Ending Maker

Rescuing the emperor and the other members of the Imperial Family was their goal, but they also needed to be taken to a safe hiding place.

The Chancellor had originally ignored the ambush itself in order to catch the Royal Knights on their rescue operation, but that did not mean he would leave the surrounding areas completely empty.

“Good luck!”

“May the god’s protection be with you!”

The Royal Knights scattered with the Imperial Family. Since they only had a small number of people in the first place, there was no point in moving around together and it was easier to escape if they scattered in different directions.

“Jude! Let’s run!”

“Okay!”

Instead of heading straight to their agreed upon place, Jude and Cordelia repeatedly appeared and disappeared in various places around the imperial capital.

Because Jude and Cordelia were the strongest in the group and had the most mobility.

Twelve hours passed like that.

It wasn’t until the morning sun came up that Jude and Cordelia focused on running away, and it was only when the sun reached the top of the sky that they could finally relax.

“Master!”

Upon entering the nameless forest between the imperial capital and the academy city of Manaple, Kirara who had been hiding while waiting greeted Jude and Cordelia with a wide smile.

“I’m glad that you’re okay!”

“Yes, yes, we’re okay. Thanks.”

Cordelia immediately ran and hugged Kirara who laughed and reacted right away.

“Hehehe.”

Kirara blushed and wagged her tail in her shyness, but she liked this moment very much.

‘Amazing.’

Because Kirara in the game’s storyline never showed such a side.

‘She’s somehow similar to Red Wind, huh?’

Among the playable characters whom Jude and Cordelia had met so far, Red Wind was the one who showed the biggest change in personality from the original.

In the game, Red Wind was cold, sensitive, and did not talk much, but the current Red Wind liked to smile and had a genial personality.

One reason had caused that.

It was the fact that Jude and Cordelia prevented her from all the hardships she would suffer in the game’s storyline when they bought her from the slave auction house.

She was not abused in the slave auction house, did not experience the death of other slaves, and most importantly, her hometown was not destroyed.

Kirara’s life was not as dramatic as Red Wind, but she also lived a pretty rough life in the game’s storyline.

She was a woman who used betrayal as a means of survival, but in reality, she was quite soft-hearted.

She felt hurt every time she betrayed someone, and as the game’s storyline progressed, she was devastated.

‘You again, Kirara?’

‘Kirara, it’s not you, right?’

‘But Kirara is a traitor.’

The scene where Kirara sat alone by the lake shore and cried a lot after she abandoned everyone and ran away, saying that she wanted to be left alone, won the sympathy of many game players.

‘Of course, there were a lot of people who called it crocodile tears.’

In any case, the heart of the game’s Kirara was shattered from her constant betrayals, and she often had dead-looking eyes whenever she was alone, but it was different now.

Because just like Red Wind, she met Cordelia and became a new person before her heart was broken and shattered.

“I like Master very much.”

Kirara whispered quietly as if confessing, and Cordelia eventually cleared all the thoughts in her head.

“I like you too.”

“Hehehe.”

When such a heartwarming scene continued, Jude smiled like a father, but he knew that they couldn’t stay like this forever.

“Kirara, what about the Imperial Family?”

“They’re safe. Everyone is here except for Lucas-oppa and Kajsa-unnie.”

“Eh? The two haven’t arrived yet?”

Cordelia asked after Jude, and Kirara quickly nodded and said.

“They’re not in danger as I think they’re just resting for a bit. The owls said so.”

Kirara who was able to communicate with animals was acting as a kind of communication network by grasping the situation of everyone in the nameless forest and delivering notes through the animals.

Everyone had gathered here except for Lucas and Kajsa.

Only the two of them were resting somewhere else.

“Oh.”

Cordelia exclaimed as her eyes immediately narrowed and she said with a snicker and a sly smile.

“My Jude, aren’t they trying to hide something? Where is a man and woman in their prime resting, and what are they doing alone? This Cordelia wants to know.”

Her sparkling eyes served as proof that her imagination had already reached its conclusion.

Therefore, Jude pulled her back to reality instead of agreeing and fanning the flames of her imagination.

“Lewd devil out. Let’s go now and join the group.”

“Tsk.”

Cordelia clicked her tongue, but since she was joking in the first place, she quickly relaxed and took Kirara’s hand as they entered the depths of the forest.

They walked like that for ten minutes.

“They’re here!”

“Yeah!”

The Royal Knights and their squires who were scattered and resting then quickly approached with joy on their faces.

It was natural for them to react like that, given that they had seen Jude and Cordelia in rescuing the Imperial Family and their crazy performance in the operation.

Cordelia had continuously used powerful magic such as Earthquake while Jude faced three Sword Masters at the same time.

Both of them were so skilled that it was hard to believe that the two were only 18 years old.

“Please come this way.”

Leon also greeted Jude and Cordelia with a smile on his face.

He was a man who badly wanted to win against Lucas, but did not even think about it against Jude.

Because the difference was too big.

Envy was only possible originally if they were near the same level.

So he wasn’t envious of a person who seemed to be on a different level. Or rather, he was on a completely different realm.

“Hehe.”

Cordelia proudly puffed her chest and felt good at everyone admiring Jude. On the other hand, Jude looked at Cordelia and smiled in admiration too.

Anyway, the group followed Leon and met the Imperial Family, or to be exact, the young emperor of the empire, the Empress Dowager, and the emperor’s younger siblings.

“Uh… are they sleeping?”

“Yes, It’s been a tough journey.”

In reality, the emperor and his siblings had fainted and lost consciousness when Cordelia abducted the carriage.

Even the Empress Dowager, who had held out somehow, was relieved of her tension and fell asleep after they entered the forest.

It was not an audience with the emperor, and showing the asleep and defenseless emperor could be considered rude depending on how one interpreted it, but it couldn’t be help since they had ran away.

“Let us get some rest then.”

“Yes, we plan to stay here for a little longer and move at night.”

Jude nodded a few times in response to Leon’s words, and took a seat next to Cordelia who was being followed by Kirara.

A few minutes later.

Cordelia was half-lying while hugging Kirara, and she looked back at the place where the Imperial Family was. Because she recalled what she had seen.

‘There’s a toddler?’

In the game, the members of the Imperial Family other than the Emperor and Empress Dowager were rarely seen, so the reality felt different now.

The emperor had three more younger siblings, and because the emperor was young, his siblings were younger.

There was a small child who seemed to have just turned two years old.

‘Children. Baby.’

Cordelia tightly hugged Kirara and began her specialty again – her imagination.

Children who were laughing and running around.

A child who looked like Jude and a cute child who resembled Cordelia herself.

Jude’s successor who would inherit his count title.

‘I-I’ll give birth to them?’

Because they would be Jude’s children.

Jude’s kids.

She tried to imagine it. She would marry Jude, get pregnant, and become a mother…

‘Ueueueue…’

In the past, she would have never imagined marrying Jude.

But now that she was imagining marriage, she seemed to have taken a step forward.

‘But there are many.’

There were four including the emperor.

The Empress Dowager was close to a heroine character because of her personality and behavior, and that she even served as a regent. She also had the appearance of a beautiful woman.

It was hard to imagine that she had four children.

‘Come to think of it, most people… had a lot, right?’

Unlike in their previous lives, the people here in Pleiades tended to have a lot of children.

Jude’s family that only had two was rather unusual, as most families usually had at least three and at most, five or six children.

‘Then me and Jude…’

How many children should we have?

Considering our titles, having two is perfect. Still, after saving the kingdom and the empire, wouldn’t our titles become higher? Since our achievements are not normal, our children will also receive a lot of benefits…

‘Should I ask Jude?’

How many would you like?

‘How many children would you like?’

Cordelia asked herself before she immediately blushed and groaned.

Because she was too embarrassed.

“Ugh.”

And because of that, Kirara who was being hugged by Cordelia then groaned when Cordelia unconsciously hugged her tighter, but unfortunately, Cordelia was deeply immersed in her imagination and did not hear Kirara’s voice.

‘Okay… shall I ask him?’

Because it’s important.

Yes, yes. It’s very important.

‘Jude.’

How many would you like?

“Eight.”

“Huh?”

“Eight.”

Jude spoke once more, and Cordelia turned red as she stuttered and wiggled her fingers.

“T-that much? T-then if you want to… l-let’s try our best?”

“Hey, Cordelia. Were you even listening to me?”

“Huh?”

What are you talking about?

When Cordelia blinked her eyes, Jude had a glum look and sighed.

“I was talking about the Sword Masters.”

There were a total of twelve Sword Masters in the empire.

Among them, three had been confirmed as enemies since they worked for the Chancellor.

Jay Karniak, Caesar, and Matrina.

Of the remaining nine, Absolute Knight Galahad was unconditionally on their side, so there were only eight left.

“Uh… there are three elves, right?”

“That’s right, it has not been confirmed yet, but they are highly likely to be on our side. After subtracting those three, there are five left.”

Among them, two were definitely on the pro-emperor faction, but they did not know which side the remaining three were on.

‘Because Legend of Heroes was an RPG and not a political drama.’

Moreover, it was difficult to describe the political strife because the story took place amidst the chaos of the 7 major calamities and the collapse of the kingdom.

“The problem is that one of those three is the Sword God.”

The best swordsman of the empire.

The continent’s strongest swordsman who was called the Sword God.

The strongest of the four Grand Sword Masters who belonged to the empire.

As the owner of Ultimate Six, he was the biggest variable in their upcoming battles in the empire.

“Uuuh… It would become a headache if he became an enemy.”

But what would happen if Landius was here? Or Kamael?

When Cordelia said something that was a little convenient but true to some extent, Jude also nodded.

To be frank, it was hard to imagine Landius losing to anyone after seeing him fight Malekith.

‘Duke killing him is bullsh*t. He must have just picked up the Solar Blade by accident.’

Jude completely abandoned the theory of Landius’ murder, and had been pushing the theory of Landius killing himself.

‘He opened the door and died as a side effect.’

“Anyway, why are you suddenly talking about Sword Masters? Are we going to seriously fight them?”

Jude snapped out of his thoughts at Cordelia’s question, and he nodded again.

Due to their battle, the Chancellor and the demon followers would know that Jude had entered the empire, and they would be able to guess on how strong he was.

Therefore, it was highly possible that not ordinary Sword Masters, but Grand Sword Masters or similar enemies would appear in the future.

‘Grand Sword Master.’

In the kingdom, these sword monsters were called Sword Saints.

One person came to his mind.

He couldn’t help it.

A person that Jude and Cordelia had faced once and would surely meet again someday.

‘First Sword.’

Rhun Froud, the Sword Saint of Light.

As if drawn to something, Jude looked back at the direction of the imperial capital.

***

The Chancellor’s office was in an emergency.

They had lost the Imperial Family including the emperor who was in their custody.

It wasn’t that they didn’t defend at all.

Even though they had assigned three Sword Masters, they were defeated, so it was hard to blame anyone.

But someone had to take responsibility for this incident.

It would become chaotic.

They had to prepare for the future.

A number of variables would also arise at the emperor’s absence.

Imperial Chancellor Joel Kreusler, the highest-ranking official in the empire and a high-ranking demonic human of the Devil’s Eye, thought of a speed battle beginning with martial law.

Because he had to finish taking control of the empire before the emperor could rally the pro-Imperial Family faction.

And apart from the troubles of the Chancellor, there was a person who was relaxed alone.

He smiled despite knowing that this failure would hamper the cause of the demon followers and the many things this failure would cause.

He burst into laughter at the fact that three Sword Masters could not stop it despite all of them attacking at the same time.

“Hoh, you’ve become really strong, huh?”

At the training center of Absolute Knight Galahad.

No, at the place that used to be his training center.

As his body was drenched in blood, First Sword or Duke, a high-ranking demonic human of the Devil’s Hand, had a white smile. He was truly pleased with Jude and Cordelia’s performance.

“Ha, I want to see them.”

If I had known that they had entered the empire, I would have gone there.

“But well, it was quite fun over here too, right?”

First Sword asked with a smile, but there was no answer.

Absolute Knight Galahad.

The Royal Knight’s strongest swordsman and a Grand Sword Master that the empire was proud of.

The emperor’s sword whose will never broke.

So First Sword killed him.

He beheaded him.

Galahad’s swordsmanship was definitely amazing, but First Sword was even better than him now.

“I can’t wait to see them. I miss them. As expected, those two are really good.”

First Sword threw to the floor Galahad’s head that he was holding. He stood up without any hesitation and left the training center.

Sword Demon.

A new nickname he gained after uniting with a demon of Overlord Asmodeus.

But First Sword preferred a different name.

Best Sword.

T/N: As I had mentioned in a previous episode, First Sword was supposed to be translated as ‘Best Sword’, but I didn’t change it since I didn’t like him. But in the sentence above, the word ‘best’ fit more than ‘first’, and thus you see this translator’s note. In short, he wanted to continue using his old nickname.

The peak of swordsmanship that he wanted to realize someday.

A world beyond reason that he wanted to reach.

“I miss them.”

With a faint smile, First Sword took a step forward.

Whether by coincidence or inevitability, he headed towards the direction of Jude and Cordelia.