Chapter 171 – Perhaps (6)

Cale observed the Elf priestess while holding the gold and coins in his arms.

The young priestess who had rushed over let out a sigh of relief before flinching. She had finally seen the Black Dragon sitting down next to Cale.

"Gasp!"

They all heard her gasp.
The Black Dragon Raon spoke into Cale's mind to share his first impression of this priestess.

– She seems like a nice Elf.

He then peeked toward the large bag of coins in Cale's arm. On the other hand, the young priestess bowed toward Raon.

"It is an honor to meet you, Dragon-nim! My name is Adite, and I serve the World Tree-nim in this End Village."

"Oh."
Cale let out a quiet gasp.
He had never seen an Elf behav so calmly around a Dragon before. He remembered what Eruhaben had told him.

'Talk to the Elf in charge of the World Tree if the other Elves do not understand. Then everything will be fine.'

The, 'do not understand,' was literally talking about the Elves not understanding what Cale was saying. It was just in case they were too busy revering the Dragon that they could not understand anything else.

"Yes. Nice to meet you, little Elf."

Raon's bright greeting to the priestess made all of the other Elves start to smile.

All of their gazes were focused on Raon as they continued to nod their heads. They looked toward Cale who had come to deliver Eruhaben's message every so often, but it was rare.

That was why they would not be able to understand anything Cale needed to say. It wasn't that they were ignoring Cale on purpose. They just could not help but look at Raon.

Of course, there was something Cale did not know.

There was a reason that the Elves were nodding their heads and looking at him every so often.

It was because of the conversation that the beings that Cale could not see were having.

'The World Tree called the priestess over to say something because of this red-haired human! I think it has been over a hundred years since the World Tree has talked about a human!'
'This human has a strong aura of nature on him. He is probably the human with the most natural elements.'
'No wonder he is with two Dragon-nims. This human smells really good.'

The Elementals were talking about Cale.
The Elves couldn't help but peek over at him after hearing what the Elementals had to say.

"Hmm?"

Cale realized that the Elves were starting to look at him more and more often. Most importantly, the young priestess started to scrunch her freckled nose as she stood there with her hands clasped together.

'… This is weird.'

Cale flinched after he started to realize something was weird.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaa-
It felt like there was a breeze. However, there was no actual breeze.
"…What is this?"

Cale became anxious.

One, two.
He could see many colorful and half-transparent Elemental.
That wasn't weird. This was the case at the Elf Village in the Ten Finger Mountains as well.

There were a lot of Elementals.
That wasn't weird either. The Elementals were born by the World Tree. This was their hometown.

The issue was elsewhere.
Where were all of these numerous Elementals gathered?

"Wow!"

Hong shouted in admiration.

"There's so many of them!"

On was shocked as well.

All of the Elementals were by Cale's side.
Cale could see the Elementals flying around next to him. It sounded like they were saying something, but Cale could not understand any of it.

'I smell a strong scent of wind! It is covert, but noticeable!'
'This one is wood. Yes, the wood is small compared to the earth, wind, and other elements, but it is firm. I can feel that firmness! How wonderful!'
'Mm, I also smell the fragrance of very sweet water. I feel like it will draw me in.'

The young priestess paid close attention to all of these comments. At that moment, something the Elementals said caught her attention.

'There is an aura of fire as well. Yes, fire is greedy. That is why it is pure and beautiful. He has a very natural aura of fire.'

A sea of fire.
That phrase echoed in the young priestess's mind. The priestess clasped her hands together and started to speak.

"Are you the one who has come to deliver Eruhaben-nim's message?"

Cale was getting annoyed by the Elementals around him, but still did his best to smile and respond. However, Raon was faster than Cale.

"He is! Our human is a very good person! His name is Cale Henituse! His name is just kind of cool!"

The Elementals started to fly around Cale with even more energy.
Cale continued to smile toward Raon, who was stuck to his side, as well as the Elves who were looking at him.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Cale Henituse."

His respectful demeanor gave off the unique presence of a noble.
The slightly older Elves looked toward Cale with satisfied expressions.

The middle-aged Elf that had originally come to greet Cale stepped forward again.

"My name is Dickle, and I am the Chief's son."
"Nice to meet you."

Cale and Dickle shared a respectful greeting with each other.
The half-blooded Whale Paseton watched this with a blank expression. He heard a shaking voice by his side.

"…What the…"
The Killer Whale Archie. Archie was completely shocked after seeing one of the most constant things in his life suddenly change.

Archie finally understood what Cale meant when he said that the Elves might cry after seeing Raon.

However, he still could not believe it.
Raon and the Elves. However, Cale being surrounded by the Elementals shocked him even more.

'Is he really human?'

He questioned that fact even though he knew that Cale was a human.

Cale was a unique individual.

The Eastern continent and the Western continent. Although humans were in control of these lands due to their numbers, there were many Beast people and other races within these continents.
It was odd to see a human getting along with so many different races.

Archie heard Choi Han and Rosalyn's conversation at that moment.

"As expected of Cale-nim."
"Don't you think you say, 'as expected of Cale-nim,' way too much?"
"Am I wrong?"
"No, you're right. Young master Cale is unique. Very unique."

Choi Han and Rosalyn sounded very casual, making it sound like they were used to calling Cale unique. Archie continued to look toward them until he made eye contact with Rosalyn.
Rosalyn's eyes opened wide before she realized what must be going through the Whale's mind and started to speak.

"Isn't it amazing how young master Cale gets along with everybody?"
"Yes."

Archie immediately answered.

"But isn't such treatment obvious after thinking about everything young master Cale has done so far around the continent?"

Paseton, who had been listening to Rosalyn, let out a gasp.
The things Cale had done until now.
Rosalyn continued to speak.

"Young master Cale has done all of that but never asked for a title or anything of influence. Although he has received some monetary rewards, I do not think that they are worth more than his life."

Rosalyn knew that Cale was more strategic than brilliant. However, there was one reason she continued to believe that he was a good person.

He was not greedy.

He likes money?
Greed for fame and power were worse than greed for money.
Why do merchants try to buy titles for themselves once they are overflowing with money? And why do kings of history who had enough money and power start useless wars?

There were many types of greed that were worse than the greed for money.
But Cale did not show any greed toward these things. In fact, he tried to avoid them.

'He also doesn't use the money for his own selfish reasons.'

Rosalyn knew that the upgrades to the Henituse territory and all of their other actions had required a lot of Cale's own wealth.

There were times that Cale did use his money for himself.
But those times were to feed himself or to provide food and lodging for his group.

'This is the type of person who should have money.'

She thought that someone like Cale, who knew when to use money for the greater good while being satisfied with eating simple fruits for himself, deserved to have money.
Rosalyn thought it would be okay for Cale to make more money, no, she believed Cale should make more money.

'…Magic Tower.'

She recalled the Magic Tower that Cale had brought up. Rosalyn had not declined when Cale offered to invest in the Magic Tower.

Although she could not understand the human mind, Cale's past actions made her feel like she could understand why Cale wanted to invest in the Magic Tower.

'I need to create a Magic Tower that helps to make the world a better place.'

It needed to be a completely different Magic Tower than the one that used to stand in the Whipper Kingdom.
Rosalyn made up her mind that she would create that type of Magic Tower and become the Tower Master. Cale turned around at that moment and the two of them made eye contact.

At the same time, she realized that the Elves were looking in her direction as well.

Raon flew over toward Rosalyn and the rest. He then introduced each of them to the Elves.

"This is the smart Rosalyn. Over here is the strong Choi Han."

The Elves smiled brightly every time Raon said something.
Rosalyn shook hands with the Elves who reached their hands out first. It was the same with Choi Han and the Whales.

"We had only heard about the Whale-nims. It is my first time meeting one in person. You seem very reliable! Haha!"

The Killer Whale Archie just responded back with a smile and shook Dickle's hand after hearing Dickle praise him.
Even he was starting to accept the situation now.

Cale saw that his group was getting along with the Elves before calling out to the young priestess Adite.

"Priestess-nim."

He then flinched. He could see that the young girl had tears in her eyes and was looking at him as if he was a ticking time bomb. Cale became even more curious after seeing such an expression.

"Priestess-nim, don't the Elves not have any desire for material goods?"

Cale pointed to the bag of coins and the gold in his arms. The priestess Adite responded back with a serious expression.

"The World Tree had told us to slowly gather coins since a long time ago. Although we should not get too obsessed with worldly possessions, it told us that it would be useful in the future."

The priestess smiled before informing Cale of the World Tree's message.

"The World Tree wishes to meet with you, Cale-nim."

The World Tree had actually said to bring him over only if he accepted the coins and the gold, but Adite didn't feel the need to say that part.

"That sounds great. I want to meet World Tree-nim as well. Let us head there right away."

The priestess took the lead after hearing Cale's response.

"Just follow me."

The priestess felt Raon and Cale following behind her as she listened to the Elementals.

'He is imperfectly perfect and strongly weak. How interesting.'

Elementals usually only became interested in Elementalists. However, these Elementals were currently showing interest in a human.
The priestess Adite started to walk a little faster. Cale quickened his pace to keep up with her as they headed to meet with the World Tree.

He then put on an odd expression.
'It looks so … normal.'

He could see an old Needle Leaf tree that you could find on any mountain.

"This is the World Tree-nim."

The priestess pointed to the commonly seen tree in front of him.
Cale was shocked at this.

The tree was at least three times taller than he was, but it was still similar to the trees found in the Forest of Darkness. In fact, the white tree that he had seen after receiving the Indestructible Shield seemed to be more magical.

'…The other trees around it look more like they could be the World Tree.'

The trees surrounding the World Tree as if they were protecting it were all tall and blue.

"Were you shocked by how the World Tree-nim looks?"

The priestess started to speak as if she had expected Cale's reaction.
Even the Elves had been shocked at the World Tree's appearance when they had first seen it.

Cale looked around for a bit before saying whatever came to his mind.

"Just like how there may be precious things in things we only glance at, the truth may be hidden in an average appearance."
"…As I expected."

The priestess who had calmed herself down on the way to the World Tree agreed with Cale's sentiments.
Cale did not care about her reaction as he looked around the area where only he, Raon, the young priestess, and the World Tree were currently present.

It was at that moment.

Shhhhhhh-
The leaves on the trees started to shake even though there was no wind.

"Cale-nim!"

The priestess then called out to Cale.
Cale could see a blue light surrounding Adite. It was the same color as the token from earlier.

On the other hand, Adite could not hide her shock while looking toward Cale.

"The World Tree, the World Tree-nim wishes to speak with Cale-nim."
"It wishes to speak with me?"
"Yes."

The priestess was shocked.
Eruhaben had been the only one the World Tree had personally spoken with until now. She then looked toward Raon.

"The World Tree-nim wishes to speak with Raon-nim in the future when you can spend a long time together."
"Alright, I got it! Nice to meet you, World Tree!"

Shhhhhhh-
The leaves rustled as if they were responding to Raon's greeting. Raon seemed to be happy as he started to roll around on the grass.

"This place is very refreshing and warm. I like this place the most after our house!"

Cale smiled at Raon's comment before asking the priestess.

"How do I chat with the World Tree?"
"Just close your eyes and make contact with the World Tree."
The priestess pointed to the trunk of the World Tree and Cale walked toward it without any hesitation. He then put his palm on the pillar as the priestess had instructed.

Shhhhhhh-
The trees started to move again.
The priestess observed the World Tree with wariness in her heart.

'I can't believe a human turned the usually calm World Tree-nim so nervous.'

She was curious about the conversation Cale would have with the World Tree, but found the whole scene to be surprising. Of course, the priestess's gaze became deeper as she looked at the red-haired man.

'Hmm?'

She could see Cale flinching at that moment.
The man who had his eyes closed was frowning.

Cale was listening to the World Tree's voice at that moment.

– I didn't expect for another human to earn the power of that lunatic arsonist.

Arsonist.
It had to be talking about the Fire of Destruction.

– But you received the full power, and even fortified it. Cale, you are amazing as well.

'I fortified it?'
Cale thought about the, 'Vitality of the Heart,' before becoming weirded out by the World Tree.

'Cale, you are amazing as well.'

'…It is too friendly.'
The World Tree was treating Cale in a very friendly way.
It was so friendly that it was suspicious.

The World Tree continued to speak.

– I have seen many heroes in my lifetime, but I have never seen such a crazy hero who didn't care about anything else other than money.

The voice that sounded like a benign old woman was gentle.

– A hero whose life goal was to be rich. I had died and reincarnated many times, but I almost burned to death because of that hero.

The World Tree sounded slightly relieved.

– That is why I collected money. This was my way to ensure my own longevity.

It then continued to speak.

– Anyway, I had no idea that you had earned that power, Cale. I was so shocked. I had sent Adite with money just in case the power of fire went wild.

Cale felt something was off as he continued to listen to the World Tree.

'Does it know me?'

It was speaking as if it knew Cale.
Cale opened his mouth to ask if the World Tree knew him. It was at that moment.

– Is Gashan well?

'Gashan? The Tiger shaman Gashan?'

Cale suddenly got the chills.

'Perhaps. Is the nature that Gashan always talks about?'

Gashan frequently said that, 'nature has spoken.'
The World Tree continued to speak.

– Gashan was an interesting child who could hear my voice.

'Wow.'
Cale was amazed.
He was also shocked.

'Does that mean that the World Tree has the power of foresight?'

The voice no longer sounded benign. Cale felt chills down his back once again.

– Cale.

The World Tree asked.

– Who are you?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh-
The leaves started to rustle.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]