Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

It was deep into the night. Henry rarely slept. He now lay on his bed—apparently sleeping a sound sleep, but actually listening carefully.

Creaaak.

His suspicions were right. Around dawn, Henry’s tightly locked door creaked open slightly. Through the gap, masked visitors quietly approached his bed like shadows. The men exchanged hand signs with each other and nodded. Then, one took a cloth soaked in sleeping medicine from his pouch and covered Henry’s nose and mouth.

After a while, the man removed the cloth and peered over Henry’s face to examine his eyes. At that moment, however, Henry grabbed the assailant’s wrist and whispered quietly, “That won’t do.”

Shing!

Confused, the rest of the men quickly unsheathed their swords. The man Henry had grabbed tried to shake him off, but Henry’s grip was stronger than he expected.

“Argh!”

Thud!

The man eventually could not withstand Henry’s tightening grip and fell to his knees in pain.

“H-how…!”

The poison was strong enough to put an elephant to sleep. They were certain that the poison had entered Henry’s respiratory tract, so they could not believe he was still conscious, let alone putting up a fight.

“I’m sick of all these little poison tricks… hey, how long are you guys going to just stand there and keep watching?” asked Henry tauntingly.

“Don’t kill him! He must be captured alive!”

“Captured alive?”

Even if the assailants used their full force, they wouldn’t have been able to beat Henry. Yet, they were talking about capturing him alive. Henry burst into laughter.

At the command of the captured man, the other two men slowly began to close the distance.

“Then… shall we see what kind of powerful men Harz has sent to capture me?”

Harz was the only one who knew that Henry was staying here. Thus, Henry deduced that they were here for the ‘repellent powder’ recipe that he had used.

Henry quickly punched the two men in the face with one hand, still holding onto their companion’s wrist with the other. ｂ𝚎ｄｎ𝚘ｖ𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

Thud!

“What? That’s it?”

Both men had been knocked out in one blow.

It was absurd. Henry had expected capable foes, but they were nothing more than a bunch of low-rate thugs.

Henry forcefully twisted the third man’s wrist.

“Aaaargh!”

The wrist was instantly dislocated, punishment for daring to put poison on Henry’s face. Then, Henry finally let go of him.

The man clutched his swollen wrist as he sobbed in pain. “Ahhh…owww….”

He had no intention of resisting. He instinctively knew that Henry was too powerful for him to even attempt to resist.

Looking down at the sobbing assailant, Henry asked, “Who sent you?”

“T-this is something we pulled off on our own. I happened to see you removing the mushrooms during the day… Aargh!”

He had spoken too much; the most typical characteristic of dishonest men. Henry stomped the liar’s thigh, crushing it under his heel.

“This is your last chance. If you lie again, I will make sure you will never be able to walk on two legs for the rest of your life.”

“I-I’m not lying! Believe me! Please, believe me!”

Despite Henry’s threats, the man rubbed his hands vigorously, pleading desperately as mucus covered his tear-stained face.

‘Hmm… is he really just some ordinary thief?’

They had been defeated completely without much retaliation. Henry wasn’t sure how they had even got in in the first place, but he didn’t think Harz or Von would have sent such fools to kidnap him.

“Your name.”

“I-it’s Rinda!”

“So, Rinda. Is it really just the three of you?”

“Yes! All we wanted was to steal your recipe, we just happened to come across you while you were removing the mushroom!”

“You really mean that?”

“Yes, yes! It’s true! I really mean it!”

When Henry began to show some trust, the man raised his voice, desperate for Henry to believe him.

However, Henry shook his head again. “No, I think Mayor Harz wants my recipe, and he sent you guys to steal it.”

“Pardon? W-what do you mean by that…?”

“Hmm, what do I mean, huh? No worries, you’ll understand me perfectly once I’m done.”

“Huh, sorry? What do y—ARGH!”

Henry stepped on the man’s thigh again before he could finish. He had changed his mind. It was possible that these men were truly just petty thieves, but that didn’t change the fact that they had kicked up a big fuss at dawn, ruining Henry’s night. Henry decided he wanted to create something out of the situation. A very strong justification that could directly shake up Harz.

‘Silent Room.’

Snap!

Henry snapped his fingers, and absolute silence fell upon the room. It was preparation for all the noise that was about to occur. Then, Henry began his full-scale violent attack.

He stepped down hard on Rinda’s arms, thighs, and stomach, causing immeasurable pain.

“Aaaargh!”

After a while, a battered Rinda lay collapsed on the floor, his entire body trembling as drool oozed out of his mouth.

Snap!

After dispelling Silent Room, Henry leaned over and stared Rinda in the eye.

“Should I continue?”

“Plea…please… believe me… I… I was really wrong…”

“That’s right. You’re an assassin sent by Mayor Harz to steal my special powder recipe. Your gang was caught by me and captured alive. Isn’t that right?”

“W-what do you…”

“Looks like you still don’t get it. You want some more?”

“N-no! You’re right, you’re absolutely right! We are assassins sent by Mayor Harz!”

“You should have said so from the start.”

With this, Harz’s ‘assassin’ had officially been captured alive. But Henry wasn’t satisfied with just that. He retrieved a small pill from his pocket and put it in Rinda’s mouth.

“Swallow it.”

Rinda burst into tears, but he had no choice but to swallow, or he would be beaten more.

“What you just swallowed is a deadly poison. If you don’t take the antidote within three days, your blood will turn black and you will die. As soon as the sun comes up, I plan to take you all to Mayor Harz… I don’t have to say the rest, do I?”

“Y-yes… I understand…”

“Then I’m going to feed the other two the same poison, you can fill them in on the details when they wake up.”

Henry then administered the same poison to the other two, who were still unconscious. Then he tied them up with ropes and headed to bed. This time, he didn’t have to pretend to sleep.

* * *

“Did you all sleep well?”

Having slept soundly for the first time in a while, Henry woke up feeling pleasant. However, on the other side of the room, the three kidnappers were strewn about, tied with ropes and covered in blood. As soon as Henry got out of bed, he started to give the other two men the exact same treatment he had ‘granted’ Rinda, starting with the ankles.

“Aaargh!”

“Why! Why are you doing this! Aargh!”

Henry continued to silently step on them for a while, putting them through excruciating pain. After a long time, he finally stopped and replied in a calm voice, “Now it’s fair.”

This ruthlessness was as expected of the former Archmage.

Henry then called for the manager of the hotel. If he just brought them to city hall and had Harz take them away, his entire plan would be rendered meaningless. What Henry needed now was a convincing witness to prove the kidnappers’ existence.

The manager made a huge fuss when he saw the trio in tatters. “W-what is going on here!”

In response, Henry picked up the poison cloth and said, “These are the guys who attacked me last night. They are petty thieves who came after something I have.”

“H-how could that be! I will call the police immediately and have them arrested!”

“That’s all?”

“Y-yes?” the manager replied with a puzzled look on his face. Unfortunately, by the time he grasped the situation, it was already too late.

“You’re so dense. This hotel that I am staying at right now… I heard that this was the best hotel in Enkelmann, no?”

“Y-yes, but…”

The hotel that Henry was staying in was Halegan Hotel—the most luxurious accommodation in Enkelmann, popular with nobles and wealthy merchants.

“When you can’t even provide basic security to prevent such crimes, how can you call this place a luxury hotel? You guys better be prepared. Once I deal with these guys, I’m going to file a complaint about the poor security here.”

Halegan Hotel was a place that only dealt with nobles and wealthy merchants, not ordinary peasants. If rumors were to spread that such a luxury hotel didn’t even have a proper basic security detail in order…

Cold sweat began to flow down the manager’s back. “S-S-Sir Henry! W-wait! I think you might have misunderstood something…”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”

“Our Halegan Hotel boasts the best security features among all of Enkelmann’s accommodation options. I’m not too sure what happened this time…”

“So, what you’re saying is that I’m lying?”

“N-no! I just can’t understand how these guys got in here… so how about we calm down a little and assess the situation?”

Of course, the manager didn’t know what to say, and was just spouting gibberish to try and buy himself time. Henry stepped back and nodded at Rinda before speaking to him.

“Oi.”

Rinda sat up. “Y-yes!”

“How did you get in here?”

“I came in through a hole in the fence at the back of the hotel.”

That was the final nail in the coffin for the hotel manager.

“You heard that? Also, as the manager, shouldn’t you apologize to your guests before anything?” Henry said coldly.

The manager immediately fell to his knees. “S-Sir Henry! I apologize! I truly apologize! We’ve never had anything like this happen before, so I don’t know what I was thinking! You will be compensated to your satisfaction, so please do not accuse us…!”

For the manager, money was more important than his pride. He was a commoner, after all, not a noble.

“To my satisfaction, eh?”

“Yes! I’ll listen to anything, so please do not spread such rumors…!”

“I see. You mean that, right?”

The manager wasn’t as stupid as Henry had thought. After receiving the manager's assurances, Henry quietly closed the door. Then he took out the same pill that he had given to the thieves, to ensure that the manager was yet another guaranteed witness.

* * *

“M-Mayor, sir!” said Weil urgently.

“What, what is it?” Harz replied.

“You have guests in the waiting room, but there seems to be some problem.”

“Problem? What problem?”

“T-that is… Sir Henry has brought three men, and the manager of Halegan Hotel has also come.”

“What?”

Harz, who had been doing paperwork in the mayor’s office, hurried toward the living room. Just as Weil had said, Henry, the manager of Halegan Hotel, and three bloodied strangers tied to a rope were waiting inside.

Puzzled, Harz asked, “What matter brought you here so early this morning, Sir Henry?”

“What matter?”

Instead of answering, Henry threw the cloth laced with sleeping poison at Harz.

“W-what is this?”

“What do you think? It’s the sleeping poison that the assassins you sent used on me.”

Both Harz and Weil’s jaws dropped to the floor. “A-assassins?”

“We have plenty of evidence already, so how about you drop the act?”

“S-Sir Henry! What on earth are you talking about?”

“So you’re going to feign ignorance?” Henry said incredulously. He then turned to Rinda. “Hey, you. How about you say it yourself?”

The blood-soaked Rinda bowed his head toward Harz. “M-mayor sir… I apologize. We failed.”

“No, what bullshit is this! Who the hell are you!”

“I tried to steal the recipe as you ordered, but our opponent was too strong… the three of us weren’t enough.”

“No, cut the bullshit! What the hell is this?”

As Rinda shamelessly carried on his performance, Harz’s face turned red as if he was about to explode.

“You heard that?” said Henry.

“Fuck this bullshit! You caught some lowlife scums and brainwashed them into this, didn’t you? You think I’ll fall for such trickery?”

“Lowlife scums? Manager, he just called you a lowlife scum, did you hear that?”

This time, Henry turned to the manager of Halegan Hotel.

“...Mayor, sir. Last night, these men visited our hotel on your orders.”

“What?”

“We have already secured the visit records and the testimony of the gatekeepers.”

The manager handed out a fabricated visit log to Harz.

“W-what nonsense is this!”

“Then are you now claiming that the manager of Enkelmann’s top hotel is a liar, too? You’re saying that despite knowing what kind of place Halegan Hotel is?”

Halegan Hotel was a hotel favored by politicians and key business figures. Harz didn’t really think the manager of such a hotel would ever lie. In addition, Harz himself knew the reputation of Halegan better than anyone else, as he had been in a partnership with the hotel for quite some time.

Harz’s eyes blanked out. “This is truly utter nonsense…”

‘I’m sorry, Harz.’

Seeing Harz turn white like a corpse, Henry couldn’t help but feel a little apologetic. He had no ill feelings toward Harz whatsoever. However, in order to draw out Von, he decided to overlook any remnants of his past fondness for the man. Henry had already been through too much misery to worry about such insignificant details.