Chapter 188 – A Small Goal (3)

Shouldn't he move now since he was so happy?

This VIP Auction that took place in February in order to welcome the new year lasted three days and stealthily took place on the top floor of the Golden Tree Casino.

However, it was difficult to call it a, 'secret auction,' because the dates and participants were all easily discovered. Of course, everybody wears masks inside, however, it was still possible to figure out their identities based on Vegas City's guest log.

The reason this was still called a secret auction even though this was the case was because nobody had any idea about what they would auction off until the auction started.

The Golden Tree administrators never discussed the items that were to be auctioned off. It was because they had taken a Vow of Death in front of a priest of the God of Death to keep their mouths shut.

'But there are bound to be rumors.'

If a rare item is discovered in the western continent prior to the secret auction and people are unable to determine who is in possession of the item, the first thing they think about is the secret auction.
Thanks to that, all sorts of rumors spread to the VIPs, as well as the regular citizens.

That was the reason Cale had sent some information to the Singten guild leader and the Caro Kingdom's Sun God bishop.

"Hilsman."

Flick, flick.

Hilsman immediately walked up after seeing Cale motioning for him.

'30 billion counds? Thirty, thir...!'

Although he was moving quickly, the only thing on Hilsman's mind was the number that Cale had just called out.

'Do I need to report this to the Count-nim?'

Hilsman was debating whether he needed to tell Count Deruth Henituse about this because of the large amount of money involved. He had not expected it to be for a sum of money that would be considered large, even for the wealthy territory.
Cale whispered in his ear at that moment.

"Hilsman."
"Yes, yes sir?"

His response made it clear that he was thinking about something else. However, Cale was not the type of liege to make a fuss about such a thing.
Of course, they had not completed a proper knighting ceremony, so Cale was just the liege in Hilsman's mind.

"Do not tell my father about this. I am preparing this as an emergency fund."

'Emergency fund? Isn't this too large of an amount to save as an emergency fund?'

Hilsman could not believe it.

"Don't you already have an idea about what is going to happen later this year?"

"Ah."

Hilsman let out a small gasp.
The upcoming year.

Although he couldn't know about everything Cale did, he had caught onto a few things while following behind him. The things that he could gather the most information about were related to the Empire and the Northern Alliance.
And those, 'Arm,' bastards as well.

Hilsman finally realized what the emergency fund was for. At the same time, he felt as if he could understand what Cale was thinking about.

'He is saving up money in case the Henituse territory or the kingdom ends up in dire straits during the war!'

He now understood why Cale needed such a large sum of money.

It was money for the Henituse territory and the Roan Kingdom.

A small amount would not suffice for such an issue.

Hilsman felt as if Cale truly deserved the title of young master Silver Light. Furthermore, this type of experience was something he would never have gotten if he had chosen the path to becoming a Captain.

'I made the right decision.'

He was satisfied with his decision to follow Cale and to become stronger.

"Yes, young master-nim. I will not report it back."

On shook her head at Hilsman's energetic response.
On peeked toward Cale, who seemed to take Hilsman's response as the obvious response.

While Hilsman was feeling touched that Cale trusted him enough to expect such a response from him, Cale was preparing this emergency fund for a different reason that On believed to be true.

'I need to make a ton of money before the war in order to live in peace later.'

He was planning on erasing the word, 'work,' out of his life and replacing it with the word, 'slacker,' once the war was over. He needed to make money now in order to make that become a reality.
Cale had made up his mind to make that future become true.

On the other hand, Billos had a weird feeling while listening to Hilsman and Cale's conversation.

'…The young master was not gathering money because he just likes to gather money?'

The two people's conversation seemed to be talking about a future that was bigger than what Billos was thinking about.

'I know about the Empire, but is there something else as well?'

His intuition as a merchant was telling him that an opportunity or a disaster would soon strike.

Billos then made eye contact with Cale and flinched after seeing Cale staring at him.

"Billos, why do you think I went to the North? Look for the answer. Then you will find the money."

Billos felt a light bulb going off in his head after hearing Cale's hint. It was only giving off a faint light, but it was enough for him to realize how he should proceed.

"Young master-nim, please continue to look for me if you need anything."

The obviously flattering smile on Billos's face signified his decision. However, Cale just brushed it aside and looked down at On and Hong.

The two baby kittens who had grown significantly in the last two years to become young kittens smiled and showed their fangs in order to show that they knew what they needed to do.

"On, Hong, go call Ron over."

"Meeeow."

The corners of Hong's mouth was twitching as he meowed. It was because he felt that Cale would have him do something interesting.

He was correct.

* * *

Later that night.

Hong was in Cale's arms looking down at the roof below them. Cale petted Hong's fur that was soft after being thoroughly cared for by Cale, well, mostly deputy butler Hans.

"My my, the Singten guild leader seems to be in a rush. Right, Billos?"
"Yes, yes young master-nim."

Billos quickly responded to Cale's question, but felt a chill down his back at the same time.
He followed Cale's gaze and looked down at the roof below. He was currently sitting down and hanging on a rope.
On the other hand, Cale had the Sound of the Wind at his feet while leisurely standing on top of the roof.

'…The young master-nim has been hiding his strength.'

The shield was not the only ancient power that this young master had. A normal person would find it hard to be standing at the tip of the roof. It would also be scary.
Billos himself needed to be carried up here by Hans.

'I did not know enough about the young master-nim.'

Billos recalled Cale's past.
Cale Henituse, the trash of the Count's family. He had known that Cale had pretended to be trash, however, he truly felt that fact to be true at this moment.

'Right, how would he know so much about the Western continent if he really was trash?'

Cale knew a lot about the nations in the Western continents, the famous locations, and the influential people. He needed to have studied in order for someone in the remote corner of the Roan Kingdom to know about all of this information.

'He must have studied in secret.'

Billos was thinking that Cale had gathered these powers during that time as well.
In fact, he was thinking that Cale was even better than himself, who had been gathering his strength while living the life of a bastard son.

'What he is looking down at?'

Billos was looking past the money and getting an intuition as a fellow human being.
Cale's record in these past two years was telling him something. He was thinking that the moment a person who was hiding his abilities slowly starts to reveal his strength was when the world would change.

Billos clenched the rope he was hanging onto as he looked toward where Cale was looking.

'…The strength he was hiding was not just his own strength as well.'

This was the residence that the Singten guild leader was staying in. Billos could see the eerie fog surrounding the residence.
He knew that Cale traveled with Cats, but he did not know they could control the fog.

'I also didn't know he had so many experts and such a stealthy information guild as well.'

The masked information guild members were moving around based on Cale's orders right now. Billos had his own group of informants as a merchant, however, he had never seen such stealthily informants before.

'The fact that they were able to stealthily approach the Singten guild leader means that they are pretty much highest-grade assassins.'

He had no idea who that person might be.

Billos would probably be shocked if he knew that that assassin was the same Ron who had handed him some honey lemon tea yesterday.

However, there was someone here who would be shocked even more than Billos.
It was the owner of the residence that Cale was currently looking at.

Plavin Singten.

He was the one responsible for raising up the Singten Merchant Guild to its current glory, as well as someone who was dreaming of it becoming the best merchant guild in the Empire, and then the western continent.
He was currently tapping his cup of wine on the table with a frown.

"…How did he know?"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Even the noise of the wooden cup tapping on the table could not disturb Plavin Singten's thoughts.

'The Determination of Fire?'

The Determination of Fire was an item that he had given to the Pope when he, after being unable to decide whether to build a connection with the Empire or the Pope, decided to tie himself to both sides.

The pope who had pretended to be an upright priest had been extremely materialistic. This guild leader was able to become close with the Church of the Sun God after delivering the Determination of Fire as an offering to the pope.
He had naturally done this without the Empire's knowledge.

'I didn't expect it to put me in such a rut!'

Plavin Singten's gaze headed toward a corner of the table. He could see an open invitation sitting there.

< The Determination of Fire will appear at the next auction. Please come to this location at this time if you wish to see it first. >

"…Crazy bastard. Just wait until I get my hands on you."

Plavin ground his teeth in anger.
This invitation forced him to come to the Caro Kingdom's auction even though he was extremely busy. He also could not bring many people with him because he could not let the Empire get wind of this information.

He could not even bring his personal assassin guild that he had been grooming.

'I couldn't do it because the Imperial Prince has eyes everywhere.'

Imperial Prince Adin had been thoroughly keeping his eyes on all stealthy organization ever since the attempted murder of the Alchemists' Bell Tower's vice tower master and the destruction of a portion of the Sun Palace.
Plavin could not do something as dangerous as crossing the border with his assassin guild members in such a situation.
He could not reveal his weapons right now.

'…But there should be no reason for me to be in danger, right?'

He had brought the Vice Guild Leader of the assassin guild, as well as a high-grade expert swordsman, as guards. He shouldn't be in danger as long as a sword master did not appear.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The tapping of the cup continued in rhythm.

'I need to first capture the crazy bastard who sent the invitation and take the Determination of Fire from them if they really do have it.'

He could not leave such a weakness out in the open.

Tap. Tap.
Tang.
Tap-

"…Hmm?'

He heard an unexpected noise.

Tang.

He turned his head and looked toward the window that was half covered by curtains.
Plavin finally noticed the weird situation.

"…Fog?"

The Caro Kingdom had a naturally dry climate, and it was not raining.
The thick fog caught Plavin's attention.
His palms were starting to get sweaty.

The fog was red.
That was not a normal fog.

Screeech.

The room door opened.

"Guild leader-nim."

It was the Vice Guild Leader of the assassin guild.

"Go check it out."

The assassin immediately headed toward the window at Plavin's command. Swordsmen quickly surrounded Plavin, who held an antidote in his hand and took out a magic item imbued with shield magic.

It was at that moment.

Tang.

He heard the sound of something banging on the window once more.
The swordsmen clenched their swords while the assassin held a dagger in one hand and quickly opened the curtains.

Chhhhhh-

The curtain was opened…

And there was nothing there.

"Mm."

Plavin let out a groan.
However, the assassin found an item on the empty terrace.

It was not what had been causing the noise from banging against the window. He could not tell what had been banging against the window.

All he saw was a small invitation.

That invitation was quickly delivered to Plavin, who opened it only to find a short message.

< R-3 >

It was a seat number for the VIP auction.
Plavin glared at the assassin and his guard with anger.

"Just what the hell were you guys doing?"

The guards and assassin had done nothing while the fog had spread and someone had infiltrated the house to leave this invitation behind.

However, Plavin, who was about to get angry, could not help but become shocked at the high-grade expert's response.

"I apologize, guild leader-nim. I ran over as soon as I saw the fog, but I did not notice any presences. I was patrolling just as we discussed."

They had discussed how to guard the guild leader prior to leaving for the Caro Kingdom. Plavin had verified it earlier as well.
That was why he had thought that they would have been slacking off and was about to get angry.

However, the truth was different.
The assassin quietly responded as well.

"Guild leader-nim … I did not feel any presences at all until now. All I saw and heard was the fog and that, 'tang,' noise."

Plavin finally realized the situation.
It was an expert that the Vice Guild Leader and a high-grade expert could not notice at all.
That expert had left this invitation behind for him.

Gulp.

Plavin could not help but gulp.
He had goosebumps all over his body as he continued to glare at the seat number listed on the invitation.

He now had another reason to go to this seat on the first day of the VIP auction. That reason was fear.

"Young master-nim, I am back."

The masked Ron reported with his voice still disguised. Cale turned his gaze away from the residence.

"Let's go."

The residence was quiet once the red fog disappeared.
Cale hoped that the Singten Guild Leader would understand his situation while sitting in that silence.

* * *

The next morning, Cale headed toward the Golden Tree with a newly purchased magic bag.
This was naturally an empty magic bag to be filled with 30 billion counds.

***

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]