Richard paused only for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh as he asked.

"Merlin?"

Upon hearing his words, the man who looked exactly like Richard laughed as he answered with an upbeat tone.

"Quick on the uptake aren’t cha?"

Although Richard didn’t want to believe it, the man before him was someone who obviously had a connection to him.

Removing the possibility of the man being some rogue "evil version" of himself, there are only a few identities for the man.

But every other possibility is quickly struck off given the fact that he was stuck in a space that could even separate him from Nyx.

"So? Is the fact that I’m your reincarnation another lie?"

"Not really, you truly are- or should be my reincarnation"

"So? What’s with the obvious separation"

"..."

Merlin went silent, then he began to explain the whole situation to Richard and for the first time, Richard finally felt like he heard something that was not chalk full of lies mixed in with some bits and pieces of truth.

"You created an escape plan from the tower through reincarnation, but you didn’t want to go into the mystical world because you got scared of the women who will hunt you down... what pussy behaviour"

"Says the guy who was too scared to fuck a woman offering herself to him"

"That’s different! You know what those bitches chasing after you want. Me? For all I know, those crazy witches would want to turn me into some magical puppet or a power source for their magic!"

The truth about Merlin’s seal was nothing more than some crazy yandere witches pinning a crime on him so they could imprison the gigolo sage and have him for themselves.

While the whole world was being told various different tales, Merlin was facing an eternity as a s*x slave for the witches who were obsessed with him.

Unwilling to become a sub Merlin used a technique that used his life as a price to reincarnate. This made him lose more than half of his power leaving only the essence of his soul intact.

But since he didn’t really plan on entering the mystical world anymore, Merlin had no problem with losing that power of his.

What he didn’t expect though was that the system he created that would have allowed every non-mystic to get a chance at entering the world of mysticism would be turned into a power that created witches that were on par or even stronger than God’s of the olden era.

"Wait... so Morgana is-"

"She’s not as strong as the Goddess you made a contract with but your dear Goddess has been sealed and her power severely limited. Moreover, from the looks of it, the essence of her power and existence had been taken away"

"The witches?"

"Yes"

Merlin continued to explain that the system of "collective will" had gone out of control.

He did not get a full grasp on it but throughout the centuries and with the explosion of the world’s population, the collective will system he created had reached a point that even his control system which was the island of Avalon could not properly manage it anymore.

"What happened to Avalon?"

Richard asked if he could take control of Avalon, even if the system could not take in all the power, he could still gain access to a sizable level of strength.

"Where was I sealed?"

"The tower"

"On?"

"... Avalon... fuck"

Merlin let out a laugh, Richard would not have made such a simple mistake- under normal circumstances.

But the current situation was far from "normal"

"Ahn~♥️ Merlin! Oh Merlin! This young body... it holds even more power- ah... ah... give it to me MERLIN!"

Richard ignored the feed that showed a beautiful woman bouncing on top of his helpless body as he turned to Merlin.

"I’m assuming the witches took over the system?"

"Unfortunately..."

Merlin had no way to access the system but he had long awakened. He already regained consciousness when Richard first awakened-

"Wait! Why didn’t you help me?!"

"You were chasing after Skadi! That icy wench is far more dangerous than Scathach! At least Scathach would accept you having multiple lovers! She’d even bend over and show weakness just to grab your attention! Skadi? That woman... she was unfortunate but-"

Merlin began a retelling of the past, although Richard didn’t want to listen to an old grandpa tell stories, he had to sit there and do so even if he already knew Skadi’s background.

But the story Merlin told had even more information than what Ragnar had passed on.

Skadi- she was a victim of the Aesir, assaulted by Odin and passed around like a piece of meat, she saw herself as dirty and fell for Merlin who dropped Asgard from the sky and brutally ended the Asgardian powers.

But the war did not end with the Aesir and Skadi was one of the most loyal allies in the coalition built around Merlin.

Unfortunately, Skadi was the type to obsess over the smallest of things.

Her past of being treated as a wh*re had become a scar.

She ended her life and entered reincarnation to become a "suitable" partner for Merlin. In order to do so, she asked Merlin to perform a "soul bond" between them that would be like a thread of fate that would lead Skadi to Merlin in all her reincarnations.

What Merlin failed to notice was that the "soul bond" she made with his soul was not only a connection that led her reincarnation to him- it was also a curse.

A curse that would alter Merlin’s fate, it didn’t simply bind Skadi to Merlin, it also bound Merlin to Skadi.

"How’s that a curse?"

Richard asked, while having a connection to an obsessive woman was not that "good" it wasn’t all too bad. Moreover, it wasn’t like the curse was going to kill him.

"The connection siphoned power, like a marriage vow, all that I have will be shared with her and all that is hers would be shared with me- but unlike marriage- the soul bond does not look at things "normally"... sickness, health, power and weakness... everything is shared and..."

"You are forced to suffer and chase after Skadi’s reincarnations... to ensure that she’s happy, healthy and won’t give you any problems..."

Merlin smirked at Richard’s words and asked.

"Is that all you think about?"

"Huh?"

"Your world revolves around losses and gains, centered around yourself... think about it for a moment... a helpless child born with half the power held by the sage who brought the mythical Gods to their knees?"

*Gulp*

If there were such a child... anime would make her out to be the main character. She would suffer injustice and fight back against the world.

Make friends, develop relationships and change the twisted world she lives in-

But... within her story, her whole journey- she would become both the destroyed and savior.

Her existence is the source of destruction but it is also the reason why reconstruction, change and salvation could occur.

Simply put, Skadi would end up becoming a bigger threat than any that had existed before yet as he thought along those lines...

"Huh? That doesn’t add up? Didn’t you say that your reincarnation was to escape the women chasing after you? Why the fuck was Skadi suddenly added on?"

"That’s hitting two birds with one stone, moreover, shit would have gotten really bad if the others learned of what I did with Skadi... look at Morgana- that’s what she does because of her obsession. It’s only based on her desire for Merlin... imagine what happens when she learns of the soul bond"

"That’s gonna be hell"

"Yeah, she personally tied the chains that bound me and was the one who decided to add thorns on the chains"

Richard couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of hell Merlin had to endure.

"They already know about your reincarnation though?"

"But they won’t make the same moves they did with me, to them Merlin was an imperfect lover. Now, they have a chance to shape Merlin into their ideal"

"Wha-"

"That’s also why Scathach tried to kill you, Freyja had already marked you, Morgana found you and she was late to the party..."

The fact given by Merlin did not inspire Richard in any way, if anything, it only made him see the women chasing after him as even bigger threats!

"How many dangerous women were around you?"

Richard asked Merlin, his face was serious.

He HAD to know how many more dangerous women were out there but the response he got was depressing-

"A couple hundred"

"... FUCKING GIGOLO!"

"..."

Merlin couldn’t really say anything because he knew what kind of shit he shoved Richard into.

"Well... you can’t do anything with the cards that you were dealt. That’s just life after all~ Anyway, I’ll pass on my knowledge to you. The connection with Skadi was severed but a faint trace was left behind because of me. From now on, you won’t be Merlin’s reincarnation... well you still are but not exactly... in any case, you should be able to escape some of the witches... yeah... some of them"

As Richard was still seething and trying his best to process everything, Merlin started to say some rather ominous things.

"You... you can’t be-"

"For your safety, I need to do this... Richard... I wish you the best"

As if running away, Merlin turned around and started to disappear-

"WAIT HERE YOU FUCKING GIGOLO BASTARD!"

Unfortunately his words only hit empty air as his mind was assaulted by an influx of knowledge and information.

-P.S. I made a spell that would help you manage them,I don’t know what kind of shit show the world is in but it should help you build a harem... you like that right?-

The ancient gigolo’s words echoed in his mind but the things spoken did nothing but fuel Richard’s anger.

"I WAS YOUNG THEN!"

Were the only words that left his mouth as the pain of having knowledge and memories imprinted in your mind was not something easy.

Especially since the memories spanned quite a long period of time and contained more information than what a normal human should be able to have in their heads.

While Richard was writhing in pain at acquiring memories and his body was being assaulted by Morgana, outside the space-

"This is quite a problem"

"Father, there is no reason to continue, is there?"

"There is! How dare you abandon our family’s honor!"

"I’m not! I simply wish for Merlin’s heir to take the form I desire!"

The father and daughter clashed with swords as they argued.

On the other hand, Cindy was surrounded by witches who were busy fighting her pets while the Goddess empowered her.

"To think that the descendant of Arthur would end up gay..."

"Arthur was gay as well after all, I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree."

"There’s been multiple trees since then though?"

"Just feed on the wilted corpse of the parent tree, you won’t go far that way"

Cindy and Nyx were having such a casual situation but the witches who were fighting them were already panting and breathing heavily.

"So? How’s Richard?"

"That Morgana witch is strong... it seems the world really did change while I was sealed away"

"What a useless Goddess, at this point, aren’t you just a glorified taxi?"

"..."