Ending Maker

After passing through Asain Pass, the party continued to the east and headed for Manaple, the academy city where the Imperial Academy was located.

It was not easy to enter a completely unfamiliar foreign country and visit a city one had never been to before, but for Jude and Cordelia who were rotten waters of Legend of Heroes 2, the empire was as familiar as the kingdom.

Moreover, the empire used the common language of the continent like the kingdom, so there was no linguistic difficulty.

“But I’m a little hesitant to talk. Isn’t the pronunciation a bit different from ours?”

Kajsa said and stretched her neck as they had been riding in a carriage for an hour.

She was usually bold, but after entering the empire, she was surprisingly acting so calm and cautious as though she was intimidated by the atmosphere of a foreign country.

Seeing Kajsa feeling relieved while she fanned with her hands as though she had been sweating, Lucas unconsciously smiled.

“What? Why are you smiling?”

“No, well… it’s just a little surprising.”

Until they had crossed Asain Pass, Kajsa was clinging to Lucas and telling him to look over here and there, saying that the shape of the mountain was somehow different from that of the kingdom and so on. But right after they crossed the pass and began to see the empire, she completely shut her mouth.

“Lucas, you’ve grown up, huh? Are you making fun of me?”

Kajsa said a little threateningly, but even though they were in a carriage, she was acting quite different from usual because they were in the empire.

After all, her face was red in embarrassment.

“Uh, yes, kind of.”

“Oh, so you did?”

Lucas had a nonchalant smile instead of saying anything else, and Kajsa pouted and grumbled.

And Cordelia, who was watching the two, quickly pulled Jude’s sleeve.

[Jude, Jude. Are those two… Perhaps?]

[…No way, is it Lucas x Kajsa this time?]

[I think it’s Kajsa x Lucas?]

[What’s the difference?]

Didn’t you just change the name order?

[No, there’s a big difference, okay? This is a matter that can start wars, okay?]

[I don’t understand what you’re saying. Anyway, they suit each other.]

[Isn’t it? They are, they are, right? Kajsa’s gap moe is cute, and Lucas is quite versatile. You can pair him with anyone. So you can say that he’s versatile, right?]

[Excuse me, they’re all real people now, okay?]

[What do you mean? Anyway, I hope it works out.]

[Haven’t you paired him with Scarlet before?]

Before that, it was Red Wind.

[In fact, there’s something I’m looking forward to. Now that we’re in the empire, we can meet Scarlet, right? No, we’ll definitely meet, so it’s going to be a love triangle…]

[Do you like love triangles?]

[I just like to see it. Just see it.]

Cordelia said with a smile, and Jude nodded as he looked back at his sleeve that had begun to wrinkle from being held.

And it was at that moment.

“What’s going on? Are you two having some secret conversation?”

Having been flustered with her conversation with Lucas, Kajsa interrupted Jude and Cordelia to change the subject, so Cordelia said with a smirk.

“Yes, we were. We were talking about how unnie is always by Lucas’ side. And how unnie would understand whoever Lucas will choose.”

“What?”

“Hehe.”

Cordelia smiled again and looked at Lucas and Kajsa before saying.

“Anyway, do both of you feel uncomfortable here in the empire?”

“Not really, I’m a little nervous but I can still talk… because everything seems to be normal?”

When Kajsa replied first, Lucas nodded his head and answered with a serious expression.

“We’re still on the outskirts but… I’m glad I don’t feel the atmosphere of war. At least it doesn’t feel like war is imminent.”

They were laughing and chatting, but now that the border blockade had been imposed, the empire was their enemy. Moreover, the party had illegally entered into such an enemy country.

“I see, I’m glad to hear that.”

Jude replied with ease, but in fact, it was too early to be relieved.

In the first place, Asain Pass was in the empire’s outskirts, and this area was not region that had proper borders with the kingdom.

The real atmosphere of the empire was unknown until they entered the border area or in the vicinity of the islands.

‘Still, he’s not entirely wrong.’

If war was really imminent, the clouds of war would have gathered no matter how far the place was.

‘I didn’t expect that Kaplan will be our lifeline here.’

The existence of Kaplan, a trusted collaborator of theirs within the empire, was very precious now since they could not properly communicate with the Guardians of the Holy Cross in the empire.

‘Is he doing well?’

He may have bad luck, but he’s strong.

At the time when Jude unknowingly smiled as he remembered Kaplan’s kind smile despite his hardships.

Tok-tok.

There was a knock on the carriage door, and the door soon swung open, revealing Kirara.

“Master! Master! The carriage will now be leaving!”

As Kajsa had said, there were some pronunciation differences between the western region of the empire and the kingdom even though they spoke the same common language.

Therefore, Kirara, who could be a local, was in charge of their group’s various transactions with the imperial people, including carriage procurement.

“Okay, we understand. Good job. Come over here and sit down.”

“Yes! Master!”

When Cordelia smiled and beckoned her, Kirara entered the carriage and sat right next to Cordelia with a smile.

She looked very cute as her eyes seemed to say ‘Please praise me, I did well, right? Master is so nice!’

“Yes, yes, you did a really good job.”

“Hehehe.”

At Cordelia’s compliment, Kirara shyly smiled and fiddled with her tail before she pushed her head towards Cordelia.

What that meant.

Cordelia was not quite as much as Kajsa, the original beast girl who immediately noticed what it meant, but she did understand so she stroked Kirara’s head. Kirara wagged her tail with an expression as if she was the happiest in the world.

‘The power of money is amazing.’

Kirara was a traitor.

A scammer would recognize a fellow scammer.

But even in the eyes of Jude, Kirara did not have any ulterior motives.

In short, she was not acting.

‘Well, it’s not just money.’

Kirara was an actual orphan.

Moreover, she was the common property of the village and abused by the village chief, so she had never received any proper affection in her life until now.

A child of filthy thieves, a liar, and a betrayer.

Besides, she had been working for Mountain King until recently.

Thus, Kirara became chronically deprived of affection.

But right now, a person who could solve her lack of affection had appeared.

“You really did well. You’re good. You did a good job. You’re competent.”

“A-a little more.”

“Huh?”

“Praise me more…”

“Yes, yes, why not? Because you really did well. Because you did a great job. And you’ll do a better job in the future, right?”

Cordelia said that and hugged her tightly, and tears welled up in Kirara’s eyes.

It was the like the embrace of a mother whom she couldn’t even properly remember now.

Moreover, Kirara was quick-witted, so she was able to understand it clearly.

Cordelia’s affection was unconditional.

She had no interest in taking advantage of Kirara, abusing her, or building a good impression before betraying her later. It was really just a giving of pure affection.

It was definitely not the first time Kirara had experienced this kind of situation. But she had never met anyone who treated her like this despite knowing who she was and what she had done in the past.

So Kirara faced Cordelia and tightly hugged back. Instead of expressing into words her feelings that were hard to articulate, she simply longed for the warmth of Cordelia.

And Jude had a bitter smile upon seeing that.

Because it was absolutely impossible for Jude to do what Cordelia did.

[Is it really impossible?]

‘Valencia-nim?’

At the time when Jude wondered about her sudden question.

The carriage began running as Kirara had said, and late in the afternoon the next day, the party arrived at Manaple, the academy city where Kaplan was waiting.

***

“So why is this an academy city? Is the whole city an academy?”

“No, it’s an academy city because it was developed around an academy. Manaple Academy is small compared to the Island Academy, but it’s a prestigious school with a long history and tradition.”

It was a conversation between Kajsa and Lucas, and not Cordelia and Jude.

Because unlike Kajsa who disliked reading books, Lucas had been studying things related to the empire when they were still in the kingdom.

“Heh, really? So do you know what’s delicious here?”

“Eh? Uh… the specialties here are…”

It was the moment when Lucas was thinking like that.

“Master, just trust this Kirara. I’ll show you the fastest way.”

Inside the academy city, horse-drawn carriages were not permitted unless specifically authorized.

As a result, they had to walk with their own feet, but Kirara led them the moment she saw Kaplan’s address.

Even before she got caught by Mountain King, Kirara had been stealing around the western part of the continent, so she seemed confident in directions.

“Yes, yes, I’ll only trust Kirara.”

“Hehehe.”

Now, Kirara would laugh if Cordelia just responded.

In the game, that was unimaginable for Kirara who had so many thorns that she was called a hedgehog.

(T/N: ‘Many thorns’ is an idiom which means to bear malice or discontent.)

“This way!”

“You may trip, so slow down. Shall we hold hands?”

“R-really?”

“Yes, really.”

When Cordelia extended her hand, Kirara hesitated for a moment before she quickly reached out her hand. She seemed to like it very much given the fast wagging of her tail.

“But Lord Jude. Didn’t you say that Professor Kaplan belonged to the Island Academy and not the Manaple Academy?”

“Yes, he’s still part of the Island Academy. But as its name suggests, the Island Academy is situated on an island. We’ve decided to meet at the Manaple Academy in the western region of the empire for easier contact.”

Kaplan didn’t change his workplace as he simply took a vacation leave and was resting.

“Anyway, let’s go. Those two have gone far already.”

Having said that, Kajsa took the lead while Jude and Lucas looked around before moving forward.

It certainly seemed that war was not going to break out in a few days as the atmosphere of war was still not raging in Manaple Academy City, just like in the vicinity of Asain Pass.

The group walked for around twenty minutes.

Once they arrived at a small house on the outskirts of the city, the group met a friendly face as soon as they knocked on the door.

“Jude! Lady Cordelia!”

“Long time no see, Kaplan.”

“I’m glad you’re well. I was very worried about you at the sacred place.”

They had heard from Lena that he was okay, but they hadn’t seen him in person.

At Cordelia’s words, Kaplan smiled and said.

“I do well despite my bad luck. I’m glad that the two of you are well.”

After they warmly exchanged greetings, Cordelia said as she pointed to the group members one by one.

“This are my friends, Kajsa, Lucas, and Kirara.”

“I’m Kajsa Ophand.”

“I am Lucas Hræsvelgr.”

“I’m Kirara!”

Unlike Kajsa and Lucas who showed respect with a slightly wary face, Kirara was very happy.

Because Cordelia had called her a friend.

“Oh. I’m Indiana Kaplan. Let’s all go inside for now.”

The group had a lot of people, so there was no need to stand by the front door and talk.

Kaplan’s house was small and simple, reflecting his personality, and it was very well organized. One could say that it broke the common stereotype of scholar’s homes being messy.

In any case, after guiding the party to the living room and serving them some light refreshments, Kaplan took a deep breath and spoke to Jude in a low voice.

“Jude, I have something to tell you.”

Jude couldn’t help but be serious since Kaplan not only lowered his voice, but also called him out to the outside of the living room.

“What’s the matter?”

By chance, is there a problem with the documents related to the Island Academy?

Or something unexpected?

“Actually, there are guests who came before your group. They arrived this morning and came here because they wanted to meet you two and not me.”

Jude’s eyes turned sharp at Kaplan’s words.

Only a few people knew that they had illegally entered the empire.

Or rather, it was only Kaplan from the very start who knew that they would be meeting in Manaple Academy City.

So how did someone know that they were here?

“I was very surprised too. Moreover, those who came were…”

Kaplan’s words trailed off and he swallowed hard before looking at Jude and continuing his words.

“Anyway, it’s not a trap or anything like that. Those who came are not hostile to you two. Rather, they seemed to want the help of you two.”

The more Jude listened, the more he found it hard to understand.

So Jude got straight to the point instead of talking in circles.

“Who in the world came?”

Based on Kaplan’s gestures, the first guests must be on the second floor.

Kaplan took a deep breath before answering right away in a slightly shaky voice.

“They’re guards from the imperial family.”

***

People who guarded the empire’s royal family.

Also known as the Royal Knights.

For Jude, the first thing that came to mind when he thinks of the Royal Knights were Maximilian de Avis and Leon Gadreel.

At this point, both of them should be working as official knights of the Royal Knights, so perhaps it was those two that came.

‘What happened?’

What in the world happened if it really were Maximilian and Leon?

Even if nothing happened, they were somehow fortunate to meet those two whom they had planned to meet at some point, but he felt reluctant because he couldn’t understand the reason why.

‘I think one of them is definitely Leon.’

One of them was said to be wearing a helmet so Kaplan couldn’t see that person’s face, but the other was said to be a young man with blue eyes and long black hair tied up, so Jude was very sure that it was Leon.

‘Leon, Leon Gadreel.’

A sword genius who could have become one of the Four Great Swordsmen in Pleaides if he had not died in the third episode of Legend of Heroes.

‘Is he 23 now?’

He was the second oldest of the playable characters, and a highly skilled person from the very beginning. If he had grown up following the game’s storyline, he would have reached the strength of the Gaël before eating the Essence of the Silver Moon, at least by now.

‘Perhaps he’s close to the great swordmasters level.’

Back then, the rotten waters deliberated on the playable characters’ strength, so it was reasonable for Jude to view Leon somewhere between Gaël and the Ten Great Swordmasters.

‘Hmm, as I thought. Gaël and the Ten Great Swordmasters are good standards in measuring one’s combat strength.’

A measure of strength, an S-class discriminator.

After a moment of thinking, Jude turned to his side. Cordelia stared at the door with a determined expression and nodded as she swallowed hard.

‘Let’s open it.’

‘Okay.’

Kaplan, Lucas, Kajsa, and Kirara were waiting in the living room on the first floor.

Because the Royal Knights only wanted to meet Jude and Cordelia.

In fact, from Jude and Cordelia’s standpoint, they could just deny their request and leave, but they decided to listen to the request since there was no reason to not do so in their first meeting.

‘If need be, we’ll defeat them.’

Of course, if the person who appeared was Galahad, the commander of the Royal Knights and a famous Sword Master in the empire, it would have been hard for the present Jude and Cordelia to fight him, but the possibility of him appearing was low.

‘Anyway, let’s go.’

Jude gestured with his eyes at Cordelia and opened the door, immediately meeting eyes with the two Royal Knights who were watching the door, perhaps because they felt the presence of the two.

Two people were sitting on the sofa.

One was Leon Gadreel as they expected.

A handsome young man with wide shoulders and a big build as if he was wearing armor despite wearing a lightweight knight uniform.

And the person sitting next to him.

As soon as Cordelia saw the Royal Knight covering their face with a helmet, her eyes widened and she spoke.

Because she instinctively knew who the other person in front of her was due to the body shape, their dominant hand, the shape of the helmet, and the small accessories worn on their chest.

“Sarah?”

At that moment.

Sarah who was dressed as a man with her helmet on her head was startled and tried to stand up, but Leon hurriedly reached out and stopped her.

‘Why? Why is Sarah here? Did Sarah become a Royal Knight?’

Sarah had received the protection of the Drunk Dragon.

A strong woman with bad luck and known to have received the twisted affection of the game developers.

Basically, it was not impossible for her to become a Royal Knight on her route as she was a swordsman class character, but it was still quite unusual.

Because it was only possible for Sarah if she had defeated either Maximilian or Leon in the Royal Knights selection matches.

‘What happened to Maximilian? Did Sarah become a Royal Knight because Maximilian lost? Is that even possible?’

Cordelia turned to Jude in her confusion, and Jude calmed himself with a deep breath.

Didn’t Sherlock Holmes say those words?

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

The butterfly effect seemed to have worked very strongly.

‘It’s also possible that Maximilian didn’t even apply from the very beginning.’

In any case, what mattered now was that Leon and Sarah were in front of them.

Two young rookies of the Royal Knights had appeared and looked for Jude and Cordelia.

Then, who sent them and why did they come here? How did they know that we were coming to the empire?

“Amazing. You recognized Sarah right away. As expected of the two people of destiny.”

Jude and Cordelia were surprised again at Leon’s words. Because they heard words that were quite familiar.

Two people of destiny.

Words that Princess Daphne often used to refer to them.

‘What’s going on? Is this perhaps an arrangement of Princess Daphne or something?’

Jude and Cordelia had not yet heard of the ‘heavenly voice’ from Princess Daphne.

Even in the game’s storyline, Princess Daphne never talked about that because she had died.

Therefore, Jude hid his restlessness and said.

“I am Jude August Bayer.”

“I’m Leon Gadreel. This is-…”

“Sarah… I’m Sarah Connacht.”

Sarah spoke in a slightly soft voice, and Cordelia also briefly introduced herself.

“I’m Cordelia August Chase.”

Jude escorted Cordelia to her seat before sitting down, and Jude faced Leon while Cordelia faced Sarah. The group was silent for a while.

No one opened their mouths.

Should I ask them what they meant by two people of destiny?

Or how did they found out that we were here?

Jude’s worries didn’t last long. Because Leon opened his mouth first.

“The heavenly voice said. They said that we can only ask for help from the two people of destiny who can save the empire from its extremely precarious situation.”

Jude furrowed his brows.

Heavenly voice.

Two people of destiny.

Words that seemed to have a lot of meaning.

But he didn’t have the time to analyze it properly. Because Leon opened his mouth again.

“Let me get to the point. We need to save the members of the Imperial Family who have been detained in the Imperial Palace by the Chancellor. Please help us.”

Leon bowed his head, and Sarah followed him a second later, bowing her head too.

And Jude and Cordelia looked at each other.

The atrocity of the Chancellor and the detainment of the Imperial Family in the Imperial Palace.

Two Royal Knights and playable characters who were asking for help in rescuing the Imperial Family.

In addition to this, a heavenly voice that might have some relation with Princess Daphne.

[Let’s not think too hard. Anyway, this is a quest, right?]

If they resolve this, they will get a reward and the story will proceed.

It was a very game-like situation, but it wasn’t exactly wrong.

Moreover, Cordelia’s senses were telling her of the situation despite the limited information.

The Chancellor had arbitrarily enforced a border blockade while detaining the Imperial Family, thus creating the current atmosphere of going to war against the kingdom at any moment.

Then rescuing the Imperial Family could be the only way out of the current situation.

“Let’s hear the details first.”

Jude pinched Cordelia’s cheeks for no reason before he quickly told Leon, and Cordelia missed the timing to get angry and grumble so she puffed her cheeks and turned to Leon.

“This is the situation.”

Leon began narrating the situation.