Chapter 33: Encounter (4)
“Treasure?”
Klever revealed a pile of gold coins. Strewn throughout the pile were a considerable number of swords and armors seized from countless soldiers that Klever had defeated.
“How did you do this?”
Klever had a gaseous form. It would not have been able to hide this amount of treasure without using some sort of magic. Klever began explaining in a panic.
“It’s one of my abilities. These are all the treasures that I have collected over the years. Please accept these and spare my life.”
Henry could tell it was a sincere plea. After all, Klever’s offering was certainly appropriate. On the other hand, it was also baffling. Klever’s interests did not lie with gold and trinkets, but in a strong host like Carter.
“Why did you collect these treasures? They are of no use to you.”
“They’re just loot. As I said, these are useless to me, but collecting loot allows me to satisfy my lust for collecting to a certain degree…” Klever said sheepishly.
It was a terrible reason. These treasures were not enough to win Henry over anyway. He had been quite wealthy in his previous life, and he was not one to be swayed by a pile of treasure of this size. Instead, something else aroused Henry’s interest.
“Interesting.”
“...Excuse me?”
“Do you want to live?”
“Yes, yes! I really do.”
“Alright. I’ll let you live, but on one condition.”
“I’ll accept any conditions!”
“Be my servant.”
“...Excuse me?”
“Or, you know, you can just die.”
“N-no! I’ll do as you wish!”
“Good.”
Subordination. For Henry, this was the perfect master-servant relationship. In his previous life, he had made subordinates of numerous beings, solely for his own convenience. Klever’s current ability to store items was what Henry needed the most.
‘I was running out of space and things were just getting inconvenient. This is perfect.’
Klever’s ability was similar to a kind of high-level space magic that was known as ‘Subspace,’ in the 7th Circle tier. Klever also possessed other abilities, such as hypnosis and parasitism. However, the space magic alone was enough to secure its survival.
Henry looked around at the treasures Klever had revealed, then picked up a small ring from the pile.
“Sizing.”
Pzzzzzzt.
The ring was initially slightly larger than Henry’s finger, but he adjusted its size to fit him using magic. The ring was ordinary, made of platinum.
‘Platinum is the perfect metal to hide one’s energy. Also…’
Platinum was a metal used in temples to activate divine powers, but it also had the property of hiding one’s unique energy signature. Above all, platinum’s most striking quality was its ability to purify demonic energy.
“If you die, then that’s too bad.”
“Excuse me?”
“Klever, my name’s Henry Morris. From now on, you will refer to me only as Master.”
“Yes, Master! Thank you for sparing my life.”
“Then, let’s start the contract, shall we?”
Wearing the ring on his finger, Henry stretched out his hand and uttered a spell.
“Oh, God of Promise, I propose a powerful contract by borrowing your name.”
Whooong!
A magic that borrowed the name of a god. This was a kind of magic that only wizards could use. It created a powerful contract, using magic as its medium.
“Will the Demonic Beast Klever pledge its heart to prove its oath of absolute obedience to me?”
Using one’s heart as a guarantee. In other words, disobedience meant death. Klever clearly understood Henry’s words and knew that something was wrong, but it was too late for it to back out. If it was going to die either way, it decided that it would rather try to delay its fate for as long as possible.
“...I will.”
Whooong!
The moment Klever swore its obedience, a marble as small as a thumbnail emerged from Klever’s gaseous body and floated in front of Henry’s eyes.
“The promise has been fulfilled. The proof of your oath will be engraved on this ring.”
The marble, which contained Klever’s heart, set itself into Henry’s platinum ring. Klever felt intense pain all over its body.
“Kaaaargh!”
The demonic energy in Klever’s heart was being purified by the platinum ring.
“Endure. If you endure, you will live; if you don’t, you will die.”
Even if they now had a master-servant relationship, they would likely be discovered if they returned to the fortress as they were. Henry didn’t want unnecessary misunderstandings to form just because of a mere Demonic Beast.
‘If I can’t have it, then it’s better to just get rid of it.’
For a while, Klever’s screaming continued. Gradually its black body shrunk down and became white like a cloud. As it shrunk in size, so did the amount of pain it was experiencing.
“You’ve endured well.”
As expected of a high-level being, Klever had held up well. It looked exhausted, but also relieved that it had somehow survived. The platinum ring that had absorbed all of Klever’s demonic energies had turned a dull magenta color.
“Klever, retrieve all the treasures. And never show yourself unless I call for you.”
“...Yes, understood.”
Although its body was now smaller, its abilities were still the same. The treasures in front of them disappeared in an instant, and Klever also disappeared into the ring.
“Now, shall I go?”
After recovering the loot, Henry picked up Carter’s collapsed body and headed to where the platoon members were.
* * *
Slash!
Finally, the last remaining Taurus fell by Gabo’s sword. There was a look of relief on his face, but he quickly noticed that something was amiss.
“Where’s our commander?”
“Oh, you’re right. Where is he?”
The platoon members had been able to win despite being doubly outnumbered thanks to the news of Henry’s resurrection. Hearing that their platoon commander had survived, their morale had risen sharply. However, when they looked around the battlefield, all they could see were dead Taurus. Suddenly, at that moment, Henry appeared from behind the foliage.
“Uh, huh? That over there…isn’t that our commander?”
“Oh, you’re right! Wait, he’s not alone.”
There was someone in Henry’s arms. When the platoon saw the man he was carrying, they couldn’t believe it.
“Huh?”
“That is…”
“Oh my God…”
Commander Carter, whom everyone had thought was dead, had returned. It was already hard enough to believe that Henry was still alive, but he had shown up with the former platoon commander as well!
A shiver ran through the platoon members’ bodies.
“Whoaaaaaaa!”
The shivers turned into shouts. With the platoon cheering him on, Henry was able to return to the unit together with them.
* * *
Bringing Carter back alive, Henry returned to the fortress as a hero.
“...I must be dreaming now, right?”
“Even I can’t believe that this is real right now.”
When the platoon members first returned to the company, the commanders were the most surprised. In particular, Solomon’s face turned white, as if he had seen a ghost.
Once he finally accepted reality, however, he praised Henry more than anyone else. Henry, his subordinate, whom Solomon had thought to be incompetent, had become an irreplaceable hero. Both Borg and Hugo also gave their sincere apologies to Henry, reproaching themselves for looking down on him.
“Thank you, but I’d like to stop by the infirmary first.”
“Yes, you should! Would you like me to prepare a carriage?”
“No, thank you. May I submit the formal report after having Commander Carter and my platoon members examined?”
“Ah! Of course, you can! The report isn’t what’s important now!”
In contrast to the excited atmosphere, Henry had a rather flat response, only exhibiting a slight, restrained smile. Although he also just had a plain personality to begin with, to Henry, this mission was just yet another mission entrusted to him by Iselan.
‘There’s so many more things for me to do, and yet, there is so much fuss over something like this.’
The treatment at the infirmary was quick. Fortunately, there had been no casualties, but most of the platoon members had suffered serious injuries and had no choice but to stay in their beds. However, none of the wounded soldiers felt gloomy or under the weather.
“Kehehehe…”
“Are you that happy, you fool?”
“Aren’t you? I’m so damn happy, kehehe…”
“Sir, please stop laughing. You’re opening up your wounds.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. But… kehehe… I can’t stop smiling. Kehehe…”
Meanwhile, the medical officer who was examining Henry remarked, “Huh, sir, you seem perfectly fine. I heard that you were struck by lightning?”
“It was by sheer luck that I was able to avoid any serious damage.”
“Still, you’re incredible. You’re only Learner-class, and yet you have this much strength in you,” the medical officer exclaimed.
Based on the stories of the platoon members, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Henry had at least an entire arm burnt off by the lightning, but he was completely unscathed.
“I’m glad that I wasn’t harmed much. Then, can I return to the unit now?”
“Ah, well, uh… truth is, there’s nothing for me to do here. So yes, I’ll contact you as soon as Commander Carter regains consciousness.”
“Thank you. Ah, regarding my platoon members…”
“Yes! Do you have any requests?”
“If possible, please hospitalize all of them, and do not let them return to the unit for a while, if possible.”
“Excuse me? Is there any particular reason for that?”
“They’re just a little annoying.”
At Henry’s answer, the medical officer chuckled. She knew exactly why Henry was making such a request.
“I understand. Once everyone calms down, I’ll discharge them.”
“Thank you.”
With that, Henry left the infirmary alone and returned to the company. When he arrived, the company commander rushed out from the administrative office to greet him.
“Hey, our dear Commander Henry!”
“What is it?”
“Why are you back so soon? Did you receive the necessary treatment?”
“I wasn’t hurt, so I was discharged.”
“Man, our Commander Henry is something else. Anyways, we have a guest waiting for you, so perfect timing!”
“A guest?”
At that moment.
Crash!
“Henry! How are ya?”
“...Captain Iselan?”
“I heard the news! How are you doing?”
“I was discharged from the hospital because I was fine, but… what are you doing here?”
“What do you think! Since you did such a good job, as your superior, I have to come to congratulate you! You’re not busy right? Let’s head to my residence!”
It seemed that Solomon had submitted a report on the mission during the time Henry was in the infirmary. Standing next to Iselan was Tini, who smiled and waved at Henry.
‘Damn it…’
There seemed to be no escape from Iselan’s congratulations.
* * *
“Alright! Then, shall we hear from our hero personally?”
The mission definitely should have been reported formally first, but Iselan requested a dramatic story as if it was some sort of hero's tale being told in a pub. Henry sighed softly as he began telling his story like an official report. Telling the story this way made it easier for him to firmly manipulate the contents.
As Henry told the story, details that he wanted to hide were left out, and information that was necessary was fleshed out. Of course, he reported that Klever had been killed. By the time Henry finished, Iselan was no longer excited. He slumped in his chair with a sad look on his face.
“What a shame. If we could have captured it, it would have made for a great test subject.”
“There was no other way.”
“Welp, if our hero says so, then so be it! Now, shall we begin?”
With Iselan in such a good mood, the feast was grander and more lavish than expected. Thanks to him, the feast was outstanding.
“I didn’t think you would catch Black so quickly. Unfortunately, I don’t have Makgus’ whisky with me today.”
“It’s okay.”
‘How fortunate.’ Henry thought to himself.
He was tired of drinking the infamous Makgus’ Flaming Whisky because of Iselan.
“But I prepared others that can match up to it! Hey, you! Bring them over!”
At Iselan’s command, soldiers appeared one after another with drums of liquor in hand.
“Wahahaha! This time, I got the Zelna’s Exploding Whisky series!”
Seeing the kegs pile up, Henry let out yet another sigh.
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