Chapter 246 - ST. CRUTE MONASTERY (2)

Terms used in this episode:

Giving tree – it refers to a children’s picture book called ‘The Giving Tree,’ which is about a tree who generously gives something to a boy throughout the boy’s entire life.

St. Crute Monastery boasted a long history and tradition, so their armory was full of high-quality divine items and artifacts.

“I suddenly remember the old days.”

“Me too.”

Cordelia nodded her head at the words of Jude, who was equipped with divine items and artifacts from head to toe, as she was likewise the same too.

The old days.

They weren’t talking about their past life when they played Legend of Heroes 2. At that time, it was impossible to fully equip one’s body with items just like now, due to restrictions on item equipment slots.

A few months ago.

In the wild lands, they encountered the wild fairies and the Wild Fairy Queen, who was a generous giving tree – no, a generous giving fairy.

“I wonder if they’re living well now.”

“They should be fine. There’s nothing dangerous in Endymion now, right?”

“Hey, didn’t you go overboard?”

Even if Jude had a love filter, her actions were too much back then.

Jude pulled Cordelia’s cheek at that opportunity, and Cordelia, who had done something wrong, accepted the punishment while sobbing instead of rebelling.

“Huhuhu… I did a good job though.”

“Yes, yes, I know, I know.”

Because of what she did, they were able to destroy the Hell Gate and annihilate the demons too.

If Cordelia had chosen a different means instead of the destruction of Endymion, the demons would have caused more damage even if they had closed the Hell Gate.

‘Or perhaps they would have been dead or injured.’

Perhaps Lena or Kaplan would have been in danger.

‘That reminds me, is Kaplan is doing well?’

Kaplan had remained in the sacred place protected by the wild god, Blue Whiskers, to continue doing his research.

Fortunately, he returned to the empire as soon as Lena woke up because Lena had said that the wild lands would be dangerous for him, so he did not seem to be harmed in the chain of explosions that occurred in the dragon veins, but they did not know on what had happened to him afterwards.

‘Well, he must be doing fine.’

Because he’s a strong person despite having such bad luck.

“Stop it.”

Will we be able to meet him again if we go to the empire?

We’ll have to go to the empire once our work in the south is over.

“Ouch, it hurts. Stop it.”

We’ll have to meet the playable characters on the empire’s side too.

Especially Maximilian and Leon.

“I said STOP!”

“Oops.”

Jude let go of his hand, having forgotten that he was pinching her cheeks, and Cordelia covered her red cheeks with both hands as she panted.

“Let me pull your cheek too, okay?!”

Sadly, Cordelia wasn’t given an opportunity to get her revenge. Because the door opened, and members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross appeared before them.

“Lord Jude, Lady Cordelia. We apologize for being late.”

“No, we didn’t wait that long. Please don’t worry about it.”

Jude quickly replied to Carmen, and Cordelia lightly struck her chest in her frustration, but she didn’t do anything else.

[You… I’ll make you pay later.]

Later. When there’s only the two of us.

But instead of answering her, Jude shrugged his shoulders and talked to Carmen again.

“Is Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Manuel going with us?”

“Yes, we will be joining you on this journey.”

Carmen and Manuel smiled in their delight, and the seven members who followed behind them also had happy expressions.

“It’s a great honor to accompany you two.”

“We are very honored. I didn’t expect the Guardians to support us this actively.”

“The situation calls for it, so this is natural.”

As Carmen clenched her fist and said, Manuel and the rest of the Guardians fervently nodded in agreement.

A huge and powerful black dragon would soon resurrect in the south.

They had to stop him and protect the southern region, but Manuel and the Guardians were actually in high spirits.

Because this was like a story that only appeared in myths or legends.

‘Are they like Lucas too?’

In any case, it isn’t something bad.

Since Branch Leader Heine and the people in front of me are taking the situation seriously, so I can rest assured that it will all work out well.

‘They’re also fine with us taking the items.’

He was honestly feeling a bit sorry that they were taking that much, but Heine spoke to them as if she was sorry that they could only take this much, so Jude was feeling really strange then.

‘There were no amazing items there though.’

Still, they were able to acquire a huge amount of high-quality divine items.

Even if Jude and Cordelia couldn’t use it right now, the items they had would be enough to equip Scarlet, who would be joining them in the south, or Kajsa, who would accompany them in their fight in the future.

“The branch leader said that she would relay the situation to the headquarters of the Guardians. And as soon as we arrive at the south, we’ll contact Master Kamael as soon as possible.”

That was why Carmen and Manuel chose to accompany them.

As Jude had expected, the Guardians had a means to contact Kamael, but because of their long distance from each other, it seemed like it was impossible to just use it unless it was an order to return.

‘It’s not like we’ll be missing each other on the way since he’s already in the south, so they’ve decided on not to call him back.’

Moreover, in order to command Kamael to return, they needed the permission of the Guardian’s commander-in-chief unless it was an emergency situation, so the best thing that Heine could do was to dispatch members of the Guardians to the south directly, as they had a means to contact Kamael at close range.

“We’ll do our best to assist you in the fight against the evil dragon in the future.”

Manuel spoke with sparkling eyes, and Jude nodded at him and spoke without delaying it any longer.

“Then let’s begin right away.”

They had already finished their preparations for the trip.

“Yes, I understand. Please come this way. We have prepared the horses.”

Unfortunately (?) for Cordelia, one horse was prepared for each person at St. Crute Monastery, so she had to ride on the horse alone.

‘T-this is somehow awkward.’

Come to think of it, I’ve always been with Jude whenever we moved.

Whether I’m on his back, his arms, or riding in a horse or a carriage.

‘Then…’

The Guardians will accompany us until we reach the territory of the 7 southern families.

In short, we’ll all be traveling together.

‘W-will we have our alone time together?’

Dahlia and Maja always let us have our own time when we traveled together.

‘Yes, yes. It’s possible. It will be possible.’

Just like how we’re making progress in our plan to stop an evil dragon, our relationship is also making progress.

‘P-progress…’

Since we’ve already done it in the forehead, cheeks, chin, neck, collarbone, and so on, we’ll eventually have to clear the final boss – the lips.

‘J-just like how unnie and brother-in-law did it…’

Let’s stop there.

Just imagining it made her face heat up and her heart pound, but for some strange reason, the corners of Cordelia’s mouth were raised.

Naturally, the voice of her heart was telling her, ‘Hey, hey, what about the skinship ban? Didn’t you ban it?’, but there was no rule saying that she should listen to it in the first place.

Cordelia wiggled her fingers and began imagining again, and thanks to Adelia’s audiovisual education and Dahlia’s humanities education, she had managed to accumulate a considerable amount of data, making it possible for her to imagine it in great detail.

‘I-I can’t do that yet. No, not yet.’

It was the moment when Cordelia shook her head and giggled as she covered her cheeks with both hands.

“Cordelia?”

“Kyaa?!”

Cordelia almost fell of her horse but immediately regained her balance like a beast. She hesitated a bit before looking at the direction the voice came from, and she saw Jude approaching her from her right side.

“What?”

“I mean, your face is red. Do you have a fever?”

Both were riding horses, so there was quite a distance with each other even if they were close.

So Cordelia looked straight ahead instead of making eye contact.

“N-no. It’s just because the weather is hot. Yes, it’s hot.”

Cordelia pulled her collar and fanned with her hand, but Jude narrowed his eyes instead of letting it slide.

“Hey, we got the Great Protection of the Four Seasons, right?”

Spring, summer, fall, and winter.

The Great Protection of the Four Seasons protected from the four seasons.

Because of that, Jude and Cordelia were not affected by the heat or cold, just like those heat and cold immunity status commonly found in martial arts fiction.

And Jude added a final blow to her.

“And it’s winter now, right?”

They were in the south. If they were in the north, it would have been snowing now.

“Is that so? But why is it so hot? Even Cordelia doesn’t know why it’s hot.”

Cordelia quickly spoke and took a quick glance at him before moving ahead, and Jude continued to narrow his eyes in suspicion, but it was only for a short time.

He straightened his back and turned his gaze away.

‘Black Dragon Malekith’s attack.’

The last of the three events that drove the S?len Kingdom to ruin.

‘It’s the highest level in terms of difficulty.’

Malekith was completely different to the demonic humans they fought in the wild lands or the Lord Protector they fought in the royal capital, who were far stronger than Jude and Cordelia back then.

An ancient black dragon.

A god-like being in comparison to humans.

And it wasn’t easy this time too.

However, four of the main characters in the first episode of Legend of Heroes were going to be together in this battle.

‘I’m really excited.’

Landius and Kamael.

And also Lena and Velkian.

Jude briefly imagined Landius punching the black dragon’s huge chest, and admired it in many ways.

‘It doesn’t feel out of place.’

Why does it feel so natural to imagine that person punching the black dragon’s chest and blowing it away?

‘Anyway, let’s do well this time.’

They shouldn’t just rely on Landius and Kamael for everything.

They had to do their best to get the best results, just like how they did in the wild lands and the royal capital.

“For a perfect happy ending.”

Jude said in a low voice as if he was making a pledge, and looked back at St. Crute Monastery.

It was a bit unfortunate that they couldn’t meet the young goddess Atalia, but there was always a next chance.

‘No, we’ll definitely have a next opportunity.’

We’ll completely stop Black Dragon Malekith and prevent the destruction of the S?len Kingdom.

Jude firmly resolved to himself and looked straight ahead.

He goaded his horse to catch up to Cordelia.

***

At the same time but in a different place.

Count Bayer was looking at Count Chase coldly.

He couldn’t help it.

“Is this really that effective?”

“It is. My friend ate this and his wife gave birth to so many children that he could build a platoon with them.”

“Oh.”

The medicine merchant eagerly peddled his medicine while Count Chase seriously listened to him.

Count Bayer knew that his friend was a bit of a pushover, but he didn’t realize just how strangely obsessed Count Chase was with health food and stuff.

“Give me one. No, give me two.”

“Oh, thank you very much. You’ve made a good decision. Hehe.”

Fearful that his customer might change his mind, the medicine merchant quickly packaged the items, and Count Chase paid for it with a happy face.

“Hoho.”

Is this what it means to be full just by looking at things?

Count Chase briefly recalled Ga?l and Jude as he packed the items into his space expansion bag and smiled again.

Because he was imagining Adelia and Cordelia’s children kicking a ball in Count Chase’s garden.

One, two, three, four… more or less eleven people per team…

The smile on Count Chase’s face grew deeper, while Count Bayer continued to watch his friend and thought as he touched his chin.

‘My friend is seriously ill.’

Just like how Jude and Cordelia could exchange glances and understand what the other was thinking, Count Chase and Count Bayer could see what the other was thinking because of their long-standing friendship.

‘And I now understand why it so long for him in the north.’

He had wondered back then why it took his friend so long to catch up to their runaway children, and now, he had figured out why.

Because they had stopped several times a day, and in the most serious case, more than ten times in a day, just to buy items.

‘My friend isn’t really obsessed with them.’

It’s like he’s blindly in love with his future sons-in-law…

It was when Count Bayer was having such doubts in his mind.

“I know. Just as the medicine guy said, its effect isn’t that great.”

Count Chase turned around and abruptly said, and instead of being confused, Count Bayer’s eyes widened before he asked.

“If you knew that, why did you buy it then?”

“Because the effect may be minimal, but the fact that there’s still an effect cannot be denied. Even if 100 only becomes 101, it’s still considered as growth.”

Count Chase smiled and said, while Count Bayer had an indescribable expression.

Count Chase’s words sounded cool at first, but when Count Bayer thought about it, his friend’s words were just the words of a complete pushover.

“Anyway, let’s hurry up.”

“Okay.”

Count Chase returned to his usual cool-headed expression and turned his attention to the tracking magic in order to follow the trail of Jude and Cordelia.

They looked into the distance, towards the Forest of Eternity.

***

Time went by across the continent.

At the center of the wild lands.

On a hill overlooking the city protected by the Golden Dragon King, a man and woman were having an intense fight.

The two were Red Wind, who had grown up in only a few months, and Sun Song, whose face was much more dignified than before, perhaps because of the beard he grew.

The two stuck with each other every day just like a certain couple, but they always behaved fiercely.

“Stop this if you can!”

“I can do this much!”

They’re definitely sparring, but why is there a pink air around them?

No, apart from that, if you two are going to just fight like that, why in the world did you call me anyway?

Violent Avalanche watched the two fight with a sullen expression, and stood up from his seat as he looked south.

Because he remembered the two people who helped him first.

“Are you eating well?”

The voice of Violent Avalanche traveled with the wind.

The wind headed towards the south.

***

Lucas raised his head.

Having returned to the Hr?svelgr territory from the royal capital, he picked up a pen and wrote a letter in his spare time, even as he continued his daily training.

Scarlet quickly disappeared when the turmoil in the royal capital ended.

But she didn’t just disappear. She disappeared after leaving a short letter with her contact information.

‘Contact me if you’re not busy.’

Words that were short, but could be interpreted in many ways.

So Lucas wrote a letter to keep in touch with her instead of thinking about this and that.

And there were two people who naturally came to his mind when he wrote the letter.

The couple who popularized ‘running away because of love while pretending it to be a honeymoon.’

Lucas smiled without realizing it before he looked back at the stationery.

He wrote his letter with sincerity.

***“Mates! Let’s go and cut their throats!”

“Ooouuuuuh!”

A strong girl with black hair and copper skin took the lead with her huge halberd amidst the fierce collision between a merchant ship and a pirate ship.

Kajsa Ophand.

The second daughter of Count Ophand from the 7 southern families.

She boasted in having the strongest physical abilities among the playable characters, but she had yet to know about Jude and Cordelia.

So instead of thinking about the two like the others, she focused her attention on the enemies in front of her.

***

The wind blew towards the south.

It was the result of a change of direction from the north to the south, a huge flow that would determine the fate of the S?len Kingdom.

Maximilian clearly felt the flow of that fate.

Because the ‘voice from a higher place’ which he had heard since his childhood had informed him.

“Here it is. Found it.”

The reason Maximilian left the empire and entered the S?len Kingdom.

Maximilian smiled as he faced Ultimate Two – Divine Sword Balisarda, in the ruins of an ancient dwarf city. He didn’t have the Key Sword, but the voice from a higher place guided him on how to release the seal and obtain the divine sword.

“Is it south this time? Yes, I understand.”

Responding to the voice from a higher place, Maximilian turned south after recovering the divine sword.

To where the wind of fate gathered.

To where the two people of destiny who would lead all those winds be.

Maximilian gently smiled. He walked forward in accordance to the voice from a higher place.

He added his own wish to the flow of fate that had begun to gather in one place.

No, Maximilian. Don’t listen to Hitogami!

Anyway, we’ll begin the 3rd main arc in the next episode. See you all on Monday~!