Chapter 494 – Do you hear a dog barking somewhere? (6)

Jopis, who was wearing a robe, looked around.

"There are many sirs I am meeting for the first time."

Everybody other than Cale and Choi Han were people she had never met before. Choi Han and Jopis made eye contact.
It was at that moment.

"Ahhhhh!"

On the path heading from the village to Jopis's house… A guard was screaming in the middle of that path.

"Grrrrrr-"

A large wild dog slammed his body into the guard and sent the guard rolling on the ground.
Other wild dogs surrounded him as well.

"Y, you- Princess Jopis!"

He was not a regular guard. He was the leader of the guards who had come to check on Jopis as soon as he saw that there was turmoil in the village.

"Pfft."

Choi Han turned toward the source of the laughter. The corners of Jopis's lips were up and made her look like a painting.

"Y, you think you'll be fine after doing this? Her majesty will kill you-"

The guard shouted but he could not finish his sentence.

"D, don't come any closer!"

Numerous dogs were moving toward him. The guard felt fear because the large number of dogs looked extremely scary as well. The dogs had vicious gazes that looked ready to turn him into their prey at any moment.
He urgently swung the sword in his hand.

"I won't leave you alone if you come any closer, ugh!"

One of the puppies bit his hand at that moment and another puppy immediately grabbed the sword the man dropped and ran away.

A total of four puppies gathered around Jopis.
Jopis looked at the sword in the puppy's mouth and started to speak.

"Throw the trash away."

Tang!

The sword fell to the ground as the four puppies stood on top of the magic circle.
Fluffy who was in Cale's arms jumped down to the ground as well.

"Awooooooooooooo–"

She then let out a cry.

Awooooooooooo-
Kwaaaaaah, aaaaah-
Awooo- ooooooo-

He then heard other dogs responding throughout the entire Molden mountain range. Cale looked around for a bit before looking toward Jopis and starting to speak.

"I plan on stopping by somewhere before we head to the capital."
"Is it the northern region?"

Cale nodded his head instead of responding and Jopis let the teleportation magic circle take control of her body. She did not see a mage, but she did not ask anything as everybody else seemed to have no issues letting the magic circle take control.

– Human, here we go!

Cale heard Raon's voice in his head and the magic circle flashed as the teleportation activated.

* * *

Jopis kept her eyes closed and grabbed her arm as she felt the teleportation.

'I have goosebumps.'

She had goosebumps on her arms.

They had started to appear when she saw the dirt wall shooting up through the window of her house on top of the hill.

It was time.
It was time to get her freedom back.
Actually, she might be even freer than she was in the past.
Realizing that fact sent electricity throughout her body.

As the dirt wall had surrounded and secluded the village from the rest of the world to make the watchdogs unable to get out…
And as she heard the knocks on her old house door…
She had been delighted.

And now…

"Looks like we have arrived."

She felt that she had finally left the hill and opened her eyes as a cold chill that was much colder than what she was used to in the Molden Kingdom entered through the gaps in her robe.

'Mm.'

She then held back a gasp.

They were in a forest.
She could see a mountain full of trees that seemed to be piercing through the sky.
The peak of the mountain was covered in white snow.

This was the northern region.

"You came quickly."

She heard Mercenary King Bud's calm tone as well as the sound of the strong winds rushing past her.
Only the Mercenary King and Glenn were at the bottom of the mountain.
Jopis could see Bud's stiff expression as Cale took a golden stick out and held it in his hand.

"Where are they?"

Jopis could see the forest start to shake after Cale's statement.

Wind was blowing from the mountain.
The leaves started to shake and she could then see sparkling eyes through the darkness.

Tens, no, hundreds, of eyes appeared in the dark forest.

'…Elves.'

They belonged to the Elves.
Jopis felt chills again. There were some Elves and Dark Elves who had teleported with them just now. Furthermore, she also knew that the people who turned the village into chaos were Elves as well.

Jopis thought that there would be a large number of Elves and Dark Elves when Cale mentioned that they would be fighting as well.
However, there was a limit to the number of Elves and Dark Elves she had expected.

'I didn't know there were so many Elves and Dark Elves.'

However, the numbers were beyond her wildest imaginations.

"…I didn't know they would send so many of them."

This was the same for Bud.
He looked toward Cale with a complicated mind. Bud did seem to be calmer than before as he jokingly asked.

"I thought you brought every Elf on the Eastern continent over."
"But I did?"
"…What?"

Cale had the top's whip in his hand as he responded to Bud.

"Other than a small number of them, every Elf warrior on the Eastern continent and the Western continent will gather in the northern region. The core warriors will gather here to help with the search."

He turned his head.

"Sorros, where are you?"

An Elf climbed down from a tree and landed in front of Cale.

"Nice to meet you, oh Messenger."

He was the World Tree's Messenger to be more specific, but he kept the World Tree out because they were around other humans.

"Just call me Commander."
"I understand."

Sorros. He was the greatest warrior in the Elf Village with the World Tree and Adite.
However, he was over 70 years old in human years and had passed on the position of the greatest warrior to someone else.

However, he was participating as a warrior this time as he was still able to fight and was the Western continent's Elf with the most experience interacting with the Eastern continent's Elves.

"I leave the search to you."
"Please do not worry, Commander-nim."

Sorros was placed in charge of the entire Elven search team.
Sorros was not the only one Cale had asked to search.

'Don't worry!'
'Chaos, destruction, despair. I should go with you.'
'You're fine! Cale, I'll do a good job!'

Cale also had the smartest of the three Elementals that followed him around searching.

"…Is it okay if I don't go to the capital?"

Bud bit down on his lips as he asked Cale.

"It's fine. You already sent some people to help us."
"…It's still only about 100 people."

Bud had sent about 100 mercenaries who met Cale's conditions even during this busy and chaotic time.

"It's fine. That's enough."

Cale was thinking that Bud had already done everything he could by sending those 100 mercenaries. In fact, he was thankful that Bud helped him even during such a chaotic time.
He then reached his hand out toward Bud.

"I'll be back as soon as we take care of things in the palace."
"...Okay."

Bud grabbed Cale's hand and the two men had a short handshake. Cale then motioned to Sorros with his eyes.
Sorros started to whistle.

"Piiiii——"

Shhhhhhh-

The trees shook as the Elves disappeared.
A magic circle appeared under Cale's foot again.

"Commander-nim."
"What can I do for you?"

Jopis opened and closed her mouth a few times before starting to speak.

"You'll need a large number of people to strike the Molden palace."
"Please don't worry."

They were now teleporting to the capital now.

"There are more Elves, Dark Elves, and our allies in the world than you could ever imagine."
"Ha!"

Jopis laughed.

"I really seemed to have made a deal with someone who is worse than the Demonic race."

They then teleported once again.

* * *

In a nearby forest where they could see the walls of the Molden Kingdom's capital. Cale reached his hand out to Jopis.

"Please give it to me."

Two maps soon ended up in Cale's hand.
One was a map of the Molden palace.
Jopis then pointed to the other map.

"There was a time when I created a plan to fix up the capital's roads as we fixed the roads throughout the Molden Kingdom. Of course, it was just my own thoughts."

It was a small map filled with a lot of information.

"This map marks every path inside the Molden Kingdom's capital. It shows all paths both above ground and underground. Though, this is the map of things prior to when I was exiled."

Of course, some roads might have changed.
But it did not matter.

"My friends will discover any roads that have changed."

She pointed to the capital and gave the order.

"Time to go."
"Ruff, ruff!"

The five puppies responded quietly.
She then continued to speak to the puppies.

"And drag in every dog in the capital."

It looked as if Fluffy was smiling in response.
Her sharp fangs appeared for a moment before they disappeared.
At the same time, the other four puppies other than Fluffy moved out in different directions.

Once night ended and the sun started to rise over Renche, the Molden Kingdom's capital…

"…Hey Puffy, what's wrong?"
"Whimper. Whimper."

Everybody in the capital woke up to a similar but slightly different morning.

"Hey Tree. Time to eat breakfast."
"Ruff!"

A person who woke up to feed her dog…

"Hmm? Something is weird."

People who woke up early to open up their shops…

"Wow!"

And the children who came out to play as soon as they woke up.
All of them were greeted by a slightly different morning than usual.

"Hey Puffy, did you bring a friend over? Your friend's fur looks very fluffy."
"Hey Tree, why are you so excited today?"
"Wait, were there always this many dogs in the plaza?"
"Wow! Puppies! So many puppies!"

There were many dogs wagging their tails and greeting people throughout Renche, the Molden Kingdom's capital.
There was also a carriage moving past the castle gates.

"Wow. I never expected to enter the Molden Kingdom!"
"Are you happy?"
"Of course!"

Merchant Billos with his fat cheeks.
The bastard of the Western continent's Flynn Merchant Guild and the person who would soon take the position of successor.
He had appeared for the first time in a while to lead the carriage through Renche's castle gate. Behind him were carriages that the Mercenary King had helped gather with the 'Fylin' Merchant Guild crest that Billos has quickly created to put on them.

"Fylin instead of Flynn! Keke, I think it would be fine to enter the Eastern continent as the Fylin Merchant Guild too. But Patriarch-nim…"

Billos quietly asked the person next to him.

"…It doesn't look like they were noticed."

Billos could see Ron smiling at him.

"They are people who lived in hiding for fifteen years."

However, his eyes were cold.
The carriages that were said to be carrying wheat and other grains were full of the Molan Household's people.
The assassins who had been hiding throughout the Eastern continent from Arm had gathered until the Molan Household that had opened its wings again.
Some of them were alone while others came with their families.

The people who were talented enough to disguise themselves and hide from Arm were now all entering the Molden Kingdom's capital.

"Father."
"I know."

He responded to Beacrox's serious expression with a smile.

"We need to do well on our first mission."

This would be the Molan Household's first mission.
Billos looked back and forth between Ron and Beacrox before starting to speak.

"Cale-nim should already be on his way to the palace, right?"
"That is probably the case."

Beacrox focused on the palace at the center of Renche as soon as they made it through the gate.
He recalled Cale's order.

'There will be a sudden ruckus at the palace. The Molan household will infiltrate the palace at that moment.'

Beacrox who recalled the order was wearing a palace chef's uniform while Ron was wearing a Molden palace servant uniform.
Even the other members of the Molan household hiding in the carts were wearing different palace employee uniforms.

'Who will cause the ruckus?'
'Obviously…'

Cale had smiled before he responded.

'…Me. I will do it. You know there are also a lot of people around me who would do a good job if they set their mind to it.'

Beacrox could not say anything about that as it was the truth.
Cale who was heading to the palace at that same time said the following.

"This is damn hard."

***

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]