Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage
Chapter 225: Debut (1)

“H-how… Just… how?”

Cold sweat trickled down the right minister's spine.

After sending a false letter, clearly intended to distract Arthus, the right minister had finally been freed from his cold prison cell.

He was relieved to be out of the prison cell, but he still couldn’t help feeling uneasy about the fact that he'd been exposed as a traitor.

So, he anxiously wandered around the palace, and after hearing that he was going to be eliminated because he had exhausted his usefulness, he quickly fled the Sore Empire.

However, the right minister, who should’ve met a miserable death at the hands of Batz in the imperial barracks, was currently facing Henry’s scornful gaze.

The right minister finally got up, and as he looked around, he realized that he had been imprisoned in the basement cell of the Sore Empire.

“H-how is this possible…?”

It felt as if this were all a bad dream. His head was spinning with a series of unordered events that didn't make sense, as if he had traveled in time.

Henry looked down at the book of illusion and thought to himself, ‘It sure does work well.’

The book of illusion.

The right minister had never been freed from the prison in the first place. It was just that the right minister had thought that he could get out in exchange for writing a fake letter to Arthus, but this had all been the illusion Henry had created.

Henry closed the book of illusion, and lightly clapped once.

Clap!

Clapping marked the end of an illusion, which illusionists called Release.

Thanks to Henry’s Release, the right minister managed to come back to reality. Only then did he realize what was happening, and with a terrified expression, he called out to Henry, “A-Archmage…!”

Henry had invaded his opponent’s subconsciousness, creating an illusion in the form of a dream. Illusions used in this manner were very useful in determining the opponent's true intentions.

‘I can’t believe this kind of illusion is considered to be the easiest.’

Henry hadn’t really learnt this from Viram, but he had studied it on his own from the book of illusion Viram had given him.

The right minister had been a good test subject for Henry to test his illusion on. It was a good learning experience. Of course, regardless of whether it was practice or learning, it had ultimately served as a good way to determine what the right minister’s intentions were after desperately begging for his life.

The right minster knelt and denied what Henry had discovered in his subconsciousness.

“I-it’s not what it looks like, Archmage! It was nothing more than a dream! So please…!”

The right minister was terrified.

When he was first caught betraying Henry, he thought it was over for him, but he had been lucky enough to receive a second chance. However, he hadn’t expected Henry to invade his subconscious and test him like that.

“Cut it out. I wasn’t expecting much from you anyway. Betraying someone is difficult only the first time. It’s easier to do it again.”

“T-that’s not true! Why would I dare to lie to you?!”

“It’s okay, I understand. You were just born like this, so how can I blame you? Plus, I was only confirming your true intentions. I’m not going to punish you for this.”

“A-Archmage…!”

He would have preferred to be punished in some type of way, but this kind of reaction made the right minister even more uncomfortable, and Henry was well aware of this.

Henry enjoyed psychologically torturing his adversaries like this.

“Well, get some rest, I’ll be back later.”

“A-Archmage!”

Henry was about to leave the room as he was finished with his business. However, just as he was about to step out, the right minister grabbed onto his trousers.

“Archmage! Please! Please give me one more chance!”

“What chance? I said I won’t punish you.”

“No, please! I feel too uncomfortable letting you go like this! I’d rather you punished me!”

The right minister was on the verge of tears. He knew that if he disappointed Henry even more, he would disappear from this world no matter the outcome of the war.

With his back facing the right minister, Henry smirked. He then quickly wiped the smile off his face, looked at the right minister, and said, “Hmm, so you want me to punish you?”

“Yes! Please! I would like to prove my innocence even if that’s what it takes!”

His subconscious had already betrayed his true intentions, but he wanted to prove his innocence through his conscious state of mind.

The right minister couldn’t be any more contradicting, but if he was willing to deny his inner desires in order to survive, Henry wasn’t going to ignore his desperate cry. After all, there was nothing easier than controlling someone who was on the brink of despair.

“Really? Is that what you want?”

The right minister openly expressed his desperation, and seeing this, Henry smiled at him.

* * *

The sun had set, and everything was plunged into the deep darkness of night.

The storm announcing the war was still brewing between the Sore Empire and the barracks of the corps, and not a single being could be heard in the forest.

It was a very quiet night.

As the Sore Empire’s palace guards and the imperial sentries were on the lookout, the lowest, dirtiest part of the Sore Empire’s rampart started to move.

Creak.

The place was damp, cramped, and full of mold. In the past, courtiers and guards would use this hole in the rampart to sneak out of the palace when they couldn’t leave normally. Eventually, the secret passage had been abandoned.

However, the hole had just reopened, and the right minister’s butt emerged from it.

“Ughh…!”

It was a struggle to squeeze his chubby body through the narrow passage, but he eventually made it through.

The right minister then pulled his cane through as well and limped toward the forest. Soon, he was caught by the imperial soldiers standing guard, and he willingly surrendered.

“...From the Sore Empire? Who is he again?”

“The right minister of the Taejae has surrendered.”

“Right Minister, huh?”

After capturing him, the soldiers took the right minister to Batz. Then, Batz called Kinless, who was sleeping, for a quick meeting.

Soon, Batz, Kinless, and the right minister all gathered inside one of the barracks.

Before the interrogation started, one of the soldiers held out a letter to Batz.

“He was carrying this.”

Even though the right minister had willingly surrendered, he was still searched before being brought to the leaders.

The right minister wasn’t carrying anything dangerous; the soldiers had only found a small letter with the imperial seal.

Batz opened the letter and read its contents.

“This is…”

The seal on the letter belonged to the emperor, Arthus Highlander.

After reading the entire letter, Batz ordered the soldier, “Untie him, and everybody get out.”

“Yes, sir.”

The soldiers untied the right minister and then left the barracks, leaving the three of them alone.

“We apologize for our discourteous behavior. We didn’t realize that you were a guest of His Majesty,” said Batz respectfully after he confirmed the identity of the right minister.

The right minister also bowed and showed respect.

“No offense taken. I’ve been carrying out my duties in secrecy, so it’s only natural that you didn’t know who I was.”

“His Majesty told me that there was someone that we needed to save if we went to the Sore Empire, but I never expected you, the right minister, to be that person.”

“Well, I got out of there safely, so that’s all that matters.”

The letter they had taken from the right minister contained the secret orders that Arthus had given him. The right minister had carried that letter like a protection charm, knowing that it would save his life one day.

“Are you feeling okay? If there's anything that's bothering you, I’d be happy to call a priest for you,” said Kinless.

“Thank you for being so considerate.”

The three of them exchanged jokes for a while to get rid of the tension.

After the atmosphere finally relaxed a bit, the right minister said, “Thanks to the two of you, I think I’ve finally achieved some peace of mind. Perhaps I should go ahead and tell you why I’m here now that I've risked my life to escape from the Sore Empire.”

The informer of the Sore Empire had risked his life to escape from the enemy lines. This meant that he had brought with him the most recent information that was going to be very valuable in the war.

At the right minister’s introduction, Batz and Kinless’ eyes sparkled.

“Could you give me that letter first?”

“Oh, of course.”

The right minister got his letter back and then turned it over so the contents were visible. Then, after placing his hand on it, he said to the two men, “Would both of you please put your hands here as well?”

“Okay.”

Without any suspicion, the two men placed their hands on top of the letter.

As soon as all three hands were on top of the letter, the right minister cast a spell.

“Move.”

Ptzzz!

For a moment, there was a blinding flash of light that engulfed the barracks. Then, there was nobody left.

* * *

Whoosh!

There was a blizzard, but no snow was piling up on the ground because somewhere in the air, there was a barrier that blocked the snow. Thus, even though there were piles of snow on top of the barrier, there wasn’t even a snowflake inside the barrier.

Zap!

There was a flash of light, and with it, three people appeared within the snow-free barrier.

“What the hell!”

Batz and Kinless, realizing too late what had happened, pulled their hands away from the letter and drew their swords. They immediately grabbed the right minister and tackled him to the ground, holding the knife to the back of his neck.

“You! What the hell do you think you're doing!”

Kinless was furious. As far as he could tell, this was definitely not the Sore Empire, and given the situation, this was clearly some kind of movement magic, like Teleportation.

The right minister trembled and shouted back, “If you’re going to kill me, just do it. I don't care anymore!” The right minister’s voice was filled with fear, but it also sounded like he had given up all hope.

Enraged, Kinless thrust the tip of his blade into the nape of the right minister, giving him a good cut.

“Aaaaghh!”

Terrified, the right minister screamed, but at that moment…

“Stop.”

Someone stopped Kinless.

It was Henry.

When he spotted Henry, Batz cast a murderous look at him and asked, “Who the fuck are you…?!”

Batz wasn’t in the mood to joke around.

He had believed the right minister to be a real informer because he had Arthus’ seal of approval, but now his ego was bruised because he had been so easily deceived.

Henry smirked and said, “Who do you think? I’m the one who summoned you here. Could it be that you haven’t heard about me from Arthus? About who I am, that is.”

“What? Wait, are you… him?!”

“Yup. Assuming you’ve guessed correctly, this shall be my formal introduction. Nice to meet you. I’m Henry Morris. I’m the new head of the Magical Spire that Arthus has been looking for, as well as the leader of all the wizards.”

Whoosh!

The wind grew stronger. In the midst of the blizzard, Henry made his official introduction to Batz and Kinless.