"REM"
"Good name." Ben said offering his hand to Merlin.
"Thanks." Merlin reaches Ben's hand.
"You should leave now. You can't be seen here, or else I'll be in trouble."
"I know." Merlin walks away but soon paused and came back to question Ben. "Should I recruit now?"
"Yes." Ben muttered while patting the metallic ball. "But the limit is only three. You can't recruit much more unless they finally awakened the abilities. Recruiting anyone you see is just the same as sacrificing your pawns to battle." Ben stated.
"I understand, see you in class—" Merlin understands and then sudden thought comes across to his mind.
Exam!
Merlin rushes forward, straight ahead goes to the classroom, the moment he arrives he sees his classmates already starting the first subject exam. The teacher greeted him with a polite smile but the face showed disappointment.
"Aren't you gonna come in and sit?" The teacher said with open hands pointing the chair where Merlin is seated.
"Sorry, ma'am, I was really busy, I promise." Merlin responded while slowly sits on his chair.
He scanned the room, everyone looked at him with disappointment.
Then suddenly Cedric leaned on the right side of his chair and asked. "Why are you late? Where did you go—" suddenly he was interrupted by the teacher.
"Cedric is there any problem?" The teacher asked.
"No ma'am. I'll keep quiet."
The teacher walks up slowly to Merlin and hands out the test on science with numbers of one to fifty, covering all lessons of Science from introduction to matter, chemistry, space and energy.
'i didn't review at all, I accepted defeat.' Merlin thought.
'defeat?—' Merlin thought once again but he shook his head trying to remove that negative thought.
'No! I can't just fail. I didnt study at all but if I ace this exam, then I'm must be GENIUS!' Merlin thought to himself.
Merlin started answering the questions on the test paper. He shades the circle very carefully, understanding every question given.
Even though he didn't study, he lived by the principles of...
I may be dumb, but I ain't no cheater.
After continuous pain of answering every question, testing his comprehension. He manages to finish before even the time goes off.
"15 minutes up." Teacher announced, clapping her hands. "Pass the paper in front of you."
The teacher grabs the test paper and sat back on her chair.
After about fifty minutes of checking every test paper,the teacher finally stood in front of the classroom with a stack of test papers held on her hand already marked by scores. One by one the teacher gave out the test paper to each student who owns it, the teacher gave Merlin's test paper but he took it and flip it before he even see his score.
"What's your score?" Cedric asked leaning to right.
"I didn't see it yet, how about you?" Merlin questioned.
"I got forty five over fifty." Cedric said.
"That's a really good score." Merlin said as he slowly tries to flip his test paper.
"I am a genius!" Merlin .
"Really?" Cedric asked as his heart felt genuine empathy that his study group helped Merlin but his mind constantly thought that Merlin was in a state of shock.
and little bit glazing to himself if you ask me.
"I got five!" Merlin exclaimed, his sudden reveal of his score made his classmates laugh at him.
"Shut Up!!" Cedric said to everyone. "I know all of your scores, don't lie to me."
Then the classroom went silent.
It seems that everyone was not smart as Cedric. Merlin thought to himself.
"Are you okay?" Cedric asked tapping Merlin's left shoulder, as Merlin heard that he slowly look at Cedric with a force smile.
"I'm fine."
Two minutes passed.
"I really suggest that you study, it's not hard, it's like feeding your brain some food." Cedric said.
"So my brain is empty?" Merlin questioned.
"I didn't say anything about that, you're the one who said that."
While Merlin and Cedric were walking in the park of their prestigious high school, they saw Lancelot sitting on the long bench wooden chair with his arms crossed.
"He likes to do that arm crossing does he think he's cool with that?" Cedric said.
"Let him be, we can be anyone who we want to be." Merlin said.
"Oh really? Then I like to be Spider—" Cedric said but was cut off.
"You cannot say that." Merlin said.
"Why?"
"Because due to international copyright laws. We can't."
"LOL."
Merlin and Cedric walks towards to Lancelot and ask what he was doing.
Lancelot straightforward looks at Merlin.
"I like to have a private talk with you." Lancelot said.
"Sure." Merlin said. "I'll be right back." He continued looking back at Cedric while walking forward.
Merlin and Lancelot walk straight off the first floor hallway and goes down the basement.
"Wait you know this place?" Merlin asked.
"Everyone knows this place, it's a basement!" Lancelot snapped.
"Oh."
Merlin and Lancelot goes deeper of the basement and there he saw the same thing touching a specific part of the wall and on the left side the door slid open.
They entered the room. Lancelot paused.
"I heard you. I heard you talking to Ben about going to a different world." Lancelot said as he slowly confronting Merlin.
"How— how did you know? No.. how did you hear us? Did you follow me?" Merlin said, his heartbeat racing, his emotions starting to rise.
"Yes. Want the whole story?" Lancelot said.
Merlin who is still angry, slowly calms down and tries his best to bottle up his emotions. After that he nodded.
"I was at the canteen. Real far behind you. Maybe if my guess was correct I'm on the Eighth section of the table, sitting on the right side near the wall of the canteen."
"I saw you eating. And then the more I look closely... I saw you were spectating someone. Ben. You followed him. And I followed you. We're the same. Driven by the same thing. Curiosity. So you shouldn't be angr—" Lancelot explained and cut off by Merlin.
"We're not. You may be right. Both are driven by curiosity. The difference is the consequence. Ben talked me he was never angry. He already anticipated me. While I don't." Merlin countered.
"Why are you angry anyway. It's really just a small deal. A small problem at most. I simply followed you." Lancelot said.
"You don't understand!" Merlin snapped as he throws his bag at Lancelot face.
Lancelot stood still. Brushing his shoulders as if there was something.
"I don't really care about you and your problems. I need to get inside the capsule. I want to go home." Lancelot said.
"That's not how it works." Merlin said, his breathing heavy. "It doesn't work like that, I don't know but, I'm pretty sure it doesn't take you home." He continued.
"How can you be so sure?" Lancelot asked. "Ben only stated that this capsule transfers you to a different world and not from the original world."
"Because it's unlikely. Unlikely to happen. This capsule is supposedly created here, Ben is also not like us." Merlin sighed. "In a simple manner. He is an NPC."
"There is no hate on trying." Lancelot said.
"I thought you were better than this, I expected you to be much more clever and strategic, but I guess I was wrong. You're arrogant just like the others. Dragging anyone to conflicts just to save themselves."
"Me? Me? Arrogant!!?" Lancelot said, while continuing to tap his chest. "I have a good family, merlin or should I say sento. I want to go home. My family needs me." He continued as he rubbed his eyes.
"You're lying." Merlin said.
Lancelot glared at Merlin then suddenly he lunged forward and grabbed Merlin's neck.
"You got it right. It's two lies and one truth. I don't have a good family. I don't have a family who really needs me. But the truth is... I was about to claim the promotion that my dad gave me. I WAS ABOUT TO BE FUCKIN RICH!! THE MONEY IS ABOUT TO BE MINE! BUT SUDDENLY THIS STUPID TRANSMIGRATION DESTROY EVERYTHING!!" Lancelot continued his emotions rises, merlin's suffering as he about to reach his final breath.
Then the room lit up...
And a loud bang can be heard across the entire room of the Capsule Project.
Lancelot fell to his knees and there he saw his one leg pierce, becoming a hole.
Merlin touches his neck multiple times, his breath heavy, hands shaking, and then look at the person who save him.
Ben.
"Thank you." Merlin said.
"No worries. Can you still walk. I mean I can see you can. Also before you go don't tell anything about this. You got it?" Ben said.
Merlin stood up, walking like a drunk person.
"I got it."
As Merlin reaches the basement level Ben continues.
"I admired your pure dedication to open the door." Ben stated.
"How did you?" Lancelot shocked.
"I have a CCTV."
'cctv is from modern days' Lancelot pondered.
"You aren't from here are you?" Lancelot asked.
"What you mean, I'm born here, maybe your asking this question is how I basically obtained an item that is from your modern and original world. Simple. I had a friend once. Who is very similar to you and the two above. But he disappeared. I didn't manage to say good—" Ben was cut off.
"I don't care about your story. Get me out of here." Lancelot chided. "Or else."
"Sorry no can do. It's our policy to not help anyone who tried to attack one of our clients." Ben said.
"Clients? Who even are you!?" Lancelot questioned, his eyebrows getting close to each other.
"I'm just one of the servants of the Wishmaker."