Chapter 106: Departure for the Front (2)
Chapter 106: Departure for the Front (2)
Terms used in this chapter:
Pyeong – a Korean unit measurement of area and floor space. 1-pyeong is equivalent to 3.3052 m2 when converted to the unit measurements used globally. Pyeong is usually used for real estate floorspace. Examples are an average house having 25 pyeong and a studio apartment having around 8-12 pyeong.
“Sho exciting, sho exciting, eheim, eheim, sho exciting.”
Inside the tent of Jude and Cordelia after the meeting.
While Cordelia acted cutely upon seeing the new items from Blade Song that was on the floor, everyone else smiled.
“They’re all travel-related items.”
“Yes, it’s for our cause after all, so it’s justified.”
They needed help to cross the Sky Roof mountain range – that was their justification, so they couldn’t ask for items that had nothing to do with that.
If Jude had only focused on ripping him off, the wild gods would not have cooperated with Jude from the very beginning even if Blade Song had agreed to it.
“They’re all new items that are quite useful.”
Adelia nodded at Cordelia’s words.
“You’re right, they all look useful.”
They were referring to the three new items that Blade Song gave them.
The items were ‘Mysterious Canteen’, ‘Black Wolf Skin’, and ‘Cozy 1-pyeong.’
“To explain this…it’s something like a space expansion canteen, a transformation skin, and a tent that can be easily used anytime and anywhere?”
When Ga?l asked everyone, Jude nodded his head.
“Yes, they’re all useful items.”
Unlike Cordelia’s bamboo canteen that was the size of her forearm, the Mysterious Canteen could hold enough water to fill several bathtubs. And if one wore the Black Wolf Skin and chanted the spell, they would be able to transform into a big black wolf.
Lastly, the Cozy 1-pyeong was a small ball that when thrown, would become a tent around 1 pyeong in area size.
“It sounds like some kind of shelter creation spell.”
Adelia said as she stared at the Cozy 1-pyeong that had the shape of a ball made of leather.
Just as she said, it was an excellent magic shelter with many additional functions.
And the last one was an ancient medicinal drink.
Ga?l and Adelia didn’t talk much about the specifics of the ancient medicinal drink.
Because it was an item related to Jude’s growth rather than for traveling convenience.
“Sho exciting. If Jude drinks this, he’ll grow stronger.”
Cordelia said with an innocent-looking face.
She was happy to see Jude get stronger since she helped him replace his equipment and so on.
Jude knew that Cordelia had more of a ‘raising a game character’ mentality, but it looked completely different to Ga?l and Adelia.
‘Sigh, you love him that much?’
‘You really love him.’
She loved Jude that much to act and say it like that.
Ga?l’s eyes were filled with happiness while Adelia also smiled as if she had no choice but to concede.
“Anyway, Jude, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Ga?l told Jude when he had finished arranging their newly acquired items.
They had already discussed about their future plans, but this was to clarify some things.
“Yes, older brother.”
“Then let’s go out for a while and walk.”
Having said that, Ga?l spoke to Adelia to excuse them for a moment and left the tent with Jude hurriedly following him.
“Eh…?”
But why do they have to go out?
Cordelia blinked her eyes as she looked back at Adelia before she unconsciously flinched.
Adelia was staring at her with a sharp look.
“U-unnie?”
“Let’s talk a bit too.”
Adelia grabbed the wrist of Cordelia who reflexively tried to get away, but she sat close to her younger sister and spoke.
“Cordelia, I’ve already told you that Lord Ga?l and I will be moving separately from you.”
“Yes, but?”
“Jude and you will be going to the Sky Roof mountain range alone.”
“Yeees.”
Are you worried about the Sky Roof mountain range because of its rough terrain that even barbarians are reluctant to approach?
“Cordelia.”
“Yes, unnie.”
“You have to be careful.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful. I’m good at mountain climbing. I also have a Winter Protection so it wouldn’t be very cold for me.”
“No, not the mountain and the cold but Jude.”
“…Eh?”
Be careful of Jude? Why?
Cordelia tilted her head with an innocent face and Adelia frowned.
Adelia lamented the fact that she had to leave her gentle, kind, and innocent sister to a black-hearted man like Jude.
“So…”
And she whispered to Cordelia.
As Cordelia blankly listened, her face turned bright red.
“Got it? You should be careful, okay? You’re definitely engaged, but it’s still just an engagement, okay? You’re not married. Plus, you’re both minors. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
Adelia strictly warned Cordelia, but the latter thought she heard wrong.
No, what the heck are you talking about?
“No.”
Me and Jude?
M-me and Jude?
It was something unimaginable for her.
No, he’s definitely my fiancé and we’re engaged, but to do something like that with Jude…that’s something unimaginable.
“What do you mean by no?”
“No…that, that…that’s right! W-we’re not like that?”
Me and Jude?
Aren’t we just teasing and harassing each other?
Cordelia felt a strange sense of relief at the excuse she struggled to create, but not at all for Adelia.
She asked, snorting as if she found it absurd.
“Look at you. Then what in the world is between you two?”
“Eh?”
“I can’t live without Jude. I belong to Jude and Jude is mine.”
Her straightforward words made Cordelia turn even more red.
“N-no…that, that’s right…”
She couldn’t deny that because she had already said that.
In fact, the situation would have passed if she just said yes and that she would be careful, but Cordelia couldn’t say it well because her reasoning stopped. She then chose to counterattack to get over the situation.
“U-unnie too!”
“Eh?”
She just screamed that, but Adelia’s expression changed.
Cordelia, a combat genius, instinctively pierced that gap.
“Unnie, explain! Y-you and brother-in-law, Ga?l!”
This time, it was Adelia’s face that turned red.
At any rate, Cordelia and Adelia resembled each other because they were sisters.
‘G-good. Counterattack success.’
It was when Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief.
“That…we…ahem, ahem, first of all, we’re both adults…”
Adelia slightly turned her head and quietly spoke while Cordelia blinked her eyes.
No, what the heck is unnie talking about now?
You’re both adults?
Adults?
“Wait a second, what is unnie’s relationship with brother-in-law Ga?l?”
There was definitely a pink atmosphere between the two, but they weren’t like that when she first saw the two.
Cordelia hurriedly asked as she pulled her arm, and Adelia pretended to be a bit ignorant as she said with an indescribably sweet face, which was something her subordinates in the royal capital would have never imagined her doing so.
“Ah…with Mr. So-and-so, I’m not in a relationship, not in a relationship, not?”
What the hell is that?
What the heck are you saying?
No, I think I know without her saying it.
Her unnie’s red-hot cheeks told her everything.
“Hehehe.”
Cordelia’s eyes narrowed, and Adelia cleared her throat.
And outside.
While the two sisters were in the midst of an embarrassing conversation, the two brothers were having a completely different conversation.
“Whether the west or east wins, the north needs to be prepared.”
Ga?l had his usual calm expression, but his eyes looked different.
He came to this land as Jude’s older brother, but he was a knight of the north at the same time.
He had no choice but to prioritize the security of the kingdom rather than the turmoil that occurred in the barbarian lands – no, the wild lands itself..
“If the west wins, there will surely be a war. Even if the east wins…war could also happen. It would be quite regrettable to just disperse the power that was already gathered.”
He was well aware of Red Gale’s character.
Red Gale certainly had a good character.
But an individual’s character and war were completely separate things.
The chieftains of the wild lands who had invaded the S?len Kingdom in the past were neither lunatics nor bloodthirsty warmongers.
All were respected leaders for their respective tribes.
But nevertheless, war broke out.
‘When power is gathered, it leads to war.’
Moreover, Red Gale wasn’t precisely a king. He was the leader of the tribal alliance. If the chieftains’ thoughts were inclined to war, he had to consider war too.
‘War can happen regardless of which side wins.’
Whether the west wins or the east wins.
Therefore, the north must know in advance and be prepared.
“Perhaps we could help.”
It was better for the east to win than the west which had fallen into the hands of the demon followers.
But supposing they helped, they would not step forward unless there was a really crucial moment.
For the north, the best thing was for the west and east to destroy each other.
It was a heartless calculation.
But Jude understood Ga?l. He was a northern knight who swore to protect the North.
“Are you going with Lady Adelia to the Jackdaw’s nest?”
“Yes. I’d like to take you as well…but that’s impossible.”
Jude and Cordelia were chosen as guardians by the Golden Dragon King, the king of the wild gods.
The elopement of the immature children was already a thing of the past, given that they were also related to Iron Man Landius and the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
‘They also have the power to do their mission.’
Jude was weak only a couple of months ago, but he was now so strong that he seemed to have become a completely different person.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just Jude. Cordelia was also several times stronger than when she was in Langesthei.
‘Maybe it’s the will of heaven.’
The strange events that happened to the two one after another.
In reality, Jude and Cordelia artificially created those strange events starting with the Sun’s Necklace, but Ga?l had no way of knowing that.
Each event that successively happened was surprising, so in Ga?l’s eyes, it seemed like the will of heaven was with the two.
Thus, Ga?l plainly admitted it.
The two had their own mission.
And he would not interfere with their mission.
“But I’ll be back soon. Our purpose in coming here is to stop the honeymoon trip of you two, but at the same time, to protect the two of you.”
“Will the knight Ga?l Bayer individually help the wild lands?”
“That sounded a little grand, but yeah, something like that.”
“What about Lady Adelia?”
“I want her to help too…but I don’t know if it’s possible.”
She wasn’t the kind of person who would be easily dissuaded or heed other people’s words.
Ga?l smiled as he talked, and Jude took a deep breath. He looked in the same direction as Ga?l and asked in passing.
“Are you…all right now?”
The reason why Ga?l had yet to be married.
The events in the past.
Are you okay now? Have you overcome the pain from that time?
“I’m not sure. But…nearly 10 years have already passed. I’m not sure, maybe I just needed an opportunity.”
And if that was really the case, he owed it to Jude and Cordelia.
“Thank you, for running away.”
When Ga?l abruptly said that, Jude blinked his eyes while Ga?l smiled again.
He looked back at Jude and said with a serious face as if he had never said anything earlier.
“Please take good care of Lady Cordelia.”
“Yes, brother. I will cherish her more than my life.”
“Is that so.”
Ga?l pat Jude on the shoulder and looked towards the south again.
***
Both Jude and Ga?l did not waste their time.
The day after the meeting, they packed up and headed for their respective destinations.
“Be careful.”
“Cordelia, remember what I said? Be careful, okay? Do you understand?”
After a simple farewell from Ga?l and a long one from Adelia, the two headed south while Jude and Cordelia headed north.
“Cordelia.”
“Yes?!”
Cordelia was startled when she was called, so Jude frowned and asked as he cocked his head.
“Are you all right? Did something happen with your sister?”
“No? Nothing happened. Yes, nothing happened. Yes, yes, yes, the snow is very white. It’s white in color. Why is the snow so white?”
Jude’s eyes narrowed a little because of her extremely suspicious words.
‘I’m sure there’s something if she’s stammering and rambling from embarrassment.’
What is it?
What the hell did you talk about with Adelia?
“Cordelia.”
“Yes.”
Cordelia, who had been quickly walking in front, turned around a little exaggeratedly.
Jude asked as he pretended to act like normal.
“We have a long way to go, so would you like me to carry you on my back?”
If it was the usual Cordelia, she would have cried ‘OK’ and then threw herself on his back.
But today, her eyes shined for a moment, but she promptly shook her head afterwards.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll just walk today. Yes, yes.”
Because she was ashamed.
Until now, she didn’t care whether she was hugged or carried by Jude on his back, but because of Adelia’s words, she was suddenly embarrassed.
“Let’s go quickly, quickly.”
Cordelia took the lead as she began to walk more quickly to hide her red cheeks, and Jude narrowed his eyes but did not specifically question her.
The two headed towards the Sky Roof mountain range.
***
Time had passed.
Three days after the first meeting of the Eastern Alliance.
After having completed their western conquest, the main troops of the Angry Bull tribe headed east. The western forces also began to converge in one place.
The east didn’t just watch the movement of the west.
As what they had confirmed at the first meeting, the east began their military expedition to make the west their battlefield.
And three days later.
At the moment when the direct confrontation between the east and the west began.
An incident happened to Ga?l and Adelia as they were heading for the border.