Chapter 491: Do you hear a dog barking somewhere? (3)
Translator: miraclerifle
Editor: Borderline Masochist
Shhhh, shhhh.
Jopis was elegantly drinking tea as she looked through the document Cale handed her.
Sniff sniff!
Cale was frowning at the puppy that kept circling around him and sniffing him.
‘Why is she acting like this?’
The shabby puppy whose eyes could not be seen because of her long hair continued to remain by Cale’s side while wagging her tail.
“...She’s cute.”
Choi Han who was sitting on the bed mumbled with a dazed expression.
It was at that moment.
Tap.
The puppy placed her front paw on Cale's shoe. She then looked up at Cale.
Choi Han found it to be extremely cute.
“...So cute.”
“Cute? She's very shrewd.”
‘What?’
Choi Han’s gaze moved in a different direction. He saw Bud who was still tied down even though he no longer had the gag.
Bud continued in a sobbing tone after seeing Cale and Choi Han’s gaze focused on him.
“Those five dogs were the reason I ended up like this. My goodness, for the Mercenary King to look like this...”
“...Five dogs?”
Cale mumbled and lowered his head.
Huff huff.
The puppy tilted her head as her tail continued to wag. Cale didn’t like animals very much, but this puppy was indeed cute.
Bud continued in his sad tone.
“The ones outside the window.”
Cale's gaze headed out the window.
This window located in the old room...
Normally, he should be able to see the green trees and grass outside the window that was locked because it was autumn and cold as they were under the mountain.
However, he saw something else right now.
“...A dog?”
He saw a dog outside this window that was decently high.
‘They look similar.’
The puppy that was looking at Cale with puppy dog eyes and her paw on Cale’s shoe looked similar to the dog outside the window.
However, the puppy outside the window looked a bit cleaner than this one.
‘Is it tall enough?’
Cale thought about the high window and looked out the window as he wondered how he could see a puppy.
“Mm.”
He saw two other puppies holding up the puppy at the window sill. There was another puppy next to them roaming around as if it was the lookout.
‘...They don’t look like regular dogs?’
The puppy feigning ignorance to everything by Cale’s foot didn't seem normal either. These five fluffy puppies seemed a bit special.
"I never said that I only had the mother dog.”
Cale turned his head after hearing Jopis's elegant voice.
“I was tricked by those cute children. I let down my guard down and......!”
Bud looked extremely upset. No, he seemed depressed.
“Ruff!”
The puppy by Cale’s foot barked once with an, ‘I have no idea what he’s talking about,’ type of expression before looking toward Bud and tilting her head to the side multiple times.
“Aigoo!”
Bud looked as if he didn't know what to do as he found the puppy to be cute but also could not hide his depressed state.
“Hmm.”
Cale crossed his arms and quietly watched them.
‘I was wondering how Bud was captured when Jopis isn’t that strong of a shaman.’
That had been a question on his mind ever since he met Jopis. How did she manage to capture Bud, a sword master and someone with an ancient power, as hostage?
Bud’s ancient power was something that allowed him to get a general idea of other people's powers.
Furthermore, Jopis was not a strong shaman. In fact, she was on the weaker side.
The fact that Bud ended up as a hostage to such a person made Cale think that Bud had been captured on purpose.
However, he could now tell that the ones to capture Bud were these long-haired dirty dogs and not Jopis.
Cale's hand started to move as he started to speak.
“That’s totally my style.”
“Ruff, ruff!”
Cale’s hand petted the dirty puppy.
He was looking at the puppy with a gaze that said he liked her.
- Human! I like those puppies too! Those puppies are smart! I don’t think they realized what I am, but they realized that I was here!
Cale continued to pet the puppy with a satisfied smile on his face.
“...I should just stop talking. Nobody here is on my side.”
Bud shut up. He heard Raon's voice in his mind at that moment.
- Hey Mercenary King! The human rushed here right away to save you! He even stopped talking to the crown prince and immediately headed over!
‘Really?’
Bud’s shoulders stopped slouching a bit. Of course, Cale had finished his conversation with Alberu, but Raon did not know that.
Thanks to that, Bud smiled as he looked back toward Cale while Cale started to frown wondering what was up with that bastard.
Tap.
Jopis put the document down on the table at that moment.
“What do you think?”
Cale asked her a question and she immediately started to respond.
“I saw many conditions, but... Your side...”
Her gaze turned toward Cale.
“You are aiming for the tolls.”
“And you'll need the rights to run a couple of the more important inns for that information and money?”
Ron responded with a benign smile.
“Oh my, oh my. I preferred having you being an assassin in the darkness. You're trying to become an even scarier existence.”
Jopis was smiling as she said that. She did not seem scared at all. In fact, she seemed to be planning a lot of things in her mind. She then turned her head as she continued to think.
“Then what about the Mercenaries Guild?”
Bud was blankly staring at them.
“Ah.”
Jopis nodded her head elegantly as if she understood.
“The Mercenary King probably doesn’t know because he was fooled by the puppies and was being held hostage. Should I ask your close friend outside?”
It was at that moment.
“The Mercenaries Guild members will be exempt from the toll! It will be for a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years!”
The Mercenary King's eyes sparkled as he shouted brightly. His tied body was moving around as he continued.
“In addition, we get first dibs on all mercenary-related tasks for 10 years!”
The Mercenary King sounded too happy.
Jopis just smiled elegantly as she stared at Bud for a while before picking the document back up. She continued to turn the page as she started to speak.
“Hmm... Then, with everything here...”
She started to bring up some of the Roan Kingdom’s conditions.
"The toll. The exchange of business and culture...all enemy belongings discovered in the process or gained from the battle will belong to the Roan Kingdom...there are many minute details here. But you see... Commander Cale Henituse-nim?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How do you benefit from any of this?”
Jopis elegantly tilted her head.
“Is it just out of loyalty? You don’t seem like the type to do that.”
There was someone who answered her question in Cale’s place.
She could see Cale starting to smile at her question.
‘No benefit for me?’
The document had a lot of minute conditions with the toll as the main compensation.
One of those conditions was that all enemy belongings discovered in the process or gained from the battle would belong to the Roan Kingdom.
There was a different document in Cale’s pocket.
It was something he had gotten from Alberu after discussing things with him.
< The Roan Kingdom will hand over the rights of all items gathered through this situation over to Cale Henituse for free. >
‘Enemy.’
Whether that is the White Star, Arm, or Elisneh...
Anything belonging to anybody who could be considered an enemy will belong to Cale.
One of them was the World Tree.
The fake World Tree.
There was also the large amount of dead mana liquid that it could be called a river.
They had come to destroy the fake World Tree and the dead mana river, but who knows?
‘I need to get something out of this as well.’
As Cale's smile became thicker...
Bang! Bang, bang!
They heard someone banging on the door.
“Ruff, ruff!”
The puppy that had been rubbing her head on Cale’s leg, as well as the puppies outside the window, all started to move.
“Ahhhhh! What the hell, what is up with these dogs?!”
They then heard someone shout outside the door.
Bud responded to the voice.
“Oh! Glenn! You’re losing to the cute puppies as well! Kahahahaha!”
Choi Han left the laughing Bud alone and headed toward the door. The puppy that had left Cale’s side was already at the door.
Click.
Choi Han opened the door and Glenn who had dogs all over him looked toward Cale.
“Y, young master-nim!”
Cale's expression subconsciously turned grim. For some reason, he felt like he could understand why Glenn, who seemed to be smart, was Bud’s friend.
“What is it?”
Cale brusquely asked. Glenn looked back and forth between Bud and Cale as he started to shout.
“All of the scouts we sent north have gone missing!”
“What?”
Bud who had been laughing instantly stiffened up.
The scouts they sent north.
They were expert mercenaries who were sent to scout the White Star’s secret base by the Three Restricted Areas.
Cale started to speak.
“...How many people did you send?”
How many scouts had they sent?
Cale asked and Bud responded with a cold expression.
“1,001 people.”
Plop, plop.
The ropes that were tying Bud down vibrated and started to shake. Whatever device was on the rope, it wouldn’t be cut even by Bud’s aura and Bud’s aura started to vibrate wildly around him.
“...All 1,001 people went missing?”
The mumbling Bud’s eyes looked concerned.
Cale started to frown as well.
Scouts.
Cale had thought there were only a few people because Glenn had called them scouts.
However, Bud had not sent simple scouts over.
They were the Mercenaries Guild's Expert Ranger Brigade.
They were the Mercenaries Guild’s hidden source of strength, experts who knew how to deal with rough terrains and were talented in information gathering.
Glenn who was looking at Bud started to speak with a stiff expression.
“Yes. They’re all missing.”
Bud turned toward Jopis and started to speak.
“Undo these ropes. Now.”
Bud’s aura was shooting out and going wild around his entire body.