Chapter 19: Sacred Rod (4)
Chapter 19: Sacred Rod (4)
I’ll be taking a break tomorrow, so I won’t be releasing any chapters then. Next chapter will be released on August 5, Wednesday.
Since the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was referred in the last chapters, here’s a clip of it on Youtube. It’s quite funny when I think that Cordelia has pink hair like the character in the song, hahaha.
And another kid’s song that will be mentioned in this chapter is Three Bears:
Time had passed, and when Jude and Cordelia opened their eyes, they suddenly found themselves sitting in the valley at midnight instead of the fairies’ banquet hall.
“Achoo!”
They were in a daze for a while, but when Jude suddenly sneezed, Cordelia came to her senses and looked around.
“The valley? Are we back? The banquet’s over, right?”
They had been desperate earlier, but now, Jude nodded to her comment.
“That’s right, it’s the valley. The banquet is over. It’s over!”
“Wow! It’s over! It’s finally over!”
Cordelia jumped up and down in the water and hugged Jude. He embraced Cordelia too, as they both felt emotional and relieved.
For twelve hours, Jude and Cordelia spent their time at the fairies’ banquet hall after their meeting with the Fairy Queen.
“Ah, f*ck. I will never sing Little Star again.”
Cordelia shuddered as she was fed up with it.
She was made to sing it not just 6 times but more than a dozen times. Moreover, it wasn’t just Little Star.
“Yellow Storm.”
“Why?”
“Do you only know the nursery rhymes?”
She had sung Three Bears after Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Cordelia said with a snort.
“No, it’s not? I know a lot of other songs. I adjusted it to that of a fairy’s level, okay?”
“Okay…well, it was cute.”
In fact, Jude himself could only sing in full a handful of popular Korean songs.
Jude laughed and moved on, and Cordelia pushed Jude away from their hug and then grumbled.
“Moving on, I really thought I was dying. In the game, I didn’t understand the true meaning of the line, ‘Time has passed,’ that was said in passing. But now, I realize that this isn’t something a normal human could completely do.”
“I agree.”
Playing with dozens of fairies felt like taking care of dozens of beagles at the same time.
Cordelia was made to sing endlessly, but both also had to struggle hard among the fairies, especially Jude, who was well liked because of his handsomeness.
“The Fairy Queen too, was a fairy.”
“Yeah.”
Jude could still remember in his eyes the elegant-looking figure of the Fairy Queen smiling and even encouraging the fairies trying to undress him.
If the Fairy Queen hadn’t come out in person, he would’ve been very thankful to her.
“Haa…”
“Huu…”
Sighing almost at the same time, Jude and Cordelia soon sneered and laughed.
“Regardless.”
“Mission clear.”
The two did a high five before looking at their own loot.
Cordelia got her hands on the sacred rod, Moonlight.
Moonlight is an item that can be recharged by converting moonlight into mana. It was a very useful tool for wizards who always had to suffer from constantly running out of mana.
‘It has a built-in lethal move too.’
It was the true reason why Jude tried to get the Moonlight.
It would clearly play a big part in their fight against the Devil’s Hand.
‘And the Fairy Steps.’
Looking at the silver ring on his right index finger, a smile was drawn on his face.
The number of uses was limited to once per day at Jude’s current level, but that alone was something to be very grateful of.
In essence, it was like having another life.
“Hehe, the Bicorn’s good too.”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
Twelve hours have passed at the fairies’ banquet, but in reality, only ten seconds have passed.
Jude and Cordelia looked back in the direction where the Bicorn collapsed. With faces mixed with joy and awkwardness, they looked at the Bicorn’s corpse floating halfway in the water.
The reason was simple.
“Umm…I suppose we’ll have to pull it out from there?”
At Cordelia’s question, Jude nodded.
“Because it doesn’t drop like in the game.”
But it was also a good thing.
When they defeated the Bicorn, they could get two horns.
In the game however, it was very natural for it to be an uncommon drop.
‘I defeated it, but I only got one horn or didn’t get any at all.’
Whereas in reality, you could obtain not only the horns but everything else too.
“Don’t worry too much. The knights would do the collecting.”
“Oh yeah. We’re the children of counts, right?”
Cordelia felt the sweetness of power again.
“Miss! Young master!”
“Where are you! Young master!”
“Miss!”
From afar came the voices of the knights.
It would be strange for them to not notice the bursting of a tremendous amount of light and the roaring sounds.
“Miss! Where are you! Lady Cordelia!”
“Young master Jude!”
Dahlia and Maja’s voices gradually approached. Cordelia made a long face and said while looking at Jude.
“We are…”
“Yes, we are.”
“…in a lot of trouble, right?”
“In a lot of trouble.”
They would certainly be scolded.
It didn’t stop at the two of them stealthily sneaking out, but they also fell into the water and made a mess of themselves.
“Don’t worry, Cordelia.”
“Huh? Do you perhaps have a plan so that we won’t get scolded?”
“No, just…”
“Just?”
“If you give up, it’s easy.”
Jude smiled refreshingly, and Cordelia gave him a middle finger.
***
Jude and Cordelia were exceedingly scolded.
Sir Zebeck, a knight from Count Chase, was in charge of the party’s journey. Count Bayer and Count Chase had put him up as their proxy, and so, he issued Jude and Cordelia a ban on going out of the carriage.
“If the young master and miss would find it necessary to spend some time alone together, this humble knight would offer to make it possible.”
In front of Sir Zebeck who spoke very seriously, Jude and Cordelia could only bow their heads.
But it wasn’t really that bad for them.
In the first place, there were no more matters that they persistently need to go out and take care of in their journey to Langesthei.
Rather, it was good for the two to discuss their future plans while being alone together in the carriage.
‘I’m sorry for Dahlia, but…’
Sir Zebeck severely scolded Dahlia for forgetting her escort duty and exposing the two to danger. He imposed on her a pay cut measure as punishment.
Cordelia worked hard to defend her, but it was inevitable.
‘However…is it fortunate that our public opinion is favorable?’
The public opinion referred here was the knights of Count Bayer and Count Chase.
In reality, they now didn’t find it surprising for the two to go to the valley. It was because of the circulating rumors about how Jude and Cordelia deeply yearn for each other since last week’s daytime runaway.
What the knights paid attention to, was the fact that Jude and Cordelia defeated the Bicorn together.
“Young master, you’ve become very strong.”
“Ha, the young master inherited the count’s talent after all.”
In the memories of Count Bayer’s retainers and knights, Jude was always sick and couldn’t even freely go outside.
They were naturally thrilled that Jude was not only healthy now, but that he could also defeat not just a goblin, but a Bicorn.
Especially in Jun’s case, as he was delighted and in a hurry to write and send a letter to the Count.
Count Chase’s knights rejoiced in a slightly different sense, focusing more on the fact that ‘Jude has become stronger,’ than on the fact that Cordelia defeated the Bicorn with Jude.
Cordelia was Count Chase’s youngest child, and a pretty woman that everyone in the family sincerely loved.
Since Cordelia was going to marry an always sick man like Jude, no one had spoken openly. However, a few were concerned and worried, and there was also a lot of dissatisfaction.
Well, how can you not be happy now that Jude was showing quite a reliable figure?
Sir Zebeck also immediately wrote a letter to Count Chase after scolding Jude and Cordelia hard.
“I like him now.”
It was a short and bold comment, but it really was Sir Zebeck’s respectful feelings.
Anyhow, it was sorted out to some extent, and half a day passed.
Jude was lingeringly sick inside the carriage.
“It’s a cold.”
As Cordelia had briefly commented, Jude caught a cold.
It was caused by having fallen into the valley water on an autumn night, but the biggest cause was wandering around while wet.
“Brrr…”
Jude was covered with a blanket and had a wet towel on his head. He was half-asleep as he was lying on the carriage seat, and Cordelia clicked her tongue.
“I didn’t get sick.”
‘What about it?’
It was the perfect time for Jude to talk back to her, but he had to agonize over his headache.
“I’ll change the towel.”
Cordelia personally changed Jude’s towel, and wiped the sweat off on visible parts like his forehead and neck.
“Th…thank…”
“Yes, yes.”
“If…Gueumjul…maek…healed…”
“Yes, yes, I’ll carry you, be hit by you, cross over the wall, stand in the front line, and nurse you when you’re sick, right?”
When Cordelia spoke fluently, Jude had a blank look, and she soon had a little laugh.
“I remember everything, so be prepared?”
At any rate, she was very happy to have fought back against Jude.
“For now, just go to sleep without thinking.”
Cordelia arranged the towel and sat down again, opening a book. Jude looked at her for a moment before closing his eyes.
Late in the afternoon, Jude barely opened his eyes and stood up. He shook Cordelia who was dozing off on the opposite side.
“Hey, hey. Wake up. Stop drooling.”
“Uh?”
Cordelia quickly lifted her head and wiped off her drool while floundering.
‘She’s really pretty.’
She was pretty even though she was drooling and floundering.
After a moment’s thought, Jude looked outside the carriage window and continued to talk.
“Let’s get down to business.”
“Uh, oh. Huh…are you okay?”
Cordelia shook her head and came to her senses. She opened the lid of the water bottle and asked.
“Oh, after a good night’s sleep, I think I feel better. This guy’s also effective.”
When he lifted the Sun’s Necklace from his neck, Cordelia laughed and spoke.
“What’s the 2nd cure to Gueumjulmaek?”
“Huh?”
“It’s Muan Sweet Water.”
After a certain amount of big talk, the two became ready to discourse.
Jude sat down and opened the lid of his water bottle as he said.
“Perhaps if we go like this, we’ll arrive at Langesthei in three days.”
Even if they slowly traveled and run for several days by carriage, their destination was still quite a distance to reach because they both came from the faraway town of Bailon.
Cordelia used her fingers to count the days and said as she blinked her eyes.
“Uh, so is it about four days before the event starts?”
“Perhaps.”
Jude and Cordelia were currently a day ahead of the Cordelia in the main scenario.
The events in Langesthei were more than ten, from large events to small ones. But Cordelia was talking about only one event now.
The first main event in Cordelia’s main scenario was ‘The Devil’s Hand’s Attack.’
This is how the original story unfolds.
Minors from the 12 northern families gathered in the commercial city of Langesthei.
Not all children from the 12 families gathered, like Jude who was absent in the original scenario.
There were quite a few families who have been absent for reasons such as a lack of minors or being busy at home.
In Cordelia’s main scenario, the number of families that participated was only half, or six.
With Jude added to this, seven families were now gathered.
“Langesthei does not belong to any of the 12 families.”
It was the reason why it was chosen as the social gathering place of the 12 families’ members.
But not all 12 families in the north were on good terms.
After all, it was just the 12 strongest families in the north, and not because they had a great bond or solidarity amongst each other.
Depending on the location, there were some families that were competitors, and in severe cases, had hostile relations.
‘We are the exception.’
Engagement and political marriages were common amongst the 12 families, but there was only a handful of families that really got along, like Count Bayer and Count Chase.
“In addition, as you know, this event is very hard from the start. To undergo pain from the beginning of the story…that is to say, how the scenario occurs.”
As for the conclusion, the attack of the Devil’s Hand succeeded.
They killed some of the children from the 12 northern families, and after kidnapping some, they even committed brutalities like using the victims as a sacrifice for summoning the devil.
The world of Legend of Heroes 2 was moving towards Armageddon. In short, it was a world moving towards the end, and one of the starting points was the attack of the Devil’s Hand.
“Can we really stop this?”
The story was a little strange, but Cordelia liked the character Cordelia.
That is, she played as Cordelia several times when she was Yellow Storm.
Therefore, Yellow Storm knew the severity of the attack of the Devil’s Hand. The number of enemies mobilized in the immediate attack exceeded 100 by a ridiculous margin.
Even though she now possessed Moonlight, she wondered if they could stop the event with just the power of Jude and herself.
“Isn’t it better to just cancel the event itself?”
“How?”
When Jude asked back, Cordelia opened her lips, but soon shut it again. It was because she couldn’t think of anything.
It was doubtful if people would believe Jude and Cordelia if they talked about the attack of the Devil’s Hand.
However, it was too much to create a mess in the social gathering itself just for an excuse to cancel it. If that happened, it was highly likely that Jude and Cordelia would be kicked out of the social gatherings.
There was no clear evidence that there would be an attack by the Devil’s Hand.
Furthermore, it was possible that the story would get messed up if it was dismissed carelessly.
The Devil’s Hand could have attacked the 12 families individually.
“Ugh.”
As Cordelia racked her brains and was distressed, Jude clicked his tongue and unfolded a paper.
“I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“A good idea.”
“F*ck.”
When Cordelia got angry, Jude laughed and continued to talk, moving his pen on the paper.
“First of all, let’s do this.”
It was a plan that the two rotten waters, Jude and Cordelia, can pull off in this world.
Jude began to explain, and Cordelia listened attentively. She soon opened her eyes wide.
Cordelia had a bright smile on her face.