Chapter 278 - Upgrade (3)
‘That bastard...!’
Henry couldn’t help frowning at the unpleasant news of a troublemaker. He was annoyed that Kington might mess up his plans.
“Sir Allen, I believe it’s best I see what this is about before we proceed with the repairs,” said Henry.
“Of course. Take your time. I’ll just finish up my training in the meantime.”
Thanks to Allen’s consideration, Henry could go right away to the castle gates accompanied by the guards. As the gates were swung open, he saw Kington with his sword drawn.
“Sir Henry!”
‘Did he just say sir?’
Henry was taken aback by how unusually respectful Kington was toward him. Feeling rather embarrassed, Henry pushed his hands forward as Kington rushed toward him, gesturing him to keep some distance between them.
“Uh, I heard you were looking for me?”
“Yes, Sir Henry! I, Kington, headed straight to Monsieur the moment I heard you were here, Sir Henry!”
“Huh...?”
Kington spoke with the reverence a servant would have when addressing their king, which naturally baffled Henry, as Kington had been the one who disapproved of every single one of his decisions not too long ago. Henry couldn’t guess why his attitude had changed so drastically all of a sudden.
However, the reason soon became clear.
‘Oh, I see what he’s doing.’
Henry picked up clues from his scruffy appearance and his evident distress. As far as Henry could recall, Kington hadn't taken part in the battle against the Chimera army in Charlotte Heights, but instead stayed behind in Highlander.
Henry had thought that Valhald was the sole survivor, the only one who had valiantly fought against Arthus’ apostle. However, Henry was clearly mistaken.
“Hahaha!”
Henry burst into laughter as Kington was acting just like he had expected. He was a complete opportunist, and with the Highlander region decimated by the apostle invasion, the only thing that Kington, a man who had lost everything, including his family name, could do was to latch onto Henry, for that was his best chance at survival.
Amused by this realization, Henry rubbed his hand across his face. His actions caught Kington off guard for a moment, which Henry somewhat anticipated. Nevertheless, Kington maintained his composure, grinning audaciously.
“Sir Henry! Despite losing everything, I still have the strength and the determination to bring down Arthus. Will you grant me the opportunity to get revenge on that treacherous Arthus?”
“Did you say opportunity?”
“Yes, sir!”
“All right then.”
"I knew I could count on you, Sir Henry!”
“But why did you come see me then?”
“S-sorry?” Kington was taken aback.
Henry continued in a cold tone, “Arthus isn’t here. He's probably in Charlotte Heights or something. Go there.”
To be honest, Henry didn't find Kington particularly useful, and even if he were useful, Henry had never liked him, not even in his past life. Kington was like a chameleon, switching sides to his advantage, and Henry despised people like him.
Kington broke into a cold sweat, anxiously attempting to clarify his intentions because Henry had not given him the answer he wanted.
“S-Sir Henry! I think there is a misunderstanding... What I meant was... I’m not saying that I’m going to kill Arthus myself, but I want to help you build a strong army...!”
“Don’t need it.”
“B-but...!”
“I have plenty of men. I can easily defeat Arthus without you.”
Henry’s refusal was firm and sincere. Henry was planning to figure out a way to defeat Arthus within a month. And even if he failed to find a solution, Kington would certainly not be the one to turn things around. In any case, Kington’s help was the last thing Henry needed or wanted at the moment.
Henry maintained his cold, piercing gaze and said curtly, “Anything else?”
“S-Sir Henry, please!”
“It looks to me like you came here because you have nowhere else to go... If that’s truly the case, I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time coming all the way here.”
Of course, Kington was the second most powerful knight in the entire continent, Valhald being the one above him, so Henry could realistically find a way to make use of him, but it was his disloyalty that deterred Henry from taking him in his army.
“Oh, by the way,” Henry added, “if you come again and make a fuss like you just did, I won’t be as lenient as I am now.”
Henry gave Kington an ultimate warning, his refusal absolute. Kington knew that a man like Henry could take him down in just two seconds, so he didn’t bother to keep pleading with him. He resigned and fell silent.
However, as Henry was about to turn back, he suddenly heard someone else calling out to him.
“Henry.”
It wasn’t Kington, but Ronan who called out Henry’s name. Stepping out of the gate, Ronan stood before Henry, facing Monsieur.
“Ronan, is something going on?”
“Henry, I have a favor to ask you as your former classmate.”
“A favor? Don’t tell me you want me to accept Kington?”
“That’s exactly what I want”
“And the reason is?”
“We need the swordsmanship of the Foram family.”
That was the reason Ronan had stopped Henry from leaving and the reason they had to take Kington in. Henry pondered on Ronan’s straightforward argument.
‘Hmm.’
Ronan had been fortunate enough not to get caught up in the invasion of the apostles, but Henry knew that he wouldn’t survive an encounter with one of them. Ronan still had too many shortcomings to be able to face one of those incredibly powerful apostles.
Ronan himself was aware of this, which was what prompted him to ask Henry to accept Kington.
‘Hmm... So I guess he does prefer someone who uses the same swordsmanship as him...’
Ronan was now a Sword Master, which meant that he would no longer have to focus that much on swordsmanship. A Sword Master would advance further depending on how they used their Aura, which was why Henry had asked McDowell and Von, two high-level knights, to be his teachers. Thus, Henry didn’t understand why Ronan wanted someone like Kington to join them.
As Henry locked eyes with him, Ronan returned his gaze, not flinching at all.
‘He seems serious.’
Henry could tell that Ronan wasn’t doing this out of sympathy for his former adoptive father. The only thing he could see in his eyes was the desire to grow into a better swordsman. Henry couldn’t suppress a chuckle as he saw how determined Ronan was, and he also couldn’t say no to him.
“Alright. If that’s the reason, I accept.”
“Thanks.”
“But...”
Henry went ahead and added some conditions to this arrangement.
“Since we’re essentially giving this guy charity, you’re responsible for making sure that he’s useful, not just to yourself, but to everyone else, while he stays here in Monsieur.”
“I’m okay with that,” Ronan replied firmly.
“Okay, then he’s all yours.”
Henry ultimately allowed Kington to stay in Monsieur after Ronan accepted his conditions. As Henry was about to leave, Ronan stood quiet, not expressing his gratitude any further. At any rate, Kington was all his, so Henry wouldn’t worry about him any longer. However, he turned around one last time and said, “Kington...”
“Y-yes, Sir Henry!”
“Don’t make me regret this.”
“Of course! You can count on me, Sir Henry!”
“Sure.”
With that, Henry brusquely turned around and headed back to the training center to finish what he had initially set out to do.
However, as he walked toward the training ground, he heard a familiar voice.
"Ma-Master!”
“Hmm?”
As he turned around, he spotted Howl.
“Howl?”
“Yes, it’s me, Howl!”
Henry was surprised by Howl’s unexpected appearance. When he called his name again in a startled voice, Howl came toward Henry in a stiff, disciplined manner.
‘Oh my god, Howl survived?’
Henry was astounded because he had thought that only Herarion and Viram had survived Grumpy’s assault on the royal palace. However, just like with Kington, Henry had been under the wrong impression.
‘It couldn’t have been Klever, right...?’
During Grumpy’s invasion, Henry had been furious at the apostle and had entrusted Klever with saving everyone. However, Henry had been very busy in the meantime, so he hadn’t been able to check everyone Klever had rescued from the carnage, but unbeknownst to him, Howl had received medical treatment and miraculously survived.
Following his recovery, Howl had been wandering around Monsieur, not knowing anybody. Only now did Henry realize the hardships Howl had to have faced due to his own insensitivity.
“Ho-Howl, are you... Are you alright?” Henry asked awkwardly.
Even though Henry’s question seemed clumsy, Howl managed to pick up the warmth in his words, bursting into tears.
“Master!”
“I’m... I’m sorry, Howl...”
Henry immediately thought about postponing his meeting with Allen as he comforted Howl, who was sobbing. After Howl began to calm down, Henry listened to everything he had to say, including how he had managed to be the only survivor out of the fifty apprentice wizards of Shahatra. Not even Kale had survived.
Only Howl was left.
Hearing Howl’s harrowing story, Henry thought about what to do for a while and ultimately decided to take him to the Snow Spire along with Allen, since the Snow Spire was home to many wizards.
‘I think that’s the best option for him.’
With only a month remaining, Henry didn’t have the time to teach Howl himself. Despite how talented Howl was, he still had many basics to learn. In any case, with the royal palace of Shahatra in ruins and no connections in this part of the continent, Howl realistically had no choice but to bet his future on the Snow Spire.
*
“Who’s this kid...?”
“His name is Howl. He was one of my students from Shahatra.”
“Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Howl.”
Howl quickly gave a slight bow in response to Henry’s introduction. The two were at the training ground to pick up Allen before going to the Snow Spire.
‘There’s nothing else I can do.’
Henry briefly summarized Howl’s situation to Allen. After hearing everything, the Mercenary King nodded and said, “Oh, so that’s what happened, I see. I don’t mind having him with us.”
“Alright. Then, let’s go to the Snow Spire immediately.”
Zwoop!
All three of them disappeared with a flash of light.
*
“Ronan, I can’t thank you enough. Even though you’ve forsaken the Foram name, I still think you’ve always been special.”
After Henry left the two of them alone, Kington proceeded to shower Ronan with praise and gratitude. However, Ronan didn’t buy into it at all.
“Don’t be mistaken,” said Ronan coldly.
“Huh? Sorry?”
“The reason I asked Henry to bail you out is because I need your experience in order to grow.”
“What, what kind of...! Ronan! How dare you talk to me like that?!” shouted Kington
“Are you dissatisfied with my tone?” Ronan replied in somewhat of a threatening tone, frowning menacingly at Kington. He looked like he wanted to murder Kington right then and there.
“Alright, listen carefully to what I have to say. If you can’t manage to get me to be way stronger than you within a month, I promise that you’ll never set foot in Monsieur ever again.”
“What...? What in the...!”
Of course, Kington was in no position to protest. It wasn’t because he was afraid of Ronan’s hostile attitude toward him, but because he was concerned that Henry would kick him out of Monsieur, or worse...
“Now that we’ve made it clear what your role is, you shall train me in swordsmanship eight hours a day, serve the city of Monsieur for another eight hours, and...”
Ronan went ahead and calmly listed all the things Kington had to do, and as he was finishing off the list...
“And from now, you’ll be my servant, so use honorifics when addressing me.”
With a wry smile on his face, Ronan made Kington, his former adoptive father, into his servant.
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