Chapter 542 – Did you miss me? (4)

"I didn't know I would be welcoming an esteemed guest all of a sudden."

Fredo said that while looking at Cale.
Cale shrugged his shoulders and pointed at Alberu.

"His highness the crown prince is the antsy type who likes to get things done quickly. Bob hyung is pretty antsy too."

Alberu's eyebrow slightly twitched, but Cale smiled and ignored it. Fredo thoroughly observed Cale and the now Bob/Alberu before starting to speak.

"I guess this esteemed guest has a pretty high position too."
"Yes."

Cale nodded his head without any hesitation and continued to speak.

"He just doesn't have an official title. Our Bob hyung has been like his highness the crown prince's twin brother since they were young."
"Hooo."
"It's normal that you wouldn't know about him, Duke."

Cale looked toward Alberu who started to speak as if he was responding to Cale's gaze.

"I've lived my entire life as his highness the crown prince's shadow."

It was not a lie.

Alberu in his quarter Dark Elf form…
That appearance was pretty much crown prince Alberu's shadow.

'How amazing.'

Choi Han was quietly looking away from Cale and Alberu who could lie so well without any issues.

Fredo looked toward the man whose face was covered from the nose up by a mask and started to speak.

"…That must be why this sir is responsible for the information network."

He was speaking respectfully to Bob.
Part of it was because Bob was the crown prince's proxy, but it was also because there was a mysterious aura about this Bob person as well.

Fredo recalled how Bob had introduced himself.

'Nice to meet you. My name is Bob and I am his highness, the crown prince's proxy and also the person in charge of the crown prince's information network.'

The part about how he was in charge of the information network stuck out to Fredo.

'He is the person at the center of the information.'

Fredo's gaze stealthily became sharp as he looked at Bob.

Information was sometimes more important than diplomacy, administration, and troops.
But the fact that someone in charge of that was this young must mean that this person was quite skilled.

Fredo saw Alberu Crossman as a talented but calm and collected person, so there was no way that Bob, someone that Alberu had selected, would be useless.

'I guess he is a vassal who has grown up and studied together with the crown prince since they were young?'

The part about how he was the crown prince's shadow was memorable as well.
It made it sound as if he had been guarding the Roan Kingdom while hiding in the darkness and transforming the Roan Kingdom into a strong kingdom.
Furthermore, it was shocking that he and Cale were calling each other brothers.

'Crown prince Alberu Crossman and Cale Henituse are sworn brothers too.'

Had the two of them and this Bob person who lived in the shadows created this sworn brotherhood between the three of them?

Alberu Crossman would handle things at the front end.
Cale Henituse would take care of the dangers throughout the kingdom and the Western continent.
Finally, Bob would take care of a lot of different things without showing himself in order to protect the kingdom.

'But it is shocking that this Bob is quarter Dark Elf.'

He thought that this might have been how the Roan Kingdom was able to connect with the Dark Elves.

'Shocking, truly shocking.'

Fredo tensed up.
He could not look down on this person.

Fredo stood up from the bed.

"I can't welcome you to such an important meeting looking like this."
"The place and your appearance are not important. The contents of the discussion are what are important."

Alberu was speaking gently and respectfully, but what he was saying was pressuring Fredo.

'Hand over proper compensation for the Roan Kingdom.'

Alberu was giving off that kind of aura without any concern.

Smile.

Fredo started to smile.

"Solena."
"Yes, sir."
"Tell the butler to bring some warm tea for our guest."
"Yes, sir."

Solena cautiously started to leave the bedroom.
However, she was looking at Fredo as if she was worried about leaving him alone. Fredo who noticed her gaze nodded his head. It was a sign letting her know that there was no need to worry.

Click.

Cale got up as soon as the door closed.

"Are you leaving?"
"There's no need for me to be here when two representatives of their respective kingdoms are chatting."

Fredo's expression turned off after hearing Cale's response.

He had felt this since earlier, but Cale was treating the Endable Kingdom as a formal kingdom.
Fredo who knew how hard it was to be accepted couldn't help but be a bit emotional at Cale's demeanor.

Alberu approached Cale who was trying to cross through the path in the mirror.
He had his back toward Fredo as he put his hand on Cale's shoulder and warmly started to speak.

"Okay, little brother. You go get some rest."

'Aigoo.'

Cale could see Alberu's eyes under the mask wickedly starting to curl up.

Cale really had no reason to be here.
Someone who was more of an expert in the Roan Kingdom's issues than Cale was personally here.

Cale recalled the conversation he had with the crown prince a few days ago through the video communication device.

'I want to go there.'
'…Haaaaa.'
'Don't sigh like that. There's something I want to see. I will go.'
'Looking like that?'
'No, I'll be in disguise. Just wait and see.'
'Huuuuuu.'

That call had ended with Cale sighing.

Cale patted the crown prince's shoulder as well. When else would he be able to be this rude to him?

"Okay."

Pat. Pat.

His patting oddly became stronger.

"Hyung, do a good job. Shouldn't you do a good job since you came as the Roan Kingdom's representative?"
"Haha. My dongsaeng's cheering is giving me strength. Sure, don't worry."

Cale held back his sigh after hearing Alberu's cheesy response and took a step into the passage.
He turned around and said something to Choi Han before he was completely through.

"Guard it well."
"Yes, Cale-nim."

Choi Han immediately headed to where Cale had been sitting.
He was walking toward the chair that was placed in front of the path heading underground.

"Mm."

Duke Fredo groaned.
Cale turned toward Duke Fredo and the two of them made eye contact.

"Duke, our side will guard that entrance from now on."
"…How amazing."
"What's so amazing? You know the current situation too."

Smile.

Cale started to smile.

"You need to offer me some sort of compensation. Think about what to offer me based on the current situation."

Fredo heard Cale's quiet voice.

"What would I want? Think hard about it."

Cale then exited the bedroom without any hesitation.

Shhhhh-

The mirror path closed behind him. It was Cale's way of saying that he was not going to get involved with it any longer.

Fredo quietly observed the closed path before looking at the path to the underground study that Choi Han was guarding.
He was slowly starting to get a feel for what it was that Cale wanted.

It was at that moment.

Tap. Tap.

He heard someone lightly tapping on the table.

"Duke-nim."

Fredo turned toward the source of the noise to see Bob, the person in charge of the Roan Kingdom's crown prince's information network, smiling at him.

"Why don't we have a nice chat?"

Alberu had a refreshing smile on his face, but his eyes were not smiling.

Fredo straightened himself out. He should focus on what this proxy of the Roan Kingdom's crown prince had to say right now.

"Of course."

Fredo and Alberu's discussion soon started.
Choi Han sat on the chair and looked at the closed mirror instead of at the two of them. He could see his reflection, but he was thinking about what was going on past the mirror.

"Raon."
"Yeah! Human, what's up?"

The secret area between Fredo and Naru's bedrooms.

Cale patted Raon's head and started to speak while in that middle room connecting the mirror passages.

"Choi Han will be guarding outside that underground passage for a while."
"That's right! I said I'll help him out and we will take shifts here and there! Didn't you tell us to do that?"
"Yes, yes. But you see…"

Raon could see the corners of Cale's lips started to go up as he patted him.

It was the look he had when he was plotting something.

"Turn invisible and go down there while Choi Han is guarding."
"Are you talking about the place with the White Star's portrait?"
"Yes."
"Secretly?"

Cale looked toward Raon.

"Yes, secretly. And make a copy of all the information down there. You should be able to just record it all with a video recording device."

Raon nodded his head.

"Alright!"
"Good, good."

Cale was sure that Fredo was currently thinking about whether he should offer information on the White Star to Cale as his compensation.

'But that'd be disappointing.'

However, Cale had no intention of accepting that as his compensation.

It was to stop the White Star.
Forget it being for the greater good of the world, it was beneficial for Fredo as well.

'That's why he should provide information about the White Star for free.'

Cale's group was fighting in his place, but forget giving him information that could help that battle, he was going to offer that as compensation?

Such things did not exist in Cale's mind.
However, Fredo probably thought that Cale wanted information on the White Star based on his gestures and would offer that information as the compensation for this Black Castle destruction plan and for destroying the facility that will turn the White Star into a member of the Demonic race.

'I'll have to reject it.'

He would then ask for something else.
Cale started to smile.

"Human! You look weird smiling like that!"

Cale slightly lowered the corners of his lips after hearing that.

"Much better!"

Cale sighed at that comment and headed into his, no, Naru's bedroom.

'The White Star who looks similar to Kim Rok Soo...'

However, he looked full of concerns as he walked.

"Raon. Have you tried contacting Miss Cage?"

He had scheduled to video chat with the God of Death's excommunicated priestess Cage tonight.
But he had received a message from Cage earlier.

'Young master-nim! I don't think we can chat tonight! I'm sorry! Something urgent came up!'

They could not contact her after getting that message.

"Human! Cage is still not picking up! She must be busy!"

Cale's gaze sank lower after hearing Raon respond the same way again.

Shhh.

Cale entered Naru's bedroom through the open mirror passage and looked out the window.

It was currently the middle of September.
It would soon be October.
November was not far away after that.

"Something's iffy."

Cale quietly started to think while standing by the window.

The White Star looked similar to Kim Rok Soo.
The White Star's life was cursed by the God of Death.

"They're similar."

For some reason, he had a feeling that the White Star's life was similar to Kim Rok Soo's life.

It was similar to how anything they started to cherish ended up disappearing.

"There's something there."

Cale's gaze was cold but nervous.

* * *

Alberu who entered Naru's bedroom through the mirror passage subconsciously started to speak.

"Aigoo?"
"Hyung, you're back?"

The twelve years old boy lying on the couch was casually waving his hand at Alberu.

"Hey, crown prince!"

The young Dragon who was similarly lying down next to him patted his belly that was chubby from eating too much food as he smiled brightly at Alberu.

"Raon-nim, I'm Bob."
"Ah, right! Nice to meet you, Bob!"
"Yes sir."
"Heh."

Alberu turned around after hearing that scoffing laugh.
The twelve years old boy had a smile that arrogant was not enough to describe its rudeness. Alberu looked down at Cale and started to speak.

"Your position is amazing."
"What's wrong? You want me to be respectful?"
"Whatever."

Alberu scoffed.

'He's milking the fact that I said he could speak informally to me.'

Raon fluttered his wings and flew up at that moment.

"I'm sure Choi Han is bored alone! I'll go stay with him!"

Raon then flew through the secret passage and headed for Fredo's bedroom.
He didn't need to be invisible right now because he was just going to be next to Choi Han.

Of course, Raon was holding a box of cookies the White Star had given Naru.

"Hey."
"What?"
"You sound rude."
"…I thought you told me to be fully invested in the act."

Pfft.

Alberu chuckled at Cale who was warily looking at him and tapped the foot of the boy who was lying down.

"What is it?"

Alberu calmly responded to the question the person who looked annoyed at the fact that he was tapping his foot asked.

"Let's go outside."
"…Outside?"
"Yeah."
"Do we have to?"

Cale looked extremely annoyed. He heard Alberu's calm voice at that moment. Maybe it was because of Raon's magic, but his voice that was lower than usual sounded extremely calm.

"Yes, I want to go outside."

He looked outside the window. Alberu's gaze was complicated as he looked out at the Endable Kingdom.
Although his face was covered by a mask, his visible eyes held multiple emotions.

"Hmm."

Cale had sat up at some point and was now leaning back on the couch as he looked at Alberu. Alberu noticed his gaze and asked.

"What's wrong? You don't want to go outside?"
"I'm debating."
"Debating what?"

Cale answered with a serious expression.

"Won't we have to eat and drink things if we go outside?"
"…Huh?"

Cale was debating what to do regardless of Alberu's confused response.
He did not have any of the Endable Kingdom's currency.

Cale recalled the allowance he had received from Count Deruth the first day he became Cale.
He remembered how shocked but happy he had been.

Cale had a serious thought as he nostalgically thought about that moment.

'I'm sure Naru must receive an allowance from Duke Fredo, right? Especially if he's 12 in human years?'

"Hyung. How much should I ask for an allowance?"
"…Huh?"
"Hmm. How much would twelve-year-olds usually get? Would it be enough to get as much as I give On?"
"…Why? Why would Duke Fredo give you an allowance?"
"Because I'm his son?"
"…I, is that so?"

Alberu looked toward Cale in shock.
Cale didn't care and headed for the bedroom door.

"Just wait here. I'll go loot some allowance money from Duke Fredo."

Tap!

The door opened and closed.
Cale had really gone over to Duke Fredo.

"…Ho!"

'He's not going over to receive allowance but to loot it?'

Alberu who was left alone scoffed in disbelief but nobody heard him.
A moment later…

"Wow! Hyung!"

Cale entered the room with a shocked expression.

Bang!

He quickly slammed the door shut and could not hide his shock.
He then held up a bundle of bills toward Alberu.

"Duke Fredo's generosity is no joke! He gave me a ton of money! Let's go outside!"

Alberu could see a boy who looked happier than ever as he tightly held the bundle of bills in his hands.

"…My goodness. I have something like this bastard as a dongsaeng..."

Cale walked over to Alberu who was looking at him with disbelief.
He looked up at Alberu and quietly whispered.

"I asked Solena for a good restaurant too. We'll go eat there. And then I need to buy something for Raon and Choi Han too."
"…Hey, you-"

Did you come here to play? Why do you look so excited?

Alberu who was about to say something then heard Cale quietly whisper something.

"The facility that will turn the White Star into a member of the Demonic race. We'll go take a look around there too."

Alberu who was about to say something closed his mouth. He looked down at Naru-Cale for a moment before starting to smile.

"That's a good plan. Dongsaeng."
"Right? Hyung, let's use all the money and ask Duke Fredo for more."

Alberu was at a loss for words again, but Cale did not know this as he carefully put the bundle of bills in a small spatial pocket bag.

***

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]