20

Cale's shoulders were starting to shake as he walked out of the Count's estate. He was thinking about the conversation he had with Ron as soon as he woke up this morning.

'This is going to be your first time outside the Henituse territory, right? I am very good at hunting rabbits. I will hunt some rabbits for you when we are camping outside.'

Ron's calm and benign voice echoed in Cale's ears. He felt as if he could still hear Ron's voice echoing like a hallucination throughout the fog outside.

Cale was scared of the fact that Ron was explaining to him about how to hunt a rabbit first thing in the morning.

'You need to be careful when handling a small animal like a rabbit that gets scared easily. Since you don't know when or how it will run, you need to pay attention to the surroundings and kill it in an instant. Ah, you also need to remove the innards after catching it. I am also very good at that.'

Cale had to turn away as Ron mimicked cutting open a rabbit with his hands. Ron was excited. However, the only thought Cale was having right now was that Ron was toying with him. Cale was just happy that Ron was heading to the capital with him.

I can tack on Beacrox as my personal chef.

Ron. Beacrox. Cale had already told Hans this morning, so that he could bring the father and son duo with him. Of course, Ron was there as well.

'Hans, I want to take Beacrox as my personal chef for this trip.'

'May I ask, why Beacrox? He is extremely busy running Kitchen #2.'

'I don't know. But I can't eat anything other than Beacrox's cooking. I will be taking him, so you figure out the rest.'

Hans became anxious, but Ron seemed to be happy to be going with his son.

'Young master, my son will be very happy. We had a need to go to the capital anyways. I will deliver your exact words to him.'

Cale relaxed after hearing Ron's words. He was worried that they would say no, but Beacrox should enjoy leaving the Henituse territory and traveling to the capital as well.

Cale walked through the foggy Western City as he thought about the people he would take with him to the capital. The story was progressing a little differently than the novel, but it wasn't like he could give up on gaining some benefits for himself.

"Young master, you are here early today."

The baker seemed to be pretty relaxed around Cale after seeing him a couple of times. Cale just stoically asked the baker.

"The bread?"

The baker smiled as he handed Cale a bag full of bread.

"Of course, I have it all ready. But is today really the last day?"

"Why? Greedy for more money?"

"Yes, I definitely am."

Cale started to smile. He liked honest answers like this. Cale patted the shoulder of the baker, who seemed to be a bit more relaxed around him, and headed for the slums.

"I'll come back when I want to eat it again."

The baker longingly watched as Cale disappeared into the fog and then started to pray. He was praying for Cale to come back and spend a ton of money.

Cale naturally did not know about the baker's prayer as he walked over to the slums. He then saw the siblings waiting for him.

'Do these kids not have a home?'

Cale had come much earlier than usual. However, the siblings were curled up together and waiting for him, as if they had been waiting at the top of the hill all night. The younger brother seemed to be leaning into his older sister's embrace.

The siblings were quietly looking up at Cale. Their hair and clothes seemed damp, probably because they stayed here through the foggy morning.

Of course, Cale pretended not to notice.

"Here, take it."

The young boy took both of their shares from Cale. Cale waited until the boy picked it up before turning around and heading for the man-eating tree.

'I'm glad it is foggy.'

The fog made it difficult to see. Since this hill was the highest point in Western City, other than the Count's estate, the fog was even thicker up here. Nobody else would be able to see what Cale is doing, or more importantly, what Cale receives from the tree.

– More, give me more. Please.

Cale poured a bag of bread into the hole while listening to the eerie voice of the grudge-filled soul as usual. The darkness inside the hole was slowly turning from grey to white. Cale started to smile, thinking that all his efforts were not for naught. It was at that moment.

– More, more, more!

'What?'

Cale flinched and stepped backwards at the voice that now turned into a shriek.

'The novel didn't mention something like this.'

– More, more! I will give you a present if you bring me more. A present.

Present. That word made Cale's eyes start to sparkle. Although he didn't expect the soul to go crazy like this, the end was near.

"Just wait."

The black branch started to sway, as if nodding at him. It felt like a scene out of a horror movie. Cale shivered as he started to move back through the fog. It was the middle of the morning now, but the sun was not out, and the fog continued to get thicker.

It looked like it would start to rain soon.

The siblings must have gone somewhere, as he did not see them, but Cale just thought they went to dodge the rain and put the third bag of bread in front of the man-eating tree.

'This should be the last bunch.'

The light inside the hole was now as white as the fog surrounding Cale.

'It should become transparent after I put this last bag of bread in.'

Cale was full of anticipation as he poured the last bag into the tree.

And finally.

Ooooooooooong-

A rumbling that was worlds different than the past rumblings poured out from the tree toward Cale. This rumbling, that was only aimed at Cale, did not catch his attention because of the hole that was starting to turn transparent. It should be dark inside the hole because of the shadow of the tree, but such a realistic situation did not occur.

That was the Ancient Power.

The moment Cale saw the Ancient Power, he could hear the voice that had been asking him for more food until now.

– It was so, so good!

That voice was … obnoxious.

– That soft texture of bread! I especially liked the third bag of bread you brought. I guess even food develops as time goes by. There was no such thing as bread back in my days! The wheat itself must grow on a really fertile land! Yes, not all wheat is the same –

…The voice was evaluating the taste of the bread.

A storm caused by the voice started to rush toward Cale.

'This wasn't in the novel!'

The spirit that was tied down to the earth because of its grudge was resolving that grudge by evaluating the taste of the bread. Cale started to frown further. He was only thinking about the Ancient Power in 'The Birth of a Hero.' This Indestructible Shield was the only Ancient Power that was written about in the novel but never claimed by anyone.

'No wonder nobody ended up taking control of it. But then why would the author mention something that could be useful but was never actually taken by anybody?'

That was the thought in Cale's head, however, the obnoxious voice continued to chatter away, making him unable to focus.

– … That's why I am so full! It was delicious!

Chatter chatter. It felt like the grudge was from not being able to speak instead of not being able to eat.

After hearing the spirit chat on and on for a couple of minutes, evaluating all of the different types of breads that Cale had brought, Cale nodded his head and tried to cut the voice off.

– Things like this were not available in ancient times. The people of the Forest of Darkness claimed to be servants of a god yet only gave me tasteless things.

However, Cale decided to wait a little longer after hearing the spirit mention the ancient times.

– I was, naturally, banished from that place. They said I was a glutton. A glutton my ass. Of course, I left with my friends. We were planning on putting the world back on the right track.

For someone like him who needed Ancient Powers, it was important to listen to stories about the ancient times. However, the story soon ended, and the spirit went back to talking about food and other useless things. Cale quickly cut it off.

– I don't think I could give up this taste even if I got fat. It's so unfair that I had to eat dirt and ended up dying!

"Yes, it was an amazing and professional evaluation. You're a bit lou-"

The spirit cut Cale off.

– You understand my evaluation. You are a really good guy! Thanks!

…Cale couldn't tell whether he could really communicate with the spirit or not.

Cale really could not figure out the situation at hand. At least the voice stopped after telling him thanks. Called looked toward the tree in front of him.

"How interesting."

The man-eating tree, the originally black man-eating tree, was starting to turn white. It then started to slowly grow some green leaves. The scene looked even more mystical because he was surrounded by fog right now.

Ooooooooong-

The noise held some heaviness compared to before. Cale kneeled on one side and sat down underneath the trunk of the tree. A bright white light was pouring out from the hole.

Cale put his hand into the light. He then closed his eyes.

'This must be hit.'

A warm and strong power that wrapped around his hand. He started to smile before hearing the voice one more time. It was a pure and warm voice.

– It will protect you.

Shiiiiiine.

For a very short moment, a bright light wrapped around Cale. The light was silver in color, and the light started to become absorbed by his body. The absorbed light all gathered at Cale's heart.

"Huuuuuuuh."

Cale began to feel a strong pain in his chest and then coughed up a lot of blood immediately saw a figure come out of the fog, he was calling his name.

"young master!"

Ron was his personal butler and also an assassin.

'he must have followed me up here and I never noticed, I was stupid!'

"Damn, it hurts."

Cale cursed in pain.

'this stupid body is so weak!'

He thought remembering his conversation with Ray.

__Flashback __

❄️ Your body is very weak there may be a recoil with the second AP but rest assured you will not die from it, after all you are a god.

"so I don't have to worry about anything?

❄️ Exactly

" are you sure?"

❄️99%sure

"haa, you drive me insane"

❄️I know you love me Cale

__end flashback __

It was the first time Ron had felt fear in a long time.

Seeing his puppy young master start spitting blood after a strange light entered his body made the butler ultra worried, he didn't want to lose him like his wife who had died in his arms because of a secret organization called arm.

"young master"

He screamed as he ran to the boy who was like a second son to him.

he saw him lose consciousness and began to worry, he check his pulse and notice that the pulse was regular.

So she began to take it princess-style and take the boy back to the mansion where he was safer than outdoors in the swamp.

Just when he was about to go two cats one gray and the other red started following him and ended up at the mansion and Ron immediately recognized them as beast people that Cale took care of so he let them follow him.

While in the street everyone stared at him as he carried the unconscious boy covered in blood.