Merlin was well renowned, he was respected in his field of studies and often sought after even by governments during certain projects, not only was he knowledgeable, but also diligent, to the point it was almost stupid.

However, when he suddenly jailed himself away in a prison—Komala prison to be more exact, as the warden, some expressed concern and doubts over what the man's next project was to make such a drastic change, but he didn't listen to them.

He was determined to find the truth of the world, to reach transcendentalism, but with Manus out of the question, the prison slowly descended into chaos, and it didn't help that The Idealist reminded him of it constantly, the man's almost 'high-and-mighty' voice was like a screech to his ears.

Especially when he was pushed to take in some... shady requests by high, rich members of society trying to get treatments or just the most bizarre things in the world. Some brought Merlin the weirdest animals, trying to get the man to make strange potions out of them, and he did, of course, for the proper payment.

However, most of the time, the creatures the masked man dissected were often dead or heavily drugged... this was the first time he had seen anything like you, and he knew how vast the world was, he had seen it all, but you weren't human nor arcane, though there were certainly traces of the latter on you.

... To make matters worse, It didn't help that you seemed to possess enough intelligence and consciousness to know that whatever surgery instrument he held on his hands was, in fact, something that could hurt you as you squirmed and tried to hide away into the horribly small, tight, wooden box you had been tossed into before being shipped to the prison, certainly far away from any familiar settling or comfort you had known all your life.