Chapter 175 – Tricked? (3)

The hidden knights approached Guardian Knight Clopeh who was watching Cale walk away.

"Captain-nim, should we look into him?"

Clopeh did not respond to his trusted subordinate's question and instead simply continued to observe the priest who was walking into an area with a small number of people.

"Captain-nim."

Clopeh nodded his head after being called once more.

"Just do some basic investigation for now."

'Basic?'
The two knights beside Clopeh's trusted subordinate were shocked at this response. The priest was mysterious and suspicious. The usual Clopeh would have told them to do a thorough investigation, so saying to do a basic one was surprising.
Only the trusted subordinate immediately bowed his head.

"I understand."

The trusted subordinate understood what Clopeh meant by basic.

It was to literally figure out who he is.
That was what Clopeh meant by basic. Doing a thorough investigation meant to find out everything, including their weaknesses, traumas, and anything that might be useful.

That was why this trusted subordinate made up his mind to only figure out the identity of the priest. Clopeh, however, was worried after giving the command.

'…I hope I'm not committing heresy.'

He was worried that he might offend a god by looking into this mysterious person. On the other hand, Clopeh himself did not know just how he might end up offending a god.

He gave an order to the two knights beside his trusted subordinate.

"Follow him."

The white-haired priest had disappeared into the eastern forest. The knights quickly moved to follow Clopeh's command to chase after the priest.

However, Clopeh could not help but receive an odd report from the knights a few minutes later.

"Captain-nim, he is not there."
"What?"
"His footsteps gradually became lighter starting from the entrance of the forest until they disappeared without a trace."

Clopeh's expression became odd.
One of the knights started to speak with a serious expression.

"Is he perhaps a mage?"
"Maybe a mage who disguised himself as a priest used flight magic?"

Clopeh sternly shook his head.

"No, I did not feel any mana. He was also not at the level to use flight magic. He was a weakling."

The knights had no reason to doubt sword master Clopeh's observation, but they could not help but be bewildered. That person gave off an aura that did not fit a weak person. This was the same for Clopeh as well.

'I didn't see any strong people around either.'
Clopeh was not at the level to tell Choi Han's level of strength nor sense Raon's existence. That was why he started to have a different idea about the priest's identity.

He had just one thought in his mind.

'A messenger of god.'
'Did he perhaps come to share a message from god?'

"What should we do?"

Clopeh did not share his thoughts with his subordinate. The fact that he was a legend fanatic was a secret from others. In fact, people believed that he was an atheist who did not believe in anything.
Clopeh gave an order in a cold voice.

"Let's think about this after we get the entry list for the lake."

His heart was beating wild even if his expression was cold. He then immediately headed for the temple.

The temple was closed off in order to prepare for the festival. He could see the headstone at the center of the temple.

< The god was always nearby. He appeared in a form that was most similar to this northern land and gifted us with warmth. >

The northern land was always full of snow.

'A form that was most similar to this white land.'
Clopeh read the text on the headstone repeatedly and thought about one person.

His subordinate then came to report.

"Captain-nim, a white-haired priest is said to have entered. There were some robed individuals with him, but apparently they all disappeared from their room at the inn while leaving behind just a single piece of paper with a message!"
"…What was the message?"

The trusted subordinate handed over the piece of paper.
Clopeh's eyes were filled with shock as soon as he read it.

< The person who seeks to make the legend of the past into the legend of today. The same legend cannot be created. Only a new legend can be created to continue the glory. >

The Guardian Knight's heart was beating fast.
'The person who seeks to make the legend of the past into the legend of today,' was referring to himself. It was something that only he knew about. The others only thought it was a war to gain access to unfrozen land.

But he wanted more than that.
He wanted to continue the legend.

'A new legend?'

Clopeh started to smile.

He was certain that the priest was a special being.
He would not have written such a message if he was not. The priest wrote the message while knowing that it was going to get to him. Clopeh started to get excited.

'The main character of a new legend. That doesn't sound bad.'

Clopeh had no doubt that he would be the main character for this glory.

* * *

On the other hand, Rosalyn was brushing back her red hair while asking Cale a question.

"Young master Cale, what does that message mean?"

Cale leisurely chewed on the piece of chicken in his mouth before swallowing, wiping his mouth with a napkin, and then starting to speak.

"Just nonsense."
"…Nonsense?"

Rosalyn observed the man with hair that was even redder than hers casually respond.

"Yes, I just wrote whatever sounded fancy."

Cale had returned to his usual appearance as he leaned back on the couch. Rosalyn let out a sigh.
She looked around.

They were currently in the Flynn Merchant Guild's Paerun Kingdom Store #1 in a secret villa behind the main store. It would not make sense if the Flynn Merchant Guild, one of the Roan Kingdom's three largest merchant guilds, did not have a single store in the Paerun Kingdom.

Although you needed to get on a ship and go through other northern kingdoms in order to get to the Paerun Kingdom, merchants were people who would brave through worse for money.

Rosalyn looked at this red-haired man who was as meticulous as these merchants and asked.

"Young master Cale, did you have us get a room at the inn even though a place like this was available because you predicted that we would run into the Guardian Knight?"
"I did not expect it at all. I got the rooms so that we could easily disappear without a trace after causing a commotion."

Rosalyn shook her head at Cale's calm response.
She had the fake identity card that crown prince Alberu had given them, as well as another identity card that said that they were merchants of the Flynn Merchant Guild.
The merchant identity card was something Cale had just handed to her nonchalantly.

'He always seems like he's half-assing things, but he's quite meticulous.'

Rosalyn gave up trying to figure out Cale's thought process. It was better to focus on the things she needed to do rather than to try to figure out how the mind of an extraordinary person worked.

"What will we do next?"

Raon answered with excitement in Cale's place.

"Loot the Duke's Estate!"

Rosalyn, as well as Paseton who had informed them of the location of the Duke's Estate, winced in shock.
Only Choi Han calmly responded back.

"I guess that is the location this time."

Cale nodded his head and stood up.

"Let's first go take a look."

Choi Han and Raon approached him. Cale flicked his finger toward the kittens rolling around in the corner.

"Time to pay for your meals."

"Meeeeeow."
"It's been a while!"

On and Hong approached him while wagging their tails. The two of their stealthiness was just a tiny bit under Ron's level now. That should be enough to avoid Clopeh's eyes.

Cale and the group headed toward the Sekka Estate that was near the Paerun Castle.

* * *

The second floor of a tea house in the noble section. Cale was sipping tea while looking at a residence on top of a hill.

"…Vicious."

There was a white house on top of the hill.
That was the Sekka Estate.
Furthermore, the vicious sculptures by the iron gate caught his attention.

– Human, do those sculptures look vicious?

He nodded his head at Raon's question.
These sculptures depicted the scary appearances of wyverns.
They were also large enough to be visible from the bottom of the hill.

Raon's confused voiced continued in his mind.

– Human, it is cuter than the rabbit you gave me that looks like the devil's guard dog.

This was indeed the case.
Cale recalled the sculpture that he had forgotten about, as well as the assassin Freesia.

'I should ask Freesia to create some sculptures to place in front of my house next time.'

Wouldn't most people avoid them in fear then?
Cale was thinking about something Deruth would never allow as he stood up.

"Shall we go?"
"Yes Cale-nim."

Cale and Choi Han got up.

The kittens were already jumping across roofs in order to head to the Sekka Estate. On and Hong would take note of all of the side streets and alleyways in this area.

Swooooooosh-
Cale didn't care that his hair that was now past his shoulder in length was getting messy from the wind.
Wind continued to gather around Cale as the magically dyed brown hair continued to flutter.

'What a mess.'

The Sound of the Wind was running wild.

Cale stopped walking a bit away from the Sekka Estate. He could hear the invisible Raon's voice at that moment.

– There are many knights around here, but very few mages!

'Of course. The Paerun Kingdom is the land of knights.
They are also the, 'Guardian Knight' family.' They preferred the sword over magic.'

Swooooooosh-

Cale opened his palm.

The wind seemed ready to burst into the Sekka Estate at any moment.

"… This is weird."
"What is weird?"

Cale shook his head at Choi Han's question. He then started to think.

'Does the Guardian Knight know that there is a divine item in his house?'

It was weird if he did.
Why would the person attempting to create a legend just let a divine item sit there?

'And is it really the God's Tears?'

Was the item that this thief inside of him wanted to get really the God's Tears?
Why would this item be here?

It was weird.

However, the weirder thing was Choi Han's response.

"Cale-nim."
"What is it?"
"Will it be okay if we got closer to the Estate?"
"I don't see why not."

Cale and Choi Han stealthily approached the Estate. Choi Han continued to tilt his head in confusion.

"I sense something familiar."

'Familiar?'
Cale started to think about what Choi Han would consider as being familiar.

'The smell of blood?'

That thought made Cale flail before taking a step away from Choi Han. Choi Han asked him a question at that moment.

"Cale-nim, if it is okay with you, can I go into the Estate on my own tonight in advance?"
"In advance?"

This was the first time Choi Han stepped up to do something in advance.

"There's something I'm familiar with inside. I will make sure to move without getting noticed."

Choi Han waited for Cale's answer, which came quickly.

"You don't need to ask me permission for things like this. Just make sure you don't get hurt."
"Yes Cale-nim."

– Human, should I go too?

Cale ignored Raon's comments and told Choi Han to get On and Hong as well before heading back to their lodging. He then leisurely drank some wine and ate some steak before falling asleep on the comfortable bed.

It was a relaxing night.

However, Cale woke up in shock.

Clang clang.

It sounded like the window was about to break.
Cale opened his eyes.

Gasp.
He had to gasp in shock as soon as he did that.
Choi Han was right in front of his face. It was so shocking that Cale pushed Choi Han's face away with his hand.

"Cale-nim!"

But Choi Han seemed to be in a rush.

"What is it?"

Cale started to frown.

'Why would you not use the door and break in through the window?'

"Human, were you shocked?"

Raon's short front paw patted Cale's shoulder. Cale ignored Raon, who did not wake him up in advance, and looked toward Choi Han, On, and Hong.

"We saw something amazing!"
"It really was amazing!"

On and Hong were jumping up and down.
Cale suddenly felt a chill and touched the back of his head.

"…What was it?"

His voice still sounded a bit sleepy.
Choi Han started to speak.

"Cale-nim, it is Arm."

Cale immediately responded back.

"Those bastards are here?"

Hong chimed in next.

"Arm was giving someone in the Duke's Estate an item! It looked like an important item!"

'Perhaps?'
Cale asked Choi Han a question.

"Was the familiar feeling from Arm? You can feel them too?"

Choi Han shook his head at Cale's question.

"No. The thing that was familiar was, umm. You can just consider it the smell of blood."

'…I didn't think it really would be the smell of blood.'
Cale was baffled that strong people could feel and smell such odd things, but focused on what Choi Han had to say.

"That was why I went to check it out in advance. It would be bad if something dangerous happened when we went to loot it."

This was true.

"However, we happened to catch Arm secretly handing over a small box. There seems to be a precious item inside the box."

Choi Han, who had been seriously explaining, stopped talking after hearing an odd noise.
It was the sound of Cale laughing. He looked as if he was finding this quite entertaining.

"Choi Han."
"Yes Cale-nim."
"Did you know this? My original plan was to cause a mess by creating the pillar of fire while wearing a priest outfit."

How vicious would it look to see a white-haired priest laughing in front of a pillar of fire?

"But I can't do that anymore."

He could not go through with that plan because he had used his identity as the white-haired priest to bait Clopeh.
Choi Han gulped after seeing Cale's smile becoming wider.
'Perhaps?'

Choi Han suddenly had a thought.
Cale opened his arms up and answered back with excitement.

"I brought the fake Arm outfits with me."

They were the clothes that sort of looked like Arm's outfits.
He opened up his hand.

"I brought exactly five of them. Isn't this perfect?"

Cale, Choi Han, Rosalyn, and the two Whales.
There were exactly five of them.
The children shouted while Choi Han seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Human, that is great!"
"Very good!"
"I want to try wearing it too!"

Cale responded back to the children with a satisfied expression.

"I'll buy you some delicious things during the festival."

Choi Han could not say anything until the end. The night passed by and the first day of the celebration arrived.

***

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]