Chapter 43: Somehow (1)

However, the inside of the carriage was already chaotic. Cale looked toward Neo, whose legs were shaking, and internally clicked his tongue. Neo seemed to be frantic and full of concern. The majority of the nobles looked chaotic.

'Venion's face was a mess too.'

Cale recalled Venion Stan's face that he peeked at before getting on the carriage. Venion was full of rage.

Who would have ever expected this?

Taylor Stan, the eldest son of the Stan family that was pushed aside, was walking on his own two feet without a wheelchair. Furthermore, a person from the Stan family was standing next to the crown prince, Alberu. Nobody could have expected such development.

'He managed to trade for the Healing Star.'

Cale was curious about what Taylor and Cage traded with the crown prince for the Healing Star, but he did not look toward Taylor.

Neo Tolz was sitting there shaking his leg, without even looking at Taylor. At that moment, Amiru started to speak.

"Young master Taylor, have your legs completely healed?"

The cautiously stated question directly asked the question that everyone was thinking about. Taylor started to smile as he responded.

"It was a blessing from heaven. It is completely healed."　

"Congratulations."

"Thank you very much."

Ahem, mm.

Neo Tolz let out some fake coughs before looking back and forth between Taylor's face and Taylor's legs. He then cautiously started to speak.

"Young master Taylor, will you be returning to the Marquis's estate now that your legs have healed?"

The biggest reason Taylor was pushed aside was because his legs became paralyzed. Neo and the other nobles were probably curious as to whether or not Taylor would return to the estate to fight for the successor position once again.

Especially since Neo was one of Venion's lackeys.

Taylor looked toward Neo, and started to speak.

"Return?"

It was a gentle voice, but there was firmness and coldness toward Neo hidden within Taylor's voice.

"That has always been my home. Isn't it obvious that I belong there?"

Neo shriveled up even more at the coldness in Taylor's voice. However, Cale chose not to even look at them. Cale could see Taylor's reflection through the window every so often.

Of course, Taylor didn't make it obvious to the others, making it look like he was just looking out the window like Cale as well.

Cale could read the message Taylor was trying to send him when their eyes met.

'Young master Cale! I want to tell you everything! It is a very interesting story.' [1]

Cale was still stoic after seeing Taylor's sparkling gaze. Cale just hoped for Taylor to take over the Marquis position and prevent any harm from happening within his territory.

That was why he did not want to talk to Taylor. However, an opportunity soon appeared for Taylor and Cale to chat.

"Ahem, then I will step out now."

As soon as the carriage arrived outside the Plaza of Glory, Neo Tolz rushed out of the carriage to get away from them. Since he made it very obvious that he worked for Venion, this was a really awkward place for him to be. He probably also wanted to report Taylor's current situation to Venion right away.

"Young master Cale, I will come back with young master Eric."

Amiru was worried that Cale might start something if he ran into the other Northeastern nobles, who happened to be in a carriage with Eric and Gilbert, and left alone to bring Eric and Gilbert over.

'Nothing should happen since young master Taylor and Young master Cale don't have any relationship.'

'Based on young master Cale's personality, he will not start a conversation with anyone.'

That was what Amiru was thinking as she quickly moved to find Eric and Gilbert.

That resulted in Cale having to receive Taylor's bright smile.

"Finally, only the two of us are left."

It was something Cale did not like to hear. He made that feeling completely visible on his face, but Taylor seemed to find that to be funny. Taylor quietly laughed, before throwing a straight at Cale.

"I got my leg fixed by promising to become the head of the Marquis's estate."

"Did you promise your loyalty?"

"No. I made a deal."

Cale nodded his head.

"That's good. Congratulations on your healed legs."

Cale then turned away from Taylor, as if he had nothing else to say. Taylor found that reaction to be very fitting of Cale's personality, and took a small envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Cale.

"This is the contents of our deal."

"…There is no need to give this to me."

Cale had a stoic expression, and Taylor responded.

"It'll be good for you to know, young master Cale."

He then threw another straight at Cale.

"Cage will be excommunicated."

"Is it because she does whatever she wants?"

"It is. She is very happy about it."

Cage was finally starting on the path of the crazy priestess. She will now progress like the excommunicated priestess who is seen as a brave priestess by others, like in the novel.

"That's good."

Cale could see Taylor happily nodding his head at his words. Taylor then started to frown, like all of his emotions were crashing against him all at once like a whirlpool, and started to speak.

"This is just the beginning. We will be victorious. Right, young master Cale?"

'Why is he including me in their victory?'

Cale was curious about that, but decided to answer his question for now.

"You will be victorious."

"Thank you very much. Then I will get off first."

Taylor got up and looked down at his legs, before saying goodbye to Cale and getting off.

"The three of us should drink together after our victory."

"The Henituse wine is delicious."

Taylor finally opened the carriage door at Cale's words and left. Cale immediately opened the envelope once he was alone.

He then ripped it up.

"Tsk."

He lightly clicked his tongue and shoved the note deep inside his inner pocket. There really was a secret to the crown prince's birth. Cale shook his head and stepped out of the carriage.

"Cale."

Cale turned his head at Eric's calling. He could see the full Plaza of Glory behind their shoulders.

"Young master Cale, let us go. It is our turn to enter the plaza."

In the novel, Choi Han was curious about these people, who had a spot higher than the normal citizens of the kingdom. Today, Cale was going to that same spot. However, he was still at the bottom compared to the royal family and the holy priests.

Cale looked toward the bell tower at the entrance of the plaza. The bell tower had a giant clock on it.

The current time was 8:25 am. It was time for the nobles and priests to enter. The knights started to prevent any more citizens from entering to create room for the nobility.

"Let's go."

Cale pushed Eric and the others in front of him and started to walk. He could see all of the people in the plaza as he got closer. There were so many people that he couldn't even tell how many people were there. However, they were not completely stuffed like sardines. That was how large the Plaza of Glory was, and the fact that the crown was limiting the number of people helped out as well. In response, some people were in shops near the plaza and roofs of buildings nearby to try to get a glimpse of the king's celebration.

"Young master Cale, is this your first time at the Plaza of Glory?"

Cale leisurely nodded his head at Gilbert's question.

"Yes. I briefly passed through on my carriage, but it is my first time seeing all of it."

Cale looked around the plaza as he said that.

The tea shop to the South.

The inn to the West.

A flower shop to the East.

The top of the Ceramist Association building to the North.

These were the four places Cale focused on as he looked around.

"The plaza is pretty large."　

Cale verified the locations the magic bombs were positioned. At the same time, he looked toward the fountain to the south. A young boy was waving a flag, like he was trying to welcome the king. That young boy was Lock.

'Things are going as planned.'

Cale knew that Choi Han and the Black Dragon would be watching him right now, and looked toward the Bell Tower.

The current time was 8:30 am.

"We are opening up a path now."

The knights closed up all entrances to allow the nobles to enter. At the same time, Cale snapped his fingers.

Snap.

It was a simple gesture that nobody would question.

Lock disappeared as soon as it happened. It was time to find the hidden items. Of course, it wasn't necessary at all.

'The answer will appear at 9:01 am.'

However, it was easier if they knew the answer in advance. Furthermore, since Cale didn't need to move, it was fine to look for these hidden items.

"Everybody please take a seat over here."

The seats were arranged with everyone's names posted in specific seats. The king and the royal family was not at the plaza just yet. Even the crown prince, who came with the nobles, was not out yet.

Cale arrived at his seat, and started to frown.

"We seem to run into each other a lot, young master Cale."

"That does seem to be the case, young master Taylor."

It was the same as during the feast. Cale sat down next to Taylor, and looked down at the people below the platform. He then looked toward the Bell Tower.

He recalled the story in the novel.

The single location that Choi Han managed to find a bomb in the novel was not one of the locations this time. There were already many changes to the story.

However, at least there should not be anyone who dies by the crumbling of the buildings, unlike in the novel.

The Mana Disturbance Tool was buried underneath the Bell Tower.

The current time was 8:40 am. Cale turned to his left after hearing Eric's voice.

"Cale. Be still. Okay?"

"Hyung-nim."

Eric became nervous after hearing the tone Cale used to call out to him. Cale, who used to enjoy wearing fancy clothes and showing off until just two years ago, was suddenly only wearing dark clothes, and had a completely different demeanor about him.

"I will be very still today. I plan to do nothing at all."

Eric was captivated by Cale's voice, and subconsciously nodded his head. Cale seemed to be satisfied with this reaction, as he laughed and looked at the clock again.

8:45 am. He could hear the Black Dragon's voice. The dragon was looking at him as Cale expected.

15 minutes left.

Dragons were really capable of everything. There was nothing their magic could not accomplish. Cale praised the Black Dragon internally as he got up from his seat.

"The stars of the Crossman family, our royal family, are now entering!"　

Only one entrance to the plaza was open at this time. The crown prince was in the lead, the second and third prince flanked his sides, and the other princes and princesses walked in behind them.

A group of individuals with beautiful blonde hair entered the plaza. This was the royal family that was blessed by the Sun God, the pride of the Roan Kingdom.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

The cheering of the citizens filled the plaza. It was so loud that it felt like the ground was shaking. Cale remembered the words of the Black Dragon.

'The crown prince's hair and eyes are brown.'

Brown was known as the most average color hair and eyes. Cale looked toward the royal family, and lightly clapped. And then, it was finally 8:50 am.

"His Highness, King Zed Crossman, the sun of the Roan Kingdom, is now entering!"

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

The healthy 50-year-old king appeared in the plaza in his parade carriage. Cale was watching the king, before moving his gaze away to another spot in the plaza. He could see a flower pot on top of the Ceramist Association building to the north. The current time was 8:55 am.

'They dismantled it.'

Cale started to smile.

Rosalyn, The Black Dragon, On, and Hong will now hide within the crowd in the plaza.

King Zed was slowly heading toward the plaza from far off in the distance. Zed Crossman had risen to the position of king at the age of 20 after the former king's sudden death. He utilized this time of peace to his advantage, killing off all of his siblings to solidify his position of power.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

The fanfare for the king was still very loud. King Zed passed through the plaza entrance and headed to the highest platform. Cale just calmly watched this all happen.

There was a special platform for the king in front of the Bell Tower.

The king and the queen waved to the crowd, before walking up to the platform. The queen stood in front of her seat as King Zed went up to the magic vocal amplifier.

Cale looked at the clock again.

Current time was 8:58 am.

The King lifted up his hand, and the cheers slowly died down. Finally, once the plaza was completely quiet, the king started to speak.

"It has already been 30 years since this king has received the blessing of the sun to rule over this kingdom."

The king seemed very happy. Unfortunately, it was now 9 am.

"Huh?"

Cale could hear Eric's confused voice.

"What is that?"

Cale then heard Taylor's anxious voice. Cale leisurely raised his head to look at the top of the Bell Tower.

"What?"

"Who is that?"

"What is going on?"

The mumblings of the crowd started to get louder. King Zed looked behind him, and then moved his gaze up the Bell Tower. Cale looked at the top of the Bell Tower and started to smile.

King Zed started to shout.

"Who are you?!"

The knights and mages headed to the Bell Tower. The citizens started to get nervous about what was going on. They had no choice. A person appeared on top of the Bell Tower, and then more people in black attires started to appear on top of the buildings nearby as well.

"Get down this instant!"

"Everybody, head up to the top of the buildings now!"

Cale heard the voices of the knights nearby, and looked toward the man standing on top of the Bell Tower with black attire and a mask. It was the blood-crazy mage, Redika. [2]

'I was worried this would be different than the novel as well.'

If Redika did not show up, he would have needed the Black Dragon to reverse the flow of mana coming to the mana bombs in order to locate the hidden Redika, and allow Choi Han to kill him.

Cale was relieved that he would not need to do that, and remembered the description in the novel.

Redika's hand became covered in a red-colored mana. This punk was unique, in that people could see the color of his mana, even though he was a mage. He then swung his hand and announced as he had in the novel.

<"Should be fun.">

"Should be fun."

A chilling voice that sounded like metal screeching against one another, filled the plaza. Then, the red mana shot out to different spots in the plaza.

That moment was exactly 9:01 am.

Oooooooooong-

A vibration started from underneath the Bell Tower.

Beeeeeeep-

Beeeeeeeep-

Magic devices started to go off in multiple locations. The red mana that was flying toward the detonation devices inside the magic bombs suddenly lost strength and started to spin aimlessly in position.

It was the result of the mana disturbance.

Then, it happened inside the plaza as well.

Beeeeeeeep-

Four spots started to ring in the plaza.

"Found it."

Cale's quiet voice was drowned out by the alarm of the magic devices.

Someone within the area of those four alarms would have the magic bomb on them.

As Cale expected, the magic bombs had an alarm to sound that there was an error.

Cale could see Choi Han, Rosalyn, and Lock heading toward the four locations.

10 minutes. Even if they could not manage to dismantle the bombs in 10 minutes, they had plenty of time to move the bombs to the mountain in the rear to make it go off without hurting anyone. It was possible because of Rosalyn and the Black Dragon.

Found one human.

Cale started to smile after hearing the invisible Black Dragon's report.

The 10 minutes had just started.