Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

The sun was up.

Even though it was morning, Henry didn’t wake Iselan up right away. He waited for him to wake up on his own so that he could catch up on the sleep he had missed. But even though Henry’s sleeping spell was supposed to last for twelve hours, Iselan woke up in exactly seven hours.

Indeed, habits were hard to break.

“Hmm…?”

Iselan rolled in bed a couple of times before waking up from a good night’s sleep. He couldn’t have felt better, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had woken up like this.

Even though several minutes had passed since he had woken up, Iselan couldn’t help smiling. However, his smile didn’t last long. He quickly remembered that he had missed his night guard duty because he had fallen asleep at Henry’s insistence.

He immediately jumped out of his bed, but a familiar voice stopped him from rushing out of his room.

“Bad dream?”

Henry stood right in front of him.

“Did you have a good night’s sleep?” Henry replied with a smile on his face.

“Uh, yeah. I did sleep enough, but… I’m sorry, I must’ve fallen asleep without even noticing. I think I was too exhausted.”

Iselan immediately apologized, assuming that Henry had done his night guard duty for him. However, Henry shook his head.

“You don’t have to apologize to me. After all, I was the one who put you to sleep.”

“What are you talking about? Putting me to sleep on purpose?”

“There was something I had to take care of, so I cast a sleeping spell on the entire fortress. You probably aren’t the only one who’s had a good night’s sleep.”

“What… What did you do…?”

“Haha, Commander, you don’t have to get jumpy. You shouldn’t spoil a good night’s sleep by getting agitated, right?”

Henry had already taken care of everything, so he couldn’t help teasing Iselan for getting worried as soon as he had woken up. After listening to Henry, Iselan finally loosened up, and his flushed face returned to normal.

After clearing his throat and sighing slightly, Iselan said in a calmer voice, “Alright… You must’ve had a reason for doing that, given that you’re a god and all that… So… Did you take care of everything like you said you would?”

“Of course. I sailed through everything thanks to you. Speaking of which, I have good news and bad news for you. Which one would you like to hear first, Commander?”

“Hey, you-! Stop playing with me! It’s too early in the morning for this! Just tell me!”

“Why are you all grumpy after a good night’s sleep? Anyway… I’ll start with the bad news then. From this day forward, Caliburn Fortress will no longer function as a fortress.”

“What? What are you talking about? Caliburn will no longer be a fortress?”

“Exactly, sir. There’s no longer a reason for this place to exist.”

“What do you mean there’s no reason for Caliburn Fortress to exist?! How dare you talk like this about this fortress when you yourself have served here? I’m sure you know what a fortress means to the continent, no?”

“Yes, I know all too well, Commander. I should remind you that you should listen to what people have to say until the end. Anyway, that was the bad news. The good news is that the demonic beats have disappeared.”

“What?”

“Oh, let me correct myself. They didn’t disappear. I killed all of them last night while you were sleeping, sir.”

“Huh…? What?”

This news was shocking enough to shake the entire continent, yet Henry delivered it to Iselan in a calm tone and with a placid expression.

Iselan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Even with the Demon King dead, getting rid of all the demonic beasts would be unfeasible. But to his surprise, everything Henry had said up to this point was indeed true.

“I-I don’t believe you”

“I knew you’d say that.”

“What?”

“Follow me, sir.”

“Follow you? Where?”

“Didn’t you just say you don’t believe me? I have no choice but to show you proof.”

With that, Henry snapped his fingers, causing their surroundings to instantly change. A lush landscape expanded before them, tall grass and tree branches being swayed by a gentle gust of wind.

Iselan quickly noticed that they were in the Seventh District of the Demonic Beast Forest.

“A-are we in the Demonic Beast Forest?” Iselan stuttered, unable to contain his surprise.

In response, Henry just nodded.

“How... How can this be…?” Iselan asked in a quavering voice, his expression contorting indescribably. He simply couldn’t believe his eyes. He got up from his bed and kneeled down on the grass. His hands were trembling just like his voice as he was picking up dirt from the ground.

The forest was silent just as Henry had mentioned earlier, and Iselan realized for the first time how pleasant and peaceful such silence could be.

“My goodness…”

Iselan felt chills down his spine, and he was tearing up before he knew it. He let out a stifled moan as he was overcome by sheer joy, which he couldn’t possibly describe with words.

He kept gathering dirt in his hands and letting it fall through his fingers as though to check whether this was a dream or reality. He was slowly realizing that it was the latter.

“How… How…?” Iselan muttered as though he had lost his wits. He choked up as everything in front of him seemed to blur. Joy was overwhelming him, but at the same time, he couldn’t help feeling sad. He remembered how the Demonic Beast Forest had been when he had first set foot here.

Back then, this forest was a never-ending nightmare that continuously stole people and drained their blood. The stench of the corpses ravaged by the demonic beasts would cause the soldiers of the fortress to gag as they approached the forest.

Iselan also remembered the faces of his superiors, friends, and subordinates who had perished, and he couldn’t help thinking how cruel this god-forsaken forest had been to them. He was the only one from his class who had survived.

Being the sole survivor was hardly a blessing. Iselan had been forced to take on the pain and the responsibility of those who hadn’t made it and continue living with resentment and grief in his heart.

That was the only way to keep on living through the hell created by that forest, and because of that, surviving was not a blessing for Iselan, but a curse.

Many soldiers who managed to survive eventually lost themselves because of the horrors of the forest. Some would drink themselves into oblivion, some would lose their minds and start seeing things, and others would take their lives.

Unfortunately, those kinds of soldiers didn’t last long in Caliburn Fortress. Very few of them could actually retire with their mind intact.

Tears streamed down Iselan’s cheeks as he realized that everything was finally over. That seemingly unending hell had finally ceased.

As Iselan silently cried in pain, Henry kept quiet as well. Even though Iselan had collected various monikers over the years, like the Devil of the Forest, he was only human.

Henry continued to look at Iselan. Even though Iselan was younger than him, he figured that someone around his age would know most of the pain people had to go through because of the forest.

Because of that, Henry sympathized with him.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t have done this for you sooner.’

Henry couldn’t help feeling sorry as he looked at Iselan sobbing on the ground. People called him the Grand Archmage, the hero of humanity, and yet Henry felt like he hadn’t properly lived up to his titles in regards to Iselan and this forest.

Henry decided to give Iselan as much time as he needed, and after a while, Iselan finally got back on his feet. His eyes were as red as they could be and he kept sniffling.

“Thanks, Henry.”

Even though it was a short reply, it conveyed every emotion Iselan felt in that moment.

“I only did what I had to do, Commander,” Henry replied with a slight smile.

“No… It was never your responsibility to deal with this. I am truly grateful to you for putting an end to this war that never seemed like it was going to end. But…”

“You’re worried about the Demon King, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, even if all the demonic beasts are dead, all your efforts will go to waste if the Demon King descends.”

“I’m aware of that. That’s why I went ahead and killed the Demon King as well.”

“What…?”

“A lot happened during the night. I took care of all the demonic beasts in the forest and killed the Demon King that was trying to descend. I also successfully closed the Demon Realm Gap in the First District.”

No longer teasing him, Henry told Iselan everything that had happened in detail. Iselan would’ve found out everything sooner or later, so Henry realized that it was better to just tell him everything himself so he wouldn’t be confused later on.

At Henry’s words, Iselan stood frozen, blinking in astonishment and staring at Henry. He could see that there were no beasts in the forest, so he was certain that Henry wasn’t lying. As he put the pieces together, with the fact that Henry was a god, his jaw dropped to the ground.

“W-wait…!”

Iselan was completely overwhelmed by the information Henry had dumped onto him. The shock caused him to feel dizzy, and he grabbed onto Henry’s shoulders so as to not collapse.

He simply couldn’t believe that Henry had gone ahead and slain the Demon King and closed the Demon Realm Gap. Getting rid of all the beasts was already unbelievable by itself, but Iselan actually felt like he was dreaming after hearing all of Henry’s other achievements.

However, everything was true.

“H-Henry…. How did you..!?”

Iselan looked up at Henry with one hand on his forehead, but Henry had his usual nonchalant expression. He felt like Henry wasn’t the person he used to know.

Looking at Iselan’s shocked expression, Henry said in a cheerful tone, “Well, let’s talk about the details later. How about we go back to the fortress and celebrate?”

“Uh… Y-yeah, yeah! That’d be good!”

Iselan had always been known for his composure, but at that moment, he didn’t know what to do with all the information that had been suddenly thrown at him. But regardless of how he felt, the fact that the war was over didn’t change.

“Alright, let’s go, let’s go!”

As Iselan came back to his senses, a wide smile lit up his face.

***

There were already rumors spreading within Caliburn Fortress. The soldiers on night guard duty had woken up and noticed that the forest was unusually quiet, and since they didn’t know what had actually happened, they were on their toes.

The forest hadn’t been this quiet in a very long time, so they naturally felt that something bad was about to happen. Two soldiers on duty tried to make some sense of this strange phenomenon.

“Why is it so quiet…?”

“You don’t think they’re preparing for a big attack, right?”

“Why aren’t they howling like they used to? It’s making me more nervous. Fuck!”

Before they made other speculations, the two guards heard someone scream at the front gate, within the fortress walls.

“Hmm?”

At first, the two guards thought there was only one person at the front gate, but they soon heard multiple people screaming.

“WAAA!”

“What’s going on? What’s happening?”

They had no clue why the soldiers were shouting. Their first assumption was that the other soldiers had finally lost their minds. The two tensed up at the unusual situation that was happening within the fortress walls, feeling just as nervous as when they realized that the forest was unusually quiet.

However, as they got closer to the loud crowd, the two guards finally heard what they were saying loud and clear.

“The Demon King is done for!”

“What…?”

They knew they weren’t hearing things.

“The Demon King is dead!”

“The Demon Realm Gap is closed!”

“The war is over!”

The soldiers on duty stared at each other in disbelief, having trouble understanding what the others were talking about.

“The Demon King is dead? What are they talking about?”

“The gap closed? What’s that supposed to mean?”

The loud cheering soon made it to every soldier atop the fortress walls, and everyone who wasn’t on duty quickly climbed up to deliver the good news.

Soon, the entire fortress knew what had happened.

“WAAA!””

Everyone in the fortress cheered at the top of their lungs, and chills went down their spines as they took in the news. The fortress was filled with joy and happiness to the point where it seemed like the soldiers had gone mad. Some people even broke into tears and sobbed.

“T-thank you… Sob… I don’t know… I don’t know what else to say…! Thank you! Thank you!”

This magnificent moment marked the end of one of the continent’s longest wars.