Looking at the sight before her, Merlin tried to hold back a laugh.
"Looks like you had a tough time, Kay." She said to Kay who was sitting exhausted on a pile of soldiers, all of them being knocked out, but he slowly shook his head.
"Not really, compared to the old man, they weren't as strong or skilled as him… But even for me, I guess fighting against a large number of people like now is quite tiring."
"You say that but you did get some hits. But despite this, you didn't even use that power you used yesterday. As expected, you must be quite a monster." Merlin said as she approached Kay before poking him in the cheeks, the boy seemingly being too tired to push her back. And as she watched him closely, she could only stare at him in wonder.
'But still, this is quite interesting. Compared to when the brawl started, he seems to be on a different level. As he continued to fight, his moves started to become sharper and more fluid, it was as if he was getting stronger and stronger the more he fought. I suppose everything can be attributed to his immense talents, although his prowess at hand-to-hand combat is nothing compared to the skills he showed yesterday with a sword.'
"How long are you going to keep poking my cheek?"
As she heard Kay speak up, snapping her out of her thoughts, she saw him looking at her with a frown which made her want to tease him.
"Well, I wanted to get a rise out of you so I thought of continuing doing this until you decided to react, but unexpectedly, your cheek is quite soft to the touch so I'll keep poking it until you push me away... But again, I can't see you doing this given how tired you are."
"Is that so?" Kay said as he started to raise his hand, making Merlin's eyes sparkling with anticipation but she was disappointed when he just let out a sigh and brought his hand down without doing anything.
"Then do what you want... Just don't forget, I'll make you pay back everything you're doing to me later, interest included."
Hearing this, she perked herself up before she hugged Kay from behind, pushing her body against his small back.
"Oh? Now, I'm getting curious. What do you have planned for me?"
"That's a secret."
"Hey, don't tease your elder like that, you kinky boy!"
"I deeply apologize for my words, Grandmother."
"Who are you calling grandma?! Call me big sis!" She shouted as she started to pinch Kay's cheeks before she blinked when she felt a pair of hands touching her own cheeks.
"An eye for an eye... a cheek for a cheek!"
And without hesitation, Kay started to pull on them, making her wince in pain.
"Ouch! Let go! You're stretching them, you're stretching them!"
"Then how about you let go of min--Argh! Who told you to pull them harder!"
And as they struggled against each other, Merlin let out a small smile as she stared at Kay's teary expression on his face.
'As expected, I can't feed from his emotions anymore... Just what happened last night?' She thought as she started to reminisce about the day she first saw Kay with her Clairvoyance.
'I was really surprised when I couldn't see him properly, his body and face being blurry in my vision even though there wasn't a single hint of Magecraft being used on him. It was the same for his dreams, even though I could enter them with some effort on my part, something which had never happened once, I couldn't see everything as his dreams were always filled with haze, hiding most of the details I could get from them. But the more surprising were the emotions I fed from him as it was both hard for me to feed on them, and even more, getting them all wrong. When I thought that he was horny for my body, he was pissed off. And when he was pissed off, he was playful. Really, I've never met someone as intriguing as him.'
Then, a clap of hands were heard, making both Merlin and Kay blink their eyes before they turned in their direction where they saw Uther and Morgan looking at them with an amused expression on their face while Ector, who was by their side, looked at them with empty eyes.
"We came to see how things were going on here, but I didn't expect to see you two flirting, sitting on top of my soldiers."
"Oh, hum… I apologize for the shameful display, your lordship."
"Don't worry about it. It's not often I get to see Merlin being teased like that, given how she's always the perpetrator. That aside, I can see that everything went just like I expected. Now, just as I proclaimed in the throne room, you are now granted the title of knight, Kay. Do you have anything to say to that?" Uther asked as he looked at Kay who shook his head before he knelt on his knee, despite still being on a body and having his cheeks stretched by Merlin.
"No, your lordship. I will wear that title you gave me with pride."
"Good. Now that everything is settled, come with me. I shall reward you with a weapon of your choice from the castle's armory."
"Are you sure about this, my king? Wouldn't the others get upset?"
"It should be fine. I did promise my soldiers that I would give them one if they managed to beat your son. And it wouldn't be fair of me to not offer the same to him, especially that he beat them all. You may also consider it a gift for his promotion from me, not as a king, but as your friend."
"You're too kind."
"Speak for yourself."
As Uther and Ector both exchanged small smiles, they both walked inside the castle with everybody following close behind.
As they all stepped inside the armory where they could see many weapons being stored in wooden crates or hung on the stone walls, Merlin took a glance at Kay who, despite looking as calm as ever, was glancing at every weapon present in the room with bright eyes.
'He must really like weapons, that's a boy for you. Now, I wonder what he will choose. Since he's good with a sword, then it would be natural for him to pick one... But that mysterious power of his seems to allow him to create those spectral swords so maybe he'll pick another type of weapon.'
"May I take a little time before making my choice? There are so many weapons I would like to see each of them more closely before choosing." Kay asked as he looked at Uther who nodded his head off.
"I don't mind, in fact, what you see here is only a part of the armory. Feel free to take a good look but do be quick, we don't have all day after all."
Hearing this, Kay thanked Uther before he started to walk towards the stored weapons. And the moment Kay walked past everybody, she saw his mouth turn into the biggest smirk she had never seen on his face before, surprising her.
'Alright, now I'm getting really curious...'
Her curiosity at her peak, she followed Kay who went for the swords and started to look at them with his eyes full of joy. However, much to her confusion, he didn't try to wield them, let alone touch them. He simply looked at the swords with a smile before he walked away, starting to explore the armory alone.
"You're not going to try them?" She couldn't help but to ask Kay as she followed him, approaching another crate filled with swords.
"No, looking at them is good enough for me."
"Why is that?"
"Hmm..." She saw Kay humming before he turned to her for the first time since they entered the room, giving her a small smile. "Say, do you remember what you told me yesterday when we first arrived at the castle?"
She blinked when she heard his question before she started to reminisce about the event he mentioned.
'What did we talk about yester... Oh, I see.'
"You want to make a geas with me so that I won't divulge your little secret?" She asked Kay who nodded at her question, making her feel a bit disappointed.
'And here I thought I managed to appeal to him or make him attracted to me using my charm, just like I did with any other men, but it seems I was deadly wrong. But well, it's only been a day since we met and I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to earn his trust in the future.'
"So you don't trust me to keep a little secret or two. You must really think I have loose lips, don't you." She jokingly said but when she faced Kay's dead eyes, she recoiled a bit before letting out a small sigh.
"Alright, fine. Just give me a few seconds." She said snapping her fingers as a parchment appeared in front of her out of thin air, along with a feather and a bottle of ink. Then, after writing the geas's details on it, she handed the parchment to Kay who started to read it.
Binding magecraft: Target – Merlin
The Crests of Merlin hereby command: Provided that the following conditions are met, this oath shall become a commandment and bind the target without exception.
Oath:
To Merlin, regarding Kay, son of Ector, all intentions and actions to disclose his secrets, unless given the permission from the individual himself, shall be forbidden for all eternity.
Conditions:
Kay shall answer one of Merlin's questions.
"If you find the terms written on it satisfactory, just place a drop of your blood on the parchment. This will activate the geas." Merlin told Kay who read the parchment several times, even looking at the back, before he turned to her, looking at her with caution.
"You didn't write anything else on it? Like with invisible ink or words that can be only seen by using Magecraft."
"How rude. Just what do you think I am? I've done nothing of the sort, so hurry up. The others are waiting for us, so don't make them wait."
"You're right." Kay muttered with a nod before he made a light cut on his thumb with a nearby sword, drawing blood from it, then pressed it on the parchment which started to shine, signaling them that the geas took effect.
"It looks like it went well. Then, why is it you're only looking at the swords and not trying them all?"
"Well, it would be easier to just show you. Look closely since I'll only do it once." Kay said as he took one of the swords in the crate and Merlin blinked when a translucent figure of the blade floated out of it, as if the blade's soul had been removed before flying into Kay's free hand.
"It looks like the swords you used yesterday."
"Yeah, it's because they're the same. What you see here is what I call a spirit sword. It's a copy I created from that sword here and I can store it into my mind... or my soul, I don't know." Kay said as the translucent blade disappeared from his hand, leaving behind only a trail of stardust behind. "Anyway, after storing them inside myself, I can then summon them as I wish as long as I have the Magical Energy to do so."
"I see. Then I guess you don't actually need to touch them but only to see them with your eyes to copy them, right?" Merlin said as she thought back about Kay's previous behavior to which he nodded, making her grin.
'How interesting… I really wonder where he got that ability… That ability didn't feel like Magecraft at all, and I don't think I can call it Magic either. To begin with, I'm more surprised with the fact that Kay has magic circuits, considering that neither Ector or his wife had them. Just how many secrets are you hiding from me? Ufufu, I can't wait to discover all of them.'
With that in mind, Merlin followed Kay who walked away to the next crate filled with swords.
"Are swords the only thing you can copy with your power?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I tried with axes and spears back home but I didn't manage to create copies out of them. Well, maybe if I train more, I may be able to do it."
"I see. Then I suppose you won't take a sword as your reward since you'll just copy everything in the armory. What will you take then?"
"Oh, I've been thinking of taking a bow so I can shoot your ass."