Chapter Text
Choi Han looked around the dark room he was meeting his friends and family in. He could see Rosalyn due to her casting lighting magic together with the ancient dragon Eruhaben. Soon, the dark room was light up.
Now he could see the origin of the cringing sound – Ron Molan, the old assassin of their group, was sharpening his dagger while his son, Beacrox Molan, was placing his hand on his father´s shoulder – to restrict him if necessary.
Lock, the werewolf boy was sitting on the floor while he was holding a communication device in his hands, just in case someone called, even though the Crown Prince of the Roan Kingdom, Alberu Crossman, was already with them in his quarter dark elf form.
“So the Count of the Henituse Family has officially stated that…their first born son had gone missing?”
It was a calmly asked question that came out of the usually quiet greatsword wielder. Beacrox could feel his father tense up at that sentence. Even though the two had left the Henituse Family – especially the first born son – in order to get revenge, it didn’t mean that they didn’t care about Cale Henituse. Hell, the boy was practically like a second son to Ron as he had raised the boy after his mother´s death. The butler knew everything about the redhead!
The former butler´s son was the former cook of the Henituse Family. He was someone who was once called ´Hyung´ by a small red headed child several years ago as the small child sneaked into his kitchen. He remembered how the small child looked at him with shining eyes as he handed him some sweets.
“Yes. I just thought it was better to tell you as…you know, you´ve once served him.”
Ron flinched at the Crown Prince´s statement. If he had the choice, he´d still be with Cale Henituse, if it wouldn’t endanger the young boy. He cherished him after all and didn’t want him to get hurt.
Beacrox simply nodded with his usual indifferent expression. Rosalyn and Lock sighed as they noticed how pissed Choi Han looked. He literally hated the redheaded son because of his arrogant behavior. He had beaten him up as he came to meet him before taking his two most familiar subordinates away.
He didn’t even feel an ounce of guilt because of that.
“Do you know where he is? Has he been kidnapped or so?”
Choi Han snorted at Eruhaben´s question. The ancient dragon didn’t know who the first born son of the Henituse Family was, nor did he know his name, he simply knew that Ron and Beacrox cared deeply for him. He also knew that the raven haired punk hated him with a passion.
The Crown Prince let out a deep sigh as he shook his head.
“They haven’t received news or they don´t want to tell us. However, I doubt that he was kidnapped.”
Alberu Crossman put it lightly as he didn’t want to enrage either, the assassin nor the swordsmaster.
“I bet he ran away because of the battle in the Henituse Territory. He is trash after all.”
Choi Han snorted once more as he didn’t want to speak about someone like that ever again. Eruhaben on the other hand, was quite interested in learning more about the individual who made the two most coldhearted men open their hearts. He also knew that as it was a taboo-topic, this would be one of his only chances to learn more about him.
“Shut up. Stop calling the young master-nim trash, you little punk.”
Rosalyn sighed. She and Lock had been with the two old humans for quite a while to know what would happen next. After all, Cale Henituse wasn´t a taboo-topic without a reason.
“I can call him whatever I deem befitting him, old man! And he certainly is trash! Who else would throw bottles at people and drink early in the day?”
Eruhaben sighed. Maybe this individual wasn’t all too special after all.
“You little…”
“Father, don´t let his words get to you.”
Ron let out a sigh as he looked at the wooden floor. There actually wasn’t that big of a chance of the redhead being kidnapped as his father already stripped him of the position of heir and he was pretty well known for his…rather trashy behavior. The father-son duo knew it all too well. Still, the redhead wasn’t someone to run away from a battle because he was afraid.
“And you watch your tongue.”
Beacrox looked at Choi Han with such a fiercely gaze, that the Crown Prince had to look away while Rosalyn hid her shivers.
“If you cherish him that much, why did you leave him in first place? You can go back to this alcoholic bastard anytime you want.”
Choi Han´s voice dripped of sarcasm. They all knew that this was impossible, especially since Cale Henituse had gone missing.
“Silence. Focus on the mission at hand.”
Eruhaben´s cold words caught the attention of everyone and they calmed down again. Still, the tension between Choi Han and Ron didn’t go away. The individuals looked in front of them at the large black forest. It didn’t help that it was night time and that the sky was dark. Even the moon didn’t shine as clouds hid it behind them.
The cold wind made it a perfect setting for a horror movie about teenagers going into a forest and then being killed there by a psychotic serial killer who licked his knife. Lock shuddered at his thought but still continued to walk behind Choi Han and Eruhaben. He was still just a fifteen year old boy after all.
“Are you sure that there were signs of the White Star´s base being in the Forest of Darkness?”
Alberu nodded at Choi Han´s question. They left the small house and then entered the cold forest. The temperature seemed to have gone down a couple degrees as they could see their own breaths.
“It makes sense if you think about it; it´s right in front of our noses that we´d never think about him hiding here. Also, what is the worst that could happen if we just check it out? If he really isn’t here, then we can be certain. If he is, we´ll just kick his butt.”
The others nodded at Alberu´s description of what might happen. They didn’t even know what the White Star looked like, let alone how strong he really was. They just knew that the Arm members they had faced before now were fairly weak. They had no way of knowing that even if there were two of each of them, they´d be too weak.
“After all, we have a dragon with us.”
Eruhaben nodded as Alberu seemed especially proud of having the ancient dragon as a companion. Suddenly, the ancient dragon stopped walking as he felt an odd sensation.
“There´s another dragon here.”
He only whispered the statement, but the super-humans with human-surpassing senses heard him clearly. Ron stopped moving as he looked at the beautiful ancient dragon. His facial expression looked normal and only the twitching ends of his lips gave away his excitement.
Another dragon…and this one seemed strong.
“…Do you want to tell me that the White Star has a real dragon on his side? A dragon is willing to serve someone?”
Choi Han couldn’t hide his astonishment. It was something neither of them had expected. But all of them had the same question in their minds: How could a human make a dragon their subordinate?
“Ho.”
Eruhaben couldn’t hide his surprise as he let out a sigh. The others were getting anxious as the advantage they thought they had through Eruhaben, was now gone. They hadn’t expected the White Star to have a damn dragon!
“But I don´t think that this dragon is with the White Star…”
Eruhaben furrowed his brows as he tried to look on ahead. His eyes turned inhumane and looked now more like reptilian eyes. He couldn’t see anything through the darkness, but he certainly could feel the strong presence of another dragon. There was also another presence, strong nature.
“Is it really a good idea to proceed? There is, after all, another dragon-nim.”
Rosalyn was probably the most anxious, though she felt excited as well. She got to meet an ancient dragon, and now she was informed of the existence of another powerful dragon! How could she not be excited?
Suddenly, Eruhaben´s expression turned worse and his smile disappeared, not that it had manifested on his lips to begin with.
“He´s coming here.”
The group tensed up and started to look around, but before they could do anything, a black blob that was darker than the night and black trees, approached them through the air. A loud shout of a person followed behind him, but the black blob ignored it as he revealed his presence before the group of people.
He was a cute little dragon; he certainly didn’t go through any of his growth phases yet. The furious expression didn’t belong on his chubby cheeks that were used to him having a smile. Eruhaben huffed. How could a small dragon – a baby – give off such a strong presence?
Black mana started to surround the little creature, but before he could do anything to attack the newcomers, a blue haired man shouted a second time. He appeared right under the black dragon and called him down. It was a tall man in his mid-thirties with glasses. Behind those he looked at the group with his calculating green eyes. Opposite to usual, he wasn’t drunk at all, but the group had no way of knowing. They were just surprised to find a person with a small baby dragon in the middle of the Forest of Darkness.
Choi Han put his hand on the hilt of his sword but didn’t act rash. After all, child or not, the black blob was a furious dragon.
“You aren´t with Arm…”
The blue haired man stated. His voice held some sort of a grudge against the White Star´s organization, though it could be against them as well.
The dragon descended and flew now next to the blue haired man, still looking ready to kill all of them right this instance. Choi Han snorted as he couldn’t hide his anger towards the blue haired man´s statement.
“Don´t put us in the same bag as those bastards!”
The blue haired man smirked, but he didn’t look amused at all. It was more of a shallow expression.
“Who else are you if not Arm? And what do you want here?”
The voice didn’t sound welcoming or nice. It sounded like he found the group to be annoying and would like to throw all of them out of the forest. But he couldn’t, even though he was confident in his own abilities as a swordsman. He could smell that all of these individuals were strong, especially the dragon. He was even stronger than the black baby dragon by his side.
“We are here to search the White Star´s base.”
It was Eruhaben who answered as he looked at the black dragon with excitement in his eyes. He was interested as to why a dragon was with a human, even though he himself was traveling with humans as his companions.
“Here?”
The blue haired man snorted at that and actually started laughing while the black blob next to him seemed even angrier, even enraged.
“That is a good joke! Arm´s or the White Star´s base isn’t here. Now, you all can go away.”
He waved at these strong individuals, he didn’t care anymore. They actually thought that Arm´s base was located next to their hideout!
“Wait!”
The blue haired man, who had started to walk away in the same direction he had come from, turned his head to look at Choi Han who had called out for him. He knew that the raven haired man was stronger than him in sorts of swordsmanship.
“What are you doing here?”
The mysterious man with the dragon on his side laughed a second time that night. He usually laughed often as he was a funny guy, or at least acted as one. He then turned serious as if he had never laughed to begin with. The black dragon snorted and wanted to speak as the man lifted his hand to prevent the small child from speaking.
“None of your business.”
Eruhaben frowned as he was curious for the reason as well.
“If you´d be as kind as to leave now…I have other plans for the night.”
The blue haired man suddenly felt the chills and didn’t dare to turn around as he knew that someone stood behind him, with a dagger nonetheless. He knew that this person was an assassin, as he didn’t hear him getting behind him at all.
“And I suggest you better spill the beans.”
Ron was smiling benignly as he pressed the blade of his dagger against the man´s throat.
“I can´t believe Cale dealt with someone like this…”
The black dragon as well as the benignly smiling old man flinched before piercing the blue haired man with their eyes, one because he just heard a name he hadn’t heard in over a year, the other because he heard the name of his caretaker without him being the one addressed.
“…What did I just hear?”
Ron pressed the dagger a bit harder against the man´s throat, slowly blood started to wet the man´s brown cape. He sighed as he waved his hand.
“Calm down, Raon.”
Everyone was surprised as to why this individual waved towards the dragon instead of explaining why he just mumbled something about a Cale. Some thought of the first born son of the Henituse Family, while others thought that it was impossible that the blue haired man was talking about the trash Cale Henituse.
“D-Do they k-know about H-Human?”
Eruhaben frowned. It was unusual for a dragon to stutter. He got even more curious about the situation at hand and this Cale person. He had his suspicions about him being the same person Choi Han deemed as trash, but he couldn’t be certain.
“Yes they do, but-“
Before the blue haired individual could continue to speak, the little dragon´s expression changed from enraged to desperate as he flew towards the old man standing behind his companion while holding a dagger at his throat. He didn’t seem to care about that.
“Where is Human? This stupid Mercenaries King said that you know about Human! Tell me!”
Ron was flabbergasted as the small dragon approached him with that speed. He was also a bit out of it. He released the blue haired man who simply sighed and shook his head.
“Not like that Raon, they were his former…acquaintances.”
The small dragon immediately stopped flying and had his head hung low. It was visible that he was disappointed that these people didn’t know where this human of his was located.
“Who are you looking for? Perhaps we can help?”
It was the dark elf aka the Crown Prince in his real form, who said it. He had a calculating expression on his face as he eyed the blue haired person and the small dragon. Of course he was surprised at the presence of another dragon and felt excited just like Rosalyn, but not to the extent that he couldn’t think straight.
The blue haired man snorted and the dragon had once more this angry expression on his cute face. His dark blue eyes glared at Ron and Choi Han, who held his sword in his hands, before his gaze shifted towards the ancient dragon Eruhaben. He huffed in surprise.
“If you don´t know anything just leave!”
The voice of the baby dragon sounded very cute and Rosalyn had to restrain herself. Lock, who stood right next to the red haired girl, observed the situation at hand, before he put his hand on Choi Han´s shoulder. He didn’t want this swordsmaster to destroy anything. Eruhaben looked at them, before he turned his gaze back at the big blue eyes.
“Hey little kid, if you tell us how we can help, we will.”
The blue haired man snorted once more. The others immediately remembered how the little dragon addressed him before, Mercenaries King. Was this blue haired individual really the Mercenaries King Bud Illis from the Eastern Continent? If he really was him, why was he here in the Forest of Darkness of all places and with a dragon nonetheless?
“You can´t help us. Now hush, go away.”
The blue haired man who was indeed Bud Illis, the Mercenaries King, waved at the strong individuals without a care in the world. His calculating green eyes looked at Choi Han before he snorted a second time, this time disgust was visible all over his face. His gaze then shifted to Beacrox who stood next to the dark elf and he shook his head. He also knew Ron, who now stood next to him without his usual benign smile.
“You heard the crazy Mercenaries King! Go away! Go away! We have to find Human!”
Bud let out a deep sigh but it couldn’t be helped. He understood Raon´s feelings as he himself was worried about the person the small dragon addressed as ´Human´ as well.
The ancient dragon frowned at the small dragon´s statement, but before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by a loud shout. Soon, another robed individual with purple hair who was slightly smaller than Bud appeared with two kittens by his feet; one silver, one red.
“Bud! What are you doing here! We don´t have time for that! Move your ass, who knows what will happen to-“
“Ah shit.”
Before the purple haired male could continue, he interrupted himself, not caring that the small dragon and the two children-kittens could hear him swear. He didn’t expect Bud Illis to have company.
“Glenn, good that you´re here.”
The purple haired man, now known as Glenn, shook his head as he picked up the two kittens.
“Bud, you could´ve just torn the teleportation scroll. You know as well that we don´t have time for chitty-chats.”
Bud just shook his head as he pointed at Eruhaben with his chin.
“Ancient dragon, there´s an assassin, a mage and a beast person. You still think I could have just run away?”
Glenn sighed as he looked at the black blob flying in the air while still looking enraged. He knew that the dragon felt another emotion and not anger and that this was probably all an act.
“You could have tried.”
Glenn sounded disappointed, but Bud ignored it as he shook his head.
“Plus, they want to help us.”
“Huh?”
Glenn started to eye Choi Han and the Molan father-son duo – he couldn’t believe that they wanted to help his group find Cale Henituse, the real owner of “his” group.
“Is this a bad joke?”
Eruhaben frowned even more. Just what did these individuals thought of them? Or did Choi Han or probably someone else have caused them troubles?
“What are you talking about? Did we ever do something to you?”
It was Alberu who finally asked the question that all of them had on their minds. Choi Han frowned as he looked at the stoic expression of the Crown Prince and decided that it´d be best to simply continue to glare at Bud Illis and this Glenn person.
“I mean, we even want to help. Is there a reason to decline help from strong individuals, or an ancient dragon?”
Glenn huffed at that and shook his head while holding in a snort. He eyed Ron and Beacrox, before finally piercing Choi Han with his vicious gaze. If Cale was here, he would have fainted at this vicious gaze. It was a silent promise. Choi Han gripped his hilt even stronger than before.
“If you guys are bored, go search someone else who needs help. We are perfectly fine.”
Bud commented in his cold voice. Glenn still didn’t say anything. It was true that if an ancient dragon was to help them…maybe they would find Cale faster? Maybe they would be able to locate him sooner. Maybe…
“Besides, we don´t need help from traitors and thugs.”
The latter was directed at Choi Han and everyone knew from the way Glenn and now Bud as well eyes the swordsman. Choi Han didn’t understand and just shrugged at his teammate´s questioning gazes.
“What do you mean with thugs and traitors?”
It was Eruhaben who asked the question. He was really curious, as no one just went around and blamed someone without a reason.
“What does it have to do with you? Sorry, even if you are a dragon, or a God if you will, we won´t need your help. If you´d please leave now.”
Glenn who was known for always being calm and friendly and who only acted mean towards Bud Illis; spoke in a venomous voice. The kittens in his arms looked up only to notice that he wasn’t even looking at them. They then exchanged looks with their youngest brother, the small baby dragon known as Raon Miru, a name Cale Henituse had bestowed upon him.
“Can you at least tell us why you thought that we were with Arm? Do you know something about the White Star? And if, could you please share your information on him, so we at least know more about him?”
Alberu was once again, thinking ahead of time and did the most of the given situation. Bud and Glenn exchanged glances. They really didn’t want to. If it´d go after their wills, they´d let these entire people die. But then again, they remembered how Cale had this soft expression – something unusual for him to have if he wasn’t with the children – as he talked about saving as many lives as possible. They also remembered how Cale still cared for Ron and his son.
“Will you leave afterwards?”
Bud asked the question and Alberu immediately nodded. Glenn let out a deep sigh. They´d have told them either way if Cale was here.
“The White Star needs something that we had…”
“Bud, why did you think that they were Arm?”
Glenn looked at Bud who tried to answer the question. He looked away and laughed as he felt embarrassed. Right, Arm took that already.
The others looked at the duo that started discussing about Bud thinking they were Arm.
“What do I know Glenn?! I am on edge because we still haven’t found Cale, dammit!”
Glenn let out a deep sigh while the others wondered who this Cale was. Was it really the Cale Henituse they thought about or was it just coincidence that both had the same name? Still, they didn’t say anything.
“As he said, the White Star wants something from us. He is a strong individual. If all of you fought against him right now, you´ll die. Now leave us alone.”
Alberu shook his head after Glenn´s statement.
“What do you mean we´d die? We have a dragon with us?”
Eruhaben looked confused as well. Humans may be strong, but he was a dragon who had lived almost thousand years, there wasn’t anyone besides maybe other dragons, who were stronger than him.
“Dragons aren´t that powerful.”
Glenn´s answer made everyone beside his group feel strange. That was the moment Choi Han lost it. He started running at Glenn and Bud. These two had ties with Arm, he was certain. They even disrespected a dragon while two of them were standing in front of them.
His sword imbedded in his dark black aura swung at Bud who easily dodged as he jumped back. He didn’t use his own aura or anything as he knew that someone would get pissed by Choi Han attacking him.
Black mana started to appear in front of him and Glenn. That mana slowly started to form a silver shield, just like he had seen appear before him before. The black dragon still remembered the suffocating sight of this silver shield with the white wings and how it had appeared in front of him several times already. He also remembered how the one who called forth that silver shield coughed up blood as things bashed against it. The young dragon, who could cast such a shield easily, didn’t understand why his human cast it every time he could do it.
“You are a thug! You thug! Stop attacking my Human´s family!”
The kittens in Glenn´s arms nodded in agreement as they started to call Choi Han a thug as well. Choi Han looked at the disappointed gazed the others sent towards him. He shivered as he felt a cold hand on his back. As he looked to the side he saw the benign smile of the old assassin who still had a lot more years as a stealthily assassin in front of him.
“You little punk, why are you always using muscles over brain?”
Eruhaben approached the silver shield with the white wings and slowly touched it without intending to break it. He didn’t understand why the small dragon shaped his shield like that.
“Little kid, tell me, this human you´re looking for, is he someone dear to you?”
Raon´s wings fluttered as he nodded. Eruhaben thought about this situation as he finally had an idea. He really wanted to meet this human who made the black dragon follow him without a second thought, as well as the Mercenaries King and seemingly two cat-tribe children. There was also a powerful mage not far from Rosalyn´s level.
“Do you want to find him?”
Of course Raon nodded once more. Everyone else was silent.
“Let´s make a deal.”
Bud furrowed his brows and looked at Glenn, who shook his head. Raon still listened to the ancient dragon´s proposal.
“You tell me who you are searching; how he looks, his name and how he went missing, and if I find him before you do, you´ll answer my and this group´s questions more precisely.”
Raon liked that proposal. Opposite to what Glenn said, they really needed help from strong individuals, best would be if it was really a God, though a God was already helping them through his saint.
“What do we get if Raon finds him first?”
It was Bud who asked the question. He caressed Raon´s head to prevent the young child from speaking. He knew that Raon wanted to agree immediately.
“Well, don´t you want an ancient dragon indebted to you?”
Glenn smirked. He knew that Cale would like that idea very much. He then smirked as he lifted his right hand and showed them his index finger. Eruhaben tilted his head a bit. Glenn then smiled.
“You and the dear Crown Prince are indebted to us. Then you have yourself a deal.”
Eruhaben looked back at the shocked dark elf. Glenn nodded as Alberu pointed to himself. They knew who he was. It was now up to him, but he still nodded.
“Fine, you have yourself a deal. Now tell us who you´re trying to find.”
Bud smiled as Raon´s shield disappeared. Choi Han was moved behind Rosalyn and Lock, next to Beacrox who looked down on the slightly smaller male.
“But you have to search everywhere for Human! He is very important! He is my Human after all!”
“Yes, yes, little kid, we will.”
Eruhaben nodded as he wanted them to finally start describing this mighty human who a dragon cared for. Or maybe it was just that this dragon was really odd.
“His name is Cale Henituse.”
Everyone gasped at that name. Beacrox stopped looking at Choi Han and stared at Bud Illis. His father´s benign smile was nowhere to be found as the old man was flabbergasted. How was this possible? He didn’t want his puppy like young master to get involved into this whole ordeal and now these people wanted to tell him that Cale Henituse was someone who was acquaintances with a dragon?
“Do you mean Cale Henituse, the trash of the Henituse Family?”
Alberu cleared his throat as all of these fierce gazed headed towards him. Not only from the mysterious individuals, but also from the Molan duo who still held the firstborn son of the Henituse very dear.
“Call him whatever you like, it doesn’t change that he is who he is. Yes, that Cale Henituse. He has blood red hair, a little bit past his shoulders in length. He is…rather pale…a little bit taller than the mage…”
Bud stopped his description and looked at Glenn who just sighed. The others didn’t understand why the blue haired man made such a big fuzz about a simple description.
“He is very thin, narrow shoulders, looks like he didn’t eat in days. He also has reddish-brown eyes. He was kidnapped by the White Star.”
The last part shocked everyone, even Choi Han. All of them had a simple question in their mind: Why would the White Star kidnap Cale Henituse?