Chapter 157 - New Power (5)

“Selene!”

It was an emotional reunion.

Despite Selene having been in a coma for only a few days, Herarion embraced her as if they had been apart for years.

“This is…?”

Awakened by Elagon, Selene was still disoriented, but she eventually became fully aware of her surroundings as she heard Herarion’s voice.

“Thank goddess, what a relief!”

Herarion couldn’t help but burst into tears. No matter what he had tried, he had not been able to wake her up. Herarion had gone through a rough time thinking that he might never be able to see Selene’s lovely smile ever again.

The two embraced each other for a while.

‘What a devoted husband.’

Henry waited for them to fully calm down and enjoy their reunion.

After some time, Herarion finally calmed down, and with puffy eyes, he clasped Henry’s hand and said, “Lord Henry, once again, I owe you big time. I’m not sure how I can repay this favor…”

“No worries, I’m just glad that Her Highness has regained consciousness.”

Herarion’s voice was slightly shaky as he expressed his gratitude because although his tears had stopped, he still had a lingering feeling of sadness.

“Why don’t we go somewhere else first? I have a lot to discuss with you, Your Highness,” said Henry.

“Alright.”

“Hector, you stay by Her Highness’ side just in case.”

“Okay.”

Hector and Herarion moved to a nearby quiet room to talk.

“I’ve more or less heard what happened. Her Highness collapsed inside Janus’ temple, right?” said Henry.

“That’s right. I wasn’t supposed to bring her with me, but… Selene looked so worried about me that I made an exception just this one time and allowed her inside.”

“Worried? Worried about what?”

“Because I train hard everyday, I let out a small groan in front of Selene. She then expressed that she was worried and wanted to help me with the prayer ceremony, so…”

‘Tsk tsk, that's the reason?’

Henry agreed with the rumor that the Khan couple were deeply in love. However, no matter how good their marital relationship was, there was a reason why the dynasty had banned such things in the first place.

Henry thought that Herarion was also at fault for what had happened.

‘At least it all ended well.’

No matter what had happened, it was a relief that Henry was able to treat Selene.

Henry also planned on receiving proper compensation since he had done Herarion a favor once again.

“Anyway, the important thing is that Her Highness has regained consciousness. If something like this ever happens again, I will support Your Majesty both physically and mentally, so don’t worry too much.”

“Thank you.”

Of course, Henry didn’t blatantly demand compensation for helping him because he knew he was bound to have all these things when the time came anyway. He knew exactly what he wanted from Herarion, so he needed to be especially careful in how he asked him.

“Let’s get straight to the point… Your Majesty, the effects of the Pink Swamp are much better than I thought.”

“Really?”

“The Pink Swamp made the two sons of Marquis Alfred, a member of the Three Great Families, completely addicted. The emperor has also started enjoying the Pink Swamp. This is clearly a sign that the empire is going to be doomed, isn’t it?”

“Is there any news on Arthus?”

“There’s nothing in relation to cigarettes, but I do have some news more important than that.”

“What is it?”

News about others wasn't important for Herarion, because all that mattered to him was the fall of Arthus.

“It seems that Duke Arthus is getting his hands on forbidden powers.”

“Forbidden powers…?”

Henry told Herarion about the Chimera that he had heard about when Von had almost died. By the time he was done telling the whole story, Herarion looked perplexed and suspicious.

“...I can’t believe it. Is there such a monster?”

“At first, I didn't believe it either. However, I think it makes sense because Arthus is planning a rebellion, and I think he’s producing Chimeras in order to have a powerful force to use during the rebellion.”

“Hmm…”

The fact that Arthus was preparing for a rebellion became a good reason to support many arguments. In reality, he really was planning for a successful rebellion by creating powerful Chimeras anyway.

“Then what should we do?” asked Herarion.

“I would like to investigate Arthus’ domain if I could, but I don’t have a good enough reason to do so just yet. Therefore, we have no choice but to control the emperor through the Pink Swamp and wait for Arthus to start a rebellion as soon as possible.”

At heart, Henry not only wanted to attack Arthus’ domain, but he also wanted to gather enough power in order to be the first to start a rebellion. However, he lacked too many things to start a rebellion before Arthus.

‘I have no choice but to wait for the right time. If Arthus rebels, I’ll be able to use the imperial army and Eisen.’

Once Henry stopped Arthus through Eisen and the imperial army's intervention, he planned to eliminate Alfred. Subsequently, Eisen would take Arthus's position as duke, which would initiate Henry’s real plan.

“Anyway, it’s not the right time for us to take action yet, so we’ll have to wait a little longer. The reason I came today was to tell Your Majesty about the results of the trade.”

“Trade… I forgot about it for a moment because of Selene. How is that going?”

“I’ve sold all the goods, including the cigarettes, for a very high price.”

“A-Already?”

Herarion was surprised once again.

He had provided Henry with a significantly greater quantity of goods in comparison to what he sent as tribute to the imperial family. He did that because Henry promised him that he would be able to sell them for three times the original price. However, how could he have sold all of them already?

Herarion was at a loss for words at Henry’s incredible trading skills.

Henry took out a Subspace Pouch and said, “I’ve included a little more than what I promised to give you, Your Majesty. I’ll leave it in your good hands.”

Herarion opened the pouch, and the inside was full of shiny imperial gold coins.

“As expected of you, Lord Henry. I’ve prepared extra cigarettes just in case, but… Anyway, are you done here then?”

“For now, yes, but… Actually, there is one more thing I’d like to ask of you, Your Majesty.”

“Please, go ahead. I’ll do anything if it’s for you, Lord Henry.”

“Thank you.”

Before getting to the point, Henry took a sip of the tea in front of him. He then started asking about the thing he had refrained from mentioning for some time now.

“Your Majesty, could you give me the opportunity to learn illusion?”

“Illusion as in… Is it because of the thing you mentioned last time?”

The thing he was talking about was the similarities between the power of gods, black magic, and the language used in the Demon Realm.

Henry waved his hand and said, “It’s not necessarily because of that. In fact, I’ve been very interested in Shahatra’s illusion for a long time, but I’m asking now because I have formed this relationship with you, Your Majesty.”

It was a lie.

Henry did have an interest in illusion, but he only wanted to know how to destroy it because he was a former Archmage who believed in the supremacy of magic.

Just as Herarion expected, the reason Henry wanted to learn illusion was to find the similarities between the power of gods, black magic, and the Demon Realm.

“Hmmm…”

Although Henry had made a reasonable excuse, Herarion knew very well that it was not true.

La’s Eyes were not used to figure out the truth because it was rude to use that power against the person who had just saved Selene.

Herarion fell into deep thought.

He knew how smart of a person Henry was. Even just by looking at the pact they had made at Janus’ temple, he could assume how much more power Henry was hiding.

However, ever since the day Henry had brought up such similarities, Herarion had also thought a lot about it. In fact, there were also times when even Herarion didn’t understand what the gods were saying. Whenever this happened, Herarion thought that it was all due to his lack of faith.

‘Selene…’

Herarion thought about Selene.

The day that Selene had collapsed in the temple, he saw a red fog around her face that was gathered like a swarm of bees. As Herarion approached Selene, Janus disappeared into the sky and immediately after the fog disappeared, Herarion heard Janus say something.

‘I wonder what he said.’

Unfortunately, Herarion didn’t understand what Janus had said. It was clearly the same language as always, but it was a combination of words that he had never heard before.

‘I’m sure I knew the language, but why couldn’t I understand it…’

Henry had learned the language of the Demon Realm directly from the Demon race. However, unlike Henry, the Religious people of Shahatra didn't understand the language of the gods. Instead, they memorized certain words that sounded familiar and pieced them together to make out what the gods were saying.

When his thoughts reached this point, Herarion suddenly became greedy.

If he had understood Janus at the time, would he have not neglected Selene until now? Moreover, what did La and Janus want from him?

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

It was a strange phenomenon. The more complicated his thoughts got, the clearer his desires became.

‘I want to know…!’

In the end, Herarion became curious about the power gods through the predicament of the person closest to him, Selene. However, he couldn’t just reveal the power of gods that the Shahatra dynasty had protected for a long time to just anyone.

Herarion pretended not to be able to refuse and agreed to Henry’s request. If it was Henry, Herarion believed that he could solve his curiosity without him having to get involved directly.

“All you need to learn is illusion…?”

Herarion replied with a positive answer.

Henry was really excited.

‘It worked!’

Compared to when Herarion got mad and turned his back on him in the past, this was clearly a big improvement.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Henry with a smile.

“Alright. It would be rude to say no to someone who saved Selene’s life, so I’ll let high priest Viram know that you’ll be learning illusion.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

It would’ve been okay to learn from a lower-level priest, but Herarion specifically appointed Viram as Henry’s teacher, which was a great favor for him.

“If there’s nothing else to discuss, I must go back to take care of Selene. I’ll tell the maids to prepare the cigarettes, so you can take them with you at your convenience.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Although neither of them said it out loud, it was a successful deal that both of them were satisfied with.