Chapter 109: Encounter (3)
Chapter 109: Encounter (3)
While translating this chapter, I finally figured out that Jude had indeed transformed into a wolf. Whether he turned into a wolf or a werewolf still remains a question.
More sweet moments at the latter half of this chapter. ????
At the same time, in the Sky Roof mountain range.
Jude and Cordelia flinched and opened their eyes at the same time.
They heard a voice along the sound of the wind.
“Did you hear that?”
Cordelia said in a hushed whisper and Jude slowly nodded.
He then said in a low voice as if to confirm.
“Is someone…there?”
“Uh.”
Cordelia replied to Jude with a nervous face. Or rather, it was more of a slightly frightened face than a nervous one.
And at that very moment…
“Are you there? You’re in there, right?”
They heard the voice again.
The sad and faint voice of a woman traveled along the harsh wind as if it was being swept away by the wind.
“What, what. What was that?”
Cordelia hugged Jude and quickly spoke. Her face was stricken with fear.
“Cordelia? Are you okay?”
“I-isn’t that a ghost? There’s no one here but us.”
They were in a land where not only humans, but also wild gods did not live in.
A woman’s voice came from such a place. It was also heard together with the wind that sounded eerie.
‘Her words are also strange!’
Are you there?
You’re in there, right?
That pattern only appears in scary stories, right?
“Eueueu…”
Cordelia seriously didn’t like scary stories.
There was always one child in class who would try to cover their ears and not listen to people telling scary stories in places like retreats, and Cordelia was such a case.
‘I keep thinking about it!’
When she went to the bathroom at night.
When she took the elevator alone at night.
When she walked alone at night.
“Are you…there? Can you…hear my voice?”
The voice got closer.
But the closer it got, the more they realized that it was not the voice of a human.
The voice seemed to be torn by the wind.
It had a slow yet spooky tone that was a bit different from that of an ordinary woman.
“Hiik.”
Cordelia became even more frightened as she firmly shut her eyes and tightly hugged Jude.
And Jude thought to himself.
‘You’re cuter when you’re scared.’
How can she be so pretty and cute?
But now was not the time to relax and appreciate it.
He would always welcome Cordelia hugging him, but if she kept hugging him tightly, his waist and back might be broken.
Cordelia was weaker than Jude, but her physical abilities were far more superior than the average adult male because of her high level.
“Cordelia, are you scared of ghosts?”
At his question, Cordelia flinched and with a face that was about to cry, she glared – no, she stared at him.
‘What? You’re not scared then?’
It’s a ghost, okay?
Jude understood what she meant through the look of her eyes like usual, so he said with a smile while still having the face of a wolf.
“No, because it’s this world. Even if ghosts appeared, we could just eradicate it, right? With sacred battle aura or magic.”
Because it was this kind of world.
Jude demoted the existences of ghosts and supernatural phenomena to just your ordinary monster A, and Cordelia blinked her eyes. And replied in a small voice.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You’re right. Most problems can be solved with an explosion.”
If you blow up a ghost, it will die!
“Umm…that didn’t sound right, but let’s think about that later.”
Because it was more important that Cordelia had recovered.
Although Cordelia’s blue eyes seemed to have a slightly dangerous glint, Jude was satisfied that she somehow brightened up, so he turned his gaze towards the tent’s entrance.
“Please answer me.. Is there…anyone there?”
They heard the voice again.
The voice was near the tent, so it was quite clear.
“Let’s go out for now. It’s disadvantageous for us inside.”
The two were inside a crack of a rock face that they had forcibly expanded.
In that place, it would be hard for them to properly evade, escape, or attack.
“Okay, let’s go outside.”
Cordelia seemed to be scared again judging by her voice, but she answered with a much better face than before as she let go of Jude whom she had tightly hugged with her arms.
“Human form.”
Jude said in a low voice and the transformation was undone.
After taking off the Black Wolf Skin, Jude carried Cordelia on his back with the help of a podaegi.
“Wear the wolf skin over you.”
“Okay.”
They had originally searched for a resting place due to her mana being depleted, so she was still lacking in mana.
She couldn’t used magic, so the only way to keep her body warm was by using the wolf skin.
“What about you, Jude?”
“It’s okay. Because I have Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”
As Jude grinned and said that, Cordelia blinked her eyes before she smiled.
“What is it?”
“No, I just thought that you had changed. It seemed like yesterday when you pretended to be this and that while using your Gueumjulmaek as an excuse. This older sister is touched.”
“Haven’t I been good at fulfilling my promises?”
He promised that he would carry her when his Gueumjulmaek gets better, and now, he had been carrying her almost every day.
“Yes, yes, good job. My Jude kept his promises well. This older sister greatly compliments you.”
Cordelia pulled her hand out from the podaegi and patted Jude on the head, making Jude smile again.
And at that moment…
“Please…answer me. Please…answer if…you’re…there…”
Maybe it was because of the atmosphere between the two, but the voice sounded a little irritated.
It sounded like a cry to stop their public displays of affection and come out quickly.
“Well then, let’s go.”
“Yes, yes.”
Cordelia placed her hands inside the podaegi again and gulped in nervousness, while Jude carefully opened the entrance of the tent.
To prepare for any possible attack, he jumped up to the ground while sharpening his senses.
Tswaak!
Jude rose more then 5 meters from the tent.
He surveyed the area around them, and Cordelia then said.
“There!”
It was near the rock face where the two were in.
There was a figure of a woman, who was either a ghost or just translucent, that was swaying feebly in the blowing wind.
‘She’s not a wild god.’
No matter what anyone said, Jude and Cordelia were the official guardians of the wild lands.
If it was a wild god under the authority of the Golden Dragon King, the wild god would have recognized them.
But the woman didn’t.
If so, what was she?
Was she really a ghost?
If not-
“Spirit.”
At the moment Cordelia spoke, the woman looked up and stared at Jude.
Her face with well-defined features were definitely beautiful, but they could see at a glance that she wasn’t human.
Despite being out in the biting cold, the woman was naked without a single piece of clothing on her, and there was no white in her eyes. The entirety of her eyes only had one color.
‘Snow spirit?’
Or is it a wind spirit?
Instead of launching an attack, Jude approached the woman, and the woman with long white hair spoke again along with the wind.
“As expected…there were people. I’ve been waiting…for a long time. I kept…waiting. For someone…to come…”
Jude frowned at the woman’s words.
Even if the woman in front of them was a spirit, he wondered how she found the two of them.
And he wondered what she meant about waiting.
“Ah! I understand!”
He heard Cordelia’s voice behind his back just then.
Having been covered by the wolf skin, Cordelia nodded to herself and continued her words.
“Phoenix’s feather.”
“Ah.”
Jude also understood it now.
A by-product they obtained during the time they defeated the Phoenix.
He had forgotten about it for a while after he put it on Cordelia’s head, but Cordelia had kept and treasured it.
‘It’s the power of a strong spirit…so she recognized it.’
Moreover, if the woman was indeed a snow or wind spirit, she would be the opposite of the Phoenix, a flame spirit.
For the woman, the Phoenix’s feather would have been clearly visible to her as if it was a fragment of light in the darkness.
‘But that’s why it’s strange.’
The woman and the Phoenix were opposite existences, so why did she come here?
She must have needed something if she had waited and searched for people to talk to.
“Come this way, come this way. Before the harsh…winter cold comes.”
The woman took a step closer and beckoned to them with her hand. Jude reflexively took a step back as his eyes narrowed.
The harsh winter cold.
A woman who beckons you to go somewhere.
“Let’s follow her.”
“Cordelia?”
“We can’t ignore her anyway. And we also got a quest, so we have to check it out first.”
At her answer that was typical of a rotten water, Jude frowned but he was soon convinced.
He might have said that he had Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, but the coldness in the Sky Roof mountain range was indeed murderous.
If they continued to stay outside, the two of them would seriously suffer.
“We’ll come with you. Please guide us.”
Jude politely spoke after he retrieved the Cozy 1-pyeong, and the spirit woman smiled and turned around.
“Follow me.”
The woman began moving, and Jude ran after her.
And Cordelia said in a small voice.
“Don’t give it weird looks. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Hmm, could she be feeling jealous?
I hope so.
After he thought that, Jude smiled a little as he looked forward again, focusing his gaze on the back of the woman’s head.
And around 5 minutes later…
Whether she had thought that Jude was able to move fast, or she simply just had no idea, the woman who was moving at a fairly high speed stopped in front of a large natural cave.
“We’re…here. Come…inside.”
The woman who had just been talking had then dispersed in the wind.
It was as if she was a fading flame.
“Ju-Jude.”
“I think we’re almost there. Just hang in there.”
It had only been around five minutes, but Cordelia’s voice sounded so weak as if she had lost most of her body warmth.
Jude hurriedly entered the cave, and at that moment, he widely opened his eyes.
The cave had an open entrance, but the temperature changed as soon as he entered the place.
‘It’s warm?’
Jude was bewildered for a moment, but he soon calmed himself down. The important thing was that the coldness was gone.
“Are you okay, Cordelia?”
“Yeees…I’m okay. What about you?”
“I’m strong.”
Jude deliberately answered with some exaggeration before he looked around again.
The cave was quite spacious, but he could tell that it was a man-made structure.
‘Did they enlarge a natural cave?’
Something like the underground city of the dwarves.
“This way…please.”
They heard the woman speaking again.
She was in front of a structure in the innermost part of the cave.
“No matter how much I look at it, that’s an elevator…right?”
At Jude’s question, Cordelia barely opened her eyes and then nodded her head.
“I think so.”
It was a large cylindrical structure with double doors.
And it would lead one to the underground.
Though Jude and Cordelia had the Winter Protection, they were still worried about dying from the cold, yet there were people who could build such a structure of this size in this place…
‘Magellan?’
The magic kingdom founded by the ancient elves.
Perhaps one of their cities was hidden beneath the Sky Roof mountain range.
“Come…quickly…”
Jude nodded at the woman’s urging and continued to walk after fixing the podaegi.
***Ga?l and Adelia stared at each other.
Ga?l was clearly carrying Adelia in the beginning, but it was different now. The fact that they were hugging each other was the same, but the two were facing each other.
He held and supported Adelia’s back and waist with one hand while Adelia placed her hands on her chest and exhaled.
The two were so close to each other.
Ga?l caressed Adelia’s cheek with his left hand, and Adelia took a deep breath again. She gazed at him with dreamy eyes and said.
“One, one more time.”
Ga?l was embarrassed for a moment, but he soon smiled. And like that, he kissed Adelia on the lips again.
It was unbelievable that a man near his thirties and a woman in her mid-twenties was inexperienced in kissing, as they only kissed on the lips, but that was enough for them.
The distance from their lips widened again.
As the two withdrew their faces, Adelia thought.
It was little different from what she read in storybooks.
It was different from Samantha’s story which she intently listened to while pretending not to listen.
She had heard that there was a thrilling and tingling sensation, but there was nothing like that.
Even when they put their lips together, she didn’t feel any of those sensations.
However, it was a really strange feeling.
She could only describe it as really strange and mysterious.
She felt like strangely smiling.
The blushing Adelia squirmed her lips, and Ga?l caressed her cheek. And drew their lips together again.
‘The third time.’
Adelia’s face reddened again as she flinched but did not avoid it. She then slightly opened her lips.
But that was it. Ga?l slowly withdrew his lips. Adelia opened her eyes with regret, but she couldn’t help it.
“Father.”
Ga?l called him ‘father’ instead of ‘Count.’
It was a subtle change in address, but Adelia came to her senses when she heard it.
She then asked in a very low voice.
“Is he watching?”
“It’s not like that…but I think he’s considering when he should come out.”
Having reached the level of a master, Ga?l could tell.
No, he just knew with his imagination.
The sight of Count Chase hiding behind a rock and flinching while thinking about whether to come out or not.
“Ueueue.”
Adelia covered her face with both hands and let out a groan.
Because she thought of it again.
The fact that she had kissed him on the cheeks first, or that she asked him to do it again.
Add to that was her embarrassment.
‘Dad!’
She didn’t do anything wrong on purpose, but Count Chase must have felt bitter while watching.
Ga?l then drew his face close to Adelia’s ear.
It was to leave something that must be said before they faced Count Chase.
“Adelia.”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
Adelia’s heart stopped at his simple words. No, her heart began thumping like crazy.
“Me-me…me too…”
I love you.
Her last words were so small that she didn’t even know if she really said it or not, but that was enough.
Ga?l tightly held Adelia again and took a deep breath.
Adelia’s face was so obviously red, but Ga?l’s face was also burning red.
‘I really admire those two.’
Jude and Cordelia.
How could they say such words openly?
Cordelia would writhe in embarrassment after saying those words, while Jude would say it was as planned while laughing evilly. But Ga?l cleared his thoughts as he let down Adelia before he shouted.
“Count Chase! This is Ga?l! Lady Adelia is with me!”
“Ahem, ahem!”
A cough returned in response to his loud call.
Count Chase came out from behind the rock after a while, looked around as if he was looking for the whereabouts of the voice, and then widely opened his eyes as if he spotted Ga?l.
“It’s a coincidence.”
He said with his usual stern face.
As if he had just arrived.
‘Ah, please. Dad, please, Dad, don’t do it.’
While Adelia was mentally screaming, Ga?l just had a kind smile and stepped forward. He was still hugging Adelia on the waist with one arm.
“Ahem.”
And Count Chase looked at Ga?l and squinted his eyes.
Instead of asking what happened, who did they fought, were they injured and so on – things that were asked in normal situations, Count Chase said something completely different.
“You’ve become weak since I last saw you.”
“Eh?”
When Ga?l widely opened his eyes at the unexpected remark, Adelia covered her face with both of her hands, and Count Chase tried to hide his warm smile.
He lifted up the space expansion bag that was filled with bags and then said.
“I got it by chance on the way here. Take it.”
He then opened the bag.
After taking out a bag from the space expansion bag, which anyone could tell was carefully packed inside, he then held it out to Ga?l.
“It’s nothing much.”
“Eh…yes. Thank you…very much.”
‘Dad…please…’
Ga?l awkwardly spoke, and Adelia immediately spoke in her mind.
Count Chase closed the bag as he mentally restrained himself, and then made a stern expression again.
“What happened?”
An ambiguous question that might vary according to one’s interpretation.
Ga?l and Adelia looked back at each other and had a conversation with their eyes, though they were not skilled with it.
‘I’ll do it.’
‘Yes, I’ll do it.’
‘Leave it to me.’
‘Trust in me.’
Was a conversation with their eyes still not possible?
The two completely misunderstood each other as they smiled and turned to Count Chase.
They then opened their mouths at the same time.