Chapter 27 - DEVIL’S HAND (7)

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

“Yes, that’s perfect. That’s all you have to do.”

Jude clapped his hands, and Cordelia closed her eyes tightly with a red face and threw up a curse.

“Oh, really.”

“Yes, I understand. I understand.”

Cordelia’s face flushed even more when Jude sympathized with her. It was not from shame but because of anger.

“Hey!”

“Yes?”

“Why!”

“Huh?”

“Why is it me again? You, you can do it! That’s right! It doesn’t necessarily have to be me!”

Cordelia’s argument was that Jude and Cordelia love each other and not that Cordelia loves Jude one-sidedly.

As if she came to a great realization, Cordelia’s eyes sparkled in excitement, but Jude shook his head.

“Hey, that’s not it.”

“Why…what…why is it not you? Is this because of Gueumjulmaek again?”

“No, it’s not because of Gueumjulmaek. Just think it through with common sense.”

Jude made some big gestures with his two hands to calm her down, and then stood up and continued to speak.

“Who of us has business in the north? You or me?”

“You.”

“That’s right, it’s me. So it’s a situation where Cordelia wants to ‘follow’ me, right?”

“And?”

“If I say that I don’t want to be separated from Cordelia here, and that I want to ‘take’ Cordelia with me because we’re in love, it sounds different, right?”

Jude had an awkward and bitter smile, and Cordelia was in tears again.

It was as Jude said.

There was a huge difference between Jude ‘taking’ Cordelia, and Cordelia ‘following’ Jude.

“So, if you think about it rationally, it’s a situation where Cordelia has to appeal to follow Jude. I would have done it had I been in the opposite situation. Really. Cross my heart.”

Cordelia frowned when Jude put his hand on his chest as if he really swore.

“I hate you.”

“I’m sorry, I love you.”

“What is this crazy bastard saying?”

“I just told you, okay?”

Jude slyly smiled as he sat back down, and the pouting Cordelia sat down too.

“Okay, let’s say that we’ll solve that problem with that. However, we still need to coordinate our stories for the information exchange and so on that will happen later tonight.”

“Is it because we defeated Minos?”

“Yes, Lucas helped us, but no matter how you think of it, it was still too much for the three of us to defeat Minos.”

If Minos had only fought with Jude’s party, he could’ve said, “Minos was just weak.” The problem was the fact that Minos defeated none other than the Flame Wizard Ronin in front of everyone.

Everyone would have thought it was strange if Jude and Cordelia had defeated such a strong man.

“Hmm…how about we say that he was tired and weak because he fought with Ronin?”

“That will work, but I even sold my father’s name…so to draw a big picture, we need to play another card.”

“Another card?”

“Come closer for a second.”

Jude suddenly looked around as he spoke in a small voice, and Cordelia blinked her eyes and sat closer to Jude.

“So…”

As Jude explained in a small whisper, Cordelia quietly listened and at some point, nodded.

It’s because she thought that it was a plausible story.

“Hey…by the way.”

“What?”

“Do we really have to talk in whispers?”

There was the only the two of us in the room in the first place.

“No, I did it unconsciously. I just went along with the ambience.”

Cordelia’s eyes narrowed in anger, while Jude made an awkward laugh.

‘Sometimes I don’t know if he’s stupid or smart.’

I’m sure he’s crazily smart, but he has a clumsy side to him too.

‘Indeed, Outboxer is a human too.’

Cordelia convinced herself as she nodded and quietly smiled, while Jude continued his words as if to change the topic.

“Do you somehow understand it? I’ll go ahead with the whole story, so you can match with my rhythm later.”

“Okay.”

They have to pull off their plan this evening.

Jude and Cordelia looked at each other and nodded.

***

Treigian, one of Langesthei’s leading luxury lodgings, was much more crowded than usual.

This is because all the children from the 12 northern families who were staying in Langesthei moved to Treigian. And at night, guests from various places gathered there too, including the knights.

While the Order of the Blue Lion and the Langesthei Guard fiercely guarded Treigian, the Blue Lion’s knight commander, Sir Barua, and the Langesthei Guard’s captain were inside. Langesthei’s mayor and the wizards of the Red Dawn Tower, led by Flame Wizard Ronin, also visited Treigian.

And at 8pm, in the conference room located in Treigian’s 1st?floor, Jude stood and started talking to everyone.

“We met the Fairy Queen.”

“What?”

“Fairy Queen. The queen of the fairies. Oh, of course, the fairies have many queens just like humans. It’s not just one.”

Everyone in the conference room looked around at each other in confusion to Jude’s explanation.

Wasn’t he going to talk about how he defeated the demonic human?

Why did he talk about the Fairy Queen all of a sudden?

Moreover, he met the Fairy Queen?

“Are you confused? I understand, but it’s true. Me and Lady Cordelia met the Fairy Queen a few days before arriving at Langesthei.”

The atmosphere in the conference room shifted to “Let’s hear it for now” as Jude calmly spoke.

A satisfied Jude continued to speak.

“It was a fantastic night with a very beautiful moon. The fairies fell in love with Lady Cordelia’s dazzling appearance and asked her if she wanted to participate in the Fairy Queen’s night banquet.”

Jude pointed to Cordelia as he spoke, and everyone’s eyes turned to her. Cordelia’s face instantly blushed red and she lowered her head.

‘W-what’s the crazy bastard saying?’

It was true, but it was still embarrassing.

However, Jude asked Cordelia indifferently.

“Isn’t it true, Lady Cordelia? The fairies approached and said that Lady Cordelia was so beautiful, and that you were invited to the Fairy Queen’s night banquet, right?”

“Uh…yes…”

Cordelia responded with a despondent voice, but everyone in the room did not doubt her sincerity.

It was indeed true that Cordelia was a very beautiful girl. Furthermore, it was cute to see her blushing in embarrassment.

“In the meantime, a Bicorn suddenly appeared and attacked us. The fairies said that the Bicorn always bothered them.”

The word “Bicorn” lit up the eyes of the wizards, including Ronin.

The Bicorn was a monster that was hard to see like the Unicorn.

“This is the horn of the Bicorn we defeated at that time. Me and Lady Cordelia fought together to bring it down, and we took one horn each.”

Wonder and amazement spread among the wizards as Jude gently shook the Bicorn’s horn he held in his hand.

“Wait, can you show me that for a moment?”

“Of course.”

In response to the wizard’s request, Jude handed over the Bicorn’s horn through Jun, who was next to him.

“Oh, it’s real.”

“It’s real. It’s clearly the Bicorn’s horn. It’s filled with chaotic energy.”

The atmosphere in the conference room changed a little when the wizards admired the horn.

It slowly became an atmosphere of complete trust in Jude’s words.

“When the Bicorn was defeated, the fairies wanted to invite us more to the fairies’ banquet hall. So they guided me and Lady Cordelia there, and we met the Fairy Queen.”

“Wow.”

Sylvia let out a word of admiration. She may be an incomparably beautiful woman, but she was also a young maiden of eighteen years and still a girl at heart.

If this was a private meeting, she would have approached us right away and asked questions about the Fairy Queen.

Jude described the Fairy Queen’s appearance in quite detail for such Sylvia, and then looked back at Cordelia again.

“The Fairy Queen gave us one gift for defeating the Bicorn. It’s the Moonlight.”

It was now Cordelia’s turn.

Cordelia gulped before she got up from her seat while holding Moonlight and then stood next to Jude.

“This is the Sacred Rod ‘Moonlight.’ It possesses a powerful amount of the moon’s mana.”

When Cordelia raised the Moonlight forward, not only the wizards, but also the knights, showed their interest.

Jude was satisfied with everyone’s reactions.

He had succeeded in creating the atmosphere.

From now on, whatever he said would sound quite credible as long as he did not make excessive claims.

“Moonlight has accumulated the moon’s mana for the past 100 years. In the fight against the demonic human, Lady Cordelia released its power all at once… As a result, we were able to defeat the enemy, who had been greatly exhausted from his battle with Ronin.”

There was no need to mention the Sun’s Necklace or Bellastin’s magic circle.

‘Lucas doesn’t know much about Bellastin’s magic circle anyway.’

Like a swordsman, he’d only think I used some magic and not think about it too much.

“I see… so that was what happened.”

Sir Barua, the Blue Lion’s commander, gave Jude the answer he wanted the most, and everyone in the room began to look convinced, as if a line of dominoes collapsed.

‘Okay, it worked.’

The majority were also convinced when Lucas, who actually participated in the fight, had also nodded to their story.

Now, no one will raise an objection to this matter.

‘It would be nice if my explanation for my father’s involvement works well too.’

It was the reason why Jude chose to use the Fairy Queen’s name.

‘The Fairy Queen told me.’

Something big is going to happen in Langesthei.

She said it was a place where an ominous force was gathered, and she also taught me the place.

‘I had no choice but to use my father’s name because I thought you wouldn’t believe what the Fairy Queen said. I’m really sorry. I will accept any deserving punishment.’

Sir Barua had said the source of their information was Count Bayer, so it was clear that Count Bayer would question Jude on where he got such information.

That’s why I used the Fairy Queen as the source, as she is someone who cannot easily be found if you want to verify the information.

‘It’s also important that we managed to stop it.’

Thanks to Jude’s information, they were able to capture close to seventy demon followers, and as a result, we were able to minimize the damages from the attack as well.

Count Bayer judges a person’s merits and demerits fairly, so the contributions that I made will be enough to cover the fact that I sold his name.

‘Perfect.’

As Jude smiled with satisfaction, Cordelia was staring from the side with eyes full of suspicion.

His ability to create a story by mixing truth and falsehood, and his acting ability to lie without faltering in front of so many people made her suspicious.

Was it really possible that Outboxer009’s job was a scammer?

‘There is a possibility!’

It was when Cordelia snorted and was getting excited…

“Hey, I can see what you’re thinking. Anyway, let’s get back to our seats.”

Jude slightly nudged the stiff Cordelia who squealed from his nudging. The two then descended from the platform and returned to their seats.

After that, the story went on as Jude had thought.

“Since the purpose of the attack is still unclear, I would like the children of the 12 northern families to stay only at their lodgings, even if it’s a little uncomfortable, until reinforcements from the families arrive.”

The enemies’ purpose was unclear.

Only Jude and Cordelia knew that the Devil’s Hand was aiming at Lucas and Cordelia.

They wouldn’t know because the Devil’s Hand’s combatants were not informed of the attack’s purpose in the first place, and Minos, who knew their purpose, unexpectedly died.

No matter how many times they tortured and threatened the Devil’s Hand’s combatants that they had captured, nothing would come out.

‘It’s better that their true purpose is hidden after all.’

If it becomes known, it will be more difficult to move with Cordelia.

It was decided in the meeting that they should prepare for any future attacks of the Devil’s Hand, but frankly, it would be difficult for the demon followers to execute a large-scale operation again when they’ve failed once already.

“That is all. The Order of the Blue Lion will be stationed on the 1st?floor, so please feel free to contact us if you need help or have any questions.”

After Sir Barua’s words, the meeting was virtually over.

However, only Sir Barua’s party left the conference room.

Most of them wanted to talk with each other, and some wanted to talk to Jude and Cordelia.

“Thank you so much. I lived thanks to the two of you.”

The first person that came to Jude and Cordelia was Sylvia.

When she, an absolutely beautiful woman, thanked them with tears in her eyes, even Jude’s face was bound to turn red from the sight.

Cordelia made a ‘hmph’ sound at seeing Jude blushing, before she held Sylvia’s hands and said.

“No, unnie. You were very scared, right?”

“Yeah, but even Cordelia herself fought. It was really great. And…”

As Sylvia slightly slurred at the end of her sentence, Cordelia tilted her head and waited for her next words.

She was Cordelia, who only showed her Yellow Storm side when she was with Jude. But in front of others, her Cordelia Chase self was more active.

“Can we talk a little more? The story of the fight with the demonic human is scary…but I’d like to hear more about the fairies.”

“Of course, unnie. I’ll tell you everything.”

This time, Sylvia slightly blushed when Cordelia smiled brightly.

It was because Cordelia’s beautiful smile was like that of a blooming flower.

“Viola, come here too. Let’s talk together.”

“…yes, unnie.”

Whilst in the corner, Viola trembled at Cordelia’s beckoning. However, when she saw Cordelia’s slightly excited voice and eyes, she was very happy that Cordelia called her.

“So, it was a very beautiful night with the moon.”

As Cordelia began to talk, the twins and Felix slipped in, and the wizards and knight who were interested in the Fairy Queen also gathered.

‘Okay, let’s leave that side to Cordelia.’

Instead of going to Cordelia, Jude turned to Lucas, who was still present in the room.

Their eyes met with each other, whether by coincidence or that Lucas was already looking this way in the first place.

“Mr. Jude Bayer, can I talk to you?”

Lucas got up from his seat and asked Jude after approaching.

It was a welcome situation for Jude, who also had something to say to Lucas.

“Of course, Lord Lucas. I want to talk about the fight that day. I’ve managed to live because of Lord Lucas’ help.”

Lucas had a bitter smile as Jude spoke smoothly.

Lucas had eyes that could make an accurate evaluation of people and things.

So he knew that it was Jude and Cordelia who led the fight that day, not Lucas himself.

‘Now, how do I do this?’

Jude pondered as he sat down with Lucas.

As he had told Cordelia, he had to inform Lucas about the Sunflower and at the same time, draw out a story that I wanted to invite him to the north.

‘Let’s start talking about the fight.’

Starting with the fight against Minos, he spills the story of his Gueumjulmaek, and tells the story of an implicit cure.

It was the moment when Jude had roughly finished planning in his head and was about to open his mouth.

“Mr. Jude Bayer.”

“Yes, Lord Lucas.”

When Jude responded smoothly, Lucas thought Jude was picking his breath, and said in a slightly lowered voice.

“By any chance, have you ever heard of the Sunflower?”

Sunflower.

A gentle smile was formed on Jude’s face.