Even after all those years, Henry’s memory remained sharp. As he walked through the three-way trading post, a familiar sign eventually caught his eye. It bore the words:

- You are entering the fiefdom of Baronet Hans Morris.

‘I’m in the right place.’

Baronet Hans Morris—the man most responsible for what Henry had achieved and become. Henry was on his way to meet him. As he passed the estuary and entered the fiefdom, a familiar landscape unfolded before him.

Once he stepped foot in the Morris fiefdom, the residents looked at him, drawn by his fancy attire.

‘Who is that?’

The residents knew that his attire was unique to the imperial family. However, despite his fame across the continent, most of these people didn’t know what he looked like, as the Morris fiefdom was a remote village nestled in the mountains at the eastern end of the continent.

In any case, everyone shrugged their shoulders and bowed, recognizing the significance of Henry’s imperial attire.

Henry made his way through the crowd toward Morris Castle. Seeing it up close again, it seemed almost too small to be called a castle, but that was none of his concern.

As he reached the entrance, he looked up at the castle walls, only to notice that there wasn’t a single soldier on duty. Seeing this, Henry chuckled.

“That’s right. It’s always been like this.”

Henry wasn’t saying that to criticize the castle administration. He was merely reminiscing about the time he had spent here, even though it had only been a few months.

‘I went out of my way to wear my best attire… If I’d known it’d be like this, I should’ve just put on a robe or something.’

Henry had chosen such an elegant outfit because he wanted to draw the attention of the residents so that he could ultimately make Hans feel that he was being respected. However, Henry saw neither Hans, nor his butlers, maids, or even guards. Feeling annoyed that things hadn’t gone according to plan, he decided to go another way.

Snap!

As he snapped his fingers, the tightly closed gates opened with a loud creaking sound. As he walked through the gates, a maid came his way and asked wide-eyed, “Wh-who are you?”

Even though an unfamiliar visitor had opened the castle doors and just walked in, the maid couldn’t get angry with him due to his imperial attire.

“I’m from the imperial palace.”

“Th-the imperial palace?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, please forgive me! I was unaware of who you were and acted rudely. Please forgive me.”

At the mention of the imperial palace, the maid fell flat on the ground. Of course, she couldn’t have known who Henry was, given that she had lived in a mountain village her entire life. Even though she had noticed that Henry’s clothes were unusually fancy, she couldn’t have known what a uniform from the imperial palace looked like.

Henry lightly waved his hand.

“Please get up. I’m just here to see Baronet Hans Morris. If you don’t mind, could I ask you to guide me to where the baronet is?”

Immediately after his reincarnation, Henry started treating his servants with courtesy, unlike how he had treated them poorly in his previous life. His different mindset was one reason for treating this maid like this, but he also didn’t want to flaunt his status upon meeting someone he wanted to thank.

Baronet Hans hurriedly came to meet Henry after hearing the news. Judging by his attire, it seemed like he was taking care of some work outside. He did come a bit late, but when he saw Henry, he quickly bowed and his face turned pale as if he had just seen a ghost.

“Oh, Archmage! I can’t believe you’ve come all the way out here!”

Hans was familiar with Henry because he had served in Golden’s army during the unification war. And for his contributions in that war, Hans had been awarded an order of military merit and the title of baronet.

Hans had always held Henry in high regard. And so, when he had to formalize his status as a baronet and choose a surname as a noble, he chose Henry’s.

Hans went pale because he thought he might be punished for adopting Henry’s surname. It was only natural for Hans to act this way; it wasn’t an everyday thing for a distinguished figure like Henry Morris to personally visit a lesser noble like him.

“Are you Baronet Hans?”

“Yes, yes! Yes, Archmage!”

“I looked around the estate on the way, and it seemed pretty well maintained. Is this, by any chance, your work?”

“Yes? Ah, yes, yes…! I tell the others what to do and check on them periodically.”

“I see.”

Henry began with a light compliment to ease Hans’ nerves, but it didn’t seem that effective. Thus, he decided to shift the conversation to a different topic.

“Hans Morris, huh… I understand that you were granted the rank of baronet as a veteran of the Unification War. Still, I can’t help but wonder… Why did you choose the name of Morris?”

“Well, that’s…!”

Hans looked like he considered this day to be his last. However, Henry didn’t understand his reaction, given that he had asked that simply out of curiosity. He kept his eyes on Hans, waiting for a response.

But to Hans, Henry’s gaze felt like a wave that was about to swallow him whole.

A few good seconds passed, but Hans couldn’t get himself to speak. The pressure was too much for him, and being overcome with a sudden sense of guilt, he got on his knees.

“I-I meant no harm! P-please kill me already, Archmage!”

“Huh…?”

Henry didn’t know how to react to his sudden apology.

***

After some talking, the two cleared up their misunderstandings. Hans gave his honest explanation of why he had decided to assume the surname of Morris. And hearing his story, Henry burst into laughter.

“Wi-will you forgive me?” Hans asked in a trembling voice.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“Forgive you? What’s there to forgive? I wouldn’t ask anything from a person who took up that name out of respect for me. Aren’t you a war veteran? Be proud of that! Besides, Morris is just a name, so don’t give it too much thought.”

“Thank you…! Thank you, Archmage…!”

Hans finally managed to loosen up a bit. He was relieved to know that Henry had nothing against him.

Following that, the two went somewhere else and started talking about the motive behind Henry’s visit.

“Do you have a son by any chance?”

“S-son…?”

Hans was taken aback when Henry mentioned his son. At this, Henry smiled gently, knowing that Hans’ son was named Henry Morris, just like him. Of course, he acted like he didn’t know that.

“Yes, your son.”

“Well… I do have one son…”

“What’s your son's name?”

“Uh, well, that’s…”

“Surely it’s not Henry Morris?”

At that, Hans was completely flustered and lost for words. Henry found his expression most amusing, but Hans felt like he was suffocating to death.

Deep down, Henry wanted to tease Hans a bit more, but he decided to stop lest he actually fainted.

“It’s alright. There’s no need to be nervous.”

“Just like you have said, Archmage… I respect you so much that I named my son after you.”

“Hehe. What a funny father.”

“Oh, no! I know I’ve done something wrong, Archmage! I deserve to die, I know!”

“What do you mean,

wrong

?! And you think you deserve to die? Don’t take life so lightly.”

“Th-thank you, Archmage!”

Henry then asked if he could see his son. At his request, Hans immediately dressed his son in his best clothes and made him stand in front of Henry. He seemed to be around six or seven years old, and his eyes were bright.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Archmage,” said young Henry in a lively voice.

Hans then added that young Henry’s mother had succumbed to an illness a few years back.

‘What a shame. I would’ve done something if I’d known…’

Henry apologized to Hans and his son, thinking he should’ve looked after them.

“He seems like a smart, intelligent kid. If Henry’s mother is dead, I take it you’ve been raising him by yourself?”

“For now, yes.”

“For now? Are you planning to remarry?”

“Yes. I don’t think it’s good for a child to grow up without a mother.”

“Is that so?”

Henry knew what digamy would mean for this young boy. Even though Hans would remarry for young Henry’s sake, that woman would treat him poorly and only care about her own child. Because of that, young Henry would eventually turn into an incompetent fool who couldn’t even wield a sword or properly use magic.

‘Such a bleak future for this kid…’

But regardless of his foolishness, young Henry had managed to preserve one thing—his pride. That was why he had eventually dabbled in black magic. However, that ended tragically for him, with Henry, the Archmage, taking over his body and pushing away his soul.

‘This time, it’s going to be different.’

Henry was going to take matters into his own hands so that when Hans eventually remarried, young Henry wouldn’t have to go through an unfortunate childhood that would ruin him. That was why Henry had come all the way here in the mountains to see Baronet Hans Morris.

“Baronent Hans, may I make a proposal to you?”

“A proposal? What kind of proposal, Archmage?” asked Hans with a nervous face.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to take your son under my wing and raise him as my disciple… What do you think?”

“Pardon…?”

Hans’ eyes widened, and his jaw dropped to the floor as he tried to process what Henry had just told him.

‘Did he just say that he wants to make Henry his disciple? The greatest Archmage on the continent said that?!’

Hans was certain he had misheard Henry. The conversation about his son had made him too nervous, which was why he had misheard Henry… Surely, that was the case…

“Uh, Archmage…? I believe I misheard what you’ve just said, so could you please say it again?”

However, Henry’s words didn’t change.

“I said I want to take your son and raise him as my best disciple. Of course, your son will live in the imperial palace and grow up under my full support.”

This time, Henry went into greater detail, his tone warmer. At this, Han’s jaw dropped to the floor once again. He was so shocked that he couldn’t say a word.

Silence hung in the room, and Henry eventually broke it.

“You don’t have to accept my proposal if you don’t feel comfortable with it. I just thought I’d put it out on the table, as it seems like your son has innate talent as a wizard.”

“Oh, no, no! I’d be eternally grateful and honored to let my son train under you, Archmage! Oh, how should I repay your grace…?”

Realizing that he hadn’t actually misheard Henry, Hans fidgeted with his feet. He had no clue how to respond to this unexpected suggestion.

Henry, on the other hand, just looked at Hans in silence, a smile lingering on his face. He was extremely happy, and it didn’t seem like his enthusiasm would go away any time soon. In any case, he decided to patiently wait for Hans to come to his senses.

When Hans finally gathered himself, he asked Henry with a flustered expression, “Archmage… May I dare ask you just one question?”

“Go ahead.”

“To be honest… Everything is so unclear… How did you find out about this remote area? And how did you know about my son…? It seems that you know enough about him to make me such a proposal… Uh, what I’m trying to say is that…”

It seemed like Hans didn’t know how to politely say what was on his mind, so his questions were all over the place.

“It’s alright,” Henry reassured him. “Please feel free to drop the formalities and speak your mind.”

“Wo-would that be alright?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. Then, please excuse my impudence, but…” Hans took a deep breath before uttering his question. “Why… are you doing this for us?”

Hans was genuinely confused as to why Henry was trying to do all of this for him and his son. He had served in Golden’s army, but he was just one of tens of thousands of soldiers. He wasn’t special. Besides, he and Henry didn’t even know each other.

At this, Henry responded with a faint smile, “It’s because your son saved the world in his previous life.”

“Sorry…?”

Hans looked at Henry with a dumbfounded expression, not understanding what he meant. Regardless, Henry was telling the truth in a way.

Although a mere coincidence, if young Henry hadn’t used black magic and hadn’t forfeited his soul by mistake, the world might actually have been destroyed.

《Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Wizard》 END.