Tap, tap.
Cale was quickly walking down the stone steps. His brother, Basen Henituse, was walking next to him while continuing his report.
"The Whale tribe discovered the enemy ships at the first boundary of the Northeastern Ocean."
The northeast region's sea route's first boundary.
This location was the border between the Norland Kingdom and the Forest of Darkness.
"They are moving pretty quickly and should arrive at the Roan Kingdom in two to three days."
Basen continued to observe his hyung-nim as he reported out.
'He hasn't even wiped away the blood...!'
Cale was walking while being covered in blood. Basen clenched his teeth after seeing Cale moving around without rest even though the battle had just ended as he quickly continued his report.
"The Ubarr liege and the representative of the Gilbert liege are currently requesting reinforcements."
Cale listened to Basen's report before starting to speak.
"Your highness."
– …Yes.
Basen still had the video communication device in his arms.
It was directly connected to crown prince Alberu Crossman.
His father, Count Deruth Henituse, was currently dealing with the nobles of the northeast region and the rest of the kingdom.
Alberu looked toward Cale, whose tired and dirty face expressed that he had been at the center of the battle, with a stiff expression. Cale did not care about any of this as he only had one thought in his head as he started to speak.
'I'm hungry.'
This gluttonous shield wanted even more food after fusing with the Vitality of the Heart. Cale was quickly taking care of business so that he could go eat something.
"Please send the First Mage Brigade and the First Brigade of the Royal Knights to the Ubarr shores."
– Again?
"What are you thinking about doing with the Whale tribe?"
– I am still debating whether to have them fight with us or to still hide their identity.
Tap.
Cale stopped walking.
"Your highness, I know you probably have a lot of things you are curious about, but I will contact you later."
– Alright, I understand.
"Basen, you go help father."
Shouldn't Basen learn a lot of things now if he was to become the future lord of the territory?
Cale looked toward Basen, who was not moving, with an odd expression. Basen looked at where they had arrived as he started to speak.
"…Hyung-nim, why are you trying to do all of the difficult and strenuous tasks?"
This area had been closed off for tens of years.
It was the underground prison.
He could see a faint light inside. Basen found it hard to understand this hyung-nim of his that was trying to send him away.
'Why, why does he always try to do all of the hard things on his own...!'
He found it hard to understand.
However, Cale was having the opposite thought and found it difficult to understand Basen's point of view.
'Difficult and strenuous tasks?
I didn't want to deal with the other territories or the temples so I came here to do the easy task.'
Cale just said whatever came to mind as he could not understand Basen's point of view.
"It is not hard. This type of task is more suited for me. You should head back up."
Basen opened and closed his mouth a few times without being able to say anything.
'What kind of person is suited for torture?!'
Cale was currently going to interrogate and torture someone.
Basen was thinking that this warm-hearted hyung-nim of his, the man who worked so hard to save the citizens of the territory, could not like nor be suited for such a task.
"… I will do so if that is your will."
Basen turned around.
A thought was going through his mind.
He understood why his hyung-nim would choose to personally handle this kind of task when both he and his father were available.
At least he thought he understood.
'I am still young.'
Basen Henituse, the seventeen-year-old young man. He realized that he still had a long way to go in order to be like the people surrounding his brother. He needed to grow in order to not become baggage.
Basen did not look back even once as he headed up and out of the underground prison.
Cale started to speak once Basen was no longer visible.
"Apple pie."
A small paw appeared in the air, along with a piece of apple pie. Cale started to frown once he received the apple pie.
"What the? Why is the apple pie so moist?"
The apple pie felt as if it had been wetted by water. Cale heard mumbling as he started to frown.
"… I did not cry."
"Haaaa."
Cale let out a sigh at Raon's response.
"…I will go get you a new one if you do not like it. Human, don't eat it if you don't want to. An apple pie from a not great and mighty Dragon like me is not great."
'Aigoo.'
Cale let out a sigh and took a bite of the apple pie. He couldn't just throw away something given by a child.
Furthermore, he was too hungry.
His stomach felt completely empty.
'I could even pick up the dirt and eat it at this point.'
He really meant it.
The hunger became worse after the Vitality of the Heart and the Indestructible Shield fused together.
The two ancient powers didn't necessarily, 'fuse,' together. They were still separate powers. However, there was now a connection between the two powers. If the Indestructible Shield was a person, the Vitality of the Heart had become that person's heart.
Munch munch.
Cale ate the apple pie as he opened the door to the underground prison.
Screeeeeeeech-
He then stopped eating. He heard the sound of a whip.
Fliiiiiiick!
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Blood was being splattered onto the walls. A lot of blood must have been on the walls already, as you could not even tell that the new blood had landed on it.
"Ah, young master-nim, you're here."
Ron gently greeted Cale, however, he had a cold gaze as he looked at Cale from head to toe.
'Why is this old man's gaze so cold?'
Cale felt small as Ron looked at him that way. He then became anxious.
Ron took out a dagger and then threw it.
Stab!
"Aaaaaah!"
The dagger stabbed the man being tortured in the shoulder as blood splattered once again.
Cale avoided Ron's gaze and looked toward Beacrox. The chef and torture expert Beacrox was wearing four pairs of white gloves as he flicked the whip with a stoic expression.
The father-son duo, who did not have a drop of blood on them, introduced Cale to someone.
"We are chatting with him, as you instructed."
"Ugh, gasp."
The sound of someone gasping for air could be heard as Cale saw that the man's white hair had turned dark red from dry blood.
The Guardian Knight Clopeh Sekka.
He had fallen into Cale's hands.
The father-son duo had immediately captured him and moved him to the underground prison when Choi Han had defeated him on the battlefield.
Ron continued to speak with a benign smile.
"…We kept him alive."
'Yes… As long as he is alive.'
Cale heard Raon's voice in his head.
– Good job! Ron and Beacrox really are smart!
Cale could not respond.
Clopeh Sekka's legs were finely minced. Yes, they were minced like meat. He also had no arms. He was just alive.
This was a scary sight that looked to come straight out of a nightmare. It was probably better to be dead.
Ron casually continued after approaching Cale.
"Young master-nim, seeing as how he does not even know how to control the wyverns, I didn't think we had much use for him, so I just left him alive enough to chat with. Did I do well?"
Cale answered honestly.
"Good job."
Ron had done a good job.
"He's still conscious, right?"
"Yes sir."
Cale nodded his head at Beacrox's stoic answer and approached Clopeh Sekka.
"Huff, huff."
Clopeh Sekka was having trouble breathing. He felt pain throughout his body every time he took a breath. However, the pain was slowly disappearing as well.
That was why a different fear was filling his mind.
'I'm going to die. I might actually die like this.'
It did not matter to him anymore why this rural territory had a torture expert and an assassin. All that he could think about was getting away from this scary place.
It was at that moment.
"Guardian Knight-nim."
It was a very gentle voice.
However, Clopeh did not dare to raise his head.
This bastard. The owner of this gentle voice. This bastard was the true head of this territory.
Cale Henituse, the man who had used the shield.
He would have never expected a young master whom he considered to be good and just to do such a thing. Clopeh could not say anything.
At that moment, his body that had lost all sensation suddenly felt a different type of sensation.
His cheeks started to shake.
Fear and suppression.
It was as if someone was suppressing him.
He had not felt this from anyone other than that person.
He heard the gentle voice once more.
"Please lift your head."
Clopeh slowly raised his shaking head.
He was dominated by Cale after being hit by the Dominating Aura.
However, he saw a smiling Cale Henituse when he raised his head.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?"
'Is he talking about meeting at the castle wall earlier?'
Clopeh Sekka nodded his head subconsciously in fear.
However, he had to stop nodding his head. His entire body froze as if time had stopped.
The red hair of the man in front of him was slowly turning white.
Then his reddish-brown eyes turned blue.
"Ah, ah-"
Clopeh's mouth opened and closed multiple times without being able to say anything.
It was a familiar face.
It was a face that was distinct in his mind.
That face and Cale's current face overlapped perfectly.
The priest.
The magical priest he had met in January.
The smile on the priest's face disappeared. Clopeh could not breathe again as the pressure suppressed him once more. The white-haired priest slowly started to ask.
"Has it been fun running around on top of my palm?"
'Did you have fun thinking you were going to be a legend?'
That was what Clopeh heard in his head. He then thought about the past month.
He had met a magical priest at the beginning of the year and then a pillar of fire shot up in the God's Tears lake. He had believed he would be the main character of the legend based on the priest's words.
But all of those things were lies?
The man who had wanted to become a legend slowly started to break down.
"I will give you another prophecy right now."
Cale had a lot of things to hear from Clopeh Sekka.
That was why he was being honest with Clopeh.
"I will tell you what will happen to you."
Clopeh could not stop his chin from shaking as he looked up at Cale.
He had believed the priest was there to present the will of a god. That priest, Cale, now acted as the god for Clopeh's life as he started to speak.
"I will tell you what will happen to you.
Everything is on the top of my palm."
Clopeh could feel it in his bones.
This person in front of him held his life in his hands.
"So, tell me everything."
That was what Cale said as he looked toward the shaking Clopeh.
Of course, there was something that Cale had left out.
Clopeh had two options in front of him.
One was to die peacefully.
The other was to die after being tortured some more.
Those were his only options.
Being able to live was not one of them.
Cale sat down on the chair in front of Clopeh and looked down at him. Clopeh continued to shake and avoided Cale's gaze, however, he could not lower his head.
All he could do was look under Cale's eyes around the chin area as he continued to shake.
Cale remembered what Choi Han had said before he went off to be treated.
"The Sekka household is a white snake household."
Cale opened his mouth to speak.
"White Snake."
Clopeh was the white snake. This white snake that was covered in blood gasped at Cale's words.
"What is the legend that you were trying to fabricate this time?"
Clopeh realized something.
There really is nothing this person, this esteemed sir, did not know.
He knew everything, including the fabricated legend.
Fear started to fill his body.
He then slowly started to speak. The man who had been silent throughout Beacrox and Ron's torturing finally started to speak.
Cale then heard everything.
* * *
– You are smiling.
Cale touched the corners of his lips after hearing the comment Alberu made as soon as the call connected. He could feel the smile on his face.
'I guess it makes sense, since I learned about a lot of things.'
Cale had learned a lot of information from Clopeh. Some of that information included why a strong bastard like the helmeted knight had not revealed himself until now on the western continent, as well as why Arm had gone to the western continent.
He also realized the problem that was assigned to him.
There was only one conclusion.
'I changed the story.'
All of this had happened because the war and, 'Arm,' had been revealed too early. However, it was not time to think about that problem right now.
There was one more thing.
'I feel like I'm a pretty lucky person.'
Cale thought about the crown in his bag as he leaned on the couch and casually responded back to Alberu.
"I seem to have gone crazy from fatigue."
He thought that the crown prince would scoff at him. However, Alberu started to frown while remaining silent, making Cale think this was an odd situation and continuing to speak.
"I plan to go to the Ubarr territory tonight."
– …With that body?
'What's wrong with my body?'
He felt full and fine after eating a couple of apple pies. The regeneration abilities of the Vitality of the Heart had gotten even stronger. He may be covered in blood right now, but his skin had become smoother and he felt as if he would be fine even if he did not sleep for about three days.
Cale responded to the crown prince without a moment of hesitation.
"Yes sir, I will be going with this body."
"Haaaa."
He could hear the crown prince sighing. Cale felt upset for some reason.
However, he needed to move quickly.
The mark Raon left continued to send signals to them. The helmeted knight was coming back with the ships.
They needed to kill that bastard this time.
That was the reason he was taking Ron and Beacrox with him.
He had no plans on letting the knight die a peaceful death.
He also left a message with the ancient Dragon Eruhaben through the video communication device. Eruhaben would probably call him back soon. Cale had quite a lot of things to do, so he was in a rush.
That was why he got right down to business.
"Your highness."
– What is it?
"The Whale tribe."
Alberu was still debating whether to have the Whales fight with them or to hide their existence.
– What about the Whales?
"Let's hit the Paerun Kingdom."
Silence filled the room.
Alberu started to laugh after a while.
– Ha, haha-
He laughed for a long time.
Alberu then looked at Cale Henituse's mess of a face. He could also see Cale's sharp gaze.
'This punk really is amazing.'
The crown prince started to smile.
– I like it. I like it very much.
He then said one last thing before hanging out.
– Take care of your body.
Click.
He hung up without even waiting to hear Cale's response. Cale just called for Ron with an expression that seemed to be saying this was normal behavior for Alberu.
"Ron."
"Yes sir."
He pointed to the corner of the room as he gave Ron the order.
"Go bring Mueller. On and Hong as well."
"…You want the Cats to come up from the training ground as well?"
"Yes."
Cale had thought that this battle would not be difficult, and as such had On and Hong continue training instead of taking part in the battle. There was something for the two of them to do now, however.
Ron soon brought the three over to Cale.
The mixed-blood Dwarf Rat Mueller was shaking while keeping a distance from the Cats, while On and Hong immediately rushed toward Cale. However, they flinched at his blood-soaked appearance and just roamed around him.
Cale asked the two of them a question.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready!"
"We're good to go!"
Cale got up after hearing those responses.
He was heading toward the Ubarr territory.
The ocean was somewhere that Cale had nothing to protect.
On and Hong.
The ocean would soon be covered in a poisonous fog.
The name of this operation was, 'Ghost.'
They will all die without realizing what happened.
That was most suited for the quiet night ocean.