A week later, Cale got off the carriage. The carriage that he got off from had the Henituse Golden Turtle on it.
- It has been a while.
Cale agreed with what the Black Dragon said inside his head.
Cale was currently at the Plaza of Glory. A large fence was around the northern part of the plaza that was destroyed from the explosion.
Cale just walked forward, only looking toward his seat. The Henituse family’s knight brigade, led by their Vice Captain, walked with Cale in the center of their formation in order to protect him.
As Cale was walking, he heard someone say something that gave him the chills.
“Oh, young master Silver Light!”
Cale immediately started to frown.
“Ahem, hem.”
Cale could see the smirk on the Vice Captain’s face as he let out some fake coughs and started to frown some more. The Vice Captain lowered his body a bit to whisper in Cale’s ear.
“Young master, I guess they call you, ‘young master Silver Light,’ now. Ahem, cool people like you are bound to get awesome nicknames.”
‘Shit.’
Cale held back the rough words in his mind.
Young master Silver Light, young master Shield, he didn’t want to hear such cheesy and embarrassing things. However, Cale knew that it would have been much worse if it wasn’t for the crown prince subduing the rumors, and so he could not say anything about it.
All he could do was stoically speak to the Vice Captain, who was shrugging his shoulder.
“I’m sure they’ll stop if I drink and act like I usually do, right?”
“Ahem, hem!”
The Vice Captain could not say anything and just turned away. That made Cale start to smile, but that smile immediately disappeared. It was because of what the Vice Captain said next.
“I think it would be best if you avoided alcohol, since you are still recovering.”
Cale was still officially recovering and not 100 percent.
The official story was that he was injured because he used his ancient power past its intended limits so that he could protect the crowd, causing a miracle to happen that prevented the explosion.
That miraculous story naturally originated from the crown prince. That was why the staff at the Henituse residence was busy protecting the injured Cale.
It was not just the staff at the capital. Cale thought about his father, Count Deruth, who was planning on coming up to the capital a few days ago. This was what Deruth had said through the video communication.
- Cale, did you see the faces of those bastards? Your dad will kill them all for you. How dare they do such a thing to a person who cannot even swing a sword!
Even though Deruth knew Cale had earned an ancient power, the fact that even Cale’s younger sister was better than Cale at swinging a sword made Deruth consider Cale to be weak.
- The reason the Henituse family does not take action is not because we are weak. Remember this Cale. We have not taken any actions until now because we are strong. Nobody shall take any actions against you like this in the future.
That was what Countess Violan had said while calming Count Deruth down. But that must have been the truth, as no nobles sent any messages or came to look for Cale once Cale left the palace and returned to his own residence. Even Eric and company did not show up.
‘That made it easy.’
Cale had used that free time very efficiently. Cale, who had been looking forward as he walked, could see the knight and soldier guarding the entrance.
“Ah, young master Cale.”
“Do you need to verify my identity?”
The knight shook his head at Cale’s question and respectfully opened the entrance. Cale had to enter alone from here on. The people who were allowed to enter this time was significantly less than during the birthday celebration, but Cale was the exception.
“Young master Cale-nim, please enter.”
“Great, thanks. Keep up the good work.”
“...Yes sir!”
Cale thought that the knight was probably overworked, so he patted the knight on the shoulder as the knight bowed and vigorously responded to him. He then walked in, not knowing that the knight was watching him walk in for a very long time.
Cale continued to walk at a leisure pace.
The Plaza of Glory.
The king planned to respect the fallen and give medals to certain people for their actions during the plaza terror incident today. The recipients were given the qualifications to stand at the second highest platform, right underneath the king, in the plaza today.
Cale was wearing a more luxurious black outfit than usual as he arrived at his spot.
“Cale.”
“Hyung-nim, you got here early.”
Cale smiled at Eric Wheelsman, who had called out to him, before standing at his spot. This was the spot for the nobles. Cale was standing here. But why?
Eric Wheelsman, Amiru, Gilbert, and all of the other nobles could only watch Cale in silence. It was because they had all heard some news regarding Cale.
Cale Henituse has declined to accept the medal of honor and has yielded the medal to someone else.
In addition, he dragged his still injured body to participate in the ceremony.
Amiru Ubarr looked toward Cale, who was looking up at the sky.
“It is a beautiful day today. Probably because we are here to respect the fallen.”
Cale’s red hair fluttered in the wind and created a stark comparison to his black outfit. Amiru had a curious smile after seeing Cale as his usual confident self.
“It is probably because of you, young master Cale.”
“Me?”
Cale looked toward Amiru with confusion. Amiru responded back with a calm and warm smile. Cale found that reaction to be odd, but still said what he needed to say.
“You are leaving today, young lady Amiru?”
“Yes. I believe you are heading out tomorrow? I will see you at our Ubarr territory.”
Cale was going to visit the Ubarr territory after this ceremony.
“Yes. I want to see the ocean.”
“I heard. It is for your recovery?”
“Yes. It will be nice to get some fresh air.”
‘Recovery my ass. I am completely healthy and will be going there to get even stronger.’
However, Cale agreed with Amiru and nodded his head before adding on.
“Of course, that is not the only reason.”
“Ah, of course.”
Amiru, as well as Gilbert and Eric who were listening, all started to smile. It was a similar smile to Cale’s. After today, the nobles will all hear about what is going on.
The development and investment for a military base at the Northeastern coastline. That was why Amiru and Gilbert were hurrying out of the capital tonight. It was to prevent any false information from leaking out, as well as because the crown wanted things to progress as quickly as possible.
Of course, this was only possible because the Henituse family agreed to loan a significant amount of money to Amiru and Gilbert’s territories. That was the other reason why Cale needed to visit Amiru and Gilbert’s territories.
‘Cale, we are planning to send someone as well, but if you are going to go there anyways, take a look while you are there.’
‘Father, wouldn’t it better for an expert to go?’
‘Having more pairs of eyes is always better.’
Cale agreed to do as Count Deruth asked.
“We are in your care.”
“We are in your care, young master Cale.”
Cale waved at Amiru and Gilbert to say not to worry about it, as he looked back to the front. King Zed had arrived.
The memorial and medal ceremony then started.
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King Zed spoke in a loud voice that was stronger than ever. There still was a large number of people in the plaza, but the atmosphere was completely different. It was very quiet.
“We are gathered back here today to show that we will not cower under fear.”
King Zed called out to the crowd once again. It was a warning to the enemies, as well as something to rally the crowd. King Zed looked down to the plaza from the highest platform as he continued to speak.
“Many people showed heroic deeds during that incident. We were able to protect this land like the past thanks to their bravery.”
It looked like King Zed had made eye contact with Cale at that time, but Cale hoped that it was not the case. Cale stealthily turned away in order to look past the King toward the sky behind him. He then thought about what the Black Dragon had said.
‘Blessing of the Sun God? I do not feel the power of any god from those weak humans. The only special one is the crown prince.’
There was no truth to the belief that the Crossman family was blessed by the Sun God. Cale, who had learned another useless truth, decided to pretend that he did not know anything, as usual. The Black Dragon seemed to get excited at the fact that Cale told him to keep that a secret between the two of them, and happily agreed.
“In that regard, we will now hand out the medals to those heroic individuals!”
King Zed started the medal ceremony and everyone went up one by one to receive their medal.
Waaaaaaaaaaa-
Cheering filled the plaza, as if it had never been silent from the start. The Black Dragon’s voice filled Cale’s head once again.
- Humans are interesting.
Whaaaaaaa-
Cale could hear the Black Dragon’s voice, as well as the cheering of the crowd for a knight who had just received a medal. Cale felt like he could guess what the Black Dragon found to be interesting.
However, because Cale was human, he understood the feelings of the people who were still alive better than the Black Dragon. There were times to be sad and times to be excited.
Clap, clap, clap.
That was why he clapped for the medal recipients as well. The atmosphere was much better now. People all enjoyed the medal ceremony as if it was a festival. This jovial environment made it possible for anybody to approach Cale right now.
“Young master Cale.”
Cale turned toward the quiet voice calling out to him. There were quite a lot of nobles who headed back home, thinking that the capital was a dangerous place because of the terror incident. That was why the number of nobles here was less than before, but one of those nobles approached Cale and called out to him.
“What is it, young master Venion?”
Venion Stan was still here. In addition, the heads of each region were still here as well.
“I heard that you declined a medal. Will you not regret it?”
The gazes of the nobles who had been looking up at the platform all turned toward Venion and Cale. Cale did not know why Venion was smiling so gently and asking him that question.
- I want to kill him.
Cale was just worried that Venion’s body would blow up right here. Cale hoped that the Black Dragon would calm down as he thought about the medal.
Cale had rejected a medal. The reason for it was simple. He did not want to get, ‘recorded.’
There is a record of all of the past kings of the kingdom in the highest floor of the royal library. The floor underneath that holds the record of all of the, ‘heroes,’ who have received different medals of honor throughout the history of the kingdom.
The crown used the fact that they needed to continue to provide these heroes with their reward money to locate and keep track of these heroes.
‘That might sound like fame and honor to others, but it just sounds like chains to me.’
Cale did not want to be recorded anywhere. It was easier to forget someone who was not recorded. Who would remember the incidents at this plaza in the future when war was going to break out soon? Even if they recalled this incident, they would remember other things first.
The fact that he knew this was part of the reason Cale had decided to step forward during the terror incident, as well as the reason he wanted to avoid getting recorded.
Cale started to smile as he looked toward Venion and started to speak.
“What would I regret?”
Cale had nothing to regret. He had received a handsome reward, and most importantly.
“It is enough that we managed to survive.”
He was able to live without getting seriously injured. That was the absolutely most important truth for Cale, no, for Kim Rok Soo. The area around Cale became silent. Venion spoke after a while so as to break that silence.
“... I see.”
“Yes. I am also very shy. I’m too shy to go up there to receive a medal.”
Venion’s expression turned odd. However, Cale just shrugged his shoulder and turned around to clap for another person who was receiving a medal.
The Black Dragon was debating how to kill Venion quickly and simply, before he looking at Cale and the people around Cale and shook his head.
There were too many people looking at Cale right now. Both the nobles and the people down below were looking at Cale. The Black Dragon thought things would get very complicated and annoying for Cale if he killed Venion right now, so he decided to act like Cale and be still, very still, as he watched the ceremony.
“This concludes today’s ceremony. However, this king will not forget this moment. I will remember it day after day in order to not forget the valiant heroes!”
The ceremony ended with the king’s final remarks.
Swiiiiiish-
A rough wind that sounded like rain brushed through the plaza. Cale brushed back his messed up hair.
The crown prince had said that Cale did not need to come to the memorial today. However, Cale still showed up.
It was because he knew the weight of someone’s death.
He finished his own memorial of sort and put his right hand to his heart. This alerted Eric, who started to speak.
“Cale! Did you over do it? Does your heart hurt?”
Cale looked toward Eric in disbelief and Cale’s confident gaze made Eric awkwardly smile as he slowly backed away. Eric seemed to be very embarrassed.
Cale smiled at Eric’s reaction and patted his chest two times. He could feel the golden plaque in his inner pocket as he did that. It was the reward he had received from the crown prince.
‘The crown prince is more generous than I expected.’
The golden plaque gave Cale two opportunities to purchase anything, regardless of the cost.
It didn’t matter whether he bought two slices of bread or two mountains. All that mattered was that he could only use it twice. Cale was going to use these two opportunities very effectively in the future.
‘I’m sure that the crown prince was thinking, ‘how much can you really spend,’ as he gave this to me.’
Either that, or he gave it to Cale to see just what Cale could manage to buy with it.
‘Too bad he was wrong.’
Cale started to smile. There were a lot of unique things you could buy in the world, as long as you knew how to buy them.
- What are you planning now, weak human? Just be careful.
Cale ignored the concerned comment of the Black Dragon, who had seen the smirk on Cale’s face. Cale looked around where he was standing and made eye contact with a lot of people.
However, he trusted that these gazes would disappear once he left the capital.
That was why Cale, who had finished preparing to leave early the next morning after returning to his residence, handed the Black Dragon a piece of steak along with three other items. The Black Dragon clutched the plate with the steak on it, as he asked.
“What is this for?”
The three items were all the magic bombs with the detonation devices removed. The compressed mana still existed in these bombs. For now, Cale was planning on using just one of these three bombs. A mischievous smirk appeared on Cale’s face.
“Destroy a whirlpool.”
Cale was planning on overturning Roan Kingdom’s Northeastern sea without anybody knowing about it. It was possible because neither the mermaids nor the Whale Tribe should be at the Northeastern sea right now.