Chapter 170: Perhaps (5)
Translator: miraclerifle
Editor: Borderline Masochist
Cale clenched his fist.
Crackle, crackle.
He could feel the electricity in his palm.
“Human, why are you trying to use the fiery thunderbolt? I will destroy whatever it is for you! Just tell me!”
“I'm not using it.”
Cale lightly pushed away Raon's face and started to walk. He could feel the slightly slippery ice underneath his shoes.
At the same time, a warm breeze that followed the blue light from the token brushed by his face.
“Did something happen?”
Cale waved his hand toward Choi Han, who urgently arrived by his side.
“Not really.”
“That’s good.”
Choi Han responded back before following Cale into the path.
“Do we have to walk far?”
Cale responded back to Paseton's cautious question.
“I heard that we have to walk for a bit.”
Eruhaben had told him that the entrance was a bit of a distance from the lake.
Rosalyn looked around the path with curiosity. She could see the snowstorm still raging outside the transparent path. Of course, Hong was gulping while looking at the snowstorm outside the path.
“Young master Cale. It is interesting that a safe path like this appeared as soon as you used the token. I guess the World Tree heard the signal right away.”
Rosalyn could not see Cale’s face, as she was very excited. Cale played along.
“I'm not sure, but it does seem that way.”
That reaction made Choi Han flinch.
However, Cale did not pay any attention to it as he was thinking about what Eruhaben had told him.
‘This token will let the World Tree know that you are someone I sent, so a somewhat decent path will appear to prevent you from getting poisoned.’
Eruhaben had definitely said a decent path. However, this path seemed much better than, ‘decent.’
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Cale had a bad feeling, but he was not scared.
The reason for that was because the Super Rock's usual statement when danger approached was not present today.
In fact, the Super Rock asked if he planned on destroying it instead. It had even sounded very concerned when it asked.
Cale looked down at his palm.
The Fire of Destruction was still crackling in his palm. Cale did not return the power back into his body.
‘Did he really try to burn up the World Tree?’
Cale recalled the owner of the ancient power that was extremely greedy for money. Furthermore, he also thought about the World Tree that had generously created this safe path for them.
‘Maybe this-’
Cale started to smirk.
At that moment, Archie, who had been peeking at Cale, started to speak.
“Young master-nim, have you met Elves before?”
“I have.”
“Then you should know how they are, young master-nim.”
Archie's expression turned serious.
“Why?”
“The Elves of this lake are worse than any other Elves you’ve met before.”
‘Worse?’
Cale remembered how Shickler had said that the Elves here were, ‘rude and arrogant.’ Archie continued to speak after seeing that he had caught Cale’s attention.
“We have met them a few times because they are the closest Elf Village to the Whale tribe and we each have items that the other side needs.”
“And?”
Archie let out a sigh.
“They think that they are the chosen Elves.”
Cale shared a thought that quickly passed through his mind.
“They think they were selected by the World Tree?”
“Something like that.”
Archie snorted before adding on.
“These Elves are extremely arrogant because they are the only Elves who can see the World Tree as well as a Dragon quite frequently.”
Paseton slowly commented as well.
“Mm, they definitely have a habit of ignoring and looking down on other races. It is probably the worst here than any other Elf Village. Although we are going at a Dragon-nim's order, but, mm.”
Paseton could not finish his sentence.
“But?”
Archie responded back at Cale's urging.
“But they will probably ignore you because you are human. They look down on us Whales as idiots with strong bodies.”
Archie seemed to be angry.
He would have whipped them with his tail if Whale King Shickler had not told him to let it go because of the World Tree.
Paseton, on the other hand, seemed to choose to take a solemn expression.
‘...Captain Archie is pretty bad too.’
Paseton had seen Archie respond to rudeness with even more rudeness in the past.
Cale asked the two Whales a question at that time.
“Don’t you know how Elves feel about Dragons?”
“We do. They apparently respect them.”
“Have you ever seen the Elves meeting a Dragon?”
“I have not.”
Archie answered while peeking toward Raon. He then cautiously added on.
“I suppose they may slightly lower those stiff necks of theirs because Raon-nim is with us this time.”
“You really think that’ll be the case?”
“Excuse me?”
Cale looked toward the two Whales with a serious expression, leading them to flinch.
Even if this was just a six-year-old Dragon, would the Elves be rude to them when they also had a person coming to deliver a message from an ancient Dragon?
However, the two Whales couldn't help but think that those arrogant pricks might just do that. Cale answered with a serious expression at that moment.
That was why Cale understood this response. He also understood why the Elves behind this middle-aged Elf were standing there with stiff expressions.
The middle-aged Elf was suppressing his excitement as he needed to maintain his demeanor while the other Elves were trying to calm themselves after seeing how the middle-aged Elf was reacting.
The middle-aged Elf continued to speak.
“That, are you the sir who has come to deliver Eruhaben-nim’s message? Did the esteemed Dragon-nim c, come as well?”
‘Hmm?’
Archie became anxious after seeing the middle-aged Elf's extremely respectful demeanor. He then focused his attention on this Elf.
The middle-aged Elf's shoulders were shaking.
‘Why is he like this?’
This usually rude bastard that he had traded with many times in the past was acting weird.
He then saw Cale starting to speak.
“Raon.”
Cale said just one word.
"Tada! I have appeared!”
Raon stopped being invisible.
“Ohhhhhhhh!”
Archie nervously turned his head back after hearing that shout. The middle-aged Elf was holding his chest in amazement. The Elves behind him were acting the same way.
“... What the?”
‘Why are the Elves acting like this?’
The Whales who had never seen Elves meeting with a Dragon became anxious. However, Cale's group was calm, as they had become used to this already through Pendrick the Healer.
“I am the great and mighty Raon Miru!”
The Elves nodded their heads and continued to mutter Raon's name as if they were studying for a large exam. Cale stopped one Elf who seemed ready to kneel and helped him back up.
“Thank you very much.”
Archie wanted to barf after seeing the Elf's grateful smile toward Cale. However, Cale was just slightly annoyed, as he had expected this response.
“Where do I need to go?”
“Ah, yes sir.”
The middle-aged Elf wiped away some sweat as he continued to speak.
“You need to meet with the priestess-nim who takes care of the World Tree. She was originally supposed to come to greet you, but she could not do so as the World Tree suddenly called for her.”
“Is that so? Then let's head to the priestess-nim right away.”
Cale wanted to quickly take care of things and lay down by a fireplace.
“Yes sir. We will take you there right away! Huh?”
The middle-aged Elf turned toward the direction of the village before stopping in shock. Cale had a confused expression on his face as well.
A little girl was running toward them.
There were a couple of other Elves behind her as well.
“...Priestess-nim?”
‘Priestess?’
Cale looked back at the little girl after hearing the middle-aged Elf's comment.
‘Hmm?’
The two of them made eye contact at that moment.
‘Is she looking at me?’
Cale’s back felt chilly after seeing the little Elf who looked like a troublemaker rushing toward him.
‘Isn’t her face too pale?’
The little Elf seemed completely petrified.
The young priestess rushed toward Cale as if she had a very important mission. The middle-aged Elf quickly approached the priestess once she got close.
“Priestess-nim, what is going on?”
The priestess did not even pay any attention to the middle-aged Elf before pointing toward Cale.
“Red hair!”
Cale flinched.
The young priestess had a look of urgency on her freckled face as she walked in front of Cale.
Cale slowly took a step backward.
This priestess seemed to be a bit weird.
However, there was a noise that intrigued Cale at that moment.
Clang.
It was the sound of coins.
Cale looked down at the young priestess.
The priestess raised her head and tried to hand the bag in her hand to Cale.
Clang, clang.
It sounded like coins clanging against each other inside the bag.
The young Elf started to speak.
“It might be old human money, but please take it! Apparently, they are silver coins!”
‘Hmm?’
“Here, here! Now!”
The priestess shoved the bag toward Cale and Cale accepted it for now. The priestess then rummaged through her wide sleeves and took out a flat rectangular item as well.
“Here is gold as well! There were no gold coins!”
The young Elf seemed to be panicking.
“...What the hell?”
Cale was shocked and swore without thinking about it. However, the young priestess did not even care about that.
In her ten years as a priestess, this was the first time that the World Tree was so scared. The priestess raised the bar of gold back toward Cale and started to speak.
“The World Tree told me to give money to the red-haired person! It told me to give you coins!”
Coins.
There seemed to be a reason she kept saying coins.
Cale opened up his left hand.
Crackle, crackle. The Fire of Destruction was still there.
The young priestess urgently started to speak after seeing Cale looking back at her.
“Please take it! Otherwise, the World Tree said everything will burn! There will be a sea of fire!”
Cale started to think.
‘Just what did the owner of the Fire of Destruction do?’
The Elf priestess seemed concerned.
“It said you really like coins and that you would go crazy for it!”
‘He wasn’t just a greedy hero?’
Cale couldn’t believe it, but accepted the Elf priestess’s gold for now.