"I greet the Whale King." Cale greeted the largest of the three, a Humpback Whale, the Whale King.

The large whale eyes of the Whale King, Shickler, moved toward Cale.

Cale was smiling. 'What a strong pressure.'

Shickler was the king of the ocean. Even the king of a kingdom that oversaw a small region of the Western continent could not be compared to his presence.

That was why Cale was starting to smile even more. Shickler's pupils started to cloud as he began to smile.

Cale stepped back a bit and opened up his arms. "How about we have our discussion above the deck?"

Psssssssssssh. Water vapor filled the air as three individuals quietly approached the ship.

Tap. Tap. Tap. The three people gently landed on the deck.

Cale could hear Raon's voice in his head at that time.

– Dragons are much more beautiful and glorious!

Cale understood Raon's feelings and patted his head. These three pure-blooded Whales were extremely beautiful.

"Of course, Raon." Cale glanced at Choi Han. 'This one is completely stiff.'

Choi Han had stiffened up after seeing the Whale Tribe people.

Cale followed Choi Han's gaze and looked at each of the three people in front of him. The future Whale Queen, Witira. She was the same as usual.

The Killer Whale with white hair. This man was probably Archie, the greatest warrior of the Whale Tribe. He had an important role in the Whale Tribe arc in the novel.

(Tsuki: damn I want Shickler's picture more than this dude.)

He was the one who beat Lock up in the novel, and he was someone who was violent with a bad personality. However, his loyalty was quite strong.

"It has been a while since I've come down to the southern ocean." This old, yet cool voice made Choi Han turn his head.

Shickler, the Whale King, had a gentle smile on his face. He was the most handsome middle-aged man in the novel.

The author seemed to have put his soul into this character, as the novel took four lines to describe Shickler's appearance.

'I can see why the author did that.'

But it wasn't like your appearance would feed you. Cale just needed to take in what he needed to take in. "The south is much warmer, isn't it?"

Shickler's pupils started to cloud. 'He is just as Witira described.'

His daughter, Witira, had said that Cale was a weak yet strong person. As she mentioned, he was the weakest person on the deck but had no issue being confident.

"The south is good as well. Thank you for saving my son. I came with my daughter because I wanted to personally thank you."

"No need for such thanks. I just did what I needed to do." Cale smiled gently as he reached his hand out respectfully.

What would be the point of having a long discussion so late at night?

"Since we are both busy people, shall we get right to the point?"

"Sure. But you see.." Shickler let out a small sigh. Cale did the same before reaching his hand out.

"Choi Han." Cale put his hand on Choi Han's shoulder.

Shickler did a similar action. "Archie."

For some reason, Archie and Choi Han were staring at each other. What beef would two people who had met for the first time have with each other?

Cale put some strength into the hand on Choi Han's shoulder and Choi Han looked toward him.

Choi Han was mesmerized by the Whale tribe's beauty a moment ago, so what would have made him so angry? This ship would sink with a single slash of his sword if Choi Han started to fight on the ship.

"What is it?"

"...Cale-nim." Choi Han bit down on his lips.

At that moment, someone gave Cale the answer. As usual, it was Raon.

– That Whale checked you out from head to toe! How dare he!?

Cale could hear Raon huffing as he turned away from Choi Han. 'Ah, I know he didn't like me. But he dared to checked me out like that? Though I guess I also need to train my senses... I didn't feel it at all.'

Archie. Archie was even worse than Toonka. You know, the ones who are on the good side but always cause trouble? Archie was that type of character.

He was someone who only pledged his allegiance to Shickler and did not even care about anybody else, including other members of the Whale tribe. He was the troublemaker of the Whales.

Cale finally made eye contact with Archie.

'Mm. I hate those kind of gaze the most.' Cale stared back openly with a frown. 'This kind of guy need to be taught a lesson.'

Archie really was looking at him with vicious eyes. Why was this punk acting like this? The answer was pretty obvious.

'Probably because I made Shickler personally come to meet me.'

Archie didn't care about the fact that Cale had saved Shickler's son nor the fact that he helped out the Whales with the mermaids.

Shickler could see Cale being unhappy and urgently started to glare at Archie. He had told Archie not to do this multiple times, but Archie never seemed to listen.

"Archie, enou-." Shickler stopped talking and turned his head.

"Father, young master Cale is very odd. It was only for a moment, but he felt really big." He recalled what Witira had said as he looked at Cale.

He could see that Cale was once again smiling leisurely, as if he had never showed his displeasure in the first place.

However, the atmosphere around Cale was different. He finally understood why his daughter had said that Cale was strong.

A gaze that seemed so deep that they could not fathom the deepness was aimed toward Archie.

Choi Han, who had been watching from the side, subconsciously stopped frowning.

"...Cale-nim." He then subconsciously called out to Cale as well, but Cale did not look at him.

Choi Han oddly felt like that was only natural. Cale's gaze was dominating and only looked forward. The atmosphere around Cale also captured everyone's attention.

It was different from a strong pressure. It was gentle yet firm, making it difficult to approach. It was because Cale was smiling, it was the smile he showed whenever someone annoyed him.

'Finally a chance to try Dominating Aura.'

The Vitality of the Heart responded to the pressure from Archie, making a bit of the Dominating Aura come out as well, but Cale made sure it come out more than that and tried to focus the aura only on that rude punk.

Cale slowly started to speak. "Who are you?"

Cale slowly moved forward.

Creak. Creak. The wooden planks on the deck creaked with his every step.

"Just who do you think you are..." The Dominating Aura revealed about half of its strength. Exactly half a step. Cale stopped in front of Archie and asked in a blunt manner. "..that you dare to stare at me like this?"

Archie could not speak. He was definitely a bit taller than Cale, but it felt like Cale was looking down at him.

Cale had definitely looked weak and he still felt like he would be able to kill Cale with a single hand, but he could not move.

Archie could see the corner of Cale's lips starting to gently go up.

Cale could also see that Archie's gaze had softened up, and so he coldly continued. "If you can't even answer that question..."

Archie could tell that the man in front of him, Cale, was looking down at him.

"...then don't get caught staring like that."

Cale and Archie stared at each other in silence for a few seconds until Archie's foot took a step backward.

At that moment, Cale put away the Dominating Aura and started to smile a little more sincerely as he looked toward Shickler. "Isn't that right, your majesty?"

Cale did not want to fight with them since they would see each other a few more times in the future and they still needed to make some deals with each other.

That was why he had only used half of the Domnating Aura and was now looking toward Shickler with the brightest smile he could muster.

"...Indeed." Shickler answered after a few moments and grabbed onto Archie's shoulder with a very strong grip. "Apologize and introduce yourself."

Cale knew how Shickler had domesticated the troublemaker Archie.

He beat him up. He beat up him so much that the entire ocean seemed to be filled with dust. He really beat him to a pulp while saying that a beating was the best medicine for a troublemaker.

Archie then came back to his senses and became Shickler's loyal subordinate. That was why Cale knew that Archie would not hurt him even though he was glaring at him. Cale could see Archie bowing his head without looking at him.

"...I apologize." It was a very quiet voice. He really didn't want to apologize.

At least, that was what Cale thought as he glared at Archie. 'Did this punk still not learnt the lesson? Why is he resembles Hilsman so much that I want to ask Choi Han to beat him up?'

Archie quickly avoided his gaze when their eyes met. "My name is Archie."

"Alright. I am Cale Henituse."

He then heard Raon's voice in his head.

– Human, you seemed almost as strong as the tip of my toenail just now. Good job! Very good job!

Cale held back his sigh at this charisma that was complimented by a 4-year-old before gently reaching his hand out to Shickler, who was blankly staring at him.

"Please give me the package."

"Ah, right." The oddly frazzled Shickler seemed to have lost the regalness of a king and turned into a neighborhood uncle. That was how he was once you became close to him.

Shickler looked toward Witira.

"Young master Cale."

"Long time no see. The package?"

Witira was relieved that Cale was still the same.

'Relieved? Me?' She was shocked for a moment, but calmed herself before handing the package over.

There were a total of three items that were now in Cale's hands.

One of the items were a pair of bottles. The smaller bottle contained the Dragon's dead mana with the poison having been removed. The slightly larger one had the poison that was extracted.

The poison had been explained by his daughter that it was for the Cat tribe child that was with Cale. But...

Dead mana. This was very dangerous for a living person who did not have the darkness affinity.

That was why Shickler was curious. "But why do you need this dead mana? There should be no humans who need it. Well, maybe the necromancers of old may find it useful, but there are none of them left. I don't know what you plan to do with this amount."

Cale put on a mischievous smile. "Who knows."

The dead mana was about one eighth the original bottle. This was plenty for Cale's need. Furthermore, he still had another bottle of unprocessed swamp water.

Cale put all the items into his magic bag and discussed a couple things with the Whale royalty before saying goodbye.

"See you again next time. I apologize once again for Archie's actions today."

"It's okay."

"No, I insist. It's because that punk still has a lot to learn."

"...Father." Witira called out to calm her father before speaking to Cale. "See you again next time, young master Cale."

"Sure thing." He needed to see them multiple times since there were many ways he could still put them to use.

Cale leisurely waved at the leaving Witira and Shickler, as well as the fidgeting Archie who said his goodbyes, before turning back toward his crew.

"Choi Han, what are you doing?"

"...Ah, nothing." Choi Han was shocked when Cale called out to him and vigorously shook his head.

Cale walked past Choi Han, who had been standing there with a blank expression on his face for a while, and headed into the ship. "I'm going to go sleep."

The Black Dragon Raon, who was following behind Cale, abruptly turned his head around and started to speak to Choi Han. "Let's get stronger so no one could look at Human like that again!"

Choi Han stared at the extremely excited Dragon before observing Cale, who was his usual relaxed self.

"... We need to get stronger." Choi Han's voice disappeared into the ocean as he stood on the deck alone.

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

The next morning

Cale nonchalantly observed the children playing before looking out the window toward the ocean. He hoped to arrive at the Whipper Kingdom soon.

They arrived at the smallest port in the Whipper Kingdom in a few days, as Cale had wished. There was someone there to greet them, the most important player for this transaction.

"Young master-nim!" The even chubbier Billos now further resembled a piggy bank. He jumped onboard to greet Cale on the deck.

Billos seemed to be much lighter than his actual weight, as he agilely jumped on board as soon as the ship stopped.

"Aigoo, young master-nim, I hope you didn't get seasick?"

– Seems like he is trying to suck up to you.

But Cale actually really liked how Billos was acting. Cale patted Billos's shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Time to catch a big fish?"

Billos started to smile so widely that his eyes almost disappeared. "I will just trust you, young master-nim."

The Magic Tower will be destroyed and the liege of the Magic Tower will be ripped to shreds by Toonka. All of the mages inside the Magic Tower will be killed, however, the liege of the Magic Tower was a greedy person.

Cale looked toward the messed up port that was very different from the ports of the Roan Kingdom and casually said aloud. "Treasure hunts are so fun. As long as you find the treasure, that is."

Cale patted Billos's shoulder.

Billos's eyes filled with anticipation as Cale started to speak. "So work hard if you need some treasures."

It was an indifferent command, but Billos still responded with excitement. "As hard as you need me to work, hehe."

Cale shook his head after seeing that Billos was clearly excited. He knew that there was a lot going on Billos's mind, but he was putting up this front.

'Since I didn't explain it thoroughly.'

All he had told Billos was two words. Magic Device. Billos had heard only those two words.

Cale observed Billos leaving to work before turning to look at a certain person. He was looking at the person who needed to be the most cautious in the Whipper Kingdom.

Rosalyn. The mage needed to be careful if she did not want to get hurt or even killed.

Of course he would protect her as she had chose to come with him. Cale found her standing on the deck and approached her. It was so that he could warn her. "...Miss Rosalyn."

But there was no need to do that. Cale stopped to think about what to say.

"What is it, young master Cale?"

Cale had to ask after hearing the calm in her voice. "Is that a club in your hand?"

The club in Rosalyn's hand was causing strong gusts of wind as she swung it around. She looked like she was used to this.

He could also see a light leather armor underneath her robe as she refreshingly answered Cale's question. "It is indeed a club. However, whether it is a magic staff or a club, they're all the same when you use it to hit something."

"You are very wise." Cale was honestly in admiration as he gave her a thumbs up.

There was no need for him to warn her about moving around the Whipper Kingdom as a mage.

"Wise? I just wanted to make sure things didn't become difficult for everyone else because of me. I may not look like it, but I learned a variety of basic martial arts when I was young."

Tap. Tap. Rosalyn lightly tapped her other palm with the club.

As part of the royal family, especially as the eldest child in line for the throne, she had learned self-defense, as well as some other basic martial arts.

'Another potential spar partner.' Cale nodded at his thought.

Rosalyn's gaze suddenly became chilly. "I also wanted to take a look at this place with my own eyes."

Cale started to smile. Rosalyn, the liege in charge of the new Magic Tower in the future, was a very just person like Choi Han.

That was why she was able to grow together with her party members. However, she also had a definite goal as well as a cold rationality.

The Whipper Kingdom would give her some complicated feelings, as well as an opportunity to learn.

Cale followed Rosalyn's gaze to look toward the port.

This was the least destroyed port in the Whipper Kingdom because it was the smallest one and because the regular citizens used it quite frequently.

However, there were not many ships going in and out of the port, and the faces of the people getting off of the few ships arriving were very gloomy. Yet, the faces of the people living here were bright.

'Many of the citizens who were treated like slaves at the Magic Tower live here.' Cale could see pillars of black smoke in the distance. Civil Wars always left behind destruction in their paths.

"Young master-nim, we can move now. The carriage is prepared."

"Great." Cale nodded at Billos's statement and got off the ship. He started to speak after taking his first step into the Whipper Kingdom. "It doesn't smell that good."

Cale sniffed the musky smell of the burnt and destroyed buildings as he headed to the residence Billos had prepared for him.

He started to speak to Billos once he got to his room. "You prepared quite well."

Cale complimented Billos, who had prepared the quietest residence by the port, a carriage with the Flynn Merchant Guild crest, as well as all of the other tiny details.

Billos shrugged his shoulders as Cale asked one more thing. "Did you make sure to do it quietly without others knowing about it?"

"Isn't that only natural?"

Cale smiled and responded back after seeing the greedy gaze in Billos's eyes. "I knew I liked how you are."

"You as well, young master-nim."

Cale leaned on the couch as he casually asked. "Victory?"

Billos slowly nodded his head with a sincere expression. "Yes. It was as you expected, young master-nim."

"I see."

Just like the past life, the non-mage faction had been victorious. Cale had arrived right on time for the end of the Civil War.

There was only one thing that signaled the end of the Civil War. The destroyed Magic Tower.

The fall of the mages' final fortress signaled the end of the Civil War. Of course, there were still things to take care of afterward the war.

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

Tsuki: last chapter lol it's past midnight... Enjoy!