Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 149 - The Fuse (4)

As soon as Waled collapsed, Cillion disappeared with the wind, and the living room went back to normal.

Henry shifted his attention to Hector.

“Hector!”

- Chirp chirp!

Hector left the living room and swapped his body for the Korun before reappearing.

Henry angrily questioned Hector as soon as Hector returned.

“Hector! What the hell did you do?”

He was enraged. Even though he had been trying to dominate Waled, he had been surprised when a completely unexpected person had gotten involved.

Henry detested unexpected situations and any disruption to his meticulous plans.

Hector scratched the back of his head and responded as if it weren’t a big deal.

“What are you so mad about? You were going to use your sword anyway, weren’t you?”

“I had a plan, and you were never a part of it!”

When Hector realized that Henry was angrier than he’d expected, he apologized awkwardly.

“Okay, okay! It was entirely my fault. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, why don’t you calm down?”

“Alright. I'd appreciate it if you didn't do anything unpredictable in the future.”

“Okay, okay! Anyway, is it okay to leave him like that?”

Embarrassed by Henry’s scolding, Hector quickly changed the subject to Waled, who was spewing blood like a fountain from his injury.

Henry sighed and summoned Elagon.

“Elagon.”

- Khu?

“Heal this guy, please.”

- Khu!

Elagon had become a great first aid kit.

The bleeding stopped as soon as a warm light surrounded Waled’s severed arm.

Henry sighed and reprimanded Hector once again.

“Hector, something like this must not happen again! What would I do if he dies?”

“But it’s okay if he doesn’t have an arm?”

“He can still live without an arm, but I won’t be able to handle it if he were dead.”

“Okay, I get it, stop nagging me. At least I didn’t cause too much trouble.”

“Phew, okay. How’d you know what was going on here?”

“Let’s get our facts straight. I was resting here, but all of a sudden, you guys came in.”

Hector was telling the truth.

After a full meal, Hector had borrowed the body of a sparrow and was looking for a place to nap when he happened to see the two.

“Nevermind…”

Henry sighed again and shook his head.

“Anyway, who is this guy? Why’d he suddenly come and start begging for cigarettes? Is he a beggar?” asked Hector.

“He’s not a beggar. He’s Alfred Etherwether’s eldest son.”

“Alfred Etherwether… As in the great marquis of the Three Great Families?”

“Yes, him.”

“What a shocker! The eldest son of the great marquis is such a weakling.”

“I think I’m just incomparably stronger. Anyway, things didn’t turn out so bad after all. Handling this by myself would’ve been annoying, but since you just happened to get involved, I can use you as a witness in the future.”

“A witness? What witness?”

“I’m planning to cover up the situation by saying that his arm exploded on its own or something like that.”

“What? Then you shouldn’t have gotten that mad at me…”

Hector was a valuable witness since he was the representative from Shahatra.

‘If I explain that his arm was ripped off by a sparrow, who’s going to believe it?’

Rather than trying to prove an unbelievable truth, it was much easier to cover it up with a believable lie.

“Are you going to take him to Alfred now?” asked Hector.

“No. I’m going to take him to Eisen.”

“Why Eisen?”

“Now that I have evidence that he tried to kill me, I must prepare to fight Alfred.”

All that was left was to take Waled to Eisen and prepare to attack Alfred.

The first step of hunting Alfred had finally begun.

* * *

“...So you’re saying that his arm exploded on its own?”

“Yes.”

Henry immediately showed Eisen the unconscious Waled at the Shonan mansion and explained everything that had just happened.

Eisen looked quite troubled. The eldest son of the Etherwether family, one of the Three Great Families, had lost an arm. Not only that, but this incident had occurred during a conflict with his one and only vassal, whom he cared about.

It was definitely a big problem.

Eisen placed his hands on his face and sighed deeply.

‘Huh?’

Henry hadn’t expected Eisen’s reaction at all. He’d thought that Eisen would be angry that his precious vassal had been attacked.

‘Can it be?’

Henry suddenly had an ominous feeling.

It was said that you turned into the people around you. He was worried that Eisen would be docile now that he was a member of the Three Great Families and not just a duke.

Soon, Eisen pulled his hands off his face and sighed quietly.

“That bastard Alfred must have lost his mind…!”

‘He’s the same.’

Nothing had changed.

The brief silence that Henry had mistaken for distress had only been Eisen’s attempt to calm his anger. Henry felt relieved. Just as he had hoped, Eisen was genuinely mad. Eisen had almost lost his only competent and cherished vassal, it made sense that he would be furious.

“What about you, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” asked Eisen.

“I’m okay. Fortunately, I managed to survive.”

It was not about what was said, but how it was said. Henry chose to use words that would provoke Eisen's anger to the fullest extent possible.

“Ever since I can remember, Alfred has always been like that. He’s so full of himself, pretending to be calm all the time… Look at him! He can’t even manage his own son properly!”

“You’re right.”

“I won’t let this incident slide! I’m going to make Alfred pay for this, no matter what!”

The effects of Henry's provocation were incredible.

Henry sensed a genuine anger in Eisen's voice. Henry felt content and relieved as he observed Eisen expressing the dissatisfaction he’d always held for Alfred.

All Eisen had to do now was to meet Alfred and start a conflict.

“Ugh…”

Waled finally gained consciousness and tried to sit up with a faint groan.

“H-huh?’

He found himself wobbling as if he were drunk. Only then did he realize that he couldn’t keep his balance because his left arm was gone.

“M-my arm!”

“Be quiet!”

Eisen yelled at Waled just as Waled was about to scream. Only then did Waled realize that Eisen and Henry were looking at him.

“D-Duke Eisen, ah, I mean, Marquis Eisen?”

Waled was bewildered to see Eisen’s tiger-like appearance and couldn’t help stuttering. However, this triggered Eisen’s anger, who yelled once more, “Stop whining, Waled!”

Waled had no choice but to shut his mouth.

Already burdened by the distress of his severed arm, seeing Eisen—the man his father despised—right in front of him left him speechless. Tears welled up in his eyes.

‘Tsk tsk, how pathetic.’

Mere moments ago, he had aggressively demanded cigarettes from Henry, but now, he was as meek as a puppy in the presence of Eisen.

Eisen's pride and fearlessness gave him a manly essence.

Henry saw Waled’s helplessness in front of Eisen as proof that he was someone who only acted rudely because he relied on his father's power.

Eisen spoke in a cold tone, “Don’t cry!”

“Y-yes, Marquis!”

“I heard the whole story. How dare you go to my beloved vassal’s house and demand cigarettes!”

“T-that’s not true! I was only trying to find out the truth as he lied to my brother about…!”

“Shut it! I don’t need your excuses!”

“N-no, Marquis! I’m just telling you the truth!”

Waled pleaded in a pathetic voice.

“Nonsense! Henry only did what I told him to do. However, you dared to summon a high-level spirit even though you knew Henry was my vassal! That means you had the intention to kill him from the start! Am I wrong?” shouted Eisen.

Wham!

Unable to control his anger, Eisen stomped on the floor next to the bed where Waled was lying, causing the bed to lean to one side.

Eisen was filled with fighting spirit, and this was not something Waled could handle.

…Thud!

Waled couldn't handle the stress and lost consciousness again.

“Tsk, he passed out again? How pathetic…”

Eisen frowned even more as he criticized Waled.

“Thank you, Marquis,” said Henry.

“For what?”

“Saying that I only did what you told me to do.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s much easier to handle things this way rather than arguing who was right or wrong.”

Eisen had covered for Henry even though he had never instructed Henry to do anything.

“You are the most precious gem I have, so your faults are my faults too. Don’t be discouraged! You have to be confident so I won’t be humiliated,” continued Eisen.

“Marquis…!”

“Anyway, get ready to leave soon. I’d like to kill this bastard now, but things would get out of control. I’ll just hand him over to Alfred.”

Henry sensed Eisen’s sincere affection for him from his encouragement. Henry murmured, smirking as he watched Eisen leave, “This is getting more interesting.”

The deeper the trust, the more painful the betrayal would be.

After all, this was all just a fun little game for Henry.