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‘I knew a day like this would eventually come.’

Arthus had removed all the pro-State Contributors using various schemes, and now he suddenly showed up out of nowhere to see him. Therefore, it was clear as day that Arthus’ objective was a rebellion.

He had climbed to the rank of grand duke by manipulating and eliminating the State Contributors.

While the title of a grand duke was a powerful status, it didn\'t mean Arthus possessed the most authority. The person with the greatest power in the empire was none other than the emperor.

After Arthus became the grand duke, Lore could tell from the rather obvious burning ambition in his eyes that he might eventually aim for the emperor\'s position.

His predictions turned out to be correct.

“How did you know?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Today’s not a special day, and we’re not close enough to have private conversations like this. You have a favor to ask, which is why you came here to see me.”

Still, within the empire, Lore was likely the sole individual who believed that Arthus\' favor was tied to a rebellion—or so Arthus assumed. Even so, Arthus refrained from voicing this thought aloud.

Instead, he decided to speed up the conversation.

“Well, I’m glad I don’t have to explain much. You’re right. I’m planning to forge a new chapter in the empire’s history.”

“And?”

“I want to ask you for your opinion.”

“I’m sure you know even without asking.”

“Of course I know you won’t participate with me. However, I want to know if you’ll stand on the emperor’s side and oppose me.”

‘You sly bastard!’

Arthus was essentially telling Lore to choose the correct answer, which had already been determined.

However, Arthus had grown too powerful for Lore to just easily answer his revolting question. In addition, he didn’t want to stand by the damn emperor and put his precious wizards of the spire in danger during Arthus’ rebellion.

Therefore, he quickly came to a conclusion.

“I will stay neutral. During the war, the Magical Spire will remain neutral and will not take anyone’s side.”

“Then you will command all the wizards to remain neutral, right?”

“Of course.”

Lore essentially conveyed that he wouldn\'t stop the rebellion, thereby advising Arthus against attempting to manipulate the spire\'s wizards and use them as tools for the rebellion.

Arthus smiled at Lore’s thorough statement.

He had asked just in case, but as expected, Lore rejected him.

‘I didn’t expect you to help anyway.’

Arthus intended to proceed without the help of wizards in the first place. It would’ve been convenient to have wizards on his side, but he could still start the rebellion without them. Above all, his newly acquired power couldn’t even be compared to that of a wizard\'s magic.

“Have you decided on the date?”

“In half a month, Eisen and Alfred will battle, and that’s when I’ll start as well.”

“Alright.”

Lore was a little surprised that Eisen and Alfred were battling, but he didn’t express it. Both of them were on Arthus’ side anyway, so he had no intention of stopping them when they decided to fight each other on their own.

Instead, Lore asked for the exact date of the rebellion as he had to warn the wizards as soon as Arthus left.

Ultimately, given the circumstances, Arthus wouldn\'t be able to harm the wizards for refusing to assist him.

‘Unless you build a new Magical Spire, Arthus.’

With the end of the war and the establishment of the spire, Henry had chosen life, and not murder, as the ideology of the spire in order to ensure the peace of the empire. As a result, the empire had seen a remarkable revival due to the progress in life magic, and its effects still continued today.

Therefore, it would’ve been a great waste to eliminate the wizards out of anger.

As soon as Arthus left the Magical Spire, Lore sighed and murmured, “Sir Henry, what should I do…?”

He quietly called out his name.

Lore had become the second head of the Magical Spire as Henry had wished, but he couldn’t help but still miss him, since he had been a passionate follower of his.

Lore drafted all the wizards in the empire, a step he had never taken since assuming his position.

* * *

“Damn it…!”

It had been hours since Henry had left his mansion.

Syred couldn’t help but frown as he recalled the contents of the note Henry had given him.

‘That cunning bastard. No wonder it tasted sweeter…!’

Now that he confirmed that what he had missed was not a mistake, he could confidently pursue his desire.

Syred took out the last Pink Swamp 2 from the wooden box, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

‘Damn it…!’

This was the last one.

Of course, there was still a pile of the original Pink Swamp that Henry had given him on one side of the room. However, now that he knew of the existence of the real goods, he could no longer continue smoking the fake ones.

He tried to smoke by mixing the original ones in between in order to savor the Pink Swamp 2, but this only made him smoke the original ones faster.

Syred thought about the note he had received as he drew on the last Pink Swamp 2.

“Haaa….”

As expected, it tasted amazing.

Unlike the fake cigarettes piled up on one side of the room, he believed that what he was smoking now was what real happiness felt like; but the shorter his cigarette got, the more anxious he became.

The contents of the note were simple. It stated that if he wanted to be supplied with the real goods, he had to visit Hansen in Momont.

‘Hansen in Momont.’

Although he didn’t know who Hansen was, he knew from when he had taken his successor class that Momont was Aubert’s fief.

However, the fact that Henry handed him this note unbeknownst to his father was very suspicious, almost as if this was a trap. But as the cigarette got shorter, Syred no longer felt the need to think.

‘That’s right, I’m destined to just die like this.’

In the end, the cigarettes had made him lose his ability to reason.

Having made up his mind, Syred immediately got on a horse to Momont.

* * *

‘He’s here.’

Henry grinned as he saw Syred Etherwether looking around like a fool in the dark. He was Alfred’s second son, the most severely addicted victim of Henry’s Pink Swamp.

Snap!

As Henry snapped his finger, the dark environment brightened in an instant.

Syred fell on his bum as he was surprised.

“H-how dare you…!”

“What do you mean, ‘how dare you’? You’re the one who came all this way, and that’s all you have to say…”

Syred was also a wind spiritualist who had signed a contract with the wind spirit, just like his brother. Therefore, he quickly arrived at Momont with the help of the wind. After that, it wasn’t hard to find Hansen because all the villagers had kindly told him where Hansen lived.

However, when he arrived, he came across a large new-looking building that didn’t match the aesthetic of the village at all, let alone Hansen.

‘Gulp!’

Syred had a bad feeling.

His gut feeling told him not to go inside no matter what, but once again, his craving for the cigarettes overpowered his instincts.

Snap!

Henry snapped his fingers.

Clank, clank, clank!

Syred heard sequential sounds of locks being secured around him.

Henry snapped his fingers again.

Clank!

A chain protruded from the floor and wrapped around Syred.

“W-what the hell…!”

Syred’s face was full of anxiety, worry, and fear.

How could the chain move on its own when there wasn’t anybody around? It looked like Henry was using a special device.

‘Magic?’

Syred instinctively felt that magic was at play.

“J-just how did you…!”

“Why are you nervous? I haven\'t even started yet,” said Henry as he looked at Syred.

“W-what…!”

“Shush.”

Henry put his index finger on Syred’s mouth since he didn’t want to hear him talk anymore, and he continued.

“First of all, I’ll show you that it was worth coming here.”

Snap!

Henry snapped his fingers once again.

Syred was wrapped in a chain like a cocoon and an opening in the air formed just above his head.

Thud!

The Pink Swamp 2 that Syred wanted so much fell out of that opening, forming a pile at his feet.

“T-this is…!!”

“That’s right. This is the thing you’ve been looking for so much.”

“J-just one! Let me smoke just one! I smoked all of the ones you gave me last time on the spot!”

The withdrawal symptoms made Syred even forget the feeling of fear.

Henry was reminded of Aubert as he watched Syred, since he also used to beg for the cigarettes.

“Do you want to smoke it?”

“Please! Please just one!”

Syred felt like he was going to go crazy from the sweet smell of the cigarettes.

However, just as he had done to Aubert, Henry had no intention of giving him the cigarettes so easily.

Strike.

“Haaa…!”

Henry picked up a cigarette from the floor, lit it, and blew out the smoke in Syred’s face.

“Aghhhh!”

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Syred struggled in pain from the sweet smell of the cigarettes. There were so many cigarettes around him, and the fact that he couldn’t smoke any of them was killing him.

Henry narrowed his eyes and smiled coldly.

‘It’s always amusing to see something like this.’

The son of his enemy was suffering, which, for Henry, was a beautiful sight to witness.

Henry grabbed the cigarette he was smoking from his mouth and brought it near Syred’s lips.

“Do you want to smoke it?” asked Henry.

“Please! Please give it to me! I’ll do anything you want me to, so please!”

“Good. That’s a good attitude.”

Crush.

“Nooo!”

“...But you’re not desperate enough.”

Henry ignored Syred’s painful cry. Instead, he threw the cigarette on the floor and crushed it, amplifying Syred’s suffering.

‘Don’t worry. Unlike Aubert, I’ll give you a few.’

This time around, Henry found it easier since he had already gone through a similar experience with Aubert.

Most importantly, Henry didn\'t plan to detain Syred for an extended period of time. If Alfred discovered that Syred was missing before the Fief War, suspicion would automatically fall on Henry, since he was the last person that Syred had been seen with.

“Then shall we slowly get to know your family first?”

Henry thought that instead of hiring a competent spy and planting them, it was be better to turn an insider into a traitor.

Thus, Syred’s betrayal had begun with him being a desperate traitor.

* * *

A few hours had passed.

“I see.”

“Y-yes! That’s right! I’m telling the truth!”

“Alright. You can smoke one.”

“T-thank you!”

Henry first put the Pink Swamp in his mouth and lit it, then he put it into Syred mouth.

“Haaa…!”

Syred appeared content, as though he hadn\'t been in distress just moments before.

Henry didn’t harm Syred at all.

Syred was allowed to be outside for a maximum of two days. Therefore, in order to send him back to his home, Henry couldn’t hurt him even the slightest bit.

‘He knows a lot more than I expected.’

Henry managed to grasp the Etherwether family’s strategy for the war through Syred.

Being the second son, Syred had access to a wealth of confidential information. While Henry couldn\'t find out the precise details of their plan for the Fief War, as even Syred was unaware of them, the information he had obtained so far proved to be helpful enough. When it came to tactics, Henry had enough of his own that he was confident in.

‘Now all that’s left is…’

He had gotten all the information he needed for the upcoming Fief War, but Syred still hadn’t exhausted his usefulness. After all, he was the second son of the best spiritual family in the empire.

“Elagon.”

- Khu?

Henry summoned Elagon.

He took out the Egg of Evolution he had embedded in Elagon’s chest and showed it to Syred.

“T-this is!”

“Your reaction suggests that you know what this is. Tell me how I can use this damn egg.”

Just like this, Syred became useful for the second time.