“By the way, who are the two people that the Cat children were following?”

The Mercenary King sat down at a table at the center of the room.

“Ahem.”

“Aigoo, there’s some urgent business to take care of in the kitchen!”

The bandit-turned-employees moved far away from the table.

“All of you can head out.”

Ron motioned for them to leave, and the employees quickly ran out.

Cale then started to speak.

“Dragons.”

“…Hmm?”

Bud, who had been looking around at the empty hall, looked completely confused. He put his finger in his ear to clear it when Cale said it once more.

“Dragons.”

“…Ah. They’re Dragons.”

Nod nod.

Bud just decided not to think about Cale’s group anymore.

But he still couldn’t accept it!

‘Dragons?! Two of them?! No wait, he already had multiple Dragons with him!’

Bud started to frown.

The door to the rear garden opened, and an employee came in and started to speak to Ron.

“Manager-nim, shall we bring some tea-”

Bud thought about the word, ‘Dragons,’ and commented.

“Are you trying to take down a kingdom on the Eastern continent to set an example or something?”

Clunk.

The bandit-turned-employee’s hand that was holding the doorknob was shaking.

‘What did I just hear? Destroy a kingdom?’

The employee immediately moved after seeing Ron’s benign smile.

Screeeech-

The door was quietly closed.

Cale frowned after hearing Bud’s comment.

“Why would I destroy a kingdom?”

“Well, the team you brought is strong enough to do that. They could probably destroy this Leeb-An City in like five minutes.”

“Cut the crap. Just hand over the information you brought.”

“Ah, okay!”

Bud took a document out of his pocket and handed it to Cale.

“The stone mountain where the Cats live is in the Sez Kingdom.”

The Cat tribe was going to be where Cale started his plan to take down the White Star’s allies.

This starting point to the final battle would be at the stone mountain in the Sez Kingdom.

“…Mount Nex in the Sez Kingdom.”

Bud responded to Cale’s mumbling.

“It’s a kingdom right next to the Castle of Light.”

It was by the Castle of Light, one of the Three Restricted Areas of the Eastern continent, the white desert where Lord Sheritt’s White Castle had once been located.

That castle was now Raon’s and moved to the Forest of Darkness as a black castle.

Cale read through the information in the document.

< The Sez Kingdom is currently allied with the Endable Kingdom and is one of the strongest kingdoms on the Eastern continent. >

< It is famous for being a kingdom of knights, and the current king Bakehe is famous for being a sword master. >

Bud continued his explanation.

“Mount Nex is located in the northern part of the Sez Kingdom. It is an area with a stone mountain at the center and the residents rarely go toward it because the terrain is difficult to traverse.”

Cale recalled a conversation he had with Duke Fredo.

‘It is the place where a few different Cat tribes live together with the Fog Cat Tribe in charge. There is a large stone mountain at the center of their territory. It is kind of like a citadel. The Cats that are talented in fog and assassination are protecting the place.’

‘That stone mountain is where the captives are?’

‘Yes.’

Bud added on.

“Even without the terrain issue, the residents wouldn’t be able to go there. The document mentions why.”

Cale looked back toward the document.

< Mount Nex has been passed down for many generations as a holy mountain based on a tale about the Sez Kingdom’s first king, and people are not allowed to enter without permission. >

< The Sez Royal Academy is located right underneath the mountain as well. >

“Ha!”

Cale scoffed in disbelief.

“The Fog Cat Tribe resides in a mystical mountain that has a tale about the first king? They’re letting the Cats keep the imprisoned sacrifices for the summoning ritual at such a holy mountain?”

Bud responded with a stiff expression to Cale’s question.

“Yes. The place that the citizens of the Sez Kingdom consider to be the holiest is being used for such **.”

“And the leaders of the kingdom are naturally hiding that fact from the citizens?”

Bud nodded his head.

“It seemed like even most of the nobles of the Sez Kingdom didn’t know that the mountain was being used like that. We subtly asked the nobles and merchants our guild has connections within the kingdom but none of them seemed to have any idea. They didn’t seem to be hiding anything either.”

Cale started to speak.

“It sounds like the alliance between the White Star and the Sez Kingdom is not something that started recently.”

Pretty much every kingdom on the Eastern continent had aligned themselves with the Endable Kingdom.

Cale had first heard about it from Dark Tiger Alberu while he was completing the test as Kim Rok Soo.

‘This situation doesn’t make sense if I think about it that way.’

The Cat tribe has their base on the Sez Kingdom’s holy mountain.

This was impossible without cooperation from the Sez Kingdom’s side.

“That’s right. I don’t know about the other kingdoms, but at least the Sez Kingdom, or at least its king and his loyal subordinates, seem to have made a secret alliance with the White Star a long time ago.”

“It seems to be quite a strong relationship. There’s no way the Sez Kingdom’s side would allow them to imprison sacrificial hostages in a holy mountain if it wasn’t.”

The Sez Kingdom might even have had a longer alliance with the White Star than the Molden Kingdom, which was now Cale’s ally led by Princess Jopis.

The Fog Cat Tribe would have needed a long time to settle there and call other Cats over.

‘Our only allies on the Eastern continent are Princess Jopis and the Molden Kingdom, The Mercenaries Guild, the Molan household, and Leeb-An City.’

Cale’s allies were few in number compared to the size of the Eastern continent.

They were extremely few in number.

Bud cautiously added on.

“It might be possible that it is not just the Sez Kingdom, but that the other kingdoms have had an alliance with the White Star since a long time ago. We are currently gathering information on that aspect.”

Ron, who had been quietly listening, interjected.

“Young master-nim. It will be extremely annoying for us if the other kingdoms have had a deep relationship with the White Star as well.”

The quality of an alliance between members who have just joined together and one whose members have been together for a long time were different.

Bud nodded his head.

“As the patriarch-nim mentioned, it might end up as a war between the Eastern continent and the Western continent if things go terribly wrong.”

That would mean it would become a long war as even if they managed to kick the White Star out of the Western continent, he would still have a foundation on the Eastern continent.

Just thinking about it was tiring.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Cale tapped on the table with his index finger.

His gaze headed toward the document on top of the table.

“The Sez Academy is the future of the Sez Kingdom.”

The Sez Royal Academy that was located at the bottom of the holy Mount Nex…

< The Sez Royal Academy is considered one of the top three academies on the Eastern continent. >

< It accepts all students age 13 to 18 regardless of their background and students have to go through an extremely difficult admissions exam before completing a five-year curriculum. >

< The royals can only be officially accepted as royalty only by graduating from this academy. Numerous individuals from other kingdoms have also graduated from this academy and have their own small society. >

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Cale was tapping his finger as he started to speak.

“Bud Illis.”

“Hmm?”

“It seems that I will have to do as you said.”

“…What I said? What did I-”

Bud recalled the things he had told Cale today.

He then recalled a specific statement and had to ask.

“…Are you trying to take down a kingdom on the Eastern continent to set an example or something? …Are you talking about that statement?”

Bud’s pupils were shaking.

He could see a smiling Cale.

“Take down? Am I the White Star? I don’t have any plans to do that.”

Bud started to think.

Although Cale was saying that he was not planning on taking down a kingdom…

‘…His face makes it seem like he is planning on doing something similar.’

He could not share that thought out loud.

He just focused on Cale’s mouth that was starting to open.

“We are changing our target to two things.”

Tap.

His palm tapped on the table.

“Our first target is destroying the Cat tribe’s base and rescuing the hostages.”

After that…

“Our second target is destroying the Sez Kingdom’s alliance with the White Star to start a chain of kingdoms on the Eastern continent breaking their alliances with the White Star. We might as well do it since we are headed to the Sez Kingdom anyway.”

That would be the greatest result if things went as Cale planned.

The White Star would end up a target with nowhere to run. Everything would end with the final battle.

Bud started to speak.

“…That’s something you might as well do because you’re headed there?”

“Yeah. Sounds like something we can handle.”

Cale pointed to a portion of the document.

< The Sez Kingdom celebrates the anniversary of the day the first king came down from the stone mountain. The current king will visit the holy Mount Nex on that day to proclaim that he has carried on the will of the first king. >

Chhh.

Cale flipped through some pages before pointing at a different spot.

It was the part that explained about the academy.

< There is a rule that the current king will visit the Sez Royal Academy and give a speech on the day before they visit Mount Nex. >

Bud gulped and looked at Cale.

He could hear Cale’s calm voice.

“That day just happens to be in four days?”

Smile.

Cale started to smile.

“It looks like we can see the king’s face on our way, so we might as well destroy the alliance as well.”

Bud just nodded his head.

* * *

Two days later.

Mercenary King Bud Illis made a statement with a grim expression on his face.

“Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day the Sez king will come to the academy.”

The current king of Sez will visit the academy tomorrow to give a speech.

He would climb Mount Nex the following day to celebrate the anniversary of the first king.

Cale touched the tie of a school uniform he had not worn in a long time and started to speak.

“We will infiltrate the academy tomorrow and grab the king.”

Cale looked at the team, who were all wearing the different outfits they were going to be using to infiltrate the academy tomorrow.

Bud was in a different outfit as well.

‘Doesn’t grabbing the king mean that we are going to abduct him?’

He wanted to ask, but held himself back.

He said something else instead.

“It is not just the king. There will be other nobles who visit as well. Two Knights Brigades from the palace will be guarding them. They will also have mages and other guards.”

That wasn’t all.

The soldiers from nearby territories will be gathered together, and the nobles who have territory in the northern part of the Sez Kingdom would all be there as well.

It was a speech directed at the students, but it was quite a large ordeal.

“Cale.”

Bud cautiously shared his thoughts with Cale.

“Why don’t we aim for the day the king heads for Mount Nex instead of tomorrow? That’s a holy place, so he needs to go on his own.”

Cale shook his head.

“A lot of people need to see it.”

“…They need to see us grab the king?”

“Yes.”

The students, nobles, royals, knights… Even the citizens who were gathered outside the academy hoping to get a glimpse of the king…

Everybody needed to see them.

This need was explained easily.

“The Fog Cat Tribe will be the ones who abduct the king.”

“Ah!”

Cale looked toward On and Hong while Bud subconsciously gasped.

On nodded her head with a look of determination.

Cale patted her head and looked at the map of the Sez Royal Academy that the Mercenaries Guild had procured.

“We will use the king to rescue the Vampires and the Dark Elves.”

Bud couldn’t help but speak after hearing that they would conduct the abduction and the rescue at the same time.

“…Will all of that be possible?”

Smile.

A wicked-looking smile appeared on Cale’s face.

“Yes. Of course, it’s possible.”

The plan would probably take all day tomorrow. It might even go into a second day, but they had figured out how they were going to do it.

Cale explained this to everybody, and once his explanation was over…

“Meeting adjourned.”

Cale announced the end of the meeting and looked out the window.

He could see the Sez Royal Academy and Mount Nex behind it through the window of the special suite in the ‘Hope and Adventure Loving Inn No. 7’ that had newly opened in the village with the Sez Royal Academy.

Mount Nex was covered in fog.

“It looks like all of that fog will disappear tomorrow.”

He was holding the golden top’s whip that allowed him to hear the voices of the Wind Elementals in his hand.

The Wind Elementals started to speak.

‘Long time no see! Cale, I missed you!’

‘Chaos, destruction, peace. Don’t worry. We will figure out where the White Star is right now.’

‘That’s right. We will figure out the White Star’s location even if we need to assemble all of the Elementals. We should be able to find out within a week’s time!’

‘…Chaos, destruction, destruction of the White Star. We will definitely get that information. Peace. Love.’

There were a lot of things Cale ‘might as well’ do while he was on the Eastern continent.

The Super Rock whispered to him.

– Cale. Are you planning on stopping the White Star from getting another ancient power? …Are you going to take it for yourself?’

‘Of course.’

Cale was planning on taking it for himself if he could find the opportunity to do so.

‘Chaos, destruction. The sculptures still seem to be at the Endable Kingdom.’

He was also planning on destroying the sculptures.

Eight unranked monsters… that was too many to handle.

Alberu Crossman, who had completed the grand assembly on the Western continent last night, said the following to Cale.

– Dongsaeng. I have no plans on letting that White Star bastard take a single step into the Roan Kingdom’s territory. Everybody has agreed to help me.

Cale had the same thoughts as well.

* * *

The Sez Royal Academy was extremely busy and full of people today.

It was because today was an important day in the students’ curriculum, the day the king would give a speech.

“…We’re here, nya.”

On had an awkward expression on her face as she touched her school uniform.

On was looking at a young boy who looked exactly like Duke Fredo.

Cale currently looked like young master Naru right now.

He fixed his tie before motioning to On.

“Let’s go.”

The two of them headed out of ‘Hope and Adventure Loving Inn No. 7’ and looked toward the Sez Royal Academy.

The pillars that the White Star had worked so hard to build…

It was now time to take those pillars down one by one.

—

Translator’s Comments

Aww, On in her school uniform sounds so cute. Cute girl On. Nyaaa~~~

What will happen next?