Cale started to think.
'Should I run?'
But that Whale's pupils were accurately looking at him. He also seemed to be putting strength into his hands, as Cale could see the Whale's fingers digging into the ground. His strength was unbelievable even though he seemed to be close to death.
He had a single question on his mind.
'A Whale tribe member being hurt by mermaid poison?'
An answer quickly floated across Cale's mind.
Mixed blood.
That was the only possible answer.
Cale quickly thought through the contents of, 'The Birth of a Hero.' There were no mixed-blood characters in the Whale Tribe that was almost as low in number as the dragons.
'But there was one that died.'
Cale started to frown and worry.
"Ugh."
The Whale could not crawl anymore. His body started to shake without being able to do anything else. At that moment, Cale heard the Black Dragon's voice in his head.
– Human, are you not going to help?
The Black Dragon doubtingly asked. Cale did not answer the question and stood up. He hated useless feelings and reaching out a helping hand for no reason. However.
"Hey."
Cale approached the mixed blood Whale and crouched in front of him. The Whale human who was shaking on the ground slowly lifted his head.
This long-haired man really lived up to the stories about how the Whales were so beautiful that they made elves look like squids. Such a beautiful man was looking at Cale.
"…Save-"
Cale answered without any sort of emotion in his voice.
"Yes. I'll save you."
A mixed-blood Whale human. Cale knew that it might be more painful for this Whale to be alive than to die in the next few moments. He was sure that the Whale knew this to be true as well. ( (PR: Beastmen shall have their tribes animal capitalized, normal animals shall not) )
Cale recalled the conversation the Whale King had with Lock in the novel.
< "You are a pure-blooded Wolf."
"Why do you say that?"
"My child is not of pure blood."
"Hmm? Noona is not a pure blooded Whale?"
"Not that child. I had a son who was mixed-blood. That was why … he had a lot of difficulties. He was too weak to live in the ocean."
"Then does he live on land?"
"No. That terrible son of mine left this world before me." >
The Whale Tribe's king and mediator of the ocean was someone with blue hair and blue eyes. Although Cale could not tell for sure because it was dark, the face of the Whale looking at him right now was slightly similar to the face of the Whale King as described in the novel.
Cale looked toward the sea-like blue eyes and started to speak.
"Sleep for a bit. Everything will be fine when you wake back up."
The blue eyes blinked a couple of time before slowly closing. Cale watched the unconscious mixed-blood Whale for a bit, before approaching and inspecting his legs.
"What do you think?"
The Black Dragon revealed itself once the mixed-blood Whale became unconscious and quickly approached the Whale. He then created a small light ball with magic so that they could take a better look at the leg.
"It is a mess."
The Whale Tribe's skin is very thick and tough. Although their skin looked flawless and beautiful, it was also extremely tough. Sadly, this mixed-blood Whale did not have such a luxury. That was why it was impacted by a mermaid's attack and poisoned. The Black Dragon watched Cale with an odd expression on it's face as Cale inspected the Whale.
"…You are a very weird human. You are so weak and weird."
"Enough nonsense."
Cale pointed to the Whale and ordered the Black Dragon.
"Dunk him in the water."
"…Did you lie to him?"
The Black Dragon seemed completely shocked. The shocked expression of this reptile looked pretty serious.
"Human, you said you were going to save him! You are weak, but you have kept all of your promises until now! So why are you telling me to dunk him in the water?! Are you trying to make him suffocate to death?!"
Sigh.
Cale let out a deep sigh. He then grabbed that light ball that was floating in the air. It was not hot.
"I'm doing it to save him."
He then added on.
"After you put him in the water, you remember the corpses from earlier, right?"
"…Just what are you trying to make me do?"
"Nothing much. Just go and bring me back one arm."
The Black Dragon's jaws dropped. Cale did not care about this and headed into the cave. It was because the Black Dragon didn't say no, even though it looked completely shocked.
"…I will do as you asked for now."
The Black Dragon really was obedient. Cale did not look back and continued to walk forward. He needed to take care of it and return back before the village became rowdy.
The cave was not deep, and Cale reached the end quickly.
'Found it.'
The fateful encounter that Toonka had found was a 'Small Puddle.' Cale took out one of the items he brought with him. It was an alarm device. It would let Cale know if someone else got close to this location.
'I just need to take it with me before I leave.'
Cale scooped a bit of that puddle into a small glass bottle.
'Fire-Suppressing Water.'
Water is always strong against fire, but the strength of this water was a bit different. If Cale dunked the item Lock will procure for him into this water, it will give birth to a very precious item.
It will become a treasure that will save the drying jungle.
Cale returned back to the cave entrance. The Black Dragon seemed to have already returned with the arm, as he handed the arm to Cale with an iffy expression. Cale could also see the drenched mixed-blood Whale boy as well.
"Let's go."
The Black Dragon sighed before levitating the mixed-blood Whale, the mermaid arm, and Cale before floating back home.
Cale received an overwhelming welcome from On and Hong as soon as he returned.
"You came at the right time!"
"The butler has been banging on the door for a while!"
Cale could tell even without the kittens telling him. He could hear Hans's voice outside the door. Hans sounded like he was ready to cry.
"Young master, I dare not enter because you said you'll kill me if I wake you up. That is why I can only continue to bang on the door. Can you please open the door young master?"
Cale took off the scuba suit and threw it to a corner before taking a device out of the magic box and throwing it toward the Black Dragon. He then put on a bathrobe and opened the door.
"Young master, young lady Amiru asked me to verify that you were safe. So please wake up and open-"
"What do you want?"
"Oh! Young master! … Were you washing?"
Cale swept back his wet hair and leisurely answered Hans's question.
"I couldn't sleep, so I was sitting in the sea water bath."
"Ah, you were in the bathroom. Then I shouldn't have to worry about my life, since you were not sleeping."
"…I wonder."
"I'm sorry, young master-nim."
Ahem, hem. Hans let out some fake coughs before inspecting Cale and starting to speak.
"Are you hurt anywhere? It is quite a mess outside right now. There were a few loud explosions earlier. I believe something has happened out at sea."
Cale looked out the window he entered through. The village was completely lit now, even though it was the middle of the night. He could also see some lights heading out to sea.
Amiru seemed to have made a brave decision to send people out at sea, even with the dangers of the whirlpools, because the development was right around the corner.
"There was a loud noise, but they haven't determined what caused it?"
"Young lady Amiru said people will be heading out to sea. I believe it will be figured out soon enough."
In Cale's opinion, Amiru was going to be happy because the whirlpool by the central island had disappeared. That alone would increase the value of this shoreline exponentially.
"Is that so?"
"Yes sir."
"Then you can leave now."
Hans respectfully bowed to Cale before quickly heading out. At the same time, the Black Dragon turned off the invisibility device, revealing himself and the unconscious mixed-blood Whale, along with the mermaid arm on top of him.
On and Hong did not move from the corner of the room after seeing the mermaid arm. These kittens were scared of a lot of stupid things.
Cale headed to the bathroom and scooped up some of the sea water from the bath. The Black Dragon watched with curiosity as Cale dunked one side of the mermaid arm into the sea water.
Sizzle-
A burning noise could be heard, but, in reality, the dried up arm was quickly returning to normal. The corpse's swift change made On and Hong run and hide underneath the bed. The corpse arm returned completely back to normal in another moment. Cale looked toward the Whale human's leg. Unlike earlier, the green fluid was mixed with the sea water.
Cale took out a knife.
At that moment, the unconscious man's eyelids started to flutter and his body started to twitch.
"It looks like he's going to wake up. Human, put the knife away!"
The Black Dragon shouted and the man opened his eyes. The first thing the man saw was Cale lifting the knife up over his head. Cale smiled toward the Whale human in order to tell him to relax once they made eye contact. The Whale human's eyes started to shake as the knife moved.
Stab.
The knife stabbed into the mermaid arm and cut through the skin. A fluid started to pour out of the cut arm. It was the mermaid's blood. Once the arm returned to normal, the blood was restored as well.
Cale started to speak to the still shaking man.
"Good."
The blood poured out and fell onto the man's leg.
Sizzle.
The green fluid on the man's leg started to sizzle once it came into contact with the mermaid blood.
Cale handed the bleeding arm to the man.
"Drink it before the blood dries up. That is the best way."
Volume 5. This was the healing method Rosalyn discovered to heal Lock, who was injured after getting in a fight with a mermaid. It was a method that was still not known in this world.
The eyes of this man, who seemed to be in his early 20s, started to shake again. It was the same for On, Hong, and the Black Dragon as well.
In the end, the man got better. He had chosen to drink the blood after seeing that the dripped blood from earlier was indeed slowly curing his leg.
Cale continued to speak while looking at the confused expression on the mixed-blood Whale's face.
"What? Aren't you the one who killed this mermaid?"
The man's expression stiffened up. Cale started to scoff after seeing that expression. It was weird to see the Whale being so anxious after being asked if he had killed a mermaid.
Cale then poured the remaining blood back onto the Whale human's leg, before putting the arm back into the water. The arm started to dissipate inside the water as Cale watched.
Cale continued to look at the arm dissipate as he started to speak to the Whale human.
"If you're a Whale, you probably need to return to the ocean by morning in order to recover completely. Get some sleep and return on your own."
The man's face turned cold. It was a different type of viciousness than Choi Han. This was someone who was always looked down upon, someone who was always reminded he was not as good as the rest of his tribe members. This was a viciousness that could only come from such a person.
"How did you know I was a whale?"
"Who else could kill three mermaids?"
"…I need to return home."
Cale felt like he would end up having to listen to a useless story, so he quickly waved his hand.
"I have no desire to hear your useless story."
That was why Cale did not ask for the Whale's name nor let Hans see the Whale.
"I only saved you because I said I would when you asked me to save you."
Cale laid down on the bed. He needed to take a shower, but he was too tired for that right now.
"I'm going to sleep. Be quiet on your way out."
Cale closed his eyes. There was nothing he needed to worry about since the dragon was there. He then remembered the last words the Whale King had said to Lock in the novel.
< "That is why I do not want to lose any more family members." >
This was why Kim Rok Soo chose to take action this time. He had experienced losing all of his family members himself. Of course, he had no plans on suffering a loss from this experience.
< "If that child was still alive, I would pass the throne to my daughter and go live in the human world with him. I feel like that child would have been happy if we did that."
"Mm, I do think noona would do well as Queen. But since noona is an affectionate person too, wouldn't she want to live with you too, Mister?"
"Of course. She searched the entire ocean when my son disappeared."
"I'm sure the entire ocean would have been flipped over if noona was the one doing the searching. Hey mister, what was your son's name?"
"…My son's name was Paseton." >
The savior of the king's son. Whether it is the current Whale King or the future Whale Queen, wouldn't he be able to use this to his advantage?
But, most importantly, the Whale Tribe had to win the war against the mermaids. Cale fell asleep with a calm mind. When he woke up the next morning, Paseton was already gone.
The red kitten Hong reported to him.
"He said he'll be back at night."
"There really is no reason for him to do-."
Cale just shrugged his shoulders without finishing the sentence. However, a moment later, an even bigger feeling of, 'was this really necessary,' filled his mind.
"Young master Cale! I'm sorry for coming over so early, but I needed to share some amazing news with you!"
Young lady Amiru was smiling brightly. It was rare to see the usually calm Amiru this way. She seemed to have come straight from the sea, as she still had a raincoat on and other people were with her.
"Do you know what it is?"
"I have no idea."
Compared to the excited Amiru, Cale was calm. No, he was almost emotionless.
"The whirlpool, the whirlpool in front of the central island has disappeared! It disappeared overnight without even a trace!"
'I made that happen.'
Cale could not tell her he had done that, so he just looked away. Next to Amiru was the veteran fisherman and some knights, as well as Toonka.
As described in the novel, Toonka had long brown hair like a lion's mane. This man with a dangerous appearance that seemed like he could and would easily send an orc flying with a single slap, clicked his tongue and started to mumble.
"How disappointing. I wanted to try jumping into that whirlpool. Should I jump into a different one instead?"
He definitely was a crazy bastard.
At that moment, Amiru started to talk excitedly to Cale once again.
"Young master Cale! In return for the Henituse family's investment, I want to show you the sight of a peaceful Ubarr sea. Will you go to the central island with me?"
Cale needed to show some sincerity in this project until someone arrived from the Henituse territory. Cale smiled gently at Amiru and asked.
"Is everybody here going over?"
"Yes."
The corner of Cale's lips shook at Amiru's short answer.
Amiru, who did not see that and only saw the gentle smile, pointed to Toonka and continued to speak.
"Ah, this is your first time seeing this person, right? This is the person who was almost caught up in the whirlpool. Mr. Bob, this is young master Cale Henituse."
'Bob?'
Cale had an odd expression on his face.
Toonka put a smile on that scary looking mug of his. It was even scarier than seeing an ogre smile.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Bob."
Bob. Toonka really used a fitting name for an alias. It was as stupid as him.