"Normal Speech"

'Thought'

***********************************

After coming out of the prison, Cale had to put the injured Dragon down. He placed him right next to the kittens and walked toward the wall on the opposite side of the prison, the location that they met the torturer a moment ago.

On and Hong circled around the dragon.

"That looks very hurt."

"That's very sad."

The Dragon growled at them defiantly, this was the first time he saw anything beside humans.

On approached Cale and tapped his leg. She thought about the potion that she saw Cale took from the magic box and put into his spatial bag. "Cale, he looks hurt."

"Look after him first. We have to get out first so we can heal him properly."

The healing potion couldn't work well until the mana restriction chain on the dragon's neck was gone.

Cale patted the cave wall with his hands to find the secret tunnels that was used as escape path for Venion. He kicked the torturer out of his way and continued as if nothing happened.

The Dragon was watching Cale after noticed that the two little creatures before him wouldn't try anything. He growled at the torturer who got kicked toward his direction, but decided to stay still and observed the strange human.

This human seemed very different from the other humans he had ever met. The way he spoke, the way he held him... but no! Humans are all liars!

'He definitely had another motive. I find a chance to leave as soon as I got out of this cave. I'll just have to burn my life force a little, I will live.' The black dragon was trying to reassure himself, he had already determined to use his life force to break out of the prison already before this strange human came.

"Found it" Cale smiled when he found the flat area on the bumpy wall. 'We just have to wait for Choi Han.'

Cale looked at his watch, he saw a person entered from the corner of his eyes. "All done?"

"Yes" Choi Han swung his sword in the air to get rid of the blood and sheath his sword.

His gaze turned toward the Dragon and frowned, seeing such small body being covered in wounds and blood. He glared at the torturer with viciousness.

This caused the Dragon to immediately be on guard. The human... he was way stronger than the other human.

Cale who saw that the Dragon was feeling uneasy, quickly called out to Choi Han. "Choi Han, calm down."

Choi Han noticed how the Dragon acted and immediately turned his attention to Cale and reported the situation. "As you ordered, I left the escaping workers alone. I also made sure anyone that could fight wouldn't be able to fight ."

"Good job. Now punch this place."

"How strong do you want me to punch it?"

"Uh... very very lightly. Just pretend you are creating a 10cm dent in this wall."

"Okay. Very lightly." Choi Han took a deep breath and adjusted his strength, and punched the wall with his fist.

Boom! The kittens and Cale jumped a little in surprise. The Dragon also went wide-eyed, looking at the destroyed wall.

Cale gulped and laughed nervously. 'That was lightly. Then how much force did you punch me in my past life?'

Cale quickly shook his head. 'No time to think about that.'

Cale picked up the Dragon again. "Let's go. He really needs to be healed."

At this comment, Choi Han quickly took a torch and the kittens cleverly jumped onto Choi Han's shoulders. They lead the way with Cale and the Dragon following behind.

The Dragon remained very quiet, as the only sound Cale could heard from him was his slightly labored breathing sound. The eyes that looked up at Cale's face was full of guard and suspicion.

Cale knew full well that the Dragon wouldn't feel any gratitude toward him. After all, every human he met so far are all psychos that tortured him.

Cale himself wasn't a good person. It was the truth. Even now, he felt that he should try his luck in attracting this dragon, even though it seemed very impossible to do.

Having a dragon would make a lot of his plans easier. But as hypocritical as he was, what he said to Choi Han were also his honest feelings.

Dragons should live with pride, arrogant, and freedom. He wouldn't forcefully trying to tame this poor child right after the effort to rescue him. He wouldn't want to force this child to burn his life force just to escape.

"Please stop looking at me like that." Cale said rather politely without looking at the Dragon.

'I know I'm weak, but to be this weak.' Cale was out of breath as he tried to keep up with Choi Han. His arms trembled lightly even from the weight of the malnourished 1-meter long Dragon.

Cale hugged the Dragon a little closer, and a little tighter, afraid that he might drop him.

"Cale-nim, there's a wall in front of us."

"Hit the center of the wall with your fist with the same strength as before. Then we will continue to run till the spot we discussed."

"I understand."

The kittens jumped off Choi Han and prepared to run. Choi Han hit the wall with the same strength as before.

Boom! The wall instantly collapsed, they could see the night sky with brightly lit stars.

This time Cale took the lead. He didn't know where the magic recording device was, but they just had to get out of the range of the device in the next one or two minutes with the help of the Mana Disturbance Tool that was working on the entire mountain.

Choi Han followed behind while making false trails and erasing some as they passed. After leaving the secret tunnel entrance for about one or two minutes, Cale looked at his watch.

"Stop." The alarms that was going off in the area suddenly stopped blaring. The Mana Disturbance Tool had stopped working.

"Haaa~ this really shorten my poor life." Cale carefully placed the Dragon down, and patted his own heart to calm it down.

'It's okay, Glutton. I don't need protection yet. Thank you.' Cale thought. 'Wait till I got you a friend.'

Cale was waiting for Vitality of Heart, to strengthen his shield before using it. Cale focused on the Dragon after calming his heart down.

The rebellious gaze was gone, replaced by an admiration as he looked at the night sky. This was the first time he saw such scenery in his four miserable, humiliated life.

Cale smiled knowingly. He wanted to give some time to the Dragon, but he really needed medical attention. Cale quickly looked through his spatial bag.

That got the Dragon's attention, his stance changed, ready to attack if this human tried anything. His angry eyes glared with resentment.

Cale didn't mind and continued what he's doing, he took out a pair of gloves and a scissor-shaped cutting tool. There were a lot of magic seals on both of the blades for cutting. He then put on the electricity-resistance gloves.

"Hey." Cale called out to the dragon, before he noticed that his surrounding suddenly became very quiet.

Choi Han was debating if he should stop Cale, but he felt that Cale wouldn't hurt the dragon, so he only stepped a bit closer to at least tried to stop Cale if he really hurt the dragon.

The kittens through, had more trust in Cale then Choi Han, they stood still and watched. They saw the anger and concerns in Cale's eyes when he first saw the dragon inside the prison.

Beside that, Cale had promised that he saved the dragon. On remembered him said something about healing properly. And as clever as On was, she guessed that the cutting tool might be for the weird collar on the dragon's neck.

Cale looked very helpless at the Choi Han and the Dragon's reactions. He felt the Dragon staring at him. Cale sighed. 'I'll be the bad guy then.'

Cale grabbed the Dragon's neck. The cutter headed toward the Dragon's neck. Choi Han opened his mouth to stopped Cale, but he couldn't when he saw the helpless look in his eyes.

Under the moonlight, the Dragon just paid attention to Cale's eyes. He didn't understand the emotions flashing in this person's eyes at all.

But even if the emotions were different, this action was very familiar. The Dragon knew that what came next would be pain. So he closed his eyes, telling himself to endure it before finding a chance to escape.

At that moment, everyone heard the snapping sound of something getting cut.

Sizzle. Sizzle. The mana restriction chain was causing sparks in Cale's hands.

"Done." Cale threw the chain to the ground before taking off the gloves and hand it to Choi Han. "I saw how you didn't trust me. So take care of these. Remember to wear the gloves."

Cale ignored the awkward Choi Han and took out the healing potion after keeping the cutting tool back inside the bag.

The kittens meowed in delight after finally seeing the healing potion. It was the highest grade healing potion.

"I've spent so much money on you."

The Dragon had heard similar words like that quite often. Actually, he had heard it almost everyday since he hatched from his egg.

They wanted him to obey them because they spent so much money on him. When they don't get his obedience, they would started to beat him up and started to hurt him with all the tools inside his prison one by one.

'Is this human the same? Will I still get hurt even after the mana restriction is gone? I couldn't win against the human standing behind.'

However, he heard something different. He felt something else beside the pain he expected.

"I've spent so much money on you, that's why you'd better heal properly. So I could at least feel that my effort wasn't in vain."

Cale poured half of the potion onto the Dragon and pour the rest into his mouth carefully, so he won't choke. Thankfully, the Dragon didn't resist and swallowed it obediently.

All the injuries instantly disappeared, as the mana started to circulate inside the Dragon's body. A blue aura-like mana surrounded the Dragon like a wind.

The smart Dragon seemed to understand what had happened. His eyes suddenly filled with lively light, completely come back to life.

"Hey." Cale took a step closer to the Dragon. "What do you want to do now?"

Cale smiled and waited patiently at the Dragon's silence. He chuckled silently, and crouched down to be on eye level with the little Dragon.

"I know you have learnt about human language. You are a Dragon, you are the smartest and the strongest existence in the world." Cale had learnt how to coax a child, and the best way is to give praises when the time called for it. He asked again. "What do you want to do after you're free?"

"...I" The Dragon started to speak. He did learnt the language during the past four years, he needed to learn, so at least he'd know what they were going to do to him.

"I" the Dragon could feel that without the mana restriction, he could easily killed this human in front of him.

The problem is the man at the back. However, even if he couldn't win, he was sure that he could escape. He finally obtained the strength that he longed for.

That was why the Dragon finally said the thing he thought to himself over and over for the last four years. Even if this is the first time saying out loud.

"I will live." Yes, he will live. Even when he wanted to burn life force to escape before, he still wanted to live.

"I will not be tamed." He revealed his inner thought.

"Of course. A Dragon mustn't be tamed. A Dragon needs to live freely. And you ARE a Dragon. You have the right to live like that." Cale stood up after that. He could see the distrust from the Dragon's eyes.

"I'm going now. Don't get hurt again. Take care." Cale took out a small pouch that was filled with mid grade potion and place it in front of the Dragon.

Cale walked toward Choi Han and the siblings. "Let's go."

The Dragon stared at the back of the people who had saved him. His feeling is a little complicated.

"I hate humans. They are all liars" the Dragon mumbled to himself. He looked at the small pouch in front of him.

He told himself not to trust humans but he couldn't help but think about the warmth he got from those trembling arms that took him out of the dark cave.

'It was the first time I ever felt warmth.'

"So even if it's a lie, I want see it for myself. I will keep my distance and observe him." He decided and hugged the pouch close to his body.

*************************************

Cale was thinking about the Dragon as well. 'I guess it couldn't be helped. At least Choi Han will get Rosalyn and Lock later.'

Hong slowly approached his sister, On as they followed Cale back to the inn.

"Noona, I think he will follow us."

"Uh huh, I think so, too."

"Are we going to get a younger brother?"

"If Cale allowed it..."

Cale who had been listening, couldn't help exclaimed. "No way. You think he would still follow us after all the stuffs happened to him?"

Cale asked in disbelief. He was a little excited if it's true. 'I didn't force him if he decided to follow on his own. I need all the help I can get. No rush. I saw what happened to the siblings and Ron when I rushed them before.'

Cale who tried to keep his excitement off his face, looked like he had a scoff to show the disagreement.

"... he will!"

"... uh huh, he definitely will!"

Hong saw how the Dragon still looked at their direction, also how he hugged the pouch that Cale gave him. He would definitely follow after he enjoyed his freedom a bit.

'I will share my meat and cakes with him when he decides to come with us.' Hong smile happily with his tail wagging left and right.

"Alright. If you're so sure, I'll try to believe it then. Now go get the black orb back."

""Okay!""

Cale turned to Choi Han and patted his shoulder. "Good job today. How do you feel?"

Today should have been the first time Choi Han ever saved anything.

"I feel.... Good. I will remember this feeling. Thank you for giving me the chance to feel this." Choi Han said sincerely. "But Cale-nim..."

"What?"

"What if the Dragon really decided that living as he freely as he wants was to follow you?"

"Mm..." Cale couldn't help avoid his eyes. "Will I sound hypocritical if I said I will be happy if he does?" Cale closed his eyes.

Choi Han's expression turned a bit blank.

Cale opened his eyes. "I have things, plans that will go easier with a Dragon around. But I really meant it when I said I won't try to tame him. I totally leave it to his choice."

Cale smiled sadly, he walked again, without looking back at Choi Han. He didn't want to see a disappointment in Choi Han's eyes. He had come to think of Choi Han as a friend already.

The whole journey back to the inn was filled with silence, as Choi Han contemplated on what Cale had said.

***********************************

Tsuki: phew.... I need to get this all at once... hope I could still capture the right emotions for everyone.... Enjoy.

Additional Note: I swear what I planned was a happy chapter, I don't know why it turned into this sadness at the end of the chapter.