Chapter 256 - DIVINE SPIRIT’S WHISTLE (3)

Chloe Gallas’ appearance was as beautiful as her voice.

She had long and ebony black hair, and white skin to contrast it.

She also had blue eyes that were as mysterious as the sea, that it seemed like she could charm sailors without having to sing.

As a result, Cordelia became more alert and hugged Jude’s arm a little tighter as she observed Chloe once more.

Chloe was wearing tight-fitting white clothes that were like fish scales, and had a thin sword on her waist.

‘She has legs.’

The sirens were able to freely switch between a mermaid form, wherein their lower bodies were like that of a fish, and an elf form, wherein their entire body had a humanoid form.

The room itself had air flowing inside in the first place, so if she had been in her mermaid form, she wouldn’t have been able to come this far.

In any case, the unbelievably beautiful Chloe had a shy expression.

Her cheeks were slightly red, and she was smiling brightly.

‘A-as I thought, she’s aiming for Jude!’

That’s why she’s making that face!

In the eyes of Cordelia who had not yet escaped from the aftermath of her dream, she could only see that Chloe had fallen for Jude.

‘L-look at that smile in her eyes!’

It wasn’t an illusion.

Chloe was indeed looking their way with a shy smile.

Even someone from the same sex would find her expressions cute.

‘Huh? Why this way though?’

Cordelia was sticking close to Jude now, but she had always been as sensitive as a wild animal.

Chloe was looking at Cordelia and not at Jude, and the smile in her eyes was also directed at Cordelia and not Jude.

‘Eh? Me? Why?’

Not Jude?

When Cordelia was feeling confused, Chloe lightly walked to Jude, or to be exact, to Cordelia, and greeted her very politely.

“My humblest greetings to thee. I am called Chloe Gallas from the noble family of Gallas.”

Then she gently held Cordelia’s hand, lowered her posture and kissed the back of Cordelia’s hand.

‘W-wait. Why are her cheeks blushing? Why are you being so shy?’

Aren’t you the erofus of the sea?

The embarrassed Cordelia unconsciously turned to Jude, and she realized that Jude was also surprised by Chloe’s attitude.

‘What’s wrong with her?’ (Cordelia)

‘Wait, just wait.’ (Jude)

Come to think of it, did Chloe speak to me that politely back then?

She didn’t.

She was evaluating me right after we were rescued and even when we talked about the Kraken.

So why is she suddenly being polite?

And seeing the current situation, she’s only that polite to Cordelia.

‘J-Jude?’ (Cordelia)

Why is she not letting go of Cordelia’s hand? Why does she keep touching it? And why is she breathing roughly now?

S-she’s panting?

T/N: The Korean word used here for panting/gasping is the kind of panting a fan makes when the situation they had wished for had finally come. In short, a fangasm.

Jude then turned to the door. The two sirens who came together with Chloe also had flushed faces as they looked at Cordelia.

Their eyes were filled with ecstasy, joy, envy, and so on.

What’s going on?

Of course, it’s true that Cordelia is the most beautiful and cutest girl in the world–

Jude lightly thought of that, though Kajsa would have coldly stared at him if she had heard it. But he soon figured out the reason why.

‘Ah! Is it that?’

‘That? What is the ‘that’ you’re talking about?’

Chloe had begun to rub her cheek against the back of Cordelia’s hand, so Cordelia flinched and quickly asked Jude with a glance, and he replied with a bitter smile.

‘The Spirit King.’

‘The Spirit King?’

‘Yes, the Spirit King.’

Ynix, the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning.

‘Ah! I understand now!’

I think I somehow understand now. Because Chloe and the sirens by the door have the smell of spirits on them.

‘Smell? Is it a real smell?’ (Jude)

‘No, it’s not a real smell but a feeling? Like the feeling of mana?’ (Cordelia)

The elves of the Forest of Eternity smelled of spirits, but there were differences in their scents, but the sirens in front of them now had a similar smell to the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning.

‘Because Ynix is also the Spirit King of the Sea.’

The sea was basically the realm of the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning, though the Spirit King of Water dispute that claim.

Thus, many sirens established contracts with storm and lightning spirits. And among those spirits, the Gallas family all had contracts with storm spirits.

‘And this is happening because Cordelia is the contractor of Ynix, the Spirit King.’

Making a contract with a Spirit King was more difficult than one would think.

Just like the elves in the Forest of Eternity, there was no one among the sirens who managed to establish a contract with the Spirit King in the past.

But Cordelia appeared.

A contractor who established a contract with the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning, and not just anyone else!

‘Is that why she’s panting like this?’

‘Uh…sort of? This analogy might be a bit vague, but the situation’s something like a pope appearing in front of a devout believer, I think? No, perhaps it’s more than that?’

For the sirens who had deep bonds with the spirits more than the elves of the Forest of Eternity, the Spirit King was pretty much no different from a god.

A being had managed to communicate with such a god, so from the perspective of the sirens, Cordelia was considered an agent of god on earth or an existence close to a demigod.

‘Aren’t you the same too? You also have the smell of that spirit.’

‘Eh? You’re right. But you’re the one who summoned that Spirit King’s right arm a while ago, right?’

The sirens probably wouldn’t have responded this much if things were normal, but it was a little different now.

Because the scent of Ynix, the Spirit King, was so strong from Cordelia that getting closer to her was enough to drive them into ecstasy.

“Your Excellency, Cordelia…”

Chloe gasped as she gazed at Cordelia in tears, and Cordelia groaned as she was at a loss on what to do.

She found it hard to coldly shake off her hand because Chloe was too pretty.

‘Ueueu.’

This isn’t right.

It’s nice that Jude isn’t in danger, but I don’t think this is right either.

When Cordelia continued to groan, Jude immediately stretched out his hand and interfered.

“Chloe, Cordelia is uncomfortable with that.”

Jude spoke in a firm tone, and Chloe finally came to her senses and hurriedly lowered her head.

“Ah! My deepest apologies. I humbly ask for thy forgiveness.”

“I-it’s fine. I understand. Please get up.”

Cordelia quickly helped her up because it seemed like Chloe would put her head on the ground if she left the latter alone, but at the touch of Cordelia, Chloe had an excited expression again.

“Aaah… she helped me herself…”

Chloe blushed and made an ecstatic expression, so Cordelia ended up groaning again. Even Jude was feeling uncomfortable.

‘For a person to change like this…’

Back then, she clearly had a calm expression when she had just saved us – no, even when I was talking to her.

‘I don’t think she knew about it then… Was she feeling confused when she was talking to me at that time?’

The fact that Cordelia was the contractor of Ynix.

And it was as Jude had thought.

When Chloe first saved Jude and Cordelia, she did not know that Cordelia was the contractor of Ynix.

Because the aftermath of the storm caused by the Kraken was so strong, and Cordelia was on the verge of death after exhausting all her mana, so Chloe wasn’t able to sense the scent of the Spirit King properly.

But it was different now.

The Spirit King’s scent was so strong that she was already in a daze just from facing Cordelia.

And Kajsa who was watching everything from behind was silently laughing.

Because it was very fun to see the embarrassed Cordelia and the jealous Jude who looked uncomfortable.

“Now then… let’s proceed with our conversation.”

They couldn’t stay like this forever.

Jude broke the silence, and Chloe came to her senses again before turning to Cordelia.

“Contractor of the Spirit King, O Most Venerable One. The head of the Gallas family has instructed me to bring thee.”

“Head?”

“Yes, this humble one is to accompany thee to the conference room where we’ll discuss about the Kraken.”

At Chloe’s reply, Cordelia turned to Jude who nodded his head.

Considering the situation, they were likely heading to a place where the queen of the sirens had gathered the heads of each family in order to discuss on how to deal with the incident – to be exact, on how they should kill the Kraken.

‘Let’s go first. Let’s continue our conversation after the meeting.’

‘Okay.’

Cordelia nodded her head and said as she looked back at Chloe.

“I understand. Please guide us.”

“Yes, this humble one is greatly honored to serve you.”

Chloe had an ecstatic smile again before she stretched out her hand to escort Cordelia, but Cordelia’s hand was already held tight by Jude.

“Please guide us.”

“…I understand.”

Chloe glared at Jude for a moment before she turned around and begin to guide them, while Cordelia finally decided to accept the situation.

In any case, Jude seemed to be safe from the erofus of the sea.

‘Well, this is okay. What’s good is good.’

It seems like the opposite has happened though, but anyway.

Cordelia made up her mind and smiled in satisfaction as she glanced at Jude who was the one now alert of his surroundings, just like how Cordelia did five minutes ago. The two then slowly walked.

***

Electra Gallas, the head of the Gallas family, almost looked like Chloe since she was Chloe’s mother.

‘They’re more like sisters though, and not like mother and daughter.’

In the eyes of humans, they were really like elves.

Electra, who seemed to be in her late twenties, was standing next to Chloe who appeared to be in her early twenties, and the two seemed to be sisters.

‘They’re also acting the same.’

“Your Excellency, this way please.”

“Eh? Uh… yes.”

As the head of the Gallas family, Electra was contracted to high-ranking spirit from the storm and lightning spirits, and she seemed to be more mesmerized with Cordelia than Chloe.

“Please wear this necklace and get in the carriage behind thee.”

Chloe gave her a gold necklace with a white gem on the pendant, which had a magic spell that allowed anyone to breathe underwater.

Cordelia quickly put on the necklace and was in awe at the carriage that she saw in front of her.

‘Wow, Jude, Jude. Look at that.’

‘It’s certainly amazing.’

The carriage itself was not much different from the carriages above ground, but the animal pulling the carriage was different.

There were large seahorses instead of horses.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Cordelia climbed into the carriage with Jude, and Kajsa and Bentham saw the two off with sour expressions.

Unlike Jude and Cordelia, Kajsa and Bentham were not allowed to participate in the meeting.

‘I’m from the 7 southern families.’

She was the daughter of a prominent family in the south.

But Bentham was the only one who responded to Kajsa’s grumbling.

And after 20 minutes or so.

After Jude and Cordelia had an awkward and uncomfortable time facing Chloe and Electra who was both panting with ecstatic expressions, they finally arrived at the conference hall of the sirens.

***

The siren’s royal palace was located deep in the sea and had a hemispherical shape.

There were colorful corals around the white and pretty dome, and many sea creatures were swimming around the palace, so it felt like they were at an aquarium.

‘No, it wasn’t this much back then.’

Cordelia recalled the aquarium she had went on a field trip when she was an elementary school student, and after shaking her head, she tightly held Jude’s hand.

Because she suddenly remembered her teacher’s words that they should tightly hold their partner’s hand.

“This way please.”

Electra and Chloe led them as they passed through a long corridor lined with armed soldiers, and a very large and round door appeared.

“Please wait for a moment.”

As they stood in front of the door and waited, they soon heard a loud voice from beyond the door.

“The head of the Gallas family, Electra Gallas, and the contractor of Ynix are entering!”

And the door opened.

Cordelia unconsciously swallowed hard, and looked beyond the door with slightly stiff shoulders before she was left in awe.

“Wow…”

The form of the place was not much different from the national assembly hall that she saw in the news.

The room had a very high ceiling, and the seats were arranged in the shape of a fan, and in the center was a platform.

But its splendor was different.

The floor was made of white marble, and the seats as well as the colorful jewels everywhere were beautiful, but the real highlight was the ceiling.

‘Pretty.’

She could view the sea beyond the transparent ceiling.

In addition, some kind of magic made it look like light was shining down from the ceiling, as if there was a sun shining directly on it, even though they were deep in the sea.

[Cordelia, let’s go.]

[Yes!]

Cordelia passed through the red carpeted path with Jude, and sat down in a long seat that Electra and Chloe had guided them to.

‘Are we the last to come?’

‘It seems so.’

All the other seats were full.

And as expected, everyone was looking at Cordelia.

Among them were those who were gasping like the mother and daughter, Electra and Chloe, but there were others who only showed little interest to them like some of the elves in the Forest of Eternity.

Perhaps the varying degrees of their reactions depended on the spirit they were contracted to.

‘Well… that’s good. It’s not bad.’

Cordelia nodded with a satisfied expression.

She had been worried about the erofus, but she also liked the way Jude was restless and alert of their surroundings.

‘He’s cute.’

He’s completely different from my dream.

The Jude in my dream.

He had lost everything and just fought against the demons in his obsession with revenge.

The man who shed tears of blood as he helplessly killed with his own hands his former fiancée, Cordelia, who was the only survivor among the people he loved.

‘A pitiful person.’

She had smiled as she looked at Jude, who didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment despite defeating a powerful demonic human.

She had faced her end with a wicked smile that hid all of her emotions.

Cordelia.

She was kidnapped by the Devil’s Hands and eventually became a demonic human.

In Cordelia’s last moments, she regained her past self, but did not reveal it to Jude.

Because she knew how much it would be harder for Jude.

“Cordelia?”

“Huh?”

When she came to her senses, she turned her head and saw Jude’s face.

Not the Jude who had become vengeful like Kamael, but the Jude of the present Cordelia.

“Are you all right? Are you feeling sick?”

“Eh? N-no. I’m all right. Just. Uh, it’s just…”

Her cheeks were damp. It seemed like she had cried without realizing it.

‘What’s going on?’

What did I just see? What was I thinking?

She didn’t remember it well. It was like she had a dream with her eyes open.

“Would you like to go back and rest?”

“No, it’s fine. Yes, really.”

Cordelia nodded again and widely smiled after wiping her face with the handkerchief that Jude gave her. Jude furrowed his brows and appeared to be worried, but was soon convinced.

“Okay, let me know right away if you’re feeling sick.”

“Yes, I will.”

Cordelia obediently replied and deliberately made a livelier expression, and the surprised Electra and Chloe began to pant at Cordelia again.

And a few minutes later.

“Her Majesty the Queen has arrived!”

The court attendant loudly cried, and the door at the center of the podium then opened. The queen of the sirens appeared from it.

‘The queen is the same.’

The same as the queen of the sirens who had appeared as Malekith’s subordinate in the latter half of Legend of Heroes 2.

Her atmosphere was different from when she became a slave after death, but her appearance was almost the same.

She had white hair that was close to gray, and blue eyes full of wisdom. Unlike Princess Daphne and Princess Leica who had delicate impressions, her impression was strong as she led a country with dignity and elegance.

“Greetings to Her Majesty the Queen.”

Jude and Cordelia followed the sirens in the conference hall who bowed and greeted the queen in respect, and the two swallowed hard. Because the queen seated on the throne was looking their way with a face that seemed to be interested in them.

Iliana Calacanis, the queen of the sirens.

In Legend of Heroes 2, she appeared as Malekith’s loyal slave and evil witch.

“Begin the meeting.”

The sirens responded to Iliana’s declaration. The meeting began after they gave a bow again.

‘For now, the flow itself is as expected.’

As what Chloe had already told them, the sirens’ plan itself was simple.

After completely confining the Kraken in the seal, they would launch attacks towards the trapped monster in order to kill it.

There were two things that mattered then: their method to confine the Kraken in the seal, and their method of attack that would deal the final blow to the monster.

‘Fortunately, they seemed to have made preparations for those two.’

Iliana’s gaze at them had been unusual since the meeting began though.

She seemed to be wishing for something.

‘As expected, it’s about the Spirit King.’

It was clear on what the sirens wanted from Jude and Cordelia, or to be exact, from Cordelia alone.

They wanted her to summon the Spirit King and deal the final blow to it.

In fact, it was a reasonable request.

The reason why they saved Jude and Cordelia in the first place was because they wanted the two to help in the fight against the Kraken, rather than just wanting to save their lives.

They were also using it as a justification – that the two should return the favor of having their lives saved.

‘Moreover, it’s highly likely that they’re not the only ones in a bad position.’

The sirens weren’t the only ones who would suffer damage from the Kraken if it wreaked havoc in the southern sea.

And as expected, such stories emerged.

The family heads who were drawn to Cordelia declined to comment, but those who were less affected by Ynix – the family heads who had contracts with other kinds of spirits, were explicitly demanding that she summon the Spirit King.

‘What should we do?’

Cordelia asked with her eyes.

She couldn’t say that she couldn’t summon the Spirit King himself, but something else was on her mind.

‘Because there’s no way that he’ll just let it go.’

In a situation where the other side desperately wanted something, it was impossible for Jude to not attempt to get anything from the royalty and the nobles who had been making unreasonable demands to them.

But what and how can we get anything from this situation?

If I summon the Spirit King and ask them to pay a price, our relationship with the sirens will become uncomfortable.

‘We owe them for saving our lives.’

But he was Jude.

He must have thought of another way.

The blackened Cordelia looked at Jude in anticipation, and Jude made a wicked smile that Cordelia had become fond of these days. He stood up and responded to Cordelia’s expectations.

***

“Do you really need all these things to summon the Spirit King?”

“Yes, it’s absolutely necessary. It’s a must.”