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Merlin stares at Johnny during his explanation. He sighs heavily, looks down into his lap, and the shadows recede. The blinds open again, letting in natural sunlight.
I was never going to kill you. I don't know what kind of people you've met that you expect it of anyone, truth be told. I should probably not be surprised given this city, though.
He looks up at Johnny, his eyes tired but with a slight inner fire in them.
But it's a mistake to just give up. To say 'who cares'. That's not how things get better. And trust me, if no one does anything it's going to get much worse. Not just whatever R might do - he won't be the only one out there, and likely not the most malavolent. But I don't know for sure. Now that he's killed, he might do it again. Might claim kingship over the city, wouldn't be the first magical tyrant around. He might curse the police force to become monsters, another might burn down city hall, any number of awful things might happen to any number of people in this city, but if no one does anything it can never get better.
He gets up sometime during this speech and starts pacing around, gesturing animatedly, but he stops and looks directly at Johnny again.
I'm not going to ask you to become directly involved in whatever's going to happen in the next few months on my behalf; you've been taken advantage of too much already by whoever your former benefactor was. He may have given you that coat, those gloves, and the nonvisible gift that goes with them, but involving you in murder was too much. I'm just asking for you to answer a few questions.

And if none of that persuaded you ... you likely have people you know, perhaps even like in this city. Your wife might still live here, whatever friends you made on the streets. If this city falls to Magicsl chaos or whatever else, they could get hurt or worse. I know the amount of damage one rogue wizard can do if their mind is put to it. I'd like no one to die due to us; you could help me with that.

He sits back down rather heavily. He pulls two teacups out of his sleeves in a magician-like fashion, snaps his fingers, and they're filled with tea.

Even if you just want to go, please have a drink of tea before you go. It's cold outside and this will keep you warm.

Merlin mentally catalogues every magical effect he comes across, just as a precaution. A wizard always needed to be able to recognize a competitor's mark, after all. And that effect that Johnny just displayed ... it doesn't quite get to the front of his mind, but it resounds with a mental file marked 'danger' in the back of his mind. Johnny himself isn't magically skilled, or so it seems, but it demands a response.
Merlin flicks a hand and suddenly rasps out a word that doesn't sound like anything pronounceable and shadows flare up behind his chair in a great curling conflagration. The old-fashioned blinds Merlin put in on the windows sweep shut and the room is instead lit up with an indiscrinct light source. It's around the same light level as before, but the shadows that now lurk around the edge of the room churn and bubble.
"This is my shop. What you see in the shadows is the reason why you would normally not be inside here. As you can tell, as a proprietor of magic I'm extremely curious as to why one of the other individuals in this city with the same gift would choose to murder the mayor and plunge the city into chaos. You could help me quite a bit in this endeavour.'
He pauses for a second before adding, "Additionally, I am curious as to why you were so despondent. Normally people who get help from magic users are either massively overindulging or do better than they normally would. I'd guess you had a falling out over the mayor being assassinated, but I need to know more. If whoever was helping you is going to kill more people, I may need to stop them.
The shadows subside slightly as Merlin waits for Johnny's answer.

I don't particularly want anything from you, to be perfectly honest. I do need to know who that was, though. It factors in to how you must have gotten in here and I make it my business to know these things.

Merlin shakes his head, looking firmly at Johnny.
I don't think that's true. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. Who was it?
His colourless eyes bore into Johnny's.

The silver caterpillar of Merlin's right eyebrow just up slightly.
And that would be?

Nope, me too.

I've been kinda casually doing the minor magical cantrips thing since the beginning of the game, so yeah it seems fine, AND we have GM approval!

Oh, if anyone here donated to that card game thing he was making: long story short, e guy he was making it with ran off with the money or something, so Thunt's gonna do every kickstarter rewards thing himself and complete it in a rudimentary fashion on his own.
I admire the effort, but I forsee burnout in his future.