Ending Maker-Chapter 25: Devils Hand (6)

Terms used in this chapter:

Unnie – Means older sister in Korean, and is used by girls to call another girl who is older than them, or to a girl whom they admire.

Time has passed.

Just as what a person does when they wake up from a deep sleep, Jude slowly opened his eyes halfway. 𝗳𝐫𝘦e𝘸𝗲𝚋𝓃𝚘v𝘦𝘭.𝑐𝒐m

A lot of things, including the ceiling, came in his blurry vision, but everything was blurred, and he couldn’t properly recognize the shapes.

“Ooouuuh.”

With a voice close to groaning, Jude closed and opened his eyes repeatedly, and the blurriness began to disappear.

“Haaa…”

A few seconds…no, maybe a dozen seconds after, Jude was finally fully awake and looked around.

He was in a well-decorated and luxurious bedroom. It was evident to him that this was the high-class accommodation that he had stayed in when they first came to Langesthei.

“Young master! Are you awake?!”

Just then, he heard Maja’s voice.

It was a voice close to a scream that was mixed with anxiety and joy.

“Maja.”

“Young master.”

In the Bayer family, Maja was often called the Ice Queen, but she often smiled in front of Jude.

But now she wasn’t just smiling.

Maia was both crying and smiling now.

“Young master.”

“I’m okay, Maja. What about you? Did you get hurt?”

Maja was like a family to Jude, but outside Count Bayer, she was only an exclusive maid in the end.

She was the only one who was uncomfortable when she was forced to attend the banquet, so Jude had sent her back earlier to their accommodation.

Of course, this was because he had predicted the attack.

“I’m all right. In the first place, I was staying in the accommodation. Rather than that, young master…ah…”

As Maja shed tears again, Jude was feeling restless and puzzled on what to do, so he awkwardly reached out his hands and hugged her.

“It’s all right. I’m safe.”

“Young master.”

After a few minutes, Maja calmed down from her crying storm, and Jude patted her back and asked.

“Maja, what about Lady Cordelia?”

“She’s all right.”

Maja wiped away her tears and took a breath as she adjusted her posture, and then spoke with a light smile.

“She overworked herself, so she’s still lying down, but she has regained her consciousness a little earlier than young master. The doctors said that she was just too tired and that there was no harm to her health.”

“Haa.”

Jude breathed a sigh of relief, and then began stretching.

He was worried about her one way or another.

“Young master, if you don’t mind, would you like to go see Lady Cordelia?”

As Maja smiled and said that, Jude immediately nodded.

“Please.”

“As you wish, young master.”

With Maja’s help, Jude got up and left the room after roughly washing and grooming himself.

Their rooms were on the same floor, so after passing the drawing room between their rooms, he was now in front of Cordelia’s bedroom.

“Lady Cordelia, Mr. Jude Bayer has come to visit.”

Count Chase’s knight was guarding Cordelia’s bedroom and greeted Jude with a very welcoming face. He immediately reported to Cordelia about Jude’s visit.

Without waiting for too long, Cordelia’s bedroom door opened wide.

“Mr. Jude Bayer.”

Dahlia, who had tear marks on her face like Maja, greeted Jude with a smile.

And in the room was Cordelia lying on a bed large enough to wrestle.

“Lady Cordelia.”

Instead of answering Jude’s call, Cordelia simply nodded once.

Her condition seemed much worse than Jude’s, as she had a pale white face and eyes that had no strength that it seemed like she’ll fall asleep anytime soon.

“Dahlia, I apologize, but may we be alone for a moment?”

“Yes, Mr. Bayer. Please take care of the lady.”

Dahlia readily accepted and left the room together with Maja after bowing to Cordelia.

After a few seconds, when the door was completely closed, Cordelia spoke.

“I think I’m going to die.”

“Yes, me too.”

Coming to the edge of the bed with a wobbly gait, Jude flopped on the chair where Dahlia had sat on earlier.

“Is your condition not good?”

“I used too much mana. My head is so heavy, and I feel like it’s going to break.”

“Oh, is it similar to a hangover?”

“A hangover?”

“Yes…oh, maybe it is?”

Cordelia awkwardly answered as she slouched her shoulders.

“I feel sick, tired and about to die.”

“Well, you really don’t look well.”

She wasn’t the Yellow Storm that would always whine and retort in front of Outboxer.

“Hey, shouldn’t you feel good though? You saw the title too, right?”

“The One Who Made the Impossible Possible?”

A smile bloomed like a flower on Cordelia’s face, who was a while ago, had tears on her face and saying that she felt so tired to death.

She felt really good that she began laughing ‘hehehe’ like a fool.

“The Legend of Heroes community would completely be turned upside down.”

“The chat window’s going to be a mess.”

“Will Hero Soft contact us?”

“Maybe?”

“It was an impossible story, but that’s why it’s pleasant we changed it.”

Cordelia took a long breath before speaking again.

“Dahlia told me that Viola and Felix are safe. And so are the twin brothers.”

Originally, they were those who would have been killed or kidnapped in the Devil’s Hand’s attack.

But they didn’t die.

They weren’t kidnapped, and they were alive.

“I feel excited for no reason.”

The title was good, and the sense of accomplishment from twisting the main scenario as intended was also good, but Cordelia was happier that she had saved many people including the children of the 12 families.

“Oh dear~ look at how nice our Yellow Storm is. I feel so proud of you.”

As Jude smiled happily and stroked Cordelia’s hair, her eyes narrowed.

“You will be killed by me. Why are you f*cking petting me?”

“This is our Yellow Storm.”

Jude replied as he smiled, feeling satisfied, before leaning on the chair’s back.

“With this, we’ve passed over a hump.”

“What should we do now?”

“Well, we’ve twisted the main scenario, but we still have to follow it.”

In Cordelia’s main scenario, she was destined to be kidnapped in the Devil’s Hand’s attack event no matter what she did.

Wasn’t her second mission to escape from her kidnapped situation?

If she successfully escapes, the survival route opens. But if she fails, she becomes a sacrifice and it would be game over.

The survival route was as follows.

“Cordelia escapes from an unknown Devil’s Hand’s branch and wanders around a deep and dark forest to escape her pursuers and monsters. She then meets the witch’s soul as if she were led by fate.”

Cordelia laughed when Jude recited the summary of the story in Legend of Heroes 2.

‘Are you for real…no, are you even a human?’

How can a person remember all those things?

She didn’t care if he was a rotten water, but Jude’s memory was far beyond common sense.

‘Should I ask him?’

If she asked, he might unexpectedly give her an answer.

At the time Cordelia was contemplating, Jude continued to speak regardless of whether he knew or not of what she was thinking.

“Because she had not been kidnapped by the Devil’s Hands, Cordelia wouldn’t wander around the woods…but she has to go. You have to meet the witch’s soul.”

The meeting with the witch’s soul was not a hidden event like the Moonlight acquisition event. It was one of the main events that was absolutely necessary to continue the game.

‘Because I have to do a spec-up.’

After all, Legend of Heroes 2 is a fighting game.

Aside from hunting, if you steadily follow the main events, you will become stronger.

“Uh…the forest was probably north of Langesthei, right?”

“Yes, so we have to go north.”

It wasn’t just because of Cordelia.

Jude’s main scenario, which had not yet begun, was also concentrated in the north.

“Well, what should I do?”

“Why?”

“You see, Dahlia told me something earlier, but it’s only been a day since we came to our senses. Not all the news have been spread to each family yet, but the escort knights must have decided on a policy.”

“What kind of policy?”

“There may be additional attacks, so it seems like everyone is gathering together later in the evening to exchange information on this incident. We’ll have to wait until someone comes to pick us up though.”

“Hmm.”

Given that the Devil’s Hand’s attack was prevented, the remaining problem was their explanation on the various preparations they made and the fight that occurred yesterday.

‘There’s also the Blue Lion.’

They need a solution regarding the part about Count Bayer’s intervention, which was the lie that Jude made to move the Blue Lion knight commander, Sir Barua.

Now that things have grown this big, Count Bayer will definitely hear the story about the Devil’s Hand’s attack and the Blue Lion’s surprise attack on the branches.

“So what should we do? Wouldn’t we need some excuse to go north without going home?”

Apart from settling the aftermath, they also need measures on how to move forward.

Jude answered Cordelia’s question with folded arms.

“First of all, I have some ideas.”

“What is it?”

“First, you and I have to kiss*…no, that’s not what I mean? Anyway, we’ll have the people around us to help out.”

*T/N: This is a pun, based on the idiom ?(?) ???, which can mean 2 different things:

Jude was talking about the first meaning but realized that Cordelia could interpret it as the second meaning, so he says “that’s not what I mean” afterwards.

“Who was around us?”

“Of course, Luca…wait.”

Jude suddenly stopped talking, as he frowned and tilted his head.

He felt like he had completely forgotten something important.

‘What is it?’

They defeated Minos.

The kidnapping case ended in failure, and Jude and Cordelia are safe.

‘Lucas is safe too.’

According to Cordelia, Viola, Felix and the twin brothers are also safe.

Then…

“Ah!”

Jude sprang up from his seat, and at the same time, Cordelia opened her eyes wide too.

It’s because the two remembered the same thing and the same person at the same moment.

““Sylvia!””

***

“Uwaaah! How come…how could you forget? Me here…me here alone…uwaaaah…..”

In the secret room in the corner of the banquet hall, which is now the scene of the incident…

Sylvia, who was trapped inside the pit for one day, burst into a sad cry in Cordelia’s arms.

“Unnie, I’m sorry. I’m really really sorry.”

Although Cordelia’s face still had a sickly appearance, she repeatedly apologized after facing Sylvia.

“I was scared…it was dark…there was no sound…*sniff*”

Sylvia blew her nose with a handkerchief that Jude gave at the right time, as she kept sniffling.

Seeing the confident, pretty, and incomparably beautiful woman crying out sadly like a child and revealing her inner thoughts, she really must have been scared over the past day.

‘The pit did a great job.’

They had worked hard to turn the pit in the secret room into a panic room just in case.

He even drew a Silence magic circle inside the pit, in the fear of being caught because of the sound. Because of that, Sylvia, who was forcibly dropped into the pit, didn’t know what was happening outside because everything was in perfect silence and there was no light.

“Unnie, unnie, I’m sorry.”

She was Cordelia now before she was Yellow Storm.

She was sincerely sorry because she was now Cordelia, who had always admired the beautiful and elegant Sylvia.

‘Lucas, what the hell did you do?!’

Cordelia herself and Jude had fainted at that time.

It was the very reason that Cordelia had asked him to settle the aftermath after they’ve fainted.

‘I’ll kill you later!’

At the time when Cordelia made a firm resolve, Jude slightly pulled Cordelia’s skirt to tell her to distance herself from Sylvia.

Sylvia had to be entrusted to the knights of Count Crossbell.

“Miss, let’s go.”

“Ughhh, okay.”

Sylvia, who had become very obedient, left the room with the knights, and Dahlia said cautiously as Jude and Cordelia sighed.

“I’m sorry. Both of you didn’t seem to be stable yet, so we couldn’t tell you the news of Lady Sylvia’s disappearance.”

“No, it’s all right. It’s not Dahlia’s fault. It’s all Lucas’ fault.”

Cordelia clenched her fists in rage as her fighting spirit was inflamed.

However, Jude couldn’t join Cordelia.

‘I have to stop her to avoid causing a problem later on.’

They needed Lucas’ help to get to the north.

Jude’s plan was as follows.

Lucas’ home was located in the northernmost front where a previous Count of Bayer stayed in the past, and where the current margrave, Count Hr?svelgr, now lives in. It was located near the Thunderdoom Fortress, which bordered the barbaric land.

‘A Sunflower that possess Yang energy can be found there.’

It was one of the several means to heal Gueumjulmaek.

Jude had already obtained the Sun’s Necklace to treat Gueumjulmaek, but it was still not cured.

‘We head to the north on the pretext of getting the Sunflower and speeding up the treatment of Gueumjulmaek!’

And in order to do so, they had to naturally bring out the story of the Sunflower to Lucas and at the same time, lead the conversation of inviting them to the north.

“Wait, hey, wait.”

When they had returned to their accommodation, Cordelia frowned after listening to Jude’s explanation.

Aside from the mission to draw out the conversation they wanted from Lucas, and the Gueumjulmaek that is evolving day by day into some all-around excuse, there was one more important part that was missing from Jude’s story.

“What about me then?”

Jude will go to the north to cure his disease, but what excuse can Cordelia give to go there too?

At Cordelia’s question, Jude cleared his throat once and said while turning his head as if to avoid looking at her.

“That.”

“That what?”

“Come on, you should already know.”

How Cordelia will follow Jude.

In an instant, Cordelia had a tearful face. Afterwards, she lets out a long sigh before raising her middle finger to Jude.

***

“I want to go with my beloved Jude Bayer! We-we’re inseparable!”