Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 55: My Comrade (2)

Henry and Von took a day off to relax and relieve their fatigue, although they weren’t experiencing much fatigue since both of them rode great horses and had monstrous physical strength.

When the evening came, people gathered around the dining table one by one. Usually, only Ten used the table, but now, all the people that Henry had gathered were there. As he looked at them, Henry felt better. Although there were only three to four people there, he believed that they would share his goals.

‘It’s time to also make Ten one of my people.’

Henry couldn’t stop thinking about Ten during the entire dinner. Although Ten was only motivated by the opportunity to earn a bonus, he was necessary to Henry’s future plans.

After dinner, Hagler’s family excused themselves. After they left, Henry began to talk.

“Ten.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Why don’t we have a drink?”

“You mean, just the two of us?”

“Why, don’t you want to?”

“Not at all. Hey you, bring out some whisky,” Ten ordered.

“Would you like to join us as well?” Ten directed the question to Von.

“I don’t like to drink, so I’ll see myself out.”

Von had read the situation and exited the room, leaving Henry and Ten at the table.

“Let’s have a drink first.”

Clink!

The slightly melted ice gave the whisky a good flavor. After a short while, Henry put down his glass.

“Ten.”

“What is it?”

“Do you hate me?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“It would be useless for me to apologize, right?”

“It’s too late to apologize now.”

“Why? Isn’t it better than what you expected? The fighting arena is still running well and you’re getting paid regularly.”

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

The lame jokes had come and gone for a while now, but half of those jokes had been sincere. It was reasonable for Ten to hate Henry because if it hadn’t been for Henry, he would have lived with the glory of his past for a long time.

The two of them shared another drink. After Henry took his lips off his glass, he looked at Ten for a while without saying anything. In the end, Ten couldn’t help but ask about Henry’s intentions.

“...Is there something you’d like to say?”

With a serious look on his face, Henry replied, “Ten, I am thinking of expanding my business.”

“And?”

“I am confident I can expand it, but not that I can look after it. Do you know what this means?”

Ten was a quick-witted merchant and understood right away.

“Are you asking me to look after the business?”

“As expected of you. I like you because you are quick-witted.”

“No, I need to get this straight first. Aren’t you going to do as you please with me anyway as long as I have a debt to repay, Sir Henry?”

“That is true, but I don’t like such a narrow-minded approach to relationships, that’s why I’m taking this opportunity to start something new.”

“I have no idea why you’re talking about this. Is there more to our relationship than debtor and creditor?”

“No, there isn’t, which is why I’m saying that we should make our relationship more than that.”

“What?”

Ten was a smart man, but he could not understand Henry at all. A relationship based on debt was doomed from the start, how could it be remade?

Henry began to reveal his thoughts.

“From what you see, what do you think my intentions are?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. It seems like you want to make a large sum of money, but at the same time, you aren’t obsessed with money. Also, you recently said out of the blue that you want to create a mercenary corps, so I really have no idea.”

“If I told you my true intentions, would you rethink our relationship?”

“...What in the world do you want? Why are you trying to create so much anticipation?”

“To conquer the continent.”

“What?”

“My dream is to conquer the continent, and the Million Gold battle stadium and Million mercenaries are just the first steps toward that dream.”

Ten’s mind grew completely blank at the unexpected words.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m always serious.”

Henry smirked at Ten’s reaction.

“It’s just something symbolic, so don’t think about it too much. Anyway, that is why I need more strength and money. So, Ten, how about becoming comrades that share the same goal instead of debtor and creditor?”

“Comrades, you say…”

“Yes, I want you to be my comrade. Hagler, Sir Von, and Mayor Vant are with me already.”

“My comrade.” The words could be interpreted in many different ways, but spoken in the same breath as “conquer the continent,” the words “my comrade” held a great significance.

Instead of answering, Ten stared into Henry’s eyes.

Henry Morris. He was truly an extraordinary man. He had broken down his long-lost trade secrets and even convinced Mayor Vant, the master of the city, to come to his side. In addition, he even recruited Von from the Imperial Palace as a mercenary.

Ten believed that he was a great man himself, but after meeting Henry, he had come to realize how foolish that belief was.

Henry continued, “I’m not sure how large the Million Gold battle stadium will grow, but when I achieve my goal, I will give you all of my established businesses. What do you say, isn’t it a pretty good deal?”

“All of them?”

“Don’t be so shocked, there aren’t any established businesses yet.”

Ten had almost fallen for it, but as Henry said, there weren’t any established businesses yet. Nevertheless, Ten could see the real possibility of it coming to pass in the future.

“Right now, I need a competent manager to run the business on my behalf. For example, a man like the manager of the Million Gold battle stadium, who has kept his position in the highly competitive town of Vivaldi.”

“What’s the point? It was mere seconds before its collapse.”

“It was inevitable because I’d taken action. It doesn’t matter who it was, the result would have still been the same.”

He was clearly only trying to flatter Ten, but Ten was becoming convinced for some odd reason.

“Join me, Ten. If you do, I promise to make you the greatest Golden King in the continent to match the name of the Million Gold battle stadium.”

‘Golden King!’

As soon as the words “Golden King” came out of Henry’s mouth, Ten was completely convinced.

“Alright. I have nothing to lose anyway, so let's work together.”

“I’ll be in your hands, future Golden King.”

“Ha ha, no need to call me Golden King… What an embarrassing title.”

However, his expression belied his words. He was no longer Henry’s debtor but his comrade.

‘How cute.’

Even though Ten was a middle-aged man, Henry had lived twice as long, so to Henry’s eyes, Ten’s embarrassment looked cute.

‘Now that I’ve got Ten on my side, I can take a breather.’

Ten was the type of person to succumb to the temptation of money, but Henry needed someone talented like him who would consider Henry’s job as his own and bring him more benefits.

Ten’s emotions would be unmanageable if money were his only motivating factor, and Henry didn’t want Ten to grow passive like that. That was why he’d prepared a contrived situation for their discussion–something that only mercenaries usually did—even though it was a little awkward.

Even though it was embarrassing, it was worth it to convince him.

“Then shall we now start talking about the business?”

Now that they were walking the same path, the two filled their glasses with whisky.

* * *

As soon as the sun rose, Henry and Ten looked for the most famous chamber of commerce in Vivaldi.

“Is it here?”

“Yes. This is the second-largest chamber of commerce in the empire, the Golden Pit.”

Since Ten was already Henry’s comrade, Henry had told him almost everything that had happened in Enkelmann. He did not mention that he was the Archmage’s disciple, but he told Ten about the city agreement and professional management team.

As soon as they woke, the two visited the Golden Pit to set up the management team first. However, their request for help to manage Enkelmann was met with a disappointing response..

“Since this is an independent city, it will take an astronomical amount of money to put together that kind of management team. If you don’t have the cash to pay upfront, you can use the taxes you collect instead,” the Golden Pit’s sub-master suggested. However, it was an impossible condition—laying hands on the city’s taxes was nothing more than embezzlement.

“It seems like we have to give up asking the chamber of commerce for help.”

“But where else can we find an accountant and a professional administrator?”

“I’m not sure… If only there were another recruitment center like this, what a shame.” They were despondent.

“I agree. If there was a recruitment center with a wide range of jobs, we wouldn't have to resort to the chamber of commerce… hmm, recruitment center?” Although it was just wishful thinking,

Ten’s eyes brightened.

“There is a recruitment center.”

“What do you mean?”

“We need an accountant and an administrator, right?”

“Yes, that’s true but the accountant should at least have a license.”

“If that’s the case, you don’t have to worry. There are former accountants and administrators even among lowlifes.”

Ten had come up with a brilliant idea, and he took Henry to the back alleys of Vivaldi.

“What is this place? I’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s officially called the Banish Alley, but we businessmen usually call it the Private Loan Alley.”

“Private Loan Alley?”

Banish Alley, more commonly known as Private Loan Alley, had the highest concentration of loan sharks in Vivaldi.

Ten had gone there for a simple reason: the place was filled with people who’d lost their assets on entertainment and gambling, had taken out private loans, and lost that money too. Their lives were at risk because they couldn’t pay back the money.

Ten suggested hiring the accountants and administrators among those whose lives were in danger.

“Hmm, it’s not a bad idea, but let’s look at the state of the people there first before making a decision.”

“Alright.”

They were on a hunt to find long-term employees, so they had to be selective.

Soon, they made their way to Arms of the Angel, which was run by Haisha, a private loan shark that Ten was somewhat close to.