<Chapter 142>
#16. Hidden Purpose (6)
The most important element in business was “trust.” And the same was true for threats. As he had declared before them, Calix burned an entire herb field every hour. As time passed, it was the people from other families camped near the Padrian territory who grew increasingly anxious.
“Enough! Stop now, and please spare some lives!!”
A man kneeling on the ground clung to Calix’s trouser leg. Calix glanced indifferently at the man who was bowing his head and screaming for the cure, then casually threw the torch in his hand. Simultaneously, fierce flames erupted from the herb field that had been pre-soaked with oil.
“You’re quite a strange person.”
The man, whose face was completely wet with tears, stared blankly at the fiercely burning herb field. Pushing the man’s shoulder away with his other foot that wasn’t being grabbed, Calix whispered with a slight curve in his eyes and a faint smile.
“Why are you asking me to save people? If you want to save them, you should move directly yourselves. I told you, didn’t I? The way to survive.”
Calix whispered in a languid voice. Though he appeared quite calm on the outside, Calix’s condition was at its worst since he hadn’t properly slept since Melty’s disappearance. As a result, his already poor temperament had deteriorated so severely that no one could deal with him carelessly.
“You monster!! Are you saying all those people can just die?!”
As if realizing that Calix would not back down easily, the man shouted thunderously. At the same time, the voices condemning Calix grew louder. From the crowd of people, cries of “Yeah! That’s right!” rang out.
A smirk spread across Calix’s lips. From the beginning, these people now shouting had invaded Padrian territory with an arrogant attitude, demanding accountability by claiming that both the drought and epidemic were acts committed by the Padrian family.
Since they hadn’t even heeded the warnings about possible infection, cases had emerged among them as well. Some of them had even obstructed the Padrian people who were moving to find Melty.
It was certainly not something that could be overlooked just because these people, who had been acting as if they were important figures in someone else’s territory, were now prostrating themselves. While sweeping back his long hair, Calix delivered a sharp rebuke.
“Have I become a subject of Padrian without my knowledge?”
“Wh-what…?!”
“If not, why are you asking me to take responsibility? If you can’t take that much responsibility, you should give up your rights as well.”
At Calix’s sarcastic tone, the murmuring people suddenly lost their words. Calix smiled brightly as he watched them maintaining silence while eyeing each other cautiously.
“That I’m not someone like a saint or sage… no one here would be unaware of that.”
Calix slowly looked around. Perhaps because they were reluctant to meet his eyes, which flashed eerily, people either lowered their heads or turned away. Smirking at the sight of the densely packed crowns of heads, Calix opened his mouth again.
“If you want to live, instead of whining and clinging to me like a spoiled child, you should deploy all available personnel to find where my fiancé is.”
Calix smiled brightly and tapped his temple with his index finger.
“I’m sure I told you clearly, why can’t you remember?”
“…N-no matter what, those who can live should live!”
“That’s quite amusing. Then who are the ones supposed to die? Ah, perhaps… my fiancé?”
The smile vanished from Calix’s face as if he had never smiled. The person who suddenly faced Calix’s killing intent hiccupped with a face that had turned pale.
“There’s no need to burn the herb fields! What will you do if herbs become scarce later?!”
“As I said earlier, that’s not my concern.”
They just don’t understand no matter how many times I explain it.
Originally, Calix was not a person with a good temperament. The reason he had been silently accommodating their unreasonable demands until now was because his father, Braiante, had a personality that disliked conflicts. He had been acting to match his father’s taste in order to smoothly acquire the position of family head, but from the moment Melty was kidnapped, he decided to reveal his true colors. Clicking his tongue, Calix opened his mouth with a sharp voice.
“I don’t care if everyone on this continent dies or not.”
After finishing those words, as he was about to move, Calix half-turned his head to look at those still sitting blankly. Though they were useless by Calix’s standards, he added one more spice for the sake of potential efficiency that might exist.
“If you want to recover from the epidemic, it would be better to cooperate in rescuing my fiancé.”
“What…?”
“Because only my fiancé knows how to make the cure…”
The eyes of those who had been frozen in place trembled greatly as if shocked by what Calix had said.
“B-but I heard that those belonging to Padrian have already received treatment!”
“That’s from the cure my fiancé had prepared in advance.”
“Sell it to me!”
“I’ll pay 50,000! No, 100,000!”
Though he hadn’t even mentioned starting an auction, they began competing to call out higher prices. With a cold expression at the endlessly rising amounts and voices, Calix stared at the herb field where the flames had been suppressed, leaving only black ashes.
“The cure was used to test its effectiveness, and there’s no extra now. My fiancé was kidnapped while moving to produce a large quantity of the cure.”
The story he told them was a lie. It was true that Melty knew the method of making the cure, but Calix also knew the method from the note Melty had written in detail and left behind.
But in a situation where not only Melty’s whereabouts but even whether he was alive or dead was unknown, Calix was not altruistic enough to focus on producing a cure for others. The fact that Calix had made a cure based on what was written was solely to prevent creating a sad situation when Melty returned. To put it differently, he had no time to waste for those who had no connection whatsoever with Melty.
“So if you want to live, instead of doing this here, you should move immediately.”
Those frozen with wide-open eyes entered Calix’s sight. As if they had belatedly realized how serious the kidnapping case they had been taking lightly was, the murmuring sounds gradually increased.
After scanning them with a contemptuous gaze, Calix turned without hesitation. He couldn’t stand how pathetic they were, unable to think unless an immediate benefit was presented right in front of them.
“Calix-nim.”
At the sound of Angel’s voice, who had quickly attached himself to his side, Calix’s outer corners of his eyes rose sharply. Knowing well that Calix’s mood had not been good since Melty’s disappearance, Angel quickly opened his mouth.
“I believe I told you not to report unless it was an emergency or related to Melty.”
“It’s urgent.”
Drawing closer to the frowning Calix, Angel hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Owen Kun Sarvie is now in the temporary tent.”
***
As the epidemic spread in earnest, Calix had thoroughly segregated the infected from the uninfected. Since the recent attempt by the infected to spread the disease massively in the central area, more people had become sensitive to outsiders.
Therefore, tents had been set up on the outskirts to manage or restrain outsiders. Naturally, among them was Calix’s tent, and the tent where Owen was located was Calix’s.
“You’re late.”
Quickly throwing open the tent, Calix glared at Owen, who was casually sipping tea while muttering. With striding steps, Calix walked to the seat opposite him and almost crashed down on the large chair.
“I didn’t expect you to come looking for me on your own.”
Despite Calix’s cold response, Owen showed no change in expression. Frowning, Calix opened his mouth.
“You know I’m looking for Johaim Kun Sarvie, right?”
Even to Calix’s rudely thrown question, Owen didn’t blink an eye. Placing the empty teacup on the table, Owen looked at Calix across from him with calm eyes.
“So I’ve heard. Why are you looking for that child?”
“I have no intention of having a battle of nerves with you.”
Calix slammed his hand on the desk with a bang and said coldly. With a voice full of threat, as if he had become a predator about to devour him, Calix continued.
“So where is that bastard now?”
Melty’s kidnapping, the epidemic situation, and the events at the Durasen Botenta family, including the drought…
Calix was convinced that the mastermind behind all these was Johaim, who had disappeared with Melty. It was ridiculous to himself that he had relaxed his vigilance even for a moment because of the epidemic outbreak, even though he had always been wary of the Sarvie family.
“Are you planning to harm my only remaining son now?”
“If you didn’t like that, you should have kept a better eye on your only son.”
In response to Calix’s sarcastic tone, Owen maintained his silence. Though it was Calix who had sent out an emergency network to each family as soon as he suspected Johaim, asking them to help find people from the Sarvie family, Owen had come here on his own, not because he was caught. Therefore, the silence he was maintaining now seemed strange to Calix.
“You came here for your own business as well, didn’t you?”
In response to Calix’s urging, Owen exhaled a deep sigh. Clenching his two hands placed on his knees, he slowly opened his mouth.
“I heard your fiancé disappeared?”
It was an introduction Calix didn’t like. Watching the change in Calix’s expression as he frowned deeply, Owen let out an empty laugh. And soon, in a calm tone, he opened his mouth.
“He won’t be in danger.”
“How can you be sure my fiancé is safe when he’s been captured by a man who has already killed hundreds by spreading an epidemic? On what basis?”
Even while speaking bluntly, Calix observed the changes in Owen’s expression in detail. Despite the unexpected bomb dropped, an exhalation involuntarily escaped Calix’s mouth at Owen’s calm expression. Quickly hardening his face, Calix shot him a sharp glance and said,
“You. Did you already know that guy was doing things like this?”
