Bud glanced at Glenn as he tried to console him, Glenn seemed to have forgotten that they were once also a victim of Cale's typical behaviour, he decided it was best not to remind him because he didn't want his friend to have a stroke in any near or far future.
Since they were not the only ones curious to know what would happen next, the Palantír seemed to fast forward whatever fight scene transpired between the two groups, because the moment it lit up again the bandits were all attentive and submissively kneeling before Young Master Cale.
<Chapter 228 – But it’s more comfortable here? (2)>
A few of the trees nearby ended up being destroyed by the sword master Hannah who didn’t get to do anything. Beacrox was busy wiping the dust that was caused by Hannah’s attacks off of his gloves and clothes. Of course, the five pale people were shaking in fear after seeing Hannah’s golden aura and black smoke combination.
Beacrox asked Cale a question after making sure that his outfit was spotless.
“What should we do? Should we torture them?”
The people kneeling gasped. However, Cale had no intentions of listening to this vicious chef. He felt bad for the five extremely scared bandits. He too would be scared of going up against the combination of Hannah, Ron, and Beacrox.
"Young Master, you can't be too soft on them." TCF!Beacrox mumbled, he sounded slighted, probably because of the fact that Cale had called him 'vicious' merely because of just that. Grigori felt a slight twinge in her conscience - something nagging her to educate TCF!Beacrox in order for him to understand that it wasn't 'just that' to Cale. However, she soon decided it was not her place to do so.
Cale leaned on a boulder as he gently smiled and addressed the five people.
“Don’t be scared, okay?”
The five of them turned away from Cale and focused on the ground.
“Why are you avoiding my gaze? I’m not a scary person. We can’t chat if you don’t look at me. Hmm?”
He had Eruhaben use language translation magic on him, so it would be a waste if he didn’t get to use it effectively.
"It's the menace!! The menace is back!!" Kim Rok Soo accused Cale in his mind while coughing lightly and trying not to choke and suffocate himself, it had taking him a while to catch his breath after laughing so hard moments ago, and he wasn't sure his lungs could take another coughing fit. So he tried to control himself.
The bandits’ pupils were shaking as they looked back up at Cale. They could see the red-haired man who was smiling at them.
‘He’s the scariest one!’
In the front row, Cale gasped, offended that they would think such a terrible thing, but he wisely kept his thoughts to himself. Feeling slightly anxious that his family would take any opportunity to berate and scold him for not valuing or taking care of himself better. Grigori noticed this and her eyes narrowed with concern, but she soon forced herself to look away again and focused on the dissonance between TBOAH!Eruhaben and TCF!Eruhaben that she currently had her magic fixated on.
According to the Palantír these five bandits belonged to a group of bandits who were skilled because they had survived a year as bandits. The record stated that they had seen many strong individuals during that time, but however, the people in front of them were stronger than they could ever imagine.
The head of this extraordinary group, the red-haired man, made them feel like candles in the middle of a storm.
"That's such a lovely description for Young Master Cale-nim!" Witira said in a conversational tone as she casually leaned toward Paseton. The smile on her face was elegant and full of sincerity.
Cale became even more concerned in the front row, but Grigori spared a moment to erase his panic apprehension and remind him that the curse was broken and he deserved to be praised and loved and that it would be alright for him to accept it. Cale gulped and bowed his head, taking some time to process what Grigori had told him telepathically.
Cale looked toward the bandit kneeling in the center.
“You.” He pointed at that bandit with his finger.
“Yes sir?”
“Answer my question.”
‘I don’t want to. I really don’t want to. I’m afraid he’s going to kill me.’
The bandit was stuttering as he asked back.
“M, me? But there are others as well. This is my first year, so I do not know much!”
The bandit had a look of despair as he saw Cale tilt his head to the side.
“Because I feel like it. Why? You don’t like it?”
Cale asked, thinking that he would make someone else do it if this one did not want to do so. There were five people, so he had options.
TCF!Ron chuckled while shaking his head, he knew full and well back then, either he or TCF!Beacrox would have killed this guy if he had refused to answer their Puppy Young Master's question. Because what use was there in keeping someone so useless around, this was also someone who insulted their Puppy Young Master.
TCF!Beacrox hummed to himself.
"Father, what do you think about putting them through more training when we return?" He asked.
"Hmmm... I agree. We're going to be quite busy when we return!" TCF!Ron replied with a smug grin.
Cale shivered and raised his head again. He really wanted to say something to stop them, but knew that nothing he said would be enough to do so, so instead he turned slightly to speak to both of them.
"Don't be so busy... make sure you take time to rest as well!" He warned them.
TBOAH!Ron and TBOAH!Beacrox felt an itchy feeling prickle at their eyes, but like seasoned veterans of the art of stealth and all things related to assassination, they concealed their feelings and sat stoically, however Cale was not done, he turned to look at them next.
"That applies to you too!" He said and then winced slightly at the cold look he received from the two of them. He turned back around and faced forward in silence after that. TBOAH!Ron discreetly raised his hand and patted his aching chest, as he did so, he once again acknowledged that the Puppy Young Master of the TCF!World really knew his way around words.
“No, not at all! Please ask away!”
Cale felt iffy after seeing the kneeling bandit suddenly start bowing toward him, however, he decided to ask anyway as he seemed determined to answer his question.
"Doesn't that kind of reasoning seem a little naïve?"
"Why? I'm merely ignoring the bullshit. He was willing to answer so why should I hold back? If he really didn't want to he could have just said so... it's not my problem he misunderstood our conversation." Cale mumbled like a small child being told he couldn't play with his favourite toy.
"No... I don't think that's what he meant..." TBOAH!Alberu resisted the urge to ask his own questions and voice more criticism toward Cale and his methods.
According to the record, Eruhaben had already told Cale the approximate location if this mountain on the Eastern Continent. So that was apparently why Cale wanted to ask something else.
“Tell me 10 bad deeds that your group has committed in the past month.”
“…Excuse me?”
‘I thought you said it was a question?’
The bandit’s pupils were shaking as he looked past Cale to Beacrox, who was putting on a new pair of white gloves. They were currently by the large stone pillar at the top of the mountain.
TCF!Beacrox’s expression became stoic, while TBOAH!Beacrox seemed quite pleased that his counterpart had put adequate fear into the unruly bandits.
A man’s desperate voice echoed in the area.
“One! We robbed a small merchant guild’s carriage two days ago!”
He looked around before continuing on.
“Two! We stole all the money from travellers going by! There were a lot of travellers this past month! We believe in equality, so we robbed both the poor and the rich of all of their money! I cannot count how many people we have robbed this month! Three! We collected a significant amount of toll money whenever a mid-sized merchant guild travelled through! We pretty much emptied their pockets! We did it, even if the merchant cried!”
"Goodness!" Violan muttered behind her fan, she had once been part of a Merchant Guild so she knew the devastating such a hold up would cause to those merchants. She really felt her heart go out to them, but then she focused again on the Palantír when someone spoke up to rebuke the bandits for their sins the way she was holding herself back from doing.
“You all deserve to be beaten up. You’re even worse than me.”
The comment from the woman covered in black scars made the bandit’s hands start to shake.
It was said in Hannah's typical style, but that did not stop Violan and Jopis from nodding and praising her.
"Well said Hannah Dear!" Violan praised the young Holy Maiden while snapping her fan elegantly shut and nodding in approval. Jopis also nodded. Cale once again reminded himself not to introduce his employees at the inn to his family. He was worried they would recognize the former bandits whom TCF!Ron and TCF!Beacrox had reformed. He thought about how to do this while the record on the Palantir continued to reveal what else happened back then.
Cale’s gaze made him continue to report the 10 worst deeds.
Jopis nodded again, this time TCF!Cotton joined her.
"It's true, Commander Cale's gaze does hold quite a lot of power!" Queen Jopis commented.
"Indeed, he is quite adapt at using his gaze to convey orders and such!" TCF!Cotton agreed while thinking back to the time she had led Cale Henituse and their group to the secret facilities within the Endable Kingdom.