Your Back (1)

The red ships surrounded the golden ship.

Choi Han and the Knight Captain jumped aboard the golden ship and stopped behind Cale. The Dark Elf Tasha and young lady Amiru were also standing behind Cale.

"Cale-nim."

Choi Han called out toward Cale as the representative. He could see the ocean that Cale was currently looking at. There were corpses floating up next to the debris.

Choi Han slowly approached Cale. He could see the frown on Cale's face.

'…He really has a soft heart.'

Cale started to speak.

"How peaceful."

His voice sounded tired.

Fatigue was evident in every word he spoke. Everybody became quiet after hearing Cale's tone. Although he had said something nice, the weight and sorrow in his voice made them all shut up.

One of the nobles suddenly thought about something after hearing the word, 'peaceful.' He was able to recall this information because he had been thinking about the Henituse household this entire battle.

He subconsciously said it out loud.

"…There is no reason to be recorded in history. Live for peace and happiness."

The unexpected voice made everyone turn their gazes toward the noble who spoke. The nobles tilted their heads at this statement that sounded somewhat familiar.

They felt as if they had heard it before, but they could not remember clearly where they had heard it.

Cale responded to the noble at that moment.

"I guess you know of our family motto."

The Henituse household's motto.

The expressions on the faces of the nobles quickly changed. Figuring out the source of this statement made them unable to speak.

They could see the look of sorrow on Cale's face even as he started to smile.

The people on board could tell how much weight the phrase, 'peace and happiness,' had on the Henituse family.

"…Ho."

One of the nobles let out a gasp.

He had been jealous of how Cale had played a pivotal role in a historic battle. However, the person who made that contribution preferred peace and happiness rather than fame.

The noble who had gasped realized something.

'Having that mindset probably allowed him to be able to do this.'

He had heard that Count Henituse had opened up their wallets in order to provide food and farming tools to the citizens. He had also spent money on the naval base and the castle wall.

The Henituse household's mindset.

The reason they had stayed out of the fight for power until now. They had only moved for the peace and happiness of the Roan Kingdom.

Silence filled the deck once again.

At that moment, Cale was also thinking about his family motto.

'There is no reason to be recorded in history. Live for peace and happiness instead.'

'The people of old truly were wise.'

Cale was in awe of his ancestor's mindset.

Forget history, being full and warm was the best. Thinking about that made Cale think that he was suffering right now.

He started to frown even more.

He was not just suffering now, he was starving.

'What did I ever do to deserve this?'

Cale started to speak to console himself, knowing that he was suffering now in order to have 50 years of peace.

Cale's desire to go home and lay around in bed was relayed to the red ships surrounding them.

"Let's go back."

Everybody heard his voice.

"To our land."

Let's go back to our land.

The Roan Kingdom's citizens bit down on their lips instead of cheering.

They had somewhere to return to and they were alive and able to go home.

They were feeling at peace for still being alive instead of joy for their overwhelming victory.

The three hundred ships that resembled the migration of birds were gone, while the golden ship and red ships returned back home.

Of course, not all of the ships were returning. The few ships that did not return under Cale's command remained on the peaceful ocean. These ships were left here in order to find the enemy corpses that were either floating or sinking into the ocean.

Although he should be cold and cruel for their enemies, Cale knew that there were many people who were sinless and happened to become soldiers in order to survive.

Cale watched the remaining ships finish surveying the area before turning around. The golden ship made its way back to shore.

This was the thought on Cale's mind as he touched the golden turtle sculpture.

'I'm so hungry. I'll eat as soon as I get back.'

To speak of the results, Cale did not get to do that when he got back.

* * *

There was too much for him to do.

Cale could not help but laugh.

"Ha, haha-"

His laughter was echoing inside the underground prison.

He brushed his face with both hands once he was done laughing about it. He had not felt like this in a long time.

'I shouldn't have trusted them.'

Cale lowered his hands to see someone on the ground.

It was an old man wearing a robe with a single red star.

It was the old mage from Arm.

Cale looked at the old man and shared his sentiments.

"…He really is barely alive."

Raon had said that.

'He is alive, but barely breathing. He's right about to die, however, he is still alive.'

The old man truly was right at the edge of death's door. His entire body was injured. His skin was blue as if he had been hit by all sorts of magic spells and poison. His mana circle must have also broken during the battle as the skin in front of where his heart would be was black.

Cale turned toward Raon, who was not invisible as they were the only ones there. Raon slowly avoided his gaze as On and Hong slowly walked away toward the corner of the underground prison with Raon.

Raon started to mumble.

"Our not-as-weak human bled. They needed to not only bleed, but their blood needed to pour out. They shouldn't be allowed to have an easy death. We need to rip them to shreds and then cut off their necks."

"I agree!"

"Our youngest did a good job this time. We did too."

Cale decided to let it go since even the silver kitten, On, agreed with the other two.

The children averaging nine-years-old.

What could he really expect from such children?

It seemed that having a discussion with the old mage was not possible.

That was disappointing.

That was why he turned toward the other two people who had only one red star on their robes. He could also see Beacrox taking off his previously white gloves and throwing them aside.

Plop.

The gloves landed on the table with the torture instruments. The gloves had long turned black from dried blood.

Beacrox brushed back his hair as he reported to Cale.

"They are currently unconscious, but they should be able to talk once they wake up."

They would only be able to speak.

Cale looked away from the fake Dragon Catcher and the healer who were currently approaching the gates of hell.

He could then see someone else.

"…Gasp!"

That person gasped as soon as they made eye contact.

The magic spearman.

It was the person who used both magic and spear arts, the same one they had frequently met while fighting against Arm.

He gasped as soon as they made eye contact and tried to turn away, however, he could not do that.

"It is not respectful to turn away when our young master-nim is looking at you."

Ron, who grabbed the magic spearman by the hair, made it impossible for the magic spearman to look away.

The magic spearman could not even look at Ron as he started to shake in fear.

Cale found this to be odd.

'The magic spearman is not injured at all, so why is he the most scared?'

The confused Cale looked toward Ron. Ron smiled back at him, which was enough for Cale to understand why.

'I guess the scariest old man is next to him.'

It would be abnormal if he was not afraid.

Cale looked back toward the shaking magic spearman. He then casually asked.

"This is your first time meeting me, right?"

The magic spearman could not say anything.

All sorts of emotions were in his eyes right now.

This response made Cale smile.

On and Hong's poisonous fog, Choi Han's black aura, and Ron's stealth and assassination skills.

The magic spearman had definitely seen these before.

It was at the Ten Finger Mountains. The magic spearman had seen these experts at the valley with the Elf Village. Of course, what he had seen were these people wearing the fake Arm outfits.

The same people who had always got in Arm's way.

Arm was angry about these people but had no way of knowing their identities.

The magic spearman had faced those same people in this last battle.

The magic spearman looked up at Cale Henituse.

No, he looked up at the leader of the group that got in Arm's way numerous times. That leader then slowly crouched down and made eye contact with the magic spearman.

"You know who I am, don't you?"

It was a gentle question. However, this gentle question made the magic spearman's eyes shake even more. In the end, he lowered his gaze toward the ground.

He heard Cale's voice at that moment.

"You seem to be at least a bit smart. You know when to speak and when not to speak."

That statement made the magic spearman's back turn cold.

It was as if Cale was saying that this was not the first time they had met, and that he would not live to see another day if he told anybody about Cale's identity.

Ron tried to pull on the magic spearman's hair in order to make him make eye contact with Cale, however, the magic spearman did not raise his head to look at Cale until the end.

He kept his gaze focused on the ground.

He knew the difference between people he should look at and the people he should not look at.

"You really are smart."

The moment he heard Cale's voice, the magic spearman felt a sense of relief. He could still feel Cale Henituse looking at him.

'What could their true identities be?

He had heard that Cale was a just young master who needed to recover, so what was this cold appearance?'

The magic spearman did not have such thoughts.

It would show on his face if he did. He just chose to look down at the ground and think about nothing.

Cale quietly observed the magic spearman.

The fake holy Maiden, Hannah. He had told her to treat him like her own older brother. Although Hannah had truly considered them to be siblings, the magic spearman had only been acting.

The people who stabbed people in the back were always the wittiest.

Cale opened his mouth to speak.

"I should keep you separated from the others since you know who I am."

Flinch.

The magic spearman closed his eyes. He was in big trouble. He had just done whatever he needed to do to survive. So how did he end up in such a mess?

Everything had gone wrong ever since the fake Holy Maiden got away. The magic spearman lowered his head and Cale gave Ron an order.

"Keep him separated, but don't torture him. Just make it so he cannot run away. Ah, block his mana and aura as well."

Don't torture him.

Those words made the magic spearman relieved.

This was the noble who had kept his identity hidden as he caused havoc for Arm. He was safe from the scary methods of this noble for the time being.

However, the magic spearman could not see the look in Cale's group's eyes because his head was down.

Ron moved the magic spearman to a different prison. Choi Han, who was looking at the magic spearman's back, subconsciously started to speak.

"It looks like he will have the most painful death."

"Of course. Hannah is going to kill him."

The magic spearman would be handed over to the fake Holy Maiden, Hannah, and would probably beg to be tortured by Ron or Beacrox instead.

Cale left Beacrox and Choi Han in charge of watching over the three Arm members. It should not be difficult as their auras and manas were sealed and there was poison in their bodies.

"Watch them properly."

Beacrox confidently responded back to Cale.

"If I make a mistake, it will be that I accidentally killed them. There will be no other types of mistakes."

'He really is Ron's son.'

Cale blankly stared at Beacrox before noticing Choi Han nodding in agreement and turning away from both of them.

Those two would probably be more thorough than him.

'The White Star. I need to have them describe his appearance.'

These three were the only ones within Cale's grasp who knew what the white star looked like. He needed to wake them up at least once in order to get that information.

That would be very painful for the three of them, but that was none of Cale's business.

Why would he care about people who tried to kill him?

What about the people in his territory that were hurt because of them?

Cale headed toward another underground prison.

He went to see someone whom he had secretly brought over.

"Hiya."

Guardian Knight Clopeh Sekka started to shake as he moved his chained arms in order to bow down to Cale.

He looked as if he was serving a god.

Clopeh seemed to have healed a bit. The person who was responsible for healing the Guardian Knight started to speak.

"Young master-nim."

A GPS-like voice. Cale started to speak to the necromancer Mary who was not a part of the naval battle.

"Let's go."

"Yes sir."

Mary was guarding the Guardian Knight.

Clack clack.

The skeleton pieces she had been putting together stopped moving. Cale pointed toward the Guardian Knight as Raon arrived in his invisible form.

"Pack him up."

Pack the bags.

That's the type of tone Cale seemed to be using as he pointed at Clopeh.

The Whale tribe went to attack the Paerun Kingdom.

'Then what should I do next?'

Cale knew what he had to do.

The Whale tribe had no thoughts about conquering the Paerun Kingdom. They were just doing this to get their revenge.

Cale had made up his mind after watching them.

'Let's hit their backs.'

He was going to plan a mole in the Indomitable Alliance.

The same Paerun Kingdom that had fabricated a legend in order to monopolize everything for themselves.

How would it feel to have that kingdom underneath the Roan Kingdom's feet and use them as spies?

Cale's gaze slowly headed toward Clopeh.

The plan would take place when the Indomitable Alliance least expected it.

They would hit them from the back.