Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Badum.

Badum.Badum.

Badum. Badum. Badum.

Something is wrong...

Badum. Badum. Badum. Badum.

Kim Rok Soo, who just fell asleep after reading some second rate novel, woke up to his heart beating like crazy and the overpowering feeling that something is terribly wrong.

Badum. Badum. Badum. Badum. Badum.

He hears the murmuring of something, albeit faintly,

"Eat his heart."

Chapter Text

SURVIVE.

Kim Rok Soo felt as if there was someone gently tapping on his body, the hands feeling aged and rough. It was comforting.

"Young Master, it is morning."

The voice was clear, and Kim Rok Soo almost wanted to feel goosebumps running up and down his body as his eyes shot open. Instead of the bright morning sunlight to bless his eyes, Kim Rok Soo saw an old man in a black butler's suit standing there with a satisfied expression.

"It is surprising to see you wake up after one attempt."

"Huh?"

"The master wishes to dine with the young master since it has been a while. It looks like it will be possible today."

The man could see a strange reflection when he looked past the old man. Inside the mirror was a man with eye-catching red hair, looking back at him with the same confusion he was feeling.

'I guess that man is me?'

"Young master Cale?"

The red headed man turned towards the worried voice belonging to the servant, but the butler was not the problem. Kim Rok Soo heard it properly.

Young Master Cale was a familiar name. Sluggishly, the words slipped out of his mouth.

"Cale Henituse?"

The old servant looked at him with a look he couldn’t decipher.

"Yes, that is your name, young master. I'm guessing you are still a bit drunk."

After hearing the reply of the old man, Kim Rok Soo quickly thought about a name that was even more important than Cale Henituse.

"...Beacrox."

"Are you talking about my son?"

"..Chef."

"Yes. My son is the chef. Do you need him to make something for your hangover?"

The man felt his head spin, and he started to feel dizzy. He shoved his face into his hands.

"Young master, are you still drunk? Should I call the doctor? Or will you wash right now?"

The man looked at the red hair covering his eyes, it was truly vibrant, and much too different from his black hair.

Cale Henituse. Beacrox. Beacrox's father, Ron.

They were characters in the novel Kim Rok Soo had read the night before, the characters in the beginning of The Birth of a Hero. 

His head jerked and he looked around, and could instantly tell that the bedroom was far away from the typical Korean bedroom. It reminded the man of Europe, and everything in the room was extremely extravagant and luxurious.

"Young Master?"

The man responded to Ron, the old man who was pretending to be concerned and worried.

"Cold water."

"Excuse me?"

He needed something to clear his mind, and he could see the face of Cale Henituse in the mirror behind Ron.

'Still looks, normal? Although something feels a little off with this body, I suppose it's because it's not my body... I suppose Cale hasn't been beaten half to death by Choi Han yet.'

Cale's handsome face caught his attention, Cale was a trash character who got beaten to a pulp by Choi Han, the main character of The Birth of a Hero. Cale was trash, that's just who he was.

"Young master, I presume you will not be bathing in cold water. Are you asking for drinking water?"

Cale turned his gaze toward Ron. Ron was hiding his identity and pretending to be a kind old man, but he was actually a cruel and vicious person. Despite that, Cale felt somewhat annoyed with Ron's question.

Cale knew he shouldn't be annoyed with someone who could possibly kill him in ten different ways in a second, but something deep inside him felt annoyed that Ron didn't understand what Cale wanted the first time. Maybe it was instinctual of being inside a trash person's body, so Cale brushed it off.

"Please get me some drinking water."

He needed something cold to drink to clear his mind.

"I will prepare it right away."

Cale wanted him to leave and get his water quick,

"Great. Thanks."

In his attempt to brush Ron off, he didn't notice the flinch Ron made when he said that and the odd expression on his face when he turned around to leave.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Ron left the bedroom to get cold drinking water for Cale, and once Cale was alone, he got off the bed and headed inside the bathroom.

If he really was inside the novel, he knew that there should be a large mirror inside. 

The full body mirror was in the bathroom, Cale Henituse who had a lot of interest in his appearance and physique had this mirror set up to stare at himself. Nobody else in the household had this kind of mirror.

The reflection had deep red hair, reminiscent of a high quality wine, and fair skin like mountainous snow. The man had such a physique it would be fitting to say that he had a body that would fit any style. 

'I really am Cale...'

…

Something was wrong.

Do people usually become calmer when they are surprised or shocked?

Cale... Kim Rok Soo would normally hear his heart harshly pumping blood through his brain, or at least the harsh thumping of his heart through his body. But there was nothing, radio silence…

Kim Rok Soo didn’t feel an ounce of serenity at the moment however, everything was too much for him to consider himself calm. His body was too thin and weak. His breaths were too loud. The bathroom was too clean. His clothes were too soft…

Yet Cale’s body felt calm as if he was dead asleep…

Cale was quickly running his mind over how to not get beaten up by Choi Han and turned away from the mirror, not before giving himself one last look over.

Failing to notice the occasional glow of his reddish-brown eyes that should you pay attention to, were definitely not normal.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale looked around the bathroom, noting the expensive marble that the whole estate was probably made of. Leaning against the tub, Cale mumbled.

"It's not like there's much I'll miss."

When he was Kim Rok Soo, there really wasn't much to it. He had a rough start, orphaned and poor, he didn't have someone he loved, but he continued to live because he could not die. He could not die because he loathed the thought of death or pain.

So even if he was rolling in piles of shit and viscera it was better than being dead.

Cale knew he hadn't been beaten up by Choi Han yet, as there was not a scar on his side, which was gotten from one of Cale's drunken endeavours when he got mad because the alcohol didn't taste good. 

"...So as long as I proceed the storyline like normal while removing the fact that I get beaten up, the main character takes care of the rest-...what's this?"

Cale was one foot into the bathtub when he was snapped out of his thinking by a large, ugly scar that stretched over half his chest. It was a black scar, with large, swollen veins reaching from where his heart was to the whole of his torso. The centre of his scar was riddled with skin that looked.... scaly?

Cale quickly stopped all trains of thought, and quietly sank into the bathtub. Up until his mouth was sunken into the water too.

'What the fuck is that? The novel never mentioned something like that on Cale's body.'

Cale didn't know how long he stayed like that, staring into the high quality marble that his whole bathroom was made out of, but his staring into nothingness was interrupted by Ron's voice,

"Young master, are you inside the bathroom?"

Ron, the assassin from the Eastern continent, right. Him.

"Yes. I'll be right out."

Naturally, his response was to talk informally to the old man, and with his mind set onto thoroughly ignoring whatever ugly scar that he might have, Cale made up his mind on how to go about his future.

He needed to push the old man away from him, and onto the main character.

The old man was a dangerous assassin, but he treated Cale like a puppy, you left alone because you felt bad for it. (It hurt Cale's pride, although it should not.) 

Covering himself and his scar with a bathrobe, Cale left the confines of the bathroom, and there was Ron, with a benign smile on his face holding a tray with a cup in his hands.

"Young master, here you go."

Cale picked up the cap and brushed past the old man, not wanting to make eye contact with such a vicious old man.

"Great. Thanks."

Ron's expression was odd again, but Cale had already walked past him, and taken a long drink of the cold water handed to him. Cale started thinking again.

'There are too many strong people here.'

'I need the strength to protect myself so I can live without pain.'

"Young master, we will start to dress you now."

"Oh, right. Thanks."

The door opened and a couple servants entered to help dress Cale. Cale didn't notice the strange stoic expression on Ron as he was fretted over.

"Oh. Something simple today."

"Yes, young master."

Cale picked out the simplest of the clothes the servants gave him, but started to notice that they all quickly left the room as Cale had picked out what he wanted to wear.

Cale stared at Ron in slight confusion as the servants seemed to have evacuated the room as if Cale would explode if they stayed.

Ron noticed Cale's look, and as he was closing the door behind him, said to Cale.

"Young master, we are leaving the room like you have always told us to do before. I will be waiting outside."

Ron had a benign smile on his face as he closed the door.

Cale shrugged, it was better that everyone had left because Cale didn't want to show such an ugly scar to anyone, it was like that when he was Kim Rok Soo as well. 

Cale changed quickly, slightly frowning after getting dressed because even his simple attire was extremely luxurious and not to his liking. 

But his reflection was quite handsome. The face really was the main piece of fashion.

Cale opened the door to leave his room, finding Ron waiting outside the door, while smiling like a gentle old man.

"Ron, let's go."

"Yes, young master."

Cale trailed behind Ron, it was nice that he didn't have to know the layout of the estate because Ron would lead him to where he had to go. 

The servants in the halls of the estate that saw Cale would flinch and bow respectfully before they rushed away, like they were running from him.

'Why are they so scared? Cale never uses fists or force on people.'

Sure, Cale would drink and be rowdy, and sometimes when he was drunk he would break things, that was why he was the trash of the family.

'But it's better if nobody talks to me. So a trash can do as he pleases without worry.'

"I will now open the door."

"Sure"

Cale nodded in the general direction of Ron, and remembered that the novel had detailed that Cale treated Ron, who raised him like he was his own grandson since he was little, as nicely as he treated his own father. Of course, Ron didn't really think that way, that was why it was easy for Cale to talk to Ron, he just needed to answer Ron's questions, and treat him like a human being.

"I hope you enjoy your breakfast."

"Thanks. Ron, make sure you have a good meal too."

Cale walked past Ron and into the dining room, where he could see his family sitting there.

His father, the current head of the Henituse household, Deruth. Next to him was Cale's step mother, the Countess, as well as her son and daughter. The four people were looking towards Cale.

"You are late again, today."

Cale ran his gaze towards his father who spoke. Cale's father was unlike the other strong fathers in the novel, he didn't have anything special like skills or influence, but he was rich. Cale liked that a lot.

Cale noted the other people sitting around the table.

His stepmother, who he did not like and they avoided each other.

Her smart first-born, who found it hard to deal with his older brother.

And the cute, youngest of the family who avoided her eldest brother.

But they didn't bother each other, they just treated the other like strangers.

Cale thought it was a great environment.

"Take a seat."

"Yes, father."

Cale looked upon the feast that shouldn't even be considered a breakfast and sat down in his seat. Feeling something off, he looked up.

"Is there something you need to say, father?"

"...No, I do not."

Everyone was staring at Cale, and Cale made eye contact with each of these family members. They all quickly turned away and continued to eat.

Cale dug in, enjoying his food, and continued to ignore whatever weird faces his family were making.

Chapter Text

Cale enjoyed his breakfast, and pushed aside whatever his family were saying after the meal. It simply wasn't his problem, and his real problem was to deal with surviving his encounter with the protagonist, and living his slacker life.

Cale clenched on the ten million cheque in his pocket. The only thing you can trust in the world is money, and luckily for him, his father had a lot of it.

"I'll be heading out now, young master." 

The deputy butler that had handed him the cheque bid goodbye, but Cale did not respond. It was probably considered normal and moved to leave but stopped quickly.

"Ron, let's go to the study."

Hans, the deputy butler paused. Anxious.

Ron was the same.

"...Did you say the study?"

Both butler's knew the reputation Cale had.

Hans, although not Cale's personal butler, had seen and heard enough about Cale. Yes, Cale was the trash of the family, but Hans was smart enough to tell that it was more than that. Most of the Henituse servants, and the citizens of Rain City could not see deeper other than that Cale was an alcoholic trash.

But whenever Hans would look at Cale, there was something that took his breath away, not ever in awe, but terror. Whenever Cake looked at Hans like he was doing now, Hans felt as if he had to bow down otherwise he might be killed. 

Ron probably knew Cale the best out of everyone in the castle. He had raised him since Cale was young, and there was no one else available to nurture him. Ron knew who Cale was. But Ron had no idea at the same time. 

When Cale was born, Jour Henituse had shrouded his birth in mystery. It was believed that her child would not make it, and during her labour, only Jour and Deruth Henituse were present. After that night, Jour had held a small child in her hands. Jour's weak frame had managed to miraculously birth a child, it was a miracle. 

Ron was severely indebted to Jour Henituse, for taking him and his son into the Henituse county, however, Ron always knew there was something off about Cale Henituse ever since his miracle birth. 

Cale was incredibly smart growing up, he finished his studies impossibly early, and he was also incredibly strong and showed much talent during his short lived sword lessons. Ron felt as if this child would be able to swallow the world if he wanted to. Ron never told anyone this, as it was because no one else had noticed that oddity that Cale was.

When Jour passed away. She had given Ron one last order. To protect Cale and his identity. Because Jour knew that Ron knew that Cale wasn't exactly human.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale, in true fashion, had ignored the fumbling servants, and oddly terrified Deputy Butler Hans. He had been busy in his study for the past couple days. Bringing his plan together and brainstorming how to remove the strong people from his residence in order to bring together his true slacker life.

"You don't need any allowance today?"

"... I do need some."

This really was a rich family. Cale found it hard to pull back a grin after hearing that he would get more allowance from Hans, and left the dining table without even saying thank you. He did make eye contact with his brother, Basen, for a moment. But it was ignored as Cale moved to leave the dining room.

He noticed Ron following him.

"Ron. I'm going out, don't look for me."

This was Cale's code to letting Ron know that he was leaving the estate to go drinking. Whenever he did this, Ron would smile and tell him to have a safe trip. But..

"Will you not go to the study today?"

That was a rare question.

Cale started to visibly frown.

"Ron, I don't think that is something you need to be curious about."

Ron paused for about a second before relaxing back into his nice old man act.

"...I understand, young master. I will be waiting for you."

Cale frowned more.

"Don't wait for me."

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale was wearing something he considered the simplest of his wardrobe, but would definitely be extremely fancy to others. No citizen was around them, they had moved away as soon as the count's crest was visible on the fancy carriage.

"Yes. This is it."

The Fragrance of Tea with Poetry.

It was owned by the bastard son Billos.

Cale dismissed the driver, who was sweating like a pig when being addressed to by Cale.

Cale brushed off his annoyance and headed inside the tea shop, looking around. There weren't a lot of people inside, but Cale could tell they were all shocked to see him there. Cale understood, he was like public enemy number one for all merchants in Rain City, because he had a tendency to break everything in their shops.

"Welcome."

But the owner of the shop warmly welcomed Cale. This must be Billos, the wealthy bastard. He looked just like what was described in the novel.

'He looks like a piggy bank.'

Cale threw a gold coin onto the counter in front of Billos.

"I plan on staying on the third floor all day today."

Billos stared at Cale with a smile, Cale pretended not to notice and pointed to the bookshelves.

"I want any tea that's not bitter. Do you have novels here too or just poems-"

CLANG .

It was the sound of someone putting their teacup down harshly... Cale continued to look at Billos for an answer to his question. He just preferred novels to poems.

"Of course. We have a lot of novels as well, young master Cale."

"Great. Send up the most interesting book and a cup of tea."

"Yes. I understand."

A shiny gold coin was held up in Billos' chubby hands, and Cale turned away as Billos tried to hand him change. He really did look like a piggy bank.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale stared down at the walls from his place on the third floor. Choi Han was set to appear from that direction after the destruction of Harris Village. He was a tragic character, who lost his first home, then spent decades fighting for his life in the Forest of Darkness, then found a second home that was destroyed and everyone was killed.

In the novel, after Harris Village was destroyed and Choi Han ends up in Rain City, Cale touches a nerve of Choi Han, and gets beaten up bad.

Something in the window catches Cale's eye. It's Choi Han, sprinting extremely fast to the walls of the city. The guards block Choi Han's path, who looked completely exhausted. Cale was sure that the guards were asking for Choi Han's identification, to which Choi Han shook his head to.

"...They kicked him out."

Since Cale confirmed all he needed to know. He had something important to do.

"I'll be back soon. Don't clear my spot."

Cale ignored the chubby smile on Billos' face as he left the tea shop. Cale also ignored the voices from the tea shop that increased in noise after he left. He had to earn the Indestructible Shield today.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale hauled a large and heavy sack of bread through the slums. People were looking at him weird but Cale wasn't paying attention to that. Something was strange with him.

Cale suspected that such a large sack of bread would be difficult for him to carry, however, Cale was heaving this large, heavy sack with enough ease that Cale could probably climb a sloped mountain at the same time. Cale was not the only one with his attention on the sack of bread. The poor people of the slums were paying close attention to him too, they knew the stories about Cale, but their hunger for food brought them to watch Cale closely as he continued to walk.

The stench of the slums stretched a heavy frown across Cale's face and encouraged him to walk faster, away from the smell. Cale was heading quickly to the top of the hill, and the gazes of the people left as well, but Cale's sharp glare might have contributed to that.

'It's better here.'

Free from the stench, Cale looked down at the city, and walked to the tree that had been clumsily fenced off in all directions. The entrance of the area had been sealed off.

"Tsk"

Cale attempted to push through the the entrance of the area, only for the heavily nailed wood to creak and practically shatter at Cale's slight movement.

‘Huh.’

Must've been weaker than he thought.

"Y-You can't approach that tree!"

Cale ignored the small voice of warning. He heard another voice.

"You can't go there! It's a man-eating tree!"

Cale was close enough to the man-eating tree that he could see a hole the size of someone's head. 

Cale got closer and crouched down. The hole must be where he has to feed it bread.

"You're going to die! Don't do it!"

"Tsk"

Cale felt a headache coming, he turned around. He noticed a girl who seemed to be roughly ten years old, and her younger brother holding her hand. Their eyes full of fear.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

On had been through a lot of things. After escaping danger with her little brother Hong. She felt as though she had to train herself to be stronger and sense danger better, and grow up faster to protect herself and her brother. On knew that the strange red headed man was the trash of a rich family; that he drank alcohol day in and day out.

But something was dangerous about him, On had never seen such a dangerous thing ever in her life. Like he was the one who owned the world by sheer nature. Such a thing couldn't be human. Which is why her curiosity pulled her into approaching him and the man-eating tree. Her curiosity led her into walking away from him safely with the food to feed herself and her brother.

He is a strange, strange thing.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

It was getting dark, which meant it was time to interact with the man who would jump the wall in a few hours.

"Get me my usual, and some unsalted chicken breast."

"Immediately! I will bring it immediately!"

The owner of the pub rushed around waving his hands and wiping the sweat off his bald head. But he seemed like he was happy that Cale would not be staying in the bar. Other than the sound of the bar owner rushing around, everything else was quiet. The gangsters and scammers were especially quiet now that Cale was there.

"Tsk."

Cale walked out of the uncomfortably silent bar, with a bottle of the most expensive alcohol, and a bag of unsalted chicken breast in his hand. As he left, Cale gave a long hard stare to the gangsters in the bar, watching them visibly tense up like he was about to attack them.

Cale grinned to himself in a sly way as he slammed the door of the bar behind him. Happy that he was able to scare away some trash people. Cale didn't notice the very obvious crack in the hinges of the door as he strutted away into the night.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Taking a large swig of the bottle of alcohol, Cale appreciated the good taste of the drink. He was, by no means a lightweight, he just flushed easily, and people mistook that for him being drunk.

Walking alongside the wall, Cale heard the clear sounds of kittens crying out, alongside the sounds of city nightlife. Tw kittens were curled up, and shaking from the cold. Cale could see the form of Choi Han leaning against the wall, nursing his twisted ankle that he gained from avoiding the kittens under the city wall.

Meeeeeoowwwwwww Meeeowwww

Cale stared at the kitten that was curled up and shaking, and the other kitten who seemed to be its sibling licking the shaking kitten. They were both staring at him with wide eyes, like he would harm them without a second's notice.

'....The alley isn't really that dark. Everything is actually pretty clear. Maybe the novel got that wrong.'

Cale absently noticed that to his far side, a man with black hair and black eyes was staring at him intensely.

The kittens Cale was observing suddenly burst out into a flurry of hisses and yowls.

'What's wrong with these two? They're not making me look very good right now.'

"You look hungry."

Cale placed the chicken breast on the ground and gently pushed it towards the hissing kittens. Noting that the kittens were actually really small. Cale began to tear the chicken breast into small pieces. He never really paid attention to the extremely hot temperature of the chicken, which should’ve burnt into human skin to sting like wildfires. Cale’s thin fingers were left unscathed by the scalding chicken.

"You poor little things. Go ahead and eat."

Cale attempted to pet the injured kitten, but it swiped but Cale moved his hand back faster than the kittens could react to.

"You poor things. Eat and get better soon."

Cale spared a glance towards Choi Han. Who had risen slowly and cautiously, clutching his sword.

'Was he scared? That's funny, who would be scared of a lout like Cale Henituse?'

"Do you have somewhere to go?"

No answer.

"Or a place to stay?"

Cale didn't attempt to pet the kittens again in case they might swipe at him again. Their golden eyes watched Cale closely.

"Are you hungry?"

No response.

'Why is Choi Han so tense? This wasn’t in the novel…'

"Are you not going to say anything?"

"...Why are you talking to me?"

Cale processed Choi Han’s tense words with thought.

'What's wrong with this guy?'

Cale stood up and began walking slowly towards Choi Han, Cale knew the guards would be nearing their location in a couple minutes. Choi Han tensed up tightly and gripped his sword hard enough for a creak to be heard.

'What's wrong with this guy!?'

'He's so cautious for no reason, I'm gonna have to act like I'm no threat for a while.'

Cale stopped walking towards Choi Han, and turned around, hoping that Choi Han would take that as showing vulnerability.

"Follow me. I'll feed you."

Cale began to walk away, and he heard the noise of feet shuffling after him.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Choi Han knew he was strong. He had spent decades upon decade building his strength in the Forest of Darkness, moving from the bottom of the food chain, to the top. He had learned that even one mistake would only prove to be the end of his life. Choi Han had trained his abilities to levels no human has been able to reach. 

Choi Han has learned to survive in a place that no one else has survived in.

So why, why outside of the most dangerous place he's ever been, is there a more dangerous BEAST in front of him?

That thing in front of him wasn't even remotely human, yet it was spending its days running around in human territory without any trouble?

'I will lose if I fight this person.'

Choi Han knew it. Everybody and their mother's probably knew it.

'Should I fight this man, I will most definitely be crushed.'

But Choi Han was following behind him. Choi Han felt that if we walked any closer to this man, he might be unable to handle whatever oppressive aura that was flowing out of his being.

Choi Han decided he would snail behind slowly, in case this man would lead him to his lair where the man would kill him. Choi Han would keep his distance so he could escape the monster that was leading him to what could possibly be his death.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

"Aaaack!"

Hans covered his head with his arms as he curled into himself. Cale was staring at him with wide eyes and Choi Han had coiled up around his sword, ready to attack. However Choi Han was staring at Cale like Cale was going to attack someone.

'What.'

Cale was incredibly annoyed. So many weird things were happening, like Choi Han being cautious of Cale, or the servants of the estate being irrationally scared of him.

Hans took the bottle of alcohol from Cale, with a blank look on his face.

"I will actually throw it at you next time."

Hans paled at Cale's words, and tensed up again. Cale, sick of his antics, brushed past and continued to walk. Glancing behind him, Cale noted that Ron was staring intensely at Choi Han, and Choi Han was keeping his eye on both Cale and Ron.

Cale grinned to himself.

'It seems Ron and Choi Han have caught the eye of each other. When Ron and Beacrox leave with Choi Han, I'm one step closer to my slacker life.'

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale left Kitchen Two with a self satisfied look on his face. He successfully tied Beacrox, Ron, and Choi Han together, and they'll leave the Henituse territory and become the heroes of the continent, leaving Cale alone so he could enjoy his slacker life.

Cale ignored the occasional odd look from the servants around the castle, as he practically skipped towards his chambers.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Deruth absently listened to Hans' report of the antics of his eldest son. Pursing his lips as he remembered the night of Cale's birth. Jour was a woman of the Thames family, a fallen Barony, albeit a powerful one.

Deruth remembered the night that he held his son for the first time, Deruth remembered the feeling of power rippling underneath his son's skin, and the black mark of history that marred his fragile skin.

Most importantly, Deruth remembered the words of his late wife, the sound of her soft voice ringing in his ears, and the love that she felt for her family. Deruth remembered it all.

There is no reason to be recorded in history. Live for peace and happiness instead.

Chapter Text

Cale hates lemonade. Cale hates lemonade a lot.

The sight of Ron's benign smile as Cale skulls down a cup of lemonade makes Cale hate lemonade even more. However, something else catches his sight.

"Are you hurt?"

"...Are you worrying about me?"

"...No. It's annoying to look at."

Cale decides not to bother anymore with the scary old butler, Choi Han will take him off his hands, and Cale will be free.

Cale's thoughts of sweet sweet slacker lives are interrupted by the face of Choi Han waiting right outside his door.

SLAM .

"...Ron."

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale found himself once again heaving a large bag twice the size of yesterday's bag up to the top of slums. Cale noted the bag felt just as light as the last one, but paid it no mind. It wasn't his problem if the problem made things better for him.

The two slum siblings were there again, Cale smiled as he handed them more food. The girl attempted to approach him to take them, however Cale frowned as he watched her try to limp her way over to him.

"Hey."

Cale gestured to the young boy,

"You come here and take it."

"...Wow!"

"It's not bread, it's meat and cake."

He could hear the siblings fawning over the food. But what he could not hear, was their quiet discussion about him.

'He's strong, we couldn't tell when we are in this form. But last night, we could tell.'

The faint smell of something, not human wafts off of this red headed man. It is the smell of something impossibly strong. But instead of trying to attack him, like the other strong monsters the siblings had encountered, the man had fed them. They hadn't been paying attention to the food the night before, instead deigning to observe the strange man bring the other strange man with him.

But when they both left, the older sister had examined the food he had given them. It was clean food. Unsalted and torn into tiny bits to make it easier to eat.

He is a strange thing. But he is kind, and he was back. Back with more food, like meat, and cake.

...and medicine?

"This isn't bread."

"and?"

"You cannot die."

This man was dangerous, and strong, and he was kind.

"I won't die."

On and her little brother Hong stopped following this man up the hill, and watched him continue his trek up the hill.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale was barely sweating as he dumped bag after bag of bread into the man-eating tree. Instead choosing to run his thoughts over his day. He's earning himself an ancient power, and he fed the two siblings on his way there. 

However on his way through the slums he did feel a couple chills up and down his spine, like he was being watched. But Cale knew he was always being tailed by his father's subordinates. 

Nonetheless, Cale was enjoying the road to his slacker life, until,

"You shall go to the capital as our family's representative."

‘What.’

"...Could you please say that again?"

"Yes. Cale."

"You shall go to the capital as our family's representative."

‘Goodbye slacker life.’

Cale zoned out the words of his father as he ran through the events of the Plaza Terror Incident. Planned by a secret organisation, a terrorist incident happens at the capital and many citizens and nobles are gathered in one place.

'Deruth says that Basen normally goes to these events. But should I really tell him to go?'

Cale's mouth opens and closes repeatedly. Cale didn't want to go, but should Basen, his little brother, be put in the place of such a scary incident. 

"Please let me think about it."

Deruth let his sons leave his office, and they quickly left the room. Cale's mind was chaotically thinking about all sorts of things and-.

"Hyung-nim."

Cale turned to look at him.

"Hyung-nim there is no reason you cannot go."

Cale let out a sigh.

Basen turned without another word, and headed to his own room without even a look back.

Things are a little complicated now, but it was worth a shot, Cale will get his slacker life.

“Hans, bring that guest here.”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Choi Han sat down stiffly, staring at Cale with wide eyes. For Cale, things are going a little off the storyline, but that’s okay. Choi Han said that he would pay Cale back, and now was the time.

“There is a way for you to pay back for the meal, but I need to first determine whether you will be capable of doing it. This is simply an interview.”

“....Please go ahead.”

Now that Cale was really looking, Choi Han looked incredibly nervous. Sitting like he was sitting on a nail board with his muscles coiled and fists clenched. Cale was a bit concerned that he would get cramps from sitting like that, nevertheless, he does have business to get to.

“Do you know how to protect people?”

“...What do you mean?”

Choi Han was paying his fullest attention to Cale’s words.

“Simple. Can you protect people instead of killing them?”

Choi Han didn’t have an answer to Cale. Cale looked up from his desk and observed Choi Han again. His tense posture coiled up even more when Cale’s eyes landed on him.

‘Seriously, what’s up with him?’

“... I’m not sure.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”

Choi Han looks back up at Cale to meet his eyes, although it seems a little difficult. Cale notes a small bead of sweat dripping from his temple.

‘Why is he so nervous? I may not have understood Choi Han as much as I thought I did.’

“I guess that’s true.”

Cale didn’t want to spend more time around Choi Han knowing it would only just cause him trouble. After covering the details quickly of Lock and Rosalyn, Cale is quick to dismiss Choi Han from his study.

“You can leave now.”

Cale brushed off Choi Han, in dismissal Choi han began to walk towards the door, relaxing more the further he was away from Cale. 

“Oh! And, I’m sure everything we discussed here is a secret. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you.”

Choi Han paused with his hand on the door. Arms twitching towards his sword like Cale had just threatened him. 

Cale felt his nerves run through his body, sending chills down his arms. Was Choi Han threatening him?

“Of course. I treasure my life.”

‘What? Why is he acting like that?’

Cale stopped in his tracks, staring at Choi Hans back as he left the study.

‘What the hell? I need to get my slacker life together before something weird like that happens again.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale let the chatter of the ancient power run through one ear and out the other. Do ancient powers normally yap like this? How hard must he work for one shield?

Cale jumped as the main-eating tree, which was made of black bark slowly began to turn white from the roots up, growing green luscious leaves. The scene looked mystical.

The previously dark hole had white light pouring out of it,

‘This must be it.’

Cale put his hand into the light and felt the warm and strong shield wrap around his being.

‘I’m not sure that you’ll need it, sir. But I will protect you.’

‘Huh? The ancient power isn’t sure that I’ll need it?’

Cale waited for an explanation from the voice, but when he found none, Cale decided it really wasn’t his problem. 

‘It’s my decision whether I need this ancient power or not, so whatever the ancient power thinks is irrelevant.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“Don’t ask stupid questions and just take them.”

Cale held two small kittens by their nape and held them out to Hans. The two kittens were soaked in rain, and shaking horribly. Cale assumed they were shaking in his hold because of the chilly rain. 

“Young master, may I take care of these two lovely kitten-nims?”

“Whatever.”

Cale brushed past Hans, who was smiling in joy while holding the small and adorable kittens. Cale paused before turning to stare at the kittens, who flinched at his gaze and shook even more.

“Ah, just so you know. They become quiet when you feed them, lovely siblings they are.”

The kittens froze, staring at Cale with even wider eyes after he said that. 

“Excuse me?”

Cale ignored Hans, and instead brought himself closer to the kittens. He was certain now.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

The kitten’s eyes began to shake.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“Please don’t hurt us!”

“What!?”

Cale had returned back to the estate after meeting with Choi Han and Ron at Billos’ tea shop only to meet himself with the two kittens he took in, huddled in the highest point of his room like he was going to do something bad. 

“You might hurt us because we’re small and weak compared to you!”

The red kitten tells him, while he was being covered protectively by his silver older sister.

‘All I am, is just a human, nothing that would be overly harmful to children of the cat tribe, why would I try to hurt them?!’

Cale was so so so so tired.

“I won’t harm any of you. I don’t find it fun to harm children .”

“How can we trust what you say?”

It was the silver kitten, who said that to him.

Cale felt a large migraine coming in, and resisted the urge to shove his face into his hands. He was planning to save the cat tribe children off the dirty streets of the slums, and nurse the silver one back to health, but Cale finds himself trying to convince them that he wouldn’t hurt them.

“You can trust what I say, because I’ve helped you for the past couple days. Now come down before you fall and actually get hurt.”

The kittens seemed to murmur between themselves, before agreeing and carefully coming down from the extremely high wardrobe door they had huddled themselves on.

“...Fine, as long as you promise to not hurt me or my brother.”

“...I promise.”

Cale was so tired.

The kittens, comfortable enough to be around Cale, landed on the floor and began to rub themselves over his legs. Cale ignored the fur that got caught and stuck to his pants. 

‘I need something for my headache. Why is a slacker life so hard to get?’

“Oh! By the way, what exactly are you?” Hong, the red kitten said loudly.

“Yeah, what are you?” Came from the On, the silver kitten.

“What? What do you mean by that?”

Cale was confused, the kittens were acting so weird. The kittens stared at him, waiting for an answer. On had even leaned a little closer and gave Cale a sniff.

“I’m a human, why are you asking such a question?”

On and Hong look at each other for a moment, then back at Cale. Their expressions are full of confusion, before quickly being replaced by understanding.

“Ohhhhh, we understand Cale. We’ll keep it a secret, hehe.”

Cale felt shivers run down his spine, what secret? Cale felt goosebumps travel up his arm. But quickly reassured himself into pushing this event into the back of his mind. If it was really that important, for his slacker life, then it will turn up later.

Cale absentmindedly pet the kittens, ignoring their persistent giggling.

Chapter Text

Violan watches as Cale’s carriage and envoy are being taken out of the territory. Cale surprised her today, Violan didn’t know Cale had paid attention to the endeavours of the family.

“He brought that boy with him.”

Deruth knew Violan was referring to the man from Harris Village Cale had taken into the estate a couple nights ago.

“Mm.”

Countess Violan was without a single hair out of place, fitting of a noble woman, however, her mind was running through many things. Her next meeting with the noble women of the city, the sounds of her youngest playing around the castle, and her oldest son, Cale. Although Cale might not consider Countess Violan as his mother, the Countess considered him her son.

“Remember what I told you, dear.”

Deruth’s voice rang through Violan’s ear.

“I’ll never forget it, Deruth.”

Violan turned away from the window, confirming that Cale had left the territory safely, and walked beside Deruth. Violan quietly remembered the words of her husband when they had gotten married.

“Cale is a special case, Violan. He’s not human.”

Violan glanced back at the window, knowing that Cale would be safe wherever he went.

“Cale is a dragon.”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale stared at his bowl of soup. 

“Do you have no appetite?”

Ron approached his frustrated young master with his regular benign smile. Cale, looking between the rabbit soup and Ron, realised that Ron liked making fun of him.

‘Vicious bastard. I would have no issues if Choi Han caught anything other than rabbits.’

Cale looked towards Choi Han, noting that Choi Han was looking at him with an unidentifiable gaze. Cale was nervous because Choi Han was looking at him with such an intense stare, and stiffly waved Choi Han off so he could have some peace.

Choi Han didn’t stop staring. With shivers running up and down his back, Cale turned to Choi Han and asked,

“What are you looking at?”

“...You must be a very strong person who has experienced many battles.”

Ron, from beside Cale, tensed up, and stared down Choi Han with a harsh warning look. However, Choi Han ignored him and continued to look at Cale for a reply.

Cale hadn’t noticed Ron’s look and instead stared at Choi Han with just as much intensity.

‘He could tell that I’ve been through battles even though I’m not in my own body? Choi Han is truly scary…’

Cale hadn’t noticed he had been silent for a while, and came back to Choi Han nervously holding Cale’s eye contact, sitting up straight like he was at the military in front of his instructor.

Ron quickly came to the rescue,

“This is young master Cale’s first battle. Right, young master?”

Cale quickly came to his senses. Ron was right, the real Cale Henituse had never been in a battle like this before. The closest Cale had ever gone would be starting fights with the local gangsters in the bar. 

“Yes.”

“Of course, young master Cale has never seen so many bandits before.”

Ron was wearing his usual benign smile, however his eyes were cold and sharp, befitting of an assassin. Choi Han finally paid attention to Ron, bringing his eyes away from Cale, who had this unidentifiable look on his face.

“...Must. have. been. your. first. time. facing. potential. death.”

Ron’s smile became impossibly kinder, but his eyes seemed to have cut straight through Choi Han.

Cale was so confused, he was looking between the cold eyes of his butler, and the tense face of Choi Han.

‘Why do such things keep happening to me? Choi Han knows that I have experience in such battles even though I’ve given him no sign that I have experience?’

Cale will definitely talk to Choi Han later about this

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“Sigh.”

Cale opened the door of his carriage. Choi Han had flung himself in the way of a foreign family's carriage in order to save an old man, who found himself in the path of the carriage.

Cale frowned as he identified the crest on the carriage, and the man who walked out of the carriage.

Venion Stan. Your typical villain.

Choi Han was shaking in anger as the servants of the Stan family berate Choi Han and the old man for being in the way. Cafe huffed in annoyance. 

“Enough.” 

Venion silenced his lackey from lecturing Choi Han any further.

“Tsk.”

Cale quickly placed a hand on Choi Han’s shoulder to stop him from trying anything. Choi Han flinched, and turned to look at Cale with wide eyes, like Cale would punish Choi Han for going out of line.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

Before Choi Han could get a word out, Cale interrupted him.

“I understand Choi Han.”

Cale understood why Choi Han was so angry. This place was so similar to Harris Village, his second home. He was angry that these people seemed to have no qualms against putting someone else’s life in danger, but didn’t show even a sliver of remorse or signs of apologising.

“Calm down.”

Choi Han’s black eyes looked directly at Cale, for the first time without that unidentifiable fear that they always seemed to possess while looking at him. Choi Han began to calm down.

Cale turned his gaze to Venion Stan. He looked like a typical noble. Beautiful blonde hair, and spotless attire. Except for the spot of red at the end of his sleeve on his white dress shirt.

Cale paused, he knew the blood was from torturing the young Black Dragon, but he felt as if there was something weird going on. Cale could feel something familiar in the blood on his sleeve. It felt so familiar, and in addition to Cale’s desire to save the black dragon, something else grew on him.

Rage.

Rage that the dragon was being tortured.

‘Why am I feeling like this?’

Cale’s mind was running a mile a second, like seeing the blood of the young dragon triggered something in him. Without Cale knowing, a little bit of his aura escaped his grasp, and both the Stan and the Henituse envoys felt it.

Choi Han, who was next to Cale was staring at him with his utmost attention, like Cale would explode at any second. 

Ron and Beacrox quickly spared each other a glance, and prepared to create any sort of excuse should Cale do something bad for the reputation of the Henituse family.

However, Venion Stan, who bore the brunt of Cale’s slight slip up, almost stumbled in shock.

‘What is that aura?’

Cale calmed down as quickly as he got angry. Relaxing in his place, Cale frowned to himself, what was that feeling? I’ve only felt that sort of anger when… nevermind. Cale felt a little embarrassed that some uncontrollable emotion managed to escape his grasp.

Venion, catching his breath after what he presumed to be a storm of dizziness, that was somehow shared between everyone here. As Cale Henituse, who was in front of him seemed to be frowning at something and thinking about something intensely. 

‘How odd.’

“Nice to meet you. Are you someone from Count Henituse’s household?”

Cale looked up, snapped out of his thoughts.

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Young master Venion Stan.”

Cale would ignore this incident, seeing as he would rescue the young Black Dragon extremely soon. It wasn’t a serious incident after all. 

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“That bastard will probably soon be kicked out of his house.”

“Huh?”

Choi Han understood that the bastard Cale was referring to was Venion. That was why Choi Han was looking at Cale with a rare shocked expression on his face.

Cale had a sneaky smile on his face, and the two kittens, who were approaching him, quietly halted.

‘I plan on snatching that bastard’s dragon.’

Once the dragon was out of their grasp, Venion will face the wrath of the Marquis, and will have a hard time becoming the patriarch of the Stan Family.

“If you’re curious, you can help me out.”

“Whatever it is. I definitely want to help.”

Choi Han began to smile as well.

It was good that Choi Han began to relax after being so tense around Cale for a while now. Which reminded Cale he had to ask Choi Han something.

“Choi Han.”

Choi Han glanced back at Cale after hearing a serious voice leave his lips. Choi Han sat up straight once again, similar to when Cale had called him into his study.

“...yes, Cale-nim?”

“How did you know I’ve been in battles before?”

Cale was looking at Choi Han in genuine curiosity, and watched as Choi Han blinked in surprise at Cale’s unexpected question.

Cale could almost hear the clogs in Choi Han’s brain turning as he brought together an answer on how he knew. Cale knew that Choi Han was actually extremely smart and expected Choi Han to bring together a good answer.

“Strong people recognise strong people, Cale-nim. Isn’t that why I am with you right now?”

“What? What do you mean? I’m weak.”

“Oh! I. understand. Cale-nim. you. are. weak.”

Cale stared at Choi Han like he was crazy.

‘Why is he speaking like that?’

However his thoughts were interrupted by Hilsman knocking on the carriage to announce that they had arrived at their inn.

Choi Han quickly left the carriage to help settle in, and Cale stared at his back as Choi Han left.

“What a strange answer… what did he mean?”

Cale murmured to himself, ignoring the quiet giggling of the kittens on the luxurious cushion next to him.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“Ron, I’m going to go out to play. It’s a secret. Got it?”

Ron’s benign smile seemed to be getting even scarier the more Cale looked at him.

“I understand. I will be waiting for you.”

“Don’t.”

Cale continued to pretend to be drunk as he was supported by Choi Han up the stairs. After brushing off Hans, Cale quickly gave a message to Choi Han, sneakily whispering to him.

“Use the windows to quietly come back to my room.”

Meeeoowwww.

“Is it time now?”

Cale turned to the kittens, and nodded. Cale grabbed his magic box and quickly rushed to the bathroom to get changed, On and Hong didn’t need to see the ugly scar across his chest. 

Cale put on the outfit that was inside the box in time for him to leave the bathroom and see Choi Han slipping through the window. Cale threw an outfit at Choi Han, which he thankfully caught.

“Cale-nim?”

Choi Han was staring at him in shock. 

“You wear it too.”

Cale quickly put on the mask of the outfit, and thought about the mana device he had the kittens plant the night before.

“What is this?”

The black outfit was the outfit of the secret organisation that had destroyed Harris Village, and would cause the terror incident at the Plaza. Choi Han would run into this organisation multiple times in The Birth of a Hero.

Cale purposely made the outfit a bit shabby, but what mattered would be the sight of the star symbols on the crest. In the making of the outfit, Cale couldn’t get his hands on red embroidery, so instead of the white star being surrounded by red stars, blue stars instead circled it. But what mattered most was the white star being visible.

“...Are we doing something bad?”

“Yes. We are doing something bad.”

Cale grinned from under the mask.

“We’re doing something bad to Venion.”

“..Ah.”

Choi Han finally got it now, and put on a mask similar to Cale’s mask.

Cale quickly introduced the cat tribe children to Choi Han, before allowing Choi Han to have time to wear the black outfit and black mask.

“Let’s go.”

Choi Han nodded and swiftly jumped out of the window onto the ground.

‘Shit. I was going to ask Choi Han to carry me down.’

Cale looked out of the window to see Choi Han and the kittens who had cleverly jumped down the ledges to reach the floor safely looking up at Cale, waiting for him to join them.

“Cale-nim? Aren’t you coming down?”

Nyaaaaa!

Meoowwww!

Cale was still staring at them from the window ledge. 

‘I was supposed to have Choi Han carry me down safely because Cale’s physique isn’t good enough to safely make it down without being hurt. But why don’t I feel scared even though I know I have to jump down there?’

Cale pursed his lips and gripped the ledge, before flipping himself over the ledge.

‘If I act like I’m still Kim Rok Soo, then my instincts will do the work for me and help me land in a roll.’

Cale saw the ground nearing, closer and closer, feeling what should be his heart beating faster and faster because Cale knew he would probably get hurt for this.

But there was no heart beating.

Cale spiralled to the ground faster than ever, and Choi han, On and Hong just watched Cale come closer to what he believed was his death.

‘I’m so stupid! Why would I think I could survive this fall when I’m not Kim Rok Soo anymore!’

Cale wanted to close his eyes and feel himself hit the ground. But, something forced his eyes open. It was an indomitable feeling, like something overpowered and out of this world. But it felt like it belonged to Cale. In the loud whistling of wind tearing through his ears, Cale did not think of anything.

Cale did not think of anything other than to survive .

Something about that word had a connection to Kim Rok Soo, no. Cale Henituse.

Cale Henituse had to survive . 

For the first time in what felt like forever, Cale felt the faint beating of something in his chest. But it didn’t feel like a heart, it felt like something else.

Cale felt as though he had wings as he twirled in the air acrobatically before landing lightly and silently on his feet, like he hadn’t just jumped from his window ledge.

Survive .

‘What was that?’

Something in Cale’s mind responded with an answer,

‘Attrib-’

“Let’s hurry.”

Cale couldn’t pay attention to whatever voice that had replied to his unspoken question. He had a job to do and Choi Han and the kittens had been looking at Cale like they had expected him to land like that the whole time. But Cale knew whatever just happened wasn’t normal, and he needed answers for whatever strange event just happened to him.

Cale spared one last glance at the window ledge that seemed to tower above him, before he turned to the direction of the Viscount’s Villa and the Dragon’s prison.

Chapter Text

BRRRRINNGGGGGG

Alarms were ringing throughout the cave, it was time to move.

Guards were running in and out of the cave, panicking at the loud ruckus the mana devices were making. Choi Han, the scary bastard, was already fighting against the knights in front of the cave.

In that short amount of time, the soldiers had been knocked out onto the floor, covered in injuries on their arms and legs, preventing them from moving.

“Who are you?! How dare you come to this place!”

Choi Han easily dodged and blocked the high-levelled knight. He then moved forward to leave a deep cut on the unguarded side of the knight. Knocking the knight out, while avoiding the spurting blood, Choi Han continued to fight against the flow of knights from the cave.

“Poison.”

Cale spoke through his voice changing device, and the fog surrounding him started to expand, and Hong started to stealthily move around and spread poison to incapacitate the enemy. The fainted knights would not be able to move for a while.

While Cale was basically doing nothing as all the vicious individuals around him were knocking people out left and right. Cale was left alone to his thoughts, something felt oppressed inside him, and Cale felt as though he could break through it easily, it was just a strange murky feeling…

Before Cale could attempt to rid himself of such a swampy feeling he heard the meow of On who was by his side.

Right. Cale had a job to do. He didn’t have time to think about the weird things happening to him right now.

“Cover.”

Choi Han, who heard Cale’s voice clearly over the din, quickly stood in front of Cale and darted towards the cave entrance, Cale quickly following behind him in a sprint.

“Block them!”

Choi Han quickly knocked out the brave knights who had immediately charged towards him, and fought past the wave of knights coming his and Cale’s way.

Cale didn’t try to hide his amazement at Choi Han’s ability, and was moving behind Choi Han. 

Cale felt chills down his spine and quickly turned to look behind him. It was from the villa, a group of knights who planned to attack their small group from behind.

Cale, on some weird instinct, raised his hand, intending to break through the murky feeling and use… something? He wasn’t quite sure, but Cale would figure it out.

The murky feeling stretched like it was a blanket covering Cale’s being, and Cale quickly snapped past it, and instinctively flexed his hand, and this weird tingly sensation ran down his hand and a sudden wave of intense pressure pushed the incoming knights back, making them fall back, foaming at the mouth.

‘What??’

Cale came back to his senses after seeing the knights fall down like pins.

‘What did I just do? I wasn’t even thinking, and I held out my hand and pushed a little past the murk and this happened?’

Cale was staring at his hand in shock, but was snapped out of his stupor by the clangs of Choi Han’s sword meeting the high-level knight’s sword. Cale could once again hear the shouts and screeches of fighting. Cale could also hear the loud blaring alarms of the mana devices in the mountain.

It was good the mana disturbance device was working, Cale paid a lot of money for it.

Brushing off the returning murky feeling. Cale quickly ran into the entrance of the cave, trusting that Choi Han would not let anyone past him.

“Nobody can get past this spot.”

He was someone who always kept his word.

Cale rushed deeper into the cave, listening and following the faint voice of the person who protected the dragon’s prison. The torturer.

“Why, why!? Why is the Magic Crystal Ball not working!?”

Cale stepped into the room the torturer was in, paying no mind to the screams of the knights outside. The torturer was shaking, pointing at Cale like that would do anything to deter him.

“D-Don’t come here! Do you know what is in here?!”

Cale knew that if the torturer received an attack stronger than an average person’s strength, he would explode and die. It was a safety measure put in place for Venion.

“If you come, everyone here will die!”

‘Tsk.’

Cale made a gesture towards the torturer, and a heavy fog began to shroud the room. On, the owner of the fog was hidden away, slinking in the shadows of the cave.

“A-AAAAAAH! Go away!”

Something in the torturer’s throat gurgled as the fog slowly became tinged in red. It was Hong’s paralysis poison.

“Ugh! What? P-poison?!”

The torturer’s body convulsed the slightest bit as he fell to the ground. He looked horrible, with his mouth gaped open and saliva dripping out of his mouth, bloodshot eyes staring directly at Cale.

‘This is so gross.’

Cale approached the torturer with disgust, quickly rummaging through his clothes and grabbed the key. The redhead recoiled from the man, staring once again in disgust at the torturer. The poison the man was given looked a bit much, when observing that his veins looked to be popping out of his skin. 

Cale snapped his fingers and looked up, and two small black bundles fell from the ceiling. It was On and Hong, Cale could see them clearly, even without the torch, and quickly verified that the two were safe.

Cale felt tempted to kick the torturer hard, but knew the torturer would explode should even a little force be placed on him. Cale shrugged and stepped on the face of the torturer, digging his heel in the eyes that he knew were still open due to the paralysis poison Hong had dosed him with.

The torturer could not even groan in pain. 

‘Serves him right for even attempting to torture a great existence like a dragon.’

Cale strided into the farthest corner of the cave, observing the curled up state of this prison. It was the dragon. Cale could smell the scent of blood in the air and the blood covering the dragon. It smelt days old, and hours new.

Cale felt his rage spur at the scene.

The redhead quickly approached the prison, and the dragon continued to keep its eyes closed, even as Cale approached. He was probably in a state of chaos.

Cale, in his anger forgot the use of the very obvious keyhole in the prison, and wrenched the prison open, tearing the metal door out of his way roughly. Cale paid no mind to the detail of the prison, it wasn’t worth his time to see, nor remember.

A small figure about one metre long was laying on the pitiful stack of hay in the corner. His closed eyes were shaking as he laid there. All of his limbs were chained, and a mana restriction chain was on his neck, stripping him of all his strength.

“Hey.”

Cale crouched in front of the dragon. 

“We’re leaving.”

The dragon moved his head in the direction of Cale, and gave him a light sniff.

The dragon’s eyes shot open and stared at Cale with a shocked gaze. The dragon was wide eyed, staring at Cale, before its eyes strengthened themselves, and the dragon brought itself to stand tall before Cale. It was a strong gaze, the gaze of someone who had not lost his will to live. The gaze of a being with a strong desire to survive .

“What a nice gaze.”

Cale lifted the dragon into his arms.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Choi Han punched the wall like he was punching a pillow. However the wall crumbled before him like sand, revealing a long pathway.

“Wow.”

“Oh.”

The kittens were admiring Choi Han’s strength, while Cale adjusted his hold on the black dragon.

“Let’s go.”

The group rushed through the tunnel with ease, Cale not even bothering to be surprised that he could hold his own next to strong vicious people. He had figured out during this trip that something was really off with him, and as per his slacker life, Cale had to figure out what was going on.

The dragon remained quiet in Cale’s arms, and Cale could hear the expanding of the small dragon’s lungs as he breathed in and out the stale air of the cave. The eyes of the dragon, which Cale expected to be extremely vicious, were instead staring at him in plain curiosity, like Cale wasn’t a part of the human race that had tortured the dragon since birth.

“Stop staring at me like that.”

The dragon continued to watch Cale, as the group moved through the tunnel with ease. Cale felt the blood of the young dragon seeping through his clothes, and sticking to his skin. Cale pursed his lips at the injuries of the young dragon, but felt incredibly comforted that the dragon was in his arms, like it was natural for them to be side by side…

“Cale-nim there is another wall in front of us.”

“Break it like last time.”

“I understand!”

Boom!

The moonlight kissed the faces of the group, and the night sky was visible from their position. They were outside.

Cale stepped forward as he looked around. It was safe, however, they needed to move quickly or the mana disturbance device would stop working and Choi Han and Cale would be caught by Venion’s recording device.

Choi Han and the kittens worked to rid their traces as they walked away from the mountain.

“Stop.”

The alarms had stopped going off. The mana disturbance tool had stopped working.

Cale let out a deep breath, he could now relax, and have time to mull over the events of the night. Sparing a glance towards the dragon, Cale started to smile.

Gone was the gaze of rebellion and curiosity, and in with the eyes that were seeing the sky for the first time. Cale laid the dragon down on a soft patch of grass, noting that the dragon had stopped staring at the sky in admiration. The dragon was now staring at Cale with some sort of conflict, a mix of his hatred for humans, and confusion as he looked at Cale. 

‘This dragon won’t back down at all, that must be why it was tortured for four years.’

Cale liked this dragon. This dragon survived .

“Hey.”

Cale grabbed the face of the dragon, and then took out a pair of gloves and a scissor shaped cutting tool. He had rented them from Billos too, they had a lot of magic seals, and electrical resistance.

Cale was mulling over his conversation with Billos before noticing that everything had gone silent. Choi Han was looking at the cutter with strange eyes, and the kitten siblings had moved away from Cale’s side, and were hiding behind Choi Han.

The dragon was still staring at him.

“Tsk.”

Why would Cale attempt to harm this dragon?

 Cale approached the dragon on the soft grass, and grabbed his neck.

“Gasp.”

The kittens took a deep breath, and On attempted to cover the eyes of Hong. However they were ignored by Cale, as he continued his endeavour, the cutter moved closer to the dragon’s neck, and the sharp blade glinted under the moonlight. The dragon continued to stare at Cale’s eyes, they were peaceful.

The dragon closed its eyes.

At that moment, the group had heard the snapping noise of something getting cut.

Hsssssssssssss.

The mana restriction chain was sparking in Cale’s gloved hands.

“What are you looking at?”

Cale scoffed at the dragon who opened its eyes to once again stare at him. Cale handed one of his gloves to Choi Han. Choi Han put on the glove and took the chain Cale was holding.

Cale reached into his pocket and pulled out a high-grade potion. It was costly to purchase, but when looking at this pitiful dragon, Cale felt no regrets.

“Do you know how much money I spent on you?”

The dragon was staring at him with complicated eyes.

“Since I spent so much money on you, you better heal properly, you stupid punk.”

The dragon felt no pain.

Cale poured half the potion onto the dragon’s back, watching all the open wounds heal up from its back, and poured the other half down the dragon throat. Cale observed the remains of scars on the dragon’s back fading slightly from its scales, but they never disappeared. Cale considered this.

‘It’s hard to completely heal from experiences like this, the best you can do is move on and survive.’

That is what Cale had learned as Kim Rok Soo.

“Hey.”

Cale leaned a little bit towards the dragon.

“What do you want to do now?”

Cale started to smile, looking at the dragon who chose to remain silent.

“I know you can speak my language. You are a dragon. The greatest existence in the world.”

“What did you want to do once you got free?”

“..I.”

The dragon’s voice was weak from misuse. But the dragon’s voice was strong.

“I.”

Cale started to grin.

“I will live.”

Cale felt a chuckle bubble up into his throat.

“I will go away.”

“I will not be tamed.”

“Yes. You are right.”

Cale quietly began to laugh.

“You are a dragon. A DRAGON. You have the right to live freely.”

Even a four-year-old dragon was stronger than most animals in the world. It had the strength to survive on his own, and dragons are normally independent and prideful. 

Cale looked into the eyes of the dragon, who did not trust humans.

“I will not take care of you.”

Cale didn’t have a reason to look after something so strong. There were already too many headaches surrounding Cale.

“Liar. Humans…….”

The dragon trailed off.

“You’re a liar.”

Cale stared at the conflicted look in the eyes of the dragon.

“I guess that is true. I do lie quite a bit.”

Cale continued.

“Live however you want to live. What is it you want to do?”

“I…. I hate humans. I want to be free.”

“Good.”

Cale got up from his place next to the Black Dragon, and took out a small pouch from his pocket. It was full of potions. Cale placed it in front of the dragon.

“Live freely.”

The dragon’s eyes began to shake, his eyes were still full of resentment and confusion. Naturally, Cale ignored it.

‘That should be enough.’

He freed the dragon, fucked Venion over, saved the village, and helped Choi Han understand what freedom means. Most importantly, he did not need to take responsibility for the dragon. Cale could tell that the dragon did not want to follow humans.

It was a good ending.

“Let’s go.”

Cale spoke to his party members, satisfied. Then he turned his back to the dragon, with no regrets.

The cat tribe siblings hesitated before trailing behind Cale, and the dragon lifted his head to watch them walk away.

“...I hate humans…they are evil…”

The Black Dragon was staring at the back of the red headed person.

“...but that man doesn’t smell like a human…”

Chapter Text

“Cale-nim.”

“Hm?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“I know. I was the one who told you to leave.”

Choi Han was staring at Cale, who was standing impatiently at the mountain entrance.

A lot of things have been weird lately. Like the dragon leaving corpses of animals near the Henituse envoy’s campsite, or Taylor Stan and Priestess Cage being at the ancient rock towers because they were looking for someone the God of Death wanted them to find. These occurrences definitely weren’t normal. Cale felt his slacker life slipping away from him even more.

Choi Han had grown comfortable around Cale ever since the night they had saved the dragon. Cale was thankful for that, because if more weird events happened around him, he might actually lose it.

“Mr Ron is a dangerous person.”

Cale blinked. How was he supposed to reply to something like that? Especially since Cale could feel the presence of Ron behind them, listening intently. 

How could Cale feel Ron’s presence? Cale didn’t know. Cale didn’t care.

“...Is that so?”

“You are not surprised? There is a stench of blood from him. You must already know about that.”

Choi Han understood that Cale Henituse was a strong person. Choi Han always feels like he’d have to run in case Cale would be a little too annoyed. When their party had saved the dragon, Choi Han had felt a powerful wave of pressure leave Cale’s finger as he had blasted the knight’s behind them away without a single thought. 

Choi Han had always wondered what Cale was because he definitely wasn’t human. However, when Choi Han’s black eyes landed on the scarred scales of a young dragon in Cale’s arms, and the look of familiarity on both of their faces that night. Choi Han knew exactly what Cale was. Choi Han understood another reason why Cale wanted to save that dragon so badly.

“You are both the same to me. In that aspect, you are dangerous as well.”

Cale was looking at Choi Han with a stoic expression.

“You are strong as well.”

“Ah.”

Choi Han let out a gasp. Cale didn’t know the reason behind it, but continued to speak.

“It’s all the same to me.”

The swordmaster understood what the mighty being was trying to tell him. It didn’t matter if Cale’s butler was strong, or that Choi Han was strong, because in comparison to Cale-nim’s strength, they were nothing.

Cale took Choi Han’s silence as his answer.

“You have nothing else to say, right? Don’t follow me.”

Choi Han silently nodded his head, and watched as Cale headed to the small mountain.

“You heard him, right?”

Ron smoothly jumped off the tree. He glared at Choi Han and started to smile. In a blunt voice, Ron started to speak.

“I changed his diapers and raised him since he was young.”

Choi Han stood in front of the path to the mountain and replied to Ron.

“Cale-nim said that nobody is to follow him from here on.”

“I know, you little punk.”

Ron turned his back to the mountains without second thought.

“I shouldn’t have come. We both know the young master is more than capable enough to take care of everything himself.”

Ron was getting too old for this.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“...I was…. just passing by.”

“Tsk.”

The Black Dragon flinched after hearing Cale click his tongue. Cale was on the edge of the harsh winds inside the cave, and was about to go further until he felt the presence of a familiar mana inside the cave.

Why was the Black Dragon even in here? 

Cale ignored the gaze of the Black Dragon, and turned his attention towards the middle of the tornado, which was where he was aiming to go.

Cale’s shield persevered through the harsh winds that were clashing against the shield.

The Black Dragon was staring in confusion at Cale.

Cale brushed past it and continued to move forward. The Black Dragon continued to become even more confused. Like the actions of the redhead was something strange to be observed.

Cale continued to trudge through the winds, hearing the voice of the ancient power once more. It was a sad old man, talking about his regrets.

“Tsk tsk.”

However, something the ancient power was saying caught Cale’s attention.

‘Oh! This power! You are powerful! But there is also something there, a power I am familiar with?’

Cale didn’t know about the first half of that information, maybe it had something to do with the strange events happening around Cale. Whatever. It’s not his problem. But the familiar power must be the indestructible shield that Cale possesses.

He pushed further into the storm, shrinking his shield in order to handle the strong winds inside. While absentmindedly listening to the words of the ancient power’s owner, Cale noted that they were quite chatty.

Cale pushed to move forward more. However, he found it strange that he was not struggling as much as the indestructible shield was to cover his body. Cale had shrunk the shield as much as possible in order to keep the shield strong while protecting his body from the cutting winds. 

The redhead walked into the eye of the storm. The winds seemed a lot quieter when he was in the centre. His hands were barely shaking as Cale listened to the annoying voice of the old man.

‘I chose to throw everything else away so that I could continue to live.’

“Tsk.”

‘Who cares about anything else? Surviving comes first.’

The old man had a lot of useless things to say. Cale clicked his tongue and returned the shield to his chest. He neared the half completed rock tower and kneeled down in front of it.

It was like any other rock tower. However, the stones of the tower were black, like the man-eating tree. Cale put on a pair of gloves that he had with him, and began picking up rocks to finish the rock tower.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

 One rock at a time, the rock tower was being built.

It didn’t even take that long. 

“So easy..”

Cale picked up the last black rock, and gently put it on top of the rock tower.

Flash!

The black slowly drained out of the rocks, leaving them a pure white. At the same time, the wind was dying down.

“...Huh?”

Cale ignored the confused voice of the dragon and waited until the wind had completely died down. He crossed his arms, and listened to the old man’s voice now that he had no choice.

‘I tried to fight with them. However, I did not know that I was so weak against pain. They were not people who served the lord. I only realised that after we all went our separate ways and I ended up alone.’

‘...What?’ 

The words of the old man caught Cale’s attention, and he remembered the words of the glutton priestess.

‘The people in the Forest of Darkness who called themselves servants of the lord only gave me terrible food.’

Cale felt as though he had learned something useless. 

Cale started to frown as the old man continued to speak. That voice was something only Cale could hear, thus making the dragon hesitate while looking at the silently standing Cale.

‘I piled the rocks. I piled them up hoping that I could turn back time, hoping that I could be happy. But then I destroyed it.’

‘I hated my selfish self for thinking about my own happiness after betraying my comrades and running away.’

“Sigh.”

Cale let out a long breath. This old man was so annoying. Cale started to speak in frustration.

“It is human nature to be selfish.”

The old man was quiet for a moment.

Cale started to smile, thinking that the old man finally stopped yapping, and he was finally going to give Cale his ancient power. However, the sobbing voice continued again.

‘Ahem. My older sister would say the same thing. She was a really wonderful sister. She was so reliable. Ah, my older sister… sob!’

The old man started to cry.

“I’m going to go crazy.”

Cale felt like he was going to tear out his hair and shove it in his ears to drown out the annoying crying of the old man.

‘You, the strong one with the familiar power. That rude personality reminds me of my older brother. I am very envious of how rude you are.’

‘Thank… you??’

Cale didn’t know if that was a compliment or an insult.

‘Break it. Then you will, ‘overcome,’ your limits.’

Cale broke out into a grin, finally. His leg stretched out to kick the rock tower over without hesitation. The rocks from the rock tower flew across the cave with force. Hitting the opposing wall with a huge,

BOOOM!

Cale didn’t mean to do that.

Cale didn’t know he could do that.

 Did Cale care? A little bit.

A white light, similar to when Cale had gained the indestructible shield, rose up from the bottom of the rock tower, and it rushed towards Cale. Cale reached forward to grab the light, and the moment his fingers touched it, the light shot towards Cale’s heart like an arrow.

Cale felt the light disappear through his chest, likely through the large scar that rippled over his skin.

‘Oh! you…’

It was the voice of the crybaby old man.

‘…I understand. Then I shall become your heart instead. 

‘I will protect this new heart!’

The glutton priestess too?

‘New heart? What? I seriously need to get behind whatever strange thing is up with my body.’

Cale pursed his lips, thinking deeply about where he should start about the mystery of the scar on his chest.

“You.”

Cale turned his attention towards the young Black Dragon, who was pretending like nothing was happening by instead staring at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

‘Weird dragon.’

Cale continued to speak stoically.

“You want to come with me?”

The Black Dragon stopped staring at the ceiling and turned to Cale with a thoughtful curious look.

“Why are you using that weird power? You can make a much stronger shield than that with your mana.”

Cale paused and stared at the Black Dragon who was attempting to appear nonchalant by picking at the non-existent dirt under his claws.

“What mana? This is my ancient power.”

The dragon stared at Cale like he was stupid.

Cale stared at the dragon like the dragon was stupid.

“You’re obviously a dragon. Don’t even try to play dumb.”

“... I have no idea what you are talking about. There’s no way I’m a dragon.”

“Why are you even trying to hide it? I’m a dragon too.”

“I’m not trying to hide it, there’s nothing to hide. All I am is a normal human.”

The Black Dragon stared at Cale with pity.

“I really hate to break it to you reddie. Can I call you that? I’m gonna call you that. There is no way you’re just a normal human. You’re a really strong dragon.”

Cale blankly stared at him.

‘I'm what? Why would I ever be a dragon..’ 

Cale’s train of thought trailed off. It all started to make sense. Why some of Cale’s senses seem to be inhumanely good. Why both animals and people seemed to be irrationally scared of him. Why the kittens had thought Cale would harm them. Why Choi Han was always so tense around him. Why he could do weird things. Why Cale could sense weird things.

Cale Henituse. THE walking garbage fire of a person, was a dragon??

It explained a little bit, why Cale was so focused on his image, why Cale was so arrogant. It was assumed because that’s just how Cale was, because he was trash. But it was because it was part of his nature as a dragon??

Cale felt it. There’s something slipping through his fingers. 

It’s his slacker life.

Chapter Text

After Cale’s shocking revelation, he trudged back to his inn covered in dirt. He ignored Choi Han’s questions on why he was covered in dirt. He ignored the Black Dragon that was obviously following behind him. He ignored Hans’ fumbling as he trudged like a dead man back to his room. Before plopping onto his bed face first and groaning loudly.

Cale felt as though he would never ever get a break. The one thing he wanted was to do nothing and wither away rich and happy. But now Cale could not even do that, because he knew he was a dragon. That was basically asking to be involved in all the drama. 

Meowwwww

The cat tribe siblings meowed loudly and climbed on top of Cale’s bed and tapped him with their paws.

“Nya, what’s wrong Cale?”

It was Hong’s voice, his sister deigning to instead sit and cushion herself on Cale’s back like it was the most royal seat in the world.

Cale’s weak muffled voice could be heard from the pillow he chose to bury himself into.

“I have just found out some useless information again.”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“Come on in.”

Cale motioned for Priestess Cage and Young master Taylor Stan to enter the room. It had been a couple days since Cale’s mind breaking discovery, which almost caused Cale to pity himself into a vegetative state. He had sent the kittens to deliver a message to Cage and Taylor Stan during that night, and saw Choi Han off to the Breck Kingdom the next morning. 

Cale hoped it would be the last time he would see this scary protagonist. However, knowing his luck, Cale knew deep down inside that he would definitely see Choi Han again.

The curses of being a dragon.

Cale knew that in the middle of his way to the capital, seeing Cage and Taylor Stan basically sealed his fate. But Cale had hope, that all he needed to do was just work a little harder for his slacker life.

So when the two had seated themselves around the table, Cale had asked.

“What is it you want?”

Taylor Stan smiled.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale’s carriage comfortably headed to the south of the capital. Huiss, the capital of the Roan Kingdom. People were bustling around the streets, clearly busy getting ready for the upcoming birthday celebration.

Cale took a peek through the slightly lifted curtain and started to think.

‘Choi Han should arrive in 3 days.’

Unless he moves like some crazy lunatic, which he is already halfway to. Choi Han should bring Rosalyn and Lock with him, and they would run into the secret organisation while getting Lock, which would only delay them even more.

Cale’s thoughts travel to the Plaza Terror Incident.

‘That blood-loving mage will show up.’

Cale blankly stared outside, before shutting the curtains again. In a week, the happy citizens that decorate the beautiful streets will soon be filled with despair.

“Young master Taylor. Ron will take care of you once we arrive at the residence. You just need to head out that way.”

Cale was looking at the door as he continued.

“Forget everything.”

He could hear the voices of Taylor and Cage from behind him.

“Thank you very much.”

“See you in a joyful environment next time.”

Cale started to smile. Cage and Taylor continued to look at him, but neither Cale, nor the kittens paid them mind. 

Click.

The carriage door opened.

“Young master, we have arrived.”

Cale, Hans, and the kittens ignored the sight of Taylor and Cage, and acted as if the two weren’t there. Cale turned towards the driver’s seat once he got off the carriage safely with the kittens in his arms. Ron had his usual benign smile on his face, while his eyes looked as sharp as ever. Cale trusted Ron would take care of it.

Cale turned around and let out a quiet breath.

“Ho.”

The kittens On and Hong seemed to be in awe too. Their sharp pupils dilated.

The Count was really really wealthy. Past the iron gates of the estate was a five-story residence. There was a garden between the gate and the building itself. It wasn’t fancy, or shiny, but it was definitely expensive. More expensive than the other closeby noble estates.

The Henituse residence truly carried an aura of extravagance to it, and obviously cost a lot of money to build. Naturally, a large sculpture of the Henituse golden turtle was in the centre of the front garden.

As Cale entered through the open gates, the servants of the estate were all lined up perfectly in order to greet Cale.

“Young master Cale Henituse! Welcome to the capital!”

It was a respectful greeting. They were all bowing so low that their heads looked like it was grazing the ground. The old man in charge was speaking so loudly that Cale thought he might hurt his old voice. Cale would be lying if he said that this sight didn’t satisfy some hidden draconic need of his.

‘Ugh. Knowing you’re a dragon is so weird. I would rather not think about it.’

“Everybody, list your heads up.”

The servants quickly flung their heads back up. They were all watching Cale, observing him as they had not met Cale Henituse before, and only heard rumours about him. It was best not to get on the bad side of a trash who threw glass bottles around.

“No need to be this respectful in the future. I do not like to cause any issues to people who do their job well.”

‘I feel as though I might become really uncomfortable with these people bowing towards me all the time, I don’t want to be reminded of my being all the time.

“I heard that mother picked all of you. She said you all have a lot of pride in your work, so I’m sure you will perform very well.”

Cale didn’t bother to dwell upon the odd expression of the servants.

“Ask Hans if you have any questions.”

It was better to shove all of these responsibilities onto someone like Hans, who Cale knew would take care of everything. Cale began to walk towards the five-story building. 

“Let’s go.”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale settled in fast. It was a luxurious building that Cale basically had free reign of. Cale could enjoy basking in the extravagance of this estate, and dream about how in 10 years time Cale would live a life exactly like the moment he was living now.

“Sigh.”

Cale threw the letter onto the table with an extremely irritated expression.

“Will you not go?”

“Can I not go?”

“No. It is a Northeastern nobles meeting.”

“I knew it.”

Cale quickly dismissed Hans after talking to him so Cale could get some food delivered to his chamber. Cale chose a chamber on the thirds floor. A chamber with a lot of sunlight and a large window.

“Come in.”

The large window was open, and soon enough Cale could sense the presence of a young dragon entering his chamber. Cale could also see a bush of leaves floating in the air. The dragon had a couple leaves stuck to him.

Meowwwww

On and hong meowed at the sight of their youngest, and Cale stared at the three of them. Before popping open the wine bottle and telling them to dig in.

“Go ahead and eat.”

Cale poured himself a glass.

“You gathered ingredients for us, but you never got to eat any of it.”

Cale picked up the wine glass daintily, befitting of a noble/dragon, and brought it to his lips.

“I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”

The Black Dragon removed its invisibility magic and revealed himself. On, ever so kind and helpful, helped remove the leaves that were stuck to the dragon’s scarred scales, and Hong stuffed a piece of a rare steak Beacrox had prepared into the dragon’s mouth.

The children with an average age of 7 years old ate together, and Cale watched them eat, before placing more food in front of them and onto their plates. Seeing Cale’s show of kindness made On and Hong flinch and remember his strength. The Black Dragon stopped his chewing and observed Cale once again, like Cale was something to model himself after.

‘What a strange look. I’m no role model.’

Cale took another leisurely sip as he started to think. 

‘They’re going to be working very hard in the future.’

The least Cale could do would be to provide food and shelter for these children averaging seven years old.

“It would be great if it could stay like this.”

‘A large house, delicious food, and time to relax. This is THE life.’

Cale leaned back into the soft couch, a relaxed smile on his face-

Knock knock knock.

The Black Dragon quickly shrouded himself in invisibility, and the kittens quickly wiped their faces clean of food and pretended to be normal kittens.

Cale got up to answer the door.

“Oh.”

Crash!

Cale had accidentally hit the wine bottle and it flew away and broke into pieces. He really needed to learn how to control this weird strength.

‘I have a bad feeling. Why is it so ominous?’

Cale ran his mind trying to figure it out.

‘This presence, is it Choi Han? It is definitely family and strong. But it can’t be, unless he travelled like a lunatic, there is no way he arrived three days early.

Cale calmed himself down, before opening the door suddenly.

“...You-.”

Cale’s heart sank as soon as he saw the face behind the door. 

“Cale-nim. I’m sorry. You were the only person who came to mind.”

Choi Han was standing in front of him, looking desperate, and out of breath, all in all Choi Han looked like a total mess.

Cale felt as though this was one of the scarier things in life. Next to Choi Han was deputy butler Hans, who has a similar expression of desperation with a little bit of shock mixed into his face. However, Cale’s eyes were drawn to the head of hair leaning on Choi Han’s back, who Cale could tell even before he opened the door to see. 

Cale could smell that it was a blue wolf tribe member. It was Lock.

“Bring him with you.”

The successor of the Wolf King was in a dangerous state. He was going to go berserk for the first time in his life.

Cale knew this wasn’t supposed to happen for another year, and he didn’t know why it was happening so early. However, he looked around at the people around him and said only one thing.

“Don’t worry.”

Chapter Text

Choi Han quickly trudged inside Cale’s room with Lock, with someone trailing behind him.

A fiery redheaded woman, who smelt distinctly of strong mana. Cale knew from A Birth of a Hero that Rosalyn was an extremely strong mage, however, it was different when Cale was experiencing the true levels of Rosalyn’s mana up close in detail.

Cale supposed himself being a dragon helped him accurately gauge Rosalyn’s power levels, but seeing a mage for the first time was interesting…

Cale remembered a passage from The Birth of a Hero that detailed something about dragons having an interest in humans or other creatures that could handle and control mana.

‘I better not fall into a stereotype, I don’t want to be more involved than I already am.’

Cale turned away and looked towards Hans.

“Hans. Go bring something to drink.”

“Excuse me? Ah, right away!’

Cale didn’t notice Rosalyn’s wide-eyed stare as he eyeballed Cale.

Cale shut the door in front of Hans, then quickly appointed Choi Han to lay the heaving Lock onto the bed.

“Lay him down first.”

“Got it.”

Choi Han carefully laid Lock down onto the soft bed. Cale slowly approached Lock. Cale could tell Lock had the purest of blood, making him look like a weak human. But Cale knew that Lock was the strongest of wolves.

“Hah, haaaaa, hah, ugh.”

Lock was huffing and struggling to breathe without pain, and was trying his best to open his eyes. He had a deep frown on his face, and his body was tense yet limp at the same time. It was too late to prevent Lock’s berserk state from taking over.

“Just keep your eyes closed. No need to strain yourself.”

Lock paused in his shaking. Hearing the underlines of power in Cale’s voice.

“Everything will be okay.”

Lock was reminded of his uncle, the chief of the Blue Wolf Tribe, and the man who had died for the others. Even though his uncle was so close to becoming Wolf King. He had made sure Lock was safe before running head first to take on the invaders.

The aura and voice of this unknown person was extremely strong, but not oppressive, and it reminded Lock somewhat of his late uncle.

Cale watched Lock’s frown begin to deepen, and Cale had ignored that and turned away.

“Cale-nim, why is Lock like this?”

Choi Han, still anxious and concerned, was unlike the original novel, where Choi Han had only slightly opened up to Lock.

‘What could’ve happened?”

Cale was no idiot. He knew he had changed Choi Han’s situation, and that was why he was trying really hard to cut off their relationship, even more so when Cale found out he was a dragon.

“Potions don’t work on him. Rosalyn said that the wolf tribe is a tribe that cannot use potions, and healing magic isn’t working on Lock either. I don’t know what to do. I need to protect him. I’m supposed to protect him.”

“Calm down, Choi Han.”

Cale was thinking if Choi Han would panic anymore, BOTH him and Lock might go berserk. While Cale was probably confident he could endure that based on his draconic background, Cale was definitely not tuned to try.

“Cale-nim.”

“If you trust me, just leave him to me.”

“...I trust you.”

“Good.”

Cale watched Choi Han’s breathing slow down, and ensured that Choi Han was calm, before turning his eyes to the fiery red hair of Rosalyn.

Rosalyn, the first successor to the throne in the Breck Kingdom, had thrown it all away to pursue a path of magic as a mage. Cale observed that Rosalyn paid no attention to the happenings of the room, nor on Choi Han or Lock. She seemed to have difficulty between keeping her eyes on Cale and a corner of the room.

Cale knew that the Black Dragon’s presence was focused in that specific corner of the room. Rosalyn seemed to have trouble speaking, and was focused on keeping her attention to the Black Dragon and Cale at the same time.

“...T-this aura, this strong aura of mana!”

Rosalyn could tell almost instantly that there were two dragons in the room.

“Sigh.”

Cale could feel that the Black Dragon was curious about this mage, as Cale could feel the Black Dragon was showing off his mana to Rosalyn.

The dragon was doing so because he seemed quite happy with Rosalyn’s attention.

Cale spared a glance towards the table that appeared ‘empty’, and quietly spoke.

“Stop it. Stay still.”

Cale’s voice was quiet to everyone except the Black Dragon and Rosalyn, instead his voice resounded powerfully in their ears.

The Black Dragon quickly pulled back his mana, and Rosalyn spun her full attention over to Cale. Rosalyn could not stop shaking as she gaped at Cale, not knowing what to say to him.

‘Oh my goodness! Two dragons! In the same place! I’ve never thought I’d ever be able to witness this with my own eyes! This older dragon-nim is even more powerful than the invisible one, and they seem to be friendly with each other! What can I even say?’

“...I-”

Cale cut Rosalyn off and gestured to Lock with a meaningful look.

“This is more important.”

“Ah.”

Rosalyn’s expression quickly steeled itself. That’s right, her new friend Lock was struggling in pain and she needed to help him get better.

“What is going on with Lock right now?”

Cale looked at the small staff in her hand, piecing together that Rosalyn must’ve teleported the small group closer. Rosalyn had already revealed the extent of her magic abilities.

“You are a mage, yes?”

“Y-Yes, I am.”

“Have you heard anything about the berserk mode of Beast tribes?”

Rosalyn let out a small noise, and her face quickly filled with questions.

“I have read about the Wolf Tribe’s berserk mode in books, but I have never read anything about symptoms such as this.”

“It is because it is his first time.”

“Excuse me?”

Cale continued to speak, holding the attention of everyone in the room naturally.

“Beast people lose their sanity during their first time entering berserk mode because of the physical pain from their bodily transformation. If they can persevere past this first painful transformation, they will be able to use the berserk mode as a weapon.”

Cale observed Lock for another second.

“He will go berserk very soon.”

Cale looked towards Rosalyn, and Rosalyn held his gaze albeit shakily.

‘She really is holding strong in front of a dragon.’

“I don’t know what kind of being you are, but I am able to read the situation.”

“He is a young boy.”

“I know.”

Cale and Rosalyn understood each other’s intentions

Meowww

The two kittens had jumped up onto the bed Lock was laying on in their curiosity, and On and Hong were staring at Lock when…

“Ugh.”

Lock bared his teeth and started to growl at the small kittens, he was losing his rationality right now, and turning to his instincts. He looked vicious.

Meeeoowwww

Smack. 

Hong had used his front paw to smack Lock’s pulled back mouth. It was a sharp attack that told Lock to stop it, and Hong looked towards Cale with eyes that seemed to be asking Cale to hurry up and help Lock.

“He is fine.”

Cale spoke to Hong, and there was a knock on the door.

Hans was back with drinks.

“Hans.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Bring something to carry him with.”

“Ye… excuse me?”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale observed the howling Lock in the training area who had begun to rush attack both Rosalyn and Choi Han. Cale was in the seating area of the training area, silently observing Choi Han and Rosalyn work together swiftly to slug out the fight.

‘Those two really are the main characters.’

Lock let out loud cries and shouts, and his body became noticeably large every time he let out a shout. Muscles that weren’t there started to develop rapidly, and his eyes turned bloodshot red. Proof that he was losing his consciousness.

Cale mulled over why the boy was going berserk. In the novel it was because Healer Pendrick had died in battle, someone Lock thought of as similar to his uncle.

“On, Hong.”

Cale looked down to the siblings in his arms who were huddling together.

“The two of you haven’t experienced a berserk transformation yet, right?”

The kittens nodded their heads.

“Do you know anything about it?”

“Not really.”

“No one taught us about it.”

Cale knew this was the case. On and Hong also seemed to be pure blooded, and their berserk transformation would be hard as well.

“I don’t know too much about the berserk transformation of the cat tribe, but if it is at least a little similar to the wolf, tiger, bear, and whale tribe, come to me as soon as you feel yourself heating up or hurting.

‘It would be bad if an accident happened, who would clean it up? I would, and I’d rather not.’

Cale glanced at the two kittens who had gone silent, they both began to rub their heads against Cale’s neck and arms.

‘Why are they like this?’

Cale turned his attention away from the kittens.

“Black Dragon, observe this.”

Cale waved his free hand and focused, pushing that feeling deep inside of him to flow out of his hand. A six layered shield had appeared in front of Cale, surrounding the kittens and the invisible dragon who was hovering by his side. Cale in his free time had been subtly exploring and experimenting with magic ever since he had discovered he was a dragon.

It had come so naturally to Cale, that Cale suspected the original owner of his body had practised enough for the flow of mana to become muscle memory for Cale.

It was lucky that he had an incredibly good memory, so Cale never had to go over the same magic topics twice, and he quickly sped over the whole curriculum of magic in a few days. Dragons really were something else…

“Ohhh.”

“Ahhhh.”

Cale could hear the fawning of the kittens over his shields as they admired the transparent starry looking complexion of his mana. Cale didn’t want to admit it bloated his pride a little.

“This is interesting Red Dragon, you are indeed a strong dragon. But I know I can make a shield just like that one.”

The Black Dragon’s voice was heard from somewhere within Cale’s shields.

“Do whatever you want.”

“Hmpf.”

Cale watched as the Black Dragon placed more barriers on top of Cale’s shields; he counted a total of three shields that covered Cale’s.

‘His skill is growing exponentially.’

Cale was impressed with the learning speed of the Black Dragon and was satisfied with the improvement.

“Hm.”

The four continued to observe the fight between Lock, Choi Han, and Rosalyn safely from the sidelines.

“Wow. On, Hong”

Cale caught the attention of the kitten siblings who had left his arms and moved closer to the edge of Cale and the Black Dragon’s barrier in order to observe the fight a little clearer.

“Watch that Wolf tribe kid’s movements.”

Cale wanted the cat tribe children to pay close attention to the werewolf. To pay attention to the Wolf Tribe style. Cale spoke as if he was whispering.

“This is the instinctual movements of a Beast person. The fact they they can move based purely off on instinct, unlike humans, is one of the beauty and gloriousness of Beast Tribes.”

Bang!

 Lock’s fist shattered the marble floor, he was showing tremendous strength.

“You should not fear or dread going berserk. That is when Beast People are at their strongest.”

Pat. pat.

Cale’s hands patted the two kittens.

“Although your tribes are different, the two of you are Beast people too. Watch him closely, and learn the style of a wild animal, and then,”

The two kitten’s golden pupils made eye contact with Cale’s reddish brown eyes.

“Make it your own.”

The two cat tribe children immediately turned away from Cale, and pressed their faces closer to the barrier, in an attempt to see every small movement Lock would make. The silver and red fur of the kitten’s stood on end as they were riddled with nerves.

“Hey.”

The Black Dragon slipped out of invisibility, and revealed itself to be hovering in the air, observing Cale and the fight. Rosalyn and Choi Han didn’t have the time to look over, as they had invested their full attention to Lock.

Cale gestured towards the three of them in the training area, and continued to speak to the dragon.

“Look at how the mage Rosalyn uses her magic to not hurt the opponent. Also look at how Choi Han is using his aura not to attack, but to protect himself while not harming the wolf child.”

Both dragons observed the clanging of Lock’s fists that were trying to break through Rosalyn’s shield.

“It is harder to not hurt something than it is to hurt something when you have immense strength. But I know you will be able to manage, since you are a dragon.

The Black Dragon puffed out its chest and responded to Cale.

“I am a dragon. There is nothing I cannot do!”

“Correct. We are dragons, so watch them and make your own judgement.”

The Black Dragon flew down to sit beside the kittens on the ledge of the sitting place, turning invisible once again.

Lock seemed to be calming down now…

“You can rest now.”

“It is all over now.”

Lock finally relaxed and closed his eyes.

Chapter Text

Kim Rok Soo wasn’t an idiot.

He knew whatever had happened to him before he woke up as Cale Henituse wasn’t normal.

Kim Rok Soo knew how to survive, he knew exactly how scraping through life by the bloody tips of his fingers felt. He knew how desperate living was. Which was why Kim Rok Soo wanted to live a relaxing life away from pain and suffering.

That’s why the strange, warm, and cavernous feeling of waking up never left his mind when he awoke as Cale Henituse. Kim Rok Soo could remember the heart of his body pounding and pounding without stopping. He remembered the absolute terror he felt in that short moment in the dark, 

it felt like he was going to die.

But Kim Rok Soo survived .

He was alive. But something was wrong. Kim Rok Soo… Cale Henituse knew it the moment he felt Ron Molan waking him up on that fateful morning. He wanted to hear the beating of his heart. But it was not there.

When Cale had woken up, he thought he was dead, there was silence in his chest, but there was blood pumping through his ears. Something was truly off about this body. 

Cale noticed how the servants of his household seemed to irrationally hold their breath around him, and how the citizens of the city bowed their heads and fled at the sight of him.

He had his suspicions about Cale Henituse’s existence, but he was scared to confirm them, scared to think of himself as anything but human. But the Black Dragon hit Cale on the back of the head and snapped him out of his denial.

Cale Henituse was a dragon.

A dragon, an existence only second to the Gods. A beast among the lands and sea. An arrogant, and superior presence that demanded respect and glory from everything inferior around it.

More importantly,

Cale Henituse survived.

It was unknown what exactly Cale Henituse had survived but escaping with his life cost Cale great pain, and his skin marred by a deep ugly scar was his pride. His pride of ​survival.

Cale had promised himself deep in the night, staring into the ceiling after confirming he was indeed an all powerful beast, that he would do anything in his great power to understand what had happened to Cale Henituse. For the first time in a long time, Cale had felt the thumping of something in his chest, and Cale knew that it was not his heart, but his attribute. His attribute protected by a silver shield and healing touch.

Cale started to grin to himself.

Cale Henituse was a dragon, and he would survive.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

The redheaded man ran his hands over his face, treading his mind over the past events of the last couple days. He had taken Choi Han to the Temple of Darkness to reveal the secrets he knew he could reveal. The divine presence in the Temple was strong enough to give Cale a huge headache, and even worse, the divine energy seemed to be reaching out to him. Cale noted this as a problem for another day however, he assumed it was because of his history as a transmigrator. 

Despite his misfortunes, Cale was happy, he had sent Ron off for two days, which meant Cale had two days of peace away from this vicious assassin, score!

“Thank you for the invitation, dragon-nim.”

Right. Cale was in a private meeting with Mage Rosalyn. He had work to do.

“It was nothing, Miss Rosalyn. But please, Cale is fine.”

“Of course, young master Cale.”

The red head gestured for Rosalyn to sit down in the chair across from him, and watched as Rosalyn stiffly sat in the chair. She was sitting up straight and leaning forward like whatever Cale was going to say to her was the words of a God (although it might as well be considering Cale was a dragon).

“There are a lot of things we need to discuss.”

“Young master Cale, I guess you don’t like to beat around the bush?”

Rosalyn allowed a slight smile to grace her face, and Cale looked towards the open terrace window and started to speak.

“Come in.”

Rosalyn slowly dragged her eyes off of Cale and was observing the movement of mana that had entered the room, although she might have also been observing the mess of leaves that were covering the invisible Black Dragon.

“Is it another dragon-nim? Two dragon-nims?”

Mages really did respect dragons. Her demeanour clearly showed her excitement at the presence of two dragons. Cale started to smirk, as he started to speak towards the presence of mana and leaves.

“Introduce yourself.”

In an instant, the leaves that were hovering over the meal in front of Cale had revealed themselves to be a Black Dragon.

“Mm.”

Rosalyn could not even gasp, it was a different thing to visibly see two dragons next to each other, let alone have one dragon listening to the other. She seemed to be observing every feature of the Black Dragon in front of her, it was the true form of a dragon so Rosalyn couldn’t help it. Especially because there were less than twenty dragons in existence over both the Western and Eastern continents combined, but two of those existences were in front of her right now.

Cale considered his knowledge of dragons, they were known for never leaving their territory and lair, and enjoying life as the most amazing existence in the world. Furthermore, dragons were the Rulers of both mana and nature. They were existences who liked solitude, and although there were less than twenty dragons in the world, they varied dramatically in colours, personalities, habits, and traits.

Mages found this quite interesting, questioning why they were so different to each other even after growing up under their parents. The mages only found one explanation.

‘Dragons are prideful creatures that want to be different from any other.’

They want to be unique while they are alive. That was the case, even amongst their own tribe of dragons.

Cale realised his traits were a little similar to the typical traits of dragons. He found it hard to leave the Henituse territory, and Cale loved to enjoy his life being a rich slacker, although he hasn’t found the time to slack in a while.

Cale seemed to be lost in his thinking while the Black Dragon observed Rosalyn as Rosalyn studied both him and Cale. The black dragon turned towards Cale.

“I am hungry.”

Cale glanced down towards the Black Dragon, who seemed to be staring at him strongly.

“...Go ahead, you can eat it… We should eat as well.”

“Ah… yes. Thank you dragon-nim”

“...Cale is fine, Miss Rosalyn.”

“I’m sorry, young master Cale.”

Rosalyn had a blank expression on her face, but her eyes were shaking. She paid close attention to the Black Dragon in front of her, munching on a rare steak, and the elegantly dressed Cale Henituse who was drinking his soup like a true noble would.

Nobody at the magic tower would ever believe her if she told them she was eating a meal with not ONE, but TWO esteemed dragon-nims. They would especially not ever believe that the infamous trash of the Count Henituse’s family was one of those dragons.

Rosalyn believed her eyes however, as well as all of her senses.

“...It is so amazing that a mage like myself can see this sight. Two dragon-nims dining with each other and a mage.”

Cale didn’t respond to her, but the Black Dragon stopped tearing his steak apart to look at Rosalyn. He turned his face to look at Cale as well. The wide blue eyes of the Black Dragon started to frown while looking at Cale, who was still stylishly drinking his soup.

“This Red Dragon is very strange because he is always with humans, but this Red Dragon is teaching me, that is the reason I am with him.”

“Wow.”

Rosalyn hung on every word of the Black Dragon, while Cale considered the words of the Black Dragon. It was strange that a dragon would willingly spend his time around humans, but Cale grew up around these humans, and these humans also did Cale’s dirty work.

“Mm.” 

Cale also considered truly teaching this Black Dragon, Cale wasn’t too experienced with dragonhood, but The Birth of a Hero was also incredibly detailed with its descriptions of dragons, and their abilities and mana. 

‘I suppose I can raise this Black Dragon, but because he’s a dragon I wouldn’t expect him to stay with me long.’

“A meal with two dragon-nims.. It is an honour.”

Rosalyn was calm as he elegantly lifted up her fork, her past nerves seeming to leave her in that moment. Cale studied her expression and continued to drink his soup.

‘She really is a courageous person.’

Any other mage would definitely be shaking through their boots and non-stop praising the dragons in front of them, and they would ask the dragons to teach them even a little about mana or magic. Dragon’s really did demand the respect and glory of both magic and nature.

“I’m satisfied you are enjoying this meal, Miss Rosalyn. However, in this moment and into the future, I am simply just the young master of a Northeastern territory, and not a dragon.”

“I understand, young master Cale.”

“Please feel free to stay here as long as you like.”

“Young master Cale?”

“Yes?”

“I have three things I am curious about. But one of them has already been resolved, so I have two more. May I ask about the,?”

“Please do.”

The first was probably the existence of two dragons, Cale had debated whether to reveal the Black Dragon’s existence, but decided it would be more beneficial to him if he did.

“Here is the second thing I am curious about”

“Hm?”

“Is it okay to allow someone who was not invited to stay in your residence like this? Even if I am a mage, as a noble, you must be sensitive about associating with strangers.”

Cale was expecting a question like this.

“It is fine because you are someone Choi Han brought.”

Cale looked at the Black Dragon, who was still tearing his steak apart, before turning back to Rosalyn and continuing to speak.

“I also have confidence in my own abilities, and this young black dragon.”

The Black Dragon didn’t respond, but he flicked his wing once before stuffing his face back into the now massacred steak. Rosalyn eyed the Black and Red dragon before asking her final question.

“...I see. Then here is my third question.”

Cale paused in picking out his next plate, and looked up at Rosalyn. Their eyes met, Rosalyn’s bright red pupils stood strongly in front of the lightly luminescent reddish-brown eyes of Cale’s. 

“Why do you speak so respectfully to me, despite your status as a noble and a dragon?”

Cale grinned, and Rosalyn could not draw her eyes away from the dangerous red shimmer that reminded her of the deep colour of blood.

“Princess-nim, aren’t you the one who should stop speaking so respectfully to a mere noble?”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Rosalyn was the esteemed Princess of the Break Kingdom, she had known all and seen all there was to noble society. However, Rosalyn always felt that fiery passion towards the arts of magic. As a powerful mage, Rosalyn knew the reverence of dragons, Gods among the earth.

Rosalyn never knew that following Choi Han in their mission to help Lock would lead to her laying eyes on the literal definition of the very essence of mana and nature. Nevertheless, TWO of these existences.

“I heard you were trash, but I guess that was a lie.”

Rosalyn memorised every scale on the Black Dragon’s body, remembering every scar that seemed to marr it’s being. He was such a young dragon, but he seemed to have suffered through many misfortunes.

Rosalyn spared a glance to the older and more powerful dragon before her.

‘Young master Cale must have taken in this young dragon to protect it from danger. I have never seen this behaviour in dragons before.’

It pained the mage to speak to the Red Dragon in such a disrespectful tone, but young master Cale insisted it was to be done. Rosalyn understood the importance of hiding one’s identity, but it was hard to contain her awe of the two presences in front of her. 

It was a little selfish of her, but Rosalyn wanted to see this odd pair in the future, both in improving her use of magic and understanding of mana. But also to understand the godlike existence of dragons in the world. Rosalyn wanted to learn everything about magic that she could, and if it meant that Rosalyn had to hang off the arms of great existences.

Rosalyn didn’t mind being greedy.

Chapter Text

Sometimes Cale felt weird urges to do random things that he had never felt as Kim Rok Soo.

“Cale-nim? What are you doing?”

“...what?”

Cale turned around and looked down to face Choi Han. The swordmaster was on the ground underneath Cale, staring up at Cale through squinted eyes.

Symptom number One of being a Dragon

“Strong human! We are sun-bathing, because we are great and mighty!”

Cale always gravitated to the warmest part of the Henituse estate with the Black Dragon and the kittens. So when the warmest part had to be the very roof of the estate, so be it.

He admitted that the afternoon sun on his face was very satisfying, and he knew the Black Dragon and the kittens agreed with him too.

So that was something Cale had noticed about himself.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Symptom number Two of being a Dragon

Cale admitted that the thought had crossed his mind, and he SWORE that he wouldn’t. But the palace pillar really did look amazing. 

So when Cale found himself with a massive golden pillar in his chambers back at the Henituse Capital estate, all he wondered was.

‘How did I get here?’

“Weak dragon! This pillar is interesting, are you going to keep it?”

Well, it would be awkward if Cale had to suddenly turn up in front of the crown prince to return a massive golden pillar he stole.

Cale opened his mouth to reply back to the Black Dragon, but was interrupted by the voice of Rosalyn.

“Dragon-nim? What’s this?”

“Ah.”

Cale peered around the large diameter of the pillar, the fiery red hair of Rosalyn greeted him, her face contorted into a confused expression.

“...Uh… I wanted it?”

Cale answered like it was a question, he felt confused at himself too. Rosalyn made a sound of understanding, like she understood why Cale just had a pillar from the Royal family’s palace.

“I understand, Dragon-nim. You truly are great and mighty.”

‘Understand what?’

Cale was tempted to look at Rosalyn weirdly, but he found himself preening and puffing his chest slightly at her compliment. What? Cale wasn’t a little kid who would smile brightly at such simple praise.

He couldn’t help but feel a little satisfied at Rosalyn’s words.

“That’s right, Miss Rosalyn… now about the Breck Kingdom…”

Cale would push this feeling out into the back of his mind, and he would blame it on whatever draconic nature he had.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Symptom number Three of being a Dragon

It was one of the first couple days that Kim Rok Soo had spent as Cale Henituse. It was in his own curiosity to explore the entire Henituse estate at the same time.

Cale didn’t know when it started, but by the time the day was over he had a whole handful of random trinkets he thought looked cool. He was sure more than half of what he collected were probably valuable to the other members of his family

But Cale found it hard to care. 

Cale swiftly snuck back to his chambers, rushing past the random servants in the estate quickly. He saw Ron outside his chambers waiting by the door. Why is he waiting by the door?

Cale didn’t really care. 

Ron’s weird look was ignored as Cale rushed inside his chambers with his arms full of miscellaneous objects from around the halls.

“Young master Cale?-”

“No time, Ron.”

Cale slammed the door of his room behind him quickly. Right now he needs to analyse his stash.

A statue from his step mother’s room. It was carved out of polished marble from the Henituse mines, and it was detailed of a golden turtle gracefully laying on well-shaped rocks.

A gold highlighted fountain pen with shimmery ink from Basen’s study.

A small and sharp letter opener from Lily’s common play area (Cale didn’t know if Lily was supposed to have something sharp with her, but it really wasn’t his problem).

An obsidian paper weight that was encrusted with jewels from Deruth’s office.

Some random necklace that Cale found on a table in one of the hallways.

A small dagger that Cale had taken off of Ron when he walked into the room.

‘Scary bastard’

Cale was satisfied with his haul today, but it would be quite incriminating to be found with a whole armful of stolen objects…

Cale needed to find a place to put these things.

With his stolen things littering Cale’s bed, the redhead quickly started to bustle around his luxurious room, opening random drawers in hope of finding a suitable place to shove all of his things.

Cale walked into his wardrobe, and analysed the corners of the large closet. There was a small door in the wall of the wardrobe.

‘There.’

Cale swiped up his gathered objects and strided back into the wardrobe to open the door.

A pale hand reached out towards the door handle and opened it slowly.

Pssssssssshhhh–

The clanging of a sea of objects poured out from behind the door. Cale jumped back and watched as what could probably be a decades worth of stolen objects poured out of the hole.

Cale slowly took a step back.

‘What the hell??’

The concerned voice of Ron graced Cale’s ears from outside his chambers.

“Young master? Is everything alright?”

“....Uh, yes. Ron, everything is okay.”

Kim Rok Soo didn’t know Cale had a whole hoard of things in his wardrobe….

Chapter Text

“Wow, who is this? Isn’t this our infamous young master Cale?”

“Sigh.”

‘I want to explode this annoying bastard.’

This fly-like person wanted towards him was Neo, the successor to Viscount Tolz. Also one of Venion’s minions.

‘Ah. I want to explode Venion too.’

Cale blinked slowly to himself…

‘What? Why am I having such vicious thoughts?? Am I spending too much time around vicious people?’

Cale ran his mind back to the times he was lately spending around strong people. Maybe Choi Han’s viciousness has infected Cale from the nights they’ve spent out looking for mana bombs. 

That must be it, there’s no other reason why Cale must be thinking such aggressive things.

Neo Tolz ugly mug smiled brightly as he stood in front of Cale.

“You are alone?”

They were a while away from the palace entrance, and the Vice Captain and Ron were speaking with the guard for permission to enter. Cale couldn’t help but look down on Neo, he supposed it was in his nature.

Neo frowned as gestured his subordinates away.

“I am going to chat with young master Cale for a bit. Go get permission for us to enter.

Neo’s subordinates left, leaving the two nobles together alone. Neo stepped a little closer to Cale, and Cale had to stop himself from physically cringing and a vein bulged in his clenched fist to stop his mana from flinging Neo Tolz into the stratosphere.

‘That is a very satisfying thought…’

“Young master Cale.”

Neo had a warm and friendly smile on his face, as he spoke in a quiet voice only Cale could hear.

‘His breath stinks like yesterday’s breakfast, does this rat even know personal hygiene?’

“What is a terrible trash like you doing coming to the palace?”

‘Why do I have to deal with things like this?’

Cale wanted to tell Ron to kill this stupid punk who dared to stand and breathe in his face.

Cale could obviously flip these bastards inside out with ease, but didn’t want to dirty his well taken care of nails. 

‘Why do the work when someone else can do it for me?’

“What? Do you want to throw a bottle at me? Or do you want to hit me? Go ahead and try.”

‘This guy is just provoking me. He’s doing it on purpose, he’s trying to rile me up out here because there’s nothing recording or listening to us.’

Cale was tempted to step on this punk in front of everyone, and his pride as a dragon was screaming at him to humble this incel. But if Cale caused a ruckus here, it would only be seen as a fight between trash and a dignified noble. It’s to Neo’s advantage, and that wounded Cale’s pride even further.

Cale wrinkled his nose as he noticed an ugly nose hair that was poking out of Neo’s nostril.

‘Ew.’

• What a bastard. It reminds me of that bastard Venion. Red dragon, are you just going to sit there and take it?

It was the voice of the black dragon speaking through his head using magic.

• He is Venion’s lapdog. If I do something bad to him now, it would reflect badly on me.

Cale quickly replied to the black dragon using his magic.

• Then should I kill him?

Cale pursed his lips a little, zoning out of Neo’s worthless yapping in front of him.

‘What a vicious young dragon.’

Cale was thinking this, as if he wasn’t fantasising about different ways to force Neo in his place.

• Black Dragon, there are better ways to get back on punks like this. It is more satisfying to watch these bastards slowly learn their lesson and regret their decisions as you hit them in the back.

Cale could tell the Black Dragon was considering his words deeply,  while Cale slowly began to lean back from the still spitting Neo Tolz.

‘So annoying.’

• You are right, Red Dragon! I will keep this lesson in mind.

“Mm.”

Neo Tolz heard Cale hum, and continued to provoke Cale, taking his reaction as a sign that he would not bite back.

In that moment, Cale’s gaze was torn to a new carriage that just arrived.

Bang!

The carriage door opened, and out came the Northeastern nobles, Eric Wheelsman, Gilbert Chetter, and Amiru Ubarr. Cale had recently been in a meeting with them to discuss their plans for the upcoming noble gathering. It greatly pleased Cale to know that all he was allocated to do was stand there and do nothing.

‘Staring into nothing for long periods is my specialty after all.’

However, what was not his specialty, was enduring the torture of standing next to this squid looking bastard.

“Hyung-nim.”

Cale’s sincere voice called out to Eric Wheelsman, who’s attention was already on Cale. Cale’s cold eyes let Eric understand everything he needed to know.

‘Get rid of him.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

The first time Eric Wheelsman and the young Northeastern nobles met Cale Henituse. They all remembered their parents telling them to stay on the Henituse’s good side.

Eric supposed their parents told them this because the Henituse’s were the most wealthy family in the Roan Kingdom, and having the Golden Turtle on their side would ensure the prosperity of their territories.

Eric, naturally, listened to his parents, and promised to remain by Cale's side. However, as Eric began to spend more and more time next to Cale, Eric eventually took Cale in as his dongsaeng, his cute little brother. He reminisced on their adorable little siblingship when they were younger, and Eric knew he had not stayed next to Cale because his mother and father told him to do so, but Eric stayed by Cale’s side because Cale was his little brother.

That day was iron-branded in his mind.

The day when Eric truly knew who and what Cale Henituse was.

Eric Wheelsman was spending a week in the Henituse territory, to enjoy his time playing with Cale much to Deruth, Jour and his parent’s joy. They were happy their young son’s were having fun with each other. However, in the middle of the last night of the week, when Eric would be leaving the next morning, Cale snuck them out.

“Hyung-nim… follow me! I have something cool to show you.”

Cale had snuck behind the back of his old butler, and past the confines of Eric’s chamber.

Eric naturally had no suspicion in what Cale had wanted to show him, and instead he had found excitement in his first experience sneaking out.

Cale had led the both of them out of the Henituse Estate, and through the back of the Henituse rose garden. Eric should’ve been suspicious when Cale had told him to close his eyes and breathe properly, and he definitely should’ve known something was up when he opened his eyes to a whole different array of trees and flora.

But Eric didn’t notice, too caught up in the thrill of feeling the foreign night’s air kiss his face like angry bees.

Eric could hear his heart beating…

Cale could hear it too.

“Dongsaeng…”

“What do you think, hyung-nim?”

Eric had opened his eyes to a dark, dank forest, Eric felt as though the forest would swallow him whole and never let him see the light of day ever again. But the forest was irrelevant, what really caught his eyes was the rows upon rows of bright, colourful flowers.

The flowers found themselves in natural arrays of blossoms and buds, Eric thought not even the most expensive watercolour art piece in his estate could even match up to the diverse explosions of colours in front of him. It wasn’t even day time, but Eric thought the flowers were vibrant enough to provide enough colour for the whole western continent… no, the whole world.

“It is… beautiful. Where are we, Cale?”

“Do not tell anyone, hehe, this is in the Forest of Darkness.”

Eric tore his eyes off the display of beauty in front of him to gape at Cale in shock. How did they get into the Forest of Darkness that quick?? But more importantly, now that Eric was looking at Cale, there was something behind the red head.

“...Cale…”

“What? Haha, it is not actually that dangerous here.”

“No… Cale?”

“Haha, what?”

“There’s something behind you…”

Cale snapped his head around to look behind him.

It was a group, no. A wave of snarling beasts, growling and dripping foam and blood from their snouts. There were long, scaly beasts, and great, big, furry beasts.

But beasts they all were.

Eric felt his legs shake and quiver beneath him, and suddenly Eric had found himself standing in front of Cale even though he was terrified, the excitement of the cold night leaving him instantly.

Eric shivered as the frigid winds bit and gnawed at his face, freezing the young boy’s blood in place as he struggled to pull himself together.

They were in danger.

Eric felt his mouth gape open and closed it, his eyes filling with tears, but he had to stand strong and protect his dongsaeng. It was his duty.

Eric didn’t remember much of what happened after that moment. It was so muffled and blurry that he could not understand any of the events. 

But Eric did remember the flash of vibrant red scales that out did the colours of the field of flowers he was admiring just then, and the low snarls of an even more superior beast than the hoard of ugly things before him. Eric remembered the fearsome roar of a dragon that night, and the fleeing of monsters with their tails between their legs.

Eric could remember only one thing from that night onwards.

The shiny, bright scales of a powerful beast.

The swirling whiskers of a legend.

The curling horns of a dragon.

The beautiful form of something that felt familiar.

The sharp reddish-brown eyes of Cale Henituse…

Eric knew that Cale had protected him from death that night, and as the years grew on and Cale Henituse grew more distant and unfamiliar. Eric swore to himself that he would do anything he could to protect Cale too.

They might not consider each other brothers anymore, but Eric can cope with that.

The one thing Eric couldn’t cope with, was the thought that Eric wouldn’t be able to protect Cale, even in the smallest of ways.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

‘Why is he staring at me like that?’

Cale was looking back at Eric Wheelsman with an uncomfortable look on his face. Eric had spent the last maybe 10 or so seconds zoning out in Cale’s direction.

Cale gave him one last once over before deigning it very royally… not his problem.

‘Weird punk.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale pressed a hand to the Black Dragon’s small head. Venion Stan, that bastard. Without even taking a glance, Cale knew the Black Dragon was shaking.

• I’m okay. I told you that I am okay.

Cale listened to the Black Dragon’s voice in his head, and patted it’s shaking body. Anger and fear. Cale could feel what the Black Dragon was feeling right now. He pursed his lips.

‘That is why trauma when you are young is so scary.’

The Black Dragon didn’t know how to respond to Cale’s gentle touch, because the physical trauma that its body, that had still not rid the scars of, was not aligned with the rationality in its head.

• I am okay. I am a great and mighty dragon.

Cale had told the Black Dragon when he said he wanted to follow him that Venion Stan would be in the noble gathering as well. The Black Dragon had promised when asked by Cale that it would not kill Venion Stan today. Cale remembered what he had told the dragon, and repeated it to him through his mana.

• Later. We will definitely kill this bastard and the rest later.

The dragons were planning on ripping them into shreds so they would fade away into the finest particles of dust. Cale’s voice calmed the Black Dragon down. Cale considered himself and other dragons to be rational creatures, he thought about the hell that he would unleash upon Marquis Stan in the future, and paused in his patting of the Black Dragon.

Cale was thankful that the Black Dragon wouldn’t go mad and destroy the palace in his effort to kill Venion Stan. Cale didn’t want to deal with such a situation.

“Long time no see, young master Cale.”

Ugh. Venion Stan. He seemed to have aged a few wrinkles from the last time Cale saw him, but he was still holding a gentle smile, befitting of a noble. Cale eyed Neo Tolz, who was standing behind him, looking anxious and stiff.

Cale openly grinned widely.

“Hello, young master Venion. This is our first meeting since we met in Viscount Tolz’s territory last time.”

Venion laid on his gentle smile thickly, and Cale enjoyed the sound of Neo Tolz’s heartbeat growing ever so quicker and louder, and his face growing ever so paler.

“Correct. I went to visit my friend, young master Neo, and was heading back home.”

“Yes. We said we would share a drink at the capital.”

“We did indeed.”

Cale and Venion looked very calm while they were chatting each other up. They ignored the gazes of the other nobles that were upon them, and chose to instead observe the other closely. 

Cale didn’t want to look at Venion’s pug-like face any longer.

He looked toward Neo Tolz (Cale hadn't chosen a nicer direction to look in), who was peeking at him from behind Venion’s shoulder, and started to smile.

‘This bastard’s ugly mug isn’t really that better.’

“Oh, right. The day after I met you, young master Venion, one of Viscount Tolz’s knights, came to find me.”

Cale painted a sickeningly sweet concerned expression on his face.

“I heard the villa was ransacked completely clean. Is everything okay?”

Neo did a whole body flinch, and Cale could see Venion’s expression twitch.

“Did you hear about it, young master Venion? I’m sure you have since you said the two of you are good friends.”

“...Yes. It was very sad to hear.”

Venion took a second to reply. Cale could feel the succulent taste of satisfaction rising up into his mind.

“Yes. You don’t know how shocked I was to hear about it while I was having my hangover drink. How could they ransack the place clean and not leave anything behind! They said you lost something very important, young master Neo?”

Cale knew from experience that the most annoying people in the world were the ones with loose lips, no tact, and righteousness.

Wombo Combo!

Triple homicide!

Cale loved acting like all three, it was the best feeling aside from being a slacker.

…The red head was actually a little bored now. There was only so much pitiful bastards could do to keep his attention. Cale half-assed the rest of his boring conversation with Venion and Neo, minding to mentally step on their toes as much as possible.

Cale resisted the urge to yawn after watching their backs leave while shaking in anger and annoyance, Cale related this feeling to whatever little children felt when introduced to a world made purely of unicorns and candy. 

Absolute joy.

“Young master Cale-”

Cale watched Eric, who looked like he was holding back a long stream of words, but didn’t know how to properly present it, before sitting back down.

• It is my turn next.

Cale gave a mental hum of mana back to the Black Dragon in confirmation, and ignored the weird looks the Northeastern nobles were throwing at him. They had probably never seen a sober version of Cale.

‘Ugh.’

Cale watched their squirming reactions as he picked up a bottle of alcohol from the table.

They all snapped their heads away quickly.

Haha, ignore the strength of a dragon!

This is the power of trash!

Cale was amusing himself with the reactions of the nobles around the table, and turned to distract himself with the introductions of the rest of the nobles. Cale turned his eyes to the luxurious clock in the centre back of the hall.

Click. Click.

The clock hit exactly 5pm.

Woooosshhh-

The large door opened and the main characters for the gathering entered the hall with their envoy.

‘Wait. What?’

The servant looked like they were about to shout at the top of their lungs, but was silenced by the hand of a fair-skinned hand.

It was the Roan Kingdom’s crown prince, the eldest prince of the kingdom, Alberu Crossman. He looked pleased with all the attention on him.

‘No way…’

“Welcome. Thank you for responding to my invitation.”

Cale absentmindedly paid attention to the Priestess Cage and young master Taylor Stan entering the hall, hearing the murmurs of shocking rippling between the nobles. Cale could roughly pay attention to the visible rage that emanated from Venion Stan at his older brother’s presence.

‘The crown prince… there’s something not human about him… but I can definitely smell the stench of human blood… there is also a hint of darkness to him.’

Cale didn’t look in the direction of the crown prince in order to keep attention away from him, but Cale could instantly tell. The crown prince had changed his appearance with magic.

His shining blonde hair was a rich shade of brown, his blue eyes were definitely a shade of hazelnut, and his skin was definitely not fair, it was a southern colour of brown too. 

‘I’ve learned something useless again.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale zoned out through the rest of dinner, not minding the whispers of gossip spreading through the hall, all eyes on Taylor Stan on the Northeastern nobles table.

‘The Birth of a Hero never said anything about the Crown Prince being anything other than a human. Was this past the 5th volume?’

Cale trailed after the Northeastern nobles as they walked towards the Crown Prince to chat with him, he remembered the files shared between them during their meeting a couple days ago. Something about tourism in the Ubarr territory, it was a pretty useless bill, Cale honestly thought the shore had better uses than that.

“Oh, our Northeastern nobles!”

The crown prince had a bright smile on his face, befitting of the sun. His appearance, which had been altered to fit the ‘Sun God’s blessing’, had the features of a typical fairytale prince.

“Your highness, it is great to see you. Eric Wheelsman greets his highness for the first time in a while.”

“Yes, yes, Mister Eric. Don’t we have something to talk about?”

Eric replied back to the crown prince respectfully, who brought up the Northeastern shoreline investment issue with a bright expression.

“Yes! I have been waiting for a good moment to discuss it with you!”

“I am also waiting for that moment. You are the intelligent young master of the Count Wheelsman’s family. The Wheelsman family is responsible for the entrance to the Northeast region, and has been doing a very good job. How could I push that off?”

‘He’s slowly getting into it.’

Cale stood there, quietly observing Eric and Alberu. Eric was smiling at the crown prince, who was slowly starting to use his oily tongue. The crown prince started to praise Gilbert and Amiru too.

‘Interesting, what a strange person.’

The crown prince reached out his hand to Cale, who slightly (albeit hesitantly) bowed his head to the Crown prince.

“Mr Cale of the Henituse family, that is responsible for the edge of our Northeastern region. It may be my first time meeting you, but, thanks to Count Deruth’s good work, we are no longer afraid of the Forest of Darkness. You don’t know how reassuring that is for me and everyone else.”

Cale only had one aim right now.

“I heard that Mister Cale is a very free spirit. I’m sure this is because the artistic souls of the sculptures in the Henituse territory have given you an epiphany? I feel like your free spirit makes your soul very pure.”

‘Wow.’

It was probably hard to find something good about a renowned trash like Cale. In this angle, the Crown Prince was kind of amazing.

But he had no choice but to say good things to Cale, the royal family wanted the Northeast under their control as well. Furthermore, there were no members of royalty who would despise someone like Count Henituse, who ruled over his territory well.

Cale felt some sort of draconic satisfaction rise up in relation to the Crown Prince’s praise, even though Cale knew it was empty praise.

Cale sincerely grabbed the crown prince’s hand, and he prepared to raise his own glib tongue. Time to get him in the back.

“I also felt something after meeting your highness today. I realised that in addition to our current sun, his majesty, we also have you, the one who will shine over the night to watch over the citizens at night. It was a wonderful image for my eyes.”

Cale’s voice was calm and relaxed, and he looked very confident.

“...Is that so?”

The crown prince seemed to hesitate for a moment, glancing down at their conjoined hands, maybe he realised something about Cale? But the crown prince looked back up with his normal expression back on, Cale didn’t miss this change.

In fact, Cale embraced the crown prince’s amusing reaction, and continued in an impossibly more sincere voice.

“Indeed, your highness. I may not be able to sleep at night now that I have personally met you, the star in the mind of our citizens.”

From beside him, Eric’s jaws dropped, while Gilbert and Amiru could not help but look at Cale in disbelief. Cale could see the crown prince and started to think. He felt like he had taken another step towards his goal of ‘getting away from the crown prince.’

At that moment, Cale felt the mana of the Black Dragon conveying a message to him.

• Why did this weakling called the crown prince dye his hair with magic? You’ve probably already noticed, Red Dragon, it is at a level that only great and mighty dragons like us would notice… Do you think another dragon changed it… No. It is some other power.

Cale held back a frown. It looks like the Black Dragon finally noticed something was off with his appearance, but the race and appearance of the crown prince was not relevant to them.

• We should not bother to care about such things.

• You are right, Red Dragon!

Chapter Text

Cale shoved his face in his hands, hoping to nurse his newest headache. He found himself doing that a lot these days…

Cale had let slip to Amiru Ubarr about utilising the shore to create a naval base…he was actually pretty proud of that.

He was already dealing with a lot of information considering the black dragon’s and red dragon’s discovery of the crown prince’s race. Cale had already felt like he had learned too much information, so it would basically be kissing his slacker life goodbye like a parent would as they would watch their child run off to school for the first time, only if he had tried to figure what exact race the crown prince was mixed with.

Nuh uh. No way Cale would ever try to find out what the crown prince was.

Cale glanced up to see Lock, nervously sitting in front of him in the carriage, off to see the ten wolf tribe siblings. 

Cale was annoyed with Lock too. 

Where would Cale find the use of ten child knights in this day and age. Cale didn’t need child soldiers at his disposal, he was already a powerful dragon.

Lock was brushed off by Cale, who threw him a heavy pouch of coins for him and his siblings to spend.

“You’re seeing your siblings for the first time in a while, so go take them on a tour of the capital.”

“...A tour?”

“Yes. Isn’t this your first time in a city like the capital? Go treat them to some delicious food too.”

Lock looked conflicted, torn between staring at the bag of money in his hands, or the incredibly powerful aura of the red headed man in front of him.

As a member of the Blue Wolf Tribe, and the successor to becoming the Wolf King, Lock’s senses were much better than most would expect. But Lock knew he didn’t even need half his senses to understand that the power of the man in front of him wasn’t human. If Lock had nothing to lose in the world, he would probably find himself tucking tail and running to the winds.

But Lock needed this man so he could take care of his siblings, and Choi Han and Rosalyn trusted this powerful man. Lock trusted Choi Han and Rosalyn, so he must find it within himself to trust young master Cale too, even if he has to overcome his fear of him.

“On and Hong will go with you, so you will not get lost.”

Meooowwwww.

Meow.

Lock liked spending his time around the kittens too, that made this atmosphere more bearable too…

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“I have to hunt some foxes.”

Cale’s head of red hair turned to face Ron.

‘...what?’ 

Ron’s expression was his natural stoic, a huge change from his worn benign smile.

“Our young master knows that I am someone who kills people, right?”

Cale didn’t know where Ron was going with this, but the scary expression of this assassin was hard to look at.

“So?”

Ron was about to return to his gentle smile after hearing his strong gecko young master speak in his usual annoying and rude tone, Ron pushed down the urge.

“So, I’m going to kill people.”

“Leaving your son behind?”

“Yes sir.”

“Is this… fox a person?”

Cale knew what Ron’s true smile was like, it was a very faint smile, with the corners of his lips raised only a little. It made one believe that it would be better if Ron would not smile at all.

“That’s right. I have to go kill a group of foxes.”

But his voice was frigid.

“Rip them into pieces.”

“Mm.”

“I know you are a strong existence, young master. I’ve raised you since you were a small child. I believe you can take care of my son and yourself in my place.”

Ron could see that Cale stood there without saying anything for a while.

“...Go and come back.”

Ron knew Cale was capable, so Ron left without a second look back. Leaving through the door silently without a single noise, but Ron knew Cale could hear all and see all.

That’s just how dragons were.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale was quickly allocating the teams of people for the event today, where they would prevent the Terror Plaza Incident together. 

Rosalyn had dyed her hair and eyes brown with magic, and On and Hong were standing next to her.

“Lock, you should be able to use the power of your berserk strength without transforming, right?”

“Yes sir. It is possible.”

Lock was standing there, nervous as usual. Next to him was the Black Dragon and Choi Han.

Cale quickly divided them into two teams, the mana disturbance device was already positioned by Choi Han yesterday, so the two teams needed to locate and dispose of the four mana bombs.

“Miss Rosalyn and Lock will be one team. Choi Han, Black Dragon, On, and Hong will be the other team.”

Rosalyn suddenly frowned with a confused expression on her face. Lock had a similar expression dawning his face too.

“What about you, young master Cale?”

Choi Han, the Black Dragon, On, and Hong all looked towards Cale for his answer.

“Oh, I have to be at the noble gathering in the plaza. Do not worry, I’ll be where I can see everyone. I trust you all to do your jobs.”

“Ah.”

Rosalyn let out a small gasp and looked towards Cale. Lock seemed to have adopted a determined look in his eyes after Cale’s declaration.

‘What’s with that look in his eye… Whatever, as long as he works properly.’

The plan was to use the short opening when the guards for the night shift switched with the day shift to enter the areas where the bombs were located and start to dismantle them. After that, while the mana device creates a mana disturbance, they will all need to wait at their stations to observe the secret organisation’s members and the scene at the plaza.

The birthday celebration was set for 9am.

Cale spared a quick glance to his high quality watch before speaking to the six of them once more.

“Alright, head to work.”

Cale quickly tacked on.

“Don’t forget to bring back the dismantled magic bombs.”

Rosalyn smiled when Cale said that, and leisurely responded to Cale’s statement.

“You promised to give me one of them.”

“Of course.”

“Should be enough to pay for my services.”

It was definitely enough. Cale looked toward the terrace, but it was being used more as a door than a terrace, and opened the window. The stinging night breeze whipped around Cale’s face as the six individuals leapt into the night.

Cale didn’t forget to leave behind a detailed illusion of the five missing individuals in the Henituse estate, it was better not to get in trouble for their night antics.

Cale was watching them quickly dash over the rooftops and to their respective search locations. He was now left alone. Cale felt the intense speed of one group, and the other group’s mana as they had turned invisible.

Cale held out his hand in front of him, and a shield with silver wings appeared in front of him. Even if something unexpected happens, he would not die as long as he had this shield. Cale knew because everyone thought of him as a human, he wouldn’t be able to use any draconic mana or strength to protect him, lest his true identity would be revealed to the continent. That was a sure way that Cale’s future slacker life would fade away in front of his eyes. 

In order to appear human to others, Cale would be able to utilise this indestructible shield when he was in danger, and reinforce it with magic. Thus, Cale would be able to disguise any power he had as an ancient power.

“Hm.”

‘I suppose there is use to things like this after all, I thought I wouldn’t have to use ancient powers after I discovered I was a dragon.’

Cale let the shield fade away, and his thoughts run through the details of The Birth of a Hero.

The blood-crazed mage. It was said that this person went into a mad frenzy from just seeing the colour red. That is why, in the novel, the mage went crazy after seeing Rosalyn for the first time. Screaming about how they needed to cut Rosalyn’s head off and take her red hair and pupils.

Cale absentmindedly pushed his hair back, it was getting quite long, and it was also a breathtakingly wine red shade, a richer shade than Rosalyn’s hair. There was also something majestic about Cale’s hair, it was definitely because of his dragon heritage.

“What are the chances that I’ll be in close proximity to that lunatic?”

Cale quietly mumbled to himself.

Even if something like that happened, Cale had the strong individuals around him to take care of the problem, and if Cale had to step forward in action… it would not be a lacklustre action.

Cale would make sure to properly dispose of the problem…

Cale enjoyed the crisp air of dawn on his face for a while, before he felt the bloody presence of his butler from behind him.

‘Scary bastard.’

“Today will be your last day to serve me.”

“I can do it again in a year.”

Cale thought that sounded terrible. He was planning on shoving Ron into Choi Han’s protagonist arms so they can skip away into the sunset with rainbows and friendship, and far far FAR away from Cale. So he was looking forward to ridding himself of two baggages today, and spoke with a lighter heart.

“Let’s get ready.”

Cale made all the preparations and headed for the palace. All the participating nobles had to move together. The Black Dragon was going to come to the palace to report the two groups’ progress later.

Cale quickly made his preparations and got on a carriage in front of the residence’s main gate. It was not the Henituse carriage, instead, it was the Ubarr’s carriage.

Albeit not as luxurious as the Henituse carriage, the Ubarr carriage was in high quality, and their seats were made of the highest quality fabrics the family was able to get their hands on.

It was good for a dragon like Cale…

“Why did you want to go together?”

Amiru turned towards the red head, and began to smile.

“Young master Cale, what do you think about our territory building a naval base?”

She was straightforward, without even introductions. Cale liked that.

The Red Dragon started to smile.

Cale thoroughly enjoyed his discussion with Amiru, and they both detailed plans of investment with each other. The Ubarr’s, naturally, seeked the coin of the Henituse Family, Cale would happily hand over some wealth in order to build a naval base befitting of his expectations, however, the Henituse funds was not his money to spend. Cale had been long pushed out of the successor position.

“I will speak to my father about it.”

“We will also send an official request as well.”

Cale and Amiru smiled at each other.

‘This human is indeed pleasant… Why am I thinking these things? It is like the longer time I spend in a dragon’s body, the more dragon-like I become…’

Cale pursed his lips in thought, but something else caught his attention as soon as he helped Lady Amiru out of her carriage.

“Oh my lord.”

“How is this possible?”

Eric’s gasp of shock, and the ripple of whispering gossiping nobles filled Cale’s ears. Cale paid no mind to the whispering, and made eye contact with the person next to the crown prince.

The eldest son that had been pushed aside, Taylor Stan.

He was standing on his own two legs next to the crown prince. At the same time, Cale felt the small, but powerful message of mana from the Black Dragon.

• I am here.

Cale hummed, and waited for the voice to continue.

• We are dismantling the bombs that were placed in the locations we found. They will be dismantled completely at 8:55 am, as planned.

Everything was going as planned.

• That’s good.

• I will be heading back now because we are busy, Red Dragon. Teach me something cool and fitting of a mighty dragon after this.

Cale hid the chuckle bubbling in his throat.

• Of course I will.

The Black Dragon’s presence faded after Cale’s words, and it seemed to have quickly returned to help the others. Surprisingly, the Black Dragon seemed to have put a lot of its effort into his tasks whenever Cale asked him. It was strange for a dragon to listen to someone, but maybe it was because Cale was a dragon too?

“All preparations have been completed.”

It was one of the knights who shouted loudly, the crown prince got on the Royal Parade Carriage and spoke to the nobles getting on the royal carriages behind him.

“Let’s go.”

Cale leisurely seated himself onto a royal carriage, his arms crossed with a stiff expression on his face.

“Nice to meet you all again.”

The now completely healed Taylor greeted them.

“Nice to meet you. I am Amiru Ubarr.”

“...Nice to meet you.”

Taylore Stan, Young lady Amiru, and Venion’s lackey Neo Tolz ended up in the same carriage as them. Cale wondered whether the crown prince purposely put them together in the same carriage, because it was one hell of a dumpster-fire-like carriage.

Cale didn’t feel bothered to introduce himself, and instead turned his head disrespectfully to look out the window.

The many strengths of a trash.

A lout was allowed to be rude.

Cale silently celebrated his small win, and sat there like a brooding teenager as he looked toward the Plaza of Glory.

It was soon time for chaos.

Chapter Text

The inside of Cale’s carriage was probably considered chaotic enough to actually burst into flames. Cale glanced towards Neo Tolz, whose legs were shaking nervously against the carriage floor.

Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

Neo’s polished shoe clicking against the marble floor of the carriage deeply annoyed Cale.

‘Tsk, Venion’s face was a mess too.’

Cale recalled Venion’s face that he had taken a swift look at before getting on the carriage. Venion’s face had puffed up like a tomato, becoming all red and angry.

Who would have ever expected this to happen??

Not Cale, it’s not like Cale planned the whole thing.

Taylor Stan, the eldest son of the Stan family was pushed aside because of his paralysis, and now he was walking on his own two feet without the assistance of another. Furthermore, a member of the Stan family was standing next to the crown prince, Alberu. Nobody could have EVER expected this development.

Not Cale, no.

It was amusing to see Neo Tolz sitting there anxiously, without even looking at Tayor. Cale heard Amiru start talking.

“Young master Taylor, have your legs completely healed?”

Amiru cautiously asked her question directly, it was what everyone in the carriage was thinking about. Taylor started to smile as he responded.

“It was a blessing from heaven. It is completely healed.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Ahem, mm.”

Neo Tolz let out some disgusting sounding fake coughs, before looking between Taylor’s face and Taylor’s legs, he hesitantly started to speak.

“Young master Taylor, will you be returning to the Marquis’s estate now that your legs have healed?”

Taylor spared Neo a glance with his kind eyes that somehow looked cutting edge sharp.

“Return?”

It was a gentle voice, but there was some sort of veiled coldness towards Neo hidden in Taylor’s voice.

“That has always been my home. Isn’t it obvious that I belong there?”

Neo shrivelled up and shrunk into himself even more. Cale was reminded of how a snail would retreat back into its shell the moment salt would be poured onto it. Neo was ugly and gross like a snail too.

Cale turned away from the situation, ignoring the way Taylor tried to catch his attention with his eyes. Neo Tolz’s sweating neck and tense hands made Cale want to blow the carriage up.

Cale watched the people inside his carriage flood out, and Cale turned only to quickly receive Taylor’s bright smile.

“Finally, only the two of us are left.”

Cale did not like to hear that. He made that clear on his face, but Taylor seemed to find it amusing.

“Haha, I got my leg fixed by promising to become the head of the Marquis’ estate.”

“Did you promise your loyalty?”

“No. I made a deal.”

Cale hummed and nodded his head.

“That’s good. Congratulations on your healed legs.”

Cale mulled over his thoughts about the crown prince, it was befitting to make a deal, Taylor Stan must already have a high opinion of the crown prince.

“Cage will be excommunicated.”

That was interesting to know, Cage was finally starting on the path of the crazy priestess, it was just like the novel.

“That’s good.”

Cale saw Taylor happily nodding his head, then frowning quickly after like all of his emotions were crashing together at once.

“This is just the beginning. We will be victorious. Right, young master Cale?”

‘Why is he including me in this victory?’

Cale felt his curiosity grow, but decided to push it aside to answer Taylor’s question.

“You will be victorious.”

“Thank you very much. Then I will get off first.”

Taylor stood up from his seat, and looked at his legs, before bidding Cale farewell and leaving the carriage.

“The three of us should drink together after our victory.”

“Henituse wine is delicious.”

Taylor finally left the carriage at Cale’s words and left. Cale grasped the envelope Taylor had sneakily handed to him during the ride and ripped open the envelope now that he was alone.

“Ugh.”

Cale burnt the envelope in his hand without even a twitch of his mana, and vanished the ashes from the pristine floor or the carriage. It looked like there really was a secret to the crown prince’s birth. Cale resisted the urge to shove his face into his hands and stepped out of the carriage.

“Cale.”

Cale turned at Eric’s call. The Plaza of Glory was behind Eric’s shoulders, bustling with activity.

“Young master Cale, let us go. It is our turn to enter the plaza.”

It was 8:25 am, the time for the nobles and priests to enter, and the knights started to prevent any more citizens from entering so there would be room for nobility.

“Let’s go.”

Cale walked behind Eric and the others, he did a quick look over the plaza. There were a lot of people so it was hard to tell the exact number of people, it wasn’t overly crowded because the Plaza of Glory was incredibly large. 

“Young master Cale, is this your first time at the Plaza of Glory?”

Cale leisurely nodded his head at Gilbert’s question.

“Yes. I briefly passed through on my carriage, but this is my first time fully seeing everything.”

Cale noted the locations in the plaza as he was replying to Gilbert.

The tea shop in the South

The inn to the West

A flower shop in the East

And the top of the Ceramist Association building to the North.

“The plaza is pretty large.”

Cale knew these locations were where the mana bombs were planted, at the same time, something else caught his eye. A tall young boy was waving a flag, like he was trying to welcome the king.

It was Lock.

‘Glad to know things are going as planned.’

Cale could feel the hidden eyes of Choi Han and the Black Dragon on him right now, and looked towards the Bell Tower.

It was 8:30 am.

Cale didn’t bother to send out a physical signal, and instead pushed his mana to send a message to his party in the area.

• Go.

Nobody noticed, but Lock disappeared from Cale’s line of sight, and the gazes of Choi Han and the Black Dragon faded away. It was time to find hidden items. It wasn’t really that necessary although. 

‘They will appear at 9:01 am.’

However, it was better if they knew the locations in advance. It was better because Cale didn’t need to move.

Cale sat down at his allocated seat, it was almost time for the royal family to appear. The Bell Tower caught Cale’s eye once again, it was just like the novel said it would look like. The highest spot in the city, the mana disturbance tool was also buried underneath the Bell Tower.

It was 8:40 am.

“Cale. Be still. Okay?”

“Hyung-nim.”

Eric became visibly anxious after hearing Cale’s tone.

“I will be very still today. I plan to do nothing at all.”

Captivated by Cale’s voice, Eric subconsciously nodded his head. Cale was satisfied with this reaction, as he laughed and looked at the clock again.

It was 8:45 am.

The Black Dragon’s voice rang in his mind.

• 15 minutes left.

This Black Dragon really was capable. There is nothing dragons cannot accomplish.

• Good job, Black Dragon.

Cale could practically feel the young dragon preening at his words.

“The stars of the Crossman family, our royal family, are now entering!”

The loud cheers of the citizens and the clapping of the standing nobles rang through Cale’s ears. A group of people with beautiful blonde hair entered the plaza. The royal family blessed by the Sun God, the pride of the Roan Kingdom.

‘I can see it clearly, the crown prince’s hair and eyes are brown.’

Brown was the most common colour for hair and eyes. Cale paid attention to the royal family, and lightly clapped his hands to look respectful.

It was 8:50 am.

A healthy middle-aged man appeared in the plaza. He was as royal as he looked, because this man was the King of the Roan Kingdom. The joyful cheers of the citizens were booming loud, but instead of Cale’s eyes being drawn to the flowing blonde hair of the King, Cale found his eyes meeting the misplaced flower pot on top of the Ceramist Association building in the North.

It was 8:55 am.

‘They dismantled it.’

Cale felt a smile stretch across his face.

Rosalyn, the Black Dragon, On, and Hong must now have hidden themselves in the plaza crowd.

King Zed slowly made his way to the plaza from his placement in the distance. Zed Crossman had risen to the high position of King when he was twenty, when the former King died a sudden death. Zed Crossman has utilised this time of peace to kill off his siblings and solidify his crown.

Still, King Zed had a lot of admirers. The King had settled himself to stand on top of the platform reserved for him, and he had gone up to the magic vocal amplifier.

Cale took another glance at the clock.

It was 8:58 am.

The crowd was slowly silenced when the King lifted up his hand, and began to speak.

“It has already been 30 years since this king has received the blessing of the sun to rule over this kingdom.”

Cale saw that the king seemed very joyous at this milestone, but unfortunately for him

It was 9 am.

“Huh?”

Cale absorbed the confused chatter of the surrounding nobles.

“What?”

“Who is that?”

“What is going on?”

Cale leisurely brought his head up to look at the top of the Bell Tower, and started to smile.

King Zed started to shout.

“Who are you?!”

The loud, ungraceful footsteps of knights and mages echoed around the murmuring plaza as they rushed up the Bell Tower to apprehend the mysterious cloaked people on top of the tower. More people in the same black attires had appeared on top of nearby buildings as well, surrounding the crowd in the plaza.

“Get down this instant!”

“Everybody, head up to the top of the buildings now!”

Cale absorbed the voices of the knights nearby, and stared at the man on top of the Bell tower, who was in a black attire and mask. It was the blood-crazy mage, Redika.

‘I’m relieved this is happening exactly like the novel.’

Cale was worried that if Redika had not shown up on top of the Bell Tower, Cale would’ve needed to reverse the flow of mana in the mana bombs to locate the hidden mage, and allow one of his party members to kill him. Doing that would basically give Cale away, and Cale would never get his slacker life.

Cale could see the build up of red mana in the mages hands.

“Should be fun.”

The chilling voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard, and the mana built up in his hands exploded out into different spots in the plaza.

It was exactly 9:01 am.

Ooooooooooooong- 

Cale felt a subtle vibration through ground that came from underneath the Bell Tower.

BRRRRRRNNGGGGGG!

The familiar sound of mana devices had started to go off in multiple directions, and Redika’s mana that was flying to set off the detonation devices had lost their strength and spun in the air aimlessly.

‘What a useful device.’

Cale, with his sensitive hearing, could hear four spots in the plaza begin to ring.

• Get them.

Cale’s quiet voice was heard by all members of his group, as they had sprung into action to find and dismantle the remaining mana bombs.

They had ten minutes to complete this task, and banish the bombs into the air above the plaza to set it off without hurting anyone.

• Found one, Red Dragon.

Cale smiled after hearing the Black Dragon’s report.

It was chaos in the plaza. People running around and bumping into each other in their fright. Cale could see Choi Han ripping off the necklace of a woman in the middle of the crowd. 

‘How vicious-’

Cale’s thoughts were interrupted by a tugging on his arm, it was Eric Wheelsman.

“Hahahahahaha-”

The blood crazy mage Redika was laughing.

Wiiinnngg

A loud noise appeared alongside the noise of tearing metal, combining to create a terrifying screech.

The royal knights and some mages were ushering the royal family and the king away in order to help them escape the safety. Cale, however, was observing the crown prince, his hair was still blonde.

‘It was definitely not changed by using mana, but how did he change it?’

The remaining royal knights and mages that were left in the group while their counterparts had gone to apprehend the people in dark cloaks were rushing around, calming down the citizens and attempting to find the mana disturbance tool. 

Redika had been laughing for a while, and paused to speak.

“This is annoying.”

With only three words, all of the secret organisation had begun to launch long-range attacks. Spears, daggers, knives; all sorts of attacks had begun to rain down upon the knights. Redika’s crazed laughing had only grown louder and wilder.

“All these shades of red! It’s all so beautiful!! It makes me want to kill something!! Hahahahahaha-”

Cale found it very loud, and very annoying. At the same time, the Black Dragon continued to report their activity to Cale.

• One more, Red Dragon.
• And another.

9:04 am. This was the third person so far.

Cale felt his arms being tugged by his fellow nobles.

“Cale! We should go as well! We need to go!”

“Young master Cale, hurry up!”

Cale looked towards Eric, Amiru, Gilbert, and Taylor. They all had quickly gathered around him. Eric was swinging his head back and forth with a chaotic expression, and Cale followed his lead and looked around as well.

“What are you doing?! Hurry up and let us go!”

“Let us out right now!”

The nobles were fighting to remove themselves from the plaza as quickly as possible, of course, there were calm ones too. It was a little different underneath the noble platform.

“Why are you blocking the exit!?”

“Open up a path!”

The citizens of the city were screaming for the knights to open the door and rushing toward the exit. The knights and soldiers shouted back as the citizens.

“Please calm down!”

“Please wait just a moment!”

“You expect us to wait in a place like this? Get out of our way!”

“Are you crazy! The nobles are trying to leave right now! Let us leave too!”

Cale tried to pay no mind to the sounds of the struggling people, he tried not to let it affect him too much. He had something else to look for at the moment. Cale needed to see hands being raised in the air in the middle of the chaos.

“W-what are you doing?!”

Cale zoomed in on the voice quickly, and could see a head of black hair pulling a bag off of an old man’s shoulder and thrust the bag and his arms into the air. It was Choi Han who found the third person. 

Cale turned to look behind him, the door was already open for the nobles and priests to leave, and many of them had rushed out as fast as they could. Although the crowd of the citizens had lessened, it was still chaotic to file out a huge stream of people through only small exits.

“What a mess.”

Cale knew it was extremely messy. Eric was frantically pacing around, murmuring to himself like he was going to have an anxiety attack. Cale quickly put his hand on Eric’s shoulder to calm him down, and held onto him firmly (Cale had to be careful because of his strength)

“Hyung-nim.”

“Ah.”

Cale continued to speak once Eric was snapped out of his fretting by Cale’s painful grip on his shoulder.

Cale didn’t even think he held him that tightly.

“Calm down.”

Eric steadied his breathing after seeing Cale’s calm complexion, and then took the time to look around. The knights were fighting against the unknown assailants while the royal family was in the process of escaping safely. The citizens still looked to be in a state of chaos. Eric absorbed all this information, and turned to Cale again. Cale opened his mouth to speak.

“That is more like you.”

“...Thank you. I feel like my head has cleared.”

Eric pursed his lips. Once again, Cale had protected him.

It was 9:08 am. The mages had busied themselves with getting rid of the mana disturbance, and it was going to run out in a couple minutes.

• One more removed.

Now it was four. Only two more mana bombs were remaining. But there were only two more minutes remaining. Cale had trust in his group that it would be enough time.

Cale concentrated on the presences of mana in the plaza, only to frown when he could not find any sounds of ringing he was not aware of. Cale spared a look at the clock on the Bell Tower before starting to walk.

• Black Dragon, there are no more left.
• That is all, Red Dragon.

“...this is weird.”

Cale knew this was a deviation from the novel. There were only eight bombs planted around the plaza, where are the other two?

“Young master Cale, what is wrong?”

The voice of Taylor, who had been walking next to Cale, looking at Cale with confusion. Cale didn’t have the time to focus on Taylor’s question.

‘There are only eight?’

The bombs should’ve begun ringing the second the mana disturbance tool turned on, but when Cale focused his hearing on the ringing around the plaza, there was no foreign ringing. Cale could hear the ring of mana devices on what Cale assumed to be normal devices on the being of numerous people.

‘Did the number of bombs change because the story has changed?’

9:09 am came and passed quickly.

It was now 9:10 am.

A mage’s amplified voice rang out in the plaza.

“Activate mana stability magic!”

As soon as those words were spoken, mages from eight directions chanted a spell at the same time, and eight magic balls of light shot into the sky.

Boom–

The mages magic had flown into the air and begun to stabilise the mana in the plaza.

Wiiiiinngg– 

The noises of mana devices began to quiet down, and the mana had become stable once again. 

The mana disturbance had lasted until 9:09 am and 55 seconds.

Cale could clearly see four items fly up quickly into the sky, it was courtesy of Rosalyn and the Black Dragon using their magic. The four random items flew onwards into the mountains south of the capital.

Cale could tell, based on the strength of Rosalyn and the Black Dragon, a task like this was barely a breeze,

Everyone blankly watched as the four items flew like birds towards the mountain that Cale knew no one was able to traverse through because of its terrain.

“Mana stability complete!”

9:10 and 5 seconds. The mage shouted out loud, and Redika’s red mana balls gave chase to the items that had flown towards the mountains.

Booooooom-!

The mana bombs that had been sent away, courtesy of Rosalyn and the Black Dragon, had blown up in an aggressive show of a red swirl of mana, fizzling into sparks and smoke. The low rumbling of the stone mountain could be heard all the way into the capital, and the heavy crumbling of practically vapourised stone had fallen down the side of the mountain in a destructive show of power. Such a large and powerful explosion had temporarily blinded and deafened the senses of the Roan Kingdom citizens, and the smoke ascended into the clouds like a large pillar. 

Cale felt the wind from the shockwave of the explosion kiss his face. It smelt like soot.

“...Those were magic bombs.”

 Taylor Stan muttered underneath his breath in shock.

Even the King and some of the princes who were escaping stopped moving, everybody could not help but think about how those items had shot up from the crowd and flew towards the mountain.

Cale fixed his hair, which flew out of place from the wind.

‘I guess there were only four bombs. That makes it easier for me.’

Nobody had died.

• We saved them all.

Cale could hear the Black Dragon’s voice in his head, the Black Dragon sounded shocked and in awe of his feat. The once loud and chaotic plaza was eerily calm. Although Cale felt like it was more depressing than anything else.

• I saved them!

Cale couldn’t help but let loose a smile at the joy in the Black Dragon’s voice. This was the first time that this young Black Dragon, who had been wishing for it’s own end after living a life of despair, had saved something with its own strength.

Cale thought about the Black Dragon’s emotions as he moved his gaze to where the magic bombs had begun to rise up into the air. Knights and mages were already circling that location, but Cale could sense that his group had already scattered from that place. Cale had given them an invisibility device he had managed to pull together in his free time, and they should be invisible in the farthest corner of the plaza.

“Guess this one was a failure.”

‘This one? There’s something else?!’

Cale stiffened, worried that there was really something else up the secret organisation’s sleeves.

“Oh well then.”

Redika’s metal screeching voice rang throughout the plaza, and ignored the efforts of the knights and mages who were trying to reach him

Snap.

As Redika snapped his fingers, two cloaked black figures appeared next to him. They were wearing the secret organisation attire without the red and white star symbol on their chests, but they were both wearing a suspicious looking backpack.

Cale frowned.

‘Those are the remaining bombs.’

“Go.”

The bodies of the suicide bombers were burning, and Redika sent them to rush towards the citizens of the plaza.

“S-stop them!!”

Cale could feel that these bombs were going to detonate any second.

‘He’s coming this way…’

• I’m coming, Red Dragon!

Cale raised his hand, ignoring the Black Dragon’s voice

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”

“R-run away!”

Cale ignored the sounds of his fellow nobles dragging him away from the incoming suicide bomber. It was too late to run.

‘This is so annoying.’

“...Sigh.”

Rosalyn, who had teleported with the help of the Black Dragon rushed towards Cale and set up a two-layered shield around them. It was a nice gesture, considering Cale really didn’t need the extra protection.

“Explode!”

Redika was giggling with joy.

“Huh?”

The suicide bomber who had menacingly headed their way was surrounded by large silver wings. A silver shield shot into the sky like it was protecting the people in the plaza. The wings of the shield looked like they were the wings of a divine angel, as they curled around the bomber like they were swallowing him gracefully.

Cale subtly placed multiple layers of shield around his silver shield to reinforce his protection.

All eyes were drawn to the figure of a holy looking person with a silver shield standing underneath the shining sun. A glow of silver light was coming from his very being, and the eye-catching red-haired man held his shield strong against the threat. Cale started to curse as his hair fluttered from the flow of wind.

“...Fuck!”

And then the bomb went off.

Chapter Text

Two explosions went off inside of the plaza. Despite all the effort Cale had put into ensuring their safety, it was hard to predict the unexpected.

Cale felt the nobles around him cover their ears and groan in pain at the loud ringing sound the mana bombs had brought them. Cale’s sensitive hearing had intensified the pain it brought him, but it had to be brushed aside, the ringing would stop.

“Aaaaaaaaa!”

“Ugh, my arm! My arm!!!”

The screams of people injured or people dying faintly flew through the ears of the red head, who found it hard to listen to. 

A quick look around the plaza would inform someone that none of the royal family was hurt because of a shield created to protect them. One could tell, however, that the blood shed that painted the walls of the once beautiful and decorated plaza would seep into the bricks of the plaza, and stain.

The survivors squinted through the black heavy smoke, and the citizens raised their heads from their cover, all eyes on the bright silver light that had stayed visible even through the dark smog.

Claaang–

The silver shield slowly started to break and fall apart like pieces of glass. The holy silver wings of the shield crumbled to dust as well. From out of the confines of the feathers, a thick smoke rose out of the embrace. There was a person inside that shield, but not even a drop of blood was left seen in the encirclement.

Chills ran up and down the bodies of the people, they truly understood the strength of the explosion.

The silver shield had completely faded away into dust, and their gazes followed to a single location, the end of the silver light.

“Young master Cale!”

Rosalyn quickly started to support Cale as he slumped over. One of his knees gave out as he started to fall to the ground. Rosalyn looked extremely concerned at the state of what should be an esteemed dragon-nim. 

Rosalyn knew that the Black Dragon and Red Dragon’s shields had taken up most of the blast, but why was young master Cale in such a state even though he was extremely strong.

‘Damn, it hurts.’

Cale didn’t know using an ancient power would hurt so badly. Cale, uh, Kim Rok Soo tended to exaggerate when it came to pain. But even a small amount of pain was still painful. Cale’s chest panged heavily, it felt like a stabbing pain had overcome his whole body, it felt like his blood had taken a short pause in circulating around his body.

Cale winced and held his hand tightly where his heart should be, but Cale knew it was instead a great big ugly scar that ran across his torso.

‘Although I’m a dragon, whatever injury that this scar is a memory of is seriously affecting my health.’

The hand clenched tightly over Cale’s chest had paused in shock at something. The cavern where Cale’s heart should have felt like it was squishy, it was an indent in Cale’s chest. Cale felt his body run cold, there was more to this injury than he had suspected…

“Cale-nim!”

“Young master!”

Cale could hear the voices calling out to him getting closer, he raised his head to address them.

“Cale, are you okay?”

“I’m ok… cough!”

“B-blood…..!?”

‘What? Why am I coughing blood?’

‘Sob! Cale you mustn’t strain yourself like this!’

‘ The crybaby is right Cale, our ancient powers depend on the power of your heart.’

‘Sniff, Cale your blood only flows through your veins because of your attribute! Sob! You have a fragile body!’

‘Cale, it would be your best decision to depend on your mana for a while until you figure out what’s going on with your heart. In the meantime, you need to eat something good!’

‘The priestess and the old man? Why must’ve known something was wrong with me from the start.

Cale considered his thinking, the constitution of his heart had something to do with the ugly scar across Cale’s chest, and he knew it.

However, Cale did feel better after coughing up a bit of blood.

‘The Vitality of the Heart really is good.’

Cale knew he had to push aside his use of ancient powers and stick to only using his draconic abilities for now.

Cale started to smile to himself in satisfaction, but as he did so, the people surrounding him began to panic even more.

“You think this is funny right now!? Stop laughing!”

Cale opened his eyes to look at Taylor Stan after hearing his shocked and sad voice. Cale felt great right now, like Cale could run around the sun twice over. Of course, Cale felt too lazy to, but he could if he wanted to.

Cale quickly squinted his eyes from the bright sun, it looked like the smoke had already cleared.

“Stop trying to open your eyes either!”

‘What’s up with him?’

Cale gave Taylor a weird look as he was seated down with Rosalyn’s help. A noble shouldn’t have been okay with being handled by a random citizen, but Cale felt like being plopped on the ground with no care for foreign judgement.

The Black Dragon’s words ran in and around Cale’s head non-stop.

• Red Dragon, why are you coughing blood! I thought you were a strong dragon! You are actually a weak dragon! You are so weak, that if you die, I will destroy everything! Once everything is gone, including your body, I will kill myself as well!

The Black Dragon seemed to be concerned, but the vicious words coming through Cale’s head made him frown. Cale didn’t feel like explaining everything he knew about his condition right now, and Rosalyn seemed to want an explanation as well.

Cale gave her a look with his eyes that said ‘later’, his mind was concerned with the events that was happening a couple steps over.

Choi Han was arguing with the knight in charge of the nobles who wouldn’t let him pass through and meet with Cale. He had a dark and cold gaze, piercing through the knights that dared to stand in his way. Cale knew he had told Choi Han not to come forward under any circumstance, and Cale started to frown and waved him away. Choi Han had gone against his order

The black-haired swordmaster saw Cale’s reaction and bit down on his lip, before apologising.

Cale gazed at On and Hong, who were on Lock’s shoulders. All three of them were looking on anxiously, but visibly calmed down when they noticed that Cale was looking at them too. 

Things had gone a bit off the rails, but it seemed like the plaza incident had occurred with the most minimal damage.

“I never expected something like this to happen. But this is pretty fun as well!”

The bloody crazy mage Redika had gazed around the damaged plaza, and the plaza’s group of knights and mages had prepared to fight him. 

Redika never let his eyes stray away from Cale and Rosalyn, who he immediately recognised from the Blue Wolf Village. His ugly voice range through the plaza again

“So many different colours of blood I like! Hehehe-”

“Attack!!”

Many of the mages had launched forward varying attacks of fire and curses towards Redika.

It was hard to see, but Redika’s eyes curled into smiles.

“I want to put them in my display case.”

‘Crazy bastard.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

A priest had held Cale’s hand to inspect him. A surrounding group of nobles clung onto the words of both the priest and Cale Henituse.

The crazed mage Redika had just teleported away, and Cale knew that he was being followed swiftly by Choi Han. Cale hoped that Choi Han would be able to dispose of this problem before he became more annoying. 

Cale’s thoughts were wondering, and the thoughts of the people around him were only focused on one thing.

Cale Henituse, the man who was infamous trash, had revealed such hidden strength. This was a huge shock to everyone, his actions were so unexpected to them. When he stood up in front of the suicide bomber, and protected people against the explosion before falling down, spitting blood. But now, this man was standing there like nothing had even happened.

Everyone was observing Cale, and because the King had left, they all had their eyes on the one, Cale Henituse. Cale noted each of the emotions that were evident in the surrounding nobles. Curiosity, surprise, fear, shock, some even just smiled at him.

Acting nonchalant towards the priest, who was giving him a health check, Cale began to speak casually.

“I guess this is your first time looking at an ancient power.”

“I see.”

It was a familiar voice from behind Cale, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Your highness.”

It was the crown prince, Alberu Crossman. Cale realised in an instant from the look on prince Alberu’s eyes. Cale had sort of expected this to happen the second he revealed an ancient power. Cale wanted to use this situation to his benefit as much as he possibly could, and reap the benefits with joy afterwards. Afterall, the crown prince also realised that Cale was very similar to him.

“...Mister Cale.”

Prince Alberu bought Cale into a hug with half shock, and half admiration on his face.

Anybody would look and see that the crown prince was so full of admiration that he showed a reaction that he should not have shown as a prince.

Cale heard the faint whisper of prince Alberu tell him.

“..Mister Cale, you and I share the same style, right?”

Alberu’s voice was a little tense at finding someone like him.

“I will make sure there is nothing annoying and reward you handsomely. What do you think?”

‘Well, in that case.’

Cale threw his arms around prince Alberu dramatically, like a princess embracing her knight after being saved from the dragon. Cale felt as if he happened to have a scamming smile on his face as he spoke loudly.

“Your highness, it was nothing. I only did what any citizen of the kingdom would do.”

• Something is very odd here…

Cale was amused that the Black Dragon was sharp enough to tell.

Cale’s arms fell from his fraudulent hug of deep admiration, before being ushered off to the palace. Since Cale was already in an uncontrollable situation, he might as well steal a pillar from the palace for decoration as he walked with the crown prince.

Prince Alberu’s face looked like he was dosed with an extremely strong bout of Hong’s paralysis poison.

‘Funny guy.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale leaned back into the extremely soft bed of the extravagant room that the crown prince had provided him.

‘Choi Han’s group stayed here in the novel too.’

Cale put an arm behind his head and crossed his legs over each other, and reached his other arm over to slowly eat the high-quality grapes that was given to him.

‘This is the life I deserve.’

Someone entered the room.

“Young master Cale.”

It was Rosalyn, and, as expected, she was not alone.

“Cale-nim.”

Choi Han, On, Hong, and Lock all gathered beside Rosalyn in front of Cale. Cale started to frown after seeing Hans behind them, floundering about.

“Y-young masteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!”

Hans looked about ready to cry.

“Stop.”

Hans paused and Cale quickly engaged Hans in conversation. It was a mostly meaningless conversation to Cale. Where Hans was reporting to Cale about contacting home, and setting up communication. Something, something, blah blah blah. Hans told everyone in the residence to stay quiet about Rosalyn. Blah blah.

Cale was happy that he had someone capable like Hans to do all the dirty work.

Cale agreed to contact his father soon, he didn’t want his father to storm into the capital and create a bigger ruckus, and watched Hans leave the room.

Cale felt the invisibility of leaving the Black Dragon as he revealed to be resting on the comfortable bed in the room. Cale and the Black Dragon shared a short glance and both confirmed that there were no video or audio recording devices present.

“There are no recording devices present.”

Cale was really satisfied with the way the Black Dragon could quickly check his surroundings and make swift conclusions. What a smart dragon. Cale looked at Rosalyn, who had cast a noise cancellation spell around the room.

“It’s better to be safe.”

“Miss Rosalyn, that side of you is wonderful.”

Rosalyn preened a little bit at the praise of a dragon. Cale brought his attention towards Choi Han, who was looking down ever since he entered the room.

Cale could tell why he was like this.

He did not manage to kill Redika.

“Tell me.”

Choi Han lifted his head up, and detailed his escapade into his attempt to kill Redika.

The black-haired swordmaster was able to half blind Redika, and cut off his left arm.

‘He’s such a munchkin. Losing an arm and an eye is basically a death sentence for a mage.’

“I was supposed to kill him. I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. You did well.”

Cale side-eyed the blood sticking to Choi Han’s clothes. He suspected that Choi Han had gone berserk in killing off the rest of Redika’s subordinates after the mage had escaped.

“I see, you worked hard… All of you did something amazing today. It is thanks to you that all those people lived. Miss Rosalyn, you worked hard as well.”

Cale watched as the tense demeanour of the group slowly uncoiled, relaxing from their stressful day today.

The Black Dragon rose it’s head slightly from it’s resting place.

“You worked hard too, Red Dragon. But why did a great and mighty existence like yourself decide to cough blood today?”

Cale paused, it seemed like someone was asking the question that was evidently on everyone’s mind.

“...It is just the side effects of an injury I sustained a long time ago to my heart.”

“Ah.”

Cale heard the quiet gasp of the beast tribe children and the stiffening posture of the mage and swordmaster.

“The power I used today was indeed an ancient power, but I was unaware it used the power from my heart, so I was hurt by the mana bomb.”

Choi Han clenched his fist a little tighter at Cale’s words, and Rosalyn had a conflicted look upon her face.

Nyaaaa.

Meowwww.

The kittens who were being held up by an anxious Lock had jumped gracefully out of his hands and had walked over to Cale to climb up his clothes and rub against his face.

‘Why are they like this?’

“I will find whoever hurt you in the past and kill them, weak dragon! This great and mighty dragon will not rest until they are dead! You should not use that ancient power until you get better, weak dragon!”

Cale started to laugh in amusement at the vicious Black Dragon.

“Haha, you should enjoy your time with a relaxing life before you go about saying things like that.”

The voice of Rosalyn brushed past Cale’s ears as he absentmindedly pet the kittens and the dragon in his arms.

“Dragon-nim is right, young master Cale. You should not use that ancient power until you have healed your heart.

Cale hummed in response, he needed to get back to work, and discuss his reward with the crown prince soon.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“...By the way.”

The crown prince’s hesitant attitude made it seem like there was something to be expected of. Cale waited for the crown prince to say something to him.

“...You are human, right?”

Cale felt a stupid expression almost creep up onto his face.

‘Human? It felt like the crown prince just landed a fat hook into my face.’

“...I am human.”

Cale carefully moulded his expression into one that seemed to be asking why the prince was asking stupid questions. Cale watched closely as Alberu subconsciously let out a sigh.

“Sigh. Right, of course you are human.”

Cale watched Alberu gesture toward the both of them before continuing to speak.

“You and I are both human.”

The Black Dragon and Cale shared the same thought together. 

• Weak dragon, this human likes to lie a lot.

• There’s nothing human about me, and there’s only something partially human about this bastard.

Of course, Cale wouldn’t let the crown prince know about his dragonhood. He would rather have the crown prince at a distance of a six, no, ten-foot pole at all times, but life doesn’t give Cale what he wants.

Life gives Cale lemons, and Cale can’t even enjoy lemonade because that was just as disgusting as lemons.

“Of course. Is there much to being human? We’re all human if we live amongst each other.”

Cale believed in what he was saying, even if he technically should have no experience on being a human, and half of everything he says is always pulled out of his ass.

“You are right. There really isn’t much to being human. However.”

Cale really hated the word ‘however’, it always leads to the knowledge of more useless information.

“I thought I was mistaken at the banquet hall, but there are some weird smells around you.”

“...Smell?”

Cale responded with shock.

“I just showered.”

Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. 

The crown prince opened and closed his mouth a couple times, without saying anything.

Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. 

Cale stared at the wrinkles on Alberu’s forehead which was frowning. Cale ignored the NOT bead of sweat that slowly dripped down his neck.

Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. 

• Dragon’s so do NOT smell. Weak dragon, this human-not-human is weird.

Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. Play dumb. 

Alberu’s contemplating look relaxed back into his face, and all traces of it quickly disappeared, and Alberu jumped back on the original track.

Phew, Cale was out of the red zone. Thank the person who does his cuticles and the fresh smell of money, because those are the only things he can trust in this cruel world.

“I don’t think there’s a need for two similar people like us to sugar coat things. So, what do you want as your reward?”

Before prince Alberu had gone to meet Cale, he had quickly flipped through the files regarding the Henituse son. But there was nothing but trash, literally.

[Infamous in the Northeast for being trash.]

[Completely pushed out of the successor position two years ago but shows no sign of complaints.]

[No signs of trying to cause issues within the household.]

All the files had told him, was that Cale was an alcoholic trash who liked to play around and get wasted. But the Cale Henituse in front of Alberu right now, was not trash. In fact, ever since Alberu had laid his eyes on Cale for the first time, Alberu had noticed there was an aura of oppression around him at all times.

It was a faint aura, like it was being subconsciously pushed down at all times, but Alberu’s senses caught it. The aura called the respect of all and everything, he would be lying if he said that the red head didn’t hold his attention to.

It wasn’t the charisma of a ruler, like his father, but more of an indomitable force that even the forces of nature would listen to. So Alberu was pulled to ask Cale whether he was even a human or not.

It didn’t matter whatever Cale’s answer was, Alberu knew the truth. Cale Henituse, was no way in hell, a human.

So Alberu was thankful when he left the room filled with an oppressive aura because he could finally breathe without feeling a little sliver of fear every time he could hear his own heart beating loudly. 

The crown prince didn’t know if the one less golden plague was worth it in the end. But he was willing to wedge his bets on the increasingly intriguing Cale Henituse, and maybe in the future, Alberu would discover what Cale Henituse really was.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale was lazing back in the luxury room the crown prince had given him, Cale wouldn’t mind if he just passed away peacefully right here and now. This is the life Cale would have every day and all day in the future.

The redhead was feeling incredibly accomplished at the moment. He had obtained the golden plague from the crown prince, and his scary butler Ron had gone off to ‘hunt some foxes’, Cale was only glad that it would be far away from him. In addition, Cale had given the task to Choi Han to follow Rosalyn and Lock to the Breck Kingdom in order to deal with the difficulties there.

So Cale had basically, gotten rich, and pushed two vicious punks far away from him

Life. Is. Great.

Cale sneezed loudly and obnoxiously. Making On jump from her spot next to his head. She gave him a fat side-eye, before turning her body and curling up again next to Cale.

‘It feels like someone is thinking about me…’

Cale shrugged, not his problem, and continued to lay back lazily, enjoying feeding himself one grape at a time.

Chapter Text

The room in the palace was truly extravagant, Cale had half a mind not to just take over the palace for himself and the Black Dragon.

‘When I get my slacker life, I will definitely make a better room than this.’

But Cale knew his slacker life wouldn’t grace him, until he discovered how to fix whatever damage had come to his heart. For a dragon, one of the most important things to them was their hearts, like any other living creature, so why did Cale have such a weak heart?

The redhead took a glance around, the crickets were singing their quiet night songs, and the wind was orchestrating its warm night melodies. The Black Dragon, On, and Hong were all asleep in the night. Cale didn’t need to sleep as much as he did anymore thanks to the Vitality of Heart, and Cale felt well rested even after only two hours of sleep.

Cale pursed his lips, and stealthily moved towards the bathroom that was connected to the chambers.

“Weak dragon, where are you going?”

‘Of course, the Black Dragon woke up instantly and caught Cale.’

“I am going to the bathroom to wash my face, do not mind me, Black Dragon.”

“Hm. Okay, I am going back to sleep.”

Cale watched closely as the Black Dragon curled back into a tight ball on the extremely soft pillow he had chosen, having eyes that could see in the dark almost perfectly was very useful, Cale had to admit.

Opening the door or the luxury bathroom, Cale quickly shut the door behind him and cast sound-proofing wards around the large room. He needed to be secretive about this.

Cale elegantly opened the buttons of his shirt to reveal the mangled scar atop his skin. It was still black and ugly, with faint red scales that roughened what should be smooth fair skin. Cale observed the scar closer, and chose not to push it into the back of his mind anymore. In his time as Kim Rok Soo, he had seen many gruesome and disturbing sights, and Cale could recognise what kind of action that could cause such a horrible mark.

It looked as if something had torn his chest open.

Cale tenderly placed a light hand on top of the cavity where his heart should be…

Survive. 

Survive. Survive. Survive. 

Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. 

Whatever this feeling was kept beating in his chest, and Cale felt the blood continue to flow through his veins at the tempo of this feeling.

His hand that was above his heart pressed down onto his chest. There was nothing that stopped his hand from going deeper.

Something had torn his chest open, and taken his heart out of it…

‘Who the hell would want to tear out the heart of a dragon?’

Cale pursed his lips, things had gotten a lot more complicated now. He knew that what kept his blood pumping through his veins was not his heart, he didn’t have one anymore, but something he knew all dragons had. It was like an instinctive feeling.

Cale’s attribute was survival.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale tried his best to drone out the sounds of people calling out embarrassing names, it made him want to explode the nearest annoying person into smithereens.

“Oh, young master Silver light!”

‘Who?!’

“Young master Shield!!’

‘Who said that?’

It was all so annoying. It had been a while since Cale drank something, but he was so tempted to pick up a bottle and scare all these people away.

“I think it would be best if you avoided alcohol, since you are still recovering.”

Right… Cale was still ‘recovering’ and definitely wasn’t at one hundred percent.

It was weird to see everyone acting like Cale was a fragile glass being handed around the room, even Count Deruth was acting off.

“Cale, did you see the faces of those bastards? Your dad will kill them all for you. How dare they do such a thing to a person who cannot even swing a sword!”

Cale was flattered that Deruth was caring so much for the trash of his family, but come on, ‘cannot even swing a sword’?

It hurt Cale’s pride a lot. He could probably swing a sword maybe once before feeling too lazy to do it again.

The redhead wanted to lay down again and feed himself grapes like he was doing for the past couple days, but no, Cale had to attend another noble meeting about the terror incident that had just happened. Cale decided to push aside the ‘recovering war hero’ excuse and bring himself to attend the gathering.

It was in his respects to the fallen who had not survived the bombings. Cale privately took it upon his own responsibility the lives of the people he had not been able to protect. It was unfortunate, but he understood protecting people was hard, it was like that when he was Kim Rok Soo.

Cale liked engaging himself with Amiru Ubarr, she was pleasant, and not annoying like the other people that always ticked Cale off.

“Yes. I want to see the ocean.”

“I heard. Is it for your recovery?”

“Yes. It will be nice to get some fresh air.”

‘Recovery my ass. I am completely (mostly) healthy, and I’m going to go there to collect another ancient power.’

At this point, it was hard to tell why Cale was collecting these ancient powers, but something deep inside him told Cale that although he might not use them now, they will definitely turn up useful later.

Cale was already knowledgeable on multiple instances where his draconic abilities would not be able to solve his problems.

Cale looked towards Zed Crossman, who began his speech for the memorial and medal ceremony.

“We are gathered back here today to show that we will not cower under fear.”

King Zed stared into the crowd, it was a warning to the enemies, and a call to rally for the crowd. He continued to speak.

“Many people showed heroic deeds during that incident. We were able to protect this land like the past thanks to their bravery.”

King Zed pointed his focus in Cale’s direction, making eye contact. Cale stealthily turned his head slightly to the right, to look past the King and instead into the blue sky behind him.

He was thinking about what he had discussed with the Black dragon before.

“Black Dragon, do you feel a divine blessing on the Crossman family?”

“You mean the Blessing of the Sun God? I do not feel the power of any god from those weak humans. The only special one is the crown prince.”

“Thought so…”

It was another useless truth that Cale had confirmed, naturally, Cale pretended he didn’t know anything. It was what he did best, to be honest. 

The Black Dragon was excited that Cale told him to keep it a secret between the two of them, something about a secret between dragons, whatever that meant.

King Zed started the medal ceremony, and the deafening cheers of the people filled the plaza. Cale felt the mana of the Black Dragon relay his thoughts to him.

• Humans are interesting

Cale almost felt tempted to reply, but it still felt a little strange considering Cale was a human not long ago. The redhead could guess what the Black Dragon found interesting about the scene.

• There are times to be sad, and times to be excited, Black Dragon. You will understand more about humans soon.

That seemed like an adept contribution.

“Young master Cale.”

It was a quiet voice, and it was once Cale despised.

“What is it, young master Venion?”

“I heard that you declined a medal. Will you not regret it?”

Cale felt the gazes of the nobles who had been looking at the ceremony turn towards Venion and Cale.

• I want to kill him.

Cale was a little worried the Black Dragon would blow up Venion’s body right there and then.

‘It would stain my white shirt.’

There was a simple reason why Cale had rejected receiving a medal. He did not want to be recorded.

Cale knew there was a records chamber in the palace, that held accounts of all the past kings and details of all ‘heroes’, who have received a medal of honour throughout the history of the kingdom.

‘That might sound like fame and honour to someone else, but in truth honestly it just sounds like a big, heavy ball and chains to me.’

“What would I regret?”

Cale was smiling at Venion as he spoke, there was nothing to regret, Cale walked away with a fat dump of the crown prince’s money.

“It is enough that we managed to survive.”

The murmuring of the gossiping nobles paused, and Cale, who had spoken truthfully from his heart, knew that surviving was the very thing keeping his blood pumping through his veins.

Venion spoke after a while, to break the silence the watching nobles had given them.

“...I see.”

“Yes. I am also very shy. Too shy to go up there and receive a medal.”

Venion’s expression turned weird, and Cale gave a half-assed shrug, and turned around to clap for another person. 

Cale and the Black Dragon were secretly snickering to each other in amusement at Venion’s ugly mug, and the Black Dragon was brainstorming different ways on how to kill Venion. The Black Dragon seemed content to fantasise on how to murder Venion in a hundred different ways in ten seconds rather than act upon them in public.

It was better for Cale that way anyways, he actually sort of liked the white shirt he was wearing now.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale liked Billos.

Although Billos looked like a great big piggy bank, Cale always liked the smell of money, even before he became a dragon. 

Cale also liked that Billos was smart. 

So when Cale was discussing his plans for the Whipper Kingdom with Billos, he couldn’t help but be amused at their conversations together. 

Cale quickly bid Billos goodbye, and prepared to meet his second guest-

Yowwwwlll–

Hong’s loud and terrified yowling placed Cale on edge. Was there danger??

The two kittens jumped into Cale’s arms, hair on end at the sight of a creepy little clay doll that had climbed through the window. The doll looked more like some second-rate horror movie zombie, but the tiny thing looked terrifying.

Cale frowned as he squinted at the doll to get his head around its power. The Black Dragon spoke into Cale’s head with magic as usual.

• It feels like the power of a God.

Cale was impressed that the dragon had managed to recognise Cage’s divine ability fast.

• You’re right, you’re a smart and mighty dragon

• You’re correct! I am a great, smart, and mighty dragon!

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

The clay doll melted on the table just as Cale and Cage had finished their discussion.

“Then is that when I can get my revenge?”

The Black Dragon understood that once Taylor Stan returned to power, Venion would be unprotected and would therefore face the wrath of this Black Dragon.

“Yes. You can do as you want at that time.”

“Great.”

‘What a vicious young dragon.’

As if Cale wasn’t giggling when the Black Dragon was brainstorming different ways to deal with Venion into his mind not long ago (let Cale live in delusion, it’s how he brings himself to wake up everyday).

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale was standing in front of the carriage early in the morning. It was the day he was going to go to the Ubarr Territory, and the day that Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Lock would start their journey to the Breck Kingdom.

The three of them were seeing Cale off, and Cale gazed at them with a stoic expression.

Cale toned out the vicious things Choi Han was telling him, from the moment Cale woke up Choi Han would not stop telling Cale violent things.

Blah blah, mage bastard, yap yap yap, kill him, blow up his head, meh meh meh. 

Cale was seriously tired of Choi Han viciousness, the redhead was much more of a professional in watching other people solve his problems.

Lock was surrounded by his ten little siblings, and telling them what was on his mind, Lock was a kind older brother to them. Cale noticed Rosalyn and the Black Dragon whispering inside the carriage, but Cale didn’t bother to snoop in on their conversation.

Cale thought it was a much better use of his time to instead zone out into Choi Han’s face as he kept yapping about murder and blood.

“Dragon-nim, I’m sure young master Cale has already taught you a lot about the Roan Kingdom’s alphabet. This is a textbook on more complicated words for the continent’s common language.”

“Thank you, human. I'm great and mighty, so I will learn it quickly.”

“Absolutely. Dragon-nim is great and mighty. I pray that you come up with a cool name for yourself.”

“I will ask for him to come up with a name for me.”

“...I’m sure Cale-nim will know what you mean by asking him.”

“Hmph.”

Cale didn’t know what they were talking about, but Cale knew that he was getting a little sick of Choi Han’s aggressive language.

“Cale-nim, your rate of survival goes up if you blast anything away in one hit and then run away. Also–.”

“Enough with the nonsense.”

Choi Han immediately shut up.

“Just make sure you don’t get hurt.”

“...Yes. I will make sure to do that.”

‘Why would I ever get hurt? I’m a dragon.’

Cale didn’t want to see Choi Han’s innocent smile any more, so he got on the carriage. Rosalyn respectfully left the carriage as Cale got on.

The familiar weight of the invisible Black Dragon, as well as On and Hong, fell onto Cale’s body, as he looked out the window towards Hans.

“Let’s go.”

The staff of the Henituse Capital Estate were all outside the residence, bidding Cale goodbye. Cale didn’t understand why they were interrupting their work to come and see him, he remembered telling them it was fine.

“Young master-nim, please return home safely!”

“It was our joy to serve you, young master-nim!”

“We look forward to seeing you again soon!”

‘What scary nonsense.’

Cale had no plans to ever see the capital again, he gave a leisurely wave to the servants and closed the carriage curtains,

Now, where was he…

Oh right!

The Ubarr Territory, with its dangerous century old whirlpools.

Chapter Text

Cale was silently thinking. The redhead frowned as he zoned into nothing.

The realisation of his missing heart had hit him weirdly. Cale felt oddly calm about it, like there was nothing to worry about. Cale had realised that the faint thumping of something in his blood wasn’t a heart.

It was his attribute.

During the nights Cale spent at the crown prince’s palace, Cale really, and he meant really, paid attention to that thumping.

Survive. Survive. 

Survive. Survive. 

Survive. Survive. 

Survive. Survive. 

Over. and over. And over. And over again. It kept ringing in his ears all the time, and by the time Kim Rok Soo had entered this body, his head was used to tuning out the attribute.

But now Kim Rok Soo had to deal with it.

…

Cale absentmindedly felt his chest, an empty cavity like it was carved into itself. An empty, hollow hole where Cale’s heart and ribs should be…

He pursed his lips. He needed to find out how this had happened to him. Cale needed to dive into the identity of the original owner of his body. It was hard; there was nothing known about the original Cale Henituse other than his trashy behaviour.

It would help Cale a lot if he had someone knowledgeable to talk to… maybe an elder dragon, or his own father.

The Red Dragon shook his head slightly, his hair sticking to his lashes.

Maybe that elf village would know the location of a dragon.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Hong shoved his face out of the open carriage window and breathed in the air heavily.

“Sniff! It smells so salty! Is this the sea?”

Cale nodded his head and hummed.

He and the Black Dragon were studying a small round item together.

“This is the condensed mana from the bomb, yes?”

The Black Dragon nodded his head at Cale’s question and responded.

“Yes. We can make a new magic bomb now.”

“Hm.”

Cale let out a satisfied hum and opened the carriage window wide. The salty and refreshing sea breeze entered the carriage as he looked out towards the Northeastern sea. There were many islands that Cale could see in the glittering ocean.

Cale turned back to the Black Dragon, after ensuring the Hong wouldn’t accidentally fall out of the window. Absently petting On, who was curled up on his lap, Cale started to continue his lesson with the Black Dragon.

Luckily for Cale, he was rich enough to have access to advanced books of magic and had quickly read up on everything he could access. The Birth of a Hero had a lot of expert mana explanations, so Cale had read himself up to date on his knowledge of magic and draconic abilities. He was a little behind as a dragon, but that in itself was still years ahead of even the most powerful mage.

Being around another dragon helped Cale accept his nature a little better. He needed to teach this young dragon well, so he could protect himself and others in the future.

“Oh! Look at that sharp cliff!”

On had leapt off of his lap and joined Hong in staring out of the window in awe, her shout had gathered the attention of the Black Dragon, who paid close attention to the view as well. It was his first time seeing such a beautiful sight too.

Cale smiled a little after seeing the children enjoying their time, and considered the next ancient power he needed to gain…

Fire Suppressing water.

The dragon had considered if he should get the wind-related power but had chosen against it. It would be no use to him.

The mage slayer Toonka in the novel would gain this power, and he would go on to become a mad tyrant.

While Cale was admiring the view alongside the children, his sharp eyes zoned into a pod of large whales crossing the Northeastern Sea to head North. They had a strong presence in the ocean, and Cale could feel it in the high cliffs.

The Black Dragon was looking at them too.

“Weak dragon, they have a strong presence.”

Cale had a bad feeling.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Now that Cale was really looking at him, Beacrox would make an excellent babysitter. Although the chef’s eyes seemed to perpetually cycle through different eye bags, Cale knew that it was because Beacrox had a very important priority on hygiene.

Let it be quiet that Beacrox probably had an hour-long cleaning routine before he went to bed.

If Cale would entrust Beacrox to take care of the ten wolf tribe children like Beacrox was doing now, perhaps the children would adopt Beacrox’s clean nature.

“Hm.”

Cale wandered around the island that possessed the ancient power he was looking for leisurely. Both the Black Dragon and Cale could feel the familiar aura of an ancient power on the shores of the island, but Cale knew there were two, and he was looking for the second one.

“But there is a corpse.”

“What?”

Cale froze up for a second, the Black Dragon had just returned from a circle around the island while invisible.

“When I looked down on this island earlier there were three corpses on the other side of the island.”

This was out of Cale’s expectations, he had a really bad feeling right now.

“But the corpses were not humans.”

Cale lifted his hand to bury his face into it again.

‘So they were similar to humans, but not the same.’

“Were their hands and feet weird?”

“That’s right! The hands and feet were weird. They looked like fish fins!”

“Hm… They must be mermaids then…”

Cale mulled over this information. The Birth of a Hero had described the looks of the mermaids in detail, according to what the Black dragon told him, there must be three dead mermaids on the island.

A pod of whales and mermaids… Cale was worried, they weren’t supposed to show up this early.

‘No.’

Cale fixed his out-of-pocket thoughts. The battle between the Whale Tribe and the mermaids had a long history, longer than the history of human wars…

“Hey, you.”

“...Do not call me you.”

Cale looked towards the Black Dragon.

“Then what should I call you?”

“You will soon find out.”

‘What the hell is he yapping about?’

Cale thought the Black Dragon, who he had been teaching the human language lately would pick a name for himself. Cale spoke aloud to himself and the Black Dragon.

“There is no living presence left on this island or the water surrounding it…”

“That’s right, weak dragon.”

“Then lead the way to those corpses.”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

It was night-time at the residence, Cale, the Black Dragon, and the kittens were resting well with stomachs full of roasted fish. But now wasn’t the time to relax, Cale stood on the window sill that faced the Cliff of Winds and the Northeastern Sea as he spoke to On and Hong.

“Keep a good watch at home.”

“We won’t let anybody in.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Cale nodded his head to respond to the small kittens, before looking at the Black Dragon. He could just leave the Black Dragon here and quietly get on with his mission, but he wanted to have the Black dragon beside him to analyse his use of magic.

Cale stretched out his mana to cover himself with a lofty flight spell and felt his feet lift off the ground naturally. It was a different thing to fly naturally as a dragon than it was to cast a spell to fly.

“Let’s go.”

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“Just stay there, I just have to collect something.”

“Alright, weak dragon.”

The Black Dragon stayed exploring around the shores of the island beach, it was the dragon’s first time seeing the shore this close.

Cale had turned to fly off into the cave he knew where the power was, but he had chosen to ignore the Sound of the Wind. From experience, all ancient powers of that specific type had harmed him, the power he was collecting now did him no harm.

It was better to live life without pain after all…

‘Found it.’

It was in a small cavern where the ocean met the land. In between the boulders that resembled a lion’s pride. If this was combined with the ancient power Lock would acquire for Cale in the future, Cale would be able to create a deal with him.

‘Afterall, the queen needs to save her jungle’

Cale paused, he could feel the presence of something alive in the cave… it seemed strong, but barely alive. It was a pitiful presence, something that crawled by the tips of its fingers to survive…

Pssssssss. Psssssss.

It was the sound of something dragging itself across the sand.

“P-please save me.”

Cale turned to look in the direction of the voice.

A human-looking existence, with its mangled leg dragging across the sand behind it. Cale cringed, that must’ve stung. There was a green fluid on the scratches left behind on his body, the work of a mermaid.

“P-please–.”

It was a whale. 

From his stunning looks and otherworldly aura. Cale knew it was a Whale Tribe member.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale thought Toonka’s smiling face only showed off more of his ugly mug, he couldn’t bring himself to look at it anymore.

But Amiru had a gracious smile on her face as she started to explain.

“Bob is from the Whipper Kingdom. He is from a small seaside village and went out to fish when somehow he ended up ship-wrecked.”

“That’s correct! I like a simple life fishing by the village. Hahahahaha, I don’t know how I ended up over here.”

‘Simple life my ass.’

This is ridiculous, but Amiru couldn’t hear Cale’s thoughts and continued to go on.

“That was why he got on a boat and helped us investigate what happened last night.”

Cale could take one look around at the envoy around him today, and he knew the true opinion they had on this Whipper Kingdom barbarian.

Cale looked towards Toonka’s eyes and watched him start to smile.

“I heard that young master-nim launched a large shield in the capital to save everyone. I ask the young lady-nim to bring me with her today because I heard that you are a strong person.”

Toonka’s eyes sharpened in excitement as he observed the strong aura around Cale.

‘Shit. Toonka can probably tell that I’m strong thanks to the dragon aura of both me and the Black Dragon.’

Cale quickly started to speak random things that were the first things he thought of.

“That is why I am currently in recovery.”

“Recovery?”

“Yes. It is not a strong power. It was extremely weak.”

Amiru tacked on.

“Yes. Young master Cale overused his power to save everyone. That is why he is touring our territory for his recovery.”

Cale ignored Amiru’s looks of sympathy, admiration and some other emotions Cale didn’t bother to analyse. He only paid attention to Toonka’s reaction.

“Ah, is that the case?”

Toonka seemed to have lost interest and turned away to stare in some unknown direction.

‘Good, now I don’t have to deal with him asking for a fight every ten seconds. This is how Toonka should act.’

“This is weird. I smell strong presences nearby…”

• Dragons do NOT smell. Why do these weird people keep saying we smell??

Cale knew he had to act extremely weak today.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Paseton didn’t know how he got here. Only the night before he was fighting for his life in the dank cold cavern of a cave. His memories were a bit blurry from that moment on, but he knew he was saved by a red-haired man.

The red-haired man looked like any other human at first glance, but Paseton trusted his senses, and when he looked deeper into the being of this man…

Paseton saw the faint inhuman shimmer of the man’s hair and the way when the human looked at him. His reddish-brown eyes seemed to stare into him with the most knowledgeable of stares like the man knew the past, present, and future of the young whale tribe member.

Paseton could see through the dark, humid air of the cave to see the almost unnoticeable slits of the man’s pupils.

When the man took the fainted Paseton to his room, Paseton was carried by the fair hands that rippled with the power of only one being.

A dragon.

So when Paseton saw his sister fighting with some unknown human in front of this powerful being after being healed by said powerful being. Naturally, he panicked.

“Noona! If you keep fighting, that generous dragon will get upset!”

Cale tensed.

‘Shit, the cat’s out of the bag.’

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

“...That puny whale is talking?? The weak-strong guy was actually a dragon!?”

“You called my little brother puny??”

Toonka felt like his mind broke a little bit more.

“This one can talk as well??”

This is a total mess. Cale could feel the gazes of the whale siblings and the barbarian on him.

“Oho, you must be Beast people! Beast people and a dragon!! This is going to be fun!”

‘No this is not fun, this is a pain in my ass! Now three of the people who I’d rather not know my true identity know who I am!”

Cale felt as though he should pack up his things and attend the funeral of his own slacker life because he could feel it was practically running away from him.

Toonka looked like he was having the biggest bout of excitement in his life, and the whales looked as though they were sharing an important conversation while looking at each other, and then back to Cale repeatedly.

“I apologise, dragon-nim. You are completely drenched, I’m also sorry about all this boulder dust. I was going to visit you tonight to thank you.”

That reminded Cale, that he was covered in the disgusting dust and debris of the fight between Toonka and the whale. Cale’s shiny red hair was dripping with salt water, curling a little at the ends that had stuck to his face and forehead. The redhead’s thick lashes were dripping with water as the black shirt he was wearing clung closely to his lithe figure.

The dragon looked even prettier than the Whale Tribe people if Paseton was allowed to think that…

Cale simply waved his hand and his body immediately rid itself of dust and water, leaving Cale back in his pristine state. Paseton had come forward closer to the shore to speak to Cale.

“That’s fine. Are you better now?”

“Yes, dragon-nim. I am almost fully recovered now thanks to you.”

Toonka had jumped up towards the Humpback Whale Beast person, angry that they were not paying attention to their fight anymore. But the whale beast person disappeared into a puff of water vapour, and out from the cloud revealed a woman who stepped toward.

Her feet landing on the soft sand was Witira in her human form.

“Noona!”

Paseton called out to his older sister.

Cale eyed the two of them. The Whale Tribe Beast people were explosively beautiful, Cale believed they could make elves feel like squids. Blue hair and blue eyes, if there was a contest for the most beautiful species in the ocean, Cale knew the Whale Beast people would win.

The Black Dragon spoke into Cale’s head at that moment.

• They are cool. But dragons are even cooler! Weak dragon, your human form is even more handsome and beautiful than theirs!

• …I’m flattered. It’s obvious our existence would be more breathtaking than the Whale Tribe.

Cale was happy because of the Black Dragon’s words. It was obvious a dragon, who was the most powerful existence in nature, would be more beautiful than the Whale Tribe. Cale had never taken a good enough look at himself or his dragon form, but he knew it would be stunning to see.

“...Thank you so much for saving my younger brother, dragon-nim. You truly are a kind and generous dragon.”

Witira stood in front of Cale confidently and respectfully. She bowed her head with a slight reverence and gratefulness. Witira was amazed that she was in the presence of a strong dragon, especially if the dragon had saved her younger brother.

Cale didn’t know how to fix the problem he had with the three now knowing his identity, especially Toonka, who Cale knew would try anything to fight him.

Toonka was battle crazy and obsessed with anything strong, even when he knew there was a good chance he would lose.

“Kahahahaha! I knew you were strong! You can’t hide it from me. But it looks like you just use your strength to save people. Now fight me, dragon! I’ll show you how to properly use your strength!”

No one was impressed.

‘This disrespectful punk.’

• To rescue something or someone is a glorious deed! It is something anyone should be proud of. This punk is as bad as Venion!

The Black Dragon, as Cale realised, didn’t really act like a dragon, aren’t they supposed to be creatures that only care about themselves?

Cale was a dragon too, and so far he knew all of his actions were aimed towards capturing his slacker life…

Witira clenched her hands in front of Cale.

“...Do not look down on the heroic actions of a great existence.”

Cale could barely fit a word into the chaos before Witira and Toonka went to fight again.

Boom!

Everyone watched as Witira snapped her water whip once and sent Toonka flying across the island like a ball.

‘Home run!!’

Cale could faintly hear the shouts of his envoy from across the island…shit. He knew he had to stop Toonka from crashing into them and hurting them, Cale didn’t want to ride the boat back to his residence with injured people…

The redhead pursed his lips, he couldn’t use his mana to create a shield because that would definitely give himself away to the humans he was hiding amongst.

‘“Sigh. So annoying.”

A holy shield with large, white and graceful wings covered the group of humans on the island. The wings of the shield were facing in the wrong direction though, and Toonka’s body was saved from a painful landing unintentionally. 

His weak constitution was able to handle at least this much force.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale told himself that he actually wouldn’t get the Sound of the Wind. He almost swore on it. In the end, what could he even use such a useless thing for?

That is what Cale told himself… before he flew down from the sky with a mana bomb to go get the ancient power. 

Cale was weak against his greed.

It wouldn’t be good if Toonka got the power instead because it wouldn’t work with the plans that Cale has. So the Red Dragon left his quarters just as early as nightfall, and without anyone knowing, he flew into the night.

‘It’s a little weird without that little kid here…’

Cale didn’t tell Raon where he was going.

He approached the island with the large whirlpool, and mana bomb already prepared in hand. Cale squinted and saw Toonka about to jump into the whirlpool, and the Red Dragon felt a massive surge of greed.

‘This bastard isn’t getting my ancient power, it’s mine!’

Cale reached out his mana that curled around Toonka’s clothes and flung him to the other side of the shore, Toonka had magic resistance after all…

“Aaaaaahahahahahah! The dragon!”

Toonka’s yell quickly changed into a laugh midway through his lift-off, and Cale watched as he laughed maniacally to land roughly on the sand.

‘Lunatic bastard…’

Cale raised his hand and buried Toonka's neck deep into the sand, that should be enough to hold him back while Cale was busy. The dragon turned back to the whirling pool of bone-breaking water and took something out of his pocket dimension.

It was a mana bomb, Cale had experimented with an idea from Volume Three of the Novel. It was a bomb composed of condensed mana, which once activated would divide into many different bombs that would set off a chain of explosions. Cale had made it as he was flying over to the islands, and there was a chance it could be extremely volatile…

Cale shrugged as he floated above the whirlpool, and set off the bomb.

Hssssss

He dropped it and watched as the bomb plopped into the water pitifully.

‘Did it not work?’

Cale had a concerned look on his face, he didn’t want to just dive in without softening the water… his weak body wouldn’t be able to brave the rough conditions. Then all of a sudden.

Booooom!

Ksssssshhhh! Crrrraaaaaaackkk!

The bomb set off, and water sprayed out of the whirlpool and soaked Cale’s clothes. The Red dragon shook his face free of water and dropped his flight magic. Cale fell through the air and felt the cold, wet, air sting his cheeks.

Toonka struggled futilely against the hold of the heavy sand and watched as the dragon plunged head-first into the exploding centre of the whirlpool.

/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ\

Cale felt the top break underneath his foot, and a shrill sharp noise echoed through the water as the wind started to surround Cale’s body.

‘You have the power of recovery. Don’t get caught like I did. Got it?’

‘The power of recovery? Is she talking about the Vitality of the Heart?”

Cale started to frown after hearing her words.

‘Be free.’

Swoooooooosh.

A white wind swirled around Cale’s body while he was underwater, feeling the wind move up and down from his head to his feet.

 ‘Hmm?’

But the wind instead stuck to the area around where his heart should be.

Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. 

Cale’s attribute started to go off wildly, it had started setting off so many alarms that it hurt Cale’s chest. 

Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. 

‘What is going on??’

  Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. 

Cale felt the Vitality of the Heart start to thump wildly too, was the Vitality of the Heart strengthening the Sound of the Wind?

  Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. 

No.

  Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. 

The Vitality of the Heart was absorbing the Sound of the Wind.

  Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive.