Chapter Text
Henituse Territory, Roan Kingdom
Age 18
Cale was having a good day. Ever since he’d finally graduated from the Noble’s Prep Academy he’d been having plenty of them due to his workload greatly decreasing. Of course there were still things he had to deal with; his assassination jobs continued, as did his spying for Alberu, and his father had handed off some responsiblites to him recently. However there was no homework and most importantly, no annoying nobles he had to play nice with and pretend to like. He also had Hans and Ron to help him with figuring out some things.
There were sometimes difficulties, the children averaging six had a habit of playing in his study, which could be a distraction or lead to lost papers at times; he’d gotten used to the sound of them roughhousing though and had come to see it as calming background noise. Usually he was able to get his work done with decent timing and spend the rest of his day doing whatever he wanted. It wasn’t the slacker dream he wished for quite yet, but he was getting there.
Beacrox was still in charge of his meals and snacks. Cale met him on the way to his study this morning and complimented the chef on how good his lunch had been.
Cale talked with Lily and Basen at dinner about what they had been up to that day. It was still awkward to talk to Violan sometimes, but he could keep a polite conversation with her. Deruth was not very talkative when eating, but the Count radiated a sense of calm and contentment whenever he looked at his family.
Following dinner Cale found himself relaxing in his room, a cup of tea in his hand. Taking a sip from it, he smiled in delight. “This is very good.”
“It’s made from plants grown in our very own Harris Village,” Ron informed him.
Cale froze. “What did you say?”
Ron raised an eyebrow but said, “The tea leaves were grown in Harris Village, near the Forest of Darkness.”
Cale put down the cup of tea roughly before his fingers slipped and he broke it. His hand was shaking, he absently noted. “I forgot. What is the date today?”
The question earned him a funny look from Ron, but the butler dutifully informed him of the date. “It’s the 29th of the 3rd month .”
Cale’s heart began to beat quickly as shock took over his mind; though he’d never forgotten the events of the book, they had been shoved to the back of his mind by everything else going on in his life. He’d previously planned to try and change things so that the home Choi Han had found wouldn’t be destroyed, but he was too late.
By this point Harris Village was gone, and soon Choi Han would arrive. In fact, Choi Han should arrive tomorrow night.
—
Cale walked in the dark, a bottle of wine in hand. He counted his steps as he went and mentally marked the place where Choi Han would land. Instead of stopping, the noble sat down on a nearby pile of wood and popped the cork on the wine. He waited, and was rewarded by the sight of a bedraggled man vaulting over the city wall. “You know, most people use the gate,” he commented as the man landed.
Choi Han whirled around, his eyes widening in surprise at the sight of the noble carelessly sitting there, a bottle of wine clutched in his hand.
Cale’s face was red, despite drinking moderately. He naturally had a high alcohol tolerance, but unfortunately the rest of his body had never seemed to have informed his face about it, so he’d always ended up flushed after just a few drinks. “Why are you here? What’s so important you had to jump a three meter wall to sneak into a city at night?”
Choi Han cleared his throat to make himself sound less like a dying man, despite accurately looking like it. “Harris Village was attacked,” he said. “I came to request that everyone is buried.”
Cale forced his eyes to widen in surprise, like he hadn’t already known what had happened, before nodding. “You can’t go to the Count looking like this. You will just be thrown out. I have a place you can bathe, a bed to sleep in, and a pair of new clothes, if that is satisfactory.” He conveniently avoided any mention of his identity.
Choi Han hesitated, thinking over the noble’s words. He was obviously wary, but he still nodded his consent. But. . . the noble didn’t look very strong, if he tried anything he could be easily dealt with.
Cale stood up and took another swig of the bottle in his hand. tipped back the bottle and quickly swallowed the rest of the wine before standing up. “Good. Follow me.”
—
Choi Han looked at the opulent room around him. He had already eaten the breakfast provided and taken a short bath. The clothes he was given were not worn by peasants, but not the overly fancy sort worn by the nobility at balls either. He’d had little time before now to study his host in good lighting, and now he had more and more questions the longer he looked.
It had been clear from the start that he was a noble, but it wasn’t until the two of them had arrived at what he realized was the Count’s estate that it occured to Choi Han that he had to be a member of the family that owned the territory. Truth be told, Choi Han didn’t know much about the Count’s family, as there had never been any cause for him to learn, and so he had no idea what place in the family his benefactor held. The servants' respect towards the noble did seem to tip off that he was someone who had power.
Cale opened the door to the study. He walked in and sat behind the desk. “My apologies for the wait. Count Deruth is currently unavailable due to a trip to check on a nearby town. In the meantime, as his eldest son, I can hear you out. I believe you mentioned your village was destroyed?”
Choi Han blinked in surprise upon hearing that the noble in front of him was the Count’s oldest son, that wasn’t the kind of person he’d have expected to be out drinking in the town by himself so early in the morning. Of course from what he’d heard there definitely were some trashy nobles who that would probably be normal for, but the man in front of him didn’t give off that impression at all.
What was important at the moment though was completing the task he’d come here for, so he pushed his questions to the back of his mind and cleared his throat. “I would like help with burying the villagers, there was an attack by some mysterious men and Harris Village was wiped out.”
“You were the only survivor?”
“Yes. I was in the mountains and when I came back. . .” Choi Han clenched his fists. He could see the bodies twisted in rigor mortis. He could see the wrecked doors that had been cut down or kicked in, cold cooking fires that had died from lack of fuel instead of being purposefully dowsed or smothered, and the items—food, toys, and tools—suddenly dropped by people on the run for their lives. The image had not faded from his mind, only imprinted itself further over the days spent marching through the wilderness.
“I see. To be the only one to survive, that is a tragedy.” There was something carefully blank and bitter in Cale’s voice, something far too melancholic seeping through than just someone sharing their sympathies.
It brought up more questions in Choi Han’s mind, but he bit them back just like he had his earlier ones. This was not the time or place for them.
“I will send people to bury them.” Cale sighed. “It is a shame mountain bandits are common in those parts. They kill and rob many each year, despite how we try to flush them out.”
Choi Han frowned at the last part, but ignored it in favor of the first sentence. “Thank you.” He was truly grateful for the noble’s willingness to help, the people of Harris Village had taken him in when he had nowhere else to go, he wanted to at least repay them now by ensuring they got proper burials.
The noble stood up and extended his hand. “By the way, I’m Cale Henituse. I don’t believe I caught your name.”
“Choi Han. If you need help in the future, do not hesitate to come to me. I would like to repay you for this.”
Most nobles would have disregarded this offer, but Cale knew this was not just some country bumpkin, this was the main character. “Now that you mention it, do you know how to protect people?”
Choi Han furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”
“Protect people,” Cale repeated. “I’m in need of a bodyguard for a trip I’ll be taking soon.” Normally he would have prefered to not have any more interaction with Choi Han, there was too much risk of getting dragged into the main plot; however Cale was aware that due to his closeness with Beacrox and Ron, it was unlikely that the two of them would tag along with Choi Han like they had in the book, which meant he’d just taken away a portion of the man’s strength. By saving Raon he’d also taken away a moment that had been crucial to Choi Han’s development, it was annoying but to make up for it he’d just have to help out for a little bit. Soon Choi Han would join up with Lock and Rosalyn, and after that they could cut ties.
—
Cale looked out of the window. He had zoned out, thinking about what he needed to do in the next few weeks. He was on the way to the Capital for the noble meeting and his sworn brother’s birthday celebration. It would also be the scene of a terrorist attack, but few people knew that. He was rubbing his thumb over a carved pebble in a circular, methodical manner as he planned.
Sitting on the opposite side of the carriage, Choi Han watched Cale and the two cats that were resting on the noble’s lap. Normally he’d question why they were bringing pets with them, but he could tell the kittens weren’t ordinary. There was something off about them; maybe it was the way they looked at him with narrowed, distrustful eyes or how they seemed to attentively listen whenever someone was talking.
While Choi Han was confused about Cale, Ron observed the new bodyguard his young master had picked up. The man was trained, that was certain after him and Beacrox had a fight. But having skill didn’t mean Ron trusted Choi Han yet, that was something to be earned over time.
On and Hong were just enjoying their nap, happily snuggled into Cale’s side; aside from a few times that they opened an eye to check on Raon or the new human, of course.
—
Puzzle City, Roan Kingdom
Puzzle City looked just the same as it had all those years ago when Cale had stopped there to obtain Vitality of the Heart, filled with towers of rocks and lots of dirt. Cale chose a better inn this time though. The last one had far too many crickets.
After a delicious dinner eaten with the rest of his entourage, Cale had retired to his room with Raon and the kittens and took out his video communication device to call Alberu. Prior to leaving the Henituse territory, they'd briefly had a chance to talk with the Crown Prince and Cale had informed him of the terrorist attack, citing rumors circulating in the underworld as the source. The time they'd had to speak had been limited however, leaving them with plenty left to plan if they wanted to prevent it.
"You've got guards keeping an eye out for suspicious individuals?" Cale questioned, carefully sipping on the cup of tea Ron had brought him. It was lemon again, because Ron seemed to take delight in his suffering, or at least that was Cale’s assumption. He was considering hiding a bowl of sugar in one of his magic pouches and adding some to his cup, but was sure Ron would notice if he tried.
"Yes,” Alberu confirmed. He had set aside a stack of papers upon seeing the light on his personal video communicator light up. “Although they can't do much but watch them for now. If we strike too soon the mastermind behind this all may get away."
Cale hummed in agreement, it was an unfortunate fact that they'd have to wait until the day of the attack to actually try and put a stop to it, there were too many risks that came with acting earlier. Hopefully they'd be able to prevent any lives from being lost, but the choice was no doubt weighing heavily on his brother. Cale could understand the feeling, back in his original life he'd been responsible for keeping those under his command alive; there had been many who called him heartless for his lack of visible reaction whenever one of his men died, but each loss had been a stab in the heart to him.
As if he could sense the turmoil going through both men's hearts, Raon gently nuzzled his snout against Cale's leg. The dragon was going through another growth spurt, some of his scales falling out and being replaced as his body grew larger. On and Hong were on the couch beside the dragon, gently teasing out loose scales so Raon didn’t scratch himself trying to get them out. From the moment Cale had picked them up they'd eagerly taken to their position as the baby dragon's older siblings.
Cale’s expression relaxed a bit, and he let his hand rest on Raon’s head for a few moments.
Alberu paused, looking at his sworn brother’s reaction. He pasted on a smile and moved along to other topics. “How has that new bodyguard of yours been?”
“Choi Han will be splitting off for a while.”
“A while?” Alberu questioned. He wasn’t that worried about Cale’s safety, not when his sworn brother had both of the Molans and Hans with him. But still, Cale took his own life far too lightly in his opinion.
“He will meet back up with me in the Capital. I have not said anything yet, but we can count on him to help.” Him, and the two other people Choi Han would pick up, Cale didn’t add. It was hard to explain away knowledge of future events.
“Is there a reason you trust him so much?”
Cale paused. “He has integrity and he owes me,” which was true. It just wasn’t the real story behind why he treated Choi Han as he did, which involved a novel, his own transmigration, and far too many deaths. “After we deal with the terrorists, I’ll be considering his debt paid.”
Alberu hummed. He had a feeling that things would not be that simple; things rarely were simple with Cale.
—
Capital of Roan Kingdom
Of all the things Cale had expected soon after arriving in the Capitol, a panicked Choi Han and Rosalyn, carrying Lock in the throes of his first berserk transformation, had not been one of them. It was fortunate that the novel had contained information on the Wolf Tribe’s method for dealing with it, allowing him to walk them through what they needed to do.
However, more than that, Cale was not expecting Choi Han to pull him aside after Lock's berserk transformation, and warn him about Ron, of all things. Choi Han said that Ron felt like a killer, and honestly, Cale couldn’t refute that. He just wondered why the hero had not picked up on such a cloud of death around himself, being that Cale had a part-time job as an assassin.
"Cale-nim, Ron is a dangerous person. I don't know if it's wise for you to keep him around." Choi Han cautioned. He sounded uneasy, as if he didn’t know how much to say.
Cale raised an eyebrow. “Yes. And, you are dangerous. Rosalyn is dangerous. Lock is dangerous. I’m dangerous.” He was quite offended by the doubtful look the swordmaster had shot him after that last statement, he might not be as strong and muscular as someone like Choi Han or Lock, but he was more than capable of causing plenty of harm if he wanted to. “Thank you for telling me, but it won’t change my trust in someone just because of that. What, should I stop trusting you, just because you’re dangerous?”
Choi Han seemed to have been thrown off by the last part. “I don’t. . .understand.”
"If you wanted to you could easily kill me, could you not? That makes you dangerous, and yet I still trust you," Cale explained. "It's the same with Ron." He said it all as if it were a simple thing, to trust people who could kill you without a moment’s notice.
Choi Han let out a small, “Oh.” He had a stunned expression on his face and the shadows in his eyes seemed to have been banished for the moment.
Cale didn’t know what, but it seemed that something he said had shocked the hero.