Chapter 441 – You Tried to Trick Me? (3)

– Are you saying that you can see fire above the desert right now?

Choi Han responded instead of Cale to Tasha who asked after somewhat realizing what was going on.

"Yes. We see a fire that is covering the desert. Any time now-"

Choi Han stopped for a moment before continuing.

"This large fire looks like it would pass the desert, the Dubori territory, and even cover Young-en city any time now."
"…Something is weird."

Choi Han looked toward Cale. Cale handed the video communication device to Choi Han before giving Raon an order.

"Flight magic please. I need to see what is going on outside."

Cale quickly moved toward the window at the end of the hallway.

Click.

The window was opened wide and Cale immediately jumped out the window.
Choi Han followed behind him.

Ooooooong-

Choi Han and Cale's bodies did not fall to the ground. They floated up instead.

– I really am great and mighty!

The two people who were floating up with Raon's flight magic could properly see the entire Young-en city now.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing- Wiiiiiiiiiiiiing-

The alarm ringing through the city pierced Cale's ears.

"What a mess."

The entire city was in chaos as Choi Han mentioned. People were busy running around with chaos in their eyes.

"What the hell is going on?!"
"Is it an earthquake?"

Boooom!

The ground shook once more.

"Ahhh! All my fruits spilled!"
"Grab the display stand!"

The merchants were busy holding onto their goods while the people who were running stopped and curled their bodies forward as they looked around.

"The desert! There's a large fire covering the Land of Death! Is that fire the reason for the ground shaking?"
"Is that fire going to reach our city too?"

Cale quickly took a robe out and covered himself from head to toe before heading down. He landed in a spot with fewer people as he looked around. The golden top's whip was in his hand.

Boom.

Once the ground shook again…

"Go look into it."
'Okay! Just wait, I'll be back soon!'
'…Rumbling, chaos, destruction. Will find out. And you must go meet with World Tree-nim. Baby Fire Elemental also waiting for you.'

Two Wind Elementals left Cale's side.

"Cale-nim!"

Cale, who turned his gaze after hearing Choi Han's voice, saw Choi Han with his hand on the ground and eyes closed. He soon opened his eyes and looked toward Cale.

"The rumbling is coming from the west."

The west. That was where the Land of Death desert was located.

– …Young master-nim, it really is fine here.

They could see the image Tasha was showing them through the video communication device in Choi Han's hand at that moment.

It was the sight of a calm desert. The sand was red because it was day time, but forget a fire, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's not the desert."

If it was not the desert but the fire was coming from the West, then there was only one explanation.

"It's the Dubori territory."

The White Star must be doing something there.

– Human! There's an urgent call from crown prince Valentino!

Crown prince Valentino whom they had just said goodbye to was calling them.

"Tasha, don't act rashly but stealthily go to the Dubori territory and see what's going on."
– The Dubori territory?
"Yes. Be careful. Don't go near if it looks dangerous. It's possible…"

Cale stopped for a moment before continuing.

"It's possible that the White Star may be in the Dubori territory."
– I understand.

The call with Tasha ended and Cale moved to an alley with even fewer people and looked into the video communication device in a shaded area. The video communication device now had crown prince Valentino's stiff face on it.

– Young master Cale.

His eyes were full of anger.

– I cannot contact the Dubori lord.

Something had happened in the Dubori territory and not the desert as he had expected.

– It looks like that White Star bastard has done something to the Dubori territory. In that case, I cannot keep my promise anymore.
"Are you planning on sending the Knights Brigade and the mages to the Dubori territory?"
– Yes. I plan on moving with them as well.
"I understand. I will send our forces to the Land of Death for now as well."
– I understand.

The call ended quickly.

"Cale-nim."
"… I can't understand what these bastards are thinking."

Cale looked at Choi Han as he continued to speak.

"Why? Why is the White Star dragging the Caro Kingdom into this?"

The picture in his head was the White Star, Cale, and their respective factions fighting in the Land of Death. However, the White Star went against Cale's expectations and made the Caro Kingdom make a move.

"Why is he expanding the playing field?"

An unknown sense of ominous feeling overwhelmed Cale. The White Star was not someone who would make a move for no reason. So why was he doing this? He was actually on the smarter side.

– Human! The rumbling has stopped!

The rumbling had stopped while Cale was thinking. They could no longer feel the rumblings that were coming from the west. However, they could still see the fire in the distance that was the size of a tall mountain.
Cale had an odd sense of déjàvu as he looked at the fire. It was at that moment.

– Human! That fire reminds me of the fire in the Jungle!
"Ah."

'Yes, it does seem like that fire.'

It was shooting up in a similar shape to the fire that had covered Section 1 of the Jungle. All fires might look similar, but for some odd reason, it gave off a similar feeling to that fire.

– It feels like that fire from the Jungle has moved over to the desert!

'Exactly.'

The Wind Elementals returned while Cale's gaze was focused on the distant fire.

'Cale! Cale! Big news! I learned something big!'

One Elemental quickly continued to speak in an excited voice.

'I met this neighborhood's Fire Elemental while I was moving around. It gave me some news!'
'That fire, fake. Scam.'
'Oh, come on! You can't tell him the information I found out!'
I was also there. Anyway, that fire, fake.'

'What?'

"Cale-nim, did you think of something? Your expression does not look good-"
"…That fire is fake?"
"Excuse me?"

Cale looked at Choi Han's face which was as chaotic as his own as he focused on the Wind Elementals' voices.

'The Fire Elemental said that isn't a real fire! It's fake! It doesn't feel any presence of fire coming from it! It was even laughing at the humans who were running away in shock! That Elemental's personality was quite odd. Right?'
'Agreed, odd, necessary to determine fake fire's true identity.'

Cale opened his mouth to speak.

"Let's move right away."
"Are we going to Tasha-nim?"
"No."
– Then where are we going?
"Dubori."

The Dubori territory.

"I think we need to go there. We need to go see what the White Star is doing."

He had a bad feeling about this.
Cale felt that they would make a big mistake if they did not determine the true identity of that fire right now.

Ooooooong-

The light covering Cale, Choi Han, and Raon flashed in the shaded alley before they were surrounded by the teleportation magic circle. Cale looked at the light surrounding him as he organized his thoughts.

'First, we will go to the Dubori territory and figure out what is going-'

However, he could not finish his thoughts. The moment they were surrounded in a bright light and were about to teleport…

"Ugh!"

Cale suddenly felt as if he could not breathe.

"What the hell!"

His body felt as if he had rammed into a large wall. The bright light twisted in an instant and Cale felt as if his world was flipping over.

"Ugh!"

Cale covered his eyes and fell to the ground.

"Mm!"

He heard Choi Han groan next to him. Cale looked down at his body. Forget a wall, his outfit looked fine as if nothing had happened, but he could see his body slightly shaking.

Chhhhhh-

The light from the teleportation magic circle instantly disappeared.

"Ugh!"

Cale urgently reached his hands out after hearing a child's groan.

"Raon!"

Raon was no longer invisible and his floating body started to fall. Cale quickly grabbed Raon but staggered from the weight.

"Are you okay?"

Thankfully, Choi Han grabbed both Cale and Raon so that nobody fell. Cale observed Raon's body without being able to respond to Choi Han's question.
His small yet chubby front paws were shaking and the black mana surrounding Raon was rumbling like sand falling through someone's hands. His inner eyelids were also shaking as if he had received a shock.

"Raon?"
"…Human."

Raon slowly opened his eyes and started to speak after hearing Cale's voice.

"I can't teleport to the Dubori territory!"

Raon urgently continued to speak with his round eyes once his paws and mana stopped shaking.

"I set the coordinates and tried to teleport, but the mana from that side came back twisted!"
"…The mana was twisted?"
"That's right!"

Raon quickly moved out of Cale's arms and looked down at his paws as he continued to speak.

"My magic was accurate and the coordinates were correct! My mana is normal too! But on that side, the mana coming from the Dubori territory was not normal! That is why we couldn't teleport and it failed as if we were stopped by a wall!"

Cale recalled feeling like he had slammed into a wall.

'…What the hell is going on in the Dubori territory?
He couldn't teleport there?'

"Human! I experienced something like this when I was four years old!"
"What? 4 years old?"

'2 years ago?'

"That's right! Remember the time when the mana disturbance tools were used in Huiss, the Roan Kingdom's capital?"
"Ah."

Cale let out a gasp. That was the first time he used the Indestructible Shield. Cale's group had used the mana disturbance tools to prevent the magic bombs in the plaza from exploding.

'In that case…'

Cale shared his thoughts out loud.

"Raon, does that mean the Dubori territory is in a state of mana disturbance right now?"
"That's right! It is a much stronger mana disturbance than the tools I experienced when I was four years old! That is why the mana is twisted and the teleportation was blocked!"

Raon quickly rambled as if he was agitated.

"Cale nim, this- Isn't this a serious situation?"

Choi Han hesitated before continuing to speak.

"Isn't the Dubori territory like rats in a jar right now?"

They needed to teleport to the nearby areas if they could not teleport into the Dubori territory. This meant that it was also significantly more difficult for crown prince Valentino to lead the Knights Brigade and the mages into the Dubori territory.

They had no idea what the White Star would do during that time. These were the bastards who had no problem throwing their own soldiers into the dead mana pool!

The Dubori territory's residents were in danger. Cale started to frown.

'Should I not have led the White Star into the Land of Death?'

The Dubori territory would not be in such a situation had he not done that. Cale recalled a similar moment in his past. It was a time when something he did had caused the situation to worsen. Yes, he was thinking about that time.

Cale's mind started to become complicated.

"Cale-nim."

Cale heard a voice capture his attention at that moment. It was a calm but cold voice.

"Just like how it wasn't a mistake to anticipate that a Grade 1 monster would appear…"

It wasn't a mistake for Kim Rok Soo to anticipate a Grade 1 monster would appear and lead his teammates over there.

"This situation isn't your fault either."

Cale looked toward Choi Han. He felt as if he could see Choi Jung Soo and team leader Lee Soo Hyuk standing behind Choi Han.

"Most importantly, we have not even started to fight yet. I don't think it is necessary at all to imagine potential negative results before we even fight."

Cale could calmly organize his thoughts after hearing these words Choi Han delivered with a smile. Choi Han looked at Cale's expression that was the same as usual as he continued to speak.

"Cale-nim, if that side is in a state of mana disturbance…"
"Ah."

Something flashed through Cale's mind at that moment. He started to speak and finished Choi Han's sentence for him.

"That side can't use magic either. The dead mana used in black magic is still mana, so they should not be able to use it if the area is under mana disturbance."
"That's right! Human! They might be able to use black mana during mana disturbance, but if they used dead mana incorrectly when the entire Dubori territory is under mana disturbance, there is a high chance of the disturbed mana and dead mana clashing against each other and harming the black mages!"

Raon then added on.

"Either gramps or I need to be there for this level of disturbance! Ah, Rosalyn too!"
"Cale-nim, they can't use black magic. That means that the black mages cannot use black magic to control the golems either."

Cale quickly organized a situation in his mind.

"Raon, we will move as close to the Dubori territory as possible. Pick the closest coordinates other than the Land of Death."
"I got it. Human!"

Ooooooong-
The teleportation magic circle quickly started to glow. A bright light soon covered the three individuals.

– Human! There is no mana disturbance outside the Dubori territory as expected!

Cale listened to Raon's voice as he opened his eyes.

– This is the mountain right outside the Dubori territory! You can look down at the territory and the Land of Death from here!

Cale looked down from the dark area inside the shade of a large boulder located on top of this rough boulder mountain without many trees.

The west. He could see the Dubori territory and the desert with the large fire behind it. The desert was still burning as he expected.

"… Human, doesn't it look odd inside the territory?"

"Cale-nim, the people in the territory- look the same as always."

Cale could see the peaceful situation inside the Dubori territory with people working and laughing as usual. The Dubori territory was not as large as the Henituse territory, so Cale was able to easily see what was going on in the small territory that only consisted of a small city with the Lord's Castle and a small area around it.

A sense of déjàvu overwhelmed Cale again.

'It's chaos outside but why are the Dubori territory and the desert calm?'

It was at that moment.

Beeeeeep- Beeeeeeep-

The video communication device in Choi Han's hand was ringing again. It was Dark Elf Tasha.

"Tasha."
– Young master-nim! I'm transferring you to the Mayor-nim!

'The mayor? Dark Elf Mayor Obante?'

Cale looked down at the person who appeared on the video communication device.

– Young master Cale-nim, it has been a while.

The Dark Elf with a long white beard looked at Cale before getting to the point.

– The humans who survived with dead mana in the Western continent became necromancers or black mages. However, there are a couple of different occupations for people in the Eastern continent who managed to survive being poisoned with dead mana.

At first, Cale wondered what the hell he was talking about. However, the Dark Elf who had lived for over 500 years had years of experience and knowledge, contacting him because he knew exactly what Cale needed.

– Cale-nim, do you know about the Illusionists?
"…Illusionists?"
– They are the ones with rare abilities similar to the shamans of the Eastern continent. They are able to show illusions, or fake things, to the living. They use their powers similar to how shamans use their powers.

Obante continued to speak as if he was almost certain.

– If it was not made with magic, then I suspect that this fake fire is an illusion they created. Didn't the White Star come from the East?

Choi Han and Raon could see Cale smiling at that moment.

"Raon, contact Gashan."

The shaman Gashan, the leader of the Tiger tribe and someone who controlled crows.

"Tell him to come to the desert right away."

He needed him. Furthermore, Cale gave another order to his allies who were watching this situation with him.

"Find the Illusionist. Asap."

The golden top's whip shined under the sunlight. A breeze brushed past Cale and headed to the Dubori territory.

***

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]