Chapter 142 - A Sharp Rise (1)

The Central Aristocratic Association was a newly established society that carried on the legacy of the pro-Central Aristocrats, a symbol of power in the past, making them the best social group in the empire.

Not just anyone could join the Central Aristocratic Association and membership was strictly regulated. In order to join, one had to be referred by at least two current members.

Those who had the most power in the Central Aristocratic Association were the Patrician Family members, excluding the Three Great Families.

Now that Aubert was a traitor, and Eisen had become a grand marquis, Terion and Oscar held the most power in the association.

However, after their failure at the subjugation, they rarely attended the meetings. Rumors spread about the financial decline of the counts when their private armies were disbanded due to severe financial difficulties.

It was a disaster for the counts, but favorable to others. The rumors hurt the pride of the other Central Aristocratic Association members since the counts were considered representatives of the association.

It was the Central Aristocratic Association’s meeting day. The members who had already arrived conversed while waiting for the others to arrive.

“Hmm, what if they don’t show up today either?” said Count Rowling, stroking his beard, which curled up in a nasty shape.

“Haha, yeah I wonder. If they don’t, it will be the fifth time they haven’t shown up..”

They didn’t mention names because everyone already knew that they were talking about the counts. Although he didn’t finish his sentence, it was easy to guess what would follow.

There were ten minutes left before the meeting started.

The conversation continued as more members of the association joined in.

Soon, all the members of the Central Aristocratic Association arrived, except for the counts.

Sullivan looked at two empty seats and frowned while muttering, “Hmm, this is the fifth time..”

Neither representatives of the association hadn’t attended five times in a row: a violation of the rules. Others started to question the authority and status of the counts.

Count Rowling was ambitious for power and presented his opinion. “Ahem, it’s not just once or twice that they’ve missed meetings. I think we should take action soon.”

“What kind of action?”

Count Rowling turned around in surprise at the familiar voice behind him. He saw Count Oscar looking down at him with a cold look.

“C-count, you’re here?”

All the members stood to greet him.

Oscar’s cold eyes scanned all the members of the association.

Due to financial difficulties, he did not attend the meetings. However, Oscar never expected that his absence would expose their plan to remove him from the Central Aristocratic Association. Count Rowling’s remark was even more shameless.

Oscar knew very well that Rowling wasn’t the only one with such intentions, but saying them out loud was a significant act.

Oscar asked again in a cynical tone, “Take what kind of action, Count Rowling?”

“T-thats, um...”

Count Rowling broke into a cold sweat at Oscar’s question.

Despite his decline in status, Oscar still held power as one of the heads of the Patrician Families and had the most authority in the association. Count Rowling turned to the other members with an expression asking for help. However, those who had agreed with him just moments ago turned their heads away and pretended not to know anything.

‘D-damn it!’

High risk, high return.

A successful coup gained its leader glory and fame, but if the coup failed, the leader bore the greatest punishment. Count Rowling found himself in this exact situation.

“Oscar, he’s not wrong, right? We haven’t missed only one or two meetings; we’ve missed four, so this is clearly our responsibility.”

Another familiar voice came from behind Count Oscar.

It was Count Terion from the Falcon family. As Terion gently defended Rowling, he saw Terion as a beautiful angel who descended from heavens.

“Hmph.”

The criticism of a Patrician Family member made Oscar snort as he entered the tea room.

The most powerful members of the association finally appeared at the meeting after missing the last four.

The two sat on the middle seats.

Count Terion spoke first to ease the tense atmosphere.

“We couldn't attend the meetings for a while because of some personal matters after the subjugation.”

“No worries, we understand.”

“I feel a little better now that you say that. However, it’s true that we violated the rules, and we believe that rules must be followed,” said Terion.

What was he trying to say?

The decline of the Falcon and Eiji families was already a widely known fact.

Even though Count Terion had behaved decently, Count Rowling decided to find fault with Count Terion to get his revenge for what had happened.

“So, we've prepared a small gift for all the members,” continued Count Terion.

They thought that they would receive unwelcome gifts. Everyone present was powerful, so it was going to be difficult to satisfy them with ordinary items.

However, ignoring any of their doubts or expectations, Terion started distributing the gift that he had coordinated with Oscar to each member.

“Hand it out.”

“Yes, Count.”

Each small box contained two of Shahatra’s special cigarettes, Pink Swamp.

“As you can see from the brand, this is a new type of cigarette made in Shahatra. It has been specially imported for all of you.”

‘It’s from Shahatra?’

Even though they were accustomed to extravagant gifts, the mention of Shahatra from Terion captured the attention of all the nobles. They turned their eyes toward the box placed before them.

Cigarettes were said to be a symbol of power and the definition of luxury!

All the members of the Central Aristocratic Association were smokers.

“Ha..”

Count Oscar blew out pink smoke with a calm expression.

“Wow..!”

The distinctive pink smoke caught the attention of the members and piqued their curiosity.

Gulp.

Shahatra cigarettes were already famous for their taste, and this was a new product.

Count Oscar’s smoking was the tipping point that made it impossible for them to just sit and watch.

“I-if it’s okay, can I try one right now as well?”

“Of course.”

Terion kindly offered the cigarettes.

As they promised to Henry, the Counts successfully sold Pink Swamp to most of the empire’s influential individuals. Their trust in Henry also rose tremendously, since he helped restore their reputations.

* * *

Before leaving Salgaera, Henry talked to Torian about the task he had entrusted him with.

“Once again, this is very important to me, so you can’t make a single mistake.”

“Alright. I will personally supervise it, so trust me and go on your way.”

Henry had locked himself in the lab for days and focused on making extra Black Tear. However, it was impossible to produce Black Tear forever, so after much thought, Henry decided to use Aubert’s family to work on the Black Tear.

There was no need to worry about security issues since it was already known to the people there that Henry was a wizard. Besides, even if Aubert’s family knew, they wouldn’t be able to escape Salgaera.

They were a good workforce to use for the time being and he could dispose of them once their usefulness expired. Henry took a quick look at the fear-stricken and trembling members of Aubert’s family and cast Teleportation with a smirk.

* * *

Henry arrived at the entrance of Vivaldi Town.

The reason for his visit was simple.

It was the day the goods from Shahatra arrived.

Henry asked the guards of the gate, “Was there a merchant from Shahatra among those visiting the city today?”

“Yes, there was one.”

“Really?”historical

They arrived much earlier than he’d expected.

Henry immediately headed toward Ten’s mansion.

“Merchant from Shahatra? No one’s here. No one visited the mansion today.”

“No visitors?”

After arriving at the mansion, Henry immediately asked Ten about the merchant from Shahatra, but Ten’s answer was unexpected.

‘He came to the city but not the mansion? Can it be that he got lost?’

Henry didn’t think so because the merchant from Shahatra was none other than Hector.

‘There’s no way Hector would get lost. I gave him directions and he has stayed in Ten’s mansion for several days in the past.’

Henry went around Vivaldi looking for Hector. He was able to find Hector eating skewers at a skewer shop with a Subspace Pouch on his wrist.

“Hector.”

“Huh?”

Chomp chomp.

Hector was stuffing his mouth with meat.

Hector made eye contact with Henry and waved, holding a half-eaten skewer and sauce around his mouth.

“Hey!”

“Hey, my ass.. You should’ve headed straight to the mansion as soon as you arrived. What are you doing here?”

“What’s the rush? Do you know how much I’ve been wanting to try this skewer shop since I left?”

Hector had a shameless attitude.

“Why don’t you come with me before I change your face again?” said Henry with a cold expression.

“...Okay.”

“How are you going to pay?”

“I paid with money I got from my disciples.”

“Are you extorting money from your disciples now?”

“Extorting money? Think of all the trouble I had to go through to come here from Shahatra just because you wouldn’t come to pick me up.”

“Don’t you think you should do this much since I brought you back to life?”

“Ugh, stop it already, gosh!”

Hector realized how foolish it was to argue with a wizard.