Victor flapping his wings and spreading joy in the air.

He said:

"No, it's not enough, neither of these are what I want. I'm not strong enough to shake fate, and I'm not strong enough to get the best of rewards. ”

He took a deep breath and spread his arms to face the cliff in front of him, his black trench coat hunting behind him as he leaned forward, and with Victor's loud hiss, Merlin's body plummeted in a completely uncontrolled parabola into the sea dozens of feet below.

He felt the wind lapping against his body, he felt the whistling in his ears, he felt the fall getting faster and faster.

He said in a voice that only he could hear:

"I still have to keep going, find my way out of the winding mire..."

"As strong as I am, I am as free."

"Buzz"

The moment before his body touched the cold water, the direction of the gravitational force exerted on him suddenly changed, and he stood on the surface of the water like a feather.

Between the shoes of the feet and the surface of the water, there are slight ripples spreading outward.

Merlin stretched out his hand, and the silver trident pendant fell from his palm and fell into the sea beneath his feet, like a coin falling into the water, and between the flashes of light, it quickly disappeared.

The signal was sent, and Merlin waited patiently, and after nearly 10 minutes, a rapid and pulsing light suddenly jumped on the sea in front of Merlin's eyes, and in the continuous scaling of Icarus's lenses, Merlin could see clearly the creatures rushing under the water.

It was a huge blue seahorse with green scales and a fine saddle and bridles.

Like a real galloping horse on land, this graceful and strange creature carries Vico the undersea man and gallops towards Merlin.

Well, this should be a unique mount of Atlantis, and it is indeed full of regional characteristics.

"Huh"

As he approached Merlin, Vico threw off the reins and leaped from behind the seahorse, breaking through the water before landing in front of Merlin's eyes.

He held the silver trident pendant in his hand, and he didn't have much of a smile on his face.

Vico was still exactly the same as Merlin remembered 14 years ago, he didn't age at all, he was wearing a strange combat uniform, wearing a waist knife like water, he looked at Merlin, his eyes were full of scrutiny.

"What? Don't know me anymore? ”

Merlin spread his hands, smiled, and said to the undersea man in front of him:

"The Atlanteans don't have that bad memory, and I shouldn't be old enough to be unrecognizable, right?"

"I'm just sighing."

Vico looked at Merlin and said:

"That weak young man back then, in just a dozen years, I can also hear your reputation in Atlantis, Merlin... Director, the miracles that you humans can create are sometimes really unreasonable. ”

"I was just an accident, and you can interpret that I was lucky."

Merlin said to Vico:

"We might be able to find a time to talk about what has happened in Atlantis over the years, but not tonight, I'll have to go back to dinner later, and the kids are waiting for me."

"So, Vico, let's cut a long story short."

Merlin looked left and right, stretched out his finger, and cast a magical enchantment around the two of them, and he said to Vico:

"Did you know that in your kingdom of Atlantis, there was a man named Namor?"

"Namor?"

When Vico heard the name, his expression immediately changed, and he looked at Merlin in surprise, and he said:

"Yes, I know him, Namor was not an unknown man in Atlantis, he preached a dangerous and radical idea, and he had a less peaceful group of supporters, but he had been missing for more than a year, and his followers were scattered... At least that's what my intelligence officer told me. ”

"I met him, just a few days ago."

Merlin did not hide his encounter with Namor, he looked at Vico, and he said:

"I heard Namor say that Ovax, the king of your Atlantis kingdom, is in poor health and may die in a few years, Namor said that he also has the right to claim the throne, and he also said that he will not let the throne pass on to Ovax's son... Not Arthur, I mean the tyrant's other son, Orm. ”

"He does have a claim to the throne, and he didn't lie to you about that."

Vico's expression became ugly, and the royal attendant, loyal to the royal family of Atlantis, rubbed his chin, and he said in a deep voice:

"Namor does have a bloodline from King Thakur in his body, which is the supreme bloodline of the Sea Emperor of Atlanta from the First Age, but unfortunately, his lineage and status from her mother are not enough for him to be accepted by his subjects, because he has the other half of his blood from land."

Like an old pedant, Vico said in an old-fashioned tone:

"I know that you landlings have passed the era of feudalism, but our kingdom of Atlantis has its own national conditions here."

"Anyway, I mean, Namor has only a weak claim, and in terms of legitimacy, it's only slightly better than little Arthur's situation, and theoretically, as long as Prince Orm doesn't do anything stupid, Namor can't possibly ascend to the throne."

After saying that, Vico narrowed his eyes, and he looked at Merlin:

"But I suppose that you have come to tell me this news, does it mean that you and the forces behind you are preparing to support Namor to return to Atlantis and compete with Prince Orm for the throne? Are you going to prop up a pro-land king? ”

"No, it's not a good choice, Merlin, and I advise you not to do that."

"I don't care if Namor gets on the throne."

Merlin waved his hand, and he explained to Vico:

"I also have no interest in interfering in the internal affairs of Atlantis, in fact, I only care about one thing."

He held out a finger and said to Vico:

"In the future, after the death of that brutal Ovax, if Namor and Orm break out for the throne, will it affect the underwater kingdom, and then the entire world? I don't want to see Atlantean soldiers rushing out of the ocean to the bottom of the sea and trying to flood the land. ”

"You have to understand, Vico, that the force you have is something that I and my organization must take seriously."

Merlin Says:

"Maybe I'm thinking a little too much, but there is no shortage of precedents for such a thing in history, and the fire at the city gate affected the fish in the pond, and I had to be prepared for it."

"No!"

Vico said to Merlin with certainty:

"In the name of my family, I can assure you that what you feared will not happen."

"Atlantis has an ancient solution to the dispute over the succession to the throne, and in fact, the dispute over the throne is limited to the circle of members of the royal family, and such a thing rarely affects the stability of the country, let alone a civil war."

"And since the end of the First Age, after the arrival of the Great Fall Era, the only four remaining kingdoms of Atlantis have never interfered with the civilization of the land, we have been like this, and we will be like this in the future."

"Okay."

Merlin glanced at Vico, and he said:

"Then I'll trust you, but I'll keep an eye on it. Just as you owe allegiance to your king, I am responsible for my civilization. ”

"I understand."

Vico nodded, and he said to Merlin:

"We all have our own responsibilities."

"So if the matter of the succession of thrones and its implications are important to you as well as to me. I think we should deepen our intelligence sharing. ”

Merlin finally showed his fox tail, and he said to Vico:

"What do you think?"

"I think you're just trying to take this opportunity to plant an eye in the underwater kingdom and expand your gaze to places you've never gone before."

Vico has served as a royal chamberlain for decades, and he is also an out-and-out old fox, and he is very straightforward about Merlin's intentions.

"Well, it does."

Merlin spread his hands and said calmly:

"But I'm sure you also foresee a less peaceful era coming, and I don't think those changes will only happen on land, just imagine, if the underwater kingdom needs help, you and my advance preparation may become the last straw."

"You're just exaggerating a possible future."

Vico crossed his fingers, he stared at Merlin, and he said:

"But you're right, it's always good to prepare in advance. The frequent activities of the Trench Clan over the years, as well as the private connections of the exiles, have outlined a disturbing future, and perhaps there may be few peaceful days left. ”

Vico took a silver bracelet from his wrist and tossed it to Merlin, a delicate, special metal device that looked very advanced, at least much more advanced than the communicators currently used by humans.

"Grab it, and I'll get back to you if there's any problem. Or if you notice something related to the world of Atlantis, you can also use it to contact me. ”

“OK”

Merlin made an OK gesture, and as Vico turned to leave, Merlin suddenly asked:

"Finally, I have a personal question, have you seafarers been in contact with the Asgardians? It is the aliens who inhabit a world called Asgardian God's Domain, the prototype of Norse mythology. ”

"I know who the Asgardians are, and I know where they come from, but in reality, we don't have much connection to them!"

Vico waved his hand without looking back, and said:

"Maybe the undersea kingdom of the First Age had contact with those extraterrestrial visitors, but after the Great Fall, we haven't seen them again."

"The First Age and the Great Fall..."

Merlin Says:

"Namor also said this, this should be the history recorded by your undersea people, it sounds like it represents some past that no one knows on land, can you borrow a few books about it for me? Old friend Vico. ”

"Let's just satisfy a wizard's curiosity."

"Do you like history books?"

Vico was riding on his seahorse, and he said to Merlin beneath the surface of the sea:

"Leave your address, and I'll have Arthur mail it to you."

"Speaking of Arthur..."

Merlin stretched out his hand and drew his wand, and he said:

"Let that kid keep a low profile lately, let him study hard, and in the future be a decent marine biologist or simply a freelance sailor."

"Superheroes this work... There is no future. ”

Nine Heavenly God Emperors