Chapter 68: When I came home… (7)

Cale contemplated in his mind after seeing the sparkling gazes of the Xiaolen people.

'I want to send them out.'

The people who had gathered to see him use this heater divine item…

Of course, they seemed to have taken Cale into consideration as only those in extremely important positions were here.

'I feel like some of them will leave if I say, 'Get out,' a few times…'

Cale looked up at the ceiling.

'But it's annoying.'

If he asked the Pope or Imperial Princess Olivia to send people out, then the people being forced out would say a comment or two about if they can stay.

'It'll take more time to listen to all of their complaints.'

Then he might really be here all night.

'Let's just do it.'

Normal Cale, no, if he was in the Roan Kingdom, Cale would have tried his best to get out of this kind of center-of-attention situation. However…

'I'll never have to see these people again.'

He would return to the Roan Kingdom soon.

'Yeah, it'll just be a waste of time arguing with people I will never see again.'

Of course, he could use the divine item that the God of Death gave him to chat with people here since Xiaolen was registered as a visited dimension. But…

'Why bother?'

He had no reason to do that.

He had done enough, so they should take care of the rest.

'There will be a statue of me anyway.'

They said that they were going to put a statue of Cale in the central plaza of the capital, as well as the four directional precincts where Cale had defeated the monsters.

The areas that were purified while he was taking down those monsters would be commemorated by a Temple for the Church of the Fire of Purification.

"Haaaaa."

Cale sighed because just thinking about that gave him a headache.

"…!"

The Pope flinched for a moment in response, but she had to answer Cale's question soon.

"Have you gotten rid of all of the doors?"

"Yes, sir."

The Pope turned to look at the Imperial Princess.

"All of the traps in this underground area have been disarmed and the doors in the hallways have been removed. We have moved all the jiangshis into open areas."

The only way into this underground plaza was through the Emperor's bedroom.

There was a large open area once he stepped through this door located at the end of this vast underground space.

That was where the jiangshis made from the corpses of the former Emperors, necromancers, Dragons, and others had been placed.

The once-emptied area was filled with jiangshis again, and the jiangshis that had been in two different places outside the capital were now placed in different rooms in this area.

"I should do it in the hallway."

Cale walked out of that area and into the hallway.

"I won't say anything about you all watching, but…"

Cale's gaze headed toward Olivia, the Pope, and the rest of the Xiaolen people.

Some of these people had personally seen what Cale and his people had done, but others had only heard through video communication devices or news.

They were all skilled people who had been outside the capital. Some of them were not even citizens of the Empire.

'I'm sure the Imperial Princess called them.'

Cale was not interested.

However, although he was fine with them watching…

"Please don't get in my way. It will not do any of us any good to do so."

Cale activated the Dominating Aura before speaking because he was annoyed.

Doing this made most people not talk back.

"Pfft."

Cale heard Eruhaben chuckling and saw Sui Khan covering his mouth, but he ignored them.

– Human, you kind of look as serious as the crown prince!

He ignored Raon as well.

Instead, Cale slowly headed toward the hallway.

Tap. Tap.

He stopped walking, stood in the hallway, and looked around.

He could see the numerous jiangshis placed behind where the doors had once been located.

"Anyway, this is my first time using a divine item, so I plan on seeing what happens. I plan on purifying all of the jiangshis in the next few days."

Cale gave a short explanation to the people listening before focusing on the heater.

Thankfully, nobody asked any questions nor tried to talk to him.

'As expected, Cale, this punk…'

Eruhaben shook his head after seeing Cale looking at the heater with satisfaction after seeing that everybody was quiet.

This aura that Cale used every so often… The ancient Dragon chuckled while seeing the Xiaolen people keep their mouths shut because of the aura.

He only chuckled internally.

'He's using it now.'

It was because Cale started using the divine item.

Cale placed the heater that was the size of his palm on top of it.

'You just need to channel your power into it.'

The directions were simple according to the Pope.

– Cale, are you using it?

The moment the cheapskate spoke with anticipation…

Cale started channeling the Fire of Destruction.

Oooooong– oooooong–

This transparent heater that resembled a wooden furnace…

The red fire burning inside of it…

The white smoke rising up from that fire…

Crackle. Crackle.

Rose-gold current wrapped around Cale's hand.

"Ho-"

Cale's eyebrow slightly twitched as someone gasped in admiration.

Thankfully, they quickly quieted down.

'Let's use about ninety percent of my current power to start.'

The Fire of Destruction was still at about two times efficiency right now.

'So that should result in an overall strength of 180 percent.'

There were over 1,000 jiangshis.

He probably could not purify all of them at once.

'It seems kind of obvious that I will need to use it multiple times.'

How much could the little bit of smoke that flows out of this tiny heater purify?

That was why Cale was not going to use all of his strength at once. He needed to control his condition. He would then take a break, use his power, and rinse and repeat to maintain his condition.

– Human, don't overdo it!

Raon sent him a message in his mind.

– Use it, rest, and then do it again! Let's do that! Human, let's go without coughing up any blood until the end! I'm going to imprison you inside my castle if you cough up blood!

'Listen to this kid saying such scary things.'

Cale had that thought while also having another thought at the same time.

'…Wouldn't it be a vacation if I have to sit in Raon's castle without doing anything?'

As Cale's thoughts drifted away…

– Cale!

The cheapskate's voice brought Cale back.

He then focused on the divine item.

Crackle.

'That's weird, there isn't that much of a reaction.'

– Cale!

"Mm."

Cale subconsciously clenched his eyes shut at that moment.

'What the hell is this?!'

It was being sucked in.

Swoosh.

The Fire of Destruction was being sucked into the heater.

– Cale, fifty percent has already been sucked in!

It had all happened in an instant.

It didn't even take a few seconds.

'Ugh!'

Although it was a tiny little heater, the Fire of Destruction was being sucked into it at such high speed.

– Cale, quickly stop using your power!

'That motherfucking Fire of Purification! I shouldn't have trusted a god!'

– Cale, it's already seventy, no, seventy-five!

Cale's eyes were still clenched shut as he focused.

He had no idea what was going on in the area around him right now.

He could only focus on pulling back his power.

Pulling back the power that was already sucked in was more different than he had expected. It felt as if he was trying to cover a fist-sized hole in a dam with his bare hand.

– Eighty, no, wow, this is bad! It's already at eighty-nine!

'Fuck!'

The heater was greedily gobbling up Cale's power.

– Hey, hey! It's over ninety! It's at ninety-two!

The cheapskate seemed to be quite anxious as he was just saying hey, hey to Cale instead of calling his name, but… Cale could not focus on that.

– Ninety-four, ninety-five–

At that moment…

– Ha. That's a relief.

The moment the cheapskate sighed in relief…

– Good job, Cale.

Cale barely managed to pull back his power.

– Wow, that could have been really bad. Cale, you would have coughed up blood and fainted if you had used 100 percent of your power. You might have had to be taken home unconscious without the farewell party. No, maybe you wouldn't have been able to go back home?

Cale heard the cheapskate's voice but he could not pay any attention.

'Shit.'

Ninety-six.

He barely managed to stop after using ninety-six percent of the Fire of Destruction.

"Ugh."

Cale's body staggered.

He was dizzy.

"Cale-nim."

Cale heard Choi Han's voice and felt someone supporting him. He leaned his body toward the supporting person.

'I'm dizzy.'

He could not open his eyes because it felt as if he was having a severe case of motion sickness.

'What is going on? I didn't even go beyond the limits of my power.'

He had quite a terrible headache.

– Cale, Cale?

The cheapskate was anxious, but the Super Rock calmly explained.

– I think your body is in a state that is similar to exhaustion because the power was sucked in at such a rapid pace.

'Is that it? Is that why I am so dizzy?'

He felt as if he had been in an extremely fast car driving on a swerving mountain road for hours.

– Human! Are you okay? Human, do you feel like you are going to faint? Do you feel like throwing up?

He heard Raon's extremely concerned voice.

He did feel as if he might throw up because he was so dizzy.

– I knew it would be like this! I knew you would cough up blood after creating such a great spectacle! Are you going to faint? Human, I'm not going to let you leave my house if you faint!

Cale flinched after hearing Raon's endless rant.

'…Did he say great spectacle?'

He was sure that that was what Raon had said. He had said that Cale had created 'such a great spectacle.'

'What is going on?'

Cale started to feel an unexplainable sense of anxiety.

It reminded him of whenever Eruhaben looked at him with a pitying gaze.

'No.'

Cale did his best to ignore his dizzy head and opened his eyes.

"Huh?"

He was then flabbergasted.

'What the hell?'

The whole area was full of smoke.

'No, the smoke-'

He was sure that the smoke of the heater had been white.

But it was different now.

"Cale-nim, are you okay?"

The smoke was red.

There were also pebbles here and there that were sparkling gold.

It felt as if the stars themselves were sparkling inside the red sunset.

"…Yes. I'm fine."

Cale gently pushed Choi Han, the only person who was still not covered by smoke and was visible, away and stood up straight.

'Ah.'

Cale finally realized it.

The heater that had been on his palm was no longer there.

'…Shit.'

The heater had left his hand and was floating in the air.

It was continuously releasing red smoke and there was a rose gold fire fiercely burning inside of it.

The heater that had looked like it was made of transparent glass was now red with a golden halo around it.

"What the hell just happened?"

Cale looked around despite not being able to see much because of the smoke as he commented.

"That is what I want to ask you."

Eruhaben approached Cale through the smoke and asked.

Sui Khan was behind him as well.

'Mm.'

Cale was certain after seeing the mischievous smile on Sui Khan's face.

'Something big happened again.'

"What happened, Eruhaben-nim?"

Eruhaben sighed after hearing Cale ask him that question.

"You used the divine item and red smoke suddenly started rising from it before filling the whole area. It is difficult to see anything, but it did not cause any other damage."

"…It is quiet all around us despite not being able to see."

There had been quite a lot of spectators, but it was quiet.

He felt as if he could hear quiet whispers every so often, but he could not hear anything clearly.

He couldn't see anybody either.

"That is because-"

Eruhaben opened his mouth as if he was frustrated before closing it back.

'Who would dare to talk after you showed such a holy sight?'

He could not say that to Cale.

Eruhaben recalled that holy sight from a few moments ago.

The moment Cale placed that heater-like divine item on his palm and closed his eyes…

Oooooong– oooooong–

The divine item started vibrating before it absorbed the rose-gold current on Cale's hand.

Swoooooooosh-

A gust of wind had come out of the divine item.

The divine item left Cale's hand and floated in the air right around the center of Cale's chest.

When that happened, Cale was still scowling with his hand out.

Oooooooong- Ooooooooong-

The divine item's rumbling had become more intense.

The moment Eruhaben thought that rose-gold light was going to go into the heater nonstop…

The heater had slowly turned red.

'It then released the smoke.'

The white smoke had turned red.

The red smoke had a golden glow to it.

The amount of smoke coming out of the small heater was not much.

However, that smoke slowly started to spread out.

It resembled a red drop of blood dripped onto a piece of paper spreading across the whole piece of paper.

'No, it's a bit different.'

It was not just a small drop.

It was more like a piece of paper that fell onto a lake. It would slowly get wet at first before it was completely consumed and lost its form.

'The whole area filled with red smoke.'

People had caused a bit of a ruckus at that point, but they had soon quieted down.

Oooooooong- Ooooooooong-

The smoke was warm yet refreshing and gave off a mysterious holy aura.

It was so holy that even someone who didn't know what holy was would be able to feel it. This smoke was like that.

That smoke then wrapped around Cale.

Cale had been standing at the center of it, feeding the heater nonstop with his rose-gold thunderbolt.

Once he stopped using his power…

'Ugh!'

The moment he groaned and staggered…

The red smoke scattered in all directions like an exploding volcano, making it so that they could not see anything.

'It is easy to breathe.'

Eruhaben thought that it was extremely easy to breathe in this smoke.

Although it wasn't that it was overflowing with mana nor that the air quality was good…

He thought that this might be what it feels like if your whole body was purified.

"Huuuuuu."

Eruhaben let out a sigh.

He could not explain all of this to Cale.

That was why the ancient Dragon just gave a simple response.

"You just did what you always do."

Yes, that was the only thing he could really say.

—
Translator's Comments

We all feel you, Eruhaben-nim.

***

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]