Chapter 3: When I Opened My Eyes (2)

Cale looked around at all of the dishes in front of him. He then moved his fork towards a salad made of fruits that he did not recognize. After filling his stomach with meat, soup, and bread, he wanted to try something new. 

The fruit looked like an orange, but the color was closer to that of grapes. Cale put the fruit in his mouth and took a bite.

"Mm."

In that instant, sweet fruit juice filled his mouth. He really hated sour fruits, so this extremely sweet flavor in his mouth made him subconsciously start to drool. 

At that moment, he made eye contact with his father Deruth, who was looking at him.

"Cale."

Deruth quietly called Cale's name before hesitating. He then started to frown and move his mouth. Cale did not like that awkward atmosphere and started to speak.

"It's delicious."

"Yes, it tastes like trash...huh? Did you say it is delicious?"

"Yes. Everything tastes wonderful."

Cale picked up a different fruit this time and smiled after tasting the sweetness in his mouth once again. The trash, Cale Henituse, never cared for etiquette anyways.

He probably shouldn't do this while speaking with his father, the head of the household, but whatever. He's just trash in the first place.

'It really is best to be the trash.'

Nobody really cared no matter what he did. As long as he can prevent himself from getting beaten up by the main character, it will be a good life.

As Cale expected, nobody criticized his lack of manners. In fact, Deruth actually had a smile on his face as he started to nod his head.

"Yes, it really is delicious. It is nice to see you enjoying food so much."

Deruth really seemed like the only person who cared for Cale. He didn't even seem to care about Cale's lack of manners. Well, a truly caring father should probably try to fix this personality of Cale… but this Cale did not care as he was not the real Cale Henituse. 

"Yes. Please make sure you eat a lot as well, father."

Basen let out another, 'Ho,' and Cale, who heard it this time, turned his gaze back to the dishes. The 15 year old Basen. The three years younger brother of the Cale that he possessed was difficult to handle.

Unlike the trash Cale, Basen was smart, sincere, and very responsible. The people of the family were pushing for Basen to be the next head of household. Kim Rok Soo agreed with this sentiment even after turning into Cale.

'Rather than having a complicated life being in charge of this territory, I'd rather use my position as the Count's older brother to laze around and live peacefully in a section of the territory.'

Cale did not try to argue with Basen. He could hear Basen's gasp of shock and knew that Basen was looking down on him, but what could he do about it?

Once Basen becomes the head of the household, his personality was one that he would probably not kill Cale, but in order to not get hurt and quietly move to a small village, he needed to not get on Basen's nerves.

'If that's not possible, I'll just make some money beforehand and go somewhere that the war will not reach.'

Cale pretended not to hear Basen's gasp and continued to eat. Once the meal was over, his father, Deruth, was the first to get up. He seemed to have been satisfied with breakfast, as his face was filled with a smile.

'It really was delicious.'

If breakfast was like this every day, Cale would probably give up some sleep to come eat breakfast all the time. Deruth looked around at the family members who got up after he did, before resting his gaze on his first-born son, Cale.

"Cale, is there anything you need?"

Cale was confused at Deruth's sudden gesture, but he decided to honestly answer.

"Please give me some money."

"Sure, I'll give you a lot."

Deruth answered without any hesitation.

This really was a well-off family.

As a territory that mined for marble and grew grapes for wine, they were overflowing with money right now.

"Great. Please give me as much as you can."

Cale could feel his two younger siblings looking at him, but there was no need for him to be embarrassed. Wasn't it better to ask for money instead of drinking and causing a ruckus?

Furthermore, he needed money to proceed with his plans. That fateful encounter to get himself a strong enough power to keep himself safe. He needed some money in order to cause that fateful encounter to happen.

"Sure. I'll give you as much as I can."

Cale started to smile after being satisfied with his father's response. However, he was at a loss of words after returning to his chamber and receiving the cheque from the deputy butler, Hans. 

The cheque that was issued through a partnership with the treasury department and the magic department made Cale's heart run wild.

'So much money?'

This family didn't seem to only have a bit of money. In fact, they seem to have a lot of money.

The novel did mention that Cale received a large allowance, but it did not mention the exact amount. However, he could realistically understand how large it was based on the amount listed on the cheque.

'10 million gallon.'

It is about equivalent to 10 million Korean won. If it is like this, Cale could change his plans. Cale's brain started to quickly think about his options.

"I'll be heading out now, young master."

The deputy butler delivered the cheque and bid goodbye, but Cale did not respond. Deputy Butler Hans just treated this as normal and headed toward the door. However, he soon stopped moving.

It was because Cale had gotten up from his seat and said something to Ron.

"Ron, let's go to the study."

Hans then became anxious at Cale's words. Ron was the same.

"...Did you say the study?"

Cale found this odd. This sly old man's voice was shaking a bit. Was there a reason he could not go to the study?

"Yes."

He needed to go to the study to form his plan. There were no desks or even any paper in his chamber. There were a lot of expensive looking alcohol bottles though.

"Excuse me, young master."

"What is it?"

Cale looked toward the anxious looking deputy butler.

"This, we have not been able to do our morning cleaning of the study just yet."

"Is that so? It's fine if it goes a day without cleaning."

"No sir. We cannot let that happen."

The deputy butler was extremely pushy about this for some reason. He then smiled brightly and put up a single finger.

"Please just wait one hour! I will put my name on the line to make sure that the study is completely clean, not like a study that has not been used in ten years, but one that was used just yesterday!"

"Sure, whatever." 

He didn't mind waiting an hour.

"Great. Then I will go report this to the master."

"No need to do that, but go ahead if you want to do so."

"Yes, young master. I will be off now."

"Okay. Sure."

Like a well-trained deputy butler, Hans closed the door without making any noise and disappeared. He seemed to be in a rush. Cale knew that there were three deputy butlers vying to become the official butler. Maybe that was why Hans was so passionate about it.

"Ron."

"Young master?"

"Why are you blanking out like that?"

"My apologies, young master."

"No need to apologize."

Ron had another odd expression on his face, but Cale put the precious cheque in his inner pocket as he asked. There was so much going on that he did not even have any time to ask about today's date.

"What is today's date?"

This question would seem odd coming from anybody else, but the servant Ron answered in a gentle voice.

"It is the 29th day of the 3rd month in the 781st year of the Felix Calendar."

"Mm, that is a problem."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

Cale tightly clenched on the 10 million gallon in his pocket once more. The only thing he could trust was money.

Yesterday, the 28th day of the 3rd month in the 781st year of the Felix Calendar. That was the day that the villagers of Harris Village, the village that the main character Choi Han went to after escaping from the Forest of Darkness, the place that Choi Han felt human affection for the first time in this world, made friends, and created a second family, were all murdered by an unknown group of assassins.

Even Cale, who had read until the fifth volume, did not know the true identity of this secret organization that murdered the villagers.

Some readers may be saying something like this while reading about this situation.

'I thought he was really strong. What was Choi Han doing while they were murdered?'

It is only natural to think like that.

However, there is a reason this novel is called, [The Birth of a Hero], and not, [The Strength of the Hero], or, [The War of the Heroes].

Birth.

It was the story of a person who overcame all sorts of obstacles and carried the pains of his past as he became a hero. Love and friendship comes up along the way as he meets enemies and friends.

Something that cannot be missing from a story is the, 'awakening.' He may have explosive talents and have lived for tens of years in the Forest of Darkness, but, through all of that, Choi Han was still an innocent and gentle person who could not kill another human being. He had no issues killing monsters, but Choi Han had never hurt another person.

In order to turn someone like him into a hero, the novel had created a situation for Choi Han. In order to heal the lady who treated him like her own son, Choi Han had gone into the Forest of Darkness to find some precious medicinal herbs.

He had to travel deep into the forest to find it, and, when he finally managed to find the herb and headed back towards the village, he found the corpses of the murdered villagers, the burning houses, and the assassins who were about to leave.

Choi Han went berserk after seeing this and killed someone for the first time. Of course, the people he killed are the members of this secret organization, and this secret organization clashes against Choi Han every so often throughout the novel.

Choi Han only returns to normal after killing all of the assassins from the secret organization, before falling into a state of despair as he is unable to gather any information from the dead bodies. He then buries the bodies of the villagers before making a promise to himself.

'I will kill them all. I will kill all of the people that made this happen.'

Choi Han realized what the sadness of death was at this moment, but his first kill starts to twist his mind. Of course, he starts to feel again and starts to become more human-like after meeting his party members later in the novel, and grows to become a true hero.

"...Ron."

"Yes, young master."

"A cup of cold water please."

"... I understand."

After Ron left and he was alone in the room, Cale covered his face with both of his hands.

The problem was that the city that this twisted Choi Han arrives at after leaving Harris Village is the city called Western, located in the center of the Henituse territory.

Cale who happens to run into Choi Han annoys Choi Han and ends up getting beaten up. That is when Choi Han gets his first subject/party member, the reliable chef Beacrox. 

'... I was going to head there in advance and help him out.'

The best scenario to not get beaten up is no longer available. I did care more about potentially saving the people of the village, but there is nothing I can do about it at this point.

Now, all that is left is to make sure I act in a way to avoid getting beaten up by the angry Choi Han, who is moving at a crazy speed to arrive at Western City by tomorrow.

'Avoiding the main character is not a good idea.'

He needed to run into Choi Han so that Ron and Beacrox run into him as well. That was the only way for the three of them to leave this place together to start their official journey. Then that left just one course of action.

'Have them run into each other and then get out of their way.'

With the best possible first impression, if possible.

"Young master."

"Ah, thanks, Ron."

Cale took a sip from the cup that Ron brought over. He then started to frown.

"It's not cold water?"

"It is lemonade."

He really is an insidious man. He knows that, just like Kim Rok Soo, the original Cale hates sour things. But he still chose to bring lemonade, which would take more work to prepare than cold water. Cale wanted to be angry at the sour taste, but he could not do so because he was afraid of that assassin old man. He could only drink the lemonade.

"Thanks, it was wonderful."

"No problem. Young master. We should be able to head to the study soon."

"Great."

Ron's benign and gentle smile caused Cale to have the chills. He once again clenched onto the 10 million gallon cheque for support. 

Money really was the only thing you could trust.