<h4>Chapter 204 - Chasing Tails (5)</h4>


    It was broad daylight.


    No one at Caliburn Fortress was allowed to leave its premises until theypleted their mandatory military service time. This rule applied to the officers there as well.


    Of course, just like with anything else in this world, there were a couple of exceptions. Thus, even after kicking Hamilton out earlier, Caliburn Fortress still fulfilled its purpose as the force that kept the Demonic Beast Forest in check.


    However, currently at Caliburn Fortress, three men were drinking in the middle of the day.


    “Thank you, Deputy Commander.”


    "For what?"


    “For not letting me go earlier.”


    “It’s not like I stopped you from leaving. You’re the one who made the decision in the end.”


    The three men were Nichel, Isn, and Ronan, who had abandoned the Foram name. Following Hamilton’s departure, Isn wanted the three of them to drink together.


    As they were drinking, Commander Nichel said cautiously, “So, what are you going to do now? If what Hamilton said is true, all the military merchants probably ran away as well.”


    “That does seem like a problem, but the good news is that we’ve recently received a full batch of supplies, so we should be able to hold out for a while... but I think they’re going tost fifteen days at best.”


    Ronan was also worried about the well-being of the fortress. It was only natural to worry about that because Caliburn Fortress had always reliedpletely on the supplies sent by the Eurasian Empire.


    Just as Ronan’s worries were about to intensify, Isn next to him snapped him back to the drinks in front of him.


    <i>Gulp, gulp, gulp!</i>


    As Nichel and Ronan became quiet aftermenting their bleak situation, Isn picked up the whiskey bottle in front of him and gulped greedily from it. When the bottle was about half empty, he mmed it on the table and burped loudly.


    “<i>Buh-uuuurp</i>!”


    Isn behaved like an uncouth drunkard. Seeing him like this, Ronan cast him a confused nce and said, “De-Deputy Commander...?”


    “You guys worry too much.”


    "Uh...?"


    "What?"


    “Did you think I would just drink without thinking it through?”


    “What are you saying?”


    "Well... I can’t guarantee anything, but since the Eurasian Empire copsed overnight, it seems like anything can happen. Let’s put our trust in the hands of the divine and see what happens.”


    Isn continued to tell some mysterious stories that sounded more like gibberish. Once he stopped talking, he took out a small piece of paper from his pocket. Seeing it, Nichel asked about it.


    “What’s that?”


    “This is the paper that will save Caliburn Fortress.”


    "What paper?”


    “I’ll show you what it is before I get into any details.”


    With that, Isn tore the paper apart. Then, a bright, glittering ray of light, like the powder on the wings of a fairy, formed a circle in midair in front of their eyes. After a few moments, Ronan was astonished by what, or rather, <i>who</i> appeared in front of him.


    “He-Henry?”


    “Huh? You’re here as well?”


    The person that came through the circle of light was none other than Henry.


    “How... How are you here?”


    "Oh... Deputy Commander, did you do this on purpose?”


    “Yeah, just be quiet and take a seat, would you?”


    Nichel and Ronan were shocked by Henry’s sudden summoning, whereas Henry was just a bit confused. As for Isn, he merely looked at all three of them and leisurely picked up his bottle as if nothing had happened.


    * * *


    The caller scroll.


    It was an artifact Henry had invented. In fact, it was his most used artifact ever since he had been reincarnated. After Henry had gained more mana and no longer felt the burden to teleport wherever he wanted to, he gave out a lot of caller scrolls to his close acquaintances.


    The reason for doing that was quite simple.


    Henry had done that because he had to be the one to resolve any unexpected situations. In fact, Henry had easily dealt with most of the unforeseen situations he had found himself in with the help of the caller scrolls.


    Presently, Henry had immediately teleported to Caliburn Fortress after getting notified by the caller scroll he had given to Isn.


    However, to Henry’s surprise, Ronan, his former ssmate, and Commander Nichel were also waiting for him alongside Isn. When Henry epted the drink Isn handed him, Ronan called out Henry’s name as if he couldn’t contain his curiosity a second longer.


    "Henry!"


    "What?"


    “What in the world did you just do? Didn’t you just teleport right now? Did you use a teleportation scroll or something?”


    “No, I just teleported.”


    "Huh?”


    Henry started thinking.


    The Eurasian Empire had already fallen. Eisen was dead as well, and since Arthus had founded a new empire and Henry had established the Allied Powers, there was no need for him to desperately hide his identity anymore.


    As he poured himself another drink, Isn asked in an incredulous tone, "What? You actually teleported? You didn’t use a scroll?”


    "Yeah, no scroll."


    <i>Splosh, splosh.</i>


    “Vice Commander, you’re spilling everywhere.”


    Isn had naturally thought that Henry had used a teleportation scroll to get here. However, upon hearing Henry say that he had merely teleported without any scroll, he was baffled. Commander Nichel felt the same way.


    <i>''Ha... Things just got realplicated...’</i>


    Henry sighed. He felt he would have to talk a lot in order to get everyone up to date as to what had happened with him. So, he decided to talk about they had summoned him here before getting into all of that.


    “I guess I’ll tell you my storyter... Anyway, what makes you look for me, Deputy Commander? I’m aware I’ve given you the caller scroll in case anything happens.”


    Even as he said this, Henry already had a vague idea as to why Isn had called him.


    Given that the Eurasian Empire had copsed, he knew that Caliburn Fortress would be in a state of chaos because they had always relied on the empire’s supplies. To make matters worse, it was obvious that the military merchants had cut contact with the fortress and gone into hiding after sensing danger.


    Considering those factors, if there was currently a problem, Henry figured that it was probably rted to the issue of supplies.


    <i>‘Of course he’d think of me in a situation like that.’</i>


    Everything happened as Henry had expected.


    As unexpected tragedies had snowballed, Isn had chosen Henry as his trump card. He had chosen Henry because he was the only person with connections to the imperial family that was close to him.


    Isn frowned at Henry''s question and squinted his eyes. He then cast him a sharp nce.


    <i>''Geez... I can’t evene up with some other excuse.”</i>


    Isn could tell from Henry’s eyes that he knew everything already. Of course, Isn didn’t know everything about what was going on with Henry and what exactly he had on his mind. However, judging by his expression, Isn could tell that Henry was aware of what he was thinking, and in spite of that, he tried to make small talk instead of taking the situation seriously.


    “Hey you, why are you asking that when you already know the answer?”


    “What do you mean?”


    “I’ve already heard everything. Kington’s son came by and gave us a whole lot of information!”


    “Kington’s son... Are you talking about Hamilton?”


    "Yeah."


    “Why did hee here? Did Arthus urge you to convert to the Aenia Empire?”


    “You’re only half wrong. Kington’s son dide with that proposal, but it was only for Ronan.”


    “But it seems like Ronan refused.”


    "Yeah. That Kington bastard tried to use Ronan again as a way to get in Arthus’ good graces and gain more power.”


    “So what’s going to happen to Ronan now?”


    “What do you mean, <i>what’s going to happen</i>? He’s just one of us now, somebody in the same shoes as us.”


    The same shoes as them.


    Soldiers without a country to protect were just a group of well-equipped bandits. Despite that, Ronan chuckled lightly because he thought that Isn’s phrase had a good ring to it. He was indeed in the same shoes as them.


    Isn then scoffed and muttered to himself, “What are youughing for? Stop acting like you’re a noble, you little...”


    Just then, Henry spoke up in a teasing tone, suggesting that he approved of Ronan’s decision.


    “Anyway, I’m about to tell you something very important, so listen carefully.”


    "Alright."


    Isn thought they had done enough small talk. He cleared his throat and said, “There’s something you need to confirm first. What happened to that guy Eisen?”


    “He’s dead.”


    “Yeah, of course he went under Arthus... Wait, what?? He died?”


    “Yes, he died during the Fief War. More precisely, I took care of him.”


    “What...?!”


    Isn’s expression contorted with shock. He had been nning to use Eisen’s connections, which Henry had control over, to establish a new supply line for the fortress.


    However, at Henry’s shocking reply, Isn murmured hopelessly, “We’re done for...”


    “What do you mean?”


    “I had all my trust in you, but since you’ve killed that Eisen, how are we going to get supplies for our fortress now? It’s not like we can just abandon the Demonic Beast Forest.”


    Just like Isn was saying, this was a serious matter.


    Giving up on the Demonic Beast Forest essentially meant giving up on the entire continent by unleashing those demonic beasts upon the world.


    Henryughed at Isn’s answer and said, “That’s not even... I’ll take care of that problem for you.”


    “And how exactly will you<i> </i>do that?”


    “Well it seems like you don’t want to go under Arthus, but you still need supplies for the time being. How about you just go ask Arthus for supplies? There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”


    “Are you out of your mind?”


    "No, I’m not. In fact, I’m the furthest thing from crazy right now. I’ll exin in detail how you can receive supplies from Arthus.”


    Despite his shocking suggestion, Henry was in fact not crazy. Even though he had formed an alliance and filled his mansion with supplies, he kept those supplies solely for the free cities that would sign a treaty with him. Thus, if Henry had given away his supplies to Caliburn Fortress, he wouldn’t have been able to carry out his n.


    Henry proceeded to exin his n for the Caliburn Fortress.


    “First off, Commander Nichel, please meet Arthus, the new emperor.”


    "You want me to meet Arthus?"


    “Yes, meet him and ask for supplies. You have to ask him confidently as if you did nothing wrong or won’t be doing anything wrong.”


    "And...?"


    "That''s it."


    “...?”


    When Henry finished exining, the three men looked utterly disgusted.


    Seeing their reactions, Henry told them with a serious face, “I’m being serious. Think about it. Arthus’ current goal is to take over the continent. I’ve also heard that he has lowered the tax rate by a staggering twenty percent to get the rapidly changing public opinion on his side. Also, I’m pretty sure he was trying to appoint Ronan as one of the Ten Swords because they’re short on talented people.


    "Uh, yeah."


    “What I’m trying to say is that, given the current circumstances, if Caliburn and the other special forces no longer fulfill their duties, the continent will certainly be overrun by beasts and fall into chaos.”


    “Yeah, I can see that.”


    “Okay, then here’s a question for the three of you! If the entire continent were to be attacked by the beasts, who would deal with them?”


    “Aha...!”


    If Arthus neglected Caliburn Fortress because he was displeased with what they were trying to do, that would be yet another thing standing in the way of his goal of conquering the continent. Therefore, Arthus had no choice but to somehow provide supplies to Caliburn Fortress in order to get the public opinion on his side and to avoid unnecessarily spending resources on dealing with those beasts himself.


    Even if Arthus initially refused to offer them supplies, he would eventually be forced to organize a new Caliburn and btedly deal with the Demonic Beast Forest, which would be one of the worst things he could do in the current circumstances.


    “But what if Arthus asks us to convert to Aenia and join his army in exchange for the supplies?”


    “Is there really a reason to be a part of them? If he asks that of you, just decline. Given the current situation of the continent, Arthus will have no choice but to give us supplies as long as we’re not asking for something absurd. He’s aware that getting things done this way will be more beneficial for him anyway.”


    "Indeed...!”


    The solution had been right under their noses. Henry’s cunning n didn’t seem as bad as they had initially thought. Perhaps they were off their game because Hamilton had made a huge fuss earlier.


    “We were careless this time...”


    Nichel and Isn had no choice but to admit that they hadn’t thought it through.


    “It’s okay... Alright, so we’ve dealt with our urgent supply problem. Now then, shall we take a moment to hear about you, Henry?”


    Isn felt relieved that they finally had a solution to solve their most urgent problem. He could finally loosen up without worrying about their situation. All three of them rxed and decided to drink as they listened to Henry’s story.


    Then, just as Henry was about to reveal all of his secrets nonchntly...


    <i>‘Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, wasn’t Isn acquainted with my father?’</i>


    Henry was ready to tell them his secrets because he no longer had any reasons to keep them to himself. However, he hadpletely forgotten that Isn and his father had known each other, and because of that, he wasn’t sure if he could tell him that he was Henry Morris’ secret disciple.


    <i>‘Now that I think about it, I forgot about those people.’</i>


    A few years had passed since Henry had left the feud to act on noblesse oblige.


    Only at this moment did Henry recall his hometown, Morris, located in the far east.