Chapter 15: Heading Out (2)
Translator: miraclerifle
Editor: Borderline Masochist
In order to achieve the results he wanted, Cale had to choose to camp outside.
There were no villages along the way until the village near the hidden cave of the Black Dragon.
Meeeeeow.
The red Cat Tribe kitten Hong meowed and wagged his tail, as if he was excited. It was because of the delicious smell filling the area.
‘The joy of the day comes from eating a delicious dinner.’
That was what Cale was thinking. A warm dinner was the signal to end the long and tiring day and the start of a relaxing night. Tonight’s main course was a soup with rabbit meat.
“Damn it.”
It was not Ron’s doing. Cale turned his gaze to the side. Choi Han, the person who had caught the rabbits, was happily eating his soup.
Meeeeow.
Tap. Tap. On and Hong were tapping on his leg, asking him to give it to them if he didn’t want it. Hans had a wide smile on his face as he cautiously approached the two children.
“Would our precious kitten-nims like to eat the jerky that I prepared for you? It is very healthy, without any salt or preservatives.”
Naturally, On and Hong ignored Hans. Hans, who did not know they were part of the Cat Tribe, found that sass to be cute as well and continued to linger around them.
Contrary to the fact that they had their first battle, it was a very relaxed and peaceful environment. However, the atmosphere around the knights seemed to be a bit odd. They kept peeking toward Choi Han, who was eating his soup next to Cale. The Vice Captain seemed to be full of agony.
“Tsk.”
Cale clicked his tongue.
Cale’s party had to fight off tens of bandits today. The one to handle most of those bandits was naturally Choi Han. He did not kill the bandits. However, he had no issues cutting off a limb or leaving them a deep scar. Not only that, he did it in an unbelievable speed too.
‘Young master, the battle is over.’
The Vice Captain had reported this to Cale with a shocked expression on his face. He had not expected it to end so quickly. The bandits were ones who were pushed out of power in a different area nearby. The bandits they had thought were stupid were at their limits and felt that they could handle five knights because of their numbers.
Unfortunately, their first target ended up being Cale’s carriage with Choi Han. The reason the Vice Captain’s face was completely pale was not because of the strength of the bandits. Choi Han approached next to the Vice Captain and added on.
‘It was a light battle. Not even enough for a warm-up.’
Cale could see the Vice Captain slightly flinch after hearing Choi Han’s words. He could also see Choi Han smirking while looking at the Vice Captain flinch.
‘He really isn’t the type to let people do as they please with him.’
There was no way that someone like Choi Han, who had no issues beating up the Count’s son, would be nice and let people just continue to mess with him.
“Do you have no appetite?”
Cale seemed to be frustrated, as Ron approached him with his usual benign smile. He looked back and forth between the rabbit soup and Ron, before suddenly realizing something. This old man enjoyed making fun of him.
“Yes. None at all.” Choi Han responded to that statement.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, nothing like that.”
‘I would have no issues if you caught anything other than rabbits.’
Cale looked toward Choi Han and waved his hand to tell Choi Han to not mind him.
However, Choi Han continued to look toward Cale with a serious gaze.
“What are you looking at?”
“...Was that your first time experiencing a battle?”
Cale just casually responded back to Choi Han who asked with a serious expression.
“What battle? You mean with the bandits earlier?”
“Yes.”
“Of course. I’ve never seen so many bandits before.”
“I see.”
Choi Han nodded his head and quietly mumbled to himself.
Cale looked at the plate that was filled with the highest quality spices and highest quality beef steak, and started to smile.
“Bitter food and drinks like lemonade are best to restore your appetite.”
This was the first time Ron had handed him a lemonade since their interaction at the tea shop. Cale just ignored the lemonade because he was excited about the steak.
“If everyone has finished eating, we will start our evening training session soon.”
Cale could hear the Vice Captain’s loud voice and started to think.
‘The Vice Captain must have been motivated by Choi Han.’
Cale looked at the fired up knights and soldiers as he chowed down on the steak and even the rabbit soup as well. The rabbit soup was pretty good once he tried it. Of course, he adamantly declined the jerky the kittens offered him. There was no seasoning on it so he wouldn’t even touch it.
* * *
‘3 days.’
Cale calculated as they entered the village.
‘The Black Dragon will cause a mana explosion in 3 days.’
They were now in a Viscount’s territory that was right next to the Henituse territory. A villa belonging to the Viscount was built in the mountain on the right side of this village a few years ago.
Naturally, while it was labeled as the Viscount’s villa on the outside, in reality, it belonged to Marquis Stan, the person responsible for making the Black Dragon go crazy. The viscount of this territory was nothing more than a dog of the Marquis.
‘And in the mountain behind the villa hides the cave with the Black Dragon.’
The Black Dragon causes a mana explosion and sends the cave and the mountain flying. Cale looked at the small peak to the right of the mountain he crossed and clicked his tongue.
Venion of Marquis Stan’s family. Cale was thinking about the Marquis’s second son. He was a crazy psycho who crippled his own older brother to rise to the position of heir. That psycho visits the villa every so often to torture the Black Dragon for fun.
“Tsk.”
Hans flinched at Cale clicking his tongue, and quickly brought Choi Han over and started to speak.
“Young master, I will take Choi Han-nim and quickly look for an inn. Please wait a moment.”
The carriage was currently stopped outside of the village entrance.
“Whatever.”
“We will be right back.”
Cale nodded his head at Hans’s statement while observing Choi Han. He had a nostalgic look in his eyes. Just why would Choi Han fight with an existence that caused a mana explosion? It was because he could not throw this small and quiet village away.
Harris Village. This village was similar to the village that taught him about both love and hate. That was why he made a move to save the lives of these village people that he did not even know. Cale started to frown as he called Choi Han over.
“Choi Han.”
“...Yes?”
“Hurry back.”
Ah. A small gasp came out of Choi Han’s mouth. This 17-year-old boy who had lived for tens of years started to have an innocent smile on his face as he nodded his head.
“Yes sir. I will be right back.”
Cale motioned as if he was annoyed, but Choi Han bowed before quickly starting to walk toward the village with Hans. Cale, who preferred this focused Choi Han to the one who had a blank expression, continued to watch him before suddenly starting to frown.
He could see a carriage quickly heading in their direction.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Cale felt like someone with extremely sweaty hands was handing him a poisoned apple. It was a really bitter feeling. The cause of that bitter feeling was soon to be revealed.
“Such-”
Cale could not believe it.
He could see an old man who could not manage to avoid the carriage, fall down on the road. He could also see Choi Han rushing toward the old man, as well as the carriage continuing to travel down the road like it was not going to stop.
‘Such a cliche!’
There was a flag hanging on that carriage. A red snake. It was the symbol of Marquis Stan. Cale’s eyes started to shake. It was about to happen. An incident was about to happen.
Bang!
Choi Han flung himself to rescue the old man, and the momentum forced him to smash into a building wall. Only then did the black carriage belonging to Marquis Stan finally stop.
“Sigh.”
Cale let out a sigh as he opened the carriage door. It looked like he had no choice but to head over to the site of that cliche event.
1. Remember, Choi Han really doesn’t age