The large Whales swimming across the horizon suddenly disappeared. Instead, a single person appeared in front of Cale.
“Young master Cale, long time no see.”
“Good to see you as well, Paseton.”
The mixed-blooded Whale, Paseton. Only, the small Humpback Whale turned into his human form so that he could appear in front of Cale and company. Raon, Choi Han, and Rosalyn were the only ones with Cale on this now dark cliff.
“Why did you suddenly call for us?”
Paseton moved his gaze to the conch shell in Cale’s hand. They were in the middle of fighting with the mermaids, but had to come over after hearing Cale’s call.
The signal Cale had sent was, ‘Urgent.’ It was a noise that only the Whale beast people could hear.
“Do you need our strength already?”
One of the conditions of Cale’s deal with the Whales was that he would be able to use their strength.
Cale got right to the point in order to answer Paseton’s question.
“I found out the organization that is helping the mermaids.”
“…Excuse me?”
Cale’s unexpected answer made Paseton’s face stiffen up.
The Whales were already having major headaches from the people who had taken over Hais Island 5 and were helping the mermaids out in the dark. It was not that they were very strong, but the fact that the mermaids had help was concerning.
“One of my subordinates was injured badly while figuring that out. I contacted you because we need to quickly take care of his mermaid poison and because I thought you should know the information.”
However, Paseton had a question after hearing Cale’s comments.
“Young master Cale, why were you looking into that?”
Cale closed his mouth for a second. A rare, awkward smile was on his face.
“Just because I was concerned.”
Raon was not invisible, but chose to speak into Cale’s mind anyway.
However, Cale just ignored it and started to look annoyed.
“With the mermaids getting stronger thanks to the Forest of Darkness that is by our territory, I wanted to help somehow, even though I knew the strong Whale would be able to take care of it.”
Paseton thought that the expression on Cale’s face was one of embarrassment. Cale had a similar expression when he had helped get rid of the mermaid poison in his leg.
Many emotions quickly went through the handsome Paseton’s eyes. His beautiful eyes were very clear, even underneath the dark night sky.
Cale turned his head away.
“I see.”
“It’s not like we are strangers.”
He casually answered before making eye contact with the others.
Rosalyn and Choi Han were staring at Cale. Their eyes easily revealed what they wanted to say.
‘Isn’t that different than the truth?’
Paseton then started to speak.
“Thank you very much, young master-nim. You helped us out again after saving my life last time.”
Cale still didn’t look back toward Paseton. He could see Rosalyn and Choi Han asking him with their gazes.
‘When did you save this person?’
Cale ignored their gazes while Rosalyn and Choi Han did not ask their questions aloud. In fact, Rosalyn opened her mouth to say something else.
“Young master Cale headed over here as soon as he learned of the information. We needed to quickly take care of the mermaid poison, but he thought we needed to let the Whale tribe know this information as quickly as possible.”
Cale showed his thanks with his gaze. This was the first time someone actually helped him pull off a scam. Choi Han just kept his mouth shut and stepped back.
“I see. I guess we need to bring over a mermaid corpse in order to get rid of the mermaid poison.”
“We will go ourselves.”
“Excuse me?”
Cale looked back at Paseton.
“We are going as well.”
There was something he needed to do.
Of course, the words coming out of Cale’s mouth were very different from his actual thoughts.
“There aren’t many of us, so we probably can’t participate in the battle, but we want to help out, even if it is just a little.”
But really, Cale was just planning on doing a hit and run.
Even that was enough.
Paseton’s pupils started to shake.
The Whale Tribe was currently in the middle of a fierce battle with the Mermaids. Of course, they had the advantage since they learned about the dead mana and poison in advance, however, there were a lot of mermaids while the Whales had a lot of obstacles in their way because they had to protect the weaker sea creatures while fighting the mermaids.
That was why they needed an overwhelming strength.
‘Young master-nim says they are weak, but.’
Paseton’s gaze headed toward the Black Dragon.
It didn’t matter if it was on land, on an island, or even in the sea.
“What are you looking at, little Whale?”
The cute dragon with short legs wrinkled his nose and started to strike a pose that seemed to say, ‘I am great.’ Paseton had seen the dragon’s strength before. He had seen that overwhelming power with his own eyes.
“It is nothing, Dragon-nim.”
“Hmph, I will be going as well.”
Raon snorted at Paseton’s respectful response and turned his head away. At the same time, Raon started to speak into Cale’s mind.
Cale slightly nodded his head at Raon. He did well for his age. Cale didn’t care about how Raon was excited about his acting as he started to speak to Paseton.
“I will explain on our way there. I want to move as quickly as possible. What do you think?”
Paseton answered as Cale expected.
“We can leave right away.”
“Good.”
Cale was preparing to leave very quietly late at night. They were not going to depart from the port, as there were many soldiers patrolling the area right now.
Cale was currently on the island that was farthest away from the coast. Everyone had moved here earlier during the day.
“Oh.”
“Wow.”
Paseton was in awe as he looked at the group. He had expected On and Hong, but there were more people than he expected. He could also feel that they were all pretty strong.
Paseton thought he might have misread because he was one of the weaker Whales, but he seemed to be right based on the reactions of the two Killer Whales that came with him.
“Archie, long time no see.”
Archie, the Killer Whale that served as Whale King Shickler’s guard, bowed with a stiff expression. He then turned his gaze away from Cale right away.
Cale’s gaze, as well as the Black Dragon staring at him from behind Cale, made him feel odd.
Raon started to speak at that moment.
“Are we riding this Killer Whale?”
“Probably.”
Archie started to frown. Did he hear correctly? Did they say ride?
Archie looked toward Paseton, who quickly looked away before starting to speak.
“Ahem, a large ship will be easily spotted, so we will use a medium-size ship in order to have everyone head out to sea, but since we have limited space in the ship and also have an injured patient, Cale-nim and Dragon-nim-”
“I am Raon now!”
“Yes, Raon-nim, as well as some other people, will follow us using levitation magic, ahem, before landing on the two of your backs.”
“Ho!”
Archie could not believe what he had just heard. Raon started to speak at that moment.
“But Killer Whales are smaller than Humpback Whales. Will there be enough space?”
Killer Whales were small in comparison to Humpback Whales, however, they were still at least 7 - 10 meters in length. Archie started to frown even more, while the other Killer Whale soldier that came with them was confused.
“Archie, thanks in advance.”
Pat, pat.
Cale patted Archie’s shoulder and started to smile. Archie felt like Cale was mocking him. At that moment, Archie could hear Paseton starting to speak once again.
“Ah, for your information, the two of you will have to pull the medium-sized ship as well. It has some magic in it, so we just need to tie it to you. We didn’t get any crew members.”
“…Why should I deal with such crap!”
“My father said to do anything and everything.”
Archie shut up after hearing Paseton’s answer. The Whale King was extremely sensitive these days from fighting against the mermaids, so he might really get beaten to death if he made a wrong move.
“Damn it!”
Archie looked up at the sky and started to swear.
Cale stood there and patted Archie’s back.
“I will be on your back, so please swim safely.”
Archie had become a living taxi.
Splash- splash-
Cale observed the night sea while listening to the splashing of water. It was comfortable on the Killer Whale’s back.
Tap, tap.
Raon tapped on the Killer Whale’s back. On and Hong were next to Ron on the ship because they were saying that they were scared of the water. However, they also wanted to be near Ron because they seemed to worry about Ron even more than Cale did.
“Human, the Whale’s back is slippery.”
“It’s supposed to be that way.”
“I see.”
Raon had a blank expression as he laid down on the Killer Whale’s back like Cale. Archie, who was known as the strongest Killer Whale, was larger than most Killer Whales.
He was approximately 12 meters in length, so it felt like a decent sized building was moving.
Cale looked toward the other Killer Whale next to them. The other Killer Whale was moving at the same speed. Between Archie and that Killer Whale was the medium-sized ship that was tied to them with mana ropes. Of course, Paseton was in the front, guiding them.
‘This is like a high-speed taxi.’
It was very fast. Cale looked at the other Killer Whale’s back.
Rosalyn and Choi Han were sitting there with odd expressions on their faces, while the seasick Hilsman was busy covering his mouth with his hands. Cale turned away from all three of them because they seemed uncomfortable and instead started to observe the night sky, as well as the shining stars.
He then started to think.
‘It should be okay to destroy one island, right?’
Cale enjoyed the peaceful scenery as they arrived at Hais Island 1.
It was because Hais Island 12 was close to Arm’s base on Hais Island 5. They didn’t want the Whales to be seen. That was why they came to Hais Island 1 first and will then move to Hais Island 12.
“I will go get my noonim.”
Paseton had a stiff expression as he reported to Cale that he would return with his sister.
Cale had informed Paseton on their way over that the people helping the mermaids were a large organization that even had the balls to lead the Plaza Terror Incident in the Roan Kingdom’s capital.
“Sure, make it fast.”
“Yes sir. Hais Island 1 is part of the Whale territory, so the mermaids will not come.”
“Alright.”
Paseton bowed before quickly leaving the island. Archie and the other Whale did not even look back as they followed behind Paseton.
“Young master-nim, should I set up the tents?”
“Yes. Move Ron once you are done.”
“Yes sir.”
The Wolf, Maes, answered confidently before heading over to Lock and Hilsman. Lock, the Wolf King’s successor, was currently patting Hilsman’s back. Hilsman was busy vomiting from being seasick.
Soon enough, Rosalyn, Maes, and the rest set up a couple tents near Hais Island 1’s coast. Naturally, Cale did not help and simply watched them do all the work.
Choi Han was standing in front of Cale because Cale had called him over.
“Choi Han.”
“Yes, Cale-nim.”
“I think it is better to be selfish than allow any of our people to get hurt.”
Cale’s goal was to quietly get out without getting hurt from the Whales’ battle with the mermaids.
“But there is something we must do this time.”
There was something Cale needed to tell Choi Han before the Whales returned.
“You remember the mage from the Plaza Terror Incident?”
Choi Han’s expression stiffened up. The blood crazy mage, Redika. Choi Han had cut his arm off.
Cale quietly whispered to Choi Han.
“He is the only one who managed to see Ron’s face. There are two things that I believe are most important in this operation.”
Choi Han made eye contact with Cale.
“First is to cure Ron of the mermaid poison and second is to get rid of any potential threat to Ron or any of us in the future. You understand what I mean?”
Choi Han answered without any hesitation.
“I will either destroy that mage’s other eye or kill him.”
He then added on.
“Beacrox will want to do it, but I think it is better for me to do it. He is currently too emotional to be rational.”
Choi Han knew exactly what he had to do. Ron ended up that way because he did not manage to kill Redika last time. He had no qualms about killing people anymore.
It wasn’t that it pained him to do so, but it didn’t matter if those bastards died, no, it would be better if those bastards were dead.
“No, there is no need to overdo it and kill him. I don’t have any thoughts about dirtying our hands.”
“It will not be very difficult.”
Cale knew that Choi Han was a good person, but that he had no qualms about killing.
However, Cale did not want to put any blood on his hands if possible. He didn’t care if that was unfair.
“Choi Han, my plan is-.”
It was at that moment.
Splash-
Cale heard a loud splashing noise.
Cale closed his mouth as a bloody scent filled his nose.
He turned his head toward the water.
“Wow.”
There was a person who really used that stupid method to fight.
Well, a Whale, not a person.
The large Humpback Whale, Witira, the future Queen of the Whales.
She was covered in blood. She seemed to have been fighting against the mermaids using her blood.
“Young master Cale, nice to see you again.”
However, her voice was still very calm.
At that moment, Raon started to speak in Cale’s mind.
Raon was very adamant.
Cale had hundreds of the highest-grade Magic Stones that were said to be extremely destructive, as well as Raon and Rosalyn.
“Choi Han.”
Cale walked toward Witira as he spoke in a quiet voice that only Choi Han could hear. It was a task for a few people.
“Aren’t you good at stealth?”
The name of the plan was, ‘Reflection.’
Return everything they received. There was nothing worse or more annoying than having the same thing you did being done to you.
Teaser