Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Night came.

Henry had praised Kington during the day, but there was no way Kington knew the true meaning behind it.

Thus, Henry waited for the sun to set and for the last two children to finish their hard training and return to their dormitory to sleep.

Henry gazed at the outbuilding where the children slept. He used a clairvoyance spell to see clearly the inside of the building. In addition, he sat down in a spot from where he could comfortably monitor the dormitory and cast a stealth spell on himself to avoid detection.

After finishing their meals, the children trudged back to the outbuilding like zombies. Some of them had eaten, but most of them hadn’t. Ronan was among the unlucky ones.

‘Tch… Poor things.’

No matter how hard Henry tried not to look at them with pity, he just couldn’t help it. If things had gone according to Kington’s plans, they would’ve trained to death until Hamilton became an adult, but at least they wouldn’t have died of starvation.

However, since Henry had told Kington that any loopholes would be punished, those children no longer meant anything to him.

Henry knew that Kington wouldn’t kick out all those kids at once, given that he had promised him a reward for having adopted all of them. However, their treatment was bound to get significantly harsher.

Of course, Henry had no intention of leaving those children to suffer. After all, it was his decision that would worsen their lives.

But at that moment, a fight broke out in the dormitory. A bunch of kids were ganging up on one kid, and Henry quickly realized it was Ronan. He was swinging his fists at the bullies, his eyes burning with determination.

Sadly, there were just too many of them.

Ronan had been praised as a genius during his training camp days, but it seemed that his talent had yet to fully bloom at this point in time. After taking a hell of a beating, Ronan was thrown outside.

It was a heart-wrenching sight, seeing him all bloodied up and wrapped in a blanket.

“Sob…!”

Ronan began to sob, despairing over his current state. Henry watched him for a while, pity stirring within him. He knew that Ronan was undoubtedly a talented swordsman. However, the absence of a family meant that he had no pathway to success. He was destined to rot away in the military for the rest of his life.

Of course, that didn’t mean that serving at Caliburn was bad, but if Ronan had grown up in a better environment, he could’ve reached heights far beyond what he had achieved here and at Caliburn.

‘Well, it could also be the other way around.’

Looking at it from the other side, it might be precisely because of his miserable childhood that Ronan would become an exceptional swordsman.

However, Henry believed in the innate, absolute talent that people had. He even considered that it would be fine if Ronan’s talent didn’t bloom at all. After all, he had come here simply to offer Ronan a better life, not an environment that would teach him how to better wield the sword.

Henry deactivated his stealth spell and snapped his fingers to cast a healing spell. At this, Ronan felt a strange warmth envelop him. Soon after, he no longer felt any pain.

Ronan wasn’t sure if he was dreaming. He promptly stood up and asked, “Who… are you?”

To the ten-year-old Ronan, Henry was a stranger. Of course, Ronan had heard about Henry Morris and was familiar with his reputation, but he couldn’t tell that the man in front of him was Henry Morris in the flesh.

“I’m here to save you, Ronan.”

“Save… me?”

“My name is Henry Morris. I’m a wizard of the imperial palace.”

“Henry Morris? No way…?”

Ronan’s eyes widened the moment realized whom he was talking to. Henry smiled at Ronan’s reaction and held out his hand.

This hand was Ronan’s sole salvation.

***

“This is the imperial palace, Ronan.”

“Woah…!”

Henry had brought Ronan to the imperial palace. He had chosen the palace instead of the Magical Spire because the latter wasn’t a suitable place for raising children.

Of course, he could’ve taken Ronan to a special location, like the secret mansion he had provided to the Church of Nephram, but Henry felt that wasn’t a good fit either. He believed that children had to grow up surrounded by as many loving people as possible.

Night descended on the imperial palace, but of course, the palace still shimmered through the darkness.

After Henry and Ronan arrived at the palace that never went dark, Ronan kept blabbering, unable to keep his mouth shut. He kept exclaiming at the splendid scenery, as he hadn’t seen anything like it before.

“Ronan, take a close look at everything. This is where you’ll be staying from now on.”

“Wha… I’ll stay… here?”

“Yes. This is the reason I brought you here.”

Henry had taken Ronan without telling Kington, but he knew this wouldn’t be a problem. After what had happened, Kington couldn’t care less if one of his dozens of useless adoptees vanished. If anything, he would actually be glad that he would have one less mouth to feed.

‘If he even notices.’

Henry changed into the flashy uniform he had worn when he visited Hans; he wanted to show Ronan what his status was within the palace.

As Henry walked through the illuminated imperial palace with Ronan, the maids and the guards on night duty saluted Henry. He saluted them back and looked at Ronan.

“Ronan, aren’t you hungry?”

Henry noticed Ronan’s eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, but they couldn’t mask the fact that he had been starving for a couple of days.

And just when Ronan was about to answer, his stomach growled out of the blue, causing him to blush.

“My apologies…”

“Haha, what is there to be sorry about? They say you have to eat before you enjoy the view. I know you find the imperial palace fascinating, let’s fill our bellies first.”

Henry immediately ordered a maid to prepare their meals. Shortly after, the two were sitting in front of a lavish dinner table. He had specifically asked the maids to take extra care in preparing this banquet for Ronan.

“Woah…!”

Ronan was left speechless by the sumptuous feast laid before him. It was incomparable to those pitiful salty rice balls. He had never seen food this vibrant and with such a delicious aroma before in his life.

As Ronan scanned the table to choose what to eat first, Henry handed Ronan a small pill before giving him cutlery.

“Take this first before you eat. I know you haven’t had this kind of greasy food in a while, so you’ll most likely get sick if you eat this all of a sudden.”

“Thank you. Archmage!”

Ronan took the pill at once. Even though that pill was quite bitter, Ronan swallowed it without any reaction and proceeded to feast on the food in front of him like a madman. He was devouring everything akin to a starved animal.

However, Henry didn’t find him crude or shallow at all. Ronan was just ten, and he had grown up in a harsh environment, struggling to survive in a place where the concept of manners didn’t exist. There was no way he could’ve learned any etiquette in that place.

So instead of saying anything to him, Henry just smiled.

‘I have a lot to teach you.’

Henry’s intention wasn’t to offer Ronan knowledge; rather, he wanted to show him the joys and delights that the world had to offer, to teach him how to pursue his own happiness and live joyfully. He genuinely wanted Ronan to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Ronan stopped eating after a short while. Henry had expected him to eat a lot more, given his initial voraciousness, but it seemed that he couldn’t handle as much food as he would’ve wanted. It was understandable, since this was probably the first time Ronan had this much food to eat.

Ronan seemed very disappointed, but he had still managed to eat quite a lot.

Henry wiped Ronan’s greasy mouth with a napkin and said, “Well then, since we’ve filled our bellies now, how about we look at the place where you’ll be staying?”

Henry walked Ronan over to his place. He purposefully didn’t use magic to get there so as to allow Ronan to take in the thrilling scenery of the imperial palace on the way.

Ronan patted his bloated belly and rolled his eyes the entire time. He eventually mustered the courage to ask a question.

“A-Archmage…?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“There’s one thing I would like to ask you.”

“Please feel free to ask anything.”

“Why… Why me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Archmage, I’ve seen you for the first time today. But you already knew my name, and…”

Ronan was very curious about why Henry had brought him, out of so many children, to the imperial palace

Henry burst into laughter, feeling a sense of déjà vu. He decided to give him the same answer.

“Are you that curious about why I brought you here?”

“Oh, no! If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to! I just couldn’t help but think about why someone like you would…”

Ronan quickly tried to clarify his intentions, and Henry found his eagerness quite endearing.

“It’s because you saved the world in your previous life.”

“Huh…?”

“And you’re getting rewarded for it now.”

In the previous timeline, Ronan had fought desperately to help Henry, but he had unfortunately met a tragic end. Henry had continued to carry Ronan’s will and fight to the bitter end, eventually saving the world, which made Ronan a martyr.

Of course, the young Ronan had no idea what Henry was talking about. He merely nodded in confusion and kept walking with a smile on his face.

They soon arrived in front of an outbuilding, which Henry had prepared just for Ronan.

“This is where you’ll be staying from now on.”

“He-here?”

“Yes. Is this not enough for you?”

“Oh, no! In fact, it’s too much!”

Ronan couldn’t take his eyes away from the outbuilding. Although it was smaller than Kington's castle, it was much larger and grander than the dormitory he used to live in. Moreover, it was close to the Magical Spire, so he could visit it when he wanted to.

Ronan soon looked at the nameplate hanging at the entrance of the outbuilding. The small letters were embroidered in gold.

“Morris… children?”

Ronan read the words on the nameplate loud and clear, syllable by syllable.

“Ronan, you can read?” Henry asked in a slightly surprised tone.

“Only a little bit… I know it’s embarrassing…”

“You shouldn't be ashamed of not knowing something. It’s only shameful to refuse to learn despite knowing your ignorance. You truly are special. I can’t believe you can read without any formal education. Then let me ask you one thing. What do you think Morris children means?”

Ronan pondered for a while, but it didn’t seem like he could think of an answer.

“This is a separate place where children who carry my name can stay. So if you want to live here, you have to take on my surname. What do you say? How does Ronan Morris sound to you?”

A Morris child. Henry wasn’t married and had no children. However, his plans required him to have children. Of course, none of them were his biological children, but if they took his surname, Henry could be their legal guardian.

Henry had decided to refer to the children he would adopt as Morris children. He had already made an official announcement about this throughout the imperial palace, the Magical Spire, and all across the continent.

In contrast to Henry’s calm attitude, Ronan was taken aback by his question. He couldn’t fathom taking the name of the strongest Archmage on the continent.

Seeing that Ronan was utterly lost for words, Henry said, “It looks like you don’t want to.”

“Oh, no! It’d be an honor! I’m truly honored!” Ronan hurriedly answered as though he could sense that Henry wouldn’t ask him a second time.

At that moment, another child’s voice came from inside.

“Master, you’re here.”

As the door opened, a mysterious child walked out. Ronan fixed his eyes on the child, noticing that he was about the same age as him. He then looked at Henry with a slightly frightened expression. At this, Henry burst into laughter.

“Haha, say hello. This is my disciple, and he’ll be staying here with you from now on. His name is Hein Morris. Hein, please say hello as well. This is Ronan Morris.”

“Ronan? Great name. Nice to meet you.”

Hein greeted Ronan warmly and offered his hand first. Caught off guard, Ronan quickly grasped his hand.

In response, Hein tightened his grip and gently pulled Ronan closer.

“I’m glad you’re here, as it’s quite lonely being here all by yourself. Wanna know something? Hein Morris wasn’t even my original name. It might be hard to believe, but my original name was the same as the Archmage’s.”

Happy to make a new friend, Hein welcomed Ronan by telling him all about himself.