Chapter 26

# Chapter 26. <What Are You, Anyway?>

Three is not just any three. One is a slippery dragon, one is a mad priest who wants to cause a disturbance, and one is the scion of the Stan family.

"Huh."

A deep sigh involuntarily escaped from Kale's lips. He lowered his head and then raised it, sensing the atmosphere had become quiet. Puzzled by this, Kale looked at Hans.

Hans awkwardly smiled and gestured towards Tom, the squire with a sorrowful expression, and Taylor, whose face was visible through the carriage window.

Taylor smiled bitterly and spoke.

"If you feel uncomfortable, I'll step aside."

The eldest son of the abandoned viscount family. After becoming paralyzed from the waist down, Taylor's life plummeted into despair, receiving only minimal support from his family.

The noble children of the Stan family, who were not the heir, all turned their backs on Taylor, knowing he was as good as dead, and felt uncomfortable around him. Those who wanted to impress Benyon or his other siblings sometimes openly ignored Taylor. His situation was worse than that of a noble's son.

Taylor knew Kale, the rascal of the Hennitus family. The wealthy golden turtle, the young man with red hair. It was only Kale. Even if the Hennitus family was neutral, they might still feel uncomfortable associating with him. Everyone had felt that way since his body had become like this.

Taylor's reality was once again brought to his attention by Kale's sigh. At that moment,

"What are you stepping aside for?"

Kale, with his expressionless face, strode up to Taylor's carriage.

"This isn't my land. We're traveling together, so I won't do such childish things."

Kale faced Taylor through the carriage window and glanced inside.

'There he is.'

The mad priest Cage was staring at him from inside the carriage. Her curse magic was said to be truly bizarre. When others first saw her, they thought she was the reincarnation of a cursed profession, a necromancer.

Kale turned his gaze from Cage to Taylor and extended his hand.

"I am Kale Hennitus of the Hennitus family."

Taylor looked at the hand extended outside the carriage, then back at Kale's expressionless face. Click, Taylor opened the carriage door. By etiquette, he should have gotten out of the carriage to greet him. That was the proper thing to do.

"I have trouble moving my legs, so it's difficult for me to get out of the carriage."

"I know."

Taylor looked at Kale, who seemed indifferent to such things, and shook hands. Kale quickly grabbed and released his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Master Kale."

Not at all. Kale was not at all pleased. He didn't even want to receive an introduction to Cage and was about to turn around. But Taylor was overly polite.

"This is my companion, Priest Cage. She serves the God of Eternal Rest."

Eternal Rest. It was a euphemism for death. Kale suppressed a sigh that threatened to escape and looked at Cage. Cage, like a model of a kind priest, greeted him solemnly.

"Nice to meet you, Master Kale. I am Priest Cage. May the comfort of the night be with you."

Comfort of the night. It was a greeting that those who served the God of Death gave to ordinary people.

'Freezing hell.'

Kale didn't think he would get any sleep tonight. Looking at Cage, who was smiling kindly, he felt like drinking lemonade.

'You said you wanted to be excommunicated because you found it the most disgusting and troublesome to pretend to be good and a priest.'

She was good at acting. Kale smiled and calmly said to her, who was called a model of a kind priest.

"I don't believe in gods."

Cage's eyes took on a strange light. It was a look that said, "What kind of crazy talk is this in front of a priest?" But Kale welcomed that look. He hoped she would continue to think of him as a rascal.

"You're an interesting person."

"I'm just—"

Kale gave a vague answer to her words and looked around Taylor's carriage. For the eldest son of a viscount, his appearance was rather shabby. One knight, a servant as a coachman, and Cage and Taylor himself.

'He must have run out of money.'

He must have spent a lot of money installing magical devices in the mansion in Purse City. Since he couldn't receive proper support from the viscount family, he probably couldn't use his emergency funds either. He would try to minimize expenses as much as possible.

Taylor closed his eyes tightly and then opened them, trying to suppress his shabbiness. Kale looked at him indifferently and fell into thought.

'They seem to be heading to the capital because of me.'

Their direction was obvious. The capital, the crown prince.

"Hans."

"Yes, Master."

Kale gave a rough instruction to Hans, who was approaching.

"Help them."

"Yes."

"Also, take care of their meals. Set up a campsite next to ours."

He didn't want to eat with them. He didn't want to share a campsite either.

"And don't look for me. Help them as you see fit."

He didn't want to create any unnecessary entanglements. Of course, he didn't expect things to go smoothly.

"Yes, I will serve them as I would serve you, Master."

"And bring some wine."

Why did he suddenly become so enthusiastic? Kale looked at the enthusiastic Hans with a puzzled expression and bowed his head slightly to Taylor as a substitute for a greeting.

"Then I'll be going, Master Taylor."

"Yes, thank you for your consideration, Master Kale."

"Consideration? No, not at all."

With a strange expression, Taylor greeted him, and Kale turned away without hesitation. He headed straight to his carriage without looking anywhere else. Of course, he gave instructions to the deputy commander who was following him.

"There's one knight on their side. Deputy Commander, you'll also manage their night watch."

"Yes, Master."

Before getting into the carriage, Kale confirmed that the deputy commander was talking to Taylor's knight. It was about the night watch. Seeing the knight's face brighten, Kale immediately got into the carriage.

Click. The carriage door closed with a light sound. The others looked at the closed carriage door, the carriage with the golden turtle emblem, for a moment before they all started doing their own things. Only Cage and Taylor, who had nothing to do at the moment, stared at the closed door.

When Kale got into the carriage, two cats greeted him.

"I know those people."

"Hong. I saw them too."

The cats, who had been watching the situation outside the window, came and sat next to him, whispering to each other. Although Kale didn't see their conversation, it was a question directed at him.

Kale said to the quick-witted cats.

"Pretend you don't know them."

"Like a dragon?"

"Yeah."

The cats nodded in agreement. Kale confirmed this and crossed his arms, closing his eyes.

'Star of Healing.'

It was the name of the ancient power he had told Taylor and Cage about. Kale learned about this power because of the crown prince and the square terror incident.

Star of Healing. A one-time ancient power that could return a person's wounds or illness to their previous healthy state. The crown prince possessed this power, given to him by the deceased queen.

During the square terror incident, when the royal family appeared, the secret organization launched the attack. Magic bombs exploded all over the square and the capital.

At that moment, Chae Han could only block half of them. It was a tremendous feat, and the kingdom highly regarded him, but Chae Han himself was haunted by the memory of those who died in the other explosions, fueling his hatred for the secret organization.

'At that time, the secret organization planted a few bombs on people.'

Chae Han, along with the genius magician Rosalyn, first blocked the bombs planted on people and helped them evacuate. There was one old man whom Chae Han couldn't save at the time.

The old man lost his right arm and leg when he threw off the bomb, and Chae Han was quite distressed. Seeing the old man's injuries, the crown prince recalled the Star of Healing, which was mentioned in a book.

Of course, the crown prince did not use this power on the old man. Instead, he comforted Chae Han, who felt guilty for not saving the old man, and praised him as a hero.

'Maybe it's natural.'

Kale did not think the crown prince's judgment was wrong. It was his own thing, and what right did he have to say anything? Of course, if it were Chae Han or Rosalyn, they would have used the power.

"Is the dragon following us?"

To Hong's question, Kale nodded indifferently.

'If it's like this, I might as well use the dragon well.'

He had tried to save and guide the dragon, but it wasn't like a grateful magpie or a tiger brother, and it was following him around. He had already decided how to use it after thinking for two nights.

Kale knew the locations of the five magic bombs that Chae Han had found, but he did not know the exact locations of the other five that had exploded without being found.

For the five bombs that were found, Chae Han discovered them one by one through Rosalyn's genius mana sensing ability.

However, Kale had a being with a mana sensing ability far superior to Rosalyn's, following him like a duckling without its mother.

"I should make it work hard."

The cats flinched, but Kale, unaware of their reaction, began to organize the tasks he would assign to the dragon in the capital. The next morning