Chapter 124 – EPISODE 124 – ENGAGEMENT CEREMONY (1)
Late post again, sorry. And to those who are talking about the relationship of our crazy couple, let me just say that if the wild lands arc focused on Jude’s side (his feelings), the royal capital arc will focus on Cordelia. So look forward to the next arc. I mean, this chapter in itself had already begun it.
Terms used in this chapter:
Wartime operational control – a commander’s right to control military operations during wartime.
The northerners had a simple reason on why they were in a hurry to return as soon as the battle was over.
Because the Jackdaws were reluctant to stay in the wild lands, which they considered as enemy territory.
‘Of course, it’s obvious why.’
They had been hostile with each other for many years.
In fact, helping the wild lands that was beyond the border was a miracle in itself.
‘To be exact, it would be more correct to say that rather than helping them, they were putting out the fire before it spread to their side.’
The tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom was a great event that shook the entire continent.
It also happened only 10 years ago, so there was no Jackdaw who did not know about the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom.
This military operation became possible because of that.
No one was sure on what would happen afterwards if they left the h.e.l.l Gate open in the wild lands.
‘Count Hræsvelgr made a bold decision, and if it was my father, he would do so too.’
He probably did not submit a proper report to the royal capital and used his wartime operational control to advance to the wild lands.
If Count Hræsvelgr’s decision was made half a day – no, just one hour late.
‘It would have been difficult to remain unharmed.’
At least for Jude himself.
He was confident that he could protect Cordelia’s life somehow, but it was honestly questionable if he could take care of his own life under the circ.u.mstances they were in at that time.
‘Thank you.’
Jude thanked the count in his mind before turning his gaze to the side.
He saw Lena and Cordelia beside each other as they rode on horses not far away from him.
The two angels were laughing as their horses moved forward.
‘Lena’s move was critical.’
She was one of the five heroes and was originally destined to die in the wild lands.
But she didn’t die, so she was now heading to the Sälen Kingdom to meet the other heroes, Landius and Kamael.
How would her survival affect the fate of Pleiades?
‘Would it help the survival of Landius?’
Jude actually found Landius’ death to be the biggest mystery now.
Why in the world and how did he meet his death?
‘I don’t know the cause, so I have no idea on how to stop it.’
The Landius he first saw in the game and the Landius he met now.
Jude’s perception of him had changed.
Because his understanding of Landius’ power itself changed.
‘I understand now that I’ve grown stronger.’
There was a difference between the situation of simply knowing the power of a game character through numerical values and the situation where he actually developed and used that power.
Landius’ strength was on a truly colossal level.
Jude couldn’t even imagine how strong Landius was now, given that he had opened up to the seventh door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, which was the current Landius’ limit.
‘There’s something, something.’
Landius had said that he himself would come find Jude in due time.
There was a high possibility that he would contact Jude in any way once he hears from Lena that Jude himself had opened the fourth door.
‘Perhaps that action alone would help him avoid death.’
After he tried to think positively, Jude looked at Lena and Cordelia again.
He saw the beautiful sight of Cordelia looking up at Lena and chattering like a baby bird.
‘Ahem.’
At the moment he tried to enter into listening mode…
“Mr. Jude.”
“Lord Lucas.”
Jude turned to Lucas whose horse approached him, and then smiled.
Because Jude had a conscience too.
Jude felt that he had a lot of things to apologize for to Lucas.
“I apologize. I had left just like that…”
“No, you had your circ.u.mstances. I didn’t expect the two of you to be working undercover for the Guardians of the Holy Cross… Rather, we Hræsvelgr almost spoiled your plans.”
The information Lucas heard seemed to have been distorted, so his misunderstanding deepened.
He seemed to think that their mission from the Guardians of the Holy Cross was what originally made the two leave the Hræsvelgr territory and head for Frost Anvil.
‘What should I do about this?’
Jude had used the Guardians of the Holy Cross and the Fairy Queen as an excuse for some time, but things were a little different this time.
It was better to not use false information if it could be verified, or if it would become a problem when the truth was revealed later.
‘Lucas and I will be meeting each other more in the future.’
Red Wind had promised to come to the Sälen Kingdom and help Jude and Cordelia once she had improved her skills in the wild lands.
Lucas also had to properly train so that they could fully use his power for the Playable Character Alliance that they would form in the future.
‘Hmm…well, I’ll think about that later.’
Not for now, but when the situation had calmed down a bit.
They hadn’t returned to Thunderdoom Fortress yet.
“Say, Mr. Jude.”
“Yes, Lord Lucas.”
Lucas’ face suddenly flushed when Jude softly answered.
Jude instantly flinched at his shy reaction but maintained his composure. Lucas then said while fidgeting.
“That…I wish to ask you a favor.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“May I…spar with you?”
His face was still red, but his gaze was serious.
Now that Jude thought about it, the reason why Lucas approached him in the first place and asked to be his friend was because Lucas said something like ‘I need a good rival!’.
‘Ah, so that’s why his face turned red.’
He said that he needed a good rival, and that he had no opponents around his age, but Jude and Cordelia had run away then because they had other priorities.
‘Ahem.’
Jude faintly smiled as he faced Lucas who was looking at him.
As he saw Lucas’ sparkling eyes, he realized again that the other was a 16 year old boy.
‘I can do it if it’s sparring.’
The question was to what extent he would be fighting against Lucas.
Because it was not an exaggeration to say that the current gap between Jude and Lucas was like heaven and earth.
Lucas was much stronger than Jude just two months ago, but that two months was a problem.
Jude had gone through a seriously drastic change.
‘Even Cordelia will have the upper hand when it came to their physical abilities.’
Lucas would have practiced and worked hard too, but his limits were clear.
He should only be around level 20 now.
On the other hand, Cordelia had a level of 71.
Level was a thug, and even if their professions of swordsman and wizard were widely different, Cordelia was still much stronger than him.
Not by her total combat power, but by her physical abilities alone.
But Jude’s physical abilities were far greater than Cordelia’s.
‘Wouldn’t he be depressed if I really fight against him?’
Even Red Wind who chased after Cordelia and called her unnie had a time when she cried in frustration at the difference of their skills.
Lucas who was proud of his talents might end up falling into despair.
‘Let’s do it moderately.’
Moderately, to a level where Lucas can foster a sense of rivalry with him.
“Mr. Jude…?”
The fidgeting Lucas played with his fingers as he looked at Jude with an anxious face. Lucas opened his mouth again when Jude was worrying by himself, but Jude then nodded his head.
“Okay. Let’s have a fight when we arrive at Thunderdoom Fortress. I feel excited when I think that I’ll be fighting Lord Lucas.”
“So do I! Since a long time ago…”
When Lucas excitedly replied but suddenly trailed off his words, Jude smiled again.
He told Lucas whose actions he found to be rather cute.
“The best way to improve your skills is to compete with your rival.”
“Haha…you’re right.”
It was a line from Biltwein the Hero.
Lucas was actually aware that Jude was stronger than himself one way or another, so he was embarra.s.sed when he said that Jude was his rival, but he was really happy when Jude considered him a rival too.
His face turned redder.
‘Cute.’
Jude tried to suppress his laughter, and Lucas cleared his throat before he turned to Cordelia and said.
“Lady Cordelia has become more beautiful.”
“Yes, she is a real angel now.”
She succeeded in Ancestral Regression and became an angel.
She had only done that in the game around the time of the 7 major calamities, so it was a huge progress.
Jude spoke with a happy face, and Lucas blinked his eyes and soon had an awkward expression.
“Lord Lucas?”
“Yes? Ah…yes. That’s right… She is Mr. Jude’s angel. Lady Cordelia.”
Lucas awkwardly laughed, and Jude just laughed along and didn’t correct him.
“I’ll see you later then.”
“Yes, I’ll see you later.”
After they silently exchanged greetings, Lucas prodded his horse to head towards Count Hræsvelgr, and Jude looked back at their schedule.
‘First, we’ll go to Thunderdoom Fortress… After that, we’ll head to Langesthei via Vedrfolnir… And it’s important that we get the Fall Protection in the valley.’
They needed to secretly meet the Fall Fairies in a valley that was in the middle of two mountains.
It wasn’t difficult for them to get it as Cordelia only needed to call them by singing Little Star while taking a bath. However, getting to that place on purpose was a bit of a challenge.
‘Well, it will work out somehow.’
They could just run away for a while again.
Jude thought that Adelia would immediately become angry if she heard about this. He then looked in front of him again because Cordelia was approaching him.
“Jude, Jude.”
“Yes?”
“You see, you see.”
As she drew closer to Jude, Cordelia looked around her and then said in a very small voice.
“Unnie and brother-in-law…they’re acting strange.”
Something was unusual.
Jude turned to Adelia and Gaël before having a lukewarm expression.
Because the two were near each other and were having a pleasant chat as they looked at each other, creating a pink atmosphere around them.
“See? Aren’t they strange?”
It was the moment Cordelia spoke.
Gaël and Adelia took a quick look at their surroundings, brought their faces closer, and shared a very brief kiss.
Just a second.
The two distanced themselves after their quick kiss, and Gaël awkwardly smiled while Adelia blushed and was at a loss on what to do.
And the Jackdaws who happened to witness the scene all had the same awful expressions, while Cordelia widely opened her eyes.
“Ju-Jude?”
T-they just kissed! Kissed!
Jude strongly gazed at them again and frowned.
There seemed to be a notable incident that caused the relationship of the two to rapidly progress in the few days they left the wild lands and headed to Thunderdoom Fortress.
‘Wha-what is this? What happened? What happened between you two? In just a few days?’
At the time when the overly excited Cordelia sent a glance to Jude.
“Cordelia.”
“Huh? Do you know something? Do you know anything about it?”
“No, but your sister is coming.”
Cordelia almost fell off her horse at the time when Jude spoke, and managed to balance herself before quickly turning her head.
As Jude had said, Adelia was coming their way.
“Cordelia.”
“U-unnie.”
The two sisters had red faces, though the reasons behind it were different.
Adelia glanced at Jude and spoke to Cordelia again.
“I have something to tell you. Come with me.”
“Yes, I’ll go with you.”
Cordelia took a peek at Jude before she moved towards Adelia, and the horses of the two sisters began to move forward beside each other.
‘What is she going to say? No, I want to ask her more than that.’
On what had happened.
Cordelia waited as she tried to control her pounding heart, and Adelia spoke after taking a deep breath.
“Cordelia.”
“Yes.”
“When we return, we’ll have an engagement ceremony.”
“Huh?”
Engagement ceremony?
With who?
At Cordelia’s gaze that clearly asked what she meant, Adelia suddenly cleared her throat and said a little shamelessly.
“Me. Lord Gaël and me.”
They would have an engagement ceremony.
Because a wedding was too early.
There were things that had to be settled for both sides.
Cordelia’s eyes widened at Adelia’s bombsh.e.l.l declaration, and her mouth opened and closed like a carp.
“Wow, wow, wow.”
“Why? What is it? Why?”
“No, anyway, this is not right, okay? How many days have you two seen each other?”
This is not a Disney cartoon where one falls in love as soon as they meet and agree to get married within a day!
Adelia snorted and replied at Cordelia’s strong argument.
“I’ve seen him for over a month.”
Not just a few days. It was more than a month, so several dozens of days.
But Cordelia still looked unconvinced, and Adelia said as her lips quivered.
“All n.o.bles get married anyway. It’s rare for something like lo- lo…lo…love to develop between the two. So I have to somehow grab an opportunity like this. And it’s not a shotgun marriage. We had never met much before this.”
Adelia stuttered several times at first, but her words went smoothly at the end because of her enthusiasm.
When Cordelia couldn’t immediately answer at her sudden counterattack, Adelia dealt an extra blow.
“But now that we love each other, we cannot live without each other. You understand, right?”
“Ah, no, that…”
Jude and I are not really head over heels each other…
Adelia thought that Cordelia was embarra.s.sed when she hesitated, so she said with a giggle.
“Anyway, just know that. Do you understand?”
“Yeees.”
“Why are you looking like that? You don’t like it?”
“No, it’s really great. Congratulations, unnie.”
“Yes, you too…I wish you happiness. The two of you.”
Anyway, the two were a really well-matched pair.
After Adelia smiled and stroked Cordelia’s hair, she went back to Gaël’s side and Jude headed to where Adelia had been.
“Did she say that they were engaged?”
“Eh? Uh. How did you know?”
“There are times when I wonder if your senses are good or not. Did your senses specialize in combat only, just like that of beasts?”
“You wanna die?”
Cordelia reflexively cursed and pouted several times before she turned to Adelia.
Adelia looked so pretty and lovely while she was chatting with Gaël.
‘Is this for real?’
She couldn’t believe her sister was getting engaged.
And with brother-in-law Gaël too.
‘Engagement.’
A phase before marriage.
A phase where a couple would declare to the world that they would be getting married.
‘Wow…’
Really? We really changed the original by a lot.
Unnie, unnie is getting married. She’s getting married.
Cordelia was in a daze as she let out oohs and aahs several times, but she suddenly realized one fact.
Engagement.
Marriage.
‘Wait.’
Wait, wait, wait.
That one fact.
In fact, her thoughts were all over the place because she was only thinking of changing the future depicted in the game, so she forgot that one fact.
The future had changed.
Cordelia wasn’t kidnapped by the Devil’s Hand in Langesthei, and she obviously didn’t went missing.
Jude did not go to the north to search for his fiancé, and the northern barbarians’ invasion did not come true.
Count Bayer was alive, and Count Chase was alive too.
And the results of that change.
Jude and Cordelia’s engagement were naturally dissolved in the original.
But not now.
Rather, it even became as firm as rock.
Cordelia quickly looked at Jude and stared at the handsome Jude’s profile. When Jude felt her gaze and turned to her side, she swiftly turned her head again and avoided his gaze.
That one fact.
It was ridiculous that she only remembered it now, but it was still something very important.
‘I… At this rate, won’t I end up marrying Jude?’
With Jude.
With Outboxer009.
Cordelia blinked her eyes. Her mind went blank and she couldn’t think of anything else.