The following hours flew by in a daze for most of the people. While the children were busy playing with the Saint-nim, Jack, and his little sister Hannah, Eruhaben was sitting in one of the many guest rooms and thinking hard about how his life had changed – only for the better, naturally.
Dodam was sitting in the chair that was in front of Choi Han's bed. Now that Cale's subordinates, or rather Paul and Freesia, have cleaned him up and after Saint Jack had taken a good look at him, he looked much more like his usual self than before. While he still was rather pale (even if it wasn't on Cale's level, which was nothing one should be proud of), he didn't look like he had just gotten the beating of his life.
To the young dragon, it was unfair.
While Dodam accepted that he was in the wrong – this time, he didn't want Choi Han to look so healthy so fast. He still clearly recalled how Cale's body had been fully wrapped around in bandages for day and how he didn't wake up for a whole week. It was a horrifying sight to behold and he just wanted to forget it. Yet, it had burned itself in the young dragon's memory far too clearly. Just like the first time Cale had vomited tons of blood as they were in the Elf Village a few months ago after gaining the Fire of Destruction through throwing away lots of hard earned (rather hard looted) money.
"Ugh."
Choi Han, who was currently treated as a patient and shouldn't wake up for at least a few days, let out a pained groan. Dodam, as crazy as it might sound, liked that painful noise. It showed that he had beaten the swordsmaster to a pulp, even if his body didn't show any signs of him doing so.
"Huff..."
Not long after groaning, Choi Han managed to open his eyes and sit up slightly. He immediately noticed the strange surroundings and not far after, locked eyes with the twelve year old dragon that was observing him as if his life depended on it. Nothing went past that vicious yet clear and cold gaze.
"Ugh..."
Well, what can I say? Choi Han was sort of a super human with human surpassing strength that was of course also strengthening his body. Naturally he was by far stronger than the average adult and incomparable to someone as weak as Cale.
"Where am I?"
Not soon after waking up, Choi Han also started to speak normally without any hint of tiredness or pain in his voice. Dodam rolled his eyes and pointed outside the window.
"Still there where I beat the shit out of you."
While his choice of words was questionable, it was still nicer than before. Choi Han, recalling what had happened in those past few hours, finally got a grip of his situation. He wouldn't have survived that kind of beating, let alone be on his feet without feeling any pain so fast. Just how many days – no, weeks – had it been?
"How long was I out for?"
Dodam, once again, rolled his eyes and looked at the non-existent clock on his wrist.
"Between one or two hours, not longer. Dinner hasn't been served yet."
"I understand- wait...What?!"
Choi Han couldn't help but ask again. It wasn't physically possible to regain consciousness after that kind of beating after just two hours passed! Dodam, who had a now extremely annoyed expression mixed in his ferocious one, let out a deep breath.
"Cale came to your fucking rescue."
"Cale-nim he-"
'-he truly is amazing.'
Choi Han did not finish his sentence and just nodded at the dragon's answer. After that, both of them stayed silent for a while. It was quite a long while as well. As Dodam had no intention of speaking with such a "thug" that was his image of Choi Han, it was Choi Han who broke the silence.
"Why do you seem to dislike me so much?"
Dodam, letting out an annoyed sigh while dramatically rolling his eyes, turned his head towards Choi Han, looked him up and down, then let out a snort.
"Ya bastard, you think I wouldn't hate ya if ya beat up one of the only two people I truly care for? Huh?"
Of course, Dodam cared for On and Hong as well, yet his love for his younger brother and Cale Henituse were simply unbeatable. Choi Han frowned.
'It's that old story again. But I truly am sorry! And even Cale-nim has already accepted me – at least it seems like that...'
Choi Han wasn't able to speak his mind and just sat there thinking about how he should respond without pissing off the young dragon any more. Well, his non-existent answer was obviously the false answer as Dodam made the air in front of Choi Han push the swordsmaster back. Even after Choi Han's body touched the bed, the force didn't lessen, resulting in Choi Han feeling like he was going to get crashed.
Dodam huffed and let go of Choi Han after his face turned red. He then stepped back while crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Remember my words, useless human. I do not like you. I do not want you to be here. If you do anything that could hurt my fucking human, I will not hesitate and no being on this fucking planet will be able to save you. So stay the fuck out of my way."
After saying that, Dodam scoffed at Choi Han's nonchalant expression, but what did he expect? Choi Han wasn't an innocent but extremely vicious bastard. Without waiting for an answer, Dodam then left the room, leaving Choi Han alone.
The swordsmaster felt strange.
Cale Henituse; he had met that person over a year ago and beaten him to a pulp because he had insulted Harris village and the people residing there – the people who had died. While his insult only contained of him snorting while making comments such as 'Harris village was bound to disappear someday', Choi Han had been extremely irritated and just punched him without thinking much about it. That punch then turned to a beating.
Cale had been drunk, he had smelled like alcohol. There were also those rumors about him being trash and a drunkard throwing bottles at others. Choi Han also didn't feel guilty about beating that person, nor did he feel remorseful after taking that person's people with him.
Now everything has changed. That so called "trash" was somewhat of a super mind with connections to people more powerful than the king. That so called "trash" was someone who had so many different people gathered in one spot that all seemed to be willing to die for him. That so called "trash" wasn't trash, he was a fucking savior.
The swordsmaster sighed and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was probably Cale who had interfered in that fight as no one else was able to. Did that mean that he liked Choi Han? Did that mean that he didn't feel strange after their past?
Contrary to Choi Han's rather noble thoughts Cale just didn't want Dodam to kill the protagonist of the original novel since he was convinced that Choi Han would beat the White Star either way. He also didn't want Dodam to kill.
-Oi you crazy bastard, what did you do now? Huh?
Cale frowned upon hearing Bud's angry voice that wasn't directed at him. Quickly, the Mercenaries King turned his head and flashed a somewhat bright smile and greeted Cale.
-Looking as shitty as always, I see.
Cale rolled his eyes. He still had his bloody clothes on him as he didn't have the time to change them yet. But he did wipe his chin and mouth clean. Bud Illis who only saw the bloody shirt in combination with the extremely pale expression as well as messy hair, wanted to throw the desk in front of him across the room – favorably at Glenn who stood a bit away from Bud.
"...Did something happen?"
Glenn rolled his eyes and stepped closer to Bud, only because the video communication device stood on his desk.
-Everything's fine on our end. What's concerning is your situation.
Cale couldn't help but feel relieved. He also had a small and gentle smile on his face which he was unaware of. Bud and Glenn didn't point it out.
"We took care of the 'middle room' but have a few complications regarding the 'end room' and the Northern Alliance. Nothing to be too concerned about."
Glenn nodded before Bud snatched the magic device back.
-Oi Cale, did something good happen?
Cale, without putting much thought into it, nodded. The smile got even softer and brighter.
"Dodam came back."
-Ah!
That of course explained Cale's exceptionally good mood. The redhead, after all, really loved that young dragon.
-Glad to hear.
Cale nodded, then his happy expression turned cold and serious, not even a bit of his gentleness remained.
"But that isn't why I contacted you. I need you to dispatch some people to the Caro Kingdom and tell me whether there's something suspicious. Also, investigate the market places. Black market and normal market as well as private markets, then tell me whether there are any large scale-purchases regarding building materials like wood, iron or others."
Bud turned serious again and took out one of his alcohol bottles while gulping it down. While his face was flushed, his green eyes were clearer than before.
-The complications you were talking about, they have something to do with the coming war, haven't they?
Cale's expression changed as well and it got even colder than before. Raon, who was the only one with him, frowned. The young dragon mimicked Cale's serious and expressionless face to the best of his abilities, yet it still looked cute on him. Maybe if he got older he would resemble Cale more than he did now.
"They do, so do a proper job."
Bud simply nodded, before cautiously asking another question.
-And the other thing?
Cale sighed and leaned back. He then closed his eyes and massaged his temples. Yes, there was still this other thing that he had asked the Mercenaries King to do, the "top-secret" one. While it was important as well-
"Do this first, you can continue it later."
Both Bud and Glenn gulped. While Cale was mostly in good health while he still looked like a walking corpse, today he didn't seem to be doing too well- It was concerning to them.
-Hey Cale, we'll do it. Please just rest now.
Cale scoffed and only nodded before hanging up.
Rest?
That was the only thing he wanted to do each and every single day, yet the White Radish made it impossible for him to take a carefree rest. Hell, he made him work without even being there!
Cale heaved a sigh, then looked at Raon. Raon, knowing Cale ever since he was born, immediately understood what that gaze in Cale's eyes meant.
"Don't worry Human, I will now call good girl Mary!"
Cale just nodded and sat up straighter again. There was no need to worry Mary and the Dark Elves. Now that he thought about it, Tasha was Alberu's aunt and he was working together with her, yet the dear crown prince didn't seem to know of their close relationship. Well, Tasha seemed to have taken his warning very seriously.
-I greet young master Cale-nim.
Mary's monotone, GPS-like voice soon appeared from the round orb. Cale put on his radiant smile while greeting the older woman.
-Young master Cale-nim, do you need me? Shall I come right away?
Cale shook his head, his smile gone. Instead, he had a serious expression on his face as he continued to tell Mary to be cautious because of the possibly dangerous situation in the Caro Kingdom.
After ending his call with the necromancer girl Mary, Cale went on to contact the Whale tribe up north. He informed them about a basic amount of information before continuing to contact the representative of the Whipper Kingdom Toonka and ask him about the Whipper Kingdom's current situation. After all, a few months ago there had been a war between the Whipper Kingdom and the now fully "cleaned" Mongoru Empire.
After confirming the situation was fine, just as he had calculated, without any complications, Cale continued to contact the Stan Marquis, Taylor Stan who should be with Cage. And just like he had anticipated, the two best friends were together.
-I greet the young master.
-Hello young master Cale!
Cale just nodded, too tired to flash them another smile. After all, he had been sitting in his room for almost two hours now, only calling his people while either giving or receiving important information which he all recorded with his ability. Naturally, he was also starting to overheat, but that wasn't what was important.
"Yes, yes, let's skip the introduction part."
Cage smiled while Taylor just nodded.
-You called because of the documents?
Cale just nodded, feeling a bit lightheaded. Well, what could he do? It was work.
"Is it real?"
Taylor Stan had an apologetic expression on his face as he smiled a somewhat strained smile. He then shook his head.
-I fear not, young master Cale. The script seems too new to have been there for longer than a week and it's different from the documents you brought to me last time. The paper is thinner and somewhat cheaper while the ink also seems a bit lighter. This document is fake, I can say that with certainty. I apologize.
Cale didn't feel sorry and just nodded his head. He already thought it would be like this. The White Star was a stupid fool but not such a stupid fool that he would make the same mistake twice. Those documents that looked rather real were probably prepared for Cale so that he would go to the location on the paper, thinking it was the place of the 'end room' while it wasn't. Most probably it was also a trap.
"There's no need to apologize. Thank you for the hard work."
Taylor Stan nodded his head with a slight smile on his lips. He then looked up at Cage who seemed to have something to say. Cale also looked at the priestess.
"Miss Cage?"
Cage sighed and then shook her head.
-Young master Cale, I just wanted to ask how Choi Han was doing.
"Ah."
Cale massaged his temples before he shook he looked up again.
"The Saint-nim has healed him."
Cage nodded her head and after that, the last call that Cale had to make ended. Cale let out a deep breath as he leaned back in his chair and closed his tired eyes. He wanted to sleep. Just as he was about to fall asleep, Raon prevented it.
"Human! Let's go eat dinner now! It's already past eight! I'm hungry!"
Cale nodded his head and then got up. Yes, yes, children had to eat properly for them to grow up healthily. No need to mention that when Cale entered the dining hall where all of his people, including the new ones, were shocked as to how he still hadn't changed his clothes when even the ferocious dragon did.
~
The next two days passed rather quietly with Choi Han training himself to the bone and challenging Dodam to a spar every now and then which the dragon won with easiness. Lock, the werewolf-boy spent his days with his dead-thought siblings that Cale had rescued by chance, after all "children were only children". How could Cale still think of himself as a bad person, honestly? Occasionally Lock came by the Super Rock Villa and trained with Choi Han and meeting up with Cale.
Eruhaben was most of the time together with Raon and the cat-children whom he taught many different things. His free time was usually spent in Cale's office library where the redhead was going through a couple of documents or reading novels. Dodam was naturally with them, though he was only there to look after Cale.
In the past two days both Ron and Beacrox got used to their previous jobs as servants of Cale Henituse again. Ron was usually with Cale as well and served him lemon tea with honey in it [A/N: Ron wants to give him a good impression, hahaha!]. Cale didn't really care about that and simply continued doing what he would usually do.
Right now he was alone with his scary assassin butler and his twelve year old dragon in his office-library as Eruhaben had gone out to the training grounds to teach the other children something practical. Cale felt happy while it seemed like he felt indifferently about it. It's been quite a long time since he had seen Raon be so excited about learning many different new things which not even Dodam knew. It was because his older brother was physically more gifted and thus didn't know as much "fancy" magic as Eruhaben did. What Dodam knew were hundreds of various combats spells and not some golden butterfly-show spells.
With a sigh escaping his lips, Cale put his finished novel down. Even if he wasn't using his Record ability right now, he was an incredibly fast reader even without it. He then looked at Dodam who was sitting on the couch opposite to him, staring at the celling. Dodam disliked reading ever since he was young. He liked it if Cale read him books, but didn't like doing it himself.
"Dodam, are you certain you don't want to go and look what Eruhaben-nim is teaching your siblings?"
Dodam looked away from the fancy celling and stared his guardian deep in the eyes.
"Tsk, what can that old grandpa do what I can't?"
Cale shook his head. Dodam was usually more cheery but acted like this because he was getting older.
"What did I tell you?"
Dodam took a deep breath and sat up straighter.
"You told me that learning new things were always opportunities and that I should take each single one of them..."
Cale nodded his head at that, feeling proud of the act that Dodam cherished his every piece of advice, even if he didn't exactly take it to heart. Cale leaned a bit forward, looking at the young dragon. He recalled how Dodam hadn't wanted to turn into a human after what had happened to him in his early childhood. Yet, here he was. Cale, if being honest with himself, missed his dragon appearance quite a bit.
"You shouldn't let your pride prevent you from seeing non-battle related things, even if they come from another dragon."
Dodam rolled his eyes at that and sat back in not the most respectable position. Cale sighed. Was this the feeling frustrated parents felt when their good child reached their teenage years? Would On behave like that as well? Or even worse, would she go and make out with other boys?
Cale shook his head. No matter what, he promised himself to protect his precious girl from all things that could harm her, even if it were boys.
"Even so, I don't wanna go out! Cale! I've been away for so long and I haven't seen you at all! How dare you send me away to some useless, stupid old man? I wanna be with you!"
Cale sighed. Maybe Dodam was still the same but only frustrated that Cale sent him away to rest. The redhead sighed, then got up. He approached the pouting dragon and patted him on the head; a motion the child didn't even know how much he missed it.
"Alright, if you don't want to, you don't need to go. If you want to, we can go together."
Dodam's eyes widened and he looked at the floor. He was feeling emotional again. Ah, he had missed his guardian way too much, no, he had gotten way too attached to Cale. He then nodded his head which Cale took as a positive answer.
The redhead smiled as Dodam also turned back to his dragon appearance. He was a few inches bigger than Raon and also heavier. His dark red scales which had the color of dried blood and were various shades darker than Cale's own blood-red hair shimmered a bit. His big, light blue eyes made him loos even more majestic. A smile appeared on Cale's lips as he simply lifted the twelve-year old dragon and ignored his slightly shaking arms. He didn't work out and wouldn't, but hell he would still be able to lift his children!
"Let's go then."
Dodam only nodded, enjoying being with his guardian again. He leaned his head against Cale's chest and temporarily closed his eyes. The old assassin butler who had seen their whole interaction couldn't help but smile a real smile instead of his benign one, he then followed his young master-nim outside where Eruhaben was currently showing magic tricks to the three children watching.
With a smirk on his face he made little animals with golden dust particles roam around the sky. Especially Raon, who wouldn't be able to do such a thing due to his attribute not being dust, was fascinated.
"Woah!"
Eruhaben had a smile on his face and turned around as he heard steady footsteps approaching. His expression brightened as he saw Cale carrying Dodam in his real appearance. Well, dragons sure were curious beings, especially the young ones.
"Please don't let us disturb your lesson, Eruhaben-nim."
Raon, finally looking back down from the flying dust animals, cheered up upon seeing Cale and his older brother. He then immediately flew over to Cale, careful not to sit down on him.
"Human! Human! Have you seen that? Goldie Gramps has such amazing tricks!"
Cale nodded his head with a rather rare, genuine smile on his face.
"Eruhaben-nim sure is a great and mighty dragon too."
Upon hearing those words, Raon nodded his head with a bright smile on his face and flew around Cale. Dodam who still observed the dust animals up in the sky also got out of Cale's arms and decided to float up in the sky next to him. After all the weak human was especially weak.
"Old man, how did you do it?"
Eruhaben shrugged and separated the dust particles to let them float around him.
He noticed how all of the four children's eyes light up in excitement while watching him carefully. The ancient, old dragon, who didn't have much of his life left to live, felt an odd sense of belonging. He felt a certain happiness that he couldn't tell whether he had felt something similar to it ever before. Actually, he already knew the answer. It was the first time he felt such a feeling that made him feel warm and lifted up his heavy chest and shoulders.
He hadn't known before that his chest and shoulders were so tense.
"Well little kid, dust is my attribute."
Raon nodded his head while Dodam did the opposite. While the younger was satisfied with that answer, the other wanted the older dragon to tell him another possibility to do the same thing. It was because he found it indeed fascinating and wanted to be able to do such a thing himself as well.
"Hahaha, you sure look petty."
Dodam grumbled something under his breath before he approached the oldest dragon on the continent.
"If this is a lesson, why don't you teach us things?"
Eruhaben shook his head and picked up a rock that lay on the ground. He then smashed it in his hand and opened his fist again to reveal the small rocks that weren't as small as dust but also bigger than normal small rocks. He then made eye contact with Raon who immediately made his black mana surround those little rocks. Soon, Raon's mana was gone and he made those rocks float in the air while shining in a bright, black color.
With a proud smile on his face, Raon then continued to try and make a butterfly out of those little rocks, yet the results didn't exactly look like one. Cale frowned at that thing that resembled not really anything.
"Human! Human! Do you see it? What do you think of my butterfly, huh?"
Cale's frown deepened.
That thing was supposed to be a butterfly? He thought it was a new kind of art...
"It looks very...authentic."
Cale cleared his throat and continued to pat Raon's head who puffed his chest proudly before making those little rocks fall back down in Eruhaben's hand. Eruhaben nodded his head, then looked at the other dragon who had a similar expression to his guardian, yet didn't say anything.
"Shall I instruct you?"
Dodam shook his head and let his dark crimson mana which was much darker than Rosalyn's yet much lighter than Raon's surround the little rocks. His attempt of making a butterfly was great as his actually did look like a butterfly. What the young dragon didn't know was that his whole face light up as soon as he saw his grand end result.
He quickly looked at Cale who was nodding, praising Dodam in his own, simple way. Dodam felt somewhat even prouder after receiving that nod from Cale. He felt as if he had accomplished a much greater feat than when he was helping Cale loot Arm and bad guys or when he was helping Cale defeat the Alchemist Towers that used black magic.
"Ho, how nice."
Dodam nodded his head and then looked at his younger brother who looked just as proud as Cale.
"Hyung! Good job! We're great and mighty!"
Raon then flew over to his older brother and continued to fly around him in circles. Dodam's smile got wider and he got happier. Yes, this was just like it had been when he had left. Nothing changed, literally. It was all still the same, he just had to look at it more closely.
"Eruhaben-nim thank you for the lesson, nya!"
On approached the gold dragon with a satisfied smile on her face and after her good example, the other children thanked the ancient dragon as well. On walked towards her guardian and made him pick her up. She was quite happy that Cale had come with Dodam.
"Human! Human! Someone's calling!"
After saying that, Raon pulled out the red glowing communication device. Cale nodded at the youngest child who then immediately connected it. It was glowing red which meant that it was an important call – or it was the crown prince (which wasn't that likely, as he had called in the morning).
"Human! It's the stupid Mercenaries King!"
Cale frowned and looked at the slowly clearing screen. He then immediately noticed the blue-haired Bud who was supporting his purple-haired friend Glenn. The frown deepened once again and Cale peaked at the calm looking background. The two of them weren't in their office but somewhere in front of a mountain, making the whole call seem even more suspicious then before.
-Cale!
"...What is it?"
-There's a problem!
Cale pinched the bridge of his nose. The redhead then noticed how Bud eyed the ancient dragon, which made both him and Eruhaben sigh.
"Speak freely."
Bud then averted his gaze back at Cale and simply nodded. He heard Glenn groan but ignored it for now after shifting his position a bit.
-As you told us, we've dispatched our people to all of the market places on both the Eastern and Western Continents, black, private, religious, just anything.
Cale nodded his head; after all, this had been the task he had given to Bud and Glenn a few days ago. With a rare serious and angry expression on his face, Bud continued to explain his and Glenn's current situation.
-On the black market on the Western Continent we found what you were looking for, someone called 'Karl Henning' was supplying a large organization with many different construction materials. But Cale, he isn't supplying Arm or the dwarves.
Cale's frown deepened. All of a sudden, his neck got cold and he had a very, extremely, bad feeling. Nevertheless, he signaled for Bud to continue. The Mercenaries King, once again, eyed the ancient dragon. Cale sighed.
"Eruhaben-nim isn't someone who would tell others."
Bud then nodded again, ignoring Glenn's groan once more.
-Blood suckers.
Cale's eyes widened while both Eruhaben and the four children looked at him with confused eyes. Neither of them knew what Bud was talking about, yet Cale seemed to know.
"Human, what are blood suckers?"
Cale ignored Raon as he simply continued to stare at Bud who had a serious expression on his face.
"Hey Cale, who are they?"
Now that Cale didn't answer his little brother, Dodam got curious and approached Cale, yet Cale didn't answer his question either.
"...Where? How many? What do they know?"
Bud shook his head before becoming even more serious.
-We don't know where, Cale, we really don't! But we found out that they were working with Arm. And if they're working with Arm-
Bud did not finish that sentence.
There was no need to do so.
Because if they really were working with Arm...
...they were bound to know everything.