Arthur Walsh, a 52 year old veteran living in the London Suburbs, he should have been living a quiet retired life.

Through the state pension, the AFPS and his small business which he now left to his children, Arthur was living a relaxed life after years of hard work.

But that was only the image he displayed on the surface.

In reality, he had lived a secret double life.

While he was truly a member of the Armed forces at one point in his life, he was also a member of a knight order that descended from the Ancient times.

While his family maintained the facade of a "normal" existence, they still continued the long held traditions of their ancestors.

From marriage, naming and even their way of life.

The Walsh family continued their centuries long traditions and lived a dual life in both the world of mystics and the world of man.

Yet, just a week before, Arthur’s daughter, Arthuretta Walsh was kidnapped by a gang of thugs.

CCTV footage showed the thugs catching her and dragging the "frail" Arthuretta into a white van.

Since then, Arthur went on a hunt to look for his daughter. While he let the police do their job, he was worried that things may end up in an unfavorable state if the authorities took too long.

After all, Arthuretta was trained in combating mystics; a few street thugs would likely end up dead if they tried to force themselves on her.

What Arthur was worried about was not his daughter but what happens after.

Arthuretta had yet to go through training that involved dealing with the problems that come after she does something "unnatural". Which was why Arthur was desperately searching for her, the last thing he wants is to take the head of his own daughter but-

His search only amounted to lost lives, multiple individuals vanished mysteriously from the world. Mostly gang members and criminals so the authorities did not bother with investigating further.

Only their family was left heartbroken but such was life.

After his search left him with nothing, Arthur found that some gangs had a connection to the witches of Britain.

While not all did, the few gangs who had connections croaked.

The witches used the gangs as recruitment offices, they had the gangs kidnap young women who would be put through training.

Why would the gangs willingly participate in such an endeavour?

Simple.

Not all witches succeeded in their training, those that failed would be prettied up with magic. Even failed witches were turned into world class beauties and the men who only knew how to think with their lower halves would rather f*ck a few beautiful women than an army of "ugly bitches".

Arthuretta- was kidnapped by one of these witch affiliated gangs.

With the new knowledge he obtained, Arthur was about to start his personal witch hunt when information was spread in the international mystical community.

A certain organization led by Merlin’s Spawn would take on any request to hunt down witches for free. Though the contract on the spoils and whether the hunt would be pursued would only be decided after Merlin’s Spawn assessed the situation.

It was a tale that seemed very unlikely but Arthur tried his luck.

He could have called for the organization but this was something closer to a "family matter"

After all, "The offspring of a knight would not fall so easily".

Richard had a pondering look on his face but his thoughts were anything but-

’It’s obviously a trap right? I was wondering when they would show up after you name dropped them before’

[Even I didn’t think they’d track you down...]

Although Nyx had lost the ability to read Richard’s mind, she was still able to communicate with him telepathically. Moreover, this time, Richard could initiate the contact too.

While it’s only limited to the two of them, that was enough for them to exchange information. After all, if there was anything that either of them didn’t know, Cindy would likely be unable to give an answer unless it was about something specific to her alone.

’I could already tell, the moment I save Arthuretta, she would propose to me and say something along the lines of "According to the Ancient Pact" or something similar and then stick to me like a cancer that would never go away’

[I recall that there is already a cure to cancer though?]

’Is there a cure to madness?’

[If you try hard enough... you won’t need to see her as a cancer. A concubine would be good enough for her and that would do well for my cause]

’HOW ABOUT ME?’

[What about you?]

’...’

After that silent conversation with Nyx, Richard let out a sigh.

"Mr. Walsh, as much as I would love to immediately accept this task as I too am worried about the witches that create what could only be described as s*x cults. I am still unsure of the truth behind your words. Of course, I am not calling you a liar, but I am sure you are well aware of how the mystical society works right?"

Richard’s words cause the old man to close his eyes and sigh before responding slowly.

"I understand, but how would you confirm the truth in my words?"

A small light flashed in the man’s eyes, it was not a mystical light but an intent that only Richard could perceive.

This immediately told Richard all he wanted to know-

’Gotcha’

He thought while turning to Hana who passed a tablet to him.

"Arthur Walsh, the MP are currently monitoring you after the string of disappearances of known gang members. Some people said that they had it coming while others claim that it was a hostile act by a deranged man looking for retribution"

"They got what they deserve"

Richard shook his head as he replied with an apathetic tone.

"I’m not trying to chastise you, the information merely confirms that you claims on how you "discovered" the witches actions could be considered half true"

Arthur showed a curious expression while asking, "And the other half?"

Richard smirked, he gave Arthur a look of pure confidence while answering-

"Hard evidence"

...

It was the dead of the night and Richard along with Cindy and Nyx followed behind Arthur through the cobblestone streets of London. Despite being the middle of the night, there were bright lights and loud sounds echoing all around.

The scene was a far cry from what people thought the nightlife of a "quiet" street of London would look like.

"Was this based on that coming of age wizard story or was the story based on this?"

Richard commented as he recalled the story of a bespectacled boy with glasses.

Unlike in America and Japan, the mystical scene in London was quite... mystical. As stupid as it sounded, the truth was that there was no other way to describe it.

The mystical world in America and Japan was nothing more than a mystical being walking among the non-mystics.

In other words, the mystical world was hidden in plain sight.

Yet the world he entered the moment he stepped foot in London was different.

"The grand sage Merlin had used the power of Fae to create a separate world. Two realities existing in one place at the same time. Should it collapse, all hell would break loose but since the space was tied to Avalon, unless the foundations of the magic is destroyed, the world Merlin created with his own hands would exist forever"

Arthur explained, but his words did little to remove the amazement Richard felt as he walked through the streets of Magical London.

’Could you do this?’

[I could but it would be complete darkness]

’Now?’

[No]

Richard felt an immediate pressure on his shoulders, not from someone else but from his own mind.

While many others would view him as Merlin’s descendant, Richard knew who he truly was and the fact that he had done something this huge in his past life made him feel worthless.

Here he was acting all high and mighty because he could deflect bullets but in the past, Merlin was creating separate worlds, building a "mirror dimension" that overlaps with reality but doesn’t.

If that wasn’t enough, the whole dimension existed even after his death!

Richard didn’t feel a connection to the realm which should be the reason why Merlin was able to create such a marvel.

Nyx would have leveraged her own existence as a Goddess to achieve a similar feat. This is why she would be able to make it in the past but not today.

It is also the reason why she added that her creation would be a world of complete darkness.

Merlin created a realm based on the power of Fae... if that was the case-

"Do Fae exists in this place?"

He asked Arthur who shook his head.

"No, they live in Avalon"

As expected, while myths, history and legends were not 100% accurate and could even contain lies, hyperboles and over/underestimations- they still held some bits and pieces of truth.

After all, the key to making a convincing lie is to mix it with truth and as the legends claimed Avalon to be the land of the Fae-

"So, where is Avalon?"

Normally, one would believe that reaching Avalon was something Richard would do or achieve when a story nears its end.

But Richard didn’t care about conventions, if he could, why not?

Just because a part of the map is blocked off doesn’t mean that it is completely inaccessible.

Unfortunately, Richard was bound for disappointed as the answer he got from Arthur was-

"Nobody knows"

Of course, if everyone knew where Avalon was and it could be visited, people would already know that Merlin is 100% dead.

So the crap Richard said about being a descendant could be seen by many as a lie and there would be more people speculating whether he was the reincarnation of Merlin or not.

But that still didn’t mean that Richard could let his guard down.

For all he knows, the descendant of a gay Arthur could have a spell or an artifact that could search for Merlin...

’Now that I think about it... why were there so many gay men with power in history?’

[Because you only look at men, there were tons of lesbian witches as well]

’Same question, why?’

[Why not?]

’...’

As Richard had such a ridiculous conversation with Nyx, Arthur stopped at an empty building-

"We’re here"

Richard and Cindy exchanged glances and nodded before following Arthur into the building.