Chapter Text
A slender woman with long silver hair and ruby red eyes looked at the time.
"Hmm... now that the past had turned into a parallel world instead. We can change its course for the better. I don't want our Cale to suffer. Thankfully, Cale from the new timeline had gotten rid of the curse as well as White Star."
The lady, Sylvette, closed her eyes. "I will follow your wills, Goddess of Creation, Tsuki and Goddess of Time and Life, Yan."
(Tsuki: Truthfully, I feel weird adding my own name in... 😅 but we need name. By the way, Yan 燕, is my Chinese name. It meant swallow.)
The moment she opened her eyes, lights appeared inside the room she was in and when the lights fade, people appeared one after another.
"What happens? Did the enemies attack?"
"What's going on?"
"Where is this?"
Chaos occurred.
"Please be silent. If you want an explanation, please be sensible and take a seat." Sylvette smiled as she used the god's power on the people who were shouting.
"Ugh!"
"Damn! Who is she?"
"Such pressure. We should listen for now."
"Tch."
The people quickly divided into groups.
"Your highness, do you think...?"
"She doesn't seem to be an enemy. Let's listen to her first."
Choi Han nodded at Alberu's words while looking at around cautiously.
Once he saw the red haired man standing with a Lion and a Bear beastman, he frowned. "Is that the trash?"
"I don't think that's Cale Henituse. Look over there." Rosalyn, who heard about the first encounter between Choi Han and Cale, helpfully pointed towards the Henituse family who were surrounding another redhead.
"Hyung, calm down first." The Wolf king Lock chimed in.
"Alright." Choi Han said so but glared hatefully at Cale.
Meanwhile, Cale stayed silent and furtively glanced at Ron and Beacrox who were silently standing next to Choi Han and the heroes. "..."
"Cale, don't worry. Your dad will not let anyone harm you again." Deruth spoke a little guiltily when remembering how Cale had just healed from those injuries.
"Alright." Sylvette clapped her hand. "Before everything else, remember well that you shouldn't fight inside this space. And..."
Snap! Sylvette snapped her finger.
Cale suddenly had a soft chair under him with soft blanket over him. On the table before him was a bunch of sweets and tea.
Deruth and the Henituse family members was seated around Cale.
"Hey! Why is that Trash got a special treatment!?"
"That's right. Why only him and the Henituse! We are noble, too!"
Neo and the nobles of various kingdoms demanded.
"How could you dare to compare with Our Cale? And the Henituse? They only got good treatment because they are good family to Cale compared to all the different dimensions." Sylvette was annoyed. "Just shut up. I'm already quite tolerant to all of you."
Gulp. Everyone who complained gulped nervously and didn't dare to say anything else.
The favoritism was obvious.
Cale was shocked and mumbled softly. "When did I get the god's favor?"
"What's special about that human?" An Elf with golden hair and golden eyes looked at Cale curiously.
The three people next to the Elf said nothing.
"I'm Sylvette, Syl for short. As some of you might have guessed, I am a God's messenger. I've summoned all of you here to share some informations that had been collected from another dimension."
"I'm sorry, Sylvette-nim. May I ask which God are you serving?" Cage who was excommunicated from the God of Death temple asked curiously.
This was the first time she met someone who actually made her felt the power of God clearly.
"This is the space that the Goddess of Creation and the Goddess of Time and Life had jointly created. And I am now served as their messenger, miss Cage." Sylvette answered politely, quite different from when she was with the nobles. "And just Syl is fine."
"Okay, Syl-nim. Then how are you going to show us those information?" Cage helpfully asked the question that everyone was wondering about. 'I hope to see that Taylor might have a better fate than he had here.'
"I'll show you the God's records. Of course, not everything. Just some scenes that contains useful information." Syl glanced at Cale before turning back to everyone else. "Shall we start?"
A screen quickly appeared on one side of the room that was empty.
Rescuing a Dragon
The location that On and Hong chose to buried the black orb was out of Cale's expectations.
The Viscount's villa was 30 meters away from the dragon's cave. On and Hong buried the orb 50 meters away from that cave, in an area filled with trees and shrubs that made it difficult for the orb to be found.
An image as well as the words describing the situation appeared.
"On and Hong?" Cale stared at the two small kittens.
"Rescuing a Dragon?" The Golden-hair Elf frowned.
"Mum, who would a Dragon need rescue?" A pink haired boy was asking his beige-haired mother.
"Let's watch first, Dodori." The mother patted her son's head.
"Tch, just how weak the Dragon is that he needs humans to rescue him? Weakling." The grey haired man scoffed.
The Elves group and Dark Elves group that were standing apart from each other were mumbling in disbelief about the information.
Venion and Neo on the other hand were shocked. They looked at each other and Neo quickly bowed his head.
"You two are just wonderful."
"Something like this is a piece of cake~" On's nose twitched in joy, happy to get a praise for something this easy.
They were currently crouching around the area of the buried black orb, or officially known as Mana Disturbance Tool.
Deruth smiled. "This is definitely sound like Cale."
Basen and Lily nodded in agreement.
Cale blushed a little and eat silently. Since he was isolated from the other people, he didn't have to act like trash and just being silent.
Choi Han scoffed. 'How can the trash that insult the dead people act like this? From the favoritism, it might be a false information.'
"Do you remember the plan?" Cale had explained the plan on their way here.
"Is that even a plan?" On asked. The plan was for Choi Han to defeat the guard and then Cale, Hong and her would go in and rescue the poor Dragon. A Dragon!
Cale only mentioned that the being they were to rescue was a Dragon when he explained 'the plan'. Talk about being surprised.
"The kitten is being so adorable!" Hans, who was seated in a provided chair behind Deruth, squealed.
"Is that Choi Han then?" Beacrox frowned.
Well, Cale and Choi Han was covering themselves with black clothes while crouching.
"The uniforms look familiar." Ron whispered.
"Well, there are a total of 6 people on guard at this time."
Cale recalled what was written in [ The Birth of a Hero ]. The black Dragon was smart, and he wasn't being held captive for four years for nothing. He actually had been gathering information, the reason he chose two days later as the day he attempted to escape.
"Hmm? Why is that part blurry?" The golden hair Elf, Eruhaben asked.
"Like I've said, I'll show you useful information... as for those blurry words, it means that it wasn't useful for you to know about it. For your information, there will be more of that blurry words." Syl smiled.
'Does that mean it's useful for me? I could read everything... I wonder what [The Birth of a Hero] is... maybe a book title?' Cale wondered.
"How could that trash know about that information?" Venion asked Neo who shook his head.
"I don't know, young master Venion." Neo gulped nervously.
'Recall? That means he learnt the information from somewhere.' Only Alberu noticed the word that was overlooked by everyone.
There were approximately 30 people residing in the villa. Originally, there were close to 100 people, but it slowly went down as they realized that no one really came to this area.
However, those 30 people couldn't be underestimated, as there were 3 high-level knights as well as 7 mid-level knights among the 30 people. There were also soldiers, torturers and laborers.
This showed just how important this place to the Marquis. Luckily, Cale had Choi Han, the strongest sword master in Roan kingdom.
"Hyung, that said you are the strongest swordsmaster in Roan." Lock smiled proudly.
Venion was pale with anger. "Damn it. He basically knows every details."
"Let me go over the explanation again. There are one high-level knight and two mid-level knights as well as two soldiers at the entrance. Inside the cave will be a high-level knight and a torturer at the end of the cave."
Choi Han flinched at the word 'torturer' but Cale couldn't effort to care about what he's thinking right now. The black orb would be activated soon, he needed to concentrate and move quickly in response.
"The magic recording devices located from the villa to the the cave entrance will not work for 40 minutes, thanks to On and Hong's hard work. This will be the same for the alarms, magic traps and anything else."
The Marquis wanted to domesticate the Dragon, so he couldn't ask any mages for help. That was why he chose to fill the area with magic tools instead. The small amount of soldiers also because he trusted the magic tools.
Choi Han seriously couldn't understand why the him in there followed the Trash when they should be in bad relationship. However, he didn't say anything when he saw the word 'torturer'.
Cale frowned after seeing the word 'torturer'. "Poor Dragon."
The Dragon had to chose the last option of using mana explosion to escape.
Gasp! Dodori, the pink-hair kid, gasped and hugged his mother, Mila tightly.
[An eye for an eye, and money for money.]
Since the Marquis spent money to keep the Dragon imprisoned, Cale had also used money to save the Dragon from the Marquis. He has all sorts of magic items, useful tools inside his spare spatial bag.
"That... is quite a unique way of thinking. Hopefully he successfully and safely rescue the Dragon before something bad happens." Eruhaben sighed.
"I just need to take out the guards?"
Naturally, Choi Han is the only one fighting, since Cale is currently a weakling who hadn't trained his body at all, and hopefully he didn't have to use the shield yet. He wanted to keep it hidden for as long as he could hide it.
"Yes. You are the only one I rely on to cover our back." Cale looked at Choi Han with a serious expression.
And Choi Han nodded his head and sincerely responded back. "I will definitely live up to your expectations."
"Why do we sound so friendly with each other?" Choi Han glare at the him on the screen. 'And he seemed to obey that trash.'
'What did I do over there to get the swordsmaster to be this friendly? When he hate me so much here? Does that mean that Ron and Beacrox not leaving with him? That was great if it's true.' Cale smiled depreciatively.
"Thanks. But as I mentioned before, make sure they see our outfit and then knock them out. Don't kill them, and don't show your sword arts. It's too unique."
"I remember what you said."
"Good. I'll leave it to you." Cale handed Choi Han the voice changer device. Cale just wanted to throughly making sure that they won't be recognized by any methods at all. "It's rented and it's expensive, so don't break it."
"Yes, I got it. You don't have to worry about it." Choi Han sighed softly. 'Cale-nim and his money issue. Just how expensive is it for this rich young master to call it expensive.'
Alberu raised his eyebrow and looked at Cale curiously. 'Cale Henituse seems to be a through guy over there, could it be?'
"Cale-nim?" Rosalyn looked towards Choi Han who had clenched his sword with darken face.
Ron and Beacrox looked at each other then both looked towards Cale, who quickly turned away.
"Five more minutes." Cale reminded them as he recalled the warning Billos told him about.
(Tsuki: so I skipped the flashback with the instructions from Billos...)
Chaotic? That's perfect for Cale.
"Get ready."
The kittens had covered themselves with charcoal to cover the color of their furs. They then left Cale's side and disappeared into the darkness. Cale knew that they would still follow the plan.
"Oh, so that wasn't their fur color." Hans mumbled.
Brrrrrrrrring! Something started to vibrate right underneath where Cale had been sitting. The black orb had started to activate.
Tik Tik... the seconds hand of Cale's watch slowly approached the set time.
And finally, the last Tik.
"Let's go."
At Cale's order, Choi Han dashed ahead while On started to create fog. She had been training hard to create more fog as well as to not burden her body much.
"Fog! It's really those Mutant Trashes!" A Cat shouted loudly.
He was grouped with that other redhead.
Cale glared at the Cat. "How could you call them that? They are just children."
"Hah! I've heard people called you trash! Are you sympathize with them like in that video?" The Cat argued back.
"You!" Cale bit his lips.
"Okay. Enough. Please share your opinions silently, you could discuss everything after the session end." Syl place barriers between each group for now.
Briiiiiiing— The black orb finally fully activated.
"I guess they aren't all highest quality magic items."
Some of the magic items started to ring loudly to sound their status.
Cale followed behind Choi Han with fog surrounding him, and they headed toward the cave.
Choi Han had started to fight with the knights at the entrance. In a short amount of time, the soldiers are all knocked out on the floor.
"Arm's uniform!?"
"How did he—?"
When Choi Han and Cale finally got up from the crouching position, everyone finally saw the uniform clearly.
Choi Han was fighting the high level knight when another one showed up from inside the cave.
"Shit! Just What the hell is going on?"
Cale spoke through the voice changing device. "Poison"
Right away, there was a paralyzing poison spread throughout the fog. This would help them gain some times, as even if the fainted enemies woke up, they wouldn't be able to move for a while.
Cale made eyes contact with the high level knight and muttered another word. "Cover"
Choi Han instantly stepped in front of Cale and darted toward the cave entrance, Cale followed behind in a safe distance.
"Block them!" At the shout of the high level knight, the two mid level knights came and blocked them with aura surrounding their sword.
Clang. Clang. However, the two swords were cut in half. Very cleanly.
The three knights were dumbfounded. "I-Is he also a swordmaster?"
Only swordmaster could used aura, and only aura could cut down another aura. The three immediately felt despair and shock.
But Choi Han didn't give them the time to think about it, as soon as he cut down the sword, he immediately used the scabbard to attack the two mid level knights on the stomach and neck, rendering them unconscious.
'Wow. It's amazing. But scary too when I remember his punch...' Cale gulped.
Deruth hesitated a little then held Cale's hand and patted it with his other hand. "Calm down and don't worry."
'Wow, one hit K.O. So amazing.' Cale didn't hide his amazement at all as he followed Choi Han into the cave.
'We are really the same person.' Cale smiled a little.
Syl who was seating next to the screen looked at Cale and nearly slapped her own forehead. She walked towards the area where the Henituse is at.
"Syl-nim..." Deruth stood in front of Cale subconsciously.
"Father. It's fine." Cale said softly.
"I mean no harm. I just want to apologize to Cale." Syl bent a little and whispered near Cale's ear. "I forgot to tell you that your curse was erased."
"What? H-How?" Cale was shocked.
"Because of him." Syl pointed to the Cale on screen. "He got rid of the source of it, so your problem was solved too... but you still have to get rid of the source from your own dimension as well, so you wouldn't have to worry about it."
Cale nodded. "Thank you."
More people came from the villa because of the commotions. Unfortunately, either they fainted from the Choi Han's hit or dropped down to the ground, paralyzed by the poison.
Cale used the chance to enter the deep part of the cave together with the cat tribe children, while Choi Han dealt with the knights and soldiers.
After seeing that Cale had gone into the cave, Choi Han who had endured the shouts of 'intruders' and 'assassins' from the enemies, finally grumbled out loud. "So noisy."
"That really sounds like you, Choi Han." Rosalyn smiled.
Choi Han then moved to block the entrance of the cave. "None shall pass."
While Choi Han was protecting the cave entrance, there was another person who protected something in different manner inside the cave. It was the torturer.
He had a duty to protect the dragon's prison. But he was in a state of chaos. "Why!? Why is this magic crystal ball not working!?"
Magic crystal ball is one of the backup that Venion had prepared for emergency.
"W-Who are you? Don't come near me! If you come, everyone will die."
Of course, Cale knew this wasn't just empty threat, it's another one of The psycho Venion's safety measures for emergency.
"Psycho!?" Venion gritted his teeth and glared at Cale.
Cale who was still happy about the news ignored Venion.
If this torturer received an attack higher than an average person's strength, he will blow up. The strength of the blast will make the prison key as well as the prison itself blow up with the torturer.
That's why the torturer is scared, he didn't want to die.
Cale's indifferent eyes looked at the shaking torturer, he waved his hand as a signal to On and Hong.
The poisoned fog quickly spread, but the area near Cale is fog-free. The fog quickly surrounding the torturer and paralyzed him. He started to drop to the floor.
Cale didn't really feel pity for this kind of people. He rummage through the torturer's clothes to get the prison keys.
"...." Everyone was surprised when looking at Cale's indifferent gaze.
It didn't seem like the gaze from a Trash at all.
"Interesting." The imperial prince Adin smiled.
Cale snapped his fingers when the torturer finally lost consciousness, maybe died, he didn't care.
On and Hong fell from the ceiling. Cale verified that they were safe and no injuries, before he headed toward the cell with the black Dragon.
"He looks like one contradicting human... harsh towards enemies, caring towards friends." Eruhaben rubbed his chin.
He could see from the different treatments and thinking towards the torturer and the Cat children.
Cale could see the Black Dragon curled up inside the now useless magic prison. And what made him shocked and angry was the amount of blood covering the Dragon as well as the blood puddle around the Dragon.
"Who is he trying to act for? I bet he just angry that the Dragon he plans to steal and own was damaged. Who wouldn't be angry when the property you own was broken?" A noble sneered.
"How could you say that?" Deruth was angry.
"How dare you!? Do you think a human could tame a Dragon!? Owned? Do not speak of such delusions, human." Eruhaben spread his Dragon Fear.
"Mmmph!" Everyone, except for Cale's table which Syl was seated, felt the heavy pressure.
Syl shrugged and ate the cookies on the table. "Let them suffer a little, right Cale? How could he look at the tortured child and said those stuffs?"
Cale smiled and nodded. "Dragon or not, a child is a child."
But the smiled soon disappeared. "Will I be able to save him? He looks very badly hurt."
"Our Cale is kind. He will be fine. You will save him." Syl smiled.
Cale hastily opened the prison's door, and approached the Dragon slowly. The Dragon still had his eyes closed. He was probably in a state of chaos.
"Isn't that Dragon...?" Beacrox looked at Choi Han.
"It seems so..." Choi Han looked at the room the young Dragon was at. 'No wonder... could I have saved him too?'
Cale saw all kinds of torturing tools as well as the luxurious couch that Venion sat on to watch. Cale felt like he wanted to kill Venion right now.
Cale swallowed the lump in his throat, turned his head to look at the Dragon who had his eyelids trembling as it laid there with the eyes closed.
"Venion? Who's Venion?" Eruhaben looked around. "I'll make you regret living."
"Calm down first, Eruhaben. The little darling will be fine. You can torture Venion after you return." Syl giggled evilly. "I could show you the scene where Venion got tortured if it makes you calm down."
"Hmm? Alright. Thank you." Eruhaben nodded slowly.
Venion shivered.
"Hey." Cale called out carefully.
"..." The Dragon didn't answer him.
Cale smiled a little sadly and helplessly. 'This little guy is still prideful, it's good.'
Cale glanced at his watch. They need to leave now. "Let's us leave this place first."
Cale used the keys he got from the torturer and unlocked all the chains. The Dragon opened his eyes at that moment, his eyes met Cale's. At that moment, Cale's smile turned a little happier and genuine.
"What beautiful eyes you have there, even a nicer gaze." Cale said as he cautiously scooped the Dragon and hold him with both his arms. 'His gaze is still filled with desire to live. Unlike the lifeless eyes that described in novel when Choi Han killed him.'
'He knows... but how? He knows about what happened here?' Choi Han stared at Cale as if he wanted to figure Cale out.
While Cale thought about something else that likely only he could see. 'Novel...'
"Let's get you out of here." Cale repeated gently, disregard the blood that stained his clothes. "We have to heal you as soon as possible."
Dodori who was in Mila's embrace, glanced at the screen again. "Mum, he sounds like a good person. He was helping that little Dragon."
"We don't know that yet. Let's see first." Mila patted Dodori's head.
After coming out of the prison, Cale had to put the injured Dragon down. He placed him right next to the kittens and walked toward the wall on the opposite side of the prison, the location that they met the torturer a moment ago.
On and Hong circled around the Dragon.
"That looks very hurt."
"That's very sad."
The Dragon growled at them defiantly, this was the first time he saw anything beside humans.
On approached Cale and tapped his leg. She thought about the potion that she saw Cale took from the magic box and put into his spatial bag. "Cale, he looks hurt."
"Look after him first. We have to get out first so we can heal him properly."
The healing potion couldn't work well until the mana restriction chain on the dragon's neck was gone.
"Oh, so that's why he didn't heal the Dragon immediately... he's quite knowledgeable on magic devices." Rosalyn was a little interested.
The Dragons watched silently. They wanted to see if the human really as good as he appeared so far.
Cale patted the cave wall with his hands to find the secret tunnels that was used as escape path for Venion. He kicked the torturer out of his way and continued as if nothing happened.
The Dragon was watching Cale after noticed that the two little creatures before him wouldn't try anything. He growled at the torturer who got kicked toward his direction, but decided to stay still and observed the strange human.
This human seemed very different from the other humans he had ever met. The way he spoke, the way he held him... but no! Humans are all liars!
"So smart. You shouldn't judge only on the surface." Cale chuckled.
Deruth was stunned. He didn't pay attention to the screen anymore. 'Cale finally laugh again.'
Other people looked at Cale weirdly... 'Isn't that you in there?'
'He definitely had another motive. I find a chance to leave as soon as I got out of this cave. I'll just have to burn my life force a little, I will live.' The black Dragon was trying to reassure himself, he had already determined to use his life force to break out of the prison already before this strange human came.
"Found it" Cale smiled when he found the flat area on the bumpy wall. 'We just have to wait for Choi Han.'
"Hyung's smile is beautiful."
"Yes, Oppa looks pretty with a smile!"
Basen and Lily looked alternately between the screen and the real Cale.
"Thanks you two. Syl, can you make this a couch instead?" Cale asked.
"Sure." Syl snapped her fingers.
A couch appeared and replaced the chair Cale was on. Cale thanked Syl before motioning Basen and Lily to sit next to him.
The siblings quickly went to sit on both side of Cale. Cale patted their head.
Violan and Deruth watched them with warm gazes.
Cale looked at his watch, he saw a person entered from the corner of his eyes. "All done?"
"Yes" Choi Han swung his sword in the air to get rid of the blood and sheath his sword.
His gaze turned toward the Dragon and frowned, seeing such small body being covered in wounds and blood. He glared at the torturer with viciousness.
This caused the Dragon to immediately be on guard. The human... he was way stronger than the other human.
Cale who saw that the Dragon was feeling uneasy, quickly called out to Choi Han. "Choi Han, calm down."
Choi Han noticed how the Dragon acted and immediately turned his attention to Cale and reported the situation. "As you ordered, I left the escaping workers alone. I also made sure anyone that could fight wouldn't be able to fight ."
"I know it! He's a good human." Dodori smiled.
"Good job. Now punch this place."
"How strong do you want me to punch it?"
"Uh... very very lightly. Just pretend you are creating a 10cm dent in this wall."
"Okay. Very lightly." Choi Han took a deep breath and adjusted his strength, and punched the wall with his fist.
Boom! The kittens and Cale jumped a little in surprise. The Dragon also went wide-eyed, looking at the destroyed wall.
"Wow." Cale exclaimed.
Choi Han looked at Cale who was admiring his strength. 'Is he stupid?'
"This kid... why is he admiring the strength of the person who beat him up?" Beacrox grumbled.
He remembered how he asked Choi Han to spar with him every so often, just to pay back for beating up Cale, unfortunately Beacrox never actually win.
"The young master is always like this... he's too forgiving." Ron looked at Cale.
Choi Han frowned.
Cale gulped and laughed nervously. 'That was lightly. Then how much force did you punch me in my past life ?'
"He really knows about it..." Choi Han had a lot of questions to ask but held back.
'Past life?' Cale jawdropped. He looked at Syl.
Syl just smiled and shrugged.
Cale quickly shook his head. 'No time to think about that.'
Cale picked up the Dragon again. "Let's go. He really needs to be healed."
At this comment, Choi Han quickly took a torch and the kittens cleverly jumped onto Choi Han's shoulders. They lead the way with Cale and the Dragon following behind.
The Dragon remained very quiet, as the only sound Cale could heard from him was his slightly labored breathing sound. The eyes that looked up at Cale's face was full of guard and suspicion.
Cale knew full well that the Dragon wouldn't feel any gratitude toward him. After all, every human he met so far are all psychos that tortured him.
Cale himself wasn't a good person. It was the truth. Even now, he felt that he should try his luck in attracting this Dragon, even though it seemed very impossible to do.
Having a Dragon would make a lot of his plans easier. But as hypocritical as he was, what he said to Choi Han were also his honest feelings.
"Hah! I know it!" The noble spoke once again with a scoff.
The Elves and Dark Elves were angry when they saw the supposedly good person turned out to be a bad guy who tried to use the tortured Dragon as well.
Dragons should live with pride, arrogant, and freedom. He wouldn't forcefully trying to tame this poor child right after the effort to rescue him. He wouldn't want to force this child to burn his life force just to escape.
"Oh... I guess we're wrong...." The Elves were embarrassed at jumping into conclusions too fast.
While the Dark Elves sighed in relief.
"Please stop looking at me like that." Cale said rather politely without looking at the Dragon.
'I know I'm weak, but to be this weak.' Cale was out of breath as he tried to keep up with Choi Han. His arms trembled lightly even from the weight of the malnourished 1-meter long Dragon.
Cale hugged the Dragon a little closer, and a little tighter, afraid that he might drop him.
"Aww... how could we mistaken him to be a bad guy? Look at how protective he is!" One of the Dark Elves exclaimed loudly.
"Cale-nim, there's a wall in front of us."
"Hit the center of the wall with your fist with the same strength as before. Then we will continue to run till the spot we discussed."
"I understand."
The kittens jumped off Choi Han and prepared to run. Choi Han hit the wall with the same strength as before.
Boom! The wall instantly collapsed, they could see the night sky with brightly lit stars.
This time Cale took the lead. He didn't know where the magic recording device was, but they just had to get out of the range of the device in the next one or two minutes with the help of the Mana Disturbance Tool that was working on the entire mountain.
Choi Han followed behind while making false trails and erasing some as they passed. After leaving the secret tunnel entrance for about one or two minutes, Cale looked at his watch.
"Stop." The alarms that was going off in the area suddenly stopped blaring. The Mana Disturbance Tool had stopped working.
"They made it out safely."
"They should heal the poor Dragon now."
"Just look at how much the blood soak the young master's clothes."
The women in the room spoke one after another.
"Haaa~ this really shorten my poor life." Cale carefully placed the Dragon down, and patted his own heart to calm it down.
'It's okay, Glutton. I don't need protection yet. Thank you.' Cale thought. 'Wait till I got you a friend.'
Cale was waiting for Vitality of Heart, to strengthen his shield before using it.
"Vitality of Heart!? That's the ancient power that Taylor got! It could use to strengthen another power?" Cage jumped from her seat.
"Wait. Who's Glutton? It seems to be the shield? And the shield seems to be an ancient power? He thanks his ancient power..." Bud Illis held his head. "Does that make any senses?"
Cale focused on the Dragon after calming his heart down.
The rebellious gaze was gone, replaced by an admiration as he looked at the night sky. This was the first time he saw such scenery in his four miserable, humiliated life.
Cale smiled knowingly. He wanted to give some time to the Dragon, but he really needed medical attention. Cale quickly looked through his spatial bag.
That got the Dragon's attention, his stance changed, ready to attack if this human tried anything. His angry eyes glared with resentment.
Cale didn't mind and continued what he's doing, he took out a pair of gloves and a scissor-shaped cutting tool. There were a lot of magic seals on both of the blades for cutting. He then put on the electricity-resistance gloves.
The Elves watched nervously, wondering what Cale was going to do next.
"Hey." Cale called out to the Dragon, before he noticed that his surrounding suddenly became very quiet.
Choi Han was debating if he should stop Cale, but he felt that Cale wouldn't hurt the Dragon, so he only stepped a bit closer to at least tried to stop Cale if he really hurt the Dragon.
The kittens through, had more trust in Cale then Choi Han, they stood still and watched. They saw the anger and concerns in Cale's eyes when he first saw the Dragon inside the prison.
Beside that, Cale had promised that he saved the Dragon. On remembered him said something about healing properly. And as clever as On was, she guessed that the cutting tool might be for the weird collar on the Dragon's neck.
"How can you trust so easily?" Choi Han mumbled.
"Young master wouldn't hurt anyone. He's too kind." Ron also had full trust on Cale.
"But he—" Choi Han couldn't finish his sentence.
"Don't make me repeat myself. Even if you don't believe it, keep your mouth shut. Even if I couldn't win against you, I'll fight you if I have to." Beacrox growled.
"We only followed you because you have the same goal as us. And staying beside the young master might bring him harm." Ron spoke coldly.
Cale looked very helpless at the Choi Han and the Dragon's reactions. He felt the Dragon staring at him. Cale sighed. 'I'll be the bad guy then.'
Ron chuckled. 'You always play the bad guys and let people misunderstood you.'
Cale grabbed the Dragon's neck. The cutter headed toward the Dragon's neck. Choi Han opened his mouth to stopped Cale, but he couldn't when he saw the helpless look in his eyes.
"It seems like the you there noticed the real young master, you should as well, before you regret it." Ron watched the screen attentively.
"..." Choi Han didn't say anything.
Under the moonlight, the Dragon just paid attention to Cale's eyes. He didn't understand the emotions flashing in this person's eyes at all.
But even if the emotions were different, this action was very familiar. The Dragon knew that what came next would be pain. So he closed his eyes, telling himself to endure it before finding a chance to escape.
At that moment, everyone heard the snapping sound of something getting cut.
Sizzle. Sizzle. The mana restriction chain was causing sparks in Cale's hands.
"The kitten was right... he only use it to cut the collar." Someone said.
"Done." Cale threw the chain to the ground before taking off the gloves and hand it to Choi Han. "I saw how you didn't trust me. So take care of these. Remember to wear the gloves."
Cale ignored the awkward Choi Han and took out the healing potion after keeping the cutting tool back inside the bag.
The kittens meowed in delight after finally seeing the healing potion. It was the highest grade healing potion.
"Wow, highest grade healing potion. Just how much did he spend? As expected of a Henituse." A noble spoke.
"I've spent so much money on you."
The Dragon had heard similar words like that quite often. Actually, he had heard it almost everyday since he hatched from his egg.
They wanted him to obey them because they spent so much money on him. When they don't get his obedience, they would started to beat him up and started to hurt him with all the tools inside his prison one by one.
Eruhaben felt anger well up inside him once again. "Miss Syl, I request the torture of that person who dare to hurt the young Dragon next. I don't care if it's a useful information or not."
"Okay! After this session end, you guy can rest for a while. The next session will be Venion's 4-day trip to hell." Syl smiled.
"The torture is just four days long?" Eruhaben was dissatisfied. "He needs more."
"No worries, as someone said, a day would felt like a year." Syl looked at Cale as she said that.
"Eh? Did I say that? I mean the me in there?"
"Of course. The things you do for your children..."
"What!?"
"No comment."
"..."
Most people sweatdropped while listening to the conversation between Cale and Syl.
'Is this human the same? Will I still get hurt even after the mana restriction is gone? I couldn't win against the human standing behind.'
However, he heard something different. He felt something else beside the pain he expected.
"I've spent so much money on you, that's why you'd better heal up properly. So I could at least feel that my effort wasn't in vain."
Cale poured half of the potion onto the Dragon and pour the rest into his mouth carefully, so he won't choke. Thankfully, the Dragon didn't resist and swallowed it obediently.
All the injuries instantly disappeared, as the mana started to circulate inside the Dragon's body. A blue aura-like mana surrounded the Dragon like a wind.
The smart Dragon seemed to understand what had happened. His eyes suddenly filled with lively light, completely come back to life.
"Yes!"
"The Dragon-nim finally healed."
The Elves and Dark Elves cheered.
"Hey." Cale took a step closer to the Dragon. "What do you want to do now?"
Cale smiled and waited patiently at the Dragon's silence. He chuckled silently, and crouched down to be on eye level with the little Dragon.
"I know you have learnt about human language. You are a Dragon, you are the smartest and the strongest existence in the world." Cale had learnt how to coax a child, and the best way is to give praises when the time called for it. He asked again. "What do you want to do after you're free?"
"He sounds like a new father learning to raise children."
"It's a sounded advice."
"What a patient father."
"...I" The Dragon started to speak. He did learnt the language during the past four years, he needed to learn, so at least he'd know what they were going to do to him.
"The Dragon never spoke though..." Venion said lowly. "Damn it all."
"I" the Dragon could feel that without the mana restriction, he could easily killed this human in front of him.
The problem is the man at the back. However, even if he couldn't win, he was sure that he could escape. He finally obtained the strength that he longed for.
That was why the Dragon finally said the thing he thought to himself over and over for the last four years. Even if this is the first time saying out loud.
"I will live."
Yes, he will live. Even when he wanted to burn life force to escape before, he still wanted to live.
Choi Han felt like the words was stabbing his heart. 'He wanted to live. And I killed him.'
"I will not be tamed." He revealed his inner thought.
"Of course. A Dragon mustn't be tamed. A Dragon needs to live freely. And you ARE a Dragon. You have the right to live like that." Cale stood up after that. He could see the distrust from the Dragon's eyes.
"I'm going now. Don't get hurt again. Take care." Cale took out a small pouch that was filled with mid grade potion and place it in front of the Dragon.
Cale walked toward Choi Han and the siblings. "Let's go."
"He's really leaving?"
"How stupid."
"It's a Dragon."
The nobles mumbled lowly, afraid that the golden hair Elf will hear.
The Dragon stared at the back of the people who had saved him. His feeling was a little complicated.
"I hate humans. They are all liars." the Dragon mumbled to himself. He looked at the small pouch in front of him.
He told himself not to trust humans but he couldn't help but think about the warmth he got from those trembling arms that took him out of the dark cave.
'It was the first time I ever felt warmth.'
"Just how much pain that Dragon-nim had been through!? The first time to feel warmth?" An Elf cried.
"Mum." Dodori hugged Mila tightly.
"Venion deserves to die..." Cale said to himself.
"So even if it's a lie, I want see it for myself. I will keep my distance and observe him." He decided and hugged the pouch close to his body.
"So even though that human, Cale doesn't even tried to tame him, the Dragon followed on his own..." Eruhaben sighed.
Cale was thinking about the Dragon as well. 'I guess it couldn't be helped. At least Choi Han will get Rosalyn and Lock later.'
"What!?"
"Huh?"
Rosalyn and Lock was shocked.
Hong slowly approached his sister, On as they followed Cale back to the inn.
"Noona, I think he will follow us."
"Uh huh, I think so, too."
"Are we going to get a younger brother?"
"If Cale allowed it..."
Cale who had been listening, couldn't help exclaimed. "No way. You think he would still follow us after all the stuffs happened to him?"
Cale asked in disbelief. He was a little excited if it's true. 'I didn't force him if he decided to follow on his own. I need all the help I can get. No rush. I saw what happened to the siblings and Ron when I rushed them before.'
Cale who tried to keep his excitement off his face, looked like he had a scoff to show the disagreement.
"Ah, I didn't leave him." Ron sighed in relief. Because after leaving Cale, he always felt regrets.
"... he will!"
"... uh huh, he definitely will!"
Hong saw how the Dragon still looked at their direction, also how he hugged the pouch that Cale gave him. He would definitely follow after he enjoyed his freedom a bit.
'I will share my meat and cakes with him when he decides to come with us.' Hong smile happily with his tail wagging left and right.
"The small kitten is also cute... Syl-nim, might I dare ask why aren't those three adorable children here?" Hans asked, wanted to see the adorable creatures.
"The people that weren't summoned are likely to be dead." Syl smiled sadly.
"Ah." Hans gasped.
"Oh." Cale looked sad. "It seems like I rescued them in there.... But I didn't, here."
"It's not your fault, Cale." Deruth told Cale.
"Right. You didn't know. I'm sure you'll save them if you know. No worries, they live very well over there." Syl reassured.
"Okay...." Cale nodded.
"Alright. If you're so sure, I'll try to believe it then. Now go get the black orb back."
""Okay!""
Cale turned to Choi Han and patted his shoulder. "Good job today. How do you feel?"
Today should have been the first time Choi Han ever saved anything.
"I feel.... Good. I will remember this feeling. Thank you for giving me the chance to feel this." Choi Han said sincerely. "But Cale-nim..."
"What?"
"What if the Dragon really decided that living as he freely as he wants was to follow you?"
"Mm..." Cale couldn't help avoid his eyes. "Will I sound hypocritical if I said I will be happy if he does?" Cale closed his eyes.
Choi Han's expression turned a bit blank.
Cale opened his eyes. "I have things, plans that will go easier with a Dragon around. But I really meant it when I said I won't try to tame him. I totally leave it to his choice."
Cale smiled sadly, he walked again, without looking back at Choi Han. He didn't want to see a disappointment in Choi Han's eyes. He had come to think of Choi Han as a friend already.
The whole journey back to the inn was filled with silence, as Choi Han contemplated on what Cale had said.
Choi Han was surprised. 'He thinks I'm his friend? Even when he knew that I hurt him before?'
"Ah, alright people! You can relax and chat here, or use one of the doors right outside this room. There are dining room if you're hungry, and private room if you need it for secret discussion. If you dare to fight in this place, you'll get punished." Syl informed them. "I'll go prepare the next record~ see ya in one hour."
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Tsuki: First time trying reaction fic... 😅 Tell me your opinions please, I personally feel that it's chaotic...