Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 148 - The Fuse (3)

“I’ll see you all next time.”

They were done with all the auction.

Henry felt very accomplished now that he had sold all the goods from Shahatra, including the Pink Swamp.

On the other hand, the nobles had mixed feelings of relief and dejection. They were relieved to have secured the Pink Swamp but also felt dejected for having spent a significant amount of money on mere cigarettes.

However, no one dared to openly admit that they had just wasted their money. After all, they were all members of the Central Aristocratic Association, nobles whose reputation was paramount and could determine their social standing.

Henry allowed the servants of the nobles into the mansion once the auction ended and the goods were being distributed. This resulted in a long line of wagons forming in front of Ten's mansion.

Von saw this and asked Henry, “How much did you sell that they need so many wagons?”

“I sold all of it.”

“What? All of it?”

“Yes, since I don't have the opportunity to sell this every day, I need to make the most of it when I can.”

Of course, Von was surprised that Henry had managed to sell all the goods in just one day.

“What’s the profit margin?”

“Probably over 1000%.”

“Over 1000%?! How much did you make in total?”

“Probably a little over 20,000,000 gold.”

“WHAT?!”

Von’s jaw dropped at the number. 20,000,000 gold exceeded the annual budget of his entire town, Enkelmann.

Henry smirked and said, “There’s nothing to be surprised about. I haven’t paid Herarion yet, so there won’t be much left after I pay for everything.”

“What? The goods are that expensive?”

“Yes, I made the decision to pay triple the regular price in order to have the goods airlifted.”

“Triple the amount? How much is the total cost of production?”

“Around 300,000 gold?”

“What?”

The wholesale price was a drop in the bucket, leaving Henry with plenty of money even after paying Herarion.

Von's face turned pale as he looked at Henry, who seemed like a ruthless merchant.

Henry grinned and remarked, “Don't lecture me too much. After all, their money has been taken from the citizens, right?”

“...I guess.”

“And now that they have been deceived so thoroughly, they won't be easily fooled next time. So this will be the last of this daylight robbery.”

Although Henry had awakened Klever, he remained under the influence of Henry's mana and was unconscious. As a result, Henry couldn't retrieve the money he had entrusted to Klever.

In addition, since Henry was going to need more money in the future, he had to make as much profit as possible whenever he had the chance.

“This concludes business for now. The biggest target has yet to appear, so I'll need to be patient a little longer… However, I've laid enough bait, so it should be caught soon.”

“By the ‘biggest target,’ are you talking about him?”

“Yes. The Pink Swamp is only a means to capture the emperor. The money is just an additional bonus.”

Henry might be fortunate enough to hold a few more auctions, but expecting an outcome as significant as today’s would be difficult. Nonetheless, it didn’t matter since he had achieved two things; setting up the addiction to the cigarettes and generating substantial profit.

* * *

A couple of days passed. There were only a few days of vacation left.

Henry wondered why his victim still hadn’t fallen for the bait.

‘How strange.’

The victim Henry was talking about was none other than Syred.

He had provided Syred with the Pink Swamp 2, a more potent version of the original Pink Swamp. However, he hadn’t given Syred a lot, so Henry expected him to return for more.

Henry had faith in his plan and was confident that it was only a matter of time before Syred fell into his trap. He was certain that Syred would eventually visit him for more cigarettes.

At that moment, the long-awaited victim arrived.

“Young Master, a guest from the Etherwether family has arrived.”

‘Speak of the devil, he’s here.’

Henry couldn’t help but smile at the thought that his predictions were spot on.

“Who is it?”

“Waled, the eldest of the Etherwether family, is here.”

“...Waled?”

Someone strange had fallen for the bait.

* * *

“I’m Waled Etherwether.”

Henry guided Waled to the living room first, but as soon as they got there, Waled spoke very impolitely to Henry, with a disrespectful attitude, just like Count Rowling did before the auction.

However, Henry still politely greeted him without showing any signs of displeasure, as if he were wearing a mask.

“My name is Henry, Marquis Eisen’s vassal.”

“Henry? You’ve got a nasty-sounding name.”

It was getting interesting.

Unlike his brother Syred, the eldest son Waled was incredibly arrogant and didn't hesitate to display his rudeness.

However, Henry decided to take advantage of that behavior, since it was rare for a rude man to be smart.

‘He might actually be a better target.’

Henry responded with a smug attitude, “Haha, I hear that often… May I ask why you’ve come to visit me?”

“Why? I’m quite disappointed. Isn’t it obvious why I’ve come all the way here to see a complete stranger like you?”

“Is it because of the Pink Swamp?”

“That’s right. What are you waiting for? If you know why I’m here, bring me the goods.”

Henry cautiously refused Waled’s request.

“I apologize… But our merchant company has already sold all the Pink Swamp and they are no longer in stock.”

“Ha, are you sure?”

‘Huh?’

As if he had been waiting for Henry’s answer, Waled took out a small Subspace Pouch.

‘A Subspace Pouch?’

He then started to take out familiar cases onto the table.

‘That’s…’

It was the Pink Swamp cases that had been auctioned off to the members of the Central Aristocratic Association.

Waled reached into the Subspace Pouch and took out each case one by one. He soon turned the pouch upside down and started to pour out a bunch of the cases.

Thud!

There was a pile of more than a dozen cigarette cases. When no more cases fell out, Waled threw the pouch on the table and said in an angry voice, “You know what this is, right?”

His eyes were burning, as if he already knew everything.

‘Oh wow, I didn’t expect this.’

The wrong victim had taken the bait for an unexpected reason.

However, he might still produce the results Henry wanted.

‘Should I provoke him a little more?’

Waled had taken the bait set out for Syred. However, unlike the calm Syred, Waled was livelier.

Henry decided to give the fresh target a little provocation so that he could run wild.

“I’m not sure…”

It was obviously a lie.

Waled raised his voice in anger and said, “You don’t know what this is? Why don’t you take a closer look? How did the Pink Swamp, which you said was all sold out, fall into the hands of the Central Aristocratic Association members?”

“That’s because…!”

To make an angry opponent even more angry, a clear justification had to be given as to why the opponent was enraged.

Thus, Henry pretended to be a bumbling innocent. He didn’t wait long before he started explaining, as making Waled wait could ruin the plan. Thus, he quickly bowed, apologizing for his wrongdoing.

“...I apologize, but I had no choice.”

“You had no choice…?”

It was a lame excuse.

Waled’s murderous glare seemed beyond anger.

‘It seems to be working.’

His expression meant nothing to Henry, but he pretended to be frightened and started making even more outrageous excuses.

“I-I apologize, but now that I’m in charge of the merchant company, I have a responsibility to fulfill my duties.”

“What duties?”

Thud!

Waled slammed his fist on the table, and the pile of cigarette cases tumbled down.

Henry pretended to be even more scared and said, “Sir Waled! I’m the person in charge of the merchant company, not as the vassal of Marquis Eisen. Therefore, I had no choice but to fulfill my duty as a merchant!”

“And so you lied to Syred?”

“...It was a white lie.”

“How dare you!”

Whoosh!

Waled slammed his fist on the table once more and a powerful wind blew around him.

It was the Etherwether family’s spiritual wind skill.

However, Henry didn't attempt to defend himself, aware that Waled would unleash his spirit. Instead, he played along and allowed himself to be thrown about by the forceful wind until he crashed into the wall.

Waled walked up to Henry and looked down at him.

“You must have lost your mind! Did you think that you're on the same level as people like us just because you’re the vassal of the grand marquis?”

“N-no, I would never! I-it’s just that I…!”

“Shut up!”

Thud!

Waled Etherwether was a high-level spiritualist who dealt with higher-level wind spirits, and he was a man of many talents. The room turned chaotic in an instant.

‘Keep going!’

Henry could tolerate as much wind pressure as he wanted to.

The important thing was to secure a solid reason to become acquainted with Marquis Alfred from this incident.

Whoosh!

The wind grew even stronger, and a high-level wind spirit, Cillion, started to appear behind Waled’s shoulders.

‘That’s it!’

Not only did he show disrespect in someone else's house, he was summoning a powerful wind spirit against Henry, Marquis Eisen's most esteemed vassal.

This went beyond mere disrespect; it was a clear intent to take Henry's life.

Soon, Cillion, a majestic lion-like wind spirit with a flowing mane, fully appeared.

-Khaaa!

Cillion’s howl created a violent wind.

Henry had finally acquired a reason to forge a connection with Alfred. Just as he was just about to summon the Call Sword to subdue Waled…!

-Chirp chirp!

He could hear the whistle of a sparrow.

As Henry turned toward the sound, he saw a sparrow covered in Aura observing Waled and Henry from a pillar in the living room.

‘Hector?’

Hector nodded as he made eye contact with Henry and flew into the air.

Swoosh!

The Aura-covered sparrow soared through the gust that humans couldn’t even withstand and launched itself at Cillion.

“Arghh!”

The sparrow instantly penetrated Cillion and flapped his wings relentlessly, heading for Waled’s left shoulder.

Shluk!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Hector had put Aura into his wings and swung them like a sword, cutting off Waled’s left arm.

Thud.

Overwhelmed by the excruciating pain, Waled let out a scream and lost consciousness.