Chapter 459 – Returned (5)

'Why do I need to live?'

The Dragon half-blood wanted to ask Cale but could not do so.

Baaaaaang! Baaaaang!

The black spears were still destroying places inside the secret base. This chaotic situation did not provide any time to ask such questions.
Furthermore, he could not have any other thoughts while looking at those black spears.
His mind turned into a complicated mess.

'Destroy that egg.'

The White Star's order from the past stabbed at his ears like needles.
The moment the Dragon half-blood was born as a chimera, the White Star had pointed to the black egg and mumbled in a half-laughing way.

'Destroy it, and you can eat it if you want. That would be quite an entertaining sight too.'

The extremely deep underground cave with no light whatsoever.
There was a black egg next to the Dragon half-blood who was chained up in this cave and desperately waited for the White Star to return each time with the hope that he could receive the White Star's approval.
One day, the White Star noticed the gently placed black egg in one side of the cave and chuckled.

'You still haven't destroyed it? I was clear with my orders. I want you to personally destroy that egg. Got it?'

The Dragon half-blood had nodded his head and said that he would one day destroy the egg.
Once he could leave the cave and see the world according to the White Star's orders, he used a small opening he found to give an order to the mage Redika.

'I just need to throw that egg away?'
'Yes. Go to the Western continent and throw it away there. However, you must not destroy it. You absolutely must not destroy it. Just throw it away in a cave in a clean forest with a good breeze or something. Also, put an illusion spell there so that nothing can enter that cave. Set some traps as well. Also…'

He hesitated before adding in.

'Let me know the location of it in the future if I ask you for it.'

The Dragon half-blood recalled how Redika had looked at him with an odd expression at that time. This was the first time Redika had asked a question about the Dragon half-blood's orders.

'…Isn't that hiding it instead of throwing it away? Are you telling me to protect it?'
'Protect it?'

The Dragon half-blood had laughed at that word. Who was he to protect anything? And what was that black egg for him to protect it?
The black egg was like an ornament he had placed in a corner of the cave. Why would he place any type of meaning to it?

If he threw it away… It would hatch on its own if he threw it away in a mountain cave that was high in mana.
It was the lord's child and a Dragon, so it would grow on its own. It would be able to find its own way to survive if Redika placed illusion spells outside the cave so that enemies could not harm it either.

He couldn't have such a chance because he was not thrown away, however, in return for being thrown away, that black egg would earn that opportunity. In that case, wouldn't they be in similar situations?

'Redika, do not interpret my words however you feel. Got it?'

The Dragon half-blood had spoken as if he was scolding Redika who continued to look at the black egg with an odd expression before nodding his head.

'I understand, sir.'
'This is a secret between the two of us. Got it?'
'Yes sir, I understand.'

The word secret made Redika's eyes glow and give off an odd sense of madness, but the Dragon half-blood had not noticed it.
As someone who had not experienced the world at that time, the Dragon half-blood could only trust Redika who was loyal to him.
Many years had passed since then and he had forgotten about it.
It was because Redika was dead.

Of course, he had asked about the black egg when he had made a short visit to the Western continent a few months before Redika died when he said he was going to take the mermaids to fight against the Whale tribe.

'You clearly remember the location, right? You threw it away properly?'
'Of course. I check in every so often to make sure that it is still properly thrown away.'

Redika had responded that he had thrown the egg away properly and that it was still in the cave.
That was why the Dragon half-blood had given him a temperature management magic device.

'Are you giving it because you think it might be hot inside the cave?'
'What nonsense. Just put that in the cave as well.'

Redika did not say anything else to the Dragon half-blood's response before leaving with the temperature management magic device.
The Dragon half-blood had forgotten about the black egg after hearing that Redika was dead.

'I had forgotten about it.'

He then recalled something he said when he first met Cale Henituse.

'…I smell a lord.'

He had said that Cale Henituse was giving off the smell of the Dragon Lord. He did not mean much when he had said that.

After Lord Sheritt's death, there were some Dragons who were born with the potential to become the next Dragon Lord.
He had even killed one of those Dragons.

That was why he had thought that smell of a lord was the same type.

'I am the great and mighty Raon Miru! I am six years old this year! Is washing dishes fun, Dragon half-blood? I'm not talking to you because I pity you! I am only talking to you because I am bored!'

He had thought that the young Dragon named Raon Miru was just another one of those Dragons with the potential to become the Dragon Lord.

That was why he had tried to kill him.
He had believed that he could not be accepted by the White Star and had to live without a name because he was not a complete Dragon. That was why he had found that black Dragon to be annoying.

'…How could such… What a rotten situation-'

The Dragon half-blood stumbled.

"Snap out of it."

Cale supported him once more.
He looked over Cale's shoulder to see Choi Han charging toward Dorph. He could also see On and Hong using their poisonous fog to paralyze the enemies outside the wall.

On, Hong, and Raon.
These young children had come to chat with the Dragon half-blood who was washing dishes without thinking about much.
They started to chat with him as if they had forgotten about how he had attacked them and tried to kill them.

'Beacrox is the best at doing dishes!'
'Deputy butler Hans is good at it too.'

The Dragon half-blood had wondered what the two young Cats were talking about. However, he was in continuous pain such that he did not pay any attention to the children and just quietly continued to do the dishes.

'But Dragon half-blood! You're good at it too!'

The young black Dragon had then fluttered his wings and smiled at the Dragon half-blood.

'This is driving me crazy.'

The Dragon half-blood felt as if his head would explode.

The Gorge of Death.
He had tried to send tens, no, hundreds of light arrows toward the unconscious black Dragon in Cale Henituse's arms at that battle.
The Dragon half-blood suddenly heard a voice in his heart at that moment.

'What about it? You should kill him because he is the enemy, because he is a Dragon.'

The Dragon half-blood bit down on his lips after hearing the voice from his heart.

Yes, he should kill him because he was the enemy.
He repeated that to himself in his mind. However, he started to think about the black egg again. He had thrown that black egg away. He definitely did, he really did…

'So, what is going on?'

He could not understand his mind that felt like it was going to explode.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

His heart was beating wildly. He had come here thinking he was going to die, and everybody else was still frantically fighting… But the Dragon half-blood felt as if he was alone, as if the spot he was standing in was separated from the rest of the people.
It was at that moment.

Baaaaaang!

The Dragon half-blood covered his ears after hearing a loud explosion. His weak body was affected by loud noises now as well.

"Are you trying to go until the end?!"

He could hear Dorph shouting.
The Dragon half-blood raised his head. He could see Dorph's angry eyes on the other side of the shield. That was when the Dragon half-blood realized that the second secret base was on fire.

– Hehehe! Human, I'm throwing another one!

A magic bomb that appeared in the air was thrown toward the secret base.

Baaaaaang!

The defensive wall shook along with the loud noise. The people inside the wall were busy putting the fires out on the buildings that were destroyed by the black spears while trying to dodge the magic bombs at the same time.

– Human, how many can I throw?
"As many as you want."

Cale stoically responded and Raon responded with excitement.

– Heh! Then I'm going to throw all of the magic bombs goldie gramps gave me! I will not let them off this time!
"Sure, keep throwing them."

Cale was responding to Raon's comments but the person looking at him thought that Cale was talking to him. Dorph glared at Cale from the other side of the shield.

"…You want to keep throwing those things?"
"What's wrong? I can't do that?"

Cale shrugged his shoulders while looking at Dorph.

"The White Star seemed to be spreading around what seemed like magma, so what's wrong with bombs? They're about the same, aren't they?"

Smirk.

Cale started to smirk and Dorph's skinny fists started to pound on the shield.

"You dare to mock this king?!"

Bang! Baaaaang! Bang!

He continued to slam on the shield. However, the shield did not break. The Dragon half-blood who was observing from behind Cale noticed the reason for that.

The Silver Shield. There was a thick silver shield in front of this silver shield that was fainter than usual.

It must belong to Raon Miru.

He made eye contact with Cale at that moment. Cale peeked toward Dorph before quietly whispering to the Dragon half-blood.

"My body is not normal right now. It is difficult to use ancient powers."

He had come here after fighting a while against the White Star.
He did recover a bit while Ron and Beacrox recovered their house, but he was still at the brink of fainting.

– It looks like you are about to faint soon. Are you desperate to sacrifice yourself?

For reference, it was the Sky Eating Water and not the Scary Giant Cobblestone that asked this question.

– Don't overdo it. Stop using your shield. It's hard for the glutton too. Do you want to faint again?

The Sky Eating Water was warning Cale so much about fainting that he could not use his ancient powers properly.
Cale heard the Dragon half-blood's voice as he started to frown.

"…Did the black Dragon save me..."

He was speaking, not to anybody else, but to himself.

'Shit.'

Cale started to frown.
Based on the Dragon half-blood's actions, he had a good idea about the answers to the questions he was planning on asking him.

'If my suspicions are correct, the Dragon half-blood, he…'

He could not die right now.

"Ha."

Cale let out a sigh.

Bang!

"Did you just sigh?"

Dorph responded to that sigh. The black orb he threw slammed on the shield.
However, Choi Han soon appeared in front of Dorph and swung his sword toward him.

"Cale-nim, I'm sorry for his being so loud."

Choi Han innocently apologized before attacking Dorph again.

"Damn it! You persistent bastard!"

Dorph bit down on his lips.
He found it difficult to fight Choi Han. He had no idea how this human must have lived in order for the attribute in his aura to be similar to his darkness attribute.
This was the reason his power of darkness did not work properly on Choi Han.

Furthermore, Choi Han kept attacking him and breaking his flow whenever he tried to properly use the darkness Elemental's powers.
Choi Han calmly asked him a question at that moment.

"Why are you not using your strength properly? It feels like you are saving it for something."
"What? You're not giving me any time to use my full strength!"

Dorph who was shouting in anger could see Choi Han tilting his head in confusion.

"What nonsense are you spewing now? You're saving your strength on purpose."

Dorph's frowning face slowly turned stoic.

"Oh, you were aware of it."

Dorph then started to smile as if he had never been angry as Choi Han fixed his grip on his sword.

'The Lion King is saving his strength for some odd reason.'

The person who had cast the black wall to bother so many people was not doing that right now. Furthermore, he was not using his berserk transformation either.

"Kekeke."

He started to laugh as he responded.

"They're here!"

Choi Han quickly turned his body to the right.

Paaaaat-

He saw a bright light along with people teleporting over.
Choi Han could see someone with red hair at the center of the light. It was the White Star. He could also see Sayeru and the Illusionist.

"…Ha! I was thoroughly tricked."

The White Star must have had to deal with some things before he came here as he looked like a mess. He was covered in red sand as he stood there with a thunderbolt in his hand.
It was obvious that they had rushed here. He started to smile toward Cale with bloodshot eyes.

"How many times are you planning on smacking my back? Hmm?"

He glared at Cale and raised his hand that was holding the thunderbolt.
Choi Han started to run toward Cale at that moment.

"Keke, are you going to save your liege?"

He could hear Dorph laughter.
However, that laugh was quickly broken.

"Raon!"

Cale shouted and Cale's group was soon covered in a bright light.
They were teleporting.
Choi Han was the last of the group to be covered in light as Cale waived at the White Star who was throwing the thunderbolt.

"Bye-bye. You haven't found it in the desert yet, right?"

Cale had no plans on being dragged around by the White Star.
He smiled and said goodbye to the White Star.

"Then I'll finish the search for you in the desert. I'll find that power you are looking for."

Paaaat-!

The teleportation activated and Cale ignored the voice of the White Star that he could faintly hear.

There was nothing the White Star could do about this.

He closed his eyes as his body started to teleport.
Once he opened his eyes…
Although he said he was going to the desert, Cale was actually in a secret room in the basement of an antique building.

"Young master-nim, you're here?"
"Long time no see, Marquis Taylor-nim."

Taylor Stan. The patriarch of the Roan Kingdom's northwest region's Marquis household welcomed Cale.
As he mentioned, Cale had come to find the earth attribute ancient power that the White Star was looking for.

It just happened to be in the Roan Kingdom's northwest region.

***

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]