A few more days passed, the redhead conjured up all kinds of scenarios where he could hide from his family and peacefully get immortalized.

...or maybe get caught in the middle of it.

Cale shuddered at the horrendous thought and the vicious stares that would be directed at him, if he ever got caught.

Fuck.

Why was such a simple matter so much of a dilemma?!

He dejectedly munched on the cookies sent by the crown prince a while back, when he had scammed another golden plaque out of him.

Huh, I can probably build a small tower of golden plaques in his bedroom now.

Knock knock.

As the former commander kept having such useless thoughts, someone knocked on the door.

Not bothering to correct his posture, his languid voice reverberated,

"Come in."

"I hope you have been well, Young master-nim."

"Nature has spoken to me today, Young master-nim."

He could have sworn he only heard one person's footsteps into his room.

Damn scary assassin.

"I have been fine, Ron. How are the operations going?"

"Huhu, Almost all the rats have been caught in our golden jar."

The benign smile was scarier than the bloody cough that was bubbling up as the redhead stoically nodded before turning to the Shaman, who entered with Ron.

"What brings you here, Gashan?"

"The nature wants to talk to you alone, Young master-nim."

He could almost see the knife-like gaze piercing his head, as the old butler looked at him while smiling,

"It seems that I should step out. I hope there is nothing unusual, young master-nim."

Cale just waved his hand, wanting to shoo this scary old man as soon as possible.

"It's nothing."

The smile of the butler was starting to look more benign at his answer.

This bastard. Atleast choose your answer correctly! Do you think Ron has known you for a day or two?!

Cale almost frowned but then added,

"She owes me money."

What an excuse...

As if you could do better!

Shut it-

And with another devastating destruction of the fourth wall, our dear young master Cale narrowly escaped the old man's suspicions.

"I see. This servant sincerely wishes you get back all the money owed to you, Young master-nim. Then I will pay others a visit before heading back to the Molan estate."

"The children are in the capital. They seemed to be missing you. Especially, On and Hong."

"Hoho, I'll be sure to go there then."

He nodded and let out an inaudible sigh as the door closed before turning to the shaman.

"Is it done?"

"The nature says it is."

"Thanks, You can go now."

The shaman nodded before heading out.

Huuu...

A deep breath later, the unlucky bastard plopped back down to his comfy couch, waiting for the old man assassin to depart to the Henituse estate.

****

-Goddammit, Cale.

-Fucking throw up that blood already! They've left!

Cale was kind of proud that he could hide it from everyone else so flawlessly as he mindlessly walked to the bathroom and washed the blood off his mouth.

Yes, I get that you're worried about me but you know the consequences of making this known to others.

-This unlucky bas- Haaaaa......

The redhead knew that the butler Ron could very well smell blood from a mile away, no less.

So of course, he had to wait until Ron left the super rock villa.

-Shall we go now?

Mmm.... you sound eager to get me stabbed.

He could hear an offended gasp-like sound in his mind, indicating the frustration of the ancient powers as they began clammering around in his head,

-Gasp! You ungrateful bastard!

-Ungrateful! Ungrateful! Soooooob! Hyung-nims and noonims and I are only worried about you!

-You... haa.... I don't know what to say you xxx....

...I was joking.

-You xxx bastard!! Do you think you're in an xxx condition to joke around?! Get your ass up and xxx go!

Cale sighed for who knows how many times today.

"Haaa.... my poor life can never get a break..."

"What? You just started your break though?"

Huh?!

Cale almost jumped at the familiar voice, as he saw slight golden shimmer reflected in his room.

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

"..Eruhaben-nim."

"Yes, it's me. And why do you reek of blood, again? You unlucky bastard.. ha...."

The ethereally gorgeous existence that was sitting on the chair by his bed nonchalantly, eyeing him with frustration was none other than the ancient gold dragon, Eruhaben.

The slight golden shimmer that reflected in the room was apparently from his golden hair, his eyes slightly glowing in the dim light.

"Why."

"What?"

The golden dragon sighed in frustration and sat straight, making it difficult for Cale, who was lying down, to see his face.

"Why were you throwing up blood?"

"..."

"Actually, how did no one manage to discover this? I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time considering your reaction."

The frustrating bastard gave a nonchalant 'huh' and replied,

"This is the seventh time. I am a bit careful, I guess."

"Cale Henituse."

"Yes, Eruhaben-nim."

"Do you know what you look like right now?"

"...Hm?"

"You look like you want to face a dragon's- no, multiple dragons' rage."

What? What is he talking about?! Why would I want that?!

Cale looked flabbergasted at the remark and subconsciously got up from his lying down posture.

"....what..."

"The world tree looked very busy when I went to meet her today."

"..Mmm."

Cale almost groaned. This damn world tree definitely spilled it all to Eruhaben.

"I asked her what she was busy with. She refused to tell me."

"Oh, did she?"

Cale nonchalantly replied while being internally surprised about it.

I guess she has her morals.

"But you know, I'm quite proficient at fire magic too."

Yeah, he wouldn't be able to teach that much to Miss Rosalyn if he wasn't.- wait.

Cale whipped his gaze towards the brightly glowing eyes of the ancient dragon and felt chills at the back of his neck.

"Guess what she told me?"

Cale concluded that the threatening smile on the gold dragon's face did not diminish his otherworldly beauty even one bit.

****

"So, in short, you are to become immortal? And for that, you have to do that idiotic act again?"

"...Yes."

"Haa.... just when I thought I could live the rest of my life without worrying over some self-sacrificing unlucky bastard...."

Cale somehow felt upset at that.

I never sacrifice myself for anything.

What a lying bastard.

"And I have to go right now."

"We are going. You think the little kid won't chew me out if I let you go alone?"

Not if they don't know...but whatever. This is better.

Having an ancient dragon just in case something went wrong was indeed better than going alone.

"..Yes, I understand."

A little dragon cursing an ancient dragon was definitely not something he can imagine right now.

Cale immediately got out of his bed and the ancient dragon sighed seeing him already fully dressed like he was ready to go out.

This sneaky bastard was planning to fool everyone...

Aigoo, what did I do to deserve such headache inducing children...

Maybe ask all those dragons he beat up in his youth.

Well, to be fair, they deserved it.

Still frowning, he snapped his fingers, letting the quiet teleportation array take them to the elven village, not bothering to notify of their arrival.

Tap tap tap.

As always, the priestess looked scared and cautious while handing them a bag of gold, while muttering,

"Please don't burn the village or the world tree-nim.."

How many bags of gold does she actually have?

Cale quietly put the free money into his spatial pocket while wondering how the priestess gathered money so quickly.

He was sure he looted- ahem, took a lot of gold the last time he visited.

-Stop thinking useless thoughts and hurry over to that damn old woman!

With a wake-up call from the glutton, he nodded towards the sighing gold dragon and walked towards the place where the damn old woman lived.

Eruhaben stepped towards the world tree first and turned to Cale,

"You wait here. Let me take all the necessary details from her first. I don't trust how much information you'll give me."

I-

The unlucky bastard found that he really couldn't refute it.

Why?

Because Eruhaben-nim is the best.

What?

....and knows how many lies Cale has told them about his health.

That's not true! You're such an unreliable narrator!

If I say it is, then it is.

Cale felt upset but reluctantly nodded his head at the ancient dragon.

Tch. What's there to be upset about. Its the truth.

Anyway.

Cale couldn't hear any of the conversation that happened between Eruhaben and the world tree  since he used the telepathy to talk to her.

Maybe Cale was just zoning out and cursing the narrator, but we won't ever know.

"Alright. You can talk to her. I trust she will tell you exactly what she has told me."

Eruhaben said with a smile that was all to similar to Cale when he would be thinking of scamming others.

The leaves slightly fluttered, as if nervous and indignant.

Cale nodded stoically and placed his hand on the tree trunk.

-Wow, that dragon is just like you.... If I did not know how you guys look like, I'd consider you father and son... Hey, are you sure you're not his secret son or something?

"What are you talking about, ma'am? Please get to the point."

-Haa, you guys won't even humor this old woman... Anyway, take this.

A bloody red root-like structure descended from the highest branch of the tree. The root quite matched with Cale's hair.

He wondered why they had not noticed this conspicous looking root when they arrived.

-This is fortified with your blood.

"Are you sure that tiny bit of blood was enough?"

-I see that you underestimate your restoration power very much.

What? Why are these people all putting false accusations on me today?!

-If I took more than that, it would have been enough to fortify the whole trunk... but I guess I am a bit kind and not selfish. Anyway, Use it when you want. Well, it's better to use it right now but I've seen you quite like to suffer, Hahaha.

What a-

-Aaaah! I should have just burned down this senile old woman back then! Yah, You Crazy kid! Why did you even stop me back then?!

-Stop blaming me! Who knew she would go xxx crazier-?!

Alright, enough.

The rampant voices slowly calmed down to grumbles and mutters as the redhead turned to the gaze of scrutiny he was subjected to, by the ancient dragon.

"I suppose now isn't really a suitable time, Eruhaben-nim."

"You unlucky bastard..."

******************************
(1818 words)

"I guess I am a bit...."

I really like the use of this sentence in the novel lmaooo, they so subtly(humbly) brag about things and it also seems extremely presumptuous  hahahaha

Anyway, another part left I guess! I did say this could be a three-shot kinda thing :)

Thanks for reading!! Did you like it though?

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