Chapter 536 – If you really want to (3)

Silence filled the grand assembly hall.
However, it was more chaotic than ever.

There was no noise, but the gazes of the 101 people in this hall were showing many different emotions.
100 of them looked toward the back of the boy who was bowing.

'Shit.'

Chief Priest Gersey, one of those 100 people, subconsciously folded his fan and put his hand on his forehead.

'…Is that child saying this because he knows something?'

He quickly decided that he was wrong.

'No. What would he know? He's just acting according to his emotions.'

This action was brought on by useless convictions and bravery.
However, that action had turned into a fuse.

Chief Priest Gersey turned away from the boy and looked around the grand assembly hall.
It was hot.

The 96 noble awaiters.
It looked as if a small explosion would lead to tens, no, hundreds of other explosions.

Gersey then turned toward the other nobles.

'…This is bad.'

Count Mock and Count Hubesha.
Both of them were looking at Naru as if he was reckless, but they seemed to be drawn in by his actions and suggestion.
They were tired of living in hiding as well.

'But we can't let that happen.'

At least not right now.

Gersey and the White Star had a plan to pull forward their grand vision.
They were working hard right now to pull it up.
This 'festival' was the only time they could use to pull it up.

Gersey and the White Star looked at each other for a short moment.
Both of them realized that they were thinking about the same thing.

The White Star slowly opened his mouth to speak.
It was at that moment.

"That's right! There's no need for us to hide any longer!"

Flinch.

The White Star closed his mouth again and looked down at the ground.

Jump.

One person stood up.
He was one of the 96 noble awaiters.

"The Endable Kingdom is stronger than ever! There's no need to hide our strength and run away any longer!"

Count Mock started to speak.

"The noble awaiters do not have speaking rights. Please sit down."
"…I was just!"
"Please sit down. We will ignore the previous comments."

The person standing clenched his fists and sat down with his body shaking.
Count Mock looked toward the White Star and started to speak.

"Young master Naru, the envoy's suggestion seems quite appropriate, your majesty."

Color returned to the noble awaiter who had sat down.
It was the same for the other noble awaiters as well.

Chief Priest Gersey instantly realized what Count Mock was thinking.

'…Shit… He's greedy.'

Disputes and wars. All of them were great opportunities for this Dark Elf old man who was greedy for a higher position.

"However."

Count Mock continued to speak with an odd expression on his face.

"The Dark Elves were involved in a battle not too long ago. I'm not sure that we are capable of participating in another war."

He seemed to be trying once before stepping back.
Naru's confident voice echoed in the assembly room at that moment.

"The Vampires have all come together for the same goal. The forces are ready."

He still seemed adamant as ever.
It was at that moment.

Screeeech-

The White Star got up from his chair and walked over to Naru.
He put his hand on Naru's shoulder as Naru continued to stand there while bowing.

"…The Vampires may be the first to get hurt if we start a war. Naru, do you understand this as their leader?"

Cale flinched for a moment after hearing that question.

'Of course, I do. How can I not?'

It was funny the White Star was saying such a thing, but he at least understood the meaning behind those words.

'That's why I tried to drag the Vampires in.'

Something Duke Fredo told him echoed in Cale's ear.

'Yes. Vampires are the same as well.'

Those words were the reason Cale had told the Vampires who live peaceful lives and have nothing to do with the war to trust him and not fall into chaos.

Cale slowly raised his bent waist.
He looked at the White Star and started to speak.

"Yes sir, I do."

The White Star looked annoyed for a moment.
However, nobody noticed as it disappeared almost immediately.

He looked toward Chief Priest Gersey for a moment and the Chief Priest nodded his head.
It was a signal to play along for a bit.
The White Star knew he should do that as well.

'…Tying them down even more might make them cut the ropes and escape.'

96 strong individuals.
It wasn't a bad idea to release them at least once so that they don't go crazy and cause a ruckus before running away.

He looked toward Naru Von Ejellan, the boy whom he thought would just quietly stay tied down. He started to speak to his nephew who was causing the greatest ruckus but still innocently bowing toward him.

"I will think deeply about this motion."

He then addressed everyone.

"Tomorrow evening. We will reconvene tomorrow."

Naru's motion.
They will discuss this motion further tomorrow evening.

The 96 noble awaiters. Their eyes sparkled as their minds quickly started to move.

"We will end today's meeting here."

The White Star who had stoically been looking at them forcibly ended the meeting.
However, nobody objected.

It was because an even bigger meeting would take place tomorrow.

* * *

Cale returned to Fredo's residence as soon as the meeting ended.

"We will come back at mealtime."
"Okay."

Cale said bye to Solena and Butler Melundo and walked into his bedroom.

"Cale-nim, you're here."
"Human!"

Choi Han and Raon welcomed Cale.
Cale casually nodded his head and immediately walked over to the couch and lay down.

Choi Han walked over to Cale and cautiously asked.

"Are you worried about something?"
"I'm not sure."

Cale didn't say much with an odd expression on his face.
Choi Han observed Cale's expression that seemed to be saying that he was worried about something before moving away.

It was at that moment.

"Ah! Human! Bud called! He said, 'okay,' and hung up when I said you weren't here!"

Choi Han and Raon could see Cale's expression turn odd at that moment.

'…What to do.'

Cale's mind started to become complicated.
The reason he originally wanted to cause a ruckus here was because he wasn't very interested in the citizens of this place.

But everywhere that people lived were pretty much the same.
The regular Vampires and Dark Elves… They seemed like normal neighbors.

'This is difficult.'

Even if he could now trust Duke Fredo as a leader and the Vampires' lives were similar to their own…

There was something Cale had to take care of with the Vampires.
Bud was involved with that as well.

"Connect him."

Cale motioned for Raon and Choi Han to look around with his eyes before sitting up.
He then looked toward the video communication device that Raon was connecting.

Ooooooong-

A light flashed and Bud's face appeared on the screen above the video communication device.

– Wow, shit! What the hell?!

Bud's face instantly stiffened.

– You crazy bastards! What the hell did you do to Cale Henituse?!
"Ah."

Cale immediately realized why Bud was reacting like this.

"It's me."
– What do you mean it's me? You wicked Vampire bastard! You must have sucked Cale's blood dry! You crazy bastard! I'm going to head to the Endable Kingdom right now and cut off your neck myself!
"I said, it's me."
– What do you mean it's me?

As Bud's face turned red with anger and his eyes had a cold gaze…
A chubby black front paw appeared in front of the screen and moved side to side.

"Bud! He is our human! He's currently under disguise!"
– Ah. Is that so?

'What?'

Cale frowned after seeing Bud accept Raon's statement right away and calm down after not trusting him at all.

– Huh? It really is him! That damn bitchy expression!
"…Are you crazy?"
– Ahem. Sorry.

Bud then smiled and had a sly look on his face.

– I heard you were going to the Endable Kingdom's base?
"…Even you heard about it?"
– Of course! I contacted his highness. I couldn't talk to you earlier.

Bud stopped talking for a moment before his face slowly stiffened and he took a few steps back.
Cale then saw the scenery behind Bud's shoulder through the video communication device.

"…You!"

Cale's face stiffened.

"Hey, Bud! That place is dangerous!"

Raon shouted in shock while Cale kept his mouth shut and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back.
He then started to speak.

"…Did you go to find the bodies?"

Bud calmly nodded his head.

– Yes. I can't let my friends' bodies stay in this cold and dangerous place.

The snowy mountain on the northern part of the Eastern continent.
Bud was at the place where almost the entire Ranger Brigade was probably killed and the place Cale and Bud's group had barely managed to escape from.
They could see mercenaries searching the mountain over Bud's shoulder.

Both Cale and Bud were silent for a moment.
Cale's heart then started to tilt.
Toward Bud of course.

His mouth slowly opened again.

"…It must be hard."
– Something is weird.

Cale and Bud. Both of them flinched at each other's comments and looked at each other.

"Hmm?"
– Huh?

Cale flinched before immediately asking.

"What is weird?"

Bud looked around the mountain as if it was difficult to explain before sighing and starting to speak.

– There are no bodies.
"What?"

Cale was truly shocked this time as he asked.

'There are no bodies?'

How could that be?
How could someone move close to 1,000 bodies?
The bastards who were running away from the avalanche managed to move all those bodies in only one or two days?

Cale suddenly had a thought and asked.

"Are the enemy bodies gone too?"
– No.

Bud shook his head.

– The numbers don't match. There are not enough bodies. Over half of them.

Over half of the bodies were missing.

– We found a little less than half of the bodies.

Bud seemed bitter but his eyes were full of sadness and anger.
At the same time, there was a look of hope as well.

'Hope?'

It happened the moment Cale found that emotion to be odd.

– There's one type of corpses missing that Pan explained.

The Rat Pan.
He was the Ranger who served as the leader of the 1,001 member Ranger Brigade.

"Hurry up and tell me."

Cale urged Bud who seemed to be hesitating to talk.
Bud took a deep breath before responding.

– Furthermore, the few Rangers you saved with Pan's information were all missing one type of injury.

Bud continued to speak.

– Pan's memory is quite good, so we were able to find the bodies quickly. However, we found that there was an error with Pan's memory.

That was the case.
As Bud mentioned, it would be an error if there wasn't a body in the spot Pan remembered.

Bud hesitated for a bit before starting to speak again.

– You said that you're working with that Duke Fredo bastard, right? You said he was interested in you.

As Bud suddenly mentioned Duke Fredo…

"Perhaps?"

Cale subconsciously started to speak.

"Pan clearly told me about it."

He recalled something the Rat Pan told him.

'There seems to be a Vampire! I found the corpse of one of our brigade members and there was no blood left in the corpse.'

Pan had also been extremely upset the first time they saw Duke Fredo.

'W, what nonsense! You're the leader of the bastards who sucked our brigade members' blood dry...!'

Cale looked at Bud's eyes through the screen.

"There were no bodies that had their blood sucked?"

– Yes. No injured people either.

Choi Han who had quietly been listening while looking at the door and the mirror looked toward the video communication device in shock.
Cale started to mumble at that moment.

"…You think, rather than Pan being wrong, that it has something to do with the Vampires?"

He looked toward the mirror that was a secret passage.
Duke Fredo was in the room two doors down.

'What is going on?'

Cale started to recall the battle from a few days ago.

'Did Pan remember wrong?'

That couldn't be it.
The rest of the bodies were where he said that they would be.

He heard Bud's anxious voice at that moment.

– Hey. Did you find the Illusionist?
"Ah!"

Cale subconsciously jumped up from his seat.

The northern snowy mountains.
The enemies who attacked them at that location. They had found the enemies who had attacked, however, they had not found one thing.

The Illusionist.
Who could that be?

Bud started to whisper.

– …Cale, what if Pan seeing a brigade member getting their blood sucked dry was an illusion?

Cale suddenly remembered something at that moment.
Vampires were said to specialize in camouflage and escape.

Then what was their leader's specialty?

'Is Fredo the Illusionist?'

Or…

'Is there a separate Illusionist?'

Then who could the Illusionist be?
Cale suddenly thought about someone else who was working with Fredo but was not a Vampire.

"…The Deputy Chief Priest?"

'Who else could be the Illusionist? Who the hell could the Illusionist be?'

Cale's mind quickly started to move.
Cale put the thought about who the Illusionist was aside before slowly recalling everything that had happened.

Cale had not told Fredo much because he could not trust him.
Similarly, Fredo had done the same as he could not trust Cale either.
However, Fredo had appeared in front of Cale and asked to make a deal or sign a contract without any hesitation.

What led him to do that?

"…There was something."

There was something that he trusted, something he could offer as a condition.
That was why he had acted so rash and confident.

'For example, Ranger Brigade members that he stealthily hid away.'

Cale subconsciously started to smile.

'Oh, how interesting.'

Duke Fredo.
He truly was not someone to look down on.

"Hey. Bud. Hang up for a bit."
– …I leave it to you.

The video communication device turned off and Cale started to talk to Choi Han.

"Open the mirror."

He needed to meet with Duke Fredo again.

***

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]