Adalie entered the room sleepily, sitting on her seat before playing the video without saying anything, falling asleep after a couple of seconds which made some help her lie down on a small bed on the side before watching. 

Chapter 116: Great and Mighty (4)

Cale walked toward Pendrick, who was standing there without being able to say anything.

"Did you decide what you will do with Balbud?"
"That..."
"Difficult to decide?"

Pendrick nodded his head.

"Why is it difficult to decide?" TBOAH! Witira asked in confusion. "You only have two choices - kill him or torture him for more information before ending him."

"How vicious." TBOAH! Cale whispered while feeling more pity for TCF! Cale who had to meet with her many times. 

'I guess his denial attitude helped.' he thought. 'It made him able to work together and boss these scary people without fear. Well, without much fear.'

The Elven philosophy dictated that they should execute Balbud and the rest of the prisoners. However, it would be disappointing to execute them right away without gathering any information from them beforehand.

"It is." TCF! Jopis agreed with a small understanding nod which made people wonder who she tortured when she was basically locked up in her own place (she told them during one of the breaks after it was revealed Elisneh was evil to both sides).

"I would like to make a suggestion."
"A suggestion?"

Cale started to smile toward Pendrick, who was confused but also had some expectations toward what Cale would say. Pendrick would definitely remember how Cale mentioned, 'Arm,' and the, 'Eastern Continent.' Since this was new information that Cale did not share in front of the Chief, Pendrick would want to gather more information like this, if possible.

"Oh gosh, it's that smile." Jung Soo whistled as Soo Hyuk groaned a little. 

"That smile spells trouble every damn time." Soo Hyuk said with a sigh while recalling the times TCF! Cale smiled the same smile in the past. It always ended with a huge headache although it gave many benefits.

'There are no other races like the Elves that are so thorough with getting revenge.'

"Hm?" both Rasheel and Paseton let out a hum.

"Besides Dragons and Whales, of course." TCF! Cale corrected his past self before glancing at the room. "And some humans."

The Elves considered them to be an elegant race that was better than other races. That was the reason they were not materialistic. They believed that living in nature without materialistic greed made them better than other races, like the humans. Maybe that was why, but the Elves were thorough with making sure to get revenge on any enemies that choose to provoke them. In this aspect, the Elves probably resembled Dragons more than the Dark Elves. After all, the Dragons were an even more arrogant race than the Elves.

"True." Sheritt agreed without shame. Why would she feel embarrass when her species were the strongest in the world excluding gods?

Cale turned his gaze toward Balbud. Beacrox was thoroughly tightening the chains on his arms and legs.

"What about passing Balbud off to someone else?"

Pendrick's expression became odd. This did not seem to be the result he had wanted.

"I thought young master-nim wanted to torture him more or something." Pendrick confessed. "Although his choice was also agreeable in the end."

"Do you mean pass him off to you, young master-nim?"

The Elves knew they had already asked a lot of Cale, but they were hoping that Cale would step in.

"You expect him to work for free?" TCF! Alberu asked with a raised brow. 

"Well, he didn't asked anything from us so we might have gotten a bit too ahead of ourselves." Pendrick confessed. "However, after watching these shows... we were fools." 

The Elf Village currently did not have enough Elementals to even restore the valley. Furthermore, they needed to be prepared in case the organization came back to attack again. Although they were lacking manpower, they also wanted to get their revenge.

Pendrick held back his expectations and waited for Cale's response. He thought it would be good if Cale stepped in. You could not find such a righteous person anywhere in the world.

"There's a lot more righteous people in this room compared to me." TCF! Cale said. 

"Who would dare be more righteous compared to you?!" TCF! Clopeh shouted in anger. 

"Only you deserve to be called righteous." TBOAH! Clopeh added. 

"Wow, the audacity to say that when there are four saints and two almost saints in the room." TBOAH! Amiru said in amazement. "They're very brave."

"Or stupid." TBOAH! Gilbert murmured. "If the gods heard this, they'd be immediately killed."

"No."
"Excuse me?"

However, a completely unexpected answer came out of Cale's mouth. If he was not going to take Balbud, who would?

"I have a bad feeling." TBOAH! Alberu said while glancing at his other self who ignored him. "Did he give you that guy?"

"...Maybe yes, maybe no." TCF! Alberu commented vaguely while stoically watching the show, not wanting the pity he is being given.  

The confusion was clearly visible on Pendrick's face.

"I want you to first discuss my suggestion with the Chief-nim. I will give you the details if you all decide to go along with my suggestion."

"Were you completely sure that they would hand over that guy to you, Oraboni?" TCF! Lily asked in curiosity. 

"I was one hundred percent sure that they would give me Balbud." TCF! Cale confidently answered. "Since they had no time nor resource to spare."

"...Will it be with a trustworthy person?"

"Why would young master-nim give that bastard to someone he doesn't trust?" TBOAH! Beacrox asked with a raised brow. "That's like giving someone a knife to backstab him."

Pendrick could see Cale nod his head without any hesitation.

"Yes, it is a trustworthy person."

TCF! Alberu slightly smiled, glad that he was someone TCF! Cale considered trustworthy while TCF! Cale looked away, knowing what he was thinking during that time.

"Your highness, please understand that we weren't close at all during that time." TCF! Cale said. "So I might have thought of something... unpleasant about you."

"Since when did you think of me in a pleasant light?" TCF! Alberu asked while silently sighing, knowing that it was too good to be true. Well, he can't say anything since he himself also didn't trust TCF! Cale until the watching.   

It was because Cale had the person's weakness in his hands.

"Just how many people's weaknesses are in your hands?" TBOAH! Valentino wondered. "It seems like you always have something against someone."

"I won't be surprised if he has a whole fucking list containing everyone's secrets." TCF! Hannah sarcastically said with a small laugh. 

"How did you know?!" TCF! Cale asked in surprise which made everyone look at him in shock. 

"Seriously?!" Jung Soo asked in surprise before a teasing glint entered his eyes. "Care to share?"

"I was kidding." TCF! Cale deadpanned. "But I do know some secrets."

Cale recalled the video communication device that was stuck deep inside his magic bag. He had not had to think about it for a while. He was annoyed with the secret organization and hated them. However, he did not want to step up to deal with them. It was obvious that doing so would lead to a lot of headaches.

"And you were right." TBOAH! Cale said with a sympathetic glance. 

"So, think about it and give me an answer by this evening. I will be leaving tomorrow because there are things I still need to do."

Pendrick observed Cale's back as Cale started to walk away after patting him on the shoulder.

'If it is someone such a righteous person can trust, wouldn't it be okay?'

He could not be certain about it, but Pendrick felt like he could trust Cale because Cale had stepped up once again for a situation where he had nothing to gain.

"Cough." some people faked cough, knowing how scheming the person being talked about is.

"Oh, one more thing."
"Yes?"

Cale turned back around and started to speak.

"Are you going to the Whipper Kingdom alone?"
"Ah, yes sir. I believe that will be the case."
"Then let's go together."
"Excuse me?"

Cale gently smiled toward Pendrick.

"Please don't smile like that." TBOAH! Billos said with a slight shiver. Screw being respectful to the first son of the territory he is living in, the smile shown scarred him and will probably appear in his dreams to haunt him. "It looks good but knowing you, young master, I feel like I'd lose my money suddenly." 

He thought that it would be better to have an Elf from the Elf Village who had a connection with the Gold Dragon when they went to meet him. If possible, he wanted to take everyone that he could. Of course, he would be in the way back of their group, maybe even hiding behind Choi Han.

"Aigoo, you unlucky bastard." Eruhaben sighed while recalling what happened during their first meeting.

"Are we really friends in that world?!" TBOAH! Toonka yelled in frustration. "You look so weak!"

"Shut up!" TCF! Toonka yelled back. "Wanna fight, you bastard?!"

"Why not, bitch!" TBOAH! Toonka yelled when the two suddenly teleported to the corner Hannah and the others came from.

"Behave and I'll let you out or else you're going to stay there until we end!" Adalie ordered before going back to sleep. 

"The Whipper Kingdom is currently a dangerous place to move around alone. You'll be safe if you go with us. We have things to do there anyway."

The current Whipper Kingdom was a mess.

The Whipper Kingdom has been on a one-way train to hell ever since Toonka became the Commander-in-Chief last fall. Of course, none of the Whipper Kingdom's residents knew that they were headed for despair.

"Despair?!" TCF! Toonka and TCF! Harol exclaimed in shock as they immediately looked at their other selves who couldn't look at them. 

"Let's just say that your path is now changing." Rok Soo, who lived and seen the destruction of the Whipper Kingdom, said which made the two look at TCF! Cale in gratefulness.

"My friend saved me!!" TCF! Toonka cheered as many looked on with smiles on their faces. TCF! Cale just ignored TCF! Toonka, embarrassed inside.

Cale looked toward Pendrick, who had an apologetic look on his face.

"I can't burden you so much-."
"No such thing. Stop thinking about such useless things. It'll probably be better so that you know where the prisoner ends up as well. Just think about it."
"... Thank you very much."
"No need to thank me. Shouldn't we all help each other out?"

Pendrick started to smile. It looked even purer and brighter because his face was so handsome.

Here, many had small blushes on their faces because of how handsome the face on the screen was. It almost looked ethereal for them. Well, almost because no one could beat the gentle smile TCF! Cale had. 

Of course, Cale was paying more attention to Beacrox, who was looking at him with an iffy look on his face.

"You are right. Young master-nim, you are definitely right."
"Yes, everything I say is right."

Cale played along with Pendrick using a joking tone before heading out of the underground prison. He could hear Pendrick speaking to him as he walked.

"I will discuss it with the Chief as quickly as possible."

That was exactly what Cale wanted.

"Of course he is also good at manipulating people with words." TBOAH! White Star said before sighing in relief. "I'm glad you aren't in my world. You're a big headache."

TCF! White Star looked iffy at his other self's statement while the TBOAH! world felt jealous for their other selves, thinking about how many lives could have been saved if TCF! Cale also went to their world. 

Cale started to walk faster. There was someone he needed to discuss this with as well.

To be more specific, he needed to tell the person he planned on dumping Balbud on.

"I like how the narrator used the word 'dump' instead of the usual 'hand over'." TCF! Alberu said with a princely smile. "Because that is exactly what that bastard over there did."

***

Cale, who returned to the Chief's house, immediately ordered Raon to check the surroundings.
There were no bugs nor recording magic in the house, probably because they knew that Cale was with a Dragon.

"It is." Pendrick agreed. "We didn't want to anger dragon-nim when we get caught using recording magic or bugs so we decided not to do it."

"I like how you say 'when we get caught' instead of 'if we get caught'." Dodori said approvingly as Pendrick looked so happy being praised by a dragon.

Cale walked into the guestroom that the Chief had created for him and had his group guard the door.

"Raon."
"Alright, human."

Raon revealed himself in the air.

Cale put the video communication device on the table and sat down on the couch. Raon started to connect the video communication device at Cale's signal.

"Cale-nim is so amazing!" TCF! Clopeh praised with awe as his other self nod. "He has a dragon as a sla-"

Before he could finish, both versions of Clopeh vanished and appeared hanging on the ceiling like a piñata with the words 'punishment for the disobedient' written on the wall using red paint.

A person's face appeared on the device after a moment.

– Long time no see.

It was crown prince Alberu. Alberu's eyes showed just the slightest bit of happiness to see Cale.

"You were happy to see me, your highness?" TCF! Cale asked in shock. "I thought you would look absolutely disgusted."

"I would if you don't bring good, well, beneficial news each time we meet." TCF! Alberu explained, correcting the 'good news' into 'beneficial news' because there has been instances where the news given to him were, while useful, a headache inducing news.

"Your highness, you still remain the vibrant star in the hearts of the citizens."

However, Alberu immediately started to frown after hearing Cale's greeting.

– What do you want from me now?
"You really understand me now. I am filled with admi-."
– Enough.

Cale closed his mouth and started to smile. Alberu started to frown, as if he found Cale's smile to be disgusting.

"You're true colors are showing, Alberu~" TBOAH! Tasha teased her other nephew who only shrugged without care. They were already showing his true colors he only revealed to TCF! Cale so why bother acting?

The two of them had not seen each other for about 3 months. They had nothing to discuss with each other since they chatted about the Whipper Kingdom three months ago.

– Are you contacting me about traveling to the Whipper Kingdom?

Contrary to the frown on his face, Alberu's eyes were full of curiosity. It was because he knew what Cale was planning to sell at the Whipper Kingdom, as well as how he was going to do it.

"No. Unfortunately, it is not for that reason."
– Then?
"I managed to capture one of the members of the organization that caused the Plaza Terror Incident. This swordsman seems to hold a mid to low-tier position with the organization."

"It's still surprising to see how everything was a coincidence." Taylor said. "Young master Cale didn't plan on going to the village but because he met the elves, he went and discovered Arm."

"It's like lady luck is on his side." TBOAH! Cage said. "Sometimes."

Alberu blinked a few times to think about whether he heard Cale correctly. However, his eyes soon were filled with shock.

– How? No, never mind. That is not important.
"The, 'how,' is important. We captured him in the Roan Kingdom."

Alberu's expression quickly stiffened. Cale looked at Alberu's expression and started to think.

'He bit the bait.'

Alberu had bit onto this information.

"Only you would be brave enough to order around your kingdom's royalty." TBOAH! Valentiino said with a wry smile. 

Cale hoped to no longer have to deal with the secret organization. At the same time, he didn't want to be the one who took care of them himself. How could the son of a Count fight against an organization that could rock the entire continent?
It would be difficult, even with a Dragon by his side.

"Uh-huh." TCF! John said sarcastically while glancing at TCF! Cale and his group. "It would definitely be difficult to destroy an organization that is a hundred times weaker than yours."

That was why Cale thought of this person.

"Gee, thank you for passing on the work for me." TCF! Alberu said with a sarcastic smile. "I can't wait to do it."

"Your welcome, your highness." TCF! Cale smiled, not minding the sarcastic voice of the prince which made TCF! Alberu groan in annoyance.

"At least feel shame or something for passing all your work to me, you bastard!" TCF! Alberu shouted in frustration as people only sighed, having been used at TCF! Cale's personality. 

It was someone whom neither the secret organization nor the Elves could easily touch, as well as someone who would take care of it even more thoroughly than himself. It was someone who had negative feelings about the organization and wanted to get rid of them. At the same time, it was someone whose weakness was in Cale's hands.

It could be none other than our dear crown prince.

"That's kind of wrong." TBOAH! Kora said before explaining when people turned to pay attention. "I mean, how many here hates the organization, has a strong power, and has their weaknesses on TCF! Cale's hands?"

Needless to say, no one said anything.

"I can tell you the details after the discussions are completed, however, we managed to catch this person around the Roan Kingdom's Ten Finger Mountains."
– And why are you telling me all this?

Cale smiled instead of responding, while Alberu clicked his tongue and continued to speak.

– Hand him over to me.
"Yes sir."

Alberu continued to frown as if he found the way Cale answered to be annoying.

– You seem to pass all of the annoying things to me.
"Do you not like it?"
– No, it's great. Soooo great.

Contrary to Alberu's frowning face, his eyes were clear. The Roan Kingdom had not managed to discover the identity of the organization. Not being able to find any answers after a year of investigation was humiliating for the kingdom.
That was why Cale knew that Alberu would do anything and everything to gather information from Balbud. Alberu would also use Balbud to his advantage.

"Your highness."
– Yes.
"You're going to put him to use, aren't you?"

Alberu started to smile as he asked.

– For what?

'Asking even though he knows exactly what I am talking about.'

"Naturally, for the Empire."

"The Empire?" TBOAH! Rosalyn asked in confusion. "Did they do something bad? I don't quite remember."

"You'll find out soon." TCF! Rex answered meekly.

Both Adins, however, frowned.

– Ha, haha. Yes. I definitely will.

The Empire still had not captured the secret organization and the Holy Twins that had killed the Pope. That fact did not sit well with Cale.

"That's true." TBOAH! Choi Han agreed. "The Empire is known to be efficient so hearing that they haven't captured them is suspicious."

The Empire claimed that they were fervently looking for the twins, however, having to deal with the Whipper Kingdom made it difficult for them to focus all of their attention on the search. At first glance, it might look like the Empire was taking their time in the search with the hope that the power of the Church of the Sun God would go down even more as time passes, however, this was an incident where hundreds of their citizens were killed as well.

'It is weird because the Imperial Prince is someone who cares a lot about saving face.'

"True." TBOAH! Litana agreed. "Everyone knows how kind hearted he is but it seems to only be a façade."

"How disgustingly disappointing." TCF! Litana sighed. 

It made no sense that the Empire had not figured anything out about the incident. The Empire even rejected the Roan Kingdom's offer to work together multiple times.
That was why even Alberu was curious about what the Empire was doing. At the same time, Cale's train of thought was different.

'The Imperial Prince is someone who would set the jungle on fire to gain control.

Both Litanas frowned at the statement said, still irritated to find out who was behind the fire that almost ended their family. 

He also knows that the North will come down to invade, yet is instead waiting for the Roan Kingdom and the Breck Kingdom to lose strength while fighting the North.'

But such a person was leaving the secret organization alone?
That made no sense.

It had to be one of two reasons.

'Either the Empire wants to find the organization on their own in order to prove that they are better than everybody else.'

'Or they have a secret relationship with Arm.'

"You find out about things too quickly." TCF! Bud complained. "How the fuck can you connect the two when no one else did?"

"That's just Cale." Jung Soo said with a dramatic sigh. "Always connecting the dots no matter how impossible."

There was something Cale had paid attention to while he was lounging around in Harris Village. Well, by paid attention, he gave some orders for others to do the work. Anyways, what Cale had done was get Ron to gather Freesia, the assassin posing as a sculptor, as well as others and create an information brigade.

'The Whipper Kingdom's Toonka will soon head to the Empire.'

Cale knew that the contents of volume 5 were coming to an end soon. Of course, the story has twisted in many ways thanks to his interference.
Toonka, who should have already been at war, was delayed, while the jungle was quickly becoming unified under Queen Litana's rule.

"It's really amazing to see how much changes he did without meaning to." TBOAH! Jopis said while elegantly drinking tea. 

'I still have to do what I have to do.'

Cale still planned on going back to the Whipper Kingdom in order to profit. There were a lot of things to do once he got there.

– Hand the prisoner over to my aunt. Report everything that happens as well.

Cale nodded his head as if that was obvious before he calmly continued on.

"Yes sir. Oh, I am also selling dead mana."
– What?
"There's a large amount of it, so I think I will need to sell it in the Dark Elf City."
– ......
"There is no discount. I will sell it to you at the market price. I also only accept cash."

Alberu, who was looking at Cale in disbelief, slowly started to speak with a serious expression on his face.

– How much is it?
"I will sell it to you at a fair price, your highness."

Cale safely concluded his dead mana deal, as well as the issue of Balbud with Alberu, who was still full of disbelief. They discussed everything for quite a while, but the results were satisfactory.

"For you, yes." TCF! Alberu said. "For me, absolutely not."

"It's okay, crown prince!" Raon tried cheering the blond up. "You can always earn money or join us!"

"I just might soon." TCF! Alberu confessed.

"You can't, your highness." TCF! Choi Han said. "If you get involved with stealing money from bad guys and people find out... the results will be disastrous."

Maybe that was why, but he didn't mind having a long discussion with Chief Canaria regarding Balbud later that evening.

"He really is in a good mood, nya!" Hong pointed out in shock.

"Of course he is in a good mood!" On answered. "He scammed people again, nya!"

The next morning, Cale was standing in front of the still unconscious Balbud. Cale sat down on a chair and crossed his legs as he looked down toward Balbud. Beacrox approached Balbud and asked.

"Should I wake him up, young master-nim?"
"Yes."

Beacrox grabbed Balbud's hair and splashed him with a bucket of water.

"That's a good way to wake people up." Rasheel nod. "Although I prefer punching them."

Pendrick and the Guardian Knight who were standing behind Cale cautiously asked after seeing Beacrox's actions.

"Are you going to tell him what is going to happen? Wouldn't it be better to take him while he is still unconscious?"
"I'm not sure. I think it will be better to tell him at least some of it."
Pendrick stopped talking after listening to Cale's relaxed response. Balbud was groaning as he started to come to his senses. The cold water did its job in waking him up. Cale stood up and took a step back as he quietly observed.
He recalled the conversation he had with Chief Canaria last night.

'Young master-nim, wouldn't the kingdom know about our village if we work with the crown prince?'
'One of the conditions for the crown prince will be keeping this village a secret. Plus, isn't it difficult on your own? None of the other Elf villages will help you. They will just focus on protecting their own branch from the World Tree, especially if you explain what happened.'

Pendrick was shocked at what Cale had said. Cale was aware of the fact that Elves were selfish and had no sense of race relations.

"Of course he is." TBOAH! Glenn said with a monotone voice. "He always knows."

Pendrick noticed Balbud opening his eyes and looking toward Cale as he closed his mouth.

"Ugh, just what the hell-"

Balbud's voice was a mess thanks to the poison from the other day. Cale started to smile at Balbud, who barely managed to realize what was going on.

The kind-hearted ones immediately looked away, knowing that each time TCF! Cale smiles like that, something bad is going to happen.

Balbud bit down on his lips and glared at Cale.

"I don't like that look of yours."

Cale sounded very calm as he frowned about Balbud's gaze. That calmness made Balbud even more anxious as he started to speak.

"W, what did you do to me?"
"Nothing yet. But there is a lot planned from now."

The phrase, 'from now,' made Balbud's shoulders slightly shake. However, the man looking down at him, Cale, continued to speak in his casual town.

"You will leave this Elf Village with me. Your life will be in my hands."

Pendrick, who was behind Cale, made eye contact with the Guardian Knight. He did not know Cale would share such details with the prisoner. However, Cale's next words made Pendrick abruptly turn his gaze back toward Cale.

"That is why I'm going to share my itinerary with you."

"Hoh, nice idea." TBOAH! Ron praised. "Letting them feel fear the entire way on your journey because they expect their death to come soon."

"Yes, they'll definitely feel each second." TBOAH! Beacrox agreed with his father.

Cale, who was seated once again, uncrossed his legs and lowered his head to make eye contact with Balbud.

"What do you think is the strongest race after Dragons? Hmm? Take a guess."

'Strongest race after Dragons?'

Cale did not miss Balbud's pupils starting to shake. He could see his smiling face in Balbud's eyes.

'Damn boy, you look so cool when you smile.'

"D-did you just?" TBOAH! Lock stated blankly while others laughed like crazy. 

"Bwahahaha, you...you admired your face in the middle of scaring a person?!" Rok Soo fell down on his chair as tears pooled in his eyes. 

"No wonder one of the first things you said when you realized you were in my body is about my appearance." TBOAH! Cale said while calming his laughter.

"Let's just move on." TCF! Cale said as calmly as he could, covering his face with one hand which was leaning on the arm of the chair to hide his red face. 

"You do know we're never going to let you forget this moment, right?" Soo Hyuk said after calming down.

"Don't mention it." TCF! Cale groaned.

After that moment of narcissistic reflection,

"At least you know." TCF! Archie said with a small laugh.

Cale noticed that Balbud's face was filled with chaos and fear as he continued to speak.

"I plan to meet with the Whale tribe."

'The same Whale tribe that hates the secret organization and wants to kill all of you.'

"In fact, I'm meeting with the Whale royalty."

Cale heard Raon's report as he stared at Balbud's pale face.

– Human, this swordsman does not have any type of surveillance magic on him. That device from last time was the only one.

That meant that nothing Cale said would be leaked to the secret organization.

"How thorough." the dragon half blood said.

"Are we sure that bastard is the one challenging me?" TCF! White Star asked, not being able to feel pride at it. After all, TCF! Cale was smart but he could be very... well, the white star thought his fated enemy was someone who was like him except on the good side. "That narcissistic bastard?"

"After that, I plan to go meet with a Dragon. You know about Dragons, right?"

Darkness descended on Balbud's face. He clearly remembered Cale saying that they would be moving together. Cale stopped smiling as he continued on.

"They are quite famous for being selfish and violent."

Some of the dragons kunconsciously suled/pouted at this.

Raon's shocked voice went off in Cale's head.

– T, that! That is not the case!

"...Of course, there are some Dragons who are not like that."
– That's right! I am a very good Dragon that likes to save things!

Cale held back his sigh at Raon's response before he made eye contact with Balbud, who was staring at him fiercely.

"This Dragon is an Ancient Dragon who cherishes the World Tree and the Elves quite a bit."

Eruhaben nod. He did cherish the World Tree and the elves near it.

Cale stood up from the chair. Balbud, who was turning pale for multiple reasons, could see Cale looking down at him with a gentle expression. Cale fixed his clothes before saying one last thing to Balbud.

"Look forward to it."

The next words were directed at Beacrox.

"Cover his eyes and knock him unconscious."
"Should I paralyze him as well?"
"Yes."

Balbud's eyes were slowly covered with a black cloth. Balbud debated whether he should flail around or scream, however, Cale's indifferent gaze made him stay still. He could not even die on his own accord anymore.

"Damn, efficient but cruel." TBOAH! Archie murmured.

"He deserved worse." Paseton said with a small sigh. "Young master Cale went easy on him."

He could hear the torturer asking Cale something else once he finished placing the blindfold around his eyes.

"What about a gag?"
"That too."
"Yes sir."
"You take care of everything. Just make sure he cannot kill himself, but that he is not relaxed either. Don't overdo it though. Got it?"
"Yes sir."

A gag was placed inside Balbud's mouth. Cale peeked at Beacrox taking care of Balbud as he turned around.

"Shall we go?"

Pendrick and the Guardian Knight slowly nodded their heads at Cale's casual question. The two Elves were looking at Cale as if he was an alien, but Cale just shrugged his shoulders.

All he did was scare Balbud enough so that he can have a quiet journey until they met with Alberu's aunt, the Dark Elf, Tasha.

Plus, it wasn't like he was lying.

"You weren't?" TBOAH! Witira asked curiously.

Cale asked Pendrick, who had been standing there with a blank expression until they made eye contact.

"Did you pack your bags?'
"Yes sir."
"Then I guess we can go."

Cale's true new party member was Pendrick, not Balbud.

"Ah." TBOAH! Witira understood. 

However, there were people preventing Cale's group from leaving. It was the other Elves of the village that Cale managed to avoid during his stay.

"D, do you really have a Dragon-nim's protection?"

Oooooong-

The half-transparent Elementals were causing a ruckus while flying around in front of Cale's eyes.
Cale looked toward the one who asked him the question.
There were many Elves behind that Elf with the same expression that was full of anticipation.

'What a pain.'

Cale could feel a headache brewing.

"Good luck." TBOAH! Obante said while knowing full-well how crazy the elves could be in front of dragons.