Unlike their counterparts TBOAH!Rosalyn and TBOAH!Alberu were showing a broodingly curious attentiveness toward the ongoings on the Palantír once more as they were seeing an entirely unfamilair side of the TBOAH!Choi Han, who had become very different by the time he had met them.
“Village? Territory? What do you mean by that?” He flinched for a moment before mumbling to himself. “…I can talk to him? Now that I think about it, the language I am speaking is-”
He looked as if he didn’t know what to do as his mind was quite chaotic. Cale was coldly observing him when a young Dragon’s face that was extremely skinny burst up in front of him.
“Weak Human… you keep saying this other-other me has a skinny face or skinny paws, but it’s not true.” Raon protests with an idle tone of disregard. However Cale spoke up as he shook his head in objection.
“No, Raon… this you was extremely underfed in my eyes… Now then, here, eat this. You haven’t had lunch yet either.” Cale suddenly announced and pulled the tray of steaming sausages and freshly baked buns that appeared on the table in front of him toward Raon and the TBOAH!Black Dragon.
"Both of you need to eat lots and grow well!" He muttered, clicking his tongue and loading more food onto their plates. Sherritt watched all of this with an amused smile of warm affection tugging at the corner of her lips.
“Why did I need to come here?”
Cale flinched at the Dragon’s face that completely covered Choi Han and subconsciously stepped back.
“Ugh.”
His back hit the wooden pillar.
“Tsk. How clumsy.”
Raon tried to sound serious again as he looked at Cale from head to toe.
‘…This feels so different.’
Cale felt weird being treated like this by Raon. However, he soon frowned again.
There was a grumbling sound from the Palantír that almost masked Cale's own rumbling belly. Raon sighed and shook his head.
"Weak Human, you need to eat too-! Oh! That's Goldie Gramps!! That's exactly what our Weak Human needs!" Raon smiled radiantly with sauce all over his cheeks as TCF!Eruhaben placed a plate of food in front of Cale while Cale was busy wiping the sauce off Raon's mouth.
"Oh... thanks Eruhaben-nim." Cale added with a small smile, his ears tinged a shade pink. However, before he could even begin eating, he called out for Ohn and Hong who soon joined him at their table with their own scrawny counterparts.
Soon their whole table was laid with steaming dishes of meat, vegetables, various rolls and buns of freshly baked breads and pastas. Cale and his kids from both words settled down to eat together, purposely ignoring everyone else. Grigori sat back and nodded discreetly, so Naur continued the record.
It sounded like thunder in his stomach. Cale suddenly felt extremely hungry. Venion’s lackey did not seem to have received any food from Raon. He raised his head and looked at Choi Han and Raon. This was the dangerous Forest of Darkness, but he should not have to worry with the two of them here.
“I’m hungry.”
Raon sighed. “Listen to this guy.”
He then looked at Choi Han.
“…What do you want?”
“Hand over some food.” Raon was demanding food from Choi Han as if it was nothing. Choi Han looked at Raon with disbelief, but Raon motioned toward the southwest with his chin.
“There’s a village that way. Go get some human food from there. I hate humans. That is why I will not go to that village.”
“…What? You hate humans but you are demanding that I go get food for a human?”
Choi Han looked at Raon as if he made no sense.
‘Oh.’
Cale felt a bit delighted seeing a Choi Han who was completely different from the Choi Han he knew.
‘Choi Han is less pure before feeling the warmth from Harris Village. If he’s like this, he won’t be stabbed in the back by anyone out in the world.’
A satisfied smile appeared on his face. Choi Han flinched after seeing the smile before looking away from Cale and lowering his head.
“Umm…… D, did you say that there is a village outside the forest in the southwest direction?” The shaking in his voice could not be hidden. It was understandable. This was before Choi Han had gone to Harris Village.
Honestly speaking, Choi Han treating Raon and Cale like this despite that was enough to tell Cale that Choi Han was extremely patient and pure. If it was Cale in Choi Han’s shoes, the moment he saw a Dragon he could communicate with, furthermore, the moment he learned about the existence of others humans and a village nearby, he would have grabbed this person in front of him or the Dragon by the collar and ran to the village.
“Yeah. But do you really live here? This is one of the dangerous Forbidden Regions, so people don’t come here.”
Choi Han clenched his eyes shut while listening to Cale’s comment.
“…I’ll go get some food for now.” He then walked in the opposite direction of the village. He was headed toward a part of the forest that was covered in trees and dark from the shade.
Cale realized Choi Han was doing this to buy himself some time to control his emotions and looked away from him. He then flinched after seeing Raon staring right at him. This Dragon truly was more vicious as a three-year-old than as a four-year-old.
“Why did you make me come here?” The Dragon asked Cale a question.
“There aren’t many people here, and there are lots of strong things.”
The Forest of Darkness. This place that the Dragon had ended up coming to was extremely dangerous compared to the other places he saw while flying here. It was understandable that it was called one of the Forbidden Regions. Most importantly, to this human in front of him…
“This place is completely useless to you.”
This human would not be able to survive here on his own for even a day.
The terrible bastard responded without any hesitation.
“But it is a place you need.”
The Dragon subconsciously opened his eyes wide. Cale did not care and continued speaking while looking around.
“This is a good starting point for you to learn, grow, and figure out the world.”
This place would not be dangerous for Raon despite being a Forbidden Region. In fact, the existence of the monsters would be helpful for Raon’s growth.
“This should be a suitable place for you to build your home.”
Home. Raon’s tail slightly flinched the moment Cale said that word.
Cale did not notice as he got up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.
“And the punk from earlier, he’s in a similar situation as you. He doesn’t know much about the world and spent a long time alone.” The black Dragon’s gaze turned toward the northeast side of the forest for a moment. Choi Han had not gone to look for food yet and was hiding in the darkness created by the trees of the forest. The Dragon knew it and Choi Han knew that the Dragon knew it. Cale was the only one who didn’t know.
Several people sighed helplessly at this. It seemed to be expected given the situation, however it still left them feeling unsettled and anxious.
“You won’t be lonely if the two of you are together. Both of you are strong, so nobody will be able to easily mess with you guys.”
This time the TBOAH!Dragons and the TCF!Dragons smiled sadly in acknowledgement. They could clearly understand Cale's intentions. Even if he believed that this was an illusion, he was still trying to do the best he could for the precious people he considered his own.
Cale didn’t know the clue to help Raon get past his indignity. He simply wanted to give Raon a family.
Sherritt felt a lump of emotions settle in her throat and the urge to cry made her incapable of saying anything, so she instead piled food onto Cale’s plate even while he was giving more food to the four kittens and two young dragons.
“Well, it shouldn’t be too bad if you are together. At least you won’t be bored.”
Of course, he had no intentions of forcing it. He was just going to create an opportunity for it to happen. The Dragon quietly observed the gentle smile on Cale’s face. He was sure that this terrible bastard had no idea that he was smiling right now.
The Dragon opened his mouth after a long time.
“…What about you?”
“Me?” Cale chuckled. “It’s not a good idea for you to be with a terrible guy like me who loses his mind from time to time. Don’t you think so? Why would you ask such an obvious question?”
‘Yes, yes indeed.’ He could not leave a bastard like this Venion’s lackey next to Raon. Choi Han, who did not know the ways of the world yet, might end up learning the illegal things first as well. That was why Venion’s lackey had to disappear far far away.
‘By the time I take this guy far away Raon’s heart should be filled with something other than indignity.’ Cale nodded his head with satisfaction.
It was at that moment.
Everyone remained silent, simply watching the child on the Palantír express his dissatisfaction with a dull thumping ache in their chests.
Cale looked down in shock after suddenly hearing a loud noise and feeling the ground shake. The black Dragon had slammed his two front paws on the ground.
‘W, why is he acting like this?’ Cale slightly cowered at the Dragon who suddenly looked angry.
“I’m going to force you to work for me, you terrible bastard!” The young Dragon shouted ferociously in a way that did not suit his small body.
Black mana violently swirled around the Dragon and started breaking the trees around them. Cale gulped and urgently responded while watching the large trees break without any fight.
“M, make me work! Make me work as much as you want!”
“…Hmph.”
The black mana whirlwind slowly calmed down. The Dragon peeked toward the northeast direction again. The human who had been hiding like a damn rat and watching them had gone into the forest while he had channeled his mana.
Choi Han was slowly touching the scabbard of his sword as he walked.
“…He knows about me? Who is that guy?” He made a firm resolve through the chaos in his mind. “…I will definitely not miss it.”
Choi Han stopped for a moment and turned around to look at the southwest direction. He imagined the village, territory, and everything beyond the forest as he made a comment.
“I will leave here.”
It was a form of declaration and promise to himself. “…With him.” Only Choi Han knew who or what the declaration was for. Cale, who had no idea about this, clenched his clothes while watching the black mana whirlwind settle down.
‘…This useless Venion’s lackey! I don’t even have any ancient powers! I can’t make the shield or anything! He has no good traits other than being very healthy!’
Cale slowly peeked toward Raon who channeled his mana again while breathing heavily.
“Uhh?!”
Cale was tied to the wooden pillar again. A sturdy black shield appeared around it to protect him.
“…I am going to the village.”
The young Dragon spoke seriously before flapping his wings and flying toward Harris Village before suddenly stopping and looking at Cale.
“Be quiet. Monsters might come. You weak and terrible bastard.”
“…Ho.” Cale watched the black Dragon fly away with a look of disbelief on his face. “It might take longer than I thought.”
Filling Raon’s indignity with something else… It might take much longer than he expected. However, there was something Cale did not know. He did not know that Raon, who was flying to the village, stopped and looked back toward Cale multiple times despite being so far away that he couldn’t see Cale and that he smiled while gathering fruit on the way to the village.
“…That’s odd.” Cale got the chills for some reason after being left alone. He felt an unknown sense of iffiness. He felt as if things were going to get twisted in an odd way.
There were faint chuckles of amusment from the others around the room. Although the more violent and aggressive Black Dragon upon the Palantir troubled them, the fact that Cale was still the same lovable and dense precious slacker-wannabe soothed their unease and banished the tension from the room.