Raon’s pupils began to tremble. He sat there, flapping his wings with his jaw agape. Hong was the same, his eyes wide, unmoving.

No one spoke.

“…Goodness.”

Rosalyn instinctively covered her mouth.

Cale suddenly opened his eyes, without warning. He sat up, leaning against the head of the bed with a blank expression, before bursting into tears.

Tears fell, drop by drop.

A blank expression replaced his usually stoic face as he continued to weep. Rosalyn wondered if she was dreaming.

Cale Henituse.

What kind of person was he? Rosalyn had never expected such a sight from Cale.

He might cry in anger or annoyance—those were the reasons she’d anticipated.

“…But this—!”

Cale crying like this! Rosalyn lowered her hand, which had clenched into a fist, from her mouth. She felt compelled to say something.

At that moment.

“…Why am I crying? I’m not sad.”

Cale said this, then slightly raised the corners of his lips, attempting a smile.

Rosalyn covered her mouth again. The corners of his lips, so painstakingly lifted, looked sorrowful.

Seeing someone so pale, smiling sorrowfully and crying, left her speechless. She looked around.

The way On, Hong, and Raon sat stiffly, their pupils trembling, meant they were all shocked. Eruhaben, on the couch, looked equally shocked, while Mary, frozen, stopped eating the cookie she’d begun, saying, “People need to eat.”

Cale’s servant, Ron, seemed frozen, forgetting his usual benign smile.

Choi Han was the last person she saw.

“Hmm?”

His expression differed from the others.

Choi Han’s face was a mixture of concern and perplexity as he stood quietly, arms crossed, staring at Cale. At that moment.

“H, human, did you h, have a nightmare?”

Raon stammered, quickly approaching Cale’s side and landing on the bed.

“Huh?”

Rosalyn saw Choi Han sigh after hearing the word “nightmare.” He slightly shook his head, then began to smile, as if there was nothing he could do about it. He made eye contact with Rosalyn.

“What is it?”

She asked quietly, but Choi Han waved his hand, dismissing it, making her realize something was definitely amiss.

However, she didn’t have time to ask Choi Han anything more.

“You must eat.”

Mary, in her black robe, walked past Rosalyn towards the bed, cookie basket in hand.

The basket, overflowing with cookies, was placed on the bed.

“We eat when we are sad. Eating is winning. We become sad when we are hungry. We become hungry when we are sad.”

Mary rapidly said these things, then grabbed a cookie and placed it in Cale’s hand. Rosalyn had never seen Mary so proactive before.

“…I told you, I’m not sad.”

Cale commented, his usual stoic expression unchanged.

“You can’t trick us! You stupid human!”

“You can’t trick us! You shouldn’t cry!”

Raon and Hong immediately retorted.

Cale was dumbfounded. At that moment.

Pat pat.

He saw On patting his hand, which wasn’t holding the cookie. Seeing her nod, as if understanding everything, made Cale frown further.

“No, I truly am not sad.”

This was the truth. Cale felt so relaxed that he even began to consider looking at the records he’d buried in his mind.

Cale looked down at his hand, sticky with melted chocolate from the cookie, and began to speak.

“Miss Rosalyn, how much time has passed?”

He flinched, looking at her fist.

“Raon-nim.”

However, Rosalyn calmly called Raon, who fluttered his wings and began to shout.

“It’s a new record! You were unconscious for 20 days, 1 hour, 32 minutes, and 19 seconds!”

“You were out for almost three weeks!”

“…Huh? Three weeks? Wasn’t my longest unconscious period before this about two weeks? But three weeks?”

Cale quickly began to speak, these thoughts swirling in his mind.

“Airships, what happened to the capital?”

What about the other things? What about the Northern Alchemists’ Tower? He urgently looked at Rosalyn, then flinched.

“My goodness, young master Cale, you truly seem to enjoy work.”

“Excuse me? I hate work.”

Rosalyn sighed and began to speak.

“The airships in the capital—”

Click.

The door opened and two people entered as she spoke. One was Beacrox.

“Choi Han, I tried making that green onion pancake you mentioned. Is this right…?”

“What? What did he just say? Green onion pancakes? …They have green onions in this world?”

Cale questioned his hearing, while Beacrox, making eye contact with him, couldn’t finish his sentence. He held the plate of this unfamiliar food in one hand, rubbing his eyes with the other, and spoke.

“Am I seeing things?”

He thought he was seeing young master Cale Henituse’s crying face. He was no longer crying, but it was clear he had been. He hadn’t seen this since Cale was very young.

“It looks like I need to go wash my face.”

Beacrox turned and left with the plate. Cale looked at him in shock, but soon saw someone approaching, looking as if about to cry.

“Oh! Young master-nim!”

It was Saint Jack.

He couldn’t even straighten his fluttering priest’s robe as he rushed to Cale’s bed and grasped his hands.

“You’re finally awake? These tears on your face, are you in any pain?”

Cale couldn’t respond, seeing Jack’s pure expression. Punks like Beacrox were easier to handle.

“No, I am not in any pain.”

“I see. I’m relieved. And young master-nim, thank you very much!”

Jack bowed ninety degrees to thank Cale.

“Thankfully, we were able to arrive at the capital on time, and Miss Rosalyn and Eruhaben-nim were able to cast shields, allowing us to then take out the airships outside the shields one by one!”

Saint Jack, speaking with gratitude and admiration, continued to speak rapidly, as if overwhelmed with joy.

“And then Choi Han-nim, Raon-nim, and you appeared, causing the remaining airships to retreat. We debated chasing them and launching a counterattack, but the enemies dropped an airship toward the capital and made it explode, leaving us no choice but to focus on protecting the capital!”

“Oh, Jack is explaining the situation very well.”

Even if they wanted to chase the airships, it was probably better not to make such rash decisions if Rosalyn and Eruhaben had to resist an exploding airship with their shields.

It would have been dangerous to chase them without mages.

Cale quietly listened to Saint Jack explain the situation at the capital.

“We focused on guarding the capital for another day before heading over to the Northern Alchemists’ Tower, only to find they had all escaped. Ah, based on the debris from the destroyed airships and golems, it looks like you managed to strike the enemies hard!”

“Mm, I see.”

He enjoyed hearing this explanation from someone who seemed awestruck by the situation.

“We also destroyed all four Alchemists’ Towers. Of course, we swindled any alchemy-related texts and anything that looked useful.”

Cale, nodding, saw Saint Jack’s teary eyes.

“It is all thanks to you and everyone else’s help and sacrifices, young master-nim. You don’t know how much I, while you were unconscious—”

“Hmm… Something feels a bit awkward?”

Cale found it difficult to handle Jack like this.

“I’m really, absolutely relieved that you woke up. I feel like I can finally get some rest myself!”

“Uhh, yes? Thank you for worrying about me, Jack-nim.”

Cale quickly ended his conversation with Jack. He then saw Rosalyn smiling behind Jack.

“It looks like I don’t need to explain anything?”

Cale nodded, seeing her gaze, and began to speak.

“But if three weeks have passed—”

“Are you worried about the North?”

Cale met Eruhaben’s gaze, who was looking at him from the couch. Eruhaben took a sip of tea and continued.

“Clopeh went to the North. We’ve contacted the Whale tribe as well. Those children named Cage and Taylor chatted with Ron about what to do from here on and said they will complete that ancient document for now.”

Cale recalled what Eruhaben had told him last time.

“Quickly come to the capital while remaining conscious.”

However, forget coming while conscious, he’d set a new record for how long he was unconscious. Cale took a bite of a cookie, seeing Eruhaben’s descending gaze.

Crunch.

The cookie broke, and Eruhaben continued.

“Tasha said she didn’t know the reason you called her, but said she had a decent idea after hearing about the forging of the ancient document and the plans for the land of the Whale tribe and went back home to prepare.”

Cale felt an odd sensation. Eruhaben accurately described that sensation.

“There’s no need for you to do everything. There are many capable people.”

He felt Eruhaben’s intention to tell him not to do anything that would make him faint again.

Crunch, crunch.

Cale quietly continued eating the cookie. He then spoke.

“Looks like we have to go North.”

Eruhaben, Rosalyn, and Ron all nodded.

The Bear King and the Lion King managed to escape, and in a way, they were the ones who had received a blow. Now it was time for them to strike the White Star.

That opportunity would soon arise in the North. The only difference was that Cale’s original one-month planning time was down to one week because he was unconscious for three weeks.

“Everybody else continued to prepare well.”

He just needed to match them. Cale opened his mouth to speak.

Let’s go North.

That was what he was about to say. However, he couldn’t.

“Cale-nim.”

“Mm.”

Cale quickly shut his mouth. Choi Han approached Cale and began to speak.

“Don’t we need to chat?”

—That’s right! Human! You told me you would tell me too! I forgot for a moment because you were crying!

“Mm.”

Cale had an awkward smile on his face.

—Human! Why are you smiling like that again? Ah, right! Beacrox and I are researching after hearing about green onion pancakes from Choi Han! Choi Han said it’s similar to pies, so I’m curious how it tastes!

“Shit.”

Cale began to think about all the Korean foods that Raon would stuff in his mouth, hearing Raon’s excited voice. However, something even more unavoidable than that was right in front of him.

He was currently in Imperial Prince Adin’s bedroom, where he always stayed when he came to Mogoru. Cale looked around the bedroom before speaking to the others.

“There is something I need to chat with Choi Han about alone.”

Cale quietly observed Choi Han, who brought a chair over to the bed and sat down.

“Nobody is listening from nearby!”

“The black Dragon’s soundproof barrier magic is amazing! Nobody outside should be able to hear!”

“Impossible for anyone unless they hear the Wind Elementals like you. I have something to say. For destruction.”

Cale released the golden top’s whip after hearing the Wind Elementals confirm nobody was listening. Raon tilted his head, looking at Choi Han and Cale. Only the three of them remained in the bedroom.

Choi Han raised his head, as if unsure what to say. He then made eye contact with Cale, who began to speak.

“Nice to meet you. Senior, my name is Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo’s friend.”

He then bowed his head and respectfully greeted Choi Han.

Choi Han’s jaw dropped, and Raon’s eyes widened. Silence filled the room before Choi Han slowly began to speak.

“That kind of greeting is awkward and unnecessary, Cale…nim.”

“I know.”

Although Cale had his usual stoic expression, his eyes seemed more unburdened than usual.

“I thought I should greet you like this at least once.”

“Yes, yes indeed. I may be a trashy person, but I always greeted my elders properly.”

“Ho, hoho—”

Kim Rok Soo and Choi Han’s first conversation began with Choi Han laughing in disbelief.