Chapter 230: But it's more comfortable here? (4)
The continuation of the episode they had just read was a little surprising, but they ignored it. After all, they couldn't choose what to watch.
Ron's cold gaze headed toward Cale. Cale quickly turned his head away while making it look as nonchalant as possible.
Human, grandpa Ron's gaze is vicious!
Cale's shoulders shuddered after hearing Raon's comment. It could not be helped.
Every time Clopeh saw that this man was afraid of someone, he wanted to hit him.
Cale had not told Ron in advance that he would take control of the Eastern continent's underworld. All he had said was to come with him since Ron knew the Eastern continent well.
"...Young master-nim."
Ron's voice did not have its usual gentle nature.
The old man's vicious voice made Cale respond as a reflex.
"You are the only one I can trust to handle this."
The word made Ron feel bad.
He wasn't saying he was the only one to trust, but somehow he got it that way.
He had no regrets about it after he abandoned his little puppy.
But he felt it was now.
It was the truth.
Compared to the terrible actor Choi Han, the innocent Mary, or the oddly talkative Vice Captain Hilsman, Ron was very fitting to be the ruler of the underworld.
The fact that the necromancer named Mary was actually innocent didn't sound convincing.
According to the people, those who had any connection with the dark were evil.
It was something that was etched in their minds.
However, Cale could not look at Ron.
He was scared.
No matter how strong he got, this old man was oddly even scarier than Choi Han. Someone who charges at you and someone who stealthily approaches you and cuts your head off. Which of the two would be scarier?
It is naturally the latter.
While people thought Cale's words were true, Choi Han and Cale did not understand why he was still afraid of Choi Han.
They looked good there.
However, they actually thought that this was the case as Cale there seemed to be afraid of everyone who was powerful around him.
Ron Molan was talented in quietly taking people's lives.
If you said something like that to someone normally, they would turn white with fear.
Who would have guessed that a servant would actually have such a background?
Cale kept his mouth shut and tried his best to avoid Ron's gaze.
However, Ron was focused on Cale's back right now. He was giving off such a scary aura that the former bandit leader kept his mouth shut in fear as he peeked back and forth between Cale and Ron.
Dorori felt sorry for him. He wasn't a very nice person, but circumstances had made him this way.
That was his thought, at least.
Beacrox was in the corner cleaning the dust off of his greatsword and pretending not to care, however, his full attention was on his father.
Here he wasn't acting like he didn't care. Everyone could clearly see that he was paying attention there.
The silence was broken as Ron started to speak.
"The person who has lost everything once and ran away has lost his viciousness and is now an old man."
Choi Han wanted to laugh.
'Is this old man finally senile?'
Ron was talking about himself.
He had run away with Beacrox after the Molan household went down and he had lost the rest of his family. He had lost his original viciousness and was now just an old man.
He was too old to continue to develop like Choi Han or Mary.
'Old, my ass'
What is this horrible man talking about? Has the person who had horrified you even with a single glance gone out of their minds now?
Ron was trying to tell Cale, who was asking him to take control of the Eastern continent's underworld, the harsh truth. It was at that moment. He could hear Cale's voice.
It was full of disbelief.
"No more lies."
Ron flinched.
Cale still could not look at Ron.
'Weak?
Not vicious?
Old?'
If Ron was considered weak, all of the other assassins in the world would need to retire. Why was he acting so modest, unlike his usual self?
For the first time, Choi Han did not think if any of his words had any other meaning.
'It's obvious that this old man is the only one who can't see this obvious truth.'
The inner voice of the person who was older than the former king of the Roan kingdom spoke.
Cale did not hide the disbelief in his face.
Ron could not say anything as he looked at Cale who showed his true emotions.
'No more lies?'
Ron looked toward his young master who was too tall to be called a puppy now. He could hear him grumbling.
"All you've been doing during your free time is cleaning your dagger. Weak? You don't know how scary you look each time you do that. My goodness."
Even though Ron knew that they weren't told to him, they were the same person, so he can count them as said to himself, right?
'Your puppy has really grown now'
The person Ron had been keeping an eye on for years now seemed like someone else.
He stopped acting.
So he thought, of course, there was no one to say he was wrong.
The smile on Ron's lips quickly disappeared. He looked down at his hands. What Cale had said was true. He was indeed wiping his dagger every day.
There was a simple reason for it.
It was because he didn't know when the enemies might appear and because they were in the middle of a war.
'We should have killed him. We shouldn't have let him escape no matter what.'
A group of villains, still burning with regret, realized that they were digging their own graves.
There was no way he could keep his weapon away from himself during such a time. However, he suddenly thought about something.
'Is that really the only reason?'
He turned his head.
He could see his son Beacrox wiping his greatsword off. His son did not avoid his gaze and looked him directly in the eyes.
An odd smile appeared on his son's usually stoic face.
'Father, you were caught.'
That was what the smile seemed to be saying.
Yes, he had been caught.
Ron started to slowly smile as well. It was a cold smile that was far from his usual gentle smile.
Choi Han, Mary, and Hilsman. His hands and feet had been itching to move as he watched their battles. While his feelings were a bit different than the sword master Hannah's itchiness for battle, his entire body was boiling with passion.
People who had never seen the Blessed Virgin's battle wondered what she was like when she was fighting.
They shouldn't have. They would regret it in the future.
He knew that the chances of an old man like himself growing were much smaller than the chances of those younger punks, however, he could not put his dagger down. He had trained his fake arm early every morning before going to wake Cale up.
What was the reason for that?
"Old, my ass. You still got decades to live."
He looked at his puppy young master-nim who was grumbling.
'Since when do you call me a puppy?'
Cale held in what he wanted to say.
Now was not the time.
But he wrote it in his mind.
A benign smile appeared once more on Ron's face.
"Young master-nim, everything you said is true."
Cale slowly turned his head. He felt his heart sink the moment he made eye contact with Ron.
"I have too much greed to be a boring old man just yet."
Onlookers regretted it, to see Ron's grin that could be called a grim smile appear on his face.
'Why is an old man's gaze so vicious?'
'Seriously how?!'
Someone wanted to rebel.
Cale put his hand over his heart and gulped. Ron did not care as he looked toward the bandit leader and started to speak.
"We return grace at a hundred times the value of what we received, while we get our revenge by bringing death to our enemies."
Ron believed everybody had an internal candle within their minds. The candle slowly starts to go out as you get older until the light goes out and you live your life in a cold world filled with darkness.
However, he had been wrong.
The thing that was putting out the candle of his heart was not the shrinking base, but the wind that he allowed to enter. Furthermore, he had chosen to turn away from the small flame that continued to burn.
He finally realized it.
Ron started to take care of the small flame that was close to going out.
Doing that allowed him to feel it properly. He could feel his unwavering determination that was saying that he could keep on going for a long time.
"Young master-nim, thank you very much."
"Young master-nim, thank you very much."
Both Ron said this, looking at their own young master.
"Don't thank me. It's not me."
Cale frowned as he said these words, unable to do it any more.
'Why does he keep acting like this?'
Alberu was curious.
It turned out that everything was a role. He wasn't going to get anything by continuing this.
'Why?'
Many of them actually had this thought.
He thanked the person who helped him find that tiny flame that was still burning strong inside of him.
On the other hand, Cale was feeling chaotic.
'What is with the sudden, 'revenge by bringing death,' and then thanking me?'
'Their behavior is really different. Cale here is not afraid of Ron, not even anyone.'
Rosalin became even more curious. What happened when his personality changed? Was it just the death of that group of people that made him this way?
'There must be someone very valuable to him.'
Couldn't find any other explanation.
He was anxious as he could not figure out what was going on, however, seeing Ron's gaze returning to normal along with the benign smile made him relax, for now. His heart that had sunk in fear started to beat normally again.
He heard someone's voice as he calmed back down.
"But, bandit leader-nim."
The former bandit leader looked toward Cale and cautiously started to speak. Cale looked at him with a gaze that seemed to be asking, 'what do you want?' as the bandit leader continued to speak.
"Won't we need a lot of money to control the underworld? In terms of strength, I believe these great individuals around you should be enough."
Cale's expression turned odd.
'I guess he really isn't the same as Toonka.'
"Of course not! I'm the one and only!"
People were about to cry silently, wondering how well their ears would have heard if Toonka hadn't shouted everything out.
Toonka would not have cared about money or anything else other than destroying everything. In that aspect, this former bandit leader was surprisingly sly and intelligent.
That was probably what allowed him to escape from slavery and become the leader of a bandit group. Cale calmly started to speak as he liked people like this who knew how to use their heads.
Hopes rose within Alberu about collaborating with him.
You needed more money and strength in order to move up in a dirty place like the underworld.
As the bandit leader said, money was more important than strength in the beginning stages of taking control of the underworld.
"Do it with your money."
"...My money?"
"Yes, your money. Don't you have a lot saved up from all the bad deeds you've committed?"
Cale was planning on taking everything from this bandit group.
"Wow, I pity him."
"How terrible"
It would be a nightmare for this to happen.
"...There is none."
"hm?"
"What?"
The former bandit leader awkwardly scratched his head at Cale's question.
"We live as if each day is our last. We only have enough money to party for about a week. Hahahahaha!"
The bandit leader felt the atmosphere getting colder as he laughed even louder. However, his back was quickly being covered in sweat.
He gulped after seeing Cale sigh and brushing his face with his hands. He felt as if he was suddenly in serious danger.
He heard a calm voice at that moment.
"Then I will give it to you."
"Excuse me?"
The bandit leader watched as Cale took a bag out of his pocket and threw it onto the table. The pretty large bag fell onto the table and opened up.
Seeing so many jewels that they couldn't even in their best dreams would almost give some people a heart attack.
"The power of a Henituse...
When Bud said 'he's so rich' those who thought he was exaggerating were speechless.Cale didn't know what to do either. Of course, they were rich, but he didn't know if they had enough to buy such expensive jewels and scatter around. Because he actually bought whatever he wanted, he didn't really care about money. Other people's reaction, even Basen and Dragons, helped him realize that this wasn't normal.
'Wow, we're super rich.'
He started to smile. He liked this view very much.
Alberu felt strange for some reason. Of course, as an heir, he had a lot of money. But when he thought about how much Cale would want, if he wanted, he couldn't help but tremble.
'That would be a nightmare.'
Claaaaang.
All sorts of jewels fell out of the bag.
"Wow, shit, wow. This-"
The bandit leader could not speak properly.
He had robbed quite a few merchant guilds until now, however, he had never seen so many jewels before, nor anyone who would calmly throw them around like they were nothing.
The bandit leader's gaze headed toward Cale, the owner of the bag of jewels.
Cale had changed a portion of his earnings from the auction house into jewels and brought it with him before coming to the Eastern continent. He casually added on to the bandit who was looking at him.
"What did he sell to earn so much from the auction house...?"
It was clear that it was something very precious. It was a question of whether he would be shown what would happen or not.
"Well, I can bring you hundreds of bags like this, so you won't need to worry about money."
Basen gulped. When did Cale become so rich? Or did he have access to the treasure? His father, of course, gave him a lot of money, but not that much. The fact that he had made so much money from the auction house didn't sound convincing either.
The former bandit leader felt as if there was a bright aura coming from behind Cale.
At the same time, he felt a sense of fear. Who was this person who had such strong individuals such as his subordinates and had so much money?
In fact, he didn't seem to know that he was too strong, so this man reminded them of themselves when things started.
Cale got up from his seat at that moment. The former bandit leader who had been kneeling jumped up as well.
"We will start at a nearby city. Got it?"
"Yes sir!"
The bandit leader responded loudly, and Cale walked past him before adding on.
"Good. We will start with mental conversion now."
"Excuse me?"
"We need to fix that rotten mind of yours that made you do those terrible deeds."
Cale watched Ron gather the jewels as he ignored the gaze of the bandit leader who would not be able to use even 10 gallons without permission in the future. He then looked toward Beacrox, who put on a pair of white gloves and got up from his seat.
"Hehehe someone will turn into dough"
Those words that came out of Rashel's mouth made Cale's smile fade.
It seems that this Dragon hadn't heard what happened between Choi Han and Cale yet, probably because he spent most of his time sleeping.
That made the former bandit leader ask a question.
'Why do I need mental conversion?'
That was his question.
"Don't I need to become even more terrible in order to be the ruler of the underworld? Don't I need to become even more rotten?"
Cale had no problem responding to that question.
"It's whatever I want."
The bandit leader was at a loss for words.
"In addition, anybody who continues their bandit ways will be beaten to a pulp. Anybody who steals someone else's things or hurts someone else will be goners."
"Imm? You know what the underworld is?"
Someone asked hesitantly.
"Do I look like an idiot? Of course I do."
'It didn't sound that way.'
That person wanted to say it but kept it inside.
The bandit leader had a lot he wanted to say, but could not get himself to say it.
'I thought you wanted me to be the ruler of the underworld? Isn't doing what you're saying just turning me into a good person?'
The bandit was right. That's why the man had just asked such a question.
However, he kept his mouth shut after seeing the cold gaze in Cale's eyes. Cale walked out the door as he said one last thing to the bandit leader.
"As for your sculpture, you're dead if you make it."
'What statue?'
"I think we missed a bit of the event."
Basen spoke with some hesitation.
Cale ignored the shock on the bandit leader's face as he walked out of the house. He could see the bandits bowing their heads and moving away once they made eye contact with him.
***
Cale looked at the former bandit leader who was coming out in order to receive his mental conversion as he asked.
"What is the name of the closest city?"
"It is Leeb-An City."
"What is it famous for?"
"It is a free city, so many adventurers and mercenaries frequently come through."
That made Cale smile while the bandit leader flinched.
A free city.
That meant that there were no noble families that ruled over it. It was a city controlled by a few people in power. Furthermore, it was a city with a lot of mercenaries.
It would be an easy place to take over.
He just had to take over the underworld.
How hard can it be?
The people there could have sworn that Cale thought so.
In that case, what would they be famous for?
"Then the underworld must be famous as well?"
The bandit leader put on a sly smile at Cale's question.
"It is quite famous in the Eastern continent's northwest region."
"There should be a ton of people to backstab."
The facial expression of the person who called others cruel himself was more frightening.
Because it was a smile as if he could do anything.
It was making people shudder.
Cale decided where he would start to build his base in the Eastern continent.
A few days later, the ancient Dragon Eruhaben let out a deep sigh.
'I'm there...I wonder how I met them.'
This man was now carrying two dragons with him as if it were perfectly normal.
'He couldn't have scammed me, could he? Have I been scammed?'
The dragon had an idea that somehow managed to make him shudder.
"...Now I know how you end up being so unlucky. You put yourself in such terrible situations all the time. Aigoo."
The weary voice of the ancient dragon cheered the atmosphere—or rather, the elves.
Moreover, he was now in dragon form. No matter how magnificent the elf appearance he was here, his appearance as a dragon was breathtaking.
"Look at that wonderful voice! That nobility, that splendor, that handsomeness! God, I can die in peace now!"
"How can you be so perfect, dragon-nim?!"
"Ahhh~ Dragon-nim~"
The slightly strange voice startled the ancient dragon, while some of them – Cale and Rashel – were about to burst with laughter.
And the guilty elf who made that sound wanted to go down in shame. Although his red face made the handsome elf look great, he was deprived of the chance to see this image as people were covering his face with their hands.
(inspired by Chopeh's behavior)
However, nobody was listening to his ramblings. They were all busy taking care of their individual tasks.
"What do you mean ranblings?!"
"What useless said that?!"
"How dare you?!"
Fortunately, another forgettable event has just erupted.
"Meeeeeow."
"Meeow!"
The two kittens quickly jumped up the wooden steps and headed toward the second floor.
Screech, screech.
The wooden steps screeched as the kittens jumped on them.
-Human! I will follow them as well!
Raon was flying in the air above On and Hong.
"They all have 'on' in their names."
Someone careful made them think it was just too cute.
And of course, they thought it was a coincidence.
Beacrox frowned as he wiped the table with his gloved finger.
It returned with a lot of dust.
"...Ha."
Although Beacrox was sighing, Cale was quite satisfied with what he saw as he turned toward Ron and the former bandit leader.
"Uhm..."
When someone's disturbed voice reached their ears, they couldn't help but stare at the person who looked like a very pathetic person.
"Not bad."
"Indeed, young master-nim."
Ron almost looked toward the former bandit leader with a satisfied gaze. The former bandit leader blinked his now black eye as he started to speak.
"I am quite knowledgeable about Leeb-An City."
Leeb-An City.
It was the closest city to Mount Leeb and the place that the bandit leader had always came to sell off his stolen goods.
It was a city with a quite developed underworld, as well as one of the free cities.
Many mercenaries and adventurers came through this city. [1]
Screech, screech.
Cale looked down at the steps that screeched every time someone stepped on them.
"Yes, it is very old."
It was a deserted inn that looked as if a strong breeze could knock it over.
Cale was satisfied as he looked at the three-story inn that the bandit leader acquired in Leeb-An City. He then continued to speak to the bandit.
Basen didn't understand why Cale liked this place.
But some of the people in the room understood. Usually there was a high probability that there was a secret passage in such places.
"Hey, the basement."
"Yes sir!"
The former bandit leader quickly headed toward the counter.
He then moved a table in order to reveal a hidden door.
"Ho..."
"Very useful."
"Good choice."
A few people made their own comments.
Screeeech-
The door to the basement that had not been used for a long time slowly opened up.
The bandit leader quickly started to explain.
"There used to be an illegal casino here in the past and the owner was my friend."
"What happened to him?"
"He fled to another city with his money."
"That's why the inn was deserted?"
"Yes sir. It has been deserted for around five years."
As strange as it was for the owner of such a useful place to suddenly leave that place, they wouldn't know why.
Maybe they would learn in the future, so they just ignored it.
Boom!
The door to the basement opened completely with a small noise.
Cale could make out the steps through the darkness.
"It is a small three-story inn on the outside but has enough space in the basement to fit at least 300 people."
Cale started to smile along with the bandit leader.
"You're quite smart."
"Hehe, thank you."
The bandit leader scratched his head and answered in embarrassment.
"This would be the perfect place as a secret base to do bad things."
"Smart boy."
"Thank you, hehe."
Cale left the smiling bandit alone as he pushed the inn door open.
There weren't any similarities between now and the first time they saw him. Cale was looking scary to them.
Screeeech-
It became loud as soon as he came outside. He could hear many people speaking on the streets.
"Where are you going today?"
"Someone was looking for a person to catch a wild boar that was ruining their field. That's where I'm going."
"Someone supposedly found an old base over the mountain. It seems to have a lot of history behind it."
"Oh, then I should head over there as well!"
"Cheap traveler's robe for sale! We have other equipment as well!"
"This is the inn of flowing dreams! We have a grand opening discount for all guests! Extended stay guests welcome!"
Cale smiled while standing outside the inn.
Many mercenaries and adventurers, as well as residents of Leeb-An City, were busy starting their days.
He could see some street artists as well.
This seemed to be the gathering spot for all of the bright spots of Leeb-An City.
He was full of satisfaction.
The bandit leader had found a great spot.
"It's full of energy."
Cale turned his head.
He could see the part of Leeb-An City that was still dark and quiet. That was the red-light district and the location of the underworld.
He turned his gaze away from the side that would become vibrant during the night time and looked at the new plaque he placed over the inn entrance.
< Hope and Adventure Loving Inn >
"Who came up with this stupid name?"
Cale never liked this ridiculous name, surely whoever came up with it must have made a slur or had a really bad naming skill.
Cale had come up with the name for the inn.
Eruhaben rejoiced that some of his vengeance had been taken.
Cale regretted that he had just said the words out loud.
After hearing a few chuckles, Cale got angry.
"This is bullshit!"
The old three-story inn. Starting today, this would become a place that adventurers and travelers come to find hope and love.
'What the hell are you talking about?!'
Cale thought that he didn't like this man at all. Even though he thought it was absurd that he hated himself, he was too embarrassed to care right now, and that was why he was angry.
'What hope, what love?!'
Of course, the hidden meaning behind the name was that there would be plans in the basement for the dream and hope of backstabbing the bad guys and the heart-pounding adventurers of going into the bad guys' bases and making them kneel.
"A name with a very dark meaning..."
People wondered how he could be so cruel to think about it with a smile on his face.
Of course, they didn't know as they hadn't seen Cale's true brutality yet.
Isn't it a great name?
'Great, my ass.'
"I really came up with a great name."
'Well done'
Cale wanted to break a bottle on that man's head.
Cale had a warm gaze as he looked at the old inn.
It was a good start.