Once everyone, except for Rok Soo who'd realized the danger, settled down after being dazzled by Cale's ethereal smile and Grigori nodded to the unseen Naur who cued the next record to play.
<Chapter 358: Records (3)>
“…The Directory?”
“Yes.”
Bud smiled brightly at Cale’s short answer.
“Then let’s sneak over to the Mercenaries Guild!”
Cale observed the smiling Bud and pointed out his choice of words.
“Sneak?”
‘He doesn’t want to openly go there?’
“Yes. Sneak. We need to go to the city with the Mercenaries Guild’s central headquarters.”
TBOAH!Bud's jaw dropped open in shocked disbelief that his counterpart had that much faith in Cale's protection – even enough to walk into the lion’s den. TBOAH!Bud looked toward TCF!Bud who was happily annoying TCF!Glenn and smiling cheerfully as if the scene on the Palantír had nothing to do with him. TCF!Glenn must have felt their stares because he glanced over toward them and corked his head curiously feigning innocence.
The Mercenaries Guild’s central headquarters. That was enough for Cale to understand what the Mercenary King was thinking about.
“…Arm’s people might be watching the Mercenaries Guild.”
“Correct.”
TBOAH!Glenn gulped and resisted the urge to shudder as he recalled those terrible last days as he and TBOAH!Bud were desperately trying to escape Arm and the spies he'd filled the Mercenaries Guild with.
Bud pointed toward Cale. “And in my opinion, now anyone above the middle-grade rank in Arm probably knows what you look like.”
Cale had fought with the White Star already and had a high chance of fighting again in the future.
Even though they’d seen enough of how Cale was when he ‘played’ with Arm, hearing about him fighting against the White Radish still sent a shiver of surprise and fear through them. The reaction was instinctive because the memories of how their own battles against him always ended were still fresh in their minds.
Maybe Arm’s lowest ranking members might not know about him, but the middle-grade and higher members were most likely informed of Cale’s appearance for strategic reasons.
“Considering all the things we had done by that point, it would be a surprise to find a member of Arm that didn't know something about the Roan Kingdom's Northeast Commander.” TCF!Rosalyn teased, and Cale gave her a betrayed look as if asking why she was picking on him when he'd not done anything to warrant her teasing.
TCF!Rosalyn grinned mischievously making Cale wonder what she'd heard from someone during lunch.
“Indeed, they would have all already known about the appearance of our precious Supreme Commander,” TCF!Tasha added and Cale felt his jaw open as his mind speedily tried to go over what he could have done to offend TCF!Tasha and TCF!Rosalyn in the last 24 hours.
Coming up blank, Cale turned back to face the front and frowned at the Palantír, grumbling about how he was retired and just wanted to be a slacker.
“Why is it so hard…”
“Tsk, Unlucky Bastard…” TCF!Eruhaben mutters, looking at Cale with a pitying expression.
“And I’m pretty certain that there are middle-grade ranking members around the central headquarters since they are desperately trying to find me as well.” Bud did not need to explain any further.
Cale nodded his head in agreement.
The Palantír continued showing the last bit of a rather strange and secretive conversation between Cale and TCF!Bud where they were talking about some ancient artifact.
“There is no longer an ancient artifact for anyone but Eruhaben-nim to use anymore.”
This was technically the truth. Although the ancient artifact was in Cale’s possession, he was saving it for Eruhaben.
At the mention of the artifact, Cale smiled – he seemed proud of himself, meanwhile TCF!Mila who caught on faster than the others lightly cleared her throat and respectfully looked away in order to allow TCF!Eruhaben a moment to compose himself, after he flinched in surprise. TBOAH!Eruhaben blinked silently for several seconds before he suddenly gasped and turned sharply to look at his counterpart.
TBOAH!Eruhaben's expression was showing both amazement as well as pure shock. His gaze then lowered to Cale sitting in the front row and something warm and affectionate resonated within his chest once again – his understanding of the relationship between his counterpart and the red-head human was becoming even clearer in his mind.
“…Is this really necessary?” Beacrox was the one who asked that question. There was a terrible frown on his face as he crawled on the floor. They were in a completely dark tunnel. It was a tiny tunnel that an average adult male could barely crawl through, so Beacrox’s meticulously combed hair was being covered in dust.
“I thought we were heading toward the marble buildings because you said we were going toward Resting City.”
It was rare to see Beacrox sighing and grumbling like this.
This was true, so even TBOAH!Ron was surprised by how much his son's counterpart was talking and interacting with the others.
He looked at the dust on his body and continued to frown. His white gloves were already extremely dirty.
TBOAH!Beacrox scrunched his nose slightly, and then his eyes widened as the record upon the Palantír panned to show the true extent of the tunnel they were crawling through, and he immediately understood his counterpart's disgruntlement.
Resting City, a free city located in the central region of the Eastern continent. That was where the first branch of the Mercenaries Guild was built in the past, and it was where the building that was now being used as the central headquarters was located as well. The original Mercenaries Guild base was an old three-story wooden building in the outskirts of Resting City.
This building used to be the central headquarters in the past, however, the Mercenaries Guild purchased land inside Resting City about two hundred years ago and built a new central headquarters that was quite spectacular and tall. The new central headquarters was a building built with marble that was famous for its beautiful and extravagant exterior.
This information seemed to interest TCF!Alberu and TCF!Rex who were still adding ideas to the Free City they were making out of the territory that Mogoru and Roan has negotiated using for the location of the new Magic Tower, but the others didn't know about this and as such found the information irrelevant.
Choi Han, who was crawling in front of Beacrox, made a comment.
“You’re being so annoying.”
“…What did you say?” Beacrox started to frown even more.
However, neither Choi Han nor Beacrox could say anything else.
“…Both of you should shut up.”
It was because they heard the ancient Dragon’s low voice. Eruhaben was crawling as well.
Jaws dropped open in horror – everyone strongly choosing their own lives and thereby resisting the urge to find this sight amusing.
“Huff, huff, huff, huhuff-”
Mercenary King Bud Illis who was crawling at the front of the group was starting to cold sweat. He started to speak.
“I, I’m sorry. The HQ will be alerted if an unauthorized person uses magic in this tunnel.”
There were magic circles throughout the tunnel. These advanced magic circles did not match the shabby tunnel. This was a secret passage that only the Mercenaries Guild’s top leaders knew about. They made sure that no unauthorized person could use magic in the tunnel and the area at the end of the tunnel.
TCF!Rosalyn's eyes narrowed and she clicked her tongue in annoyance at how unnecessarily thorough these Mercenaries Guild bastards were back then.
“Enough, just keep moving.” Cale’s voice made Bud flinch before he started to quickly crawl once again. He said just one more thing to them.
“Ahem, I should have said something in advance, but I didn’t remember it until we got here. Ha. Ha, haha-”
It was the truth. Thinking about bringing Cale here quickly but stealthily made the Mercenary King forget about the unique nature of this tunnel. He heard Ron’s voice at that moment. It was a decently warm tone.
“The Directory is located at the end of this tunnel, right?”
However, Bud felt that that voice was cold. It almost sounded like a threat. It sounded as if Ron was saying that Bud was dead if the Directory was not there.
“Of course he would be… he not only made our Weak Human work so hard, but he also managed to upset Good Beacrox! Lemonade Gramps would never let him get away with that!” Raon promised with a wide smile – it made his chubby, marshmallow cheeks look even more pinch-able. He looked so adorable that even Cale could not resist the urge to reach out and cup Raon's head in his hands and smile gently at him. Raon giggled, his wings flapping and his tail swaying as he nuzzled his face into Cale's soft palms.
Bud quickly shouted back. “Yes sir! The room with the Directory is at the end of this tunnel, patriarch-nim! That is why I am leading the way! Hahaha.”
The Mercenary King’s mage friend was currently stealthily entering the central headquarters. Bud, who was left with Cale’s group alone, couldn’t help but shake after hearing Ron’s response.
“I see. That is why we have been crawling for the past hour.”
That was the current situation. Cale’s group had been crawling for one hour.
“Raon-nim isn't wrong, Grandfather wouldn't just forgive Mr. Mercenary King for inconveniencing Young Master Cale-nim like that.” TCF!Mary said supporting Raon’s declaration, however TCF!Mary's fists were clenched with disapproval at hearing that Cale and the others had been doing such strenuous work, she was also not the only one who was upset that Cale was working so hard when all he said he wanted to do was be a slacker.
“Weak human! Should we rest again? Your arms are shaking! Is it tiring? Should I give you another apple pie? Human, we have already rested twice, but we can rest again if you’re struggling!”
“We can rest again!”
“You’re the only one sweating so much!”
Bud’s cold sweat became even worse after hearing the children averaging nine-years-old. Raon was fluttering his wings and leisurely flying around while On and Hong were easily walking in the tunnel in their kitten forms. The children averaging nine-years-old who were tiny were just amazed by this tunnel.
“Ahem, the central headquarters will be alerted if an unauthorized person uses ancient powers as well.” That was the only thing Bud could say.
“…Just hurry up and go.”
Bud started to crawl faster after seeing Cale make a comment instead of sighing. Cale held back a chuckle at Bud’s reaction. His arms were shaking. But they had rested twice while crawling for an hour. Cale was fine. Even if the amount of muscles he had had gone down, he had not become a complete weakling.
“Are you sure about that?” TCF!Alberu took his turn to tease Cale, who was looking at the Palantír with a petulant pout on his lips.
“Hyung… I’m thinking about blowing up another island to vent all this frustration…” Cale announced casually, and TCF!Zed felt chills run down his spine when, instead of being horrified, his son laughed and nodded at Cale’s words.
Cale just ignored the excessive concerns of the children averaging nine-years-old.
“Aww… Da—Cale! You big meanie!!” TCF!Hong corrected himself hurriedly whining crossly, Cale smiled gently at TCF!Hong and reached toward him and began petting TCF!Hong and TCF!Ohn before petting their counterparts warmly.
“Sorry…” Cale softly coaxed them back into calm and returned his gaze to the Palantír since the record was about to continue.
“Excuse me, Goddess-nim!” TCF!Obante suddenly called out, and Grigori immediately turned her head toward the older Dark Elf and nodded for him to continue with a tender smile.
“Can we know who created that tunnel?” TCF!Obante asked and TCF!Tasha blinked in mild surprise at her grandfather's question.
“Ahhh, that…” Grigori motioned for Naur to pause the record so she could explain.
“This tunnel was created when the Mercenaries Guild was small and weak, back when the Mercenaries Guild was first created. It was created by the first Mercenary King.” She answered while smiling innocently at everyone. Since no one had questions they wanted to voice right now, Grigori nodded toward the Palantír and the record continued.
“F, finally!”
Cale could hear the Mercenary King’s excited shout. He could faintly see some shining stones past Bud.
“Those shining stones are the entrance! They are on the door! Hahaha!” Bud laughed for the first time in an hour. He then heard Ron’s voice. It was a warm and gentle voice.
“My my, it sure took a long time to get here. Mercenary King Bud, can you make some time to chat with me later?”
Bud oddly felt as if the hair on his back was starting to stand up. It was a warm voice, but it felt very cold.
“Hmmm… Father, you didn't get around to having that chat with him, did you?”
“Ahhh, I must have forgotten… well, no need to worry, we can have a nice chat during the next break!” TCF!Ron smiled benignly at TCF!Bud.
“Yes, Grandfather, I would also like to join you and talk with him!” TCF!Mary jumped in to add, turning her hooded face to look at TCF!Ron and TCF!Beacrox who were seated a few feet away from her group.
TCF!Mary's sudden announcement was surprise to a few people, but they were quick to understand that this was implying that TCF!Mary was also upset because of Bud and what he'd put Cale through back then. Cale sighed softly, giving up on his reluctant secretary and wondering what kind of condolences flowers he should send TCF!Glenn in the near future.
“L, let’s quickly head over there!” The Mercenary King quickly continued to crawl and finally arrived at the end of the tunnel. He touched the shining stones here and there. Cale could see the light on the stones disappearing as the Mercenary King touched them. And once he touched the final stone. The tunnel started to shake.
Bud started to speak in an excited voice. “Here it is!”
A loud boom sound of something heavy and stone moving, and soon the Palantír lit up again, and the dark-toned record turned gradually brighter as the new entrance appeared.
“Please follow me.”
Cale watched as the Mercenary King crawled into the entrance before he followed behind him.
“I’m going to turn the lights on.”
Cale then heard a click and slowly started to see a large area. The lights started to turn on one by one. They had crawled through a small tunnel in order to get to this large area. Cale stood up. He then looked around.
“Whoa!” TBOAH!Harol gasped.
“Impressive, ain’t it?” TBOAH!Bud grinned proudly. Now it was TCF!Bud' turn to hang his head at his counterpart’s ignorance.
“Yes, it is quite incredible!” Taylor agreed with awe. TBOAH!Cage and TCF!Cage shared a look and then looked toward Cale before looking back at Taylor and hoping that Cale had left this place standing for the sake of Taylor's sanity. If Cale or the others had heard their mental plea, they would have sighed and hung their heads or even laughed the way Grigori was resisting the urge to do.
“…A library.” He could hear Choi Han’s voice behind him.
“Amazing.” Beacrox who was mumbling to himself had even forgotten to brush the dust off himself.
“…Ho.” The ancient Dragon sounded amazed.
Cale left those reactions behind him as he started to walk. The ground was made of stone. Bud Illis started to speak once Cale got a good look around the area.
“I believe that this is the Mercenaries Guild’s greatest pride and joy.” He laughed as he introduced the area to the group. “This is the Eastern continent’s first and greatest record library.”
“It really is incredible… I’m sure that some really incredible information is stored there!” Taylor gushed excitedly, his eyes bright with eager curiosity – he was truly a curious one and while TBOAH!Cage and TCF!Cage both looked at him with affection, TCF!Bud bit back the urge to sulk and caressed his empty alcohol flask after pulling it out of his pocket for moral support.