Chapter 122: Caliburn’s Military Merchant (1)

He didn’t know how many days he had been in Salgaera’s solitary confinement. Aubert had become very thin and haggard. His food rations were just enough to keep him alive, but he had to deal with the extreme cold, and regular beatings.

Lastly, reciting Aubert’s mistakes and bad deeds to his already divided family only made their anger at him increase. They turned against him even though they’d once lived well thanks to him.

When their emotions towards Aubert grew intense enough, Henry planned to put Aubert and his family all in one room so that they could attack Aubert. However, even in such poor conditions, Aubert didn’t lose hope since he had asked the guard to deliver his letters.

‘As long as those letters are delivered, I can surely recover from this!’

However, the letters would never be delivered since Henry was in Shahatra with Herarion at that moment.

“I’ll leave it all up to you, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t worry about it. As soon as the preparations are complete, I will send the goods to Vivaldi through Sir Hector.”

Henry said goodbye to Herarion at sunrise. They had spoken about many things that night, and there was nothing left to talk about.

“Oh, and please tell Hector that the spell was a success.”

“Of course.”

After Henry had dealt with his tasks, he had finally performed Cosmesis on Hector.

It was much harder to do on Hector than it was on Von because he had to do it on a non-human Korun.

Hector had fallen into a deep sleep to recover from the procedure.

Henry then cast Teleportation.

“I will see you around, Your Majesty.”

Oong!

Henry bowed. Light flashed and Henry was gone.

* * *

Henry arrived in a secluded forest that was not too far from the Caliburn Fortress.

‘It’s been a while.’

Henry headed towards the main gate of the fortress, recalling the past.

“Hey, you. Stop.”

When Henry reached the main gate, the soldiers guarding the fortress stopped him.

Henry took his identity tag from his pocket and threw it at the watchtower at the front of the gate.

“O-oh?”

Henry had thrown his identity tag with his physical strength alone.

Confused, a soldier picked up his identity tag, which had three bright blue stars.

“T-this is!”

On the back of the identity tag was the seal of Iselan and the symbol of the Caliburn Fortress.

“M-m-major general!”

The panicked soldier took Henry's identity tag and ran to Herbant, who was playing chess in the break room. A secret passage next to the castle gate opened and the chief of guards, Herbant appeared.

“Salute! Nice to see you again, Lord Henry.”

Although he had only served for a year, they still talked about Henry in the fortress due to his accomplishments as a special general.

“How have you been?” Henry responded with a salute.

Herbant asked, “But what is a discharged person doing here?”

“I’m here to see Captain Iselan.”

“Captain? Haha, it seems you haven’t heard the news yet. Captain Iselan is no longer a captain.”

“Then what is he?”

“He is now deputy commander in chief.”

/p>

“Oh really?”

Henry smiled at the unexpected good news. Iselan had deliberately avoided promotions because of the annoying process. The news that he was a deputy commander was unexpected.

“Please come inside. I think it’s better for you to hear the details directly from the deputy commander.”

“Is it okay for you to let me in without doing an inspection?”

“Haha, it’s more than okay since it’s you.”

It was fast and easy. Henry could meet Iselan quickly without going through any tedious procedures.

The place they went to was several times larger than the captain’s office. As Henry entered the building accompanied by a guiding soldier, there was a sudden thud and a loud voice came from upstairs.

“Henryyyy!”

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Iselan came down the spiral staircase loudly.

‘He still has that great spirit.’

It was nice to see that he was the same. However, Henry suddenly sensed danger because Iselan didn’t slow down and was now running towards him in the hallway. Iselan increased his speed and pulled a huge two-handed sword from his back.

‘Damn it!’

It wasn’t life-threatening but his aura was dangerous. Henry quickly drew his sword and stopped Iselan’s sword, which was falling onto him like a meteor.

Clank!

The sound of clashing metal filled the entire hallway. Iselan quickly withdrew his sword and once again swung it at Henry.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

He swung his sword endlessly. His incredible strength was undeniable, but…

“

Hmph!

”

Henry took a short breath and started to pressure Iselan. He drew a magic circle around himself, pretending to defend himself only to lunge forward with his sword, taking the Hector swordsmanship stance.

Swoosh!

Clank!

Henry aimed at Iselan’s neck and Iselan quickly raised his sword, blocking the attack.

The Henry’s and Iselan’s blades collided. Tension grew between the two.

Clank!

Iselan created distance between them with a wide swing of his sword. He proudly smiled and said, “It seems that you’ve gotten better.”

“...You’re still fierce as always.”

Iselan had a threatening aura, but it wasn’t too unusual since swordsmen at Iselan’s level used murderous or threatening auras like a tool.

“Hehe, have you finally changed your mind?”

“About…?”

“About re-enlisting and following me.”

“That sounds terrible. I just came to see how you were doing.”

“How boring! This is enough of a greeting, let’s go upstairs and have a cup of tea.”

It was only then that the guards at the hallway could finally relax. Iselan’s new office was even bigger that his old one. It was so large and luxurious that the captain’s quarters paled in comparison..

Tini sat on one side of the office.

Henry noticed Tini and greeted her first.

“Tini, nice to see you again.”

“...Long time no see.”

While Henry greeted her with a smile, Tini greeted him with a slightly awkward expression because it had already been a year. Even though she had been trying to attract Henry for a year, Henry had not accepted her feelings.

Iselan noticed the awkwardness between the two and spoke to Tini with a sly expression, “Ah, poor you.”

“...Be quiet, deputy commander.”

“You may leave if you find it uncomfortable here. I can do that much for you.”

“What do you mean ‘uncomfortable’? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Hahaha, okay. Then bring us some cold water.”

Tini sassily turned around.

The corners of Henry’s lips rose. He was enjoying the situation.

They sat on the sofa and Iselan was the first to speak.

“How long has it been? It seems like it's only been half a year since you were discharged.”

“It hasn’t been long, but I couldn’t wait because I wanted to see you so badly.”

“But you abandoned me and you were discharged alone. Lick your lips before you lie!”

“Haha I think my lips are wet enough.”

“How sly of you, anyway… Why are you here? You’re not just here to pay me a visit. Could it be that you already need some help?”

“As expected of you, captain–er, deputy commander. I knew you would recognize what I needed. I’ll cut to the chase.”

It was nice not to have to be formal with Iselan.

Henry started telling him the purpose of his visit to the Caliburn Fortress.

“I have started running a small merchant company. Speaking of which, I’d like you to give me permission to be a regular trader who can enter and exit Caliburn Fortress.”

“You want to become a military merchant?”

“Not really, but I need ingredients that can only be gathered at the Demonic Beast Forest.”

“Are you asking me to give a trader’s position just for that reason?”

“That’s right.”

Iselan burst out laughing. He found Henry’s request quite absurd.

“Khahahaha!”

Iselan’s laughter wasn’t a bad sign.

“You're crazy. Did you think I would give you the military merchant position as soon as you asked?”

“To be honest, yes.”

“Khahaha!”

Iselan laughed even more loudly.

Henry neither exaggerated nor elaborated because he believed that a straightforward approach would be more effective with Iselan. His theory was right.

“Okay! I’ll give you that position.”

“Thank you, deputy commander.”

“Khahaha, yes yes. Anyway, I heard news about you. You were the one who turned Eisen into a marquis, right?”

“...Huh?”

Henry was taken aback by the unexpected remark.

Iselan laughed loudly once again and said, “Hehehe, what a face. Why? Did you think I wouldn’t even know this much?”

“...How did you know?”

“Obtaining information about the world is easy. I finally understand why you chose to discharge with all the news of your success floating around recently.”

Henry was genuinely surprised. Even though he attended the banquet at the imperial palace as a vassal of Eisen, he hardly showed his face, so it was practically the same as not attending.

It was all the more strange that Iselan knew about it even though he was in the fortress all the time.

“From your expression, it seems like this will be a long story. Let's have a drink. Tini! Is it okay if I leave work now?”

“...Since when did you ask for my permission?”

“True. Thanks for all your hard work.”

Iselan seemed more carefree now that he’d become a deputy commander. However, Henry continued to nurse some suspicions.

‘We sure have a lot to talk about.’

Iselan had stayed inside the fortress, but how did he know about this?

Henry wasn’t too happy about drinking with Iselan since they usually drank until they blacked out. However, Henry knew he had to drink to get what he needed from Iselan, so he happily agreed.

“Let’s go. My new home has more alcohol than my old one.”

“...Alright.”

Iselan’s new residence was larger than the previous one.

When he arrived, Henry had to let loose and talk.