Chapter 20.5

‘I don’t know why you need this, but, young master, I hope to see you alive in the capital.’ ‘You think I’m going to die?’ ‘All I know is that you plan to cause a commotion.’ ‘...Shut up.’ Cale was thinking about the conversation he had with Billos, before realizing that his surroundings suddenly became extremely quiet. Choi Han was looking at the cutter with chaotic eyes, while the kitten siblings had moved away from Cale and were hiding behind Choi Han. The dragon was still just staring at him. “Tsk.” Cale clicked his tongue at their response and approached the dragon. The mana restriction chain was made with something similar to rubber. If it was made of metal, it would not have fit the growing dragon. That was why it was made of something with some elasticity. He then grabbed the dragon’s neck. “Gasp.” The kittens took in a deep breath. However, Cale ignored them as he continued onward, since it was better to do this as fast as possible. The cutter headed for the dragon’s neck. The sharp blade shone under the moonlight, and the dragon just paid attention to Cale’s eyes. Cale’s eyes were emotionless and peaceful. The dragon closed its eyes. At that moment, they all heard the snapping noise of something getting cut. Sizzle. Sizzle. The mana restriction chain was causing sparks in Cale’s hands. “What are you looking at?” Cale scoffed at the dragon that had opened its eyes back to look at him and took off one of the gloves and handed it to Choi Han. Choi Han put the glove on and Cale handed the chain to him before taking the potion out of his pocket. It was a highest grade potion. Even this cost quite a bit to purchase. It made Cale feel bad for asking for an allowance the last few days before he left. Cale clicked his tongue and sharply stared at the dragon. “Do you know how much money I spent on you?” The dragon could hear the same words he heard quite often. He had heard it almost every day since he was born. Why do you not listen to me when I spent so much money on you? Guess you need to be beaten some more. Then he was beaten. They said that he needed to stop thinking for himself and listen to them as they continued to beat him. However. “Since I spent so much money on you, you better heal properly, you stupid fool.” The dragon did not feel any pain. Cale poured about half of the potion onto the dragon’s back, and poured the rest into its mouth. Thankfully, the dragon did not resist, and swallowed it down. After a few minutes, Cale could only think that it really was a dragon. The mana, which was the equivalent to the dragon’s heart and the source of all of its power, started to move in its body. All of the injuries on the dragon’s body instantly disappeared, and a blue aura that seemed to be the dragon’s mana surrounded its body like the wind. This change that occurred in an instant made Cale think about just how scary and powerful of an existence dragons really were in this world. “Hey.” The dragon should have no reason to get injured anymore. The smart dragon seemed to understand what had happened to its body, as its eyes came completely back to life. Cale took a step toward the dragon. The baby dragon curled up while continuing to observe Cale. Cale ignored the dragon and asked. “What do you want to do now?” Cale started to smile while looking at the dragon that remaining silent. “I know you can speak the human language. You are a dragon. The smartest and strongest existence in the world.” Cale asked once more. “What did you want to do once you got free?” “...I.” The dragon started to speak. The dragon really did know how to speak the human language. It was much smarter than humans. There was no way it did not learn the human language in the last four years. “I.” The dragon could feel it in his heart. With his current strength, he could easily kill the man in front of him. He was scared of the man in the back, but it would be possible for him to escape alive. He had gained the strength he had waited for so long to obtain. That was why the dragon finally said the thing he had thought to himself over and over for the last four years. However, this was the first time he had ever said it out loud. “I will live.” He will live, no matter what it took. “I will go away.” He was going to go away from here. He revealed his inner thoughts. “I will not be tamed.” “Yes. You are right.” Cale was saying the dragon was right. “You are a dragon. A DRAGON. You have the right to live freely.” Even a four-year-old dragon was stronger than most of the animals in the world. It had enough strength to survive on its own, and, normally, dragons were extremely independent and prideful. They generally wanted to create their own lair once they turned about two years old. It was completely worlds apart than a human two-year-old. Cale looked into the eyes of the dragon, that still did not trust humans, and sternly started to speak. “I will not take care of you.” Cale did not have a reason to look after something that was stronger than him. There were also too many potential headaches to keep him around to pay back for Cale’s help. It was different from the children from the Cat Tribe, On and Hong. A dragon was beyond Cale’s limits. The dragon could not trust Cale. “Liar. Humans are good at lying.” There was now anger in the dragon’s eyes. That anger was not directed at Cale, however. Dragons were naturally born with a lot of pride. This anger came from the years that his pride was trampled upon by the humans. “I guess that is true. I do lie quite a bit as well.” Cale easily accepted the dragon’s words, and continued to speak. “Live however you want to live. What is it you want to do?” “I-.” The baby dragon lifted its head to look at the night sky. It was different from the darkness inside the cave. It was dark, but there was still light. “I hate humans. I want to be free.” “Good.” Cale got up from his seat. He then took out some mid-grade potions and a smaller pouch from his magic bag and put the potions in the bag before handing it to the dragon. “Live freely.” The dragon’s black pupils enlarged and started to shake. However, there was still doubt and resentment in its eyes. Naturally, Cale did not care. ‘This should be enough.’ He freed the dragon, screwed Venion over, saved the village, and helped Choi Han understand what freedom means thanks to the dragon. Most importantly, he did not need to take responsibility for the dragon. He could see in its eyes that it did not want to follow him. It was a very good conclusion. Cale spoke to his party members in a satisfied tone. “Let’s go.” He turned his back to the dragon with no regrets, and started to walk. Choi Han silently followed behind Cale and focused on altering their tracks. The kittens, who hesitated for a moment, saw the dragon turn its gaze away from Cale before following behind him. Once even the Cat Tribe sibling turned away from it, the dragon lifted its head and watched them walk away. “...I hate humans...they are evil...” For some reason, the dragon was paying more attention to the back of the human, the race that he was annoyingly used to and hated, rather than the night sky that it was seeing for the first time. Hong slowly approached his sister On as they followed behind Cale. “Noona, I think he’s going to follow us.” “Uh huh. I think so too.” “Am I going to get a younger brother?” “It looks like it.” The kittens were conversing with themselves, but Cale scoffed at them and retorted back. “No way. Dragons are extremely prideful and will never accept being under a human. Furthermore, this dragon hates humans.” On’s expression seemed to disagree. If a cat had a mocking expression, it would probably be the one of On’s face right now. On shook her head and quietly mumbled. “...I don’t think so.” “...Uh huh.” Hong looked behind him before agreeing with his sister. The Black Dragon was still looking in their direction. Hong was now sure. This dragon will enjoy its freedom for a bit, before sharing some beef with him in the future. Cale ordered the two kittens who were whispering to each other. “Go get the orb back.” The two siblings went to get the orb so that they could eat some more beef. Cale did not even look at the siblings, as he patted Choi Han’s shoulder. “Good work.” Today should have been the first time Choi Han ever saved anything. There was that battle with the bandits earlier, but that was more protecting than saving. Of course, the actual events changed from saving the village people from the dragon in the novel to saving the dragon that he actually had killed in the novel, but the important thing here was that he, ‘saved,’ someone. “Cale-nim.” “What.” Choi Han was silent for a while after calling out to Cale’s name, before he finally started to speak once again. “What if the dragon decided that living as it wants was to follow you, Cale-nim?” “That will never happen.” “What if. Just hypothetically speaking.” ‘Hypothetical?’ Cale thought about it for a while, before lightly responding. “I don’t think about what ifs or the past.” But for some reason, Cale suddenly got the chills and looked behind himself for the first time since walking away from the dragon. Thankfully, the Black Dragon was not visible. Cale sighed in relief, before returning to the inn and falling asleep. That was why he did not know that the dragon used magic for the first time to become invisible, and sat at his window for a long time before leaving. The dragon was tightly clutching the bag of potions that Cale had given him. The next day, Cale had to deal with Choi Han’s questions from early in the morning. “Cale-nim. There is a city coming up in a few days. Is that the middle point?” It was almost time for Choi Han to finish making up his, ‘payment,’ that Cale had talked about. It also meant that Cale was getting closer to receiving another ancient power for himself. Originally, in the novel, the eldest son of Marquis Stan’s family, the one who was pushed out by Venion, would find this ancient power in about a month. It was his last glimmer of hope, but, unfortunately, it ended up being a power that he could not use.