Chapter 279 - Upgrade (4)

“The Vasilipo... Hmm...”

“Yeah.”

Henry called in Maker Swarth, the head of the alchemy school, the second he reached the top floor of the Snow Spire. Maker picked up the shattered Vasilipo and carefully inspected it.

“Hmm, it’s possible to repair it, but...” Maker trailed off as he glanced at Allen, who was looking back at him with a nervous expression

Maker couldn’t help thinking to himself,

‘I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Sir Henry. He already knew how I’d examine the sword, so he brought the owner along with the sword.’

Maker thought that fixing the sword would be relatively simple as its magic essence wasn’t damaged; it was just the blade itself that had been shattered in two.

Henry also knew that simply fixing the sword wouldn’t be complicated. In fact, he could probably pull it off himself. However, he had brought Allen over to the Snow Spire for another reason.

Henry didn’t just want to get the Vasilipo repaired; he wanted to upgrade it, to take it to the next level.

Repairing a magic sword only required one alchemist, but strengthening it had many other requirements, one of which being Allen himself.

Maker, still examining the sword, asked Henry, “And you’ve talked this through with Sir Allen, the owner of the blade?”

“Yes. He said he’d pay any price in order to save the Vasilipo.”

“A resolute man, indeed. Alright then. Sir Allen, would you please follow me?”

At that, Allen glanced at Henry, who gave him a reassuring smile and said, “Don’t worry, go ahead. Once the Vasilipo is fixed, the wizards will make sure to send it to Monsieur.”

“All right...”

The two eventually left the room, leaving just Henry and Howl behind.

“Howl”, said Henry as he turned around.

“Yes, Master.”

“Can you show me what you’ve learned so far?”

“What I’ve learned so far... Of course!”

Henry didn’t expect much from him. Despite his talent and potential, Howl was just at the beginning of his journey. Even though he had learned some basic attack magic from Kale, Henry didn’t get his hopes up, and he tried to hide that from his expression. He kept a straight face as he watched Howl focus on casting magic.

Oong!

Howl was amassing his magic power with his eyes closed, and when he eventually opened them, the magic materialized in his hands.

‘Huh?!’

Howl wielded ice with one hand and fire with the other.

‘What...?’

Henry was genuinely surprised to see double casting—casting two different spells at the same time. But what surprised Henry wasn’t Howl’s double casting per se, but the fact that he was using two completely opposite types of magic at the same time.

Of course, Howl had more to show him.

“...!”

Howl clasped his hands together, combining the ice with the fire. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any steam coming from his hands, and after separating them, the fire and the ice were still active.

“Enough.”

Zwoop.

At Henry's command, Howl quickly undid the magic from both of his hands, and just like a disciplined soldier, he stood upright with his hands behind his back.

“...”

Howl waited nervously for Henry’s verdict, but he was actually too impressed to evaluate him right away. Howl had managed to double cast magic of opposing attributes without there being any reaction between them. This meant that Howl had full control of his magic.

‘Oh, this guy is actually a genius!’

Howl’s potential had been evident ever since that crystal ball had confirmed his talent. Even now, it really did seem that he was a genius.

If Henry hadn't visited Shahatra, this genius in front of him might’ve lived his life without ever realizing his exceptional abilities. Henry was even more excited because he was the one who had discovered his potential.

“You did well,” said Henry.

“Thank you, Master.”

“You definitely have talent, so I’ll go ahead and say...”

Zap.

Before Henry could finish his sentence, Lore suddenly appeared in front of them, at Henry’s request. Lore bowed slightly and Henry continued, “He will be your new teacher and will instruct you in my stead. Since Shahatra no longer has a magic school, it’s best that you stay here and train with Lore.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“And, Lore...”

“Yes, Archmage.”

“Please follow the instructions I gave you beforehand.”

“Yes, Archmage.”

Despite being deeply impressed by Howl’s performance, Henry didn’t fully express his amazement. Instead, he had just given Howl a simple compliment. Moreover, he had informed Lore in advance about his talents and emphasized how he ought to treat him.

The reason for that was because Henry really didn’t want Howl to become conceited and drunk on his own talent. He had also promised Lore that he would personally take over teaching Howl after he defeated Arthus and achieved all his other goals he had initially set.

This was the least Henry could do to make up for his initial plans for Howl. In the beginning, Howl had been nothing more than a living weapon to start a war against Arthus, but now he was finally in the right place, able to nurture his talent.

Eventually, Lore and Howl left Henry alone. He then stood up and muttered to himself, “Is he the only one left now?”

Most of his plan was in progress, and he had taken care of one of Vulcanus’ favors—Allen’s Vasilipo. However, Vulcanus had asked him for another favor, this one in regard to Hector.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Vulcanus was an excellent blacksmith, but he was nonetheless just an ordinary human, making ordinary equipment, which Hector couldn’t wear due to his spirit form. Of course, he could wear equipment if it were blessed by Herarion’s special Holy Code, but for some reason, Hector had delayed procuring new equipment.

Henry planned to talk with Hector about this. All in all, Hector was one of his strongest allies.

*

“So what do you want?”

“What do you mean? I need a body that can properly enhance my natural strength rather than just a piece of armor.”

Henry had returned to Monsieur, and after having a long discussion with Hector, he understood exactly what Hector wanted. It was actually simple; Hector wanted a strong body that would allow him to fully unleash his powers. He explained to Henry that he hadn’t been able to use his full power in his recent battles because he had been using the wrong body.

“Hmm...”

Henry couldn’t think of a clear solution for Hector’s problem. Although he himself had been brought back to life by black magic, Henry was pretty satisfied with his current body, so he couldn’t relate to Hector’s problem.

That in itself was a problem, but there was one more issue—it was uncertain whether Hector could effectively wield the power of the divine objects obtained from Herabola in his spirit form.

This was quite the conundrum.

‘I guess we should meet with Herarion first.’

Henry knew he couldn’t deal with this by himself. Thus, he teleported to Shahatra along with Hector to meet Herarion, who was still taking care of some remaining state affairs.

*

“Oh, so you’ve encountered this problem.”

Fortunately, Herarion had managed to solve most of the capital's issues and had been relaxing with Viram when the two arrived in Shahatra. Hearing about Hector’s predicament, Herarion sympathized with him, unlike Henry.

“Can we do something about this?” asked Hector with a hopeful expression, but unfortunately for him, Herarion’s expression was bitter.

“I’m afraid not.”

“What?”

“If you had come to me in the past, I would’ve been able to figure out a way... But unfortunately, the power to transfer you into another body belongs to Janus...”

“But then that means...?”

“He’s saying that he can’t even get you a new body to use, let alone a better one,” Henry answered on Herarion’s behalf.

At this, a hint of despair crept on Hector’s face. Henry chuckled at this, even though this wasn’t a problem to be taken lightly.

‘Hmm, what to do...’

There was silence for a few moments until Henry eventually asked, “Your Majesty, is there really no way?”

“Well, it’s not like there isn’t a way... But... Well, Janus’s power isn’t the only way to get Hector into a new body.”

“Could you be more specific?”

“Well... It’s not an ordinary power. It’s more like taking divine power and using it as a specific Holy Code. Some divine powers can be applied to this Holy Code, while others can’t.”

“Are you saying that Janus’ divine power works, but La’s doesn’t?”

“Precisely.”

“Then what other gods can use that Holy Code?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure myself...”

“Oh... Right...”

Henry quickly realized he had asked a stupid question; Herarion had only worshiped two gods in his life, so of course he wouldn’t know about others.

‘Well, if that’s the case, this is going to be a big problem...’

Things were becoming much more challenging than Henry had initially thought. After pondering on it for a while, he finally came to a conclusion.

“I guess we have no other choice.”

“What?”

“What do you mean,

what

? What else do you think we can do? There's nothing we can do right now. And according to His Majesty, we’ll need to find a new divine power that has the capability to use the Holy Code to transfer souls”

“Do you know anyone with such divine powers?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, for god’s sake!”

“Relax. I have to find a new deity until our confrontation with Arthus.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain later. Anyway, it seems like things are unfolding faster than I anticipated... From now on, you and I are going to do our best to find a god that can help both of us.”

Henry’s only solution was to find a god to help them, which he was planning to do anyway. Herabola had told him that he wouldn’t be able to deal with Arthus just with his divine objects. Therefore, Henry had no choice but to look for a god whose powers could match Arthus’.

‘Hector would definitely come in handy during my search.’

Henry had intended to look for a deity by himself until the inevitable confrontation with Arthus, but now he had Hector to help him.

As Herarion listened to their plan, he intervened, “Um, Sir Henry?”

“Yes?”

“So you’re going to be looking for a deity?”

“Indeed. Did you want to add something in regard to that?”

“Uh, then may I join you in your search?”

“Oh, are you sure, Your Majesty?”

“I am.”

“May I ask why?”

“Just out of curiosity. If there’s a god on this continent that has powers similar to Janus, I’d very much like to meet its worshippers in person.”

Even though Herarion said that he wanted to join them merely out of curiosity, his words hinted at something more than that. Herarion was curious about the worshipers of that deity, about how they worshiped it. If there was a god with powers similar to Janus, Herarion assumed that its personality would also resemble Janus’.

‘Maybe this all happened because of the way the royal family worshiped Janus...’

Even though it was far too late to think about his wrong ways of worshiping Janus, Herarion believed that he nonetheless had to learn from his mistakes, both as the king of Shahatra and as La’s worshiper.

However, Henry declined his request, saying that it wouldn’t be possible for him to join.

“Sorry? Uh, why not?” asked Herarion, befuddled.

“Have you forgotten, Your Majesty? You have less than a month to become La’s Sword.”

“Oh...”

“Learning is good, but I think you should focus on that after you’ve completed your training. It seems like you’ve taken care of most of the problems in Shahatra, so why don't you return to Monsieur? There are excellent teachers waiting for you there to teach you martial arts.”

“Oh...”

Hearing this, Herarion realized that he had no choice but to put his curiosity aside for a while.