Chapter 826: A Powerful Outsider Has Arrived!

Henwell sends away the Lord Iron Guards who have remained at his side. Reinforcing the various commands is certainly one of his goals.

More importantly, however, he wants every district to behave itself.

For the coming Calamity War, Henwell has granted them considerable autonomy.

Once the war ends, every district's battle groups will be far larger than before.

None of them has the nerve to break away and establish an independent power.

Yet plenty of them will dare to use the Calamity War as an excuse to push further than they should.

Henwell is tired of people within his own organization forcing him to change established plans.

He does not blame them. He simply failed to keep them under proper control.

From this point on, Henwell intends to tighten his control over both the military and civil administrations beneath him.

The civil and military chiefs of the districts are no fools. They understand exactly what it means for the Lord Iron Guards to be assigned to their commands.

If they still dare to play petty games right under Henwell's nose, they cannot blame him for showing no mercy.

Several months later, the spring planting in Peace Haven comes to an end.

Henwell is already forty-two, yet he still looks as though he is in his twenties. That is one of the benefits of becoming a powerful professional.

His three-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, is crawling around beneath his desk.

Every so often she causes trouble, forcing Henwell to lift her onto the desktop.

Barbarossa has also stopped pestering Henwell lately.

The main reason is Henwell's daughter.

Elizabeth was born with powerful spiritual power and is a natural-born spellcaster.

Once Henwell emerged from seclusion, his young daughter became the first person besides Ronan who could see Barbarossa without Henwell's help.

Not even Gallagher, a Rising Sun-class Arcanist, can do that.

That does not mean Elizabeth possesses more spiritual power than an Iron-Rank Arcane Master.

Her bloodline resonance and innate psychic power are what allow her to see Barbarossa.

At first, the shameless evil dragon often tried to frighten little Elizabeth.

Before long, however, she became fascinated with Barbarossa. Whenever she found the chance, she would toddle over and touch the fearsome dragon.

Unlike Ronan, Elizabeth carries Henwell's bloodline, so she can actually touch Barbarossa.

Before Barbarossa submitted to Henwell, he tried several times to bite the little girl to death, hoping to enrage his human host.

Yet whenever he attempted to attack, a powerful force of law bound him in place.

The same power could shrink him to the size of a kitten and sear his soul with excruciating pain.

Henwell was not doing it. Elizabeth could simply draw upon the power of the law seal on his shoulder.

Henwell has no idea why his daughter alone can invoke the power left behind by his boss.

All he can do is privately wonder whether his boss is a doting father too.

When Elizabeth was still an infant, there was no real problem.

Once she learned to run, however, Barbarossa discovered just how troublesome a curious, energetic child protected by the power of law could be.

The moment Elizabeth opens her eyes, she runs off to find Barbarossa and play with him.

She shrinks him to the size of a kitten or puppy, then drags him outside to hunt rabbits.

At first, Barbarossa was happy enough to get fresh blood and meat out of it. Before long, even he could no longer stand the ordeal.

Now he retreats into Henwell's shoulder whenever she approaches, hiding from the little demon.

Without Barbarossa as a playmate, Elizabeth comes to pester Henwell every day instead.

Henwell does not mind his daughter's attention. Having a little troublemaker beside him makes reviewing documents less tedious.

When Melissa enters, she finds Henwell holding his war spear upside down, its butt extending through the window. Elizabeth dangles from the end, reaching for the butterflies fluttering outside.

Melissa glares at Henwell and pulls their daughter back inside.

Then she hands him a document. "This just arrived. Are you going?"

Henwell opens the letter. It is an invitation asking him to attend a high-level conference of the kingdoms as the leader of Peace Haven.

The meeting is to be held at the Peace Tower in eastern Lumir, the building erected when the last war was mediated.

Peace Tower is its official name, but most people prefer to call it the Seven Kings Tower. After all, that is where The Six Kings' Accord was signed.

That was also when the continent's powers acknowledged Henwell as a ruler in his own right.

The conference is clearly being held because of the Calamity War.

The church and the empire of the Western Federation are hosting it, inviting every power on the continent to discuss the coming war deployments.

After reading the invitation carefully, Henwell casually tosses it aside.

Melissa replaces his pot of tea. "What is it? You don't intend to go?"

"The Peace Tower is one of our enclaves, and it has already grown into a small town."

"It is territory we operate. If a conference is held there and you, the host, do not attend, people will say you are putting on airs."

"Besides, this concerns the Calamity War. They have righteousness on their side, and many people will criticize you if you refuse to go."

Henwell smiles. "Of course I'm going. Why wouldn't I? But I won't go on their terms."

"First, the invitation does not state in what capacity I am being invited."

"Second, they arranged a conference on my territory without notifying me in advance. That is a breach of protocol."

"Finally, and most importantly, they bypassed the Vorry Kingdom and sent the invitation directly to Peace Haven."

"Their malicious intent could not be more obvious."

"They are trying to drive a wedge between Arius and me."

"If I simply attend with Phoenix and Descartes at my side, the nobles within Vorry will become even more hostile toward me."

Melissa sees the same problems. "Strange. The Western Federation has crossed swords with us many times. They should know by now that these little tricks won't work."

"And the Calamity War is underway."

"As the power leading the war, the Western Federation only demeans itself by playing games like these."

Henwell smiles calmly. "Heh... It isn't strange. Someone has arrived from the Abundant Continent."

"They want to put a local power like me in my place and make everyone else behave at the same time."

"If a powerful outsider doesn't strike at the local power, how will anyone know just how powerful the newcomer is?"

Understanding dawns on Melissa. "Then whoever came from the Abundant Continent must be unbearably overbearing."

"And the Western Federation's leaders are unhappy with the newcomer, so they plan to use you to put that outsider in his place."

"But if you refuse to go, won't those people in the Western Regions get exactly what they want? You would become their pawn in this display of strength."

Henwell smiles. "That is why I will go, but not like this."

"First, I am not going because I accepted their invitation. This is my territory. I need no one's permission to decide whether I go there."

"Second, I will go as Arius's attendant and guardian knight."

"Everyone may have forgotten that I am still a knight lord - and Arius's guardian knight at that."

"Finally, I certainly won't become a blade for those people in the Western Regions. But I would like to see what kind of storm this powerful outsider intends to stir up."