Chapter Text
This night was a troubling one for Cale. He was planning on leaving the Capital the next day, happy to finally not having to deal with the King anymore. But like always, his luck wasn't very good.
"You asked for me, sir?" He stepped through the ornate garden set in a corner of the Royal Palace, seeing the man that had sent an invitation to meet.
"Welcome." Alberu turned to him, a good-natured air about him. Looking at the disgruntled young man, he felt the night was starting absolutely pleasantly. "Hmm? I am surprised those brats didn't tag along."
Cale blinked, speechless. Was that a way to talk about children? Alberu smiled, nonchalant. That young dragon and the kittens were like the human they choose to stay with, incredibly entertaining with a little push.
"What do you want?" Cale finally said then, dropping the faux respect. The man didn't deserve him being all formal and respectful anyway.
"Come with me." Alberu didn't answer directly, turning around to walk out of the garden towards the deeper part of the Palace. Cale hesitated for a second, wondering about his chance at leaving—
"I am sure you don't want to be stuck in the Palace for more time than necessary."
That did the trick. Cale cursed under his breath and hurried to follow behind the King. Walking alongside this psychopath, which Cale was sure Alberu absolutely was, at such a late hour was nerve-wracking. Although Cale still had his signature stoic face.
However annoying he said it, the King was right. The Black Dragon had thrown tantrums about coming with him, saying who knew what this man might do to him. Hong and On were also in that opinion. In the end, it was only after reassuring them Alberu wouldn't do anything to him and that he could at least escape if he did, did they finally let him come alone.
"When are you planning on leaving for the Whipper Kingdom?"
Alberu's sudden question startled him out of his thoughts. He glanced at Alberu, seeing him already staring at him. It was unknown how long he had been.
"Hmm...in a month or so." Cale answered belatedly, earning an infuriatingly bright smile from his walking companion.
"You really are taking your time, huh? Taking my money and delaying your work."
Cale could barely keep his cool after that. It was truly surprising how Alberu's every little words and actions elicited strong feelings from him, well mostly anger and fear, but still.
He said through gritted teeth, his calm expression and composure out of the window. Maybe if he still had a cool head, he wouldn't have said the following words, "I had an appointment with that stupid Toonka— Oh you!"
"Ah." Alberu chuckled, watching the barely hidden mortified expression on his face. Truly a sight to behold as Cale glared at him angrily. "An appointment? So you were planning on going there eventually. See, our goals align."
Cale took a deep breath and said with a little difficulty, reminding himself not to mind an insane man. "...yeah."
"We make an amazing team, haha."
Cale pretended he was deaf and mute all the way after that. When he was starting to feel the effects of walking for so long, Alberu finally signaled him to stop. In front of them was a small house with quite the old finishes. Cale frowned, looking around. They had stepped into the most remote deserted part of the Palace, there was barely any other building around them.
Through the moonlit night, Alberu looked at him and said slowly, "I have another gift for you."
Cale's heart sank inexplicably and chills shot up his body. It was none other reason that Alberu's expression truly looked malicious, a frightening assumption took place in his perturbed mind; will the King actually hurt him?
Entering the small house, Cale discovered he was thinking too much. Alberu laughed, watching his fear melt away with the increased sound of his mockery.
"Gosh, Cale. You've got to have more faith in me. I am not so bloodthirsty."
Cale refrained to list all of his very bloodthirsty actions in the past weeks, instead letting his stoic mask back on, and trying hard to ignore him.
Alberu didn't let him though, "Geez, that was genuinely funny. Let's do that again, shall we?"
Cale stepped across the creaking flooring, avoiding the dusty furnitures around him. He ignored Alberu's words and asked calmly, "What are we doing here?"
Alberu relented, "A gift, I told you."
Cale's brows furrowed. It was already weird that such an old building was in the Palace grounds, which kind of strange gift could there be here?
"Do you know about Ancient Powers— oh, what am I saying, of course you do." Alberu watched with relish as Cale froze, bewildered. It was unbelievably easy for him to notice Cale's Ancient Powers. After all, although Cale may not know, Ancient Power Holders all emit a special kind of aura not many people can make out. Alberu could, he possessed one before letting Tasha use it on Taylor after all.
Cale slowly turned to him, his face unable to hide the wariness in them. "I...those are—"
"It is fine, Cale." Alberu tilted his head, thinking that Cale still didn't fully trust him. It was reasonable though, considering his actions.
Alberu was a very self-aware man.
"As I was saying, the Ancient Powers. There are a lot of them, most of them recorded, and most not." He brushed past Cale to walk up the rotten wooden stairs.
Cale bit his lips, lifting his feet to follow him up to the second floor.
"I presume you have one of them."
Cale scratched his head, debating lying to him before deciding against it. "I have... three."
Alberu paused, making Cale almost ram into him.. He glanced back at Cale and raised a brow, "You, my friend, are very brave." This sentence elicited confusion in Cale. What did that mean he was brave? Wasn't the appropriate word 'lucky'?
"Oh you don't know? Haha, naive and honestly, very lucky."
Cale scowled as Alberu turned around and led him towards a room on the far end of the hallway. What did that mean?! Is there something wrong with me having three?
Alberu didn't elaborate more on this topic.
"Ancient powers are hard to find," He pushed open the door, dust fell and the creaking sound died down as it opened all the way, "but I found a substitute for one of them."
Cale's eyes widened, looking at the huge pile of purple crystals lying around the old room, emitting a soft purplish hue.
"Aren't those...?"
"They are."
Cale fell silent. He remembered this crystal from the time he took Alberu and the Whale siblings to the Forest of Darkness. It was this crystal the monsters were after, luring hundreds of them towards them that night.
"They are ancient powers?" Cale finally asked, shuffling into the room to better take a look at the pile.
"Well, mostly." When Cale looked at him with that 'what do you mean mostly' face, Alberu finished his answer. "They are replicas. Low levels ones of an Ancient Power."
"...how is this possible?" There had been no indication of replicas for Ancient Powers in the novel. Although these days, the novel has become useless to him, everything that was depicted to happen was completely unrecognisable. But still, Ancient Powers' replicas?
"Which Ancient Power is it?" He wondered if it was one depicted in the novel.
Alberu didn't hide it. "The Super Rock."
Cale was disappointed; there was no mention of it in the novel he read. Or maybe, it was in the later volumes he didn't have the opportunity to read before transmigrating.
Paying attention to his expression, Alberu continued. "It gives you the power to control the earth for both defense and offensive attacks. Very useful in battle, though it has a limited time." Alberu bent down to take one from the pile, holding it up for Cale to see. "However, the real one has more amazing uses than this. Unfortunately I haven't found it yet."
Cale blinked and smiled, not letting the chance to scorn at Alberu go. "Oh, the high and mighty King of Roan has his own worries."
Alberu didn't mind the sarcasm, standing back up. He handed Cale the crystal.
He hesitated for a moment before accepting the beautiful stone. It was quite solid in hand, having smooth corners.
"You should take these. The Whipper Kingdom is still chaotic, you dying there will greatly sadden me." Alberu said then, earning an eye roll from the young man.
Cale certainly knew Alberu wasn't worried about him personally. He was just worried that his entertaining kitten will be no more. No matter, it was a good thing for him, these crystals, so he had no reason to refuse them.
Cale put on a bright smile and said cheerfully. " I know Your Majesty is the most benevolent of all! Our mighty sun!" Cale got his oily tongue to work. "It won't be an issue to take a few more, Your Majesty is that generous!"
Alberu didn't mind Cale taking more from the pile. Seeing him taking more than four of it, Alberu idly wondered if he should tell Cale the side effects of using these replicas. But he soon decided against it, he wondered how more amazing Cale would become with more pressure and harm in his way.
It should be fun.
"Close the door behind you after you are done." Alberu got bored of watching him stuff them into his magic spatial bag and turned to leave. Cale gave a vague response, still carefully taking the brightest and biggest of the bunch.
Half an hour passed like this. When he was finally done, he had seven of them. Holding one of them up to the sliver of moonlight drizzling into the room past the barricaded window, Cale sneered, his expression turning cold.
"How could they have no side effect. There is no such good free thing." He frowned, his distaste for the King shot up another level. "That crazy bastard.
~~~
"As I thought, it really isn't him." Alberu turned off the magic orb depicting Cale. He has one of those in every part of the Palace. He was a paranoid man.
Again, Alberu was a very self-aware man.
But what made him look into Cale so much wasn't that he suspected him of being a harm to the Kingdom, it was just to make sure his assumption was correct.
This Cale wasn't the trash Cale Henituse he knew in his past life. It wasn't the change brought about by knowing the future or whatever, it was genuinely a different soul in Cale Henituse's body altogether.
Alberu wasn't just entertaining himself every time he met Cale. He also studied his gestures and words carefully. Although Cale passed for a noble quite well, it couldn't hide his strangely organised and meticulous ways.
"That bastard God of Death, he certainly has something to do with this." He had first thought the God of Death had shown Cale the future as well, and that was why he changed from his trashy ways. But no, it was a complete swapping of souls.
Alberu tapped his desk, in deep thought. Although he certainly knew more about the world than in his past life, there were still some things he wasn't clear on.
But there was someone who was.
Alberu rummaged through his study's cabinets, looking through the pile of things he'd brought back and thrown in there after his regression until he finally found the ordinary spatial bag nestled deep in a corner.
With his mana, he took out the sole object in it, a large bluish sphere with a rectangular base. Alberu sighed, settling down in his chair and putting the sphere on the desk in front of him.
"I hope he is there..." He murmured softly, letting his mana flow into the strange sphere. With a flash, it lit up with a myriad of colours, soon dispersing into an image.
Alberu was unable to process the image for a moment there.
"Hey, my dear Dongsaeng! It's been quite a long while." The man's voice sounded out, reaching Alberu clearly.
"...are you alright?" was all Alberu could manage after staring at the man beyond for a few seconds.
Choi Jung Gun leaned against the cave's rough surface, waving the hand he wasn't using to press against his bleeding abdomen. "Yep, totally fine, haha. That bastard has a strong divine power, but oh I am not losing! He isn't in better shape than me— ah! Wait, he is coming again—"
The transmission abruptly cut off, displaying Alberu's expression back to himself.
"What the fuck...?" It was the first time he was genuinely confused since his regression.