Chapter 23: Returning the Favor (3)
Translator: miraclerifle
Editor: Borderline Masochist
Of course, he planned giving them their new hope anonymously. It was something he had learned from the dragon.
‘Unless their lord has nothing to do and reveals me to them, there is no way that they will recognize me.’
It was impossible for them to learn of his identity. How great was that? He should have done everything anonymously until now. Cale stepped into the ruins feeling like a massive weight had been lifted off his chest.
He could see people praying all around the area.
At that moment, Hans stealthily approached Cale and whispered to him.
“I just saw the eldest son of Marquis Stan’s household.”
“...How do you know about that person?”
Cale was truly surprised. Hans smiled before pointing to his eyes.
“Pretty much any and all information about the nobles is in my head. I could see a man being pushed on a wheelchair. It was weird that there was only one person with him, but I was able to see that there was a red snake crest on the wheelchair.”
“Hans.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re better than you look.”
“Thank you?”
Hans shrugged his shoulders with a satisfied expression as he finished his report. He then asked Cale.
“What do you plan on doing?”
Cale could feel the left side of his face heating up, and looked in that direction. Choi Han was looking at him. Cale shook his head and answered both of them.
“Ignore them.”
Both of them nodded their heads without saying anything else. Only then did their tour officially start. After looking around, Cale was shocked at the appearance of the rock towers in the ruins.
“They are ...”
Cale seemed to be in disbelief.
“Uglier than I had expected.”
Cale could not understand the ancient sense of style. He was expecting piles of rocks, but there were rock towers of all kinds shapes in the ruins.
They looked interesting. However, they were definitely not beautiful. Cale peeked at the kittens in Hans’s arms. They seemed to be extremely disappointed as well.
However, there was someone who seemed to be more serious than Cale expected. Choi Han had his head bowed like the other people who were praying, and seemed to be praying as well.
‘I’m sure he’s praying to return to Korea.’
Choi Han had grown up in a happy family environment. He was a different kind of person than Cale, Kim Rok Soo. Choi Han had grown up in a happy family with positive influences. That was why he was able to survive in a disastrous situation while still remaining a good person.
Cale was staring at Choi Han when Choi Han lifted his head up and made eye contact with him.
“Cale-nim.”
“What?”
“I have a question and something to report.”
Cale had a bad feeling about this.
“Start with your question.”
Choi Han seemed to be thinking about something, as he looked toward the rock towers standing in this wide plain and started to speak.
“Cale-nim, are you not going to make a wish?”Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only
‘Is that what he wants to know?’
Cale just casually answered.
“I don’t do things like making wishes.”
“Why not?”
“It makes you have higher expectations.”
Choi Han, Hans, and even the kittens all turned to look at Cale. Cale looked at the rock towers like Choi Han had done, and slowly continued to speak.
“It’s so much easier to live without high expectations.”
It feels great if you scratch a lottery ticket hoping for $1 and end up winning $5, but if you scratch it hoping to win the grand prize and only end up with $5, you are bound to get annoyed.
Tap. Cale turned his gaze after feeling the tap on his shoulder, only to see deputy butler Hans smiling and starting to speak.
“You are right, young master. There is no such thing as dreams or hope in this world.”
“...Just stop talking.”
“Yes, sir!”
Hans responded loudly, but seemed to be a bit disappointed as well, as he took the lead with the kittens. Cale leisurely followed behind Hans, when Choi Han quickly approached him and whispered in a voice that Hans could not here.
Choi Han had not given his report yet.
“The dragon has entered the city.”
“Ignore.”
“I understand.”
Cale took a look around. The dragon must have made itself invisible, as he could not see it. The only thing he could see was the people praying toward the rock towers. The Rock Tower Festival was still a week away, but there was still a large amount of people here. Cale’s gaze turned to the opposite direction of the rock towers in the plains.
The upscale area, the area that the wealthiest citizens in Puzzle City resides. Behind that area was a small mountain, and somewhere on that mountain was the grave of the person who had lived until they were 150 years old.
He didn’t know the reason, but Ron, who had come over from the Eastern Continent, was living in the Henituse territory while hiding his identity. If someone like that was to touch the son of the Count? That would spread like wildfire in the kingdom.
Ron was someone who did not care about anything or anyone else, other than his son and himself. So why would someone like that cause a ruckus? Cale was just scared because he knew that Ron was a dangerous old man. He wanted to get rid of that dangerous old man as soon as possible so that he could live in peace.
“As long as he is my servant, he is just my servant. Just like you are Choi Han, who needs to pay me back.”
Cale checked his watch. The strength of the wind in the cave was different based on the time of day. He needed to hurry.
“You have nothing else to say, right? Don’t follow me.”
Choi Han silently nodded his head in respond. Cale did not even look back as he headed to the small mountain.
After seeing that he could no longer see Cale, Choi Han looked back at the tree at the mountain entrance and started to speak.
“You heard him, right?”
Ron smoothly jumped off the tree. He glared at Choi Han and started to smile. A blunt voice started to flow out of Ron’s mouth.
“I changed his poopy diapers and raised him since he was young.”
That was the truth.
Choi Han stood in front of the path to the mountain and started to speak.
“Cale-nim had said that nobody is to follow him from here on.”
“I know, you little punk.”
Ron turned his back to the mountain with no regrets. After hearing that Cale was only going with Choi Han, and even leaving the Cat Tribe children behind, Ron had followed, just in case something happened.
“I shouldn’t have come.”
They say that you get more fickle the older you get, and this fickleness was such a pain. Ron walked back to the inn at a much slower pace than when he had left, and Choi Han watched Ron disappear before sitting down on a boulder to wait for Cale to return.
Cale was standing in front of a cave just off of the mountain path. The cave entrance was covered with vines, such that it would be difficult to find unless you were looking carefully.
“Damn it.”
Cale started to frown.
The cave entrance was pretty small. He looked down at his clothes. He had worn simple clothes, but they were still baggy.
“Sigh.”
Cale let out a long sigh before crawling into the cave. Whether it was the man-eating tree or this cave, everything related to ancient powers seemed to be crazy. The ground by the cave entrance now had the traces of Cale crawling in.
A moment later, there was a small reptile footprint on the same spot.
Cale could see the cave becoming wider after crawling in for about five minutes.
‘Taylor must have been really desperate. He crawled all the way in here, even with his disabled lower body.’
Since you had to stack the rock tower with your own strength, the eldest son Taylor had to personally come here. What took Cale five minutes to do probably took Taylor much, much longer.
Cale stood back up once it was wide enough and started to walk farther in. The farther he went in, the clearer the noise in his ear became.
Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish. Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish.
It was the sound of the wind. The sound that appeared when the winds were hitting each other became louder as he walked farther into the cave. Finally, Cale located some cloth and a pillar that was probably a hut a long time ago.
After taking a single look at it, Cale continued to walk farther inside.
Swiiiiiiiiiiiish.
The sound of the wind became even stronger. Boom. Boom. He could even hear the wind crashing into the cave walls like a giant fist. Cale started to walk even faster.
‘The wind. I wonder if it will sound like this when I get the, ‘Sound of the Wind,’ ancient power later.’
Shield. Then Recovery. Then quick feet. That was Cale’s plan of action. Cale finally had to stop walking after thinking about the next ancient power he would be trying to get.
It wasn’t that he stopped walking, it was that he was forced to stop walking.
“Wow.”
This was even worse than Cale had expected.
A large underground area had appeared in front of Cale. At the same time, a vicious wind tornado filled his gaze.
Boom, boom!
The rocks on the cave walls were slowly crumbling because of the tornado. There were quite a bit of rocks on the ground that let Cale know that this area was consistently getting larger.
Cale looked back and forth between the underground area and the path that he traveled to get here. He felt like he would be pushed back by the wind if he went inside. Well, not just pushed back, but smashed against the wall, which would probably seriously injure him.
That was how strong the wind was.
“Mm.”
Of course, the center of that tornado will be calm, as it is the eye of the storm.
‘I guess it would have been impossible for Taylor without Cage’s help.’
He now understood why the novel said the two of them had struggled for a whole week. However, Cale started to smile. It was now going to be a battle against time.
Cale stepped into the underground area, into the vicious tornado, without any hesitation. Cale’s red hair started to flutter along with his clothes.
At the same time...
“N, no! You will get hurt! You are extremely weak!”
The dragon appeared at the back of the path and shouted urgently.
Also at the same time ...
“...Huh?”
The dragon could see a large shield with silver wings appear and surround Cale.
The wings, that were shining so brightly that it could be called holy, surrounded Cale while the large shield blocked the wind. The shield and the wings were keeping Cale safe.
Cale turned around. His eyes opened widely as his gaze landed on the dragon.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
The Black Dragon could not say anything in response.