Ending Maker-Chapter 28 - CHAPTER 28 – WITCH’S FOREST (1)

Terms used in this chapter:

Mutually assured destruction – a military strategy in which two opposing military forces are powerful enough to completely destroy each other. The attacker must think that he will be destroyed with his victim if he attacks. The theory is that no state would start an attack if attacking its enemy means its own destruction. Jude uses this term to refer to Yellow Storm’s destructive storm-like attacks, which could backfire on her (remember that she bled from her nose and fainted in the last chapters).

A day before leaving Langesthei, Jude and Cordelia came to the balcony to have their ‘tête-à-tête,’ which had become a regular event now, and the two immediately began their operational meeting.

“Let’s begin with checking our harvest.”

Jude wasn’t just talking about the things that Count Chase gave them. The two had made their own preparations in their short stay at Langesthei.

“I got a couple of potions. These are D-rank potions. Physical strength, mana recovery, detoxification…and stimulants just in case.”

As a commercial city, Langesthei had an abundance of magic items.

Cordelia did not spare in spending money to secure supplies, as evidenced by the fact that she wasn’t called the ‘biggest hunting king’ in Legend of Heroes 2 for no reason.

“So I’m almost out of money.”

“Do you not care much about saving money?”

“Hmph, my father gave me money though. You saw it all, right?”

She was right.

Before Count Chase left, he gave us a bag of gold coins, saying it was to add to our travel expenses.

‘Thank you, father.’

Jude, who was grateful to Count Chase, changed the topic before Cordelia talks about proper division of money (N빵, n-ppang) again.

“I got some equipment. Fortunately, the blacksmiths in Langesthei were very good.”

“Oh, knuckles. You completely bought something exclusive for you. You’ve gone the martial arts route and not the swordsman route?”

Until now, Jude had been fighting by holding the Sun’s Necklace like knuckles whenever necessary, but it was too much to properly call it knuckles. There were also concerns that the Sun’s Necklace might be damaged.

Therefore, Jude had a blacksmith forge some kind of specialized knuckles that can fit the Sun’s Necklace, so that he could fully utilize its divine power.

“Well, if you consider your equipment and so on, your combat power is higher on the martial arts side right now.”

“Hmm, I have Cheonmujiche, so it’ll be okay.”

Jude won’t lose that much even if he changed routes on the way.

Cordelia was convinced, and soon looked at the other items that Jude had taken out.

Most of the items were protective gear.

“This is usually worn outside the clothes. Isn’t it good because it’s thin?”

“That’s a very thin chain mail. Wouldn’t it hardly increase your defense?”

“But this is reality. It would be much better than nothing. You wear it so that you can avoid directly getting hurt when you get stabbed or cut by a sword in the first place.”

“Well…sure.”

Cordelia nodded as she looked at the chain mail made of thin chains and shaped like a T-shirt.

“Now, let’s move on to today’s highlight.”

It was the items given by Count Chase.

Jude pointed to the black bracelet he wore on his right wrist.

“You’ve known this bracelet once, right? Magic Defense – This is a C-rank bracelet that is especially useful in blocking dark magic.”

“Che, give me one too.”

“I’ll use it reasonably instead.”

Jude had a wily smile as he next raised his left hand.

“Next is the ring.”

“Are you wearing it already?”

“Huh? Yes. Why?”

“I-it’s nothing. Just…”

Cordelia mumbled at the end of her words, before she took out a handkerchief from her pocket and carefully unfolded it.

Inside it was a ring that looked exactly like Jude’s.

“Put it on your left hand’s ring finger. It’s a couple ring to begin with.”

“I-I know that, okay?”

Cordelia took a deep breath and swallowed deeply.

And as soon as she was about to pick up the ring…

“Give me your hand.”

“Huh?”

“Give me your hand.”

“Oh.”

When Cordelia held out her hand reflexively, Jude immediately picked up the ring and naturally put it on her left ring finger.

“Well, good. Is it because your hands are pretty? Uh…Cordelia?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. O-of course. Cordelia’s pretty.”

Cordelia snorted and quickly pulled her hand back, pretending to be calm, and Jude laughed at the sight.

“Why…why…”

“No, just.”

Jude shrugged once and turned the topic around for Cordelia.

“Before your father left, he gave me the instructions.”

“About the ring?”

As Cordelia asked while fiddling with her left ring finger, Jude nodded and answered.

“First off, there are two effects.”

“What effects?”

“The first is that the magical effect of the rings become stronger if it’s worn by two people.”

“By how much?”

“1.1 to 1.2 times.”

“Oh…is that good? Does that make attack or curse magic stronger?”

Both were generally magic, whether it’s attack or curse.

At the idea that was truly Yellow Storm’s, Jude showed the rings’ magic circle as he said.

“Let’s refrain from talking about mutually assured destruction. Okay?”

“Che, you’re not even a wizard.”

He was a martial arts fighter by profession, but if Jude could use magic like an ordinary wizard, it would be a slap to the cheek for Cordelia.

“What is the second effect?”

“When the rings are close together, the built-in magic becomes stronger. Mine is recovery magic, and yours is defense magic. When we are close to each other, it overlaps with the first effect, which greatly enhances its power.”

Cordelia looked at the ring and found the built-in <Shield> magic in the ring.

“What do you think? It’s faithful to the concept of rings, right?”

“Yeah.”

The effect is stronger when it’s worn by each other and its performance improves when we’re together.

These strangely cute magic effects were precisely made by Count Chase himself…

“Hmm, hmm.”

“Why?”

“No, I just had a little rude thought.”

In front of Cordelia who tilted her head while wondering what he was talking about, Jude recalled Count Chase’s stern face, and after taking several deep breaths, he was able to regain his calmness.

“Well, that’s it for our harvest inspection, so let’s move on to our operational meeting.”

“You mean the way to the witch’s forest?”

“That’s right. It’s both in the north, but if we go straight to Count Hræsvelgr, we won’t pass by the witch’s forest. So we need to create a reason.”

Moreover, monsters even appeared in the witch’s forest.

We needed a pretty much good reason to convince the escorts who’d make the safety of our journey to Count Hræsvelgr’s territory their top priority.

“So, what do you have in mind? Seeing that you’re talking about it at this point, don’t you already have a plan?”

Cordelia was already familiar with Jude even before they came to Pleaides.

Jude wasn’t a person who’d bring up a story like this without having any plans.

Indeed, he had a plan, so Jude grinned and answered.

“Of course I have. Do you remember what I told you during our last information exchange meeting?”

“Uh…the story of playing another card to draw a big picture?”

“Yes, the time has come for a new Muan Sweet Water.”

It would be a new all-around excuse medicine following Gueumjulmaek.

A dark smile was drawn on Jude’s face.

***

“Did the Fairy Queen say that?”

“Yes, the Fairy Queen said that. The witch’s forest has an influential connection that will benefit Cordelia, so make sure to stop by if you need to go to the north.”

When Jude spoke with a very serious face, Lucas turned to Cordelia and she nodded while having the same serious face as Jude.

“I’m serious, Lord Lucas.”

It was indeed true that there was an event for Cordelia in the witch’s forest.

‘What are they going to do if we said the Fairy Queen said that? Are they going to check it? By what means?’

It was what Jude had said last night.

Jude and Cordelia met the Fairy Queen.

It was certainly true, and the Moonlight proved it.

‘No one else can meet the Fairy Queen.’

In the first place, the reason why the Fairy Queen’s night banquet was an exclusive event for Cordelia was simple.

The fairies invited Cordelia to their night banquet because they found her incredibly pretty and admirable.

Sylvia is the only other person we’ve met who has the potential too.

You need to have a beautiful girl, go to a fixed date, a fixed time, and a fixed place to take a bath.

Lucas and our party knew nothing about the date, time, and place, so there was no way for them to check even if they wanted to.

‘And we’re going to add something extra here. You know Lucas’ character settings, right?’

A heroic novel enthusiast.

He is a young 16-year-old boy who wants to live a life like the heroes in novels.

“When I close my eyes even now, the day I met the Fairy Queen vividly comes to my mind. It was a really fantastic and beautiful night.”

As Jude spoke with his eyes closed, Cordelia continued, covering her mouth with both hands.

“I-it’s a memory I’ll never forget.”

It was true.

It was a really crazy night where we got harassed by dozens of fairies.

Even now, Cordelia breaks into cold sweat when she closes her eyes and thinks of that time.

‘All right, it’s coming across to him.’

Jude slightly opened his eyes and peeked into Lucas’ eyes that became filled with various emotions.

Meeting a mysterious entity like the Fairy Queen was one of the classic situations in hero novels.

“Maybe we can have a similar experience this time.”

“That’s right. The Fairy Queen said it on purpose, so I’m sure we’ll have a mysterious experience.”

It was something like meeting the soul of a witch, so it was bound to be mysterious.

Although Cordelia’s acting ability was at the level of reading Korean books, her acting was more natural than usual because what they were talking about was a ‘fact’ in the first place.

“We may have to fight monsters like when we fought the Bicorn, but that’s also part of the adventure.”

“Oh my…I’m scared, Mr. Bayer.”

“It’s okay, Lady Cordelia. If anything happens, I’ll risk my life to protect you. Lord Lucas will also be with us.”

A knight protecting a beautiful lady.

Looking at Cordelia being scared but at the same time, looking forward to it, Lucas inhaled and swallowed his breath for a moment.

Lucas had already witnessed Cordelia’s true colors the other day, but even taking that into consideration, the current Cordelia is… to be precise, her pitiful yet incomparably beautiful appearance certainly had a tremendous power.

“Hmmm…it’s only natural that it’s a knight’s mission to protect the lady.”

When they saw the corner of Lucas’ mouth slightly raise as he politely answered, Jude and Cordelia thought at the same time.

‘That’s something he had always wanted to say.’

‘It’s a wish he wanted to achieve…a wish fulfillment.’

The two exchanged glances and gave the final blow.

“Lord Lucas, a heart-pounding adventure awaits us.”

“Ah…I’m getting excited because it’s like a heroic novel.”

Let’s go through the witch’s forest.

Let’s enjoy the adventure the Fairy Queen presented us.

Lucas swallowed deeply again.

Jude and Cordelia.

They’re two people who have already experienced a story-like adventure, such as defeating the Bicorn and meeting the Fairy Queen.

These two were now reaching out for a new adventure.

It was too much of a temptation to refuse.

“That…”

“That?”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“It’ll be fine if we have escorts. And…I guess, a little risk is the real taste of adventure.”

‘A little risk is the real taste of adventure’ is a frequent line from the novel Biltwein the Hero.

Eventually, Lucas nodded with flushed cheeks.

“Okay. Let’s go through the witch’s forest for Lady Cordelia.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you very much, Lord Lucas. An exciting adventure awaits us.”

Cordelia made quite an unusual impressive performance, perhaps because she was influenced by the atmosphere.

And she wasn’t the only one who got into the mood.

Lucas’ cheeks twitched at the word ‘adventure’ once again, and he suddenly stood up from his seat as he said.

“I’ll be back after talking to my escorts. Both of you should also talk to your escorts.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be going then.”

As Lucas left his seat in a hurry, Jude and Cordelia exchanged looks before cheerfully bumping their fists together.