“Young master, this is the best room we have.”
“Seems acceptable.”
The old man led Cale’s group to his inn. The exterior of the inn looked as rustic as the village, but it had everything you would need, probably because the merchants visiting the Henituse territory stayed at this inn on their travels.
“This is the first time we have had a noble staying with us. Please look favorably upon us, even if it is lacking quite a bit, and just consider it as a place where lesser beings live.”
Cale stared at the old man. He seemed more comfortable than when talking to Venion Stan, but he still seemed scared at the fact that a noble would be staying at his inn.
It was fine for him to have a little bit of anxiety, but too much was uncomfortable for Cale as well.
‘It’s no good like this.’
Cale patted the old man’s shoulder and tried to calm him down.
“Old man. Relax. I don’t like people who put themselves down like that. This is the place that people who come and go from our territory stay to rest. There is no way such a place will be lacking.”
The old man’s pupils started to shake. He wet his upper lip with his tongue, before finally starting to speak after a bit of hesitation.
“Young master, are there a lot of good people like you in the Henituse territory?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Excuse me?”
“I am the biggest trash in our territory. Almost anybody you find will have a better personality than me.”
“Ah.”
The old man let out a gasp. On and Hong, who had taken control of the couch in the room, were meowing and shaking their heads, but nobody seemed to notice.
“You can go do what you have to do.”
The old man bowed deeply at Cale’s dismissal and left the room. Cale found it annoying that the old man still seemed to be stiff, but decided not to care.
Knock knock knock.
Someone else was knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and deputy butler Hans brought a small box inside.
“Young master, you asked only for this box, right?”
“Yes. Hand it over.”
Deputy butler Hans showed curiosity as he handed the box to Cale. It was the only luggage Cale personally brought with him. He would just assume there was alcohol or snacks inside if it was a normal box, but this box was not normal.
It was the highest quality magic box with a magic lock on it. The seal on the magic box was the logo of the Flynn Merchant Guild, one of the three large merchant guilds, and one that had an intimate relationship with the Henituse family.
Cale casually commented while looking at Hans.
“Isn’t a butler not supposed to show their emotion on their face? Especially curiosity?”
“One of the proper etiquettes of a butler is to show all of their emotions to their master.”
“Funny man.”
“I guess I am a bit funny.”
For someone who didn’t want to go to the capital other than for the kittens, Hans was a bit impudent, but Cale still thought he was much more personable than the other butler candidates. Seeing Hans starting to get used to him, Cale just responded like normal.
“Get out.”
“Yes, sir.”
And Hans left immediately, as usual. However, he had a question about their travels before closing the door.
“Will we be staying here for three days?”
“Yes. Take care of everything.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hans responded as he closed the door. Other than the Vice Captain taking charge of the envoy’s safety, Hans was responsible for everything else. However, he did not show any struggles in doing so, and efficiently took care of everything.
“He seems like a good butler.”
The silver kitten, On, said that as she approached Cale. Cale nodded his head. Then, the red kitten, Hong, followed behind.
“It doesn’t seem that hard for him either.”
Cale agreed with that statement as well. Ron was one thing, but other than Ron, Hans was the one who had the least difficulty dealing with Cale. He was scared of Cale, but did not find him to be difficult.
‘He’s a pretty decent butler.’
Cale brushed aside the kittens coming toward him and opened the box. The method of opening a box with a magic lock was simple. Cale’s fingerprint. That was the only key that could open this particular box. Cale put his index finger on the center of the magic seal.
Beep. Click.
The box made a small noise before opening.
Inside the box were the items Cale had prepared during the four days prior to leaving for the capital.
“I’m really curious about what this is.”
“Really curious.”
Cale ignored the two pairs of golden pupils looking at him, and just vaguely answered.
“Things that will help rescue a poor soul, screw over some douchebags, and prevent me from getting hurt.”
On and Hong looked up at him with curiosity, but Cale just caressed the items inside the box with satisfaction. He recalled the conversation he had with Billos, the Flynn Merchant Guild’s bastard, before he left.
‘Young master, just where do you plan on using these things?’
‘I don’t see why I have to explain that to you.’
‘…I see. But it is going to cost quite a bit to purchase all of these items.’
‘…Is it possible to rent them?’
‘For you, of course, it is possible.’
The majority of the items inside the box were magic tools. Cale had expected them to be expensive, but it really was too much. Cale had to use up all of the allowances he had earned from his father. He also had to return it all to Billos once he got to the capital.
‘Annoying. I didn’t want to get involved with him at the capital, but I have no other choice.’
‘Two of the items are not able to be rented out to outsiders. I rented them in my name, for you. So you must return these to me at the capital. In person.’
‘Sure.’
Cale grabbed one of the items in the box. It was a round, black orb with a lot of symbols engraved on it. The red kitten Hong put his paws on Cale’s knee to ask.
“Really curious about this.”
“A Mana Disturbance Tool. It is worth almost a billion gallon.”
Gasp. Both On and Hong let out a gasp.
“It cost 20 million gallons just to rent it.”
Hong slowly lowered the paws that were on Cale’s knee, before going toward the corner of the bed with his sister, On. They were trying to keep as much distance as possible from the black orb.
Cale recalled the information about the orb. Billos had found exactly the item Cale was looking for.
‘It causes a disturbance in the flow of mana within a certain range, making all magic tools stop working. It is also sturdy enough that, even if something like a mountain blowing up happens, it will not break.’
‘Something like a surveillance tool will break right away then?’
‘Of course. However, you do need to install this 27 hours in advance. It is created to slowly infuse a force that will disrupt the mana flow so that it will not be noticed by mages.’
‘How long will it last?’
‘40 minutes. Isn’t it great? Of course, if there are mages nearby, they will be able to resolve the issue within 5 - 10 minutes.’
‘I will keep that in mind.’
The corner of Cale’s lips started to go up. It was the most expensive item he rented from Billos, but he will have many uses for it on this trip.
‘I really like how durable it is.’
The Flynn Merchant Guild was a very useful place. Cale smiled with satisfaction, before throwing this black orb, that was smaller than the size of a toddler’s fist, toward the kittens crouching in the corner.
“Huk!”
Meeeow!
One of them gasped, while the other meowed and avoided the black orb, but in the end, they had to sit quietly in front of Cale with the black orb in front of their eyes.
“You know how to read a map right?”
On tapped her tail on the ground in response.
“Of course. We were potential successors to the Fog Cat Tribe at one point.”
“Right. My sister is right.”
Cale took out another important item, a map, from the box. It wasn’t very detailed, just having the general landmarks around the Henituse territory. Most of the merchants going to and from the Henituse territory used this map.
“We are in this village right now.”
Cale pointed to the mountain to the right of the village.
“You see this mountain?”
“I see it.”
“Very easy to see.”
This was what Billos had said.
‘Ah. The range is similar to the durability.’
One mountain.
“If you go toward this mountain, you will see a villa in the distance. Behind that is a cave.”
There were no mages around the Black Dragon right now. The people of the Magic Tower respected Dragons as the greatest magic race, and did not wish for humans to torture and domesticate a dragon. They considered it to be a big disgrace to magic.
The people around the cave and the villa were knights and soldiers that the Marquis trusted, as well as the people who do the dirty work for them.
“Don’t go near there at all. You cannot get caught.”
Cale had heard about these two children’s situation. That was why he was confident they could do this, but he still wanted to give them a warning. It would be bad if their curiosity led them to go around the cave.
“There is something being tortured in there. We’re going to rescue him, so you have to be careful.”
“Something?”
“Yes. It is even younger than you, Hong.”
“…Even younger than me?”
“Yes. 4 years old.”
Of course, that 4 year old was strong enough to send On or Hong flying once the mana restriction chains were removed.
“We’re going to save him?”
On and Hong’s eyes lit up as they pressed down on the bed with their paws.
“Save? Sure. Just stay in your cat form and go bury this orb in the mountain without getting caught.”
There should be close to no chance of getting caught in their cat forms. Cale put the black orb in a small pouch, before putting it over On’s neck like a necklace.
“Where should we bury it?”
“Anywhere on the mountain.”
“Really, anywhere?”
“Yes.”
The siblings looked at each other before nodding their heads.
“Easy.”
“We even managed to get past our Cat Tribe’s elders to escape.”
Cale agreed with them.
“It should be easy for the two of you. You two have enough skill for it. I wouldn’t ask someone useless to do something like this in the first place.”
The two kittens looked up at Cale with their golden pupils again. This pair of siblings, who were almost killed by their own tribe for not having abilities, even though they never got a chance to learn, were starting to get emotional. Their tails were wagging, and they crunched their noses to hold back their tears.
Cale understood what these two were thinking and sternly continued.
“I will give you as much beef as you want once you successfully return.”
The two siblings immediately jumped through the window and stealthily headed into the mountain.
Naturally, the siblings did as Cale expected and earned their reward. They were able to have a 10-tier beef steak to themselves. The next day, Cale drank the lemonade that he had now gotten used to drinking, and asked Choi Han.
“Have you ever seen a dragon?”