Chapter 288 – ILLEGAL ENTRY INTO THE EMPIRE (1)
Cordelia, go to h.o.r.n.y jail.
That night, Jude and Cordelia left Count Bayer’s territory with the rest of the group.
It was a little difficult to stop Dahlia from coming too, but Cordelia was able to persuade her in the end.
[I don’t think sleep magic is persuasion.]
Melissa’s point was valid, and Cordelia really didn’t want to cast a spell on Dahlia, but she didn’t have any choice. It would be too dangerous to take Dahlia to the empire.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Dahlia.’
Cordelia left a letter at the bedside of the sleeping Dahlia, asking her to take good care of their fief. She apologized to Dahlia again in her mind.
[She’ll be fine.]
In fact, from Melissa’s perspective, Dahlia seemed to be aware of it to some extent.
That a huge skill gap had arisen between Cordelia and herself.
Obviously, it wasn’t only about combat power.
Dahlia wanted to accompany them despite knowing the difference in skill so that she could protect Cordelia and many other things.
Anyway, it was an easy escape after leaving Dahlia behind.
Jude, Cordelia, Lucas, and Kajsa formed pairs and rode on the Phantom Steeds while Red Wind and Sun Song rode on the Phoenix as they had done when they first came here.
“Let’s go.”
To the north.
Even before the border blockade, Jude had already plotted several routes into the empire.
Because the demon followers took notice of simple travelers who openly entered.
So the group would disguise themselves and sneak in.
In other words, Jude’s plan was to enter the empire illegally.
“We’ll enter the empire via the wild lands.”
The central area where the Cilates Plains was located was under strict surveillance, so it would be difficult to enter through there.
Since the northern borders were also closed now, the general smuggling route couldn’t be used, so they decided to try smuggling themselves from somewhere other than the kingdom.
The border between the wild lands and the empire.
They would follow the path Kaplan took when he entered the wild lands from the empire.
“Fake ident.i.ties for us to use have been prepared by the Guardians of the Holy Cross once we cross over. We’ll disguise ourselves as students of the Imperial Academy.”
“As a student of the Imperial Academy?”
“Yes, school uniforms and student IDs have also been prepared.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. How did you get it?”
Kajsa said in admiration, and Cordelia puffed her chest and snorted.
“As expected of my Jude.”
[But how did you get it? Since when did you prepare?]
Jude answered with a smile at her magic that followed after her spoken words.
[Kaplan’s help was great. He’s a professor at the Imperial Academy. And I began preparing before we even went to the royal capital.]
Because he knew that they would go the empire one day.
[Do you remember that person? Fabian?]
[Eh? Uh… Ah! I remember! The transport dealer at Vedrfolnir!]
[Yes, smuggling is Fabian’s specialty in the first place. So I made some preparations in advance. Kaplan and I exchanged letters through Fabian.]
Just like always, my Jude is highly capable.
He must have prepared this in the two months after returning from the wild lands and before heading to the royal capital.
[I didn’t do everything then.]
He only did the preparations from time to time after that.
But anyway, Cordelia thought that he was amazing, so she puffed out her chest a bit more.
‘This is my Jude. There is no one else like my Jude, huh?’
However, Lucas and Kajsa had already grown accustomed to this kind of thing, and Red Wind and Sun Song turned their gazes away at Cordelia’s bragging.
And around three days later.
After quickly traveling a distance that would normally take around a week, the group crossed the northern border that was guarded by the Jackdaws and entered the wild lands.
“Ha, it reminds me of the old days.”
No matter how high the stamina and magic power of the party, they could not operate the Phantom Steeds and the Phoenix all day long.
So they rested for about half a day, but Cordelia recalled the old days when she was preparing for camping in the wild lands.
‘At that time, I really didn’t know that our relationship would be like this now.’
She had a really slight suspicion of it though.
In fact, this was somehow natural.
Because the two were the only ones who had knowledge of their past lives and also the upcoming threat in the future.
Even now, the only person in this world who clearly remembered and understood the person named Hong Yoo Hee was Jude.
Cordelia herself was the only one who remembered and understood the person named Kang Jin-ho, though it was only a part of it.
‘Come to think of it, I know very little about him.’
Perhaps Jude’s doing this on purpose, but he rarely talks about his past life.
What I learned was that his name was Kang Jin-ho and he has a foreign teacher named Alexei, I think?
‘What in the world was my Jude’s job?’
He must have been someone like a spy or a soldier.
He knew how to make bombs and also travelled around the world.
‘He’s like a comic character.’
The very fact that we got reincarnated into the world of the game is strange though.
“So unnie, what did you want to ask about?”
As she was snickering alone, Red Wind approached and spoke to her. Because she had told Red Wind that they should talk once their camp preparations were over.
“Eh? Uh… You see…”
Cordelia’s words trailed off before she glanced around and grabbed Red Wind’s hand, leading her to a place with no people.
Kajsa who was looking their way also slowly followed them, but it was only Jude, Lucas, and Sun Song that Cordelia were avoiding in the first place, so she let Kajsa follow them.
‘Or rather, I would be more embarra.s.sed if Kajsa isn’t here.’
Cordelia slightly blushed and guided them to a place that she had seen earlier. They sat down as Red Wind tilted her head, not understanding the situation.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Cordelia pretended not to see Kajsa sneaking up on them, and she wiggled her fingers and said to Red Wind.
“Uh, Red Wind.”
“Yes, unnie.”
Cordelia became more embarra.s.sed when Red Wind smiled innocently, so she eventually chose to whisper instead of speaking out loud.
Whisper, whisper.
However, Kajsa was more of a beast than Cordelia in terms of physical abilities alone, so she heard their whispers and blushed with an awkward expression. On the other hand, Red Wind was snickering.
“Unnie, you’re curious of s.e.x.”
“W-well…”
You’re the only one I can ask.
Since…
I’ll do it with Jude someday.
Adelia-unnie and Dahlia are definitely a pa.s.s.
It will be hard for Maja, so pa.s.s.
Then all that’s left is Kajsa but…
“Kajsa has never done it before, but her taste is strange.”
“HEY! HEYYY! What do you mean I’ve never done it! Huh? What do you mean?”
“Have you done it then?”
When Cordelia asked her with a sour expression, Kajsa responded with a defeated expression.
“I don’t have a strange taste… Bondage is just something nice…”
Cordelia ignored Kajsa’s mutterings and asked Red Wind again who was snickering from finding the situation to be interesting.
“It’s just, uh… J-just… Uh… Just…. Can you tell me a bit about it?”
Red Wind’s experience.
After all, she was the only married woman in the group.
“Okay. I will tell you.”
But the truth was, Red Wind was also embarra.s.sed to talk about it, so her lips quivered and it took her some time before she spoke. Cordelia and Kajsa swallowed hard as they waited in nervousness.
“So…”
Red Wind’s story began, and Cordelia and Kajsa were introduced to a new world.
***
“B-beast.” (Red Wind)
“Hmm?” (Sun Song)
Sun Song was watching the bonfire and tilted his head at the sudden and unusual gaze of the female group.
“Eueueu, my gosh.” (Kajsa)
“A complete beast.” (Red Wind)
“What about Lucas?” (Kajsa)
“Definitely lacking.” (Red Wind)
“How do you know that?” (Kajsa)
“You can tell by just looking at him.” (Red Wind)
As Red Wind and Kajsa chatted, Cordelia looked towards Jude and her cheeks blushed again when she saw him studying the map with a serious expression.
Gulp.
Red Wind’s story.
The various things described by Red Wind.
“Melissa, Melissa.”
[Oh, you finally talked to me.]
It had been a while so Melissa spoke sarcastically, but Cordelia ignored it.
Cordelia tightly held Moonlight with a red face and whispered softly.
“My Jude is better than Sun Song, right?”
[That’s a groundless belief.]
“Whyyyy. He’s Jude.”
[Then why don’t you use magic? It’s a magic that lets you see through things.]
“Huh?”
At Melissa’s suggestion, Cordelia blushed once more and nodded her head.
She stealthily used magic because the magic to see through things was quite embarra.s.sing.
It let her see the body shape, the size of anything, and so on.
“L-lies.”
Right after she used magic, the bewildered Jude turned her way so Cordelia quickly turned around and took a deep breath as she pressed down on her chest with both hands.
Because her heart had began to beat like crazy.
If I add the story of Red Wind to the result of the Ultrasonic magic…
Cordelia unconsciously looked back at Moonlight and squatted down as she covered her face with both hands.
She couldn’t control her imagination that had begun to go wild.
And the next morning.
Red Wind and Sun Song left the party and headed to the land of Golden Dragon King, which was a big city in the center of the wild lands.
It was to help the party by leading the forces of the wild lands into the empire.
“Be careful, unnie!”
“YEEES! I’ll be careful! I will!”
After exchanging greetings that sounded slightly different to Kajsa, the group crossed the wild lands and headed for the empire.
T/N: Kajsa understood ‘be careful’ in a s.e.xual sense.
And a few days later.
‘Valencia-nim.’
[Yes, my successor.]
‘Aren’t Cordelia and Kajsa looking at me a bit strangely these past few days?’
[I think so. Anyway, my successor, have you thought about what I said?]
What she wanted to talk about then.
While Cordelia and Kajsa were having a conversation about such things with Red Wind, Jude was having a rather serious talk with Valencia.
The topic that Valencia raised was his purpose for fighting. His reason for fighting.
In fact, he gave an immediate answer to that.
To prevent the world from destruction.
To survive.
However, Valencia was not satisfied with his answer. She told him to think about it a little more. She said that once they had entered the empire, he wouldn’t have the time to think about it seriously.
[Think about it slowly. My successor, what is fighting for you? What is your goal and desire?]
Valencia did not know about Jude’s past life.
But there was something poignant with her words. It made Jude look back on his days as Kang Jin-ho without realizing it.
The turbulent life of Kang Jin-ho that began as a child soldier, or to be exact, a human shield.
Everything that happened when he met Alexei and many other people, and of the time he left them.
He felt his chest tighten.
After playing the game with Cordelia for nearly five years, he thought that he had forgotten his past memories, but in fact, he merely covered it up.
So Jude couldn’t easily come up with an answer.
Because the obvious fact that he fought to survive gave him a very vague feeling.
[It’s better not to rush. So don’t be in a hurry and find an answer that you can understand yourself, my successor.]
Jude nodded at Valencia’s words and thought again. Before he knew it, he saw the border between the wild lands and the empire.
‘As expected, it’s different from the northern region.’
The wild lands had fiercely fought with the Sälen Kingdom, but surprisingly, they didn’t fight against the empire.
The reason was simple. The lands of the empire that were adjacent to the wild lands were barren, so even the barbarians of the wild lands did not desire it.
‘The road is rough at times.’
The border between the empire and the wild lands was a harsh place where ordinary humans would likely die upon traversing, but Kaplan was a dwarf who had good physical strength in the first place, so he was able to travel to the wild lands despite having a strong bad luck.
Of course, it was an easy area for Jude’s party who were equipped with various kinds of items and magic.
“Once we’ve reached the empire by land, we’ll cross Asain Pa.s.s and head to the Imperial Academy.”
“Huh? Uh, yes. Yes, yes, yes.”
Jude narrowed his brows again at Cordelia’s reply from behind him.
Because Cordelia had been acting really suspicious for the past few days.
‘Suspicious.’
She seemed to be subtly avoiding Jude. She wouldn’t make eye contact and her face turned red more often than usual.
‘I think it’s because of Red Wind.’
What the h.e.l.l did you two talk about?
It seems like her imagination switch has been turned on.
In any case, the party entered the empire more easily than they had imagined, and after recalling the Phantom Steeds, they walked on their own feet and entered the pa.s.s.
“This is the empire, but I don’t feel it yet.”
Lucas spoke with a restless face, and Kajsa also nodded.
“But well, do people live here? After all, the road here looks really good for bandits. I’ve never met bandits before, but won’t they appear here?”
At the time when Kajsa was talking with a carefree voice.
“HELP! Help me!”
A young girl came running from the top of the pa.s.s, and she seemed to be crying and running away.
She was wearing pretty good clothes, but some parts were dirty and torn as if she had rolled here and there.
“Lady! This way!”
Lucas shouted instinctively, and the girl turned their way and ran as if she had barely survived.
“H-help me. Help me.”
She was a very pretty girl up close.
Her large ears that were characteristic of a cat beastkin were protruding through her black hair, and there was even a red ribbon tied to her long tail on her back.
“My group, my group to the bandits. I’m the only one who ran away… Hic. Save them, please. Save them, huhu… My sister.”
As the girl barely continued to talk, Lucas looked up the pa.s.s and immediately expressed his anger while Kajsa also turned her eyes away with an angry face.
“We’ll save them. Can you tell us where to go?”
“There, over there. I’ll guide you. Huhu.”
Lucas was deeply moved when the girl offered to guide them even though she was trembling in fear. Kajsa also looked at the girl with great admiration.
As for the other two.
Jude and Cordelia looked at each other and said with their eyes.
‘Wow, amazing acting.’
‘As expected of Kirara.’
There was a high chance of meeting her around here due to the timing, but the b.u.t.terfly effect worked so much that they didn’t expect that she would appear like this.
It truly was Kirara.
‘It’s a trap, right?’
‘The masked bandits must be waiting to ambush us.’
‘Are they trying to steal our weapons?’
‘They’ll be casting curse magic. Oh, she just tried to stab him with a poisoned needle.’
Given that Kirara was acting like a bait rather than acting as the leader, she seemed to be working under Mountain King.
“Lord Jude! Hurry up!”
“Let’s go!”
The innocent Lucas and Kajsa shouted, and the cat beastkin girl, Kirara, looked at Jude and Cordelia with tearful blue eyes.
Will you help?
Will you?
In Legend of Heroes 2, Kirara was a master of betrayal who betrayed people when she was bored.
Therefore, Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances and smiled. They did in real life what they always wanted to do in the game.
“Kirara! Good job! You’ve infiltrated the Mountain King’s group and did well!”
“As expected of Kirara! You let the bandits prepare their ambush in the trap we set up in advance, right? It’s working!”
Jude and Cordelia both shouted, and Lucas and Kajsa blinked their eyes while Kirara was speechless in her confusion.
Eh?
What did you just say?
“Yeah! As expected of Kirara!”
“You did a great job infiltrating!”
When Jude and Cordelia shouted again as though they wanted everyone to hear it, Lucas asked in bewilderment.
“Uh, is she… an acquaintance?”
“She is. This is our agent who secretly infiltrated in order to capture Mountain King.”
“Eh?”
Your agent?
Lucas wasn’t the only one who was bewildered by the sudden situation.
Kirara looked back as she sweated profusely. She was good at acting as a bait, but Mountain King’s men were monitoring her.
“T-that is… You’re misunderstanding something…”
Who is your agent!
How do you know my real name?!
And it was at that moment.
“”
Cordelia had scanned their surroundings with magic and fired two magic missiles at the same time towards the bushes.
“AAAH!”
“Sh*t!”
The two men who had been hiding in the bushes hurriedly escaped the magic and revealed themselves.
Both of them were dog beastkin, but looking at the scimitar on their waists, they seemed to be subordinates of Mountain King.
“Kirara! You betrayed us!”
When one of the dog beastkins shouted at her, the frightened Kirara quickly shook her hands and yelled.
“N-NO! I haven’t betrayed you yet!”
“Yet?”
“HIIIIEE!”
Because she was thinking of betraying Mountain King someday.
Despite being a master of betrayal, Kirara wasn’t good at ending her betrayal well.
“Anyway, let’s beat them up!”
Because bandits were bandits.
Kajsa instantly jumped like an angry tiger and threw her chain towards a nearby dog beastkin.
“AAAH!”
When the chain quickly tightened around the dog beastkin’s body as though it was a living snake, Kajsa exerted her strength again to swing the chain. After hurling down the beaten dog beastkin to the ground, she tried to hit the other one who had suddenly turned around and ran away.
“Wait, stop!”
But Cordelia shouted at that moment and stopped Kajsa.
“Why?!”
[We have a plan!]
Once Cordelia responded with magic, she turned to Kirara who screamed at them in annoyance.
“Why aren’t you catching him! We have to catch them all!”
There was no need for her to shout, but she couldn’t help it due to the urgent situation.
And at that Kirara, Cordelia shook her head and used magic as if she had no choice but to do so.
[Hey, we can’t catch them all. We must let him run away and tell Mountain King that Kirara betrayed him.]
“EEEEK!”
Are you a demon?!
“Anyway, we caught you.”
Kirara had been caught.
Jude grabbed the neck of Kirara from behind as he said with a smirk to her who was trying to escape while they were talking.
“You’re lucky.”
“Indeed.”
While Lucas and Kajsa were asking for an explanation, Jude and Cordelia looked at the stunned Kirara before they turned to each other and revealed their dark smiles.