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Chapter 248 - Refining War Tactics (1)

Henry looked at Charlotte Heights on the continental map. It was located in the southern part of the continent and was surrounded by mountain ranges and vast plains. Also, people were rarely seen there because of the hot, humid climate, and dense, jungle-like forests.

In other words, it was the perfect place for the monstrous Chimeras to sneak around unnoticed.

‘In normal circumstances, we would’ve pushed a siege right away, but...’

As much as Henry would’ve liked to use the army to fight Arthus, none of the soldiers of the imperial army would be of any help, especially since Henry had seen how powerful Pim and Rim and the Chimera that had tried to kill Baeb in Killive were. Rather, if he brought an army, it would only cause more unnecessary deaths.

Therefore, in order to subdue the Chimera army, Henry needed people who were Sword Masters or stronger and wizards who were at least of Archmage status.

‘So the only way is to select a few of the strongest people?’

There was no other choice. Furthermore, since there was a 7th-Circle Archmage like himself on Arthus’ side, Henry had to be extra cautious in this battle.

Henry sighed as he realized that he had only one way of going about this fight against Arthus. He lay down in his bed, trying to get more comfortable so he could organize his thoughts.

The bed was soft, soothing, but even so, Henry wasn’t truly comfortable. He couldn’t be, not when he still had so much to take care of.

Henry closed his eyes and started to think again.

‘Just when did you start becoming so twisted like this, Arthus?’

On second thoughts, when did Henry and Arthus become sworn enemies?

Before thinking of a way to track Arthus down and kill him, Henry decided to think about the more fundamental question of how things had gotten to this point.

Henry went through his memories.

In his previous life, he remembered not having a particularly bad relationship with Arthus. However, Arthus changed after he became a grand noble and gained power.

At first, Henry thought Arthus was just thirsty for more power, and that was why he formed his own forces and slowly grew his power in opposition to the State Contributors.

By doing that, Arthus eventually reached the position of a grand duke and then ultimately succeeded in overthrowing the throne, establishing his own empire.

Arthus’ ascension to power wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. He had just acted on greed and built his power until he obtained the throne. However, a few days prior, he had abandoned the imperial palace and disappeared, as if he couldn’t care less about the empire he had spent so much time and effort building.

‘But just why?’

Henry couldn’t understand Arthus’ behavior. He hadn’t expected Arthus to just run away from him and throw all his hard work away.

Even more shocking was the fact that Henry had always assumed Arthus was just another human being like everyone else. However, he had used some sort of unknown ability to evade every single one of Henry’s attacks and ridicule him.

On top of that, even Skall, whom not even the Spirit King dared to interfere with, feared Arthus.

‘Arthus, who the hell are you really?’

This was all a great enigma.

Before killing him, Henry was determined to find out what Arthus’ true intentions were and how he had obtained that kind of power.

Knock, knock...

Just as Henry was concluding his thoughts, there was a knock on his door. He got out of bed and opened the door.

“How are you?”

It was Ronan, wearing casual clothes. Henry greeted him with a smile.

“I was just resting. What’s up?”

“Nothing... I just came to drink some tea.”

“Boring.”

Henry invited Ronan into his room. He prepared two cups of tea and handed one to Ronan.

Slurp...

As Ronan was drinking his tea, Henry called out to him, “Ronan.”

“Yeah?”

“Is there something on your mind?”

“...Is it that obvious?”

“Wouldn’t it be weirder if I didn’t notice? You’re drinking your tea so awkwardly.”

“Ahem, is that so?”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but why don’t you just get it off your chest? We’re friends after all, right?”

‘Friends...’

Henry had said that to him countless times, but to Ronan, it felt especially heartwarming this particular day. The reason for that was simple — no matter how much Henry tried to make it sound like they were friends, Ronan could feel deep down that a huge, invisible wall had grown between them because of their difference in status.

Henry chuckled to himself as he watched Ronan’s touched expression. No matter how much Ronan tried to act like an adult, he was just a young man. He would’ve been the same age as Henry’s grandson if he had one from his previous life as the Sage of the Continent.

After gently reassuring Ronan, Henry asked again, “So, what’s going on?”

Ronan set down the teacup and finally revealed the reason for his coming.

“Actually, I came to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“I want to become stronger.”

“What?” Henry cocked his head at Ronan’s reply.

If Ronan really wanted to become stronger, he shouldn’t have come to Henry, but to a knight like Von, or peak Sword Masters like McDowell and Valhald.

“If that’s what you want, why did you come to me and not the Sword Masters?” asked Henry with a hint of confusion.

“You’re right, but... since we’re not that close, I’m still a bit awkward around them.”

“...So what you’re saying is that you want me to become the middleman between you and them?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Ronan was being serious with his request.

Henry smirked and said, “You’re an advanced Sword Master, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, I’ve heard that the main difference between an intermediate Sword Master and an advanced one is the fact that the latter has unlocked their decisive skill... You’re amazing. I haven’t even gotten close to learning my main skill, let alone my decisive skill.”

“Amazing? Are you kidding me? You know very well that having a decisive skill is useless in actual combat.”

“Why do you think it’s useless?”

“Think back to when we faced Balak.”

“Balak?... Ah!”

Henry recalled the time when he and the Sword Masters had captured and sealed Balak.

After breaking free from the seal, Balak had thrown his Black Punisher at Ronan, sending him flying across the hollow, knocking him out cold. It wasn’t that Ronan was weak, it was just that Balak was too strong.

Henry had been too busy to even think about that, but on the other hand, Ronan seemed deeply ashamed of that situation.

“That’s not all. Did you know that before you stopped the war, I was dealing with my adoptive father?”

“Of course. I saw it with my own eyes. But I heard from His Majesty, Herarion, that you deflected all of Kington’s sword strikes.”

“I did deflect them, but that was it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The best I could do was to block his attacks, some of them barely. I want to be able to win against Kington by a large margin.”

Ronan was an advanced Sword Master, but Kington was a peak Sword Master, and he was also known as the best Knight King the empire had ever seen.

However, Ronan had blocked Kington’s sword strikes, reducing the damage done to his allies, which was a testament to how strong Ronan was.

However, among the knights serving Henry, none of them would’ve been limited to just blocking Kington’s attacks; instead, all of them would’ve decimated Kington.

That was what Ronan was talking about.

‘Haha, look at this guy.’

Henry realized what Ronan was trying to get at.

As he looked into Ronan’s eyes, burning with ambition and a sense of inferiority, Henry was intrigued, as if he had discovered the passion of his grandson.

In fact, Henry’s passion for swordsmanship had died down a bit after becoming a Sword Master, which was understandable; Henry’s swordsmanship was a combination of the best elements from the imperial swordsmanship and Hector’s, creating a near-perfect style.

In addition, by its nature, Henry’s Aura was very different from the one used by everyone else, so he didn’t have to rely on anybody. Furthermore, his Aura had become more potent every time he had advanced to a higher Circle, so for Henry, the Aura was a bonus to his magic enhancement.

‘Hmm, seeing him like this is getting me excited.’

Seeing Ronan’s ambition proved to be an excellent stimulus for Henry’s passion, which had waned greatly over time.

After all, Henry and Ronan were former rivals for the senior and junior positions in the military. So, by giving Henry an unexpected boost of excitement, Ronan brought Henry to a good mood.

Henry agreed to Ronan’s request.

“Okay. My one and only friend is asking me for a favor, so of course I’ll do it. Take this opportunity to get to know the Sword Masters too.”

“Really? Thanks, Henry!”

Ronan expressed his sincere gratitude.

***

“... So, you’re saying that he wants to be taught, but he was too shy to ask us, so he asked you instead?”

“Well, basically yes.”

Henry had summoned Valhald, McDowell, and Von in order to fulfill Ronan’s wish.

As soon as McDowell heard Henry, he burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! I’ve never seen him that way, but he\'s got a cute side to him. I guess it’s kinda hard for him to get close to us since we’re so much older than him.”

“Does this mean you’ll do it?”

“Well, since it’s you who’s asking for this favor, of course we’ll do it. I heard he’s not only a military friend of yours, but also Kington’s adopted son. The one Iselan took under his wing, right?”

“That’s right.”

“He’s got a complicated background, but if he’s Kington’s adopted son, he’s obviously using the Foram swordsmanship, so is it okay for us to teach him even though we use a completely different kind of swordsmanship?”

“Well... He’s already become an advanced Sword Master, so I don’t think you’ll need to worry about his swordsmanship, but I think the important part is using his decisive skill.”

“Well, he was a bit of a pain in the ass the other day when he got knocked out by Balak. Okay, then, I’ll do as you asked and train Ronan... But what about you, Henry? How are you doing?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I’ve heard you were trained by a guy named Hector until you reached the level of a Sword Master, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And your progress since then? Do you know what the traits of your Aura are?”

“Haha... Unfortunately, my Aura is different in nature compared to ordinary Aura. I know what you’re about to say, but I’ll figure things out about my Aura on my own.”

“Okay, that’s a shame.”

McDowell was genuinely disappointed because there was nothing more fun for a master than to teach a talented disciple.

After McDowell was done talking to Henry, Von, who was stroking his chin, seemingly deep in thought, said, “Training, huh... Come to think of it, I forgot about Hagler. I haven’t paid much attention to him since he became a Sword Master.”

“If it bothers you so much, why don’t you train Halger with Ronan? Since the war in Vivaldi is over, Hagler should have a lot of free time on his hands.”

“Hmm, should I?”

“Sure. I’ll give you teleportation scrolls so that you can instantly get to Vivaldi and then back here.”

Hagler was lucky; if it hadn\'t been for Ronan, Von wouldn’t have remembered about him.

As Henry was wrapping up the meeting and was just about to leave the room, Valhald called out, “Henry.”

“Yes?”

“If you ever have trouble devoting yourself to swordsmanship, come find me.”

It was a sincere offer, and it was one that Henry hadn’t expected at all because Valhald wasn’t the type to have disciples. In addition, Valhald was the greatest knight on the continent, having even defeated the Punishment King, Balak.

Henry was glad that someone like Valhald offered to train him.

‘Once I reach the 8th-Circle, I’ll have to get serious about my swordsmanship training.’

At this point, Henry realized that it would be a waste to use his Aura just as a helping tool to advance to the 8th-circle. So, after he awakened the 8th-Circle again, Henry decided that he would try to reach his full potential in swordsmanship.

“Thank you, Sir Valhald,” Henry said with sincerity.

As Henry left the room, he kept thinking about the word ‘devotion.’

‘Devoting myself, huh... Come to think of it, I’ve been stuck in the same place for a while. Things are pretty much in order, so why don’t I get stronger before I leave for Charlotte Heights?’

The timing was great.

Encouraged by Ronan, Henry decided to get stronger, since he hadn’t had time to do so in a while.