“Sir, they’re not here!”

“What? What do you mean,

they’re not here

?”

A young paladin had reported back to Logger, and indeed, there weren’t any traces of the Church of Nephram, besides dirt and rubble.

Logger was astonished.

“There’s no traces of them running away?”

“Exactly, sir. We’re desperately looking for them, but their disappearance is so mysterious that…”

“Ha! How am I going to…?!”

Logger’s face darkened even more as the paladin reported that they had no clue where the Nephrams were. He was furious thinking that he might fail his task. He had not once disappointed Ross Borgia.

‘How did those damn bastards know that we were coming?!’

Logger hadn’t heard anything about their information leaking. Besides, this paladin unit was the one that had brought the Church of Nephram on the brink of extinction, so Logger was confident that this was the best army of the Church of Peace.

‘That bastard Hoosler… I know he’s considered a skilled Warlock, but the magic Warlocks use is completely different from that of wizards. And he even has that small child that’s always asleep with him…’

Logger’s head was throbbing as he tried to guess what had happened. Judging by the few traces, it seemed like they had left this place just a little while ago. But at that moment, Logger came up with another possibility.

'Wait, what if they didn’t run away? What if they got ambushed instead?’

That made more sense. Judging by the bones and weapons on the ground, it was likely that someone who wasn’t from the Church of Peace had killed them in order to escape. However, Logger couldn’t think of anyone that would attempt something like that. His head hurt even more.

Logger quickly erased this possibility from his mind, as he knew that there were only a handful of people within the Church of Peace that knew of the existence of the Church of Nephram. Moreover, even though the attackers had only kidnapped Hoosler and that child, the remains of the undead proved that they had been fully prepared to deal with any surprise attacks.

As Logger kept pondering on what had happened, something struck his mind and sent shivers down his spine.

‘Could it be… someone from the imperial palace?’

Logger felt that no one from the imperial palace could possibly know about the Church of Nephram, but he couldn’t possibly prove that. Besides, there

were

a few armies on the continent that could actually take care of the Church of Nephram with ease, leaving nothing but rubble and bones behind.

‘Please, please…! Please no…!’

Logger was overcome with anxiety, and so he prayed to Irene, hoping that he was mistaken.

***

A few days later, the grand ceremony to announce the founding of the empire began as scheduled. Golden sat on the throne while Silver assumed the role of the empire’s sole crown prince.

The seat next to the throne remained empty. Despite recommendations from people around him to appoint a new empress, Golden adamantly refused every time, simply because he wasn’t interested.

A grand celebration took place.

Everyone praised Golden for being the first man in history to unify the continent and Henry for being the wisest Archmage.

Henry actually put his plans on hold to fully enjoy the founding ceremony. It was a joyous day, giving him the chance to relish the moment with the people he had missed.

The celebration went on for days, and the excitement started to subside only on the third one. That was when Henry received some more good news.

Hoosler had finally torn the caller scroll he had given him. At this, Henry went to the top of the spire right away and opened the door to the secret mansion.

“Sir, you’re here,” said Hoosler while bowing to him. The Messiah, whom Henry had killed in the past, was now awake, standing right next to Hoosler.

“Looks like you got things settled.”

“Yes, of course. I’ve informed the Messiah about our deal, and he gave me permission to proceed with it.”

Henry shifted his gaze toward the Messiah, looking into his red eyes.

Despite his young age, his innate talent had allowed him to become the Messiah and represent the Church of Nephram. Interestingly enough, this boy would maintain his youthful appearance for decades to come.

“Hey you,” said the boy while pointing at Henry.

At this, Henry thought to himself,

‘Speaking like this when it’s our first time talking? Is he that confident in his status as the Messiah?’

But rather than being angry at the boy’s cocky attitude, Henry laughed at his youthful spirit.

“How do you know that the Demon God has dimensional powers?” asked the Messiah, disregarding Henry’s reaction.

Henry had predicted that they would ask him this question. He was certain that not even the Demon Gold predicted his offer.

Unfortunately for the Messiah, Henry didn’t feel obligated to satisfy his curiosity. If he wanted an answer, he should’ve greeted Henry more politely, with a proper bow.

“I’m not going to tell you.”

“What?”

“Listen up, kid. I’m not here to answer your questions. I know you have the power to communicate with the Demon God, but if you’re really that curious, how about a change of attitude and some respect?”

Henry genuinely meant what he was saying, and he knew that the Messiah would understand what he meant despite being just a child.

The boy was silent. He merely clenched his fingers into a fist and lowered his arm. As for Hoosler, he didn’t know how to react or what to do with the tension between the two.

“Hoosler, I take it that I don't have to worry about monsters appearing in the forest anymore?”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Great. That’s all I asked for. Stay here until the new Demon King descends, just as we’ve agreed. You can tell me once a week if there’s anything you need.”

“Thank you, Archmage.”

“Just in case, since no one will ever set foot in this place, I’ll let you know that you can only make undead to serve as your butlers.”

“Yes, of course,” Hoosier replied with a slight bow.

“I’m not sure if that’s ever going to happen, but let me know if you get tired of all this religious stuff. I can give you a new life if you change your mind about all of this.”

Even though Henry knew how unlikely it was for these two to abandon their faith, he figured he would let them know just in case. With that, he turned around to leave the mansion. But then, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask something.

“Oh, by the way, I’m just asking this just in case.”

“Yes, Archmage.”

“The Demon King that you are currently preparing with the Demon God. Can you tell me his name?”

Henry asked purely out of curiosity, having encountered several Demon Kings in his past lives.

Taken aback by the unexpected question, Hoosler hesitated and glanced at the Messiah for guidance. In turn, the boy stared intently at Hoosler.

“Should we tell him?” asked Hoosler. “I believe it would help us maintain a good relationship.”

“Okay. Just the name though. I don’t think it’ll matter if we only tell him his name.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Even though the Messiah pretended to be picky, he was still a kid. Despite his cockiness, it seemed that he had to rely on Hoosler a lot, the only adult that could give him guidance.

“It’s Gretel,” said Messiah.

“Gre… Gretel?” Henry asked incredulously.

“Yeah, Gretel. That’s all I can tell you,” the Messiah said firmly as if to settle scores from earlier.

However, Henry couldn't resist bursting into laughter.

‘I didn’t think I’d hear that name here!’

Gretel—how could Henry forget that name? He couldn’t believe that the Demon King that received preferential treatment from the Demon God was Gretel. He couldn’t stop smiling after hearing the unexpected name.

“Okay, that’s all I needed to know.”

After getting his answer, Henry left the secret mansion.

“Gretel, huh…”

Henry kept chuckling. Gretel definitely reminded him of some things. However, just because he felt a certain way toward Gretel didn’t mean that he could help him descend later on. After all, Gretel wouldn’t descend as a mere demon, but as a Demon King.

‘He’s a dependable guy if you have him on your team, but to have him as an enemy… Just thinking about it is giving me a headache.’

Gretel was a true Demon King who wielded dozens of bone dragons like a magician would show off pigeons in a market. Henry realized that he needed to figure out a new way to deal with Gretel.

Henry left the spire and went on the main road leading to the capital. The festival was still in full swing, and Henry smiled as he watched everyone drunk on joy. Their genuine smiles were exactly what Henry had hoped to see all this time.

He once again pledged to do everything in his power to keep those smiles lasting for as long as he lived.

But then…

“Sir Henry Morris?”

It was a woman’s voice. Henry immediately turned around, only to hiccup at the unexpected guest.

“He-Hela?”

“Oh my… You remember me, Archmage.”

Hela was the Iron and Blood Empress, the queen of Amaris. She had helped Henry in his war against Arthus, and she had died a miserable death at the hands of an apostle.

Henry looked at her ruefully, wondering why she was here, but he quickly realized that he had sent invitations for the founding ceremony to the countries that had promised to form an alliance during the continental conquest.

“I was on my way to the Magical Spire to talk to you personally one more time… It seems that I’m quite lucky today, seeing that you were just leaving.”

“You came to see me?”

“Indeed, Sir Henry. You were so busy that I missed you at the festival. I was hoping we could chat over a drink?”

“Dr-drink?”

Henry noticed the two large glasses in her hands, the liquor glittering under the moonlight. For some reason, he had an ominous feeling about this.

“Would you care to drink with me?” asked Hela as she licked her lower lip ever so slightly.

A rush of memories flooded Henry’s mind, including a promise he had made to her. Recalling this, Henry felt it would be wrong to refuse.

“Queen Hela, it would be my honor,” Henry replied with a smile.

“Hoho, just as I’d expect from the Archmage himself. Then how about we go somewhere more quiet? If you don’t mind, I’d like to take this opportunity to take a look inside the Magical Spire…”

With that, Hela wrapped her arms around Henry as though she had been waiting for this. Henry could tell why she was acting this way, but he couldn’t refuse her wishes this time.

“...Okay, I’ll show you around the Magical Spire.”

“Hah, I’m so excited!”

The corners of her eyes curved into two crescent moons.

***

A whole day had passed—that was how long it took Henry to get away from Hela. He left the spire while Hela was still sleeping soundly.

His legs were trembling as he stood in front of the door.

‘I thought I was going to die…!’

There was still a lot of time left until sunrise. However, he knew that if he didn’t take this chance to escape, an even more terrible morning would await him, so he escaped from Hela in the middle of the night.

He saw drunk people all over the street, some of them passed out on the cold cobblestones. Even though it had been three days since the founding of the empire, the people were still enjoying the festival.

Henry made his way back to the Magical Spire, walking past the drunk people. Once in his room, he leaned back in his chair and heaved a sigh.

‘Hela… I almost forgot about her.’

If he hadn’t felt sorry for Hela for what she had been through during the war against Arthus, Henry would’ve instantly declined her request. However, after granting her wish, Henry could somewhat detach himself from those feelings of regret.

As he thought about her, the leaders of the Allied Powers came to his mind.

‘I almost forgot about them…’

Thanks to Hela, Henry remembered the other leaders of the Central Powers that had stood by his side to the very end. Of course, at this point in time, those countries had different rulers.

But even so, Henry wouldn’t forget their support and loyalty.

‘I guess I should go around to visit the Central Powers first.’

Yet another plan to jot down in his notebook.