"The blood crazy mage? Who is that?"
Queen Litana was the first to respond to Cale's statement. The Saint added on a comment after her as well.
"What a vicious name. A mage who is crazy about blood? By the way, Hannah, do you want another potion? You look very pale."
The sword master Hannah had turned completely pale. She was keeping her mouth shut, but the corners of her mouth were shaking.
Cale casually handed a new handkerchief to the Saint.
"Looks like you'll need to wipe off some of Miss Hannah's sweat. Look at all of that sweat on her forehead."
Cale spoke warmly before making eye contact with Litana. Hannah put her hands behind her back in order to hide the fact that they were shaking and feigned ignorance.
"There was a guy who was known as the blood crazy mage. I've only heard stories about him but anyways, he is dead now."
"There was such a person?"
"Yes. I heard that he died an extremely cruel death."
Cale's body started to shake as if he did not even want to think about it before he continued to speak.
"He died at the hands of one of his comrades."
"…Mm, how terrible."
Cale nodded his head at Litana's subordinate's response. Hannah's face turned even paler, making the contrast between her pale face and the black spots from the dead mana seem extremely visible.
Cale continued to speak.
"Just hearing a story like that makes my heart jump. I do not like to watch people die."
"Of course. I know about your personality, young master Cale. I'm sure it is difficult for you to watch people die."
Litana agreed with Cale before asking what was on her mind.
"But what do you mean by you will help her get revenge?"
Litana thought that helping someone with their revenge was not fitting Cale's character. Although she understood the resentment in the hearts of the twins, Cale's personality did not mesh well with such cruelty.
Litana could see Cale starting to smile.
"Miss Lina, do you know what the greatest revenge is?"
"…The greatest revenge?"
Cale turned away from Litana, even though Litana's expression was still full of confusion. He then looked toward the pale Hannah.
"Miss Hannah."
Cale started to speak in a respectful, but stern voice.
"I don't know if I should be butting in like this, but I will just say one thing."
'What is he going to say now?'
Chaos and uncertainty filled Hannah's mind as Cale continued to speak.
"Miss Hannah, real revenge is living a long and happy life. You need to have a happy life with your older brother."
'Will she buy this bullshit?'
Cale's true feelings were that real revenge was returning the pain you received to the responsible party. That was the only way to live happily. However, what he was saying was completely opposite of his true feelings.
Litana was in awe.
"Ah, that is what you meant. Young master Cale, you really have a big heart unlike me."
The Saint was slowly starting to tear up.
Meeeeow.
On jumped out of Cale's arms and landed on the ground as she started to meow. Litana started to pet the cute On's head.
"On seems to agree with you, young master Cale."
In reality, On had moved away from Cale in order to sigh in disbelief. As for Choi Han, he was avoiding the conversation and just looking outside the cave.
"Yes young master-nim. That is indeed the best form of revenge."
But Ron was inside playing along with Cale.
Cale did not care about Choi Han and On's dissent.
"It's already so late. How about we take a quick snooze since we have a patient with us?"
"Shall we?"
Litana looked outside the cave as she asked. It really was getting very late.
"Oh, and the siblings here are probably very tired, so how about my group and yours take turns patrolling the area, Miss Lina?"
"Ah, just in case an enemy shows up?"
Litana's face turned stiff as she brought up their enemy.
"Yes, just in case."
"Great. Let's do that."
Cale looked toward the twins, specifically at Hannah, after hearing Litana agree with him.
"The two of you can get some rest."
"Thank you very much. You don't know how long it has been since I could sleep peacefully. I feel like I will be relaxed tonight."
The Saint spoke with joy, while Hannah started to frown.
"Hannah, do you need to cough again?"
"…Oppa, you, haaaa, never mind."
Hannah's mind seemed to be a complicated mess. Cale did not care about that as he casually started to speak to Litana.
"We will patrol first."
The long conversation finally stopped as everybody started to relax.
Cale's group was the first to patrol, and the Saint and Holy Maiden were deep asleep when they got back. They must have been really tired. They then switched off and Litana's group got ready to patrol with the fog controlling On. (So On doesn't get to rest at all. )
"Young master Cale, you patrolled for quite a while."
"We went all the way to the forest entrance."
"We should do the same. That should take about two hours."
"Please be careful."
Litana smiled at Cale, who seemed to be getting ready to sleep, before she headed out with On and her subordinates. Of course, she made eye contact with Choi Han, who was still standing guard at the entrance.
Shaaaaaaa-
It was quiet in the cave with only the sound of the rain and the crackling fire.
However, the silence was broken once Litana's group went far away.
"Who are you?"
Hannah's voice echoed in the cave.
"That's my question."
Cale opened his eyes that were closed and turned his head. The sword master Hannah had gotten up and was leaning on the cave wall as she glared at Cale's group.
Cale sat up and made eye contact with her. The two of them stared for a moment before Hannah started to speak.
"…Are you perhaps those people?"
Hannah looked toward Cale, half certain about their identity.
"Who are, 'those people?'"
She answered Cale's question with an iffy expression.
"…The secret organization."
Her expression was quite odd as she said that. It was only natural, as she was talking about another organization as the secret organization when she was part of the true secret organization.
Cale answered Hannah's question.
"You should run if you know that. Why haven't you run?"
Cale started to smile, but the smile was not a friendly smile. In fact, it gave Hannah the chills.
Hannah's gaze quickly peeked over to the Saint before returning to Cale.
Cale asked as soon as they made eye contact again.
"You seem to be worried about your older brother?"
"…Are you threatening me?"
Her eyes started to glow and the black spots on her body started to get lighter. A golden aura started to cover her body.
It was at that moment.
Clang.
Choi Han started to take his sword out of the scabbard and Ron got up and moved behind Cale.
Hannah bit down on her lips and grabbed her brother's hand. He was still sleeping peacefully.
'What should I do?'
Her mind was so complicated that it felt as if it would blow up.
The church had used the two of them and the pope had treated them like dogs. The secret organization had approached her while she was looking for a way out. That organization had treated her like family.
She felt like the two of them would be able to escape from the church and go to the organization that made her feel safe. However, she was betrayed by them as well.
And now, in a blocked corridor, she was face to face with another enemy.
She was going nuts.
What should she do?
It was at that moment.
She could see Cale Henituse starting to speak again.
"I don't make threats."
"…What?"
Hannah let out a sigh. Her body was in serious pain because of the dead mana, but she raised her aura to the highest level possible.
"You're telling me that what you are doing right now is not threatening me?"
Hannah looked like she was about to blow up any moment.
An indifferent voice reached her ear at that time.
"It felt like the right thing to do to show you respect."
"…What?"
'What the hell is he talking about?'
Hannah could not understand Cale. However, Cale just shrugged his shoulders and casually commented.
"By the looks of it, you were betrayed by Arm as well?"
This man knew the name of Arm. Hannah was surprised at his network of information, before she started to worry.
"The magic spearman seemed to be looking for you and your brother."
Cale's continued words made her start to frown. The Empire, the church, and even the secret organization were all after her. She started to glare at Cale with a frown still on her face.
"Why are you telling me all of this?"
She started to scoff as she continued to speak.
"You want me to obey and give you all of the information I have just because I am cornered? Aren't you a good person who is treated like a hero by the kingdom?"
He pretended to be a just young master, but she felt like he was closer to being an evil villain. His two-faced nature gave her the chills.
Arm was the same way. They had planned on stabbing her in the back while treating her like family.
"Other people don't know that you are such a terrible bastard, right? The Queen didn't seem to know either."
She glared at Cale and continued to scoff.
A calm voice responded back to her.
"But you know."
"…What?"
"You know my true nature. I showed both sides of my character to you. Isn't this enough to answer your question?"
Cale seemed relaxed as he continued to speak.
"For someone like you, who had been betrayed, I thought this was the basic level of respect I should show you."
Hannah was suddenly at a loss of words.
'Seemed like the basic level of respect I should show you.'
Hannah finally understood why Cale had said that he was not threatening her.
Cale quietly watched Hannah's mind process the information. He did not have any interests in threatening people. He preferred to make deals with people.
Hannah finally started to speak again.
"…You want to talk with me?"
"Yes. I want to talk and make a deal with you."
Hannah could see Cale smiling at her after she weakened her aura.
"Looks like you are ready to talk now."
The chilling smile from earlier was gone, and a much warmer smile had taken its place. Hannah subconsciously unclenched her fists.
It was at that moment.
"I will not send you and your brother to the Eastern continent."
"Why not?"
Hannah started to frown again. She had thought that the mood was good, but he planned to get in their way in the end.
Cale continued to speak at that moment.
"I really don't know what is going through your mind."
"What?"
"Don't you know that Arm controls the Eastern continent's underworld?"
Hannah's body stiffened up. She could not say anything as she looked toward Cale with a shocked expression. She finally managed to quietly speak after a long time.
"…I didn't know. You seem to have more information about them."
Hannah was shocked once again at Cale's network of information. She then started to get angry about the fact that she didn't know anything.
"They just told me that they were a small organization working with the North."
'Hmm?'
Cale suddenly flinched.
'What did she say?'
Hannah lowered her head. She pretended like she knew a lot about the world, however, she had not really experienced the world. Although she scolded her brother about it, she was pretty innocent as well.
"They said that they would send my brother and me to the North. They said that they were working with one of the Northern Kingdoms. Since they betrayed me, I thought that we would be safe if we went to the Eastern continent."
Cale stealthily turned his head to the side and made eye contact with Ron.
'Did I hear her correctly?'
Ron nodded his head with a serious expression.
'That seems to be the case, young master-nim.'
Cale looked back toward Hannah, who slowly raised her head back up. Although she may be a sword master, she was just another poor soul who was cornered with nowhere to run.
Cale looked at her face and started to think.
She definitely said the North.
She said that the secret organization was involved with the North.
Cale felt like things were a mess, but feigned calmness as he made eye contact with Hannah.
"I know right? The Northern Paerun Kingdom and Arm are working together."
Cale waited for Hannah's response. His heart was beating like crazy.
Hannah finally responded back.
"Yeah. That is why there is nowhere to run away in the Western continent."
'Oh. God damn it. The North was the secret organization's partner? They're working together?'
"Ahem, ahem!"
Choi Han seemed to have something stuck in his throat as he coughed a few times.
Cale ignored him.
Hannah continued to speak at that moment. She seemed to be holding back a lot of emotions as she continued to speak.
"…But for the North to be working with the Empire as well."
'Wow.'
Cale felt like he was about to swear.
The novel mentioned that the Empire knew about the Northern Alliance's Wyvern Knight Brigade. He had assumed that they just had a good information network, but that was not it.
'This is driving me nuts.'
However, he calmly responded back to Hannah who was looking at him.
"I know, right?"
Hannah nodded her head at Cale's response.
"You really do know about it all. I, I didn't know anything."
She covered her face with both of her hands in disappointment. Cale responded back to her.
"I don't know everything either. That's about the extent of my knowledge as well."
Of course, that was all total bullshit. He did not learn about most of this information until right now.
'The Northern Alliance is working together with Arm and the Empire. Shit is about to hit the fan real fast.'
'What should we do?'
Choi Han's gaze seemed to be asking him that question.
'What should we do? Simple. Make it an even bigger mess than it already is.'