Chapter p2-195: TCF Part 2 - The trade has been established (1)
Cale sat down extremely carefully on the training ground floor covered in gold.
He saw Myung's odd gaze.
"What is it?"
Myung slightly shook her head at his nonchalant tone. Cale stopped paying her any attention and looked at the divine item as he spoke.
"You want me to wait three days?"
Central Plains had asked Cale to wait three days to get his reward when Cale said that he was going to leave tomorrow.
Ding.
< Yes sir! >
"Hooo."
A quiet gasp of admiration flowed out of Cale's mouth. He spoke gently as if he was truly shocked.
"Hey Central Plains."
Raon, whose attention was focused on the sparkling gold, flinched. His face then slowly turned unsettled.
Cale didn't care and continued to speak in that gentle tone.
"Three days worth of time is especially precious to me. You know the value of that, right?"
< ....... >
The mirror was silent.
< Hey Central Plains. I am asking you a question. You know the value of three days of my time, right?" Di, ding! < Y, yes sir! >
"Good. I'm relieved to see that you are well aware. Haha!"
Cale laughed out loud as if he had become an extremely kindhearted person. He then stopped laughing as he spoke.
"Hey Central Plains, then that reward must be quite big for me to give three of my precious days for it. Isn't that right?"
< ....... >
"But I remember our little Central Plains saying that he couldn't give me a reward as big as Xiaolen. I guess you do have a few things?"
Di....ng
< Ah...oops. >
Cale's smile became even wider.
Raon's eyes sparkled at that moment. He seemed to have realized something.
"This was much harder than what we faced in Xiaolen."
"That's right!"
Raon suddenly interjected.
The black Dragon sat down next to Cale and looked at the mirror as he spoke.
"It was extremely difficult for our human! Choi Han, me, everybody else struggled too! We've also been here much longer than when we were in Xiaolen! And, and!"
His emotions must have become stronger as he spoke as Raon slammed the ground with his front paw.
Boom!
A dent was made on the ground made of gold.
Cale's pupils started to shake. Raon didn't care and snorted as he shouted.
"And our human! His head, boom boom!"
Thump thump!
Boom boom followed by thump thump. Cale's shoulders moved up and down.
"And his body almost boom boom!"
Thump thump!
Cale flinched again.
"Everything almost exploded! It could have been really bad for our human!"
Bang!
In the end, the ground made of gold ended up with a deep hole because of the young Dragon's chubby two front paws.
'...He's become more vicious.'
Dragons truly were vicious.
Cale slowly turned his gaze away from Raon.
Di....ding......
< That, mm, you see- >
"You have to consider all of these things. Make sure to include them when you come up with your rewards!"
Raon's eyes, which had been sparkling because of the reward at first, were now burning fiercely in anger.
Ding!
< Of course. Starting with handling over the power of the World Tree- >
"The power of the World Tree?"
Raon tilted his head in confusion.
< The thing that was sealed, sir. That- >
As one of Cale's eyebrows was about to raise...
Baaaaang!
Another hole appeared on the ground.
< Hiccup! >
Cale didn't care about Central Plains hiccupping and looked at Raon in shock.
His wings were shaking. Rage filled the face of the black Dragon.
Huff huff. He was so angry that he was breathing heavily out of his nose and mouth.
Cale sat up straight, placed both hands in front of him, and kept his mouth shut.
"...Huff, huff."
Raon took some deep breaths for a while before starting to shout a bunch of things.
"That is something I, that we worked so hard to seal! So who are you to tell us to take it or not?! Are you an idiot, Central Plains?!"
Bang!
"Or are you a scammer? Are you trying to stab us in the back?!"
Bang!
"Or are you trying to shamelessly call that a reward?!"
Baaaaang!
< No, that's not-, that statue is extremely precious-, an item that can endure containing the clone of a world is really precious- >
Baaaaang!
"...And?"
Cale flinched after hearing Raon ask in a low voice. He felt as if he could see Eruhaben through Raon.
The way he was calmly asking 'And?' in a clear voice also made him think of Ron.
'He's become similar to the two most vicious old men.'
Cale did not realize that Raon was most like him and quietly sat there. It was best to remain quiet in such a situation.
< That, that- >
Central Plains became flustered.
Cale slowly interjected. He spoke in a gentle voice.
"Hey Central Plains."
< Yes sir! >
Cale continued to speak to Central Plains who subconsciously answered energetically after hearing the warmth in his voice.
"Do you think that we are pushovers?"
< ...Excuse me? >
Raon stopped huffing out of his nose and turned his head. His wings fluttered once again after seeing the bright smile on Cale's face.
He then nodded his head and took a step away from the conversation. Cale had no idea why Raon was acting like this, but he was satisfied that he instantly stopped being angry.
Vicious Dragons were scary.
Of course, Cale continued to say what he needed to say as he did that.
"Now that I think about it, you seem to be quite shrewd, Central Plains."
Cale calmly and gently shared the things he had felt until now.
"You keep calling yourself a baby world, that you don't really know, that you are weak, that you don't have much. That's what you've been saying until now, but that doesn't seem to be the case? Central Plains, what is going on? Hmm?"
Di......
< Ah.......>
"Central Plains must think that we are idiots or something. Isn't that right? That is why you are trying to stop us from leaving when we worked so hard to take care of things in this world and are trying to leave. That is why you offer such nonsensical rewards as compensation and try to gaslight us into taking it as fair compensation. How entertaining. Isn't it?"
Diiiiiing......
< ....... >
Honestly speaking, there was quite a lot that Cale had gained from the Central Plains.
Maxillienne. He was able to extremely strengthen the Sky Eating Water thanks to the power left behind by that Dragon and also gained a rechargeable power.
Furthermore, the three items he gained should be very useful in Aipotu as well.
However, those were things Cale had earned, not things Central Plains had given him.
In addition, although it seemed as if Central Plains got involved with Balance every so often to do things to make sure that no burden was placed on Cale...
'That was for his own world.'
Cale tapped on the mirror as he spoke.
"I'm leaving in two days."
Ding!
< Excuse me? That's too short! If you give me three days- >
The smile disappeared from Cale's face.
He looked down at the mirror with a stoic gaze.
"Prepare it within two days. Whether it is rewards or whatever..."
He nonchalantly commented.
"You can't skimp on it. Isn't that right?"
< ....... >
"Alright, Central Plains, I can do it?"
Di....ng!
< I... Can... Do it! >
Raon stopped being silent and shouted.
"I'll be watching!"
Ding.
< Sob. I really am penniless. That's why I worked so hard in other ways. >
Cale shook his head. He would not have said much if Central Plains had said things like this, but to offer the power of the World Tree that Raon worked so hard to seal as a reward? Even if the young monk statue belonged to Central Plains, that was not right.
Central Plains must have realized the hint Cale was giving him as he spoke again.
Ding.
< ... Central Plains can do it.>
He said that to himself before going quiet.
It felt as if he would return with proper compensation in two days.
Raon looked at Cale with a sparkling gaze. Cale nonchalantly patted Raon's back in response.
"Hehe."
It was at that moment.
Baaaaang—!
They heard a loud noise.
The entire Blue Blood Fort started shaking. Cale became shocked, looked at the ceiling, and shouted.
He could not have this place destroyed.
"My gold!"
'It can be destroyed after I take all of this gold!'
He scowled and quickly got up before speaking to Raon.
"Let's go up."
"Yeah! Human, let's quickly go take a look!"
Raon spoke urgently with a serious look on his face.
Myung blankly looked at them before following behind the person and the Dragon.
Cale figured out that the explosion had taken place on the third floor.
That was where the Blood Demon's bedroom had been when she was young, and Choi Han and Ron were in charge of looking through it.
Currently, the Blood Demon's bedroom was on the second floor.
"What is going on?"
It must not have been a big explosion as the pavilion was fine.
Cale waved off the thick smoke on the third floor and headed toward the bedroom.
"Cale-nim."
Choi Han approached with an odd expression on his face.
"I was looking at a toy box when it suddenly exploded."
"...A toy box?"
"Ah." 'They said this was her bedroom when she was young.'
Cale looked toward Myung. She immediately explained.
"It was the room the Blood Demon used until she was seven years old. The Blood Demon did not allow anybody to touch the items she used in her youth."
"Even you?"
"...Yes, even me."
Cale looked back toward Choi Han.
"Is the whole bedroom destroyed?"
The results were probably not good if there was an explosion.
"Yes, Cale-nim. Thankfully, it was after we had gone through most of the items."
"Anybody hurt?"
"No."
Choi Han was responding resolutely but his face showed a slight look of disappointment.
Usually, an explosion like that meant that the item was precious.
Of course, Cale was disappointed about that as well.
Aipotu.
A world ruled by Dragons.
The Lost World.
That place would probably be the worst battlefield they have ever visited.
Choi Han continued to speak.
"I'm sorry, Cale-nim. I should have been more careful. It exploded as soon as I opened the box-"
"No, I'm sure you and Ron would have been extremely careful. It was something that couldn't be helped."
It'd be one thing if it was Toonka or Choi Jung Soo.
Ron and Choi Han would have carefully inspected each and every item. But the fact that something still exploded meant that it could not be helped.
'Let's not have any regrets.'
Cale cleanly put it out of his mind.
"...Still, I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay-"
'I also only managed to save one item."
'Hmm?'
Cale stopped talking and looked at Choi Han. Ron walked out of the smoky bedroom. There was something in his hand.
"Young master-nim, this is the item that was in the toy box."
'How did he get it through the explosion?'
Had he read the question in Cale's eyes? Raon smiled gently as he spoke.
"Right before the explosion, only this item seemed to be of a different quality so I saved it."
It truly had been smart to put Choi Han and Ron together.
Cale looked at the ash-covered item. Ron pulled a handkerchief from somewhere to wipe it before handing it to Cale.
"It did not seem like a toy. I've never seen something like this before."
Cale looked at the item.
"Huh?"
A confused voice came out of his mouth.
"Human, what is it?"
Cale picked up the item without caring about Raon's confusion.
This cute item that was decorated with pink cotton candy and light blue clouds...
Cale looked at it and mumbled to himself.
"...This is a children's tablet?"
It was different from the design of the tablets he had used when he was Kim Rok Soo, but he was certain that this thing with the cute picture and the soft case was a tablet.
It was for children.
Cale inspected the case before he flinched.
He had been able to read all languages since he started traveling through worlds.
Maybe the God of Death had prepared it for him, but...
That was the reason he could read the words on the tablet as easily as how he had read the Hanja in this world.
This was actually more of a trademark.
< Transparent © >
Transparent Corporation.
Cale had a thought.
Black Bloods, Blue Bloods...
He had taken down two of the Hunter households.
There were three left now.
The Purple Bloods of Aipotu that had installed the trap in the Blood Cult.
The Five Colors Bloods that the Huayans patriarch started to mention before he instantly died.
And finally, the Transparent Bloods.
Cale contemplated for a bit before pushing the power button.
Push. The screen turned on after he pushed it for a bit.
Thankfully, there seemed to be some battery left in the device.
Cale looked at the screen as he spoke to Choi Han.
"Don't let anybody get near here. Send the young Blood Demon candidate somewhere else too."
Cale could feel his heart beating wildly.
He felt as if he was about to discover something big.
A tablet found where the Blood Demon had spent her youth...
This was an item that did not fit this world at all.
Actually, it was the type of thing he had not seen outside of Korea.
Everybody was silent around him. Cale didn't even notice as he focused on the screen.
The screen soon turned on.
Transparent ©.
Those words and a logo popped up before the screen appeared.
Dandararaaaaang-
Cheery and upbeat music flowed out of the device.
Cale read the words on the screen.
< Raising my very own precious omnipotent god! >
'...What?'
What Cale had discovered was a gaming device.
Ding!
The divine item rang at that moment.
The God of Death had sent a message.
< Cale, the God of Balance wants to meet you. Do you want to? >
Of course, Cale could not see that message.
The game screen popped up.
< Player 'Bluey' is currently ranked fourth! >
Cale's pupils started shaking after seeing the rankings.
"...First place, I'm going to fuck up the bastard who took Taerang......"
"Human, what are you talking about?"
Raon's voice was shaking.
Cale thought of a person's name.
"Ahn Roh Man!"
Ahn Roh Man was the three-term president of the country named Roan on Earth 3.
Although the country was named Roan, the capital was Seoul.
It was a different Earth than where Cale lived and where Kim Rok Soo had lived.
The weapon Ahn Roh Man had was named Taerang.
Taerang, the Unbreakable Spear.
Crown prince Alberu Crossman was the current master of that item.
Taerang, the spear with AI, had gone through three people, Ahn Roh Man, Choi Jung Gun, and Angelina, to get to Alberu.
Ahn Roh Man.
'Why is this bastard ranked first in this game? He's not a Hunter? In fact, that guy was harmed by them like the Roan Kingdom?'
"What is this game?"
Cale had a questioning gaze on his face.
The Transparent Bloods.
Cale had approached some information about them in an odd way.
Translator's Comments
That was an unexpected return of a minor character!