Choi Han and Lock. Behind Choi Han was Rosalyn. These three people walked into Cale’s room.
“Hans. Go bring something to drink.”
“Excuse me? Ah, right away!”
Cale closed the door without letting deputy butler Hans into the room. Cale then pointed to the bed for Choi Han, who was looking at him, to put Lock down.
“Lay him down first.”
“Got it.”
Choi Han carefully put Lock on the bed. Cale slowly approached Lock. Lock definitely had the purest of pure blood, making him look like a weak human. However, he was pretty tall for being a young boy.
“Haaaah, haaaaa, haaaah.”
Lock was huffing and trying his best to open his eyes. He had a deep frown on his face, and his body was limp, like he could not put any strength into it. It was already too late to prevent the berserk state from arriving.
Cale looked at the tall, but still young boy in front of him, who was doing his best to keep his eyes open, and told him to relax.
“Just keep your eyes closed. No need to strain yourself.”
There was no strength in Cale’s stern tone, but it had a way of making people listen. Lock slowly closed his eyes. The voice of this man, whom Lock did not know, flowed into Lock’s ear.
“Everything will be okay.”
Lock was huffing and quietly calling for someone. He was calling for his uncle, the chief of the Blue Wolf Tribe, and the man who died for the tribe, even though he was one step away from becoming the Wolf King. His uncle had made sure Lock was hidden before rushing toward the invaders.
‘Everything will be okay.’
That was what his uncle had said to him. Lock started to frown after thinking about his uncle. Cale just ignored him as he turned away.
“Cale-nim, why is Lock like this?”
Choi Han still looked anxious and desperate. Originally in the novel, Choi Han had only slightly opened his heart to Lock by this point.
‘Just what could have happened?’
Cale was not an idiot. He knew that Choi Han’s situation had changed a bit because of him. That was why he was trying really hard to cut off their relationship. He did not ask that question, and let Choi Han continue to speak.
“Potions don’t work either. According to Rosalyn, the wolf tribe is one that cannot use potions. Healing magic does not seem to work either. I’m not sure about what to do. I need to protect him. I’m supposed to protect him.”
“Calm down.”
Cale was worried that it would be Choi Han who ended up going berserk if he continued like this. That would be just as scary as that dragon in the corner of the room going berserk. Maybe it was because he lived for tens of years in solitude, actually, even though he lived for tens of years in solitude, Choi Han’s personality remained one where he was a nice guy who cared a lot for things like friendship.
“Cale-nim.”
“If you trust me, just leave him to me.”
“…I trust you.”
“Good.”
Cale confirmed that Choi Han had calmed down, before turning his gaze over to Rosalyn.
Rosalyn. She was the first successor to the throne in the Breck Kingdom. However, this genius mage was ready to throw all of that away. Rosalyn reminded Cale of a red rose. She had red hair that was even brighter than Cale’s, as well as beautiful red lips that currently had their corners lifted up with curiosity.
Although she may remind him of a rose, her personality was closer to that of the sun.
Rosalyn did not put Lock, Choi Han, or even Cale in her eyes. She was focused at the corner of the room.
“… This aura, this strong aura of mana!”
Rosalyn was accurately looking at the chair that the dragon had used earlier, while her hands were shaking and clenched tightly.
“Sigh.”
A sigh came out of Cale’s mouth. It seemed like the dragon was curious about this mage. The Black Dragon had sent some mana over to Rosalyn, and showing off some mana skills that Rosalyn could not even dream about. Throughout history, dragons had a tendency to hate humans, but like mages quite a bit.
The dragon was doing that because he was happy.
Cale looked toward the table that seemed empty, and quietly started to speak.
“Stop it. Stay still.”
Almost instantly, Rosalyn took a deep breath and quickly returned to normal. The dragon seemed to have removed is mana. Rosalyn could not stop shaking as she looked toward Cale.
“Just what-“
Cale cut her off and pointed to Lock.
“This is more important.”
“Ah.”
Rosalyn’s expression quickly calmed down. She looked at Lock, who was laying down with his eyes closed, and asked Cale.
“What is going on with Lock right now?”
Cale looked at the small staff in her hand. The reason they were able to arrive at the capital in just three days was probably because Rosalyn used teleportation magic. Contrary to Cale’s expectations, Rosalyn had already revealed the extent of her abilities.
“You are a mage, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Have you heard anything about the berserk mode of Beast tribes?”
“Ah.”
Rosalyn let out a small noise. However, her face quickly filled with confusion.
“I have read about the Wolf Tribe’s berserk mode in books. However, I have never read anything about heating up like this and being in pain.”
“It is because it is his first time.”
“Excuse me?”
Cale continued to speak to the people in the room who were all looking at him.
“Beast people lose their sanity during their first time entering berserk mode because of the physical pain from their bodily transformation. If they can persevere past this first painful transformation, they will be able to use the berserk mode as a weapon.”
Beast people were at their strongest when they were in berserk mode.
Cale observed Lock’s situation before continuing on.
“He will go berserk very soon.”
He then turned to look at Rosalyn. Rosalyn nodded her head at his gaze, and sternly answered.
“I don’t know what kind of person you are, but I am able to read the situation.”
Although her tone was stern, her eyes were still gentle.
“He is a young boy.”
“I know.”
She was asking Cale for help, and Cale was agreeing to help.
Meeeow.
At that moment, the two kittens appeared between the two of them and jumped onto the bed. On and Hong were staring at Lock when…
“Ugh.”
Lock revealed his teeth and started to growl at the kittens On and Hong. His instincts were in control over his rationality right now, making him react to other beast people. He looked so vicious that even Choi Han was worried. However…
Meeeeeow.
Smack.
Hong used his front paw to smack Lock’s growling mouth. It was a sharp front paw attack that seemed to be telling Lock to stop it. He then looked toward Cale with eyes that seemed to be asking Cale to hurry up and help Lock.
“He is fine.”
Cale responded to Hong when there was a knock on the door. When Cale opened the door, Hans had brought drinks, as well as wet towels. Cale gave Hans another order.
“Hans.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring something to carry him with.”
“Ye…excuse me?”
Cale pointed to Lock on the bed.
“Put him on it and take him to the underground training arena. Oh, make sure all of the knights are out of the arena, and that nobody is in there.”
Hans’s expression seemed to be asking why Cale would move a sick boy to the arena, but Cale just ignored it.
“Hurry up.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Hans had a ton of questions, and was looking at Cale weirdly, but he still did his job. He quickly left to grab something to carry Lock with, while Cale turned around to look at Choi Han and Rosalyn.
“Choi Han. And you.”
“It’s Rosalyn.”
“Yes, Rosalyn.”
The two of them looked away from the bed to look at Cale.
“Yes, Cale-nim.”
“What is it?”
Concern, worry, despair, and sincerity. With all those emotions on their faces, Choi Han and Rosalyn looked more like simple good people rather than heroes. Cale bluntly started to speak to the two of them.
“You two will need to get beat up a bit.”
“… Excuse me?”
After a few seconds of silence, Rosalyn seemed shocked, while Choi Han just quietly waited for Cale’s continuing words.
“Normally, when beast people with wild beast blood like the Wolf Tribe, Tiger Tribe, and Bear Tribe experience going berserk for the first time, their parents and siblings help take care of it. They take all the attacks of the berserk individual and protect them to make sure they don’t get hurt. That is how they protect their children.”
Choi Han and Rosalyn’s expressions turned sour almost instantly. Lock did not have any parents or siblings now. Cale peeked over at Lock, before continuing to speak.
“I can tell that is not an option for this child.”
Clap.
Cale clapped once, before pointing at Choi Han and Rosalyn.
“That is why we will pretend that you are the mother and father, or, if you do not like that scenario, then you shall be the older brother and older sister. You two will need to figure out how to protect him.”
Cale had his ‘Indestructible Shield,’ but he did not want to take care of Lock’s berserk state. Why should he step in when there were people stronger than him right here?
Rosalyn and Choi Han looked at each other.
“He will tire out on his own, and the berserk state will slowly disappear. It is important that his consciousness returns during this first berserk transformation. That is the only way to make him retain his consciousness and rationality the next time he transforms into the berserk mode.”
That would be when his rationality beats out his natural instinct. It was important for beast people to reach that state.
Choi Han debated it for a moment, before asking Cale a question.
“Cale-nim, how long will he maintain his berserk mode?”
“He has the purest of pure blood.”
“…So you mean it will take a long time.”
“Yes. Probably about two hours?”
Cale approached Lock’s bed, and patted Choi Han’s shoulder.
“It will be difficult for other people, but Choi Han, it should be easy for you. I trust you.”
“… I will succeed. I am Lock’s hyung.” [1]
Rosalyn looked toward Choi Han with an odd expression. Choi Han had manically killed the assassins to protect the living. During their journey, he was always alert and observing his surroundings. However, such a person seemed extremely relaxed, even though this was a very urgent situation.
She then heard Cale’s relaxed voice while she was still watching Choi Han.
“Yes, yes you are. Let’s eat something delicious after it is done.”
Cale was thinking about the food and wine he did not get to finish.
The door opened at that moment, and Hans entered with Ron and something to carry Lock.
“Young master, the arena has been cleared.”
“That was fast.”
Cale ordered Choi Han to move the now continuously growling Lock onto the stretcher, before saying the following.
“Let’s go.”