Raon's pupils started to shake. He sat there flapping his wings with his jaws dropped. It was the same for Hong. His eyes were open round without moving at all.
Nobody was saying anything.
'… My goodness.'
Rosalyn subconsciously covered her mouth.
Cale had suddenly opened his eyes without any indications of it happening. He sat up and leaned on the head of the bed with a blank expression before he randomly started crying.
Teardrops were falling drop after drop.
He had a blank expression on his usually stoic face as he continued to drip tears one after another. Seeing this made Rosalyn wonder if she was dreaming.
Cale Henituse.
What kind of person was he? Rosalyn never expected Cale to show such a sight.
It would be fitting to see him cry in anger or annoyance. Those would be the reasons she would have expected to see him cry.
'…But this-!'
For Cale to be crying like this! Rosalyn lowered the hand that was covering her mouth that had clenched into a fist at some point. She felt as if she should say something.
It was at that moment.
"…Why am I crying? I'm not sad."
Cale said that before slightly lifting the corners of his lips and trying to smile.
Rosalyn's fist covered her mouth again. The corners of the lips he had tried so hard to lift looked sorrowful.
Seeing someone with a pale expression smiling sorrowfully and crying made her unable to speak. She looked around.
The way On, Hong, and Raon all stiffly sat there with their pupils shaking must mean that they were all shocked. Eruhaben who was on the couch looked shocked as well, while Mary seemed frozen and stopped eating the cookie she had started to eat while saying, 'people need to eat.'
Cale's servant Ron seemed to have frozen and forgotten to maintain his benign smile.
Choi Han was the last person she saw.
'Hmm?'
He had a different expression than the others.
Choi Han had a complicated and concerned look on his face as he stood there quietly staring at Cale with his arms crossed. It was at that moment.
"H, human, did you h, have a nightmare?"
Raon stuttered as he quickly approached Cale's side and landed on the bed.
'Huh?'
Rosalyn could see Choi Han sighing after hearing the word, 'nightmare.' Choi Han slightly shook his head before starting to smile as if there was nothing he could do about it. He made eye contact with Rosalyn as he did that.
'What is it?'
She quietly asked with her mouth, but Choi Han waved his hand to say it was nothing, making her realize that there definitely was something.
However, she didn't have time to ask Choi Han anything else.
"You must eat."
Mary in her black robe walked past Rosalyn toward the bed with the cookie basket in her hand.
The basket that was full of cookies was placed on the bed.
"We eat when we are sad. Eating is winning. We become sad when we are hungry. We become hungry when we are sad."
Mary rapidly said all these things before grabbing a cookie and putting it in Cale's hand. Rosalyn had never seen Mary being so proactive before.
"… I told you, I'm not sad."
Cale commented with his usual stoic expression.
"You can't trick us! You shit-for-brains human!"
"You can't trick us! You shouldn't cry!"
Raon and Hong immediately shouted back.
Cale was flabbergasted. It was at that moment.
Pat pat.
He could see On's expression as she patted his hand that was not holding the cookie. Cale started to frown more after seeing her nodding her head as if she understood everything.
'No, I really am not sad.'
This was the truth. Cale was feeling very relaxed that he even started to think that it would be okay to take peeks at these records that he had buried in his mind.
Cale looked down at his hand that was sticky from the melted chocolate from the cookie as he started to speak.
"Miss Rosalyn, how much time has passed?"
He then flinched after looking toward her and seeing her fist.
"Raon-nim."
However, Rosalyn calmly called Raon who fluttered his wings and started to shout.
"It's a new record! You were unconscious for 20 days, 1 hour, 32 minutes, and 19 seconds!"
"You were out for almost three weeks!"
'…Huh? Three weeks? Wasn't my longest time unconscious before this about two weeks? But three weeks?'
Cale quickly started to speak after having those thoughts.
"Airships, what happened to the capital?"
What about the other things? What about taking care of the Northern Alchemists' Tower issue? He urgently looked toward Rosalyn before he flinched.
"My goodness, young master Cale, you really seem to like to work."
"Excuse me? I hate working."
Rosalyn sighed as she started to speak.
"The airships in the capital-"
Click.
The door opened and two people entered as she started to speak. One of them was Beacrox.
"Choi Han, I tried making that green onion pancake you mentioned, is this right...?"
'What? What did he just say? Green onion pancakes? …They have green onions in this world?'
Cale questioned his hearing while Beacrox who made eye contact with him could not finish his sentence properly. He held the plate with this food he had never made before with one hand while rubbing his eyes with the other hand as he started to speak.
"Am I seeing things?"
He thought he was seeing young master Cale Henituse's crying face. He was no longer crying, but it was obvious that he had been crying. He had not seen this since Cale was very young.
"It looks like I need to go wash my face."
Beacrox then turned around and left with the plate. Cale looked toward him with shock, but he could soon see someone approaching him while looking like he was about to cry.
"Oh! Young master-nim!"
It was Saint Jack.
He couldn't even fix his fluttering priest robe as he walked over to Cale's bed and grabbed his hands.
"You're finally awake? These tears on your face, are you in any pain?"
Cale couldn't respond after seeing Jack asking with such a pure expression on his face. Punks like Beacrox were easier for Cale to handle.
"No, I am not in any pain."
"I see. I'm relieved. And young master-nim, thank you very much!"
Jack bowed ninety degrees to thank Cale.
"Thankfully, we were able to arrive at the capital on time and Miss Rosalyn and Eruhaben-nim were able to cast shields while we were able to then take out the airships outside the shields one by one!"
Saint Jack who was speaking with gratitude and admiration continued to speak quickly as if he was overwhelmed with joy.
"And then Choi Han-nim, Raon-nim and you showed up, making the remaining airships all start to retreat. We debated chasing after them and launching a counterattack, but the enemies dropped one airship toward the capital and made it explode, leaving us no choice but to focus on protecting the capital!"
'Oh, Jack is explaining the situation very well.'
Even if they wanted to chase after the airships, it was probably better not to make such rash decisions if Rosalyn and Eruhaben had to resist an exploding airship with their shields.
It would have been dangerous to chase after them without mages.
Cale quietly listened to Saint Jack explain the situation at the capital.
"We focused on guarding the capital for another day before heading over to the Northern Alchemists' Tower only to see that they had all escaped. Ah, based on the debris from the destroyed airships and golems, it looks like you managed to strike the enemies hard!"
'Mm, I see.'
He enjoyed hearing this explanation from someone who seemed to have been wowed by the situation.
"We also destroyed all four Alchemists' Towers. Of course, we swindled any alchemy-related texts and anything that looked useful."
Cale who was nodding his head could see Saint Jack's teary eyes.
"It is all thanks to you and everyone else's help and sacrifices, young master-nim. You don't know how much I, while you were unconscious...!"
'Hmm… Something feels a bit awkward?'
Cale found it difficult to handle Jack like this.
"I'm really, absolutely relieved that you woke up. I feel like I can finally get some rest myself!"
"Uhh, yes? Thank you for worrying about me, Jack-nim."
Cale quickly ended his conversation with Jack. He could then see Rosalyn smiling behind Jack.
'It looks like I don't need to explain anything?'
Cale nodded his head after seeing such a gaze and stared to speak.
"But if three weeks have passed-"
"Are you worried about the North?"
Cale made eye contact with Eruhaben who was looking at him while sitting on the couch. Eruhaben took a sip of tea as he continued to speak.
"Clopeh went to the North. We've contacted the Whale tribe as well. Those children named Cage and Taylor chatted with Ron about what to do from here on and said that they will complete that ancient document for now."
Cale recalled what Eruhaben told him last time.
'Quickly come to the capital while remaining conscious.'
However, forget coming while conscious, he made a new record for how long he was unconscious. Cale took a bite of a cookie after seeing Eruhaben's descending gaze.
Crunch.
The cookie broke and Eruhaben continued to speak.
"Tasha said that she didn't know the reason you called her, but said she had a decent idea after hearing about the forging of the ancient document and the plans for the land of the Whale tribe and went back home to prepare."
Cale felt an odd sensation. Eruhaben accurately described that sensation.
"There's no need for you to do everything. There are many capable people."
He could feel Eruhaben's intentions of telling him not to do anything that would make him faint again.
Crunch, crunch.
Cale just quietly continued to eat the cookie. He then started to speak.
"Looks like we have to go North."
Eruhaben, Rosalyn, and Ron all nodded at that statement.
The Bear King and the Lion King managed to get away, and in some ways, they were the ones who had received a blow. Now it was time for them to land a blow on the White Star.
That opportunity would soon happen in the North. The only difference was that Cale's original one month planning time was down to one week because he was unconscious for three weeks.
'Everybody else continued to prepare well.'
He just needed to match them. Cale opened his mouth to speak.
Let's go North.
That was what he was about to say. However, he could not do that.
"Cale-nim."
'Mm.'
Cale quickly shut his mouth. Choi Han approached Cale and started to speak.
"Don't we need to chat?"
– That's right! Human! You told me you would tell me as well! I forgot for a moment because you were crying!
'Mm.'
Cale had an awkward smile on his face.
– Human! Why are you smiling like that again? Ah, right! Beacrox and I are researching after hearing about green onion pancakes from Choi Han! Choi Han said it is similar to pies, so I'm curious as to how it tastes!
'Shit.'
Cale started to think about all the Korean foods that Raon would stuff in his mouth after hearing Raon's excited voice. However, something he couldn't avoid even more than that was right in front of him.
He was currently in Imperial Prince Adin's bedroom that he always stayed in whenever he came to Mogoru. Cale looked around the bedroom before speaking to the others.
"There is something I need to chat with Choi Han about alone."
***
Cale quietly observed Choi Han who brought a chair over toward the bed and sat down.
'Nobody is listening from nearby!'
'The black Dragon's soundproof barrier magic is amazing! Nobody outside should be able to hear!'
'Impossible for anyone unless they hear the Wind Elementals like you. I have something to say. For destruction.'
Cale let go of the golden top's whip after hearing the Wind Elementals confirm nobody was listening. Raon was tilting his head while looking at Choi Han and Cale. Only the three of them were left in the bedroom.
Choi Han raised his head that had been looking at the ground as if he didn't know what to say. He then made eye contact with Cale who started to speak.
"Nice to meet you. Senior, my name is Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo's friend."
He then bowed his head and respectfully greeted Choi Han.
Choi Han's jaws dropped while Raon's eyes opened wide. Silence filled the bedroom before Choi Han slowly started to speak.
"That kind of greeting is awkward and unnecessary, Cale…nim."
"I know."
Although Cale had his usually stoic expression on his face, his eyes looked more unburdened than usual.
"I thought I should greet you like this at least once."
'Yes, yes indeed. I may be a trashy person, but I always greeted my elders properly.'
"Ho, hoho-"
Kim Rok Soo and Choi Han's first conversation started with Choi Han laughing in disbelief.