Book 2: Chapter 209: Young Master Silver s.h.i.+eld, return of the legend (6)
There is a saying in the Roan Kingdom.
‘We may be sharing an era with a person who may go down in the history of the Roan Kingdom as a great king.’
The person they are talking about was naturally Alberu Crossman.
Despite just being a crown prince, Alberu was being called a future great king alongside the founding king and some others throughout the Roan Kingdom’s history.
However, there was another person who was similar but different from Alberu Crossman.
Cale Henituse.
He was already a great hero.
His existence wasn’t an expectation for greatness in the future like Alberu, he was already great.
But he himself did not know this reality yet.
He did not know the pedestal that people put a hero on. It was much greater than what he was imagining.
However, the people around him were feeling it quite a bit.
“What is it?”
One of them was Lily.
She jerked her head up after hearing Cale’s nonchalant voice. His casual gaze was looking at Lily quite thoroughly.
“It’s nothing!”
Lily responded energetically but the inside of her mouth went dry.
‘What do I do?’
At first, she was happy to hear that Cale would attend the opening ceremony of the school term in place of their parents. She was even happier knowing that her second brother, Basen, would be there as well.
It was the first time the three siblings would travel somewhere together.
She was as happy as she expected to be, at least until yesterday.
Her Cale orabuni always made time to eat with them despite being busy.
‘He also listened to my dreams.’
The night before they left the Henituse territory to head to the capital…
Cale called it future counseling and asked Lily about the future she dreamt about.
Lily was nervous and answered awkwardly at first before starting to relax and sharing her thoughts after seeing that Cale was seriously listening to her.
‘I thought that battles and war were different. That is why I want to learn Military Science, and after graduation, head out to a remote area, or a new frontier. I want to experience something new to gain some real experience.’
Cale had lightheartedly answered her.
‘Go ahead and challenge whatever you want.’
His voice was extremely calm as if he didn’t care, but…
‘I’ll help you.’
Lily was quite familiar with her orabuni’s style now.
‘And don’t overdo it.’
She was happy to hear that.
She felt that Cale, who was so busy that they rarely got to see him, was always thinking about her, Basen, and the family.
The fact that the family was on his mind made her happy.
Clack.
The carriage stopped.
Teleportation was not allowed inside the Academy other than during emergency situations.
Even during emergencies, you needed to have an ID of the Dean or higher in order to use it.
There were many reasons for this, including protecting the Academy from enemy infiltration and to prevent the Magic Education Department from causing trouble.
That was the reason Cale’s group teleported from the capital to near the Academy before riding a large carriage to enter into the Academy.
Of course, they did not put the family coat of arms on the carriage.
The outside was pandemonium right now.
‘I’m sure everybody is here to see orabuni.’
Students, alumni, external figures, parents, etc… The Academy was currently rowdy with a large group of people who received permission to be here.
That fact made her happy but also pressured her.
“Lily.”
Lily subconsciously answered after Cale called out to her again.
“What if I can’t do it?”
She was just rambling.
But she quickly stopped talking.
In addition to Cale and Basen, there were some other people in this carriage.
Remembering that fact made her feel embarra.s.sed.
‘I hope they didn’t understand what I meant-’
She hoped that they would not see the fear in her heart about potentially making her great hero older brother look bad or being unable to even reach her orabuni’s shadow, making others talk bad about her.
She heard a nonchalant voice at that moment.
It was Cale.
“If you can’t do it, then you can’t do it.”
Lily looked at him and he shrugged his shoulders as if to ask what the issue was.
He couldn’t help it.
‘It’s not like I’ve gone to school properly to know anything.’
Kim Rok Soo’s student days could not be called good at all.
It wasn’t terrible, but considering things as black and white, it was grey.
It was an extremely dull and boring time.
That was why he didn’t have much to tell Lily.
‘And even this body, Cale Henituse didn’t study either.’
He was busy without time to study as he was acting like trash.
“…Will it be okay if I can’t do it?”
Lily was supposed to get off the carriage but still asked cautiously, making Cale respond first with a confused look on his face.
“Okay for who? Me?”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll be fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Why would it affect him?
“If you can’t reach the goal you set for yourself, you might not be okay with it. You are pretty compet.i.tive. So make sure to control your stress level properly. Otherwise, it will start affecting you physically.”
Cale said what he needed to say before looking at Lily.
“Plus, aren’t you the type who doesn’t care about what others say or gossip about?”
A smile formed on Lily’s mouth at that moment.
The smile subconsciously flowed out like a scoff.
“That’s right!”
Her face lit up just like her excited voice.
Lily, who had been using a sword, a greatsword at that, since she was young, would never have been able to do that if she cared about what others thought.
What she was worried about was not what other people would say, but potentially disappointing her family.
However-
‘Our family won’t be like that.’
Cale wasn’t like that and neither was Basen.
Nor her parents.
Lily made eye contact with Choi Han as well.
“I was bad at school. I was very bad.”
Lily flinched because the way he said that with his innocent-looking face made it seem extremely honest. Basen chimed in at that moment.
“I did very well.”
As Lily scowled as she couldn’t dispute that…
Basen continued to speak.
“But I am not as good with the sword as you are.”
Her younger orabuni. Lily had thought about it after hearing people only talking about Cale and discussing the future of the Henituse territory with Cale as the territory lord.
‘Basen orabuni is no joke either.’
In fact, Basen might make the territory better than Cale, who roamed around outside the territory all the time.
Was it because he didn’t train in sword art?
There were many people who said that Lily would be great in the future, but they tended to just treat Basen as a diligent and slightly smart second son.
But Lily knew very well that that was not the case.
‘Cale orabuni knows as well.’
She knew that was the reason he wanted to pa.s.s the position of territory lord to Basen.
She could see it now.
‘Basen orabuni is not swayed by what others say.’
It was because his parents, Cale, and the people of the Henituse territory all accepted and trusted him.
Basen himself trusted his abilities as well.
“Lily. Just like how what you and I are good at and want are different, people are all different.”
“Even I know that!”
Lily quickly answered and opened the carriage door.
She then rushed out before giving a short goodbye to her two orabunis.
“See you both later.”
“I’m getting off with you.”
Basen sighed and got off behind her.
Cale chuckled while looking at the two of them.
“See you both later.”
Click.
The carriage door closed.
Cale opened his mouth to speak.
“Ron. What did you learn?”
“There wasn’t much, young master-nim.”
More people were gathered at the Academy than ever before. Basically all corners of the Academy were full of people.
“I especially looked into any terrorist organizations or groups doing anything radical, but apparently things are quiet since Arm was disbanded. As for the underworld, the factions are busy fighting each other.”
Cale nodded his head at Ron’s report.
He then asked someone else.
“Did Choi Jung Soo contact you, team leader-nim?”
“No.”
Sui Khan shook his head.
Choi Han’s face did not look good.
‘The Five Colors Bloods may be wanderers.’
Cale had immediately shared the information he heard from Myung with Sui Khan and Choi Han.
Choi Jung Soo was not there, making him unable to tell him.
He had some things to do.
‘He said he was going to go visit the G.o.d of Death.’
Since they were done with things in the Martial Arts world, he had to go report about the tasks he completed as a wanderer.
Cale knew this and had immediately used the mirror to contact the G.o.d of Death, but…
‘He didn’t pick up.’
He seemed to be busy.
He left a message instead.
< Send Choi Jung s...o...b..ck. >
< And the Five Colors Bloods seem to be wanderers. >
He clearly read the message but did not respond.
‘It is either one or the other.’
He was either truly fl.u.s.tered or not treating it as a big deal because what he expected to happen happened.
Cale was waiting for Choi Jung Soo and the G.o.d of Death.
“This is an honor, Sir Cale!”
‘f.u.c.k.’
He had no time to focus on the Five Colors Bloods right now.
The Chancellor bowed almost ninety degrees.
“It is an honor!”
The different Deans all greeted him together as well.
– Human, human! Your pupils are shaking!
He couldn’t really hear what the invisible Raon was saying.
It was because of what the Chancellor said next.
“Hahaha. People really wanted to hear your speech, Sir Cale. We were barely able to decrease the number from reaching the tens of thousands.”
‘Hmm? Tens of thousands?’
“I, I am looking forward to your speech as well.”
‘Mm.’
Cale cautiously opened his mouth.
“I heard this was for celebrating the return to school, so I didn’t prepare too much. I heard most of these speeches do not go over twenty minutes-”
“Hahahaha! Please don’t worry!”
The Chancellor laughed. He laughed quite loudly.
“We canceled everything after this for you, Sir Cale!”
– Human! Your pupils are continuing to shake!
“So anything you do is fine. Please just share the great deeds you have experienced with the students, Sir Cale. It will be a great thing for the children to model. For us adults as well.”
– Human, human! Why are you smiling like an over ripened persimmon?
“I will look forward to it, Sir Cale. No, Commander-nim! Hahaha!”
“…Yes…I will give it my best.”
‘I didn’t really prepare anything for the speech.’
As someone who hated these speeches while going to school, Cale had planned on a clean, tidy, and short speech.
‘Wouldn’t the students like that?’
That was what he thought.
‘I think I thought wrong.’
Cale had to face a situation that was different from what he had expected.
* * *
There was a small plaza in the Academy.
This was called the central plaza as many departmental buildings were around it.
“Mm.”
Cale let out a groan.
“What is wrong?”
The Chancellor spoke extremely gently to him. Cale found it burdensome that the Chancellor was acting like this from the start, but he answered for now.
“It is similar to the capital.”
“That’s right. We got the idea from the capital.”
Cale’s face turned odd. The Chancellor saw this and smiled extremely gently as he spoke.
“You must be thinking about that place.”
“…Excuse me?”
“The starting point of the legend.”
Cale’s expression stiffened up.
The Chancellor didn’t care and excitedly continued.
“I’m sure you are thinking about the plaza where you revealed your s.h.i.+eld to the world for the first time? You can consider this place a miniature of that place. Roan Academy. Since we named our Academy as such, we designed the Academy to resemble the capital as much as possible. Hahaha!”
Unlike the Chancellor who was laughing with pride, Cale awkwardly smiled.
‘…Something feels off.’
Although it was small compared to the capital, people filled this decently large plaza. Cale was feeling déjà vu as he looked down at the plaza from a nearby building.
It made him think of the past for some reason.
‘Anyway, this Chancellor is amazing.’
Cale realized that the Chancellor, who acted brightly without caring at all about the fact that Cale was feeling uncomfortable, was truly a snake.
He stealthily increased the length of time for the speech and the size before informing Cale about it.
He told Cale that these were things he should have informed Cale about in advance, but the terror warning and unexpected requests forced him to make sudden changes.
‘I don’t like it.
I heard that he is a former Prime Minister.’
There seemed to be multiple snakes inside the Chancellor.
“Sir Cale. Please come this way.”
Cale realized that the main event for today was not the return to school ceremony but his speech.
He sighed and walked out of the building.
Next to him was Choi Han as his guard knight.
The moment he was about to head to the platform in the plaza…
‘Mm.’
Swish.
People’s gazes turned to Cale so quickly it felt as if a gust of wind blew by.
Cale, who just stepped out of the building and was about to walk forward, became anxious after seeing hundreds of eyes on him.
‘Are there over 1,000 people?’
There were quite a lot of people.
There were people pushed up against the windows in nearby buildings to look at Cale as well.
– Human, this is a bit scary.
Cale ignored Raon’s comment and ignored the gazes as he walked.
Raon was currently with On, Hong, Sui Khan and the others in the building with the best view of the platform.
– Human, the red is pretty!
There was even a red carpet on the path Cale was using.
‘How embarra.s.sing.’
Cale really felt embarra.s.sed.
– Human, Sui Khan is being weird! He keeps laughing!
‘f.u.c.k.’
Cale wanted to ignore Raon but Raon’s voice was too clear.
Why? Because it was quiet.
It was silent despite so many people being gathered here.
They were all keeping their mouths shut while looking at Cale.
‘It’s hot.’
It was hot despite not even being spring.
Cale looked around to help release this stuffy feeling.
He was trying to locate Lily.
Basen was probably with her as well.
Cale then looked toward a group of students who looked organized unlike the other students.
This group of students were standing at attention.
One of the Knights Education students made eye contact with Cale.
‘Ah-’
The red-haired man wearing the black uniform that was the symbol of the Commander.
His physique looked feeble to be a knight but he did not look weak at all.
Maybe it was because of the aura implicitly coming out of Cale’s body, but…
The student could see that the eyes of the man who endured through many life-or-death crises did not show any signs of anxiety or nervousness.
He looked composed despite having so many people in front of him.
The student subconsciously opened his mouth.
He didn’t even know he was saying something.
“s.h.i.+eld-”
Cale flinched.
But that was just the beginning.
The young and easily excitable students latched onto this opportunity someone gave them.
“s.h.i.+eld!”
It started with the Knights Education Department.
“s.h.i.+eld! s.h.i.+eld!”
Then the Military Science Department shouted.
The noise started to spread.
The students ardently shouted ‘s.h.i.+eld!’ at Cale as he headed toward the platform.
‘Wow-
This is driving me crazy.’
Cale really felt as if he was going crazy.
– Human, the crown prince has arrived as well!
‘No……’
– Human, the crown prince is laughing so much! He says he is happy! I’m happy too! I don’t know what is going on, but I’m happy to see you being cheered like this, human!
The innocent little Dragon’s words made it so that Cale could not react in any way.
Instead, he walked quickly, but not too noticeably quickly, toward the platform.
He then stood in front of the magic amplification device.
‘I’ll just say something nice and walk down.’
That was the thought on his mind.
He purposely did not prepare much.
‘They won’t look for me anymore if I give a boring speech.
Or at least they won’t call me for such a thing.’
Of course, he was still not planning on speaking nonsense. He planned on honestly telling his story to the students who excitedly came to his speech.
“…….”
Cale raised his hand.
The students shouting s.h.i.+eld quieted down.
They automatically closed their mouths after seeing the charismatic Commander, but Cale was thinking that they listened very well as he opened his mouth.
“Nice to meet you.”
‘Let’s start with a greeting.’
– Human!
‘I only gave a greeting. What now?’
– Choi Jung Soo is here!
Ooooooooong.
Cale could feel the divine item vibrating in his s.h.i.+rt pocket.
– Choi Jung Soo asked me to tell you right now!
Cale’s gaze subconsciously headed toward the top window of the building Raon should be at.
Raon’s voice sounded urgent.
Click.
The window opened and Choi Jung Soo showed his face through the ledge.
It was hard to see because of the distance but he could at least tell it did not look good.
– Human!
Raon urgently shouted.
– He says there seems to be another wanderer here! Choi Jung Soo can sense it!
It was at that moment.
– The sky.
One of the ancient powers started speaking.
– The sky is weird.
It was the Sky Eating Water. She was reacting to something.
Cale lifted his head up.
He could see the clear sky.
However, he could see a small dot extremely far up in the sky.
It was a black dot.
His instincts were telling him something.
That is a person.
No, it was a wanderer.
Cale’s experience and instincts were telling him.
He had no idea how the situation ended up like this, but…
He had no idea what had happened until now and could not tell what kind of relations.h.i.+p anybody had with that wanderer, but…
Something was about to happen.
Cale looked down to see a ton of people, especially a lot of young students.
“f.u.c.k.”
—
Translator’s Comments
Ahhhh….s.h.i.+t.
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