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Chapter 276 - Upgrade (1)

Viram’s expression went blank as Herarion told him about what was happening in Shahatra. The illusionist’s eyes went hazy as he realized that his worst fears had come true. He had been involved in the state affairs of Shahatra for much longer than Herarion, so he was more aware of the urgency of the situation.

Viram sat down on the edge of the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to compose himself and organize his thoughts, thinking rationally about the most urgent issues.

As Viram got lost in thought, Henry thought to himself, ‘I expected nothing less from him. No wonder he’s a high priest. He’s much calmer than Herarion.

Unlike Herarion, who was rather quick to panic, Viram was calmly assessing the situation, relying on his experience.

‘He sure is a man of wisdom.’

“High Priest, I will help in any way I can,” said Henry. “Please feel free to ask me for anything at any time. And I mean anything.”

“Your words alone are already reassuring, Archmage.”

Viram and Herarion had lost everything, including the royal palace, so Henry’s help was vital. Viram knew he would need to ask Henry for help a lot during these times, and he wouldn’t be shy about it either. He would ask Henry for help the second he thought he needed to do so, for pride would only hasten Shahatra’s destruction in these circumstances.

The three of them discussed for a while on how to maintain and repair Shahatra for the future, and they eventually reached a couple of conclusions, the first of which being that they had to restore Shahatra’s fundamental defense by restoring the illusion barrier that had been protecting the capital, just like Romwell had mentioned.

The second conclusion was to spread word to the other cities in Shahatra that Herarion and Viram were still alive to make sure that nobody would try to claim the throne.

The last course of action was to hold a small funeral ceremony for the people Romwell had managed to bury.

Henry considered that the last two items were easier to take care of because they only had to reinforce the royal authority and make tombs for the dead. However, restoring Shahatra’s basic defense was a completely different story.

In order to raise the defense levels at least to a minimum, they had to protect the people from the demonic beasts of the desert while simultaneously working to restore public order in the capital, which was likely nonexistent given that the royal palace was in ruins and hundreds of people had been slaughtered.

In such tumultuous times, they had to enforce a minimal level of law and order.

As Henry went through what had to be done, he thought to himself, ‘We’re going to need some people who can control troublemakers with absolute power...’

He knew that in order to restore the basic defense of the kingdom, they would need an armed group that could completely control the people without them protesting or rioting. Of course, that would be entirely different from how the king controlled the entire Shahatra kingdom. No matter how strong and influential a king was, he wouldn’t be able to control everything that was happening in the kingdom by himself.

But at the same time, Henry couldn’t go ahead and look for people in Shahatra to increase its security because too many people had been killed.

‘Hmm... I’m not sure what to do...?’

Even though Henry wanted to build an army by recruiting soldiers from other cities in Shahatra, he knew it would be foolish to ask other cities for help when the royal authority was shaky at best.

Henry kept pondering on it. He ultimately wanted a trustworthy armed group that would obey him unconditionally and that was strong enough to maintain order.

At that moment, Henry suddenly got an idea. Even though he had thought that it would be impossible to find someone to meet his conditions, he suddenly realized that there were a few individuals whom he could use.

“I know some people who’ll be up to the job!” exclaimed Henry, his voice suddenly full of vigor. “So shall we head back to Shahatra?”

Now that he had a plan, Henry could take action. He teleported Herarion and Viram along with himself to Shahatra in order to get them.

*

“These are...”

Immediately after Henry left, Herarion and Viram began drawing a summoning circle in order to restore the illusion barrier surrounding the capital Khan.

Henry eventually came back, and this time, he wasn’t alone. Behind him were numerous individuals whom both Herarion and Viram were familiar with.

“Sir Al...fred?” Herarion murmured incredulously.

The man looked haggard, his eyes hazy, lifeless. He was none other than Alfred Etherwether, the grand marquis of the fallen empire. Alongside him were one hundred elite spiritualists. These were the new security forces of Shahatra that Henry had talked about.

Even though Herarion called out Alfred’s name with a baffled expression, Alfred couldn’t have cared less. He merely puffed on his cigarette with a blank look on his face

“Sir Henry, are these the people you said are perfect for maintaining order...?” asked Herarion.

“Yes. Alfred and his spiritualists will take care of everything.”

Henry considered himself lucky for having Alfred as an option. He had assumed Alfred to be dead, but fortunately, he hadn’t been visited by one of Arthus’ apostles. He had waited still, quite literally, and waited for orders, just like Henry had instructed him, which was why the other spiritualists were also fine.

However, they had merely survived; they weren’t in the best condition. They had almost run out of the cigarettes and food Henry had proved them with. They looked sickly, emaciated. Ironically, the Pink Swamp that had ruined their lives was the reason they had managed to survive.

‘These sorry bastards... I can’t believe they kept going just to get high.’

Alfred and his spiritualists showcased just how incredibly dangerous addiction was.

“Sir Henry, but they’re...”

“I know what you’re about to say. You’re absolutely right. I know they look like they’re going to die any moment now. In fact, they’re so addicted that it wouldn’t be surprising if they dropped dead right now.”

“Then why did you bring them?”

“Because they just need a bit of fixing,” Henry replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I know one shouldn’t fix people to their liking... But there are exceptions to everything, right?”

At Henry’s cryptic remark, Herarion and Viram cast each other confused looks, not understanding a single thing Henry was saying. However, despite their reactions, Henry said confidently, “Let me show you some magic.”

With that, Henry summoned Elagon.

-Khu!

The two of them were surprised by Elagon’s appearance. However, Henry ignored their reactions and immediately gave Elagon instructions.

“Elagon. Try healing these guys.”

-Khu! Khu!

Elagon nodded enthusiastically. When Henry said he would fix the spiritualists, he meant it quite literally. The spiritualists were dying from starvation and drug addiction, but with the help of Elagon and his healing ability, it was possible to bring them back to a healthy state.

Elagon used his healing ability on the spiritualists. All one hundred of them were enveloped by a warm wave of light, causing them to fully open their eyes, which had been half-closed and empty before. They were regaining their vitality.

“Isn’t this...?”

As Elagon maintained his healing ability, he gradually erased their strong desire to smoke the improved Pink Swamp Henry had given them, which was why Alfred inadvertently dropped the cigarette he had been puffing on.

Having completed the healing process, Elago restored the vitality and liveliness to the spiritualists, who had looked like they would soon turn into zombies. They now looked like they used to before they started smoking the Pink Swamp.

“Oh my...!”

The spiritualists were amazed by their newfound strength, flexing their muscles here and there. They were overcome by a wonderful vigor they had never thought they would feel again.

“I knew I could count on Elagon. Almost as good as the Saint.”

Elagon’s healing abilities were so powerful that they were on par with those of Saint Irenae. As the spiritualists marveled at their regained vitality, Herarion and Viram stared at them in astonishment.

“I-it truly is a miracle...!” Herarion exclaimed in amazement.

However, Henry ignored his reaction and told the spiritualists, “Let’s all smoke a cigarette to commemorate your recovery, shall we?”

Henry proposed that they all smoke a cigarette as though they had just finished a fancy meal. At Henry’s suggestion, all the spiritualists took out a cigarette from their pockets and lit them mechanically, as though it was second nature to them. They puffed out pink smoke.

“H-Henry! Why would you make them smoke again?!”

“Shh.” Henry merely lifted a finger to his lips and shushed them.

Herarion and Viram were shocked by the sight of Henry indifferently making the spiritualists smoke the same drug that had turned them into walking corpses. They didn’t understand why he was making them consume the drug just after curing their addiction.

Puff...

Henry nodded as he watched the pink smoke fill the air.

\'There we go.’

Henry had prevented the spiritualists from dying from the drugs and starvation, fixed them brand knew. Now he made them smoke once again.

The fundamental force that controlled them wasn’t fear, but the Pink Swamp. Henry was aware that Elagon\'s healing might not have completely cured their addiction, so he quickly had them smoke again as a precaution.

He knew that this new improved version of the Pink Swamp was potent enough to cause addiction after a single puff. Seeing the spiritualists puffing, Henry grinned and said to Herarion, “We’re good to go now. What controls them is this one cigarette.”

“...”

Realizing what Henry had in mind, Herarion was lost for words. In fact, it was precisely because he understood Henry’s intentions that he chose to be silent. He was well aware that the urgency of their situation didn’t allow for moral choices. They needed power, and if this was the only way to get it, Herarion wouldn’t question Henry’s actions.

“Alright, so it seems that we’ve more or less taken care of the issues of order and defense. Then shall we start working on the illusion barrier and reaffirming the royal authority?”

They had already taken the first step to fixing Shahatra’s problems. If they maintained this pace, Henry predicted that they could deal with all the problems by the end of the day.

*

“I guess we’re done.”

It took Henry and the others half a day to fix the main three problems they had discussed earlier.

Henry first sent spiritualists to each city to inform the people that the king was alive. And after receiving instructions from Viram, Henry drew the magic circle to cover the entire Khan capital, not just the royal palace like Viram had done.

Of course, Henry was aware that Viram didn’t have enough magic power to expand the illusion barrier and maintain it by himself, so he lent the priest some of his magic. Then, Henry cast Rising Grand Mansion to build a provisional royal palace along with a huge royal tomb to properly bury the dead.

The three of them resolved everything smoothly. After they were done, Henry slowly lifted his hand and pointed in the direction of the Khan’s Eye.

Herarion curiously asked, “Henry, what are you doing?”

“I’m letting them know.”

“Huh?”

“I’m letting them know that I’ve taken care of things. They’re most likely watching us from the Khan’s Eye.”

“I see...”

As Henry said, Herarion’s father and grandfather were most likely seeing everything, given their tremendous powers. But regardless, Henry’s behavior was a bit silly.

Having sent his message to Hedajaon and Herabola, Henry said, “I believe most of Shahatra’s problems have been solved... I think it’s high time we seriously thought about how to get revenge on Arthus.”

“Thank you so much, Archmage. I will instruct our royal family to never forget your grace and make sure we repay you for generations to come,” said Herarion from the bottom of his heart. If it hadn’t been for Henry, his small desert kingdom would’ve been buried under the sand by the demonic beasts.

“Then how about you start repaying me right away?” said Henry.

“Yes? But I don’t have anything to offer you right now...”

“What do you mean, you don’t have anything? You do have something, Your Majesty. Of course, it’s La’s divine power. In order to fight against Arthus, we need someone who possesses divine power that directly opposes his. So, you can repay me by working every day on improving your divine power.”

“Improving my divine power? I’m not sure what that means...”

“It’s simple, Your Majesty. During this one-month period, you must fully awaken La’s power and reach its full potential, just like your father, Herabola, did.”

Fully awakening La’s power... In other words, Henry wanted Herarion to become La’s chosen one and gain all of his powers, just like Herabola had done. Therefore, Henry intended to make Herarion the new Sword of La as the first step in amplifying his divine power.

The Sword of La and the Son of La.

In order to avenge Shahatra and help Henry exact vengeance against Arthus, Herarion had to become the ultimate warrior of the desert.