And not just three average beings. One was a dumb dragon, another was a crazy priestess who wants to be excommunicated, and the third was a punk from Marquis Stan’s family.
“Sigh.”
Cale could not help but sigh. He dropped his head before lifting it back up again. Once he did, he could see that it had become much quieter. Cale thought the silence was odd, and looked toward Hans.
Hans smiled awkwardly, before stealthily gesturing toward the driver, Tom, and Taylor, who was looking out of the carriage window.
Taylor had a bitter smile on his face as he started to speak.
“If it is inconvenient for your party, we will leave.”
The eldest son of the Marquis family, and the son who was pushed out of the family. After his legs became paralyzed, Taylor’s life turned 180 degrees overnight, from one of luxury and power, to one where his family gave him just the minimal amount of support needed to survive.
Those nobles, who knew that anyone other than the successor to the Marquis title in the Stan family would die immediately, started to avoid Taylor, finding him to be an annoyance. They even purposefully ignored him in front of Venion or the other siblings to try to curry their favor as well. The current Taylor’s situation was even worse than that of a bastard son of a baron’s family.
Taylor knew about Cale, the trash of the Henituse family. A luxurious golden turtle as their symbol, as well as being a handsome young man with red hair. There was no one other than Cale who fit that description. Even someone like Count Henituse, who did not join a faction, could find it uncomfortable to associate with someone like him. They were all like that after his body became paralyzed.
Taylor had remembered the reality of the situation after hearing Cale’s sigh. But at that moment.
“Why would you leave?”
Cale walked toward Taylor’s carriage with a stoic expression on his face.
“This isn’t my property. I wouldn’t do something so childish when we are both fellow travelers.”
Cale and Taylor made eye contact with each other. Cale then quickly peeked inside Taylor’s carriage.
‘She is there.’
The crazy priestess, Cage, was observing him from inside the carriage. Cale had read about how her curses were really scary. Some people even said her curses were at the level of a necromancer, the cursed profession.
Cale turned his gaze away from Cage and reached his hand out.
“I am Cale Henituse of the Henituse family.”
Taylor gazed at the hand reaching out to him from outside the carriage. He then looked back at Cale’s stoic expression.
Click.
Taylor opened the carriage door. Proper etiquette indicated that he should step out of the carriage to return the greeting.
“It is difficult for me to step out because of my legs.”
“I am aware.”
Taylor looked once more toward Cale, who did not seem to care about the proper etiquette, and shook his hand. It was just a short handshake.
“Nice to meet you, young master Cale.”
‘Not at all.’
Cale was not happy about this meeting at all. He quickly tried to turn around because he did not want to be introduced to Cage. Unfortunately, Taylor was an extremely respectful person.
“This is my companion, priestess Cage-nim. She is a follower of the God of Eternal Rest.”
Eternal rest. This was a term for death. Cale held back another sigh, and looked toward Cage. Cage gracefully greeted him like a proper priestess.
“Nice to meet you, young master Cale. My name is Cage. May the peace of the night always be with you.”
‘Peace of the night.’ That was the general greeting those who served the God of Death gave to the public.
‘Peace of the night my ass.’
Forget peace of the night, Cale felt like he wouldn't be able to even sleep properly tonight. He felt like he was drinking lemonade as he looked toward Cage, who was gently smiling.
‘She’s acting all nice and innocent, even though she finds that to be so annoying. That is the number one reason she wants to be excommunicated.’
She really was good at acting. Cale smiled at Cage, who still had a very stereotypical smile of a priestess on her face, and confidently replied.
“I do not believe in a god.”
Cage’s gaze became curious. Her gaze seemed to be asking what kind of crazy thing Cale was saying to a priestess, but Cale welcomed it. Cale just wanted her to keep thinking that he was a trash.
“You are an interesting person.”
“I guess I am a bit interesting.”
Cale just casually responded to her statement and looked around the carriage. It was extremely shabby for the eldest son of a Marquis. Just one knight, a subordinate, who also served as the driver, and the two of them, Cage and Taylor.
‘I’m sure he’s out of money as well.’
Taylor probably spent a lot of money putting magic tools around the Puzzle City residence.
Since he was not getting much help from the Marquis, he wouldn’t really have any emergency funds to use. Taylor was probably doing everything he could to reduce his expenses.
Taylor closed his eyes to hold back the shame while watching Cale look through his carriage. Cale did not put much meaning behind it, and started to think.
‘They are probably heading to the capital because of my message.’
It was obvious where they were heading. It was to the capital, to meet the crown prince.
“Hans.”
“Yes, young master.”
Cale vaguely gave an order to the approaching Hans.
“Help them out.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Set up a separate meal for them and set up a campsite next to our as well.”
He didn’t want to eat with them, or even share the same campsite.
“And don’t look for me. You take care of everything.”
He didn’t want to create a situation for them to come into contact with one another. Of course, he felt like things would not go as he wanted.
“Yes, sir. I will serve them like I am serving you, young master.”
“Whatever. Go bring me some alcohol.”
‘Why did he suddenly become so passionate?’
Cale just stared at the suddenly passionate Hans, and slightly bowed toward Taylor as he said goodbye.
“Then I will be on my way, young master Taylor.”
“Thank you for your benevolence, young master Cale.”
“It was nothing.”
Cale turned away from Taylor, who had a curious look on his face. He then immediately headed back to his carriage without looking anywhere else. Of course, he gave an order to the Vice Captain who was walking by his side.
“Looks like they only have one knight. Vice Captain, you take care of their guard duty as well.”
“Yes, young master.”
Cale verified what the Vice Captain had said to Taylor’s knight before getting back on the carriage. It was regarding guard duty at night. Cale verified the knight’s expression turning bright before the knight got back onto the carriage.
Click.
The door closed with a loud click. This made everyone turn their gaze toward the closed door of the carriage with the golden turtle crest, before returning to do their duties. Only Taylor and Cage, who didn't really have anything to do right now, just continued to stare at the closed door.
The two kittens greeted Cale inside the carriage.
“I’ve seen those two people.”
“Hong. I was there too.”
The kittens, who had been watching everything through the window, slowly approached Cale and sat down next to him before starting to talk to each other. They weren’t looking at Cale nor even talking to him, but it was clear that the question was toward Cale.
Cale answered the witty kittens’ question.
“Pretend not to know.”
“Like the dragon?”
“Yes.”
The kittens nodded their heads to show their understanding. Cale watched them nod, before crossing his arms and closing his eyes.
‘The Healing Star.’
That was the name of the ancient power he wrote about in the letter to Cage and Taylor. The reason Cale came to know about this power was because of the Plaza Terror incident.
‘The Healing Star,’ is a single use power that can heal any injury or illness to the body’s original, healthy state. The crown prince was in possession of such a power. The deceased queen had given it to him.
During the Plaza Terror incident, the secret organization makes their move once the royal family arrives. Magic bombs across the capital and in the plaza go off at that moment at the same time.
In the novel, Choi Han was only able to stop about half of it. That in itself was amazing, such that the kingdom considered him a hero, but Choi Han himself thought about the lives of the victims of the bombs, making his hatred for the secret organization become even worse.
‘At that time, the secret organization installed bombs on some people during the incident.’
Choi Han, along with the genius mage Rosalyn, protected the people from the bombs and helped with their escape. At that time, there was an old man that Choi Han had failed to save.
The man had lost his right arm and leg while taking a bomb off and throwing it away from himself, and this incident had made Choi Han extremely upset. Watching the old man’s hurt body, the crown prince thought about, ‘The Healing Star.’ That was how the power was originally introduced in the novel.
Naturally, the crown prince did not use the power on the old man. Instead, he consoled Choi Han, who was feeling responsible for the old man’s death, and raised him up as a hero.
‘It is only normal.’
Cale did not think the crown prince made the wrong decision. Who can judge him for wanting to use his power for himself? Of course, Choi Han or Rosalyn would have used it for the old man.
“By the way, is little brother dragon still following us?”
Cale nodded his head at Hong’s question.
‘Since it is like this, I might as well use the dragon for my benefit as well.’
His original plan was to save him and then be done with him, but if the dragon was going to follow him around the country like a little puppy, he might as well put it to good use. He had already thought about how to use that dragon the last few nights as well.
Cale knew the location of the 5 magic bombs that Choi Han had found in the novel, but he was not sure about the location of the remaining 5 magic bombs that ended up going off.
The five bombs that were located were found by using Rosalyn’s genius-level mana detection abilities to find them one by one.
But now, Cale had an existence that was worlds better than Rosalyn at detecting mana following him around like a lost duck.
“Might as well make it work hard.”
The kittens flinched at that statement, but Cale did not see it as he was thinking about all of the work he was going to make the dragon do in the capital. The dragon, who had no idea about any of this, delivered a boar to the campsite early in the morning once again.
Cale, who slept in after staying up late planning out the things that needed to be completed at the capital, went out to verify the boar before noticing an odd atmosphere.
He had eaten and slept in the carriage last night. He was doing his best to not interact with Taylor and crew. That was why he could not understand this odd, and somewhat, dark atmosphere.
“Hans. What is going on?”
Hans put on an awkward smile and greeted Cale. Hans, as well as the rest of the Cale’s group, were quickly getting past their suspicions about the meat and fruit being delivered to them.
Although Cale had no idea what Ron thought about it, since Cale and Choi Han both had said that it was fine, they just went along with it. Beacrox was easy to convince since he was always excited to see ingredients of the highest quality appear every morning.
“Haha, young master, did you finally wake up?”
Hans slowly peeked toward Taylor and Cage, before approaching Cale.
“You see, I think young master Taylor has gotten the wrong idea.”
“Wrong idea?”
Cale could see the boar, as well as Taylor on the wheelchair, and Cage pushing Taylor’s wheelchair behind him. He approached the dead boar and stood next to the wheelchair as he started to speak.
“What is going on?”
As usual, the boar that the dragon delivered was enormous. It was larger than a tiger, the type of boar that would excite Beacrox quite a bit.
And, as usual, there was a drawing next to the boar. The dragon must have found it annoying to draw the fork, as only the knife was drawn this time.
“…Young master Cale. I’m sorry.”
What kind of utter nonsense was this?
Taylor had an apologetic smile on his face as he turned away from the boar.
“It seems like my movements have been detected.”
Movement? Cale could then hear the priestess Cage mumbling behind Taylor. She was angry.
“We left in secret, so how is it possible? There is someone who can avoid my detection? This is too much!”
‘How would someone at your level detect a dragon?’
Cale was done figuring out what was going on.
Something, or someone, that was able to catch such a large boar so easily and drop it off at their campsite without being detected by the priestess Cage or anyone else. That strength and stealthiness was something only an expert would have. Next to that feat of strength was a drawing of a knife.
It was a small knife to Cale, but they seemed to be seeing a very large knife. Cale looked back at Taylor, who was looking at him with both despair and sorriness.
“…Young master Cale. This incident - “
“Beacrox.”
Cale called out to Beacrox.
Marquis Stan’s second son, Venion, was probably extremely busy right now. Why would someone like that pay attention to the disabled eldest son? It wasn’t like Venion knew, ‘The Healing Star,’ was at the capital.
“Yes, young master?”
Beacrox, who was standing there with his kitchen knife prepared, responded with excitement on his face.
“Looks like we’ll be eating steak for breakfast.”
“Young master, it looks like we will get the highest quality steak once again.”
Taylor, who was staring at Cale with a blank expression, suddenly started to speak.
“… Once again?”
Cale nodded his head and responded.
“We have someone in our party who delivers food for us.”
“…Who is it?”
Cale snorted before responding.
“He is surprisingly shy so you will not be able to see him.”
Cale saw the leaves on a tree not far from the campsite moving up and down and shook his head. Cale shaking his head made both Taylor and Cage turn red from embarrassment.
“Ahem, I, I see. It seems we had the wrong idea.”
“It’s not your fault. Beacrox is an excellent cook, so please have some steak before you go.”
Beacrox stopped caressing the boar and looked up at Cale. Cale could not look at Beacrox because of what Taylor said next.
“Young master Cale, I heard that you are heading for the capital. If it is okay with you, may we follow behind you?”
‘I knew it would be like this.’
It was as Cale had expected.
“Please feel free to do whatever is best for you.”
There was no way they would find out that he had written the letter just from them traveling with him. If it was going to be like this anyways, he might as well take care of them until the capital and have them owe him a debt.
These two could be very useful in the future if he used them properly.
“Thank you. We will be under your care until we get close to the capital.”
Cale started to smile a bit at Taylor’s words.
‘At least he’s not completely unreasonable.’
Close to the capital. Taylor was only asking for help until a location that would not make things difficult for Cale or Count Henituse in dealing with Venion or Marquis Stan for associating with the disabled Taylor. There would be all sorts of complications if they went into the capital together.
“We will determine that later on.”
Naturally, Cale had a different opinion. There were still many items in the magic box waiting to be used by Cale.
“Of course. Please feel free to let us know whenever is most convenient for you, young master.”
“Sure.”
Taylor and Cage looked toward the casually responding Cale with curiosity. However, Cale avoided their gaze and started to speak to Hans.
“Bring my meal to the carriage.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cale headed back to the carriage. At that moment, someone called out to him.
“Young master Cale.”
It was Cage. She seemed to have a headache, as she started to frown and walk over toward Cale. Cale had a bitter taste in his mouth while watching Cage approach him.
“What can I do for you, priestess-nim?”
“Do you really not believe in any god?”
‘Now what the heck does she want?’
“Yes, none of them.”
“… I understand.”
Cale quickly headed to the carriage after hearing Cage’s response. Taylor approached her as she watched Cale walk away.
“What’s going on?”
Cage rarely engaged with people other than people from the temple or her close friends. That was why it was really odd for Taylor to see Cage frowning and reaching out to Cale. She shook her head and responded with a very bitter expression.
“It’s odd.”
“What is?”
“Well, it’s like.”
Cage touched the back of her head.
“I have this bitter feeling that the God of Death is caressing the back of my head with a sympathetic expression.”
“…What kind of feeling is that? Did you not sleep properly?”
“Maybe.”
Cage continued to feel that way every time she looked at Cale. The only time she felt this way in the past was when the temple had forced her to do a lot of manual labor in order to build a new temple. She had felt this same feeling when she plopped down from exhaustion and the God of Death was looking down at her with concern.
‘There’s no way young master Cale will order us around like that damn temple.’
Cage decided Taylor was right about her not sleeping properly, and tried to shake the feeling away.
That was how Cale’s crew grew bigger and they continued toward the capital with no other issues.
Every time Cale got tired of sitting down and stepped out of the carriage, Taylor’s group continued to look toward him, but they did not have any conversations.
They continued to travel like that until they were at an inn about one day’s worth of travelling away from the capital.
“Young master Cale, you like alcohol, right?”
Taylor and Cage came to look for Cale.
“What can I do for you?”
Cale wanted to know why they came to visit him so late at night, but his expression was not that odd. Taylor smiled at Cale’s demeanor.
“Cale Henituse, the trash who cannot go a day without alcohol.”
When Taylor was still the potential successor to the Marquis, he had received all of the information about the nobles as well. Cale’s information was so unique that there was no way he could forget it.
“But I don’t think that is all.”
However, Cale was very different compared to the information.
He stayed in the carriage all day so that they would feel at peace, and had the generosity to give them the best treatment possible. His subordinates also trusted and followed him.
Most importantly, he treated the two of them like normal people.
“You are different from the rumors.”
They were now right in front of the capital. Taylor and Cage would need to move stealthily starting early the next morning. Of course, they will have to confidently walk in when they walk into the royal palace.
But there were many things they were prepared to research before that happened. However, they had made up their mind to move differently than their original plan.
They had been watching Cale Henituse for over a week. This person was now on Taylor and Cage’s mind.
“Young master Cale. It should be okay to share a drink with us before we leave, right?”