Chapter 73: Different than Intended (5)

“How did you know?” “The mana told me.” Harol had a twisted smile on his face after hearing Cale’s answer. The mana told me. That was the phrase that was quite famous for being the Magic Tower’s liege’s favorite phrase. Harol Kodiang. He was born between a mage and a magic resistant citizen, and he had the unique traits of both sides. However, his appearance did not look anything like the citizens at all. “...Are you planning on using my bloodline as blackmail?” Cale looked down from the 20th floor instead of responding to the question right away. There were a lot of memorable extra characters in, ‘The Birth of a Hero.’ Harol Kodiang was one of them. His mother passed away while giving birth to him alone, and his father did not even know of his existence. That was the start of Harol’s anger. ‘However, there was something Harol did not know.’ It was something only the author and the readers would know. That one line was enough to make Harol’s anger worthless. The novel did not go into detail about it. All it said was that the liege of the Magic Tower met her when he was out training as a young mage and fell in love. Cale continued to look out the window before speaking to the son of the Magic Tower’s liege, who ended up destroying the Magic Tower. “Why would I use it to blackmail you? Being related to someone by blood is not a sin.” Harol did not have a response. Cale turned his head to look at Harol. “Plus, aren’t you all the ones who are in a rush?” They were currently between spring and summer, with the fall harvest season right in front of them. All of them had rebelled against the Magic Tower because they could not handle the taxation of the Magic Tower any longer. Harol needed to fill the people’s desire in order for them to rise up once again. In fact, Harol was someone who wanted war even more than Toonka did. He wanted to destroy the seeds of mages in the entire world. “...There is a mage within your crew.” “Yes there is.” Harol could feel mana like his father, but could not use it. There was no way he wouldn’t know that Rosalyn was a mage. Of course, the reason that he couldn’t feel Raon’s presence was because his skills were too weak. Harol could see how calm and confident Cale was and decided to ask. “What is the Roan Kingdom planning to do with the Magic Tower?” Cale started to frown as he made it very clear to Harol. “The Magic Tower is mine.” Harol observed the red-haired man who spoke confidently while looking out the window. “I do not share my things with anyone else.” He would have to be crazy to give this to the kingdom. Cale thought about all of the time he spent to get here. There was no way he would give this up. The Magic Tower would become an ingredient for him to create the sturdiest castle for his territory. Cale could see that Harol’s eyes were filled with complications and confusion. ‘He probably is going through all sorts of scenarios in his head because he is so smart.’ The final goal of this crazy bastard was to destroy all mages in the world. Harol respected and hoped for a world where everyone just relied on their strength or things like ancient powers. It was funny, since the world Harol was trying to create would be even worse when it came to comparisons between the people who had abilities and the people who did not. That was why Cale called him a crazy bastard. “...Young master Cale, is it not that you want the mages of the Whipper Kingdom?” “Me?” Cale scoffed to show that he was being honest when he answered. He already had Raon Miru, the Black Dragon with him. “I do not need any more mages around me. An even greater existence is by my side.” -...Human, I like the view from up here! The great Raon is right here human! Cale could hear Raon’s voice, but he paid no attention to it. Harol had a complicated expression on his face. Cale was planning on sending the mages to the crown prince anyways. He didn’t care about whether Harol figured this out or not. He wasn’t lying, since he personally would not take those mages under his wing. ‘Of course, I will give some help to the crown prince.’ By some, he meant a lot of help to make sure that the mages ended up with the crown prince. “Alright, Chief Harol Kodiang.” Harol could see that Cale seemed to have no worries at all. He pointed to the door. It was at that moment. “Cale-nim, it has been 5 minutes.” Their alone time was over. Choi Han looked through the open door and announced the end of the time before adding on. “And other people have arrived as well.” Other people? While Harol looked confused, Cale started to speak. “You can hear the details from my people.” Two people entered through the open door as soon as he said that. It was Billos and Deputy butler Hans. Hans had a large bag of files in his arms. Why had Cale called Billos and Hans to come with him? It was naturally in order to put them to use. Harol could feel Cale’s hand on his shoulder. Tap. Tap. Cale lightly tapped Harol’s shoulder before continuing to speak. “Have a nice discussion.” Harol started to laugh at Cale’s calm voice before returning to his usual gentle expression. “I definitely will.” Harol gave that short response before quickly heading over to Billos and Hans. Billos walked over to Cale while Hans and Harol were discussing. He then cautiously started to whisper. “Young master-nim.” “What?” “Should I make the deal under my name for now?” The transfer of funds was completed with Billos as the middleman. Billos would take Cale’s money and deliver it to the non-mage faction. It was because of the difference in currencies and such. Of course, Billos would be taking the crown’s money and not Cale’s, but the non-mage faction had no way of knowing about that. “Yes.” “Then I will leave a deposit and deliver the rest of the money within a month.” “You take care of it.” “But I do have a question.” Cale could see Billos licking his lips. It looked so gross that Cale motioned with his chin for Billos to hurry up and speak. “That, you see, how much were you thinking of spending?” The great Magic Tower held a lot of history within its walls. Everyone else believed that all of the devices except the elevator were completely destroyed. The citizens of the Whipper Kingdom also hated this building. Cale put up one finger in front of Billos. Billos seemed confused after looking at the finger before cautiously asking. “...100 million?” “No.” “One billion?” Cale did not respond. “...Ten billion?” Cale nodded his head at the cautious question. “Take care of it within that range.” It seemed small compared to the tens of billions of gallons that went into feeding the army per month, but the non-mage faction needed money urgently to settle the needs of the citizens. The same amount of money could have different values based on the needs of the people. Furthermore, it was the crown prince’s money and not Cale’s money anyway. Billos started to frown as he quietly, but quickly, started to whisper. “But it is all destroyed? Well, the original Magic Tower would take more than even a hundred billion gallons to purchase, but none of the magic devices even work right now.” “That is why it is a maximum of ten billion gallons. Bring the cost down using the fact that it is just a skeleton of what it used to be. Oh, and you can use more money, so buy a good chunk of the nearby land as well.” “...Excuse me?” “There is something that we can sell that is worth the cost of this Magic Tower.” A short period of silence filled the area. “Sigh.” Billos let out a deep sigh. “I have no idea what you are planning, but I guess we should always aim to generate the most profit?” “Of course.” “Then I will do what I can.” Cale started to smile after hearing such a satisfactory answer. Billos seemed to be at a loss of words, but still barely managed to smile back. “My heart is shaking after hearing such large amounts of money, young master-nim.” “I’m sure it is beating with joy.” Billos did not retort Cale’s response. He respectfully bowed before leisurely walking back toward Harol. The non-mage faction had no use for the Magic Tower and instead needed to do something big like destroying the Magic Tower to satisfy the citizens. Since it was going to be worthless anyway, they might as well make some money off of it. “Cale-nim.” Choi Han and Beacrox approached Cale. Beacrox looked around the room before asking. “Are you going to clean it once you buy it?” Cale gently responded to Beacrox’s question. “I’m going to get rid of everything.” The moment Beacrox let out a sigh of relief, Cale stopped leaning on the windowsill and started to walk away. There was no need to look at anything else right now. He would be back at night anyway. *** There was a big frown on Cale’s face. He could hear Toonka responding to him. “You don’t feel well?” “Yes.” Toonka started to frown at Cale’s nonchalant answer. The surroundings were very loud. The citizens were enjoying the celebration to welcome a new warrior. Toonka knew of their current financial situation, but this was more important to him. He needed to use the warrior name to draw people to them. That was why the chiefs had agreed to this dinner celebration. “...You weakling.” Toonka seemed to be disgusted, but it was hidden through his swollen face. Cale just pointed to Choi Han. “The main character for the celebration is still available, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I need to rest because I am a weakling.” Although Choi Han did not seem to like it, Cale lightly pushed him toward Toonka and crew. Naturally, Hilsman was with Choi Han as well. “Hahaha! I can feel the will of the Whipper Kingdom’s warriors! A celebration! This is great!” The Vice Captain really was good at socializing. “Then goodbye.” Cale left the celebration area without any regrets. Beacrox was with him as a guard. Beacrox asked a question because they were heading toward Cale’s crew’s tents that were quite far away from the celebration. “I just need to stand guard outside of the tent?” “Yes, I will be sleeping.” “That will be the official story.” It really was easy to talk to Beacrox. He didn’t need to do any unnecessary explanations.