Chapter 375 – As Your Temper Dictates (2)

However, the excited Cale soon started to frown.

"He, hehehe..."

'What's up with this punk?'

Cale looked away from Mercenary King Bud Illis who was snickering while looking at him.
Although he knew that Bud had not been drinking today, he looked as if he had already drunk five or six bottles.

Pop!

Cale looked back at Bud after hearing a pop. He then sighed before turning his head again.
The source of the pop was Bud opening a bottle of alcohol.

"Ahh! The alcohol tastes like honey!"

Bud was quickly chugging the bottle he pulled out of who knows where. Cale naturally ignored the alcoholic and looked toward Lord Sheritt.
He then flinched.

The corners of Lord Sheritt's lips were twitching.
Her expression looked extremely mischievous as if she was ready to pull a prank.

"…Lord-nim?"
"Ahem!"

The Lord quickly fixed her expression after hearing Cale's voice and opened up her arms.

Ooooooooong-

White mana started to gather around her.

"I will open the path for you right away."

Screeeech.

The closed castle doors opened once again.

"Ahem."

Someone let out a fake cough at that moment.
It was Eruhaben. He pulled up his sleeves and started to mumble to himself.

"…I guess I should try pretending to be having trouble..."

White gold mana started to gather around him as he said that.
However, something was weird.

Oooong- oooooooong- oooooong-

The white gold mana was just weakly floating around Eruhaben as if it was a broken machine.
The white gold mana that usually looked like silk now seemed to be like a worn-out cloth.
Eruhaben asked the person who was standing next to him.

"Ron, what do you think?"

Ron calmly looked at the mana surrounding Eruhaben before giving his opinion.

"It looks like a rag that has not been washed for twenty years."
"So you think it is amazing."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The enemies were still banging on the large dome.

Craaaaaaack. Craaaaaaack.

Cracks were appearing on the dome because Cale was not using the Super Rock's power anymore.

"Then I guess it is time for me to cast my shield."

Eruhaben then sent his mana outside the dome and created a shield around it.
He then looked toward Cale.

"What are they saying?"

Cale could hear the voices of the Wind Elementals.

'A Cat smirked before he started to attack the shield!'
'Gasp! A Lion went to report to the White Star that the shield is shabby.'
'One of the Bears is laughing! 'Kahahaha! The Dragon must have no more strength! What a rag-like shield!' That's what he just said!'

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The way they were banging on Eruhaben's shield made it seem as if the enemies were more excited than when they were banging on the dome.

'They really are rats in a cage. I'm certain they used up all of their strengths! Is what they said.'
'They think you barely managed to hold on! Cale, I think that they think you have fainted!'
'The White Star just told the mage that it wouldn't be bad to watch a little longer.'
'That's right, that's right. He then said that they'll keep attacking for a bit before pretending to retreat and then waiting for you to come out first, Cale.'
'Then they will strike at that moment! They want to crush you into pieces!'

Cale let out a sigh.

After organizing the information provided by the Wind Elementals, the White Star will pretend to attack this dome, then act as if they were withdrawing because they were tired, and then attack Cale's group when they come out thinking that the battle is over.

'They can do whatever they want.'

Cale was excited about striking the hiding White Star from behind as he started to speak.

"The Bears are saying, 'This rag-like shield!' They are laughing as they attack the shield."
"Is that so?"

Eruhaben was smiling with joy even after hearing a comment about how his shield looked like a rag.
Cale turned his head after hearing an odd noise at that moment.

Screeeech-

The doors inside the castle were very carefully opening.
He turned to Sheritt who let out a fake cough and explained herself in an embarrassed tone.

"I didn't want to open the doors loudly and have them figure out that something is going on. Something like this needs to stay a secret, right?"

Sheritt could not hide the corners of her lips from twitching.

'She's excited. She's really excited.'

Cale turned stoic after seeing that the two Dragons who were the oldest were both excited.

"Just please open then quickly."
"Ah, I, I guess that's probably best?"

The Lord awkwardly scratched her cheek before quickly opening up the doors.
She did not open all of the doors.

Screeeech. Screeeech. Screeeech.

Only a few doors opened with those quiet noises.
Those doors all created a single line.
The Lord started to speak.

"I thought that the children might become curious about the outside world after living in here for about ten years."

The door opened until the room Raon would have stayed in until 10 years old if he had been born in this castle.
Once all of the doors up to that room opened…

Snap!

The Lord snapped her fingers and another door opened.
That door was on the floor of the room.

Screeeech!

The carpet and the tiles shot up into the air.

"This underground passage will take you to the Dragon Slayer village."

Some of the others gathered around Cale. They were naturally Choi Han, the children averaging nine-years-old, and the Mercenary King who were coming with him. The Mercenary King must have had a lot to drink as his face was completely red.
It was at that moment.

'The mage started to attack!'

He heard a Wind Elemental's voice and heard a bang that was louder than before.

Baaaaaang!

"It's the mage's attack!"

Cale shouted and Eruhaben responded with excitement.

"Oh! In that case, I need to make it look like I'm barely holding on."
"Eruhaben-nim, I think it would be great if the shield shook violently before barely combining together once again."
"Thanks, Ron. That is some good advice."

'Aigoo.'

Cale sighed at Eruhaben and Ron's conversation before starting to walk.
He was naturally headed toward the entrance of the underground passage.

Lord Sheritt was next to him.
She was telling Cale about this passage as well as a few things about the village. They were quite useful information that helped Cale figure out what he needed to find.

He then walked up to the entrance to see a dark staircase heading down into the basement.

"I will be back soon."

Lord Sheritt was about to nod her head when she made eye contact with Raon. She quietly watched Raon for a bit before waving her hand toward the children averaging nine-years-old.
She then started to speak.

"Come back soon."

The children averaging nine-years-old smiled and nodded their heads.
Raon's smiling face was clearly visible to Sheritt.

Come back soon.

Sheritt had never expected that she would be able to say something like this.

"Human, human! We need to hurry there and back!"

Raon could not even look in Sheritt's direction as he urged Cale to move. Cale sighed and pointed to the staircase.

"It's dark so put some ligh- oh you already did it."

There were already five or six magic orbs floating around Raon. They would be enough to light the secret passage as if it was the middle of the day.

"I also prepared an acceleration spell!"

Raon cast the spell on everyone.
Cale sighed and turned away from Raon who was puffing up his chest and urging him to move as he headed toward the staircase.
He then said something to Raon who was about to follow behind him.

"Tell your mom that you'll be back soon."

Raon flinched.

"Meeeeeow!"
"He's right, you need to say goodbye! Hans said we needed to do that!"

On and Hong wagged their tails and informed Raon before leisurely following behind Cale.
Choi Han naturally easily caught up to Cale and stepped in front of him.

"Hehehe."

Bud seemed drunk as he staggered behind Cale.
Raon was left alone.
The eyes of the black Dragon who was fluttering his wings slowly headed to the side. He made eye contact with Lord Sheritt.
Raon's eyes quickly headed back to the front.

Raon hesitated for a bit before quickly rushing down into the staircase. He shouted as he did that.

"I, I'll be back soon, nya!"

Lord Sheritt smiled at Raon who disappeared after imitating On and Hong's usual tone before she slowly closed the entrance to the underground passage.

She returned the carpet to its original spot and got rid of any signs of a door being present there before slowly activating her shield.

'I must persist.'

One of her dreams was to protect and defend a place that someone was planning on returning to.

Ooooooong-

A white shield slowly started to get bigger.
She heard Ron's voice as she did that.

"Lord-nim."

Ron pointed to the Lord's shield with a stoic expression.

"Your shield looks too new and strong. Why don't you make it look a bit older? It would be best if it looks like it could break at any moment."

The Lord started to smirk.

"I was planning on doing that. But they will be suspicious if it looks too weak. We need to do just enough to make it seem like we are putting our lives on the line."
"Ah, I see."

Ron nodded his head and the Lord smiled mischievously before sending her shield that was now at a controlled level outside the dome.
That shield wrapped around Eruhaben's rag-like shield.

"My liege, it looks like those bastards are planning on resisting as long as possible!"
"It definitely looks like the others overdid it to protect the castle and the Lord's illusion. The Lord's shield seems to be the strongest."
"It looks like Cale Henituse has no more strength left to defend."

The enemies' conversations were naturally revealed to the Wind Elementals.
Who would expect that Cale would be able to hear the voices of the Elementals?

'We need to snitch on them!'
'It's so nice having a human who can hear us. We need to tell him everything.'
'Shut up. Just remember what they are saying. We need to tell him everything!'

The Elementals were working hard to listen to the enemies' conversations.

* * *

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of quick footsteps moving forward filled the underground passage.
This passage was wide enough for a large cart to easily fit through.

"…Ahahahaha! Who knew there would be such a passage?!"

Mercenary King opened up his arms as he ran down the passage. There was a bottle in each hand.

'…This crazy bastard.'

Cale wanted to leave Bud behind. Bud didn't know about this and approached Cale.
Cale felt himself getting more and more annoyed every time he smelled alcohol on Bud and saw his red face and tried his best to avoid him.
However, Bud started to speak before Cale could do that.

"I didn't expect the Dragon Slayer village to be underneath the Castle of Light."

Bud continued to speak while looking as if he was not drunk at all. He recalled what the Lord just told them before they entered the passage.

"According to the Lord-nim, they built this village underground. That's really amazing. An underground village, I never considered such a thing."

Cale bluntly commented back to the amazed Bud.

"I find you to be even more amazing."

Cale found Bud, who could change from a crazy bastard to a normal person and then back again instantly, to be amazing. He thought that there would be no one else like Bud in this world.

"What? I'm amazing?"

Cale ignored Bud and continued to move.
On, Hong, and Raon were already with Choi Han in front of them.

"Cale-nim, it looks like we will arrive there soon."

Choi Han, who was keeping track of how far they were moving, reported to Cale once he thought they were getting close to the spot Lord Sheritt mentioned.

"Don't stop and keep running."

Cale gave the order to Choi Han before continuing to run without stopping as well.

Smacking the White Star from behind was a race against time. It was better to move as quickly as possible.
That was why they needed to move without stopping.
At the same time, everything needed to be perfect and they could not miss anything.

That was why Cale's reddish brown eyes stealthily and slowly started to prepare to record.
The things Lord Sheritt told them floated through his mind.

'There is a large underground village the size of this white ground down there.'
'That is the Dragon Slayer village.'

He had first thought about the Dark Elves Underground City when Sheritt said underground village.

'That is a land of death that only rocks can exist. People cannot live there.'

Lord Sheritt had described that underground village. There was something else she had said as well.

'There is something for you to find there.'

Cale recalled the item Lord Sheritt said he must find.

"…There's a record book there?"

That was what Lord Sheritt had said.

'Once the ancient times ended, the first Dragon Slayer started to record the reasons the ancient times had to end.'

The terrible deeds of the person who tried to become a god during ancient times. The story of the battle he fought against those who opposed him. It was said to be a record of everything.

"Cale-nim!"

Cale looked forward after hearing Choi Han calling for him.

The end of the passage.
He could see a large boulder.
Cale gave an order to Choi Han who was looking at him.

"Break it."

Choi Han took out his sword.

Slash.

The shining black aura cut vertically.

Baaaaaang!

The large boulder blocking the passage broke apart and caused a dust storm.
Cale slowly walked into that dust storm.
He felt as if he could hear Sheritt's voice explain the situation again.

'You'll arrive at a cliff once you get to the end of the passage.'

Rustle.

The debris from the destroyed boulder was falling off of the cliff.
Cale stood at the edge of the cave in the middle of the cliff as he looked around.

'That large cliff surrounds the underground village.'

He looked down.
It was a place where time had stopped for 1,000 years.

'Then you'll see a land of death with nothing in it.'

"Ho."

Bud let out a gasp.
Cale just quietly closed his eyes.

One thousand years.

"Beautiful."

Cale could see a place that was extremely beautiful, as if it was paradise, even though no humans were there.

'However, it will seem like paradise to you.'

Lord Sheritt had a bitter smile as she said the next part.

'It is because it is the village that my precious close friend and I worked so hard to protect.'

The paradise-like location that had been hidden away for 1,000 years became recorded in Cale's mind.

Cale undid the first button on his shirt.

Unfortunately, a paradise without any humans nor animals just seemed like a land of death to him.

"Let's go."

Cale's body slowly descended to the land underneath the cliff.

***

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]