Cale sat silently, ignoring the feeling he was getting that made him think someone was cursing him and then turned to look at Raon who was intently watching Grigori as she continued to repair TCF!Alberu's necklace with her mana.
No one else was paying much attention to his idle wandering mind and thoughts because they were all focused on the Palantír which was still playing the record of how they got rid of the knights who were pretending to be hunters in order to infiltrate the Alchemists' Bell Tower.
The scene on the record continued – it showed TCF!Eruhaben removing the three layers of illusion magic spells and then declaring that he would maintain the alarm so that the enemy wouldn’t know they'd been infiltrated.
Tasha, Mary, and Choi Han gulped, but they couldn’t say anything as they saw the revealed landscape. Tasha was the first to open her mouth.
“There’s so much presence of death coming up.”
The flower field had disappeared while a large dark entrance appeared on the ground. It was an entrance that led underground. The entrance was pitch black.
“…I also smell something similar to the black despair.”
In a silent voice, TCF!Mary told TBOAH!Mary a little about the different presences she had felt between dead mana and black despair – even for her the differences were noticeable and TCF!Mary wanted TBOAH!Mary to learn more about it – just as she had learned while travelling with Raon-nim and Young Master Cale.
Tasha turned away from the dark underground that made her feel like she was facing something disgusting and looked toward Cale who was looking at Mary and Choi Han.
“I’m all right, Cale-nim.” Choi Han replied as he grasped his scabbard and Mary followed up with her GPS-like voice.
“I am strong.”
Cale nodded his head.
“Then that’s fine.”
TBOAH!Tasha and TBOAH!Obante looked toward their counterparts and could clearly tell that like them they too shared the feelings of relief and gratitude toward Cale for how he treated and took care of Mary when she was with him.
Cale's attentiveness toward Mary regardless of the situation showed how much he valued her and also that he saw her as a precious part of his family too – as the people who had practically raised Mary, it felt good to know that someone else also appreciated her and considered her family the same why they did.
Cale looked around at the group once more. Tasha, who would stay behind and watch the hunters and the entrance while waiting for the soon-to-arrive Vice Captain Hilsman, gave a slight bow and stepped back. The Cat Knight Rex and the merchant Billos nodded at Cale’s gaze. They had come with the intention of following him.
– Of course I’m coming!
Cale looked at Eruhaben after hearing Raon’s response, and the ancient Dragon’s fingers started to move. Everyone’s body slowly turned invisible.
Everyone gulped, some feeling apprehensive, some restlessly and impatiently waiting to see what all this fuss was about. The extremely rare few that still couldn’t let go from their anger from before were now stubbornly crossing their arms and sitting back with haughty expressions firmly believing that nothing the records could possibly show would be worse than the horrors they had seen in their own timeline. Grigori inwardly pitied them for being so naïve.
Rex and Billos gulped as they looked toward the dark entrance heading down. They heard Cale’s voice at that moment. They heard the words that he was humming.
“Alrighty then, where are you hiding?”
They could see Cale’s face as he was turning invisible from the foot up. He was smiling.
“You’ll die if I catch even a strand of your hair.”
The Cat and the merchant flinched.
They saw Cale’s eyes curling up in a smile as he turned fully invisible before they heard his voice again. Cale’s joyful voice echoed in the area where only the unconscious hunters were visible.
“Oh where oh where are you hiding?”
Rex and Billos gulped. It was because they were afraid of Cale’s eyes that had curled up as he smiled.
The false bravado that had barely appeared diminished again at the sight of Cale's sinister smile and his joyful hum. It was terrifying and TCF!Zed who hadn’t even been afraid of TCF!Ron Molan even after hearing about what and who he was, suddenly felt his hair stand on ends and chills run down his spine. Inwardly he cursed and regretted every time he had crossed Cale and tried to act superior to him when they'd met and had their private meeting in the past – after the war.
TBOAH!Zed eyed his counterpart from across the room, his gaze demanding to know if TCF!Zed had really allowed such a crazy person to run around unchecked while he had still been king. In reply TCF!Zed glanced around the hall, as if to tell his counterpart: Try touching him and see what they will do to you.
TBOAH!Zed decided it was best to believe his counterpart and sat back quietly, uncrossing his arms and hoping that TBOAH!Alberu wouldn’t continue his recklessness and pursue the grudge he had with his counterpart either.
<Chapter 321: Oh where oh where are you hiding? (4)>
Cale put down the gulping Cat Knight Sir Rex from his arms and started to walk. Cale walked down the dark entrance into the underground with only the sound of his steps being heard around him.
TCF!Rex shivered and shook his head.
“In my defence… Commander Cale was quite scary back then…” he tried to explain himself.
“Don't worry… I believe you.” TCF!Rei reassured his king.
However TBOAH!Rex and TBOAH!Rei were still feeling skeptical, after all seeing him attack Adin was one thing, but something told them that an arbitrary line had been crossed and now Cale Henituse would be acting very differently compared to what they had all seen so far. For this reason they were being especially attentive to the records.
The Palantír showed the torches that lit that dark path at regular intervals as well as the water drops that were the only thing to be heard in this area. Those droplets were falling from the ceiling which looked as rough as a cave. At the bottom of the stairs they arrived at a long straight path – a path wide enough for a carriage to travel through.
This sight was enough to convince a few more people that the secret passage was real. TBOAH!Rex was beginning to have a very difficult time as the thought that if he had known sooner – then maybe his siblings could have used this path to escape too. The regrets began to pile up in his mind and remorse and guilt tightened like heavy stones within TBOAH!Rei's chest as well.
Choi Han was in the front of the group looking around. He started to frown. He could smell the scent of death. Corpses. It was a terrible smell that he wished he did not know. It was the smell that he had smelled too many times in the Forest of Darkness and in Harris Village. His gaze started to turn cold.
TBOAH!Choi Han had smelled that scent far more often than his counterpart and thus did not need to rely on the faint and distant memories of the Forest of Darkness and Harris Village to provide his senses with what kind of scent his counterpart was picking up in there. The others around him were also familiar with the scent because of the battles they had dragged themselves out of. It was a nauseating scent, and it invoked a vivid recollection of memories which would have been better of forgotten.
– …Human, this smell-
Raon stopped before telling Cale what it was. He tightly clenched his chubby front paws while his round face started to frown.
Sherritt’s heart ached because she knew that her son was familiar with this scent too – because he had also almost become a part of it. She looked toward the TBOAH!Black Dragon who was currently curled up in TBOAH!Eruhaben's lap and swallowed thickly.
Sherritt was bereft that this (the TBOAH!Black Dragon) son of hers had been unfortunate and had died long ago. Cale moved in the front row, raising his hand and lightly petting Raon's head that was resting on the crown on his own as Raon lounged out and watched the Palantír and the Goddess intermittently. The heartache Sherritt was feeling eased a little with the reminder that Raon was still alive, he was strong and healthy and safe. She was immediately grateful for the reminder.
The front paws of the Cat that was walking down the passage were shaking. He was used to this smell. The same thing he smelled a long time ago when he had left his siblings without even saying goodbye in fear that he might be caught overwhelmed him now fifteen years later. He was barely able to walk.
TBOAH!Rex was barely able to continue watching – however, feeling like he owed it to his siblings to do this, he forced his head up so that he could keep looking at the Palantír and hearing the words that were coming from it.
– Human! There are people up front!
Cale stopped walking after hearing Raon’s warning. Two knights and one alchemist.
No one uttered a word as they all watched while Cale and his group stealthily walk passed them. They gulped when they heard how those bastards were talking and then broke out in a cold sweat when they heard and saw that Raon and Cale were of one-mind when it came to people like them.
Cale walked past the knights and the alchemists quite leisurely while making sure to remember their faces.
– Human! I will remember these bastards’ faces! I will not let them survive! I won’t forgive anyone in the Alchemists’ Bell Tower! I promised Mary that we would destroy it together!
The six-year-old was constantly being loud, however, Cale looked around without any emotions visible on his face.
To have earned the ire of both Cale Henituse and Raon was enough to signal the doom of those three bastards.
They soon came to the end of the passage. A wide area appeared in front of them. He suddenly heard the voice of the alchemist behind him.
“There will be no ventilation and this rotten smell will fill the area if we close the entrance. That’s even worse than the Winter cold.”
‘…You son of a b***h.’
Cale started to frown.
However the Palantír was not showing what Cale and the others were walking into, instead it was strategically facing Cale so that everyone in the Palantír Hall would be able to clearly see their reactions, rather than see what they were seeing.
It was an extremely wide and large underground hall. There was also a path coming into it from the east, west, and south, in addition to the northern passage they had come through. Cale closed his eyes.
– Human, I don’t think I can look at this.
Cale could feel the round front paws that grabbed onto his back. Raon was holding Cale’s back.
The guests in the hall grew restless, anxiously squirming in their seats and trying to peek and see any clue about what was causing this sort of reaction in the group that had probably already seen it all.
Choi Han’s hand was shaking with a sword in his hand. They saw a staircase heading down as soon as they entered the hall. He could not help but look down the stairs.
They did not need to wait much longer to find out. Everyone from the TBOAH!World immediately regretted wanting to know.
There were skeletons.
The Palantír turned slowly, gradually revealing a shocking and unimaginably cruel sight for everyone.
“Oh my god—”
“No, no!”
“What!?”
“This…”
“How—?!”
Various distraught voices came from all around the room.
Toonka and Harol were beyond horrified too. The Magic Tower was not like these bastards at all – this was far worse than what the Magic Tower and the Tower Master did. These bastards from the Alchemists' Bell Tower had even dared to desecrate and mock the dead corpses.
A new painful kind of anger and helplessness surged through everyone. Some even wanted to claim deniability to lessen the guilt they were feeling because they simply had not known. However no one was accusing them and those who could have spoke up were in no position to take the blame either.
‘Ugh!’
Billos covered his mouth. He was looking a few meters underneath the ledge they arrived at after entering this hall. There was a mountain of skeletons. He could see that these bones were wearing clothes that had not rotted away.
At the same time instinct took over, TBOAH!Basen and TCF!Basen lunged for their younger sisters, covering their eyes with both their hands and then turning their own faces away. TCF!Violan had rushed to their side as well, her counterpart doing the same – both mothers were desperately squeezing their children and fearfully staring at the Palantír.
TBOAH!Deruth and TCF!Deruth were left to deal with the traumatizing sights alone, TCF!Deruth trembled as it suddenly occurred to him that Cale had seen this scene in reality, he'd come face to face with this horrifying sight.
‘…These damn crazy bastards!’
Choi Han’s body started to shake.
‘How could people, how could people do such things?’
“Who the hell cares what he does to that Adin bastard!?!” TCF!Deruth agreed with TCF!Choi Han, he was beyond angry at this point, but for another reason. TCF!Deruth felt that urge to strangle that White Star Bastard for putting his sons (he considers Cale and Kim Rok Soo as his sons, anyone who objects can just go drown in the ocean for all he cared) through this. He wanted to beat that Sealed God Bastard to death too for interfering with his family and creating this situation where his gentle sons had to change and harden themselves in order to stay sane after walking into scenes and situations like this.
It was a large pile of corpses. There were cylindrical containers located at many spots within that pile of corpses. Those containers were full of a black liquid. It was dead mana.
– Human, this must be where they made the dead mana.
Cale blinked after hearing Raon’s weak voice.
In the front row, Raon tucked his face into Cale's red hair and quietly listened to Cale's whispers of reassurances that he was receiving. TCF!Ohn and TCF!Hong were also gathered in Cale's lap – he was calmly reassuring them too. Although the air around them was somber it was not as depressing as it was earlier when they had been watching the Wind Island records.
He grabbed his left hand with his right hand. It was slightly shaking. He was shaking because he was about to go crazy in anger. He wasn’t the only one. Both of Billos’s hands were shaking. Both of Choi Han’s hands were shaking. One was shaking in disgust while the other was shaking in uncontrollable anger. Their minds started to go white.
TBOAH!Rex clenched his fists, he couldn’t feel that anger right now, no. All he could feel was the deep shame that he had died in his timeline without being even close enough to get any kind of closure to his siblings and all the other victims of the Alchemists' cruelties.
“Sob.”
They heard someone’s suppressed cry. Choi Han and Billos flinched. Mana covered the group at that moment.
“I put a soundproof barrier around us.” Eruhaben informed the group before the knights in the passage looked behind them.
“What the…? Did you just hear something?”
“I think you must have heard wrong. We’ve heard so many people dying that we think we hear moaning all the time now. Hehe.”
TBOAH!Rex broke down too – how could he not?! TBOAH!Rei placed his hand upon him in order to support him. He did this even while hanging his head and squeezing his eyes shut as tears gathered and flowed freely from his face.
Someone started to speak once even Billos started to frown.
“Damn bastards that deserve to die.”
Billos flinched and turned his head as his body started to shake. He could not see the person. However, he could clearly imagine an angry Cale. But Billos still had no choice but to lower his head.
The sound was coming from somewhere lower than him.
“Soooob, sob.”
He could hear someone crying. It was not very loud. It was someone who couldn’t help but cry after trying to hold himself back so much that he was twisting in pain. The Cat, Rex. He was the one who was crying.
The Palantír continued as the melancholy sounds of their quiet sobs were heard. Grigori reappeared behind the two of them, her hands reached out and gently it was placed upon both of them. She allowed her power to embrace TBOAH!Rex and TBOAH!Rei, her mana comforting them and soothing their pain and grief only enough so that it was possible for them also to watch the rest of the record.
‘I managed to survive, but…!’
Rex felt like his whole world was shaking after seeing this underground area that he had never clearly seen before.
‘Whose bones are those? Are those the skeletons of my siblings? My neighbours? My friends?’
The people of the Palantír Hall could only watch in silence as TCF!Rex expressed his pain and agony by slamming his head on the ground until his forehead began to bleed. According to the Palantír, TCF!Rex didn't even care about that.
“I wouldn't have cared either…” TBOAH!Rex admitted with bloodshot eyes and a grimace of uncomfortable anger and sadness in his expression.
The Cat slammed his head on the ground. His forehead started to bleed after being scratched by the rough floor, but Rex did not care.
“Soooob, ugh!”
Blood and tears started to mix together. The red fluid seeped into the ground without turning invisible. Rex slowly pushed off of his shaking legs to stand up. He slowly started to walk as he started to speak.
“I, I’m going to go down.” His voice was shaking and blood dripped from his forehead with every step he took.
TBOAH!Rex could clearly empathize with the amount of willpower, courage and strength it would have taken for his counterpart to make such a decision. He looked toward Grigori who was kindly seated between him and TBOAH!Rei, who hung his head in shame.
Choi Han could only blankly stare at the falling blood drops. The soundproof barrier magic prevented the enemies located at the entrance of the passage from looking toward them. There was not much light in this area. None of the enemies paid any attention to the falling drops of blood. No, they probably could not even see it. Choi Han didn’t know what to say about the sight in front of him. He could feel despair. Sir Rex’s sorrows and despair made Choi Han think of his past.
TBOAH!Rex felt ashamed too, over the lack of anything he had been able to achieve for his revenge when he saw the differences between himself and TCF!Rex. He felt more and more embarrassed by how he’d brazenly tried to scoff at what his counterpart could have achieved, but he was seeing the reality of it all now. His counterpart, who had chosen to take the hard path and not forfeit his life after the failed assassination attempt was now stronger and he was stepping forward on the path to deliver justice and retribution.
Choi Han heard Cale’s voice at that moment.
“I’ll go with you.”
Choi Han also started to walk when he heard Cale’s response. He slowly followed behind the Cat’s small steps.
Some people sighed and unconsciously felt their bodies relax. It was so like Cale to do that. TCF!Lock couldn’t help thinking about his own past and all his experiences with the Young Master Cale too. He was well aware that no matter how “bad” Cale always tried to tell people he was, Cale was still him and his family’s saviour. The fact that Cale had reached out his hand to them and so many others was the testimony of Cale’s true self.
The Cat, Rex, started to descend the stairs. He finally arrived underground to the lowest spot in the Empire. He could see the skeletons piled up into hills. They seemed to have been dead for a while, as only the skeletons remained. Rex slowly took all of it in with his eyes. The blood from his forehead had reached his eyes, making him look like he was crying blood.
The Palantír revealed the flashback TCF!Rex had as he made his way down the stairs. Everyone saw and heard the voices of his long since deceased sister and brother telling him to turn into a cat and run away. It then showed how TCF!Rex viciously declared that he was going to ‘kill them’ referring to the Imperial Prince, and the Tower Master, etc. However someone unexpected spoke up breaking through the painful and violent aura of bloodlust and his desires for revenge.
“No.”
Rex flinched at the voice he then heard coming from behind him. No, he flinched at the feeling of a soft cloth covering his forehead. Cale was pressing down on the floating blob of blood, which was where he presumed Rex’s forehead was located, with his handkerchief.
Naively some thought Cale was being uncharacteristically forgiving all of a sudden and opened their mouths to complain about Cale being ‘too soft’. However their ability to speak was sealed by the Goddess who did not wish for another fight to break out in her hall and Naur corrected their misunderstanding by continuing the Palantír.
He then bluntly, and honestly explained to Rex, “The Imperial Prince is mine.”
Rex slowly returned to his senses after hearing the blunt and cold voice that was different from the warm hand that was touching his wound. He then heard someone else’s voice coming from behind Cale.
“Cale-nim.” Choi Han called out to Cale who slowly responded back.
“I know.”
‘What does he know?’
A new reason for confusion took over the hall, as the Palantír took its time to turn and elaborate. It showed how TCF!Rex’s eyes were filled with confusion too – many guests of the hall had similar expressions on their faces too.
Cale crouched down next to Sir Rex. He then whispered in Rex’s ear.
“Sir Rex, look at the highest point.”
‘The highest point?’
Rex’s eyes that had only been focused on the skeletons slowly headed up.
“…Huh?”
The view in the Palantír moved upward as well. It showed how the underground hall seemed to go up forever. And many of the members in the audience felt that it was unbelievable that an area like this was located under the Capital. Just like the TCF!Rex on the Palantír, many people suspected that the Alchemists may have avoided getting caught because this area was so deep down.
His eyes stopped at a certain spot as they went up. It was at the highest spot in this underground hall. His eyes stopped right beneath the ceiling. There was an area there that was sticking out like a terrace to view a play. It was a terrace surrounded by glass. It was as if the location was built just to look down at this pile of skeletons. Sir Rex heard Cale’s voice the moment his eyes landed on that terrace. It was a scary voice that was a mix of both joy and anger.
“…Found you.”
The chills felt by many in the hall was supported by that eerie feeling of apprehension and anxiety when they saw the look on Cale’s expression in the Palantír. That look of both joy and anger really was scary, it was not an expression that any of them had ever seen Cale make before. There was absolutely nothing ‘too soft’ about him anymore.
Like Cale within the Palantír, everyone in the hall could also see the people visible inside the terrace. There were heavily armed knights and mages, as well as some alchemists. Billos recognized the Imperial doctor in there too. That same doctor seemed to be handing a wine glass to the person at the center.
Eruhaben looked at this and added on, “It’s dead mana.”
The wine glass was full of black liquid. There was a person drinking that and leisurely looking down at the underground hall.
“…The Imperial Prince.”
Rex’s pupils started to shake. Imperial Prince Adin. He was shirtless and sitting on a wheelchair, making the injury Choi Han left by his heart visible to them.
‘He’s drinking dead mana?’
TBOAH!Rex was shocked with this revelation. Meanwhile TBOAH!Choi Han felt a chill run down his spine. A thought occurred to him at that moment.
“That Adin… in the Palantír looks stronger, even though he’s been injured… he still looks stronger than me… why? Is it because of the dead mana or is it something else?!” He could not stop wondering about this.
A thick smile appeared on Cale’s face.
“Human!” Raon shouted in shock at that moment. “That thing, that bastard!”
Raon stuttered and continued on after seeing Eruhaben not saying anything.
“That bastard became a black mage!”
Billos and Choi Han gasped.
Everyone in the Palantír Hall gasped as well.
“What the hell is this?!” TBOAH!Alberu demand.
“Oh? Did that not happen in your world?” TCF!Alberu asked, conversationally. However, before TBOAH!Alberu could respond, Rok Soo spoke up.
“No it didn’t… after the Empire unleashed their golems and the airship… their whole empire fell into chaos. From what I can recall, Adin went missing and they used their own citizens for fuel for the dead mana too…” he informed those who either did not know or had simply died too early to find out about it.
Silence filled the area.
“Hehe.”
They all flinched after hearing someone laugh. Cale was the one laughing. However, it was different than his usual laugh. Cale didn’t care what his group thought of him as he quietly watched Imperial Prince Adin and his subordinates. Adin was looking down from the terrace.
“Looking down at this really is entertaining.” He had a relaxed expression on his face.
“This terrible bastard?!” TBOAH!Rasheel hissed with anger. Unlike his counterpart he wasn’t all that interested in the records of the other humans, besides Cale Henituse, however even he could not help getting upset at the sight of all those bones and corpses. It was just too atrocious for him to handle seeing and not commenting about. He hated this, he really and truly did. It made him want to destroy things.
Cale slowly petted Sir Rex’s fur as he started to speak.
“Sir Rex.”
“Yes?”
“Wouldn’t it be fun to grab that bastard by the neck and drag him down to this lowest spot in the Empire? Don’t you agree?”
Rex raised his head without being able to say anything. He was currently at the lowest point of the Empire. He could see Rex looking down at where he was standing. Rex then felt the hand move away from his back.
Cale stood up and asked a single question.
“Did you record it?”
They all responded to him.
“Yes sir.”
“I got it.”
“Sigh, never in my Dragon life did I… Sigh.”
“You really complain about the strangest things Eruhaben-nim…” Sherritt teased the Ancient Gold Dragon with an affectionately amused smile. She was smiling to lighten the grimace on the TBOAH!Black Dragon’s face – the youngest dragon in the hall looked terribly conflicted right now.
On one hand, he was afraid of this sight and all that death, however on the other hand, he couldn’t understand the cruelty of humans who would do such terrible things even to their own kind. His smart dragon brain was telling him logically that these humans were even crazier than that bastard Venion Stan.
Cale’s smile became even thicker. He started to speak again.
“We will split into different teams and look around the rest of the Bell Tower. It would be great if we could locate the Tower Master, but retreat if you determine that it is dangerous.” He then emphasized the next part, “And record everything you see. We will meet back right here.”
Cale touched the video communication device in his chest pocket as he added on.
“Disperse.”
Choi Han, Mary, Billos, and Eruhaben all started to move.
“So he sent them on a recon mission… to gather evidence and proof of the Empire’s crimes…” TCF!Hannah mumbled and then looked toward her counterparts who sighed softly and nodded.
“It’s a little similar to what happened in the Molden Kingdom, right?” Valentino asked Jopis.
“Ahhh, yes, in a way… we did show everyone that b***h Elisneh’s true face using the recordings we took while fighting her in the underground maze.” Jopis responded a nod that was full of poise and grace.
Cale, Raon, and Sir Rex were one team.
Cale calmly started to speak to Raon, “Raon.”
“What is it, Human?”
“Inform Commander Rosalyn.”
Sir Rex flinched. It was because Cale’s demeanor was extremely cold.
“Tell her to activate the airship.”
Cale was calling the airship to the Empire.
“As for us…” Cale slowly started to walk.
“…We are going to the terrace.”
“Hold on!! That’s crazy! If you go up there, they’ll catch you for sure!!” TBOAH!Rosalyn panics.
“Let’s keep watching them, Children…” Grigori recommended and restored silence to the Palantír Hall once again.