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Chapter 189 - Central Powers (3)

“A-a man?”

"As you can see, yes.”

“Y-you crazy bastard! Kill him immediately!”

Henry had answered nonchalantly, but the women furiously shouted at him.

Shing! Shing!

The sound of blades unsheathing came from left and right. Herarion turned pale and spoke to Henry, “Sir Henry! W-where on earth is this place?”

“I believe I’ve told you before that we’re going to Amaris.”

“What? And shouldn’t we have teleported at the entrance and entered with courtesy?”

“Normally, yes...”

The moment Henry was about to answer Herarion’s question, the guards that had unsheathed their swords rushed toward them with the intent to kill. Just as the blades were about to make contact, Henry stamped his feet and pursed his lips.

"Bang!"

Whoosh!

Upon lightly stamping his feet, powerful winds blew from every direction. The gale instantly blew away the swordswomen who had pointed their blades toward Henry, making them even more furious and vicious.

“Don’t you think that this will further complicate things?”

“Excuse me?”

Henry and Herarion had teleported right in the center of the royal palace of Amaris, and the swordswomen who attacked Henry were royal guards.

One of the guards shouted at Henry, “Who are you?! Reveal your identity!”

Now that the guards knew they were facing a wizard, they didn’t approach Henry hastily. Instead, they arranged themselves in a circle to entrap the two intruders just as they had been instructed by the empress.

Buzz!

All of the guards radiated dark blue Auras. As they kept closing in on the intruders, spearwomen and archers also rushed to the scene and surrounded Henry and Herarion with the royal guards.

“Sir... Sir Henry?”

All of the guards looked vicious, ready to kill without hesitation.

There was a saying that a resentful woman could make it snow even in the middle of May. It meant that the killing intent of women was much more terrifying than that of men.

Henry glanced at Herarion and reassured him, “Your Majesty, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Really...?”

"Of course.”

With that, Henry took a couple of steps forward, leaving Herarion behind. He then looked straight at the guard who had asked him who he was.

“I go by Henry Morris. I’m the new master of all the wizards in the empire,” declared Henry.

“New master?”

“There have been some complications, so that’s all you need to know about me. If I had to give myself a title, perhaps ‘Master of the Magical Spire’ would do.”

"So? What does that have to do with all of this?”

“What do you mean? I’ve sent a message, and I haven’t heard back. As a matter of fact, my messenger hasn’t even returned. Thus, I came here to get an answer in person.”

"What?"

“Stop playing dumb. To be honest though, I wasn\'t really expecting an answer anyway. Now if you don’t mind, I have to go and meet your queen right now.”

Hearing this, the royal guard became furious.

"Lies! Don’t lie to me!”

She then continued with a more wary voice.

“How dare the Master of the Magical Spire trespass into our land in such a disrespectful manner! Give me proof that you truly are the new master of the Magical Spire!”

The guard had a point, and Henry himself had also been aware that his way of entering Amaris would be rather disrespectful. However, Henry was much more shameless and audacious than one could imagine.

“And why should I do that?”

"What?"

“You’ve already treated my messenger with disrespect, no? I’m giving you as much respect as you’ve given my messenger.”

“When entering Amaris, you must follow the rules! The moment a man steps foot on this land, he is considered a sinner and nothing more. Therefore, unless he has the Empire Seal of the Empress, even the messenger of the Magical Spire must follow the laws of Amaris!”

“Ha, what a joke.”

“What did you just say?!”

“You dare think you’re in a position to boss me around and tell me what to do?”

“W-what?”

“Five minutes; I will give you exactly five minutes from now. If you don’t bring your queen by then, I will blow up half of Amaris. Hurry up now.”

“You bastard! You dare threaten us with such filthy words?”

“Filthy words?”

There were times when a message couldn’t be delivered by words, but only by actions. This applied to the current situation.

As the guard scoffed at his threat, Henry instantly released both his Aura and the mana he had been amassing.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...!

The ground shook.

After reaching the 7th-Circle, Henry’s power evolved to a level that an expert user would have difficulties with. An ordinary person wouldn’t stand a chance against Henry’s current strength.

Soon, emerald-colored flames flickered all over his body, just like the flames of a devil. As the guards stared at Henry, all of them had goosebumps and chills running down their spine.

‘H-how does he have this kind of power...? He... He might be as strong as the queen... Maybe even stronger...?!’

These guards could always assess how strong their opponents were, and they had already determined Henry’s strength.

Henry gave them a final warning in a low, deep voice.

“If you still have the guts to fight me, come. I’ll fight you ‘till the end.”

"Grunt...!”

The guards flushed with anger as if they were about to explode. Just as Henry had mentioned earlier, he had foreseen what was going to happen once he got here. Despite the messenger coming here just to do his duty, as long as he was a man, he was considered a criminal within Amaris for the time being.

‘Since I knew this was going to happen, maybe I should’ve brought the Royal Seal with me...?’

With the Royal Seal from Silver, Henry and his messenger would’ve been free from all the suspicion because the Royal Seal itself came from the most powerful person in the entire empire.

Although Henry had been aware of this outcome, he had nevertheless sent the school head as his messenger. He had done so in order to get the women of Amaris to be disrespectful first, so that he could later justify his defiance. He had needed a reason to act hostile.

On top of that, the women here were well trained in fighting wizards. However, even if they knew how to bring down wizards, their skills were effective only against ordinary wizards. The moment they grasped Henry’s strength, they instinctively knew that the hunting methods they knew would not work on him.

However, at that moment...

“Were you looking for me?”

A familiar voice echoed throughout the palace. Henry turned his head toward the direction the voice had come from. Then, a tall, slender woman with long, red hair dropping to her waist and fair skin approached the crowd in a flashy but revealing armor.

‘Hela!’

Hela Amaris.

She was the one and only Blood and Iron Empress who ruled Amaris.

Henry made eye contact with Hela. He greeted her while keeping his magic active in order to make a strong first impression, to let her know that he wasn’t beneath her. Nevertheless, he still employed fundamental courtesy.

“Nice to meet you, Queen Amaris. My name is Henry Morris, the new master of the Imperial Magical Spire.”

“Henry Morris?”

The queen had a puzzled look on her face, but Henry wasn’t phased by that and kept talking.

“Oh, I understand that you may be surprised. I have the same name as my master who had passed away, Master Henry Morris, the 8th-Circle Archmage.”

“I see...”

“So how about it, Queen Amaris? Would you like to talk with me now?”

Henry himself knew that he was being quite rude because half of the questions he was asking sounded more like threats. However, to the women of Amaris, he sounded more like a go-getter than just a rude individual.

Noticing the way Henry was talking, Hela burst into laughter and answered, “What a bold guy... I like your attitude. I haven’t had a man who has stimulated my curiosity like this in a while, so I will gladly take up your offer for a discussion.”

“Thank you, Queen.”

Swish!

The two came to an amicable agreement by talking. Henry then deactivated his magic and calmed down. It was only then that the guards also eased up.

\'Ha, haha... So is this really a country where only women live?’

It wasn’t just the guards who had tensed up in the earlier standoff. Herarion had been no different. Everything about Amaris felt new to him; in fact, it was his first time in Amaris, and he had never gone through such a heated, nerve-wracking greeting.

“Let’s discuss somewhere else, shall we?”

Since they hadn’t established a one-sided relationship, but rather a formal one, Hela treated Henry and Herarion like equals. The two of them were soon served tea in the luxurious drawing room the queen used.

Henry asked as he sat at the table, “Queen Amaris, before we talk, I would like to see my messenger first. Could you give me the courtesy to do so?”

“That won’t be a problem. Go get him.”

When Hela gestured, Douglas Kincaid, the head of the elementalist school, appeared with ropes tied around his body.

“Arch... Archmage!”

Douglas’ face lit up with joy. He had only come here as a messenger to carry out Henry’s orders, but he had gotten ambushed by the women of Amaris and had a hard time ever since.

Henry got up from his seat and headed toward Douglas while looking him in the eyes.

"Good job."

“Archmage...!”

“I will take care of the rest. You go back to the Snow Spire and rest.”

After the two finished talking, Henry summoned the Colt Dagger. He then enveloped the dagger in Aura and effortlessly cut the rope that was wrapped around Douglas.

Queen Hela and the guards were all stunned by this.

‘How can he break Ram’s Chain so easily?’

Ram\'s Chain.

It was one of the anti-mage weapons made only in Amaris that completely suppressed the victim\'s mana. Back in the day, it had been difficult for Henry to fight Amaris because of Ram\'s chain. However, now that he knew how to destroy it, it was nothing more than a mere rope to him.

Douglas looked thrilled as he was being untied, and immediately turned to the guards that had dragged him there. He cast the guards a murderous stare as if he were about to attack them. His eyes made it clear how miserable he had been after being captured. After letting out some of his anger, he hurriedly cast teleportation magic to return to the Snow Spire.

With his messenger taken care of, Henry was fully prepared to engage in a conversation with the queen. He once again sat across from Hela with a smile on his face and said, “Now that he’s taken care of, I’m ready to have a proper conversation with you. Shall we begin, Queen Amaris?”

Henry was being sly and somewhat brazen, which prompted Hela to burst into laughter.

"Ha, hahaha!"

“Is there a problem?”

“Hahaha... You awaken some memories in me.”

At her comment, Henry also couldn’t help but smirk to himself. He realized that despite all this time, nothing had changed here. As Hela was still the strong ruler of Amaris, the Amaris style of speaking that Henry had picked up in the past was still useful to this day. In a way, he was glad that the traits and tendencies of the Amaris women had not changed over the decades.

Because of that, Henry knew that Hela would soon accept his offer as long as she acted the way he had anticipated.

“Have you received the letter?”

“I did, but the things written in the letter were so shocking that I still don’t believe it.”

“Well, you can rest assured that everything written in it is true. It’s just that the news hadn’t made its way to Amaris, given that the country is somewhat distant from the outside world. The empire has already fallen, and the emperor is dead.”

“So Arthus, the Grand Duke, has founded a new empire?”

“Precisely.”

Everything they mentioned had happened in that precise manner. News that the empire had collapsed, that the emperor had met his death, and that the new empire had been established had already spread throughout the continent.

However, due to the Central Powers being distant from the outside world and the fact that outsiders were rarely allowed into their territories, Henry understood that everything he had said could be interpreted as lies. Moreover, the fact that Henry’s messenger had come to Amaris before Arthus’s did not help in convincing Hela that everything Henry had said was true.

Hela slowly nodded and said, “I’m still having a hard time believing everything, but I also know that there’s no way a man like you would lie about such things. However, there’s something more surprising that I have trouble believing. The fact that that man had an apprentice under him... That’s what surprises me the most.”

“I’d been under his wings for a long time. That’s why it took me so long to go out into the world.”

“Yes, I was rather saddened when I heard that he was executed.”

Her words were sincere. Although she was the ruler of Amaris, that didn’t mean that she didn’t like men. In fact, she liked men who were stronger than her. In that sense, Golden Jackson Edward and Henry Morris were the men who were close to her personal preferences.

“I’ve read your message thoroughly. I’m assuming that the man next to you is the Khan of the Desert?”

"Yes, I’m Herarion Khan, ruler of Shahatra.”

“Hmm. Unfortunately, you’re not my type.”

“Pardon...?”

“I had my hopes up since you’re the King of the Desert... But you seem too weak and scrawny for my taste.”

“Scra-scrawny...!”

Hela spoke her mind without hesitation. After all, she was a woman who had all the power to do so, given that she was stronger than the current Herarion by a large margin.

Henry continued the conversation.

“Then have you thought about an answer to my offer?”

“You mean the Allied Powers?”

"Yes.”

“Well, at first, I thought it was some kind of nonsense, so I didn’t give it much thought. However, if you’re telling me that everything in the message is true, this is definitely a serious problem.”

“As you know, Queen Amaris, if you refuse Arthus’ offer, he will definitely come for you. However, even if you accept his offer to form an alliance with him, it’ll only be an alliance on paper. Amaris will essentially become a tributary state.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be much different from what the Eurasian Empire pursued, am I wrong?”

“I can promise you that Arthus will be different. He may double or triple the amount of contributors, such as Amaris warriors, and specialty products that Amaris produces. He may, in fact, ask for more than that.”

“I already expect that to happen, and if you haven’t realized yet, I don’t back down without a fight.”

“May I understand that as...?”

“Yes, I will accept your offer. Despite the fact that I’m reluctant to join forces with men, I’m a much wiser ruler than I seem to be. However, I’ll only accept under one condition.”

"And what would that be?”

Hela looked straight into Henry’s eyes and replied, “Yes, in fact, it’s something I want from you specifically.”

She then made a sly smile like a nine-tailed fox.

“Tell me Queen Amaris. As long as you accept my offer to be part of the Allied Powers, I will do anything for you.”

Her gaze grew even more bewitching, more coquettish.

“I like how you don’t beat around the bush. My conditions are simple. I want to have your child.”