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Chapter 192 - Central Powers (6)

Having his attack blocked, Terion once again strung a magic arrow on his bow, and without hesitation, he shot it.

Pnggg!

Once again, with a sharp, piercing sound, the Aura-enhanced arrow hit Henry’s Magic Shield. However, it was futile. Terion was a bow master, but he was nowhere near skilled enough to penetrate Henry’s shield.

“I see a familiar face. Let’s deal with this first and have a conversation with him.”

“Good idea.”

At Henry’s suggestion, Von, McDowell, and Valhald started moving.

The moment the three of them enveloped themselves in Aura, Terion frowned as he was about to put his third arrow on his bow.

“...Huh?”

There was no way he didn’t recognize the four of them with his sharp eyes. However, the reason he had shot the arrows right off the bat was because the Deucekain people had already been ready to attack.

Moreover, the four of them had appeared in the center of the Deucekain palace on Mount Mecca. Initially, Terion had doubted his own senses, unable to believe that he could encounter all four of them in a location where ordinary people would never dare to set foot.

However, just as he had fired two arrows and was about to shoot a third, Terion realized who they were, but it was too late.

“Long time no see,” yelled Sonic McDowell.

“Y-you’re...!”

Thud!

As soon as Henry ordered them to restrain him, McDowell quickly closed the distance between him and Terion before the third arrow was shot. McDowell extended his massive palm and slammed Terion’s face into the ground.

“You mustn\'t kill him, just restrain him!”

“That’s easier said than done.”

McDowell grumbled at Henry’s request. What Henry asked of him wasn’t difficult as long as the opponent was as skilled as him.

“Aghh, khaa!”

“Shut up! You shouldn’t have shot your arrows like that in the first place.”

With his face planted in the ground, Terion struggled to free himself from McDowell’s grasp, but to no avail.

McDowell was the third sword of the former Imperial Ten Swords, so a mere bow master couldn’t realistically do anything against him.

Crack!

“Aghhhhh!”

Despite his playful comments, McDowell made sure to properly restrain Terion. Thus, he broke Terion’s thumb, index, and middle finger on his right hand, the most precious fingers for an archer, all at once.

“Okay. Next up is your left hand.”

McDowell pressed on Terion’s neck with his knee. He then dropped Terion’s right hand and grabbed his left hand with which he was holding the bow.

Terion lifted his head as much as he could and shouted, “Agh! I-I surrender! Please! Pleaseee!”

“Huh? What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”

McDowell looked like the devil in Terion’s eyes.

Just as McDowell was about to break Terion’s left fingers...!

“That’s enough.”

Henry stopped McDowell.

“Huh? Why?”

“I said we have to deal with this, not make a total mess. Plus, don’t you think he’ll be more cooperative if we leave his left hand alone?”

“Hm, you do have a point. Hey you, consider yourself lucky, because if it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t even be able to hold a fork, let alone a bow, for the rest of your life.”

It was a lighthearted warning, but McDowell had actually been about to cripple Terion. He acted in a different manner to women, but to men, McDowell was as cold and distant as a person could be.

By this point, the area had been dealt with. With their proficiency in swordsmanship, Von and Valhald’s had made it impossible for the guards at the palace to even approach them.

Henry brought both of his hands together and said, “This should do for now. Let’s get going.”

“Go where?”

“Here.”

Snap!

As soon as Henry snapped his fingers, Von, Valhald, McDowell, and Terion, all disappeared without a trace.

Henry had used Teleportation.

* * *

They had moved to Salgaera in the north, where it snowed incessantly.

Henry threw Terion into the same cell in which he had locked up Aubert.

Clank!

“Arghh...!”

Rolling on the floor, Terion held his broken fingers in agony as if they had just been broken again.

However, Henry lit up the cell with an expressionless face.

“Y-You’re...!”

“Nice to see you again. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Terion hadn’t been mistaken back in Deucekain. Sandwiched between the former Imperial Ten Swords was none other than Henry, Eisen’s vassal.

“H-how are you here?”

“Be quiet, we don’t have much time, so I’ll move quickly.”

Henry took out an hourglass from his pocket and placed it on the floor. It would take exactly one hour for the entirety of the sand to flow into the lower part.

Since they made a mess right after they arrived in Deucekain, even an hour was a very long time. However, Henry wasn’t stupid enough to let go of this coincidental opportunity just because he was time-constrained.

“Listen carefully. If you can’t prove your worth in exactly one hour from now, you’re never going to see the light of day, let alone a bow and arrow.”

Gulp.

Terion, a bow master, had good instincts. It didn’t matter in the slightest what Henry’s current position was. The only thing that mattered was that even McDowell was listening to Henry.

After giving him a warning, Henry asked his first question.

“Why did you come to Deucekain?”

“W-well, to explain that, I’d first have to explain the political landscape of the entire continent...”

Shunk!

“Arghhhh!”

Henry thrust his Colt Dagger into Terion’s thigh as he was speaking. He then pulled Terion by his hair from the ground and said, “I already know that Arthus has founded a new empire, and that all the nobles from the previous empire have sided with him. You’re one of them too, aren’t you?”

Terion nodded, struggling.

It was as expected.

Henry continued in a cold tone, “I didn’t bring you all the way here just to hear that kind of information, so just answer my question.”

“A-alright.”

Henry was a brilliant and capable assistant of that stupid Eisen, but to Terion, he was no longer just a capable assistant, but a cruel devil in disguise.

* * *

“...As expected.”

By the time the sand almost completely reached the bottom of the hourglass, Henry had squeezed as much information out of Terion as he could, not giving him a moment of rest.

As expected, Arthus had sent Terion to Deucekain as an envoy. Mount Mecca was close to the Highlander region, which allowed Terion to arrive faster than Henry.

Terion had shot the arrows at Henry right off the bat in order to help the people of Deucekain and win their favor.

‘Plus, Arthus has ordered us to kill all the wizards.’

Henry had also found out some unexpected pieces of information while interrogating Terion. He had learned that Arthus suspected the wizards of the Magical Spire for destroying the palace and killing the emperor, not Eisen or himself.

‘That’s why he ordered to kill all the wizards.’

Of course, it wasn’t an order to actually kill all of them, but only to eliminate the wizards who resisted, sparing those who chose to surrender. After all, wizards were a valuable resource.

Having finished thinking, Henry picked up the hourglass that was still going, and put it away. He then looked at Terion, who was gasping for air on the ground.

“Terion.”

Terion flinched. For him, the past hour had been an extremely horrible experience that taught him just how terrifying Henry could be.

“Do you want to live?” asked Henry bluntly.

Terion sat down properly, fixed his posture, and nodded strongly.

“Y-yes! Please spare me!”

“Of course, I should let you live, since you’re so desperate. We’re old battle buddies who fought on the same battlefield, aren\'t we?”

Battle buddies.

Terion never knew that the words battle buddies could be used in such a chilling, twisted way.

Henry crouched down in front of Terion and locked eyes with him. He then created a sphere of mana and put it inside Terion’s mouth.

“Swallow it.”

“...!”

It was a black, blazing sphere. Even at first glance, the sphere looked dangerous, but when it touched Terion’s lips, it just felt like a drop of water.

Henry continued to slowly shove the black mana sphere into Terion’s mouth, eventually pushing it down his esophagus.

“This is a special magic bomb that I made. I can detonate it whenever I want, and its explosion radius is about one kilometer. Also, with no wizards in the empire, I doubt there’s anyone who can remove this.”

“...!”

Even though the explanation was vague, it was undoubtedly terrifying.

“Terion.”

“Y-yes!”

“I’m only going to tell you the instructions once, so listen carefully and memorize them.”

Henry had sucked out as much information as he possibly could from Terion. However, if he killed him at this point, Arthus was surely going to notice something was wrong, but at the same time, Terion was useless to keep as a hostage, which meant that there was only option left.

‘I’ll hold his very life hostage.’

Henry planned to use Terion as the perfect spy. Given the black sphere inside his body, it didn’t even matter if Terion got caught or killed, which made him doubly efficient as a spy.

For the next ten minutes, Henry instructed his new spy on what he needed to do, just like the way he had used to instruct Eisen.

After explaining, Henry confirmed with Terion.

“You got it, right?”

“...Yes!” replied Terion firmly.

Terion was a smart man. In just one instructional session, he managed to perfectly memorize how he needed to behave in the future.

Henry snapped his fingers and said, “Heal, Clean, Charming,”

Znggg!

A cluster of bright lights surrounded Terion. His deformed fingers and dirty clothes were all perfectly restored back to their normal state.

“S-Sir Henry, this is...?”

“If you try to lie to people while looking like a mess, who’s going to believe you? I’m going to send you back to Deucekain now. You know what to do, right?”

“Y-yes, Sir!”

Snap!

Henry snapped again, and Terion disappeared without a trace.

* * *

“...What an amazing guy.”

As Terion disappeared, McDowell, who had witnessed the whole thing, spoke to Von in a quiet voice.

“I’ve never seen him like that before. He’s pretty scary.”

“He’s a very thorough guy. He’s also just as level-headed as the Grand Duke. One could call him the incarnation of the Grand Duke.”

“Well, that’s probably why you believed him and decided to go along with him, right?”

“No, I was also brought into this whole thing just like that.”

“...?”

Henry had sent Terion back to Deucekain. He then got up and returned to the three people who were waiting for him.

“I saw the way you dealt with things back there. I’ve never seen you like that, but you’re scary as hell.”

“What do you mean?”

“The bomb! You put that brutal thing inside of his stomach so effortlessly.”

“That’s not a bomb.”

“What?”

“Even though I’m a 7th-Circle wizard, there’s no way I could plant a mana ball in someone’s body permanently in such a short period of time.”

“Huh? Then what was that earlier?”

“It was just a simple mana ball, one that’s going to naturally disappear as time passes.”

“Then, you... Did you really...?”

“People are simpler than you think. If one believes they’re in danger, they’re naturally going to be scared for their lives. The ones who can see through this kind of deception are the people who possess real power, don’t you think?”

“...I see.”

McDowell nodded in agreement at Henry’s flawless logic. The latter was completely right, and any further comments were unnecessary.

McDowell changed the subject and asked a different question.

“Then are we going back to Deucekain?”

“No, there’s no need.”

“Why not?”

“I initially planned to take care of Deucekain first, but then we met Terion, an unexpected aide.”

“Then what do we do now?”

“We’re going to take care of something else in the meantime.”

“Something else? Are you talking about the last two Central Powers?”

“That’s right. We must secure the other two countries before it’s too late. The Sore Empire is next on the list.”

Sore Empire, perhaps the trickiest country of all, was their next stop.