Merlin took a sip of red wine, "I must admit that Roland is better than me in thinking about humanity, some people are born leaders, they have incomparable personal charisma, they can always use various methods to unite the people around them, without him there would be no humans and magicians now." ”

"But the magic comes first. Rob Evangelism.

The fox masked man waved his hand, "That's true, but at that time I was actually just using magic as a fun toy, well, it's the kind of thing that you will hide from adults and secretly play, in my eyes magic and building blocks are not much different, after mastering a few magic, I mainly use them to play pranks, play tricks on those I don't like, look at their shocked expressions, until Roland joined, the situation changed, it was he who turned magic from a toy into a weapon." ”

"He was young, smart, energetic and ambitious. Merlin paused, "I've heard what your teacher said about you, Steines said that you are the second Roland, I used to be very curious, I thought I would see his shadow in you, after all, he has been dead for hundreds of years, to be honest, I sometimes miss him a little, but it wasn't until I saw you that I realized that you are not the same." ”

"Throughout the history of magic, no one has surpassed Roland's predecessors. Rob said calmly.

"No, you misunderstood me. Merlin shook his head, "I'm not talking about talent, Merlin is probably the most talented magician I've ever met, but I still have to say that your talent is not worse than him - the magic network, in Roland's original conception, should be something that would only appear five hundred years later, when he only had a hazy conjecture, but you turned it into reality, you both have a kind of insight beyond the times, in a sense, this can indeed be regarded as a common denominator, but the most interesting thing is that you are two completely different people." ”

"Oh?"

"Roland was a natural leader, he seemed to have been born with great ambitions, he dedicated his life to the great cause of the rise of humanity, he has countless followers, and your teachers and the guys on the council are probably using him as a model to train you, but now it seems that they have not been able to do so. The Fox Masked Man smiled, "You never wanted to be like Roland, did you? If it weren't for the events in Seta City, you wouldn't even want to go back into the public eye, why, you, who have been designated as the future patron saint of the human race since childhood, obviously have a talent and status comparable to Roland, but you are willing to give up all this, do you really just want to spend your life quietly with that Breton girl in some small corner of the world?"

Merlin seemed particularly interested in the question, and for this reason he even put down his glass and pricked up his ears.

Rob was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Everyone yearns for a different life, rather than being a totem to be admired, I want to be an ordinary person of flesh and blood, and grow old with the person I like, even if no one cares about us, it doesn't matter, because with her I already have the whole world." ”

"Is that your answer?" the fox masked man was amazed. I probably wouldn't believe it if anyone else said that, whether it's the Wizards' Guild or the nobles, who have been searching for my whereabouts all these years because they want to get the mystery of eternal life from me, but when we first met, I promised to do one thing for you, and now that you already know my identity, you can ask me for this secret, but you ended up using this request to help the girl in exchange for the whereabouts of Mama Teresa, and it was the first time I met someone who could resist the temptation of eternal life. ”

"A friend and elder whom I respect told me that it is precisely because of the existence of death that we can understand the meaning of life, strive to live every day, cherish every minute, and do our best to love each other and grow old...... If one day death takes her away, I don't want to be left alone in this empty world. ”

Merlin took off the fox mask on his face, revealing a young man's face, his skin and facial features looked like he was only twenty-six or seventeen years old, except for the vicissitudes of life in his eyes like an old man, "Many people think that eternal life is a blessing, but in fact it is also a curse, you will watch your lover grow old, your child will change from black hair to white hair, and you can only stay on the other side of time forever, and you can do nothing, this is the cruelest thing in the world, it is called the cage of loneliness." ”

Rob was rarely surprised now, but when he saw Merlin's face under the mask, he was momentarily distracted.

Because this face is so familiar, every magician, nay, should say every person in the human world can recognize this face, it is printed on the cover of every magic textbook, and his statue is lined with every magic academy.

"You...... Who the hell are you?!"

"No, I did...... I'm not him, in fact, this face has always bothered me, so I have to wear a mask all the time, you are the first person to see my true face besides Claire, but there is no way, who made that guy so famous, and my brother. ”

Rob was stunned, he didn't expect that Merlin and Roland, the two people who had the greatest influence on the history of human magic, would be a pair of brothers, and he only now understood that the name of the Saint Laurent Brothers Magic Academy was what it literally meant.

"Since you answered my question, I will answer the question you want to know the most in return. Merlin grinned, "If I'm not mistaken, you now have magic on your body, and the secret art also requires three power systems." Realm aside, the growth of mana can be achieved through the accumulation of time, but have you been a little confused recently, why does your understanding of the rules seem to have fallen into a bottleneck? ”

Rob nodded, this is indeed the biggest dilemma he has faced in the recent period, as if the super talent in his body has suddenly failed, he feels that he has reached the end of the road of understanding the rules, this kind of thing has never happened before, his progress has slowed down, except for the continuation of mana, he has hardly gained anything in the past two months, let alone the fusion of the three forces.

"Don't doubt yourself, it's none of your business. Merlin added another half glass of red wine to his wine glass, "You haven't thought about a question, why is there only the ninth order of the strongest professional in the world?"

(End of chapter)