Ending Maker Chapter 12
Ending Maker Chapter 12
Chapter 3 - Count Chase Household
The Saelun Kingdom, which vied with the Argon Empire for supremacy as the continent's greatest power, had its entire territory divided into three major regions.
The north, which bordered the unexplored lands of cold and savagery.
The center, which held the Silates Plain, called the continent's greatest granary.
The south, which extended its influence across both the inner and outer seas.
The north, which had long protected not only the Saelun Kingdom but the entire continent from the barbarian tribes beyond the unexplored lands, was practically another kingdom within the Saelun Kingdom.
The kings of Saelun had for generations entrusted the governance and defense of the north to the Northern Margrave, and the Northern Margrave had defended the border in cooperation with the great houses of the north.
Just as the position of Margrave had passed from the Count Bayel Household to the Count Hraesvelgr Household, the great houses defending the north had also changed in number and composition with each generation, and in the current era, twelve houses held that position.
'The martial great house, Count Bayel Household.'
Though its power had now declined and it had handed the position of Margrave to the Count Hraesvelgr Household, it was still a house with strength that could not be ignored.
In particular, the head of the house, Count Bayel, was a member of the Ten Great Swordsmen, the pride of the Saelun Kingdom, and a powerhouse who held the title of "Sword General."
'The magical great house, Count Chase Household.'
The Count Chase Household held the smallest territory among the Twelve Northern Houses.
Red Dawn Tower.
One of the five mage towers that existed in the north.
The current Count Chase was a 7-star mage, of whom only three existed in the north, and he also served as the master of the Red Dawn Tower.
'The other ten houses.'
Listing them all one by one would take too long.
In any case, the Count Chase Household, which effectively had no territory to speak of, had built a mansion and established itself in the border city of Baylun. When the Count Bayel Household, having stepped down from the position of Margrave, returned to its home base of Baylun, the current situation of two houses existing in one territory had come about.
"Huff, huff, huff."
Yuder ran around the training grounds, exhaling loudly and rapidly.
His entire body was drenched in sweat and even his face was red, but he neither staggered nor breathed raggedly like someone about to die.
Ten laps around the training grounds.
Just ten days ago, it had been a challenge that nearly cost him his life, but now it was different.
'It's just, it's just fucking hard.'
His head was so blank that no thoughts came to mind.
Because he had sweated so much, both his top and bottom were completely soaked, as if he had fallen into water.
But his breathing was regular.
His arms and legs also hurt, but they didn't feel like they would give out.
"Hah."
Yuder stopped running and first let out a big breath.
Instead of lying down right there, he bent his upper body and caught his breath, slowly steadying his breathing.
'There's progress.'
His stamina had increased.
By a lot, too.
'Because my base stamina was so terrible to begin with.'
But still, an increase was an increase.
Visible growth was enough to boost his motivation.
'This guy too.'
After steadying his breathing to some extent, Yuder straightened his back, closed his eyes, and focused his mind.
Mana cultivation method.
In other words, he was circulating an internal energy cultivation method.
Hero Legend 2's internal-energy cultivation methods differed somewhat from those typically found in martial arts novels.
Like traditional methods, they used the upper, middle, and lower dantians, but there was no need to remain still or maintain a specific posture while circulating energy.
If anything, it was closer to a moving exercise.
Yuder operated the F-rank basic technique he had learned from Victor.
'I can feel it.'
In his lower dantian, he felt a coiled energy that, though only the size of a bean, was warm and full of vitality.
Moreover, it was clear.
The pure energy created where extreme yin and extreme yang met was, without exaggeration, purity crystallized.
'Still, it's tough as hell.'
Because the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage had not yet been completely cured.
Not only the minor meridians but also the major meridians had many blocked or narrow spots, making proper energy circulation difficult.
But Yuder did not rush.
Just as his stamina was increasing, the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage was also steadily improving.
The very increase in his stamina was proof that the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage was healing.
'I'm looking forward to it.'
The day when he could finally use proper martial arts.
It was a somewhat childish thought, but honestly, he wanted to try using martial arts properly at least once.
Using lightness arts to practically fly around, or using internal energy to unleash a powerful energy wave.
Wouldn't it be like the superhumans in hero movies?
'It's amazing, really.'
Not just martial arts, but magic too.
And this world itself, where all of those things were possible.
There were levels, and there was leveling up.
There were no status windows, but titles existed.
But it wasn't a game.
It was reality.
Even at this very moment, Yuder himself was alive and breathing.
'Yeah, that's what matters.'
The fact that he was alive.
The fact that he was trying to live.
The reason he had entered the world of Hero Legend 2, or the reason a real world identical to Hero Legend 2 existed, were not questions that would yield answers no matter how much he pondered them.
Therefore, Yuder decided to focus on the reality right in front of him.
"Excellent."
Hearing the satisfaction in Victor's voice, Yuder opened his eyes and looked over.
Victor Cromwell, the old knight in charge of Yuder's stamina training, stood there with a broad smile.
"Your stamina is improving day by day. If you continue like this... by the time the Count returns, you will be able to learn the martial arts of the Bayel house right away."
Victor spoke with joy, as if it were his own achievement.
In a way, it was only natural.
He had watched over the entire process of Yuder's growth from birth to the present.
How could he not be happy when a child who had always suffered and despaired due to the curse of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage was growing day by day?
'A tiger cub is still a tiger.'
Victor was also pleased with Yuder's attitude.
By Yuder's standards, whose stamina was far weaker than an ordinary person's, the training was truly grueling, yet he performed it diligently without cutting any corners.
'A blessing for the Bayel house.'
Truly so.
Because Yuder, who was diligent and diligent again, even had outstanding talent.
It had only been twenty days since he obtained the Sun's Necklace and began treating the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, but Yuder's improvement wasn't limited to stamina alone.
Strength, agility, flexibility, and nearly all other bodily functions had changed beyond recognition.
'Well, because he leveled up.'
And from level 1 to level 11 at that, so it was only natural for him to change beyond recognition.
But in any case, an increase was an increase, and good was good.
It also felt good to see Victor looking at him with admiration.
"Young master, you have talent. So you need not be discouraged or disappointed that your start in martial arts is late. You understand what I mean, yes?"
"Yes, Sir Victor. I will keep it in mind."
When Yuder answered positively again this time, Victor smiled with a mixture of joy and regret.
Yuder was now seventeen, so it was an undeniable fact that it was a late age to begin martial arts.
'And yet he remains so bright... How upright... No, perhaps he has momentarily forgotten reality in the joy of being able to learn martial arts...'
Deep emotion welled up again in Victor's dark blue eyes, but Yuder's thoughts were actually simple.
'I've got the Heavenly Martial Body, so of course I'm amazing. What does age matter?'
Heavenly Martial Body.
A cheat-level talent that made the protagonist a true protagonist.
"Young master, keep up the good work. You will surely succeed."
"Huh? Ah, yes. I'll do my best."
It was then, while Victor and Yuder were each thinking something completely different, that—
"Young master! Young master Yuder!"
At the urgent call, Yuder and Victor both turned toward the voice.
It was Maia, Yuder's personal maid.
Something was different. Maia was usually cool and composed, yet she was approaching with a flushed face at a pace just short of a run.
"Maia?"
Not only Yuder but Victor too was surprised.
For Maia, moving that quickly meant something was seriously wrong.
"What is the matter?"
At Victor's question, Maia first took a deep breath, then looked at Yuder and spoke.
"Young master, a letter has arrived from the Count Chase Household."
"Oh, from the Count Chase Household. Has our lovely young lady sent a love letter?"
Victor's face lit up as he asked.
He too had heard the rumors that Yuder and Cordelia had grown much closer lately.
'Hehe, our young master is quite skilled.'
Cordelia Chase was a peerless beauty whom anyone would have to acknowledge.
As Victor imagined Cordelia shyly writing words of love while thinking of Yuder, a pleased smile naturally spread across his face.
But that wasn't it.
Not that it meant something like Yellow Storm agonizing over words of love while thinking of Outboxer009 could never happen.
"It is not from Lady Cordelia."
The sender of the letter was not Cordelia.
At Maia's words, Victor blinked, and Yuder momentarily furrowed his brow.
Because at this point in time, there were only two people in the Count Chase Household who would send a letter to Yuder himself.
One was, of course, Cordelia Chase.
And the other was...
"It is a letter from Count Chase."
Arthur Chase.
The current Count Chase.
It was a summons from his father-in-law.
* * *
"Young master, don't be too nervous. He is Lady Cordelia's father. And your engagement was arranged by Count Bayel and Count Chase themselves, so your relationship is officially recognized. So, well... a minor indiscretion or two should be fine."
A little bit of deviation.
The daytime elopement that Yuder and Cordelia had forced through, claiming they needed time alone together.
Yuder swallowed hard.
'I'm nervous.'
Extremely.
Strangely so, even.
In fact, it was only natural.
How could he not be nervous when he was on his way to meet his father-in-law as a son-in-law?
Moreover, the daytime elopement incident was enough to make even Maia, who was called the Ice Queen among the Bayel household servants, stammer.
It was only natural to be nervous.
"Huff, huff, huff."
Inside the carriage, which rattled more than usual due to the fast pace, Yuder steadied his breathing to calm himself.
He closed his eyes and focused his mind.
'Arthur Chase. Count Chase.'
Cordelia's father.
One of the Four Strong of the North and one of the Saelun Kingdom's foremost battle mages.
In fact, his role in the original work had not been that significant.
Because he had appeared rather infrequently even in 'Cordelia Chase's' main scenario, and his presence had also been small in 'Yuder Bayel's' main scenario.
'Because Yuder and Cordelia's engagement eventually fizzled out.'
Yuder had been chronically ill with the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage while Cordelia's main scenario progressed, so the two had naturally grown apart.
'Because they had no reason to meet.'
The two started in the same city, but as they followed the main scenarios, the areas where they were active became completely separate.
To be precise, both were active in the north, but when one was in the east, the other was in the west.
'In Cordelia's story, he was a bit of a doting father.'
Other than that, nothing much stood out about his personality.
'Ugh... Why is he calling me? Is it really because of the daytime elopement?'
But if so, why only now...?
It had been over ten days since the grounding was lifted.
'Calm down, calm down, Outboxer009.'
This wasn't like him.
Because he was strangely nervous, his head wasn't working properly.
No, why was he so nervous in the first place?
He was only(?) Cordelia's father, after all.
'F-father-in-law.'
It was at that moment, when he let out a silent scream at some inexplicable subtlety—
"Young master, we have arrived."
At Maia's words, Yuder opened his eyes and looked at the mansion of the Count Chase Household visible through the carriage window.
The wall he had once promised to climb over was impossibly high.
If the mansion of the Count Bayel Household was a knight's castle, the mansion of the Count Chase Household was a mage's model garden.
After passing through the well-kept, spacious garden and arriving at the mansion's front entrance, Yuder swallowed dryly.
Because the fact that he was visiting his in-laws' home(?) had become newly real to him.
"Welcome. Please come this way."
Following the butler's guidance, Yuder entered the mansion and marveled at the atmosphere of the Count Chase Household, which was distinctly different from the Count Bayel Household's mansion.
It was bright, cheerful, and splendid.
It had a completely different feel from the Count Bayel Household's mansion, which was plain and somber enough to resemble a border fortress.
But it was just as he entered the long corridor.
Cordelia and Dahlia, who had been waiting restlessly in the corridor as if they had been there for ages, strode up to Yuder.
"Butler Norden, please give us a moment."
Dahlia smiled as she pressed Norden to give them a moment, while Cordelia urgently gestured toward a corner of the corridor.
It was a look that said they should have a strategy meeting before entering the boss room.
Yuder needed information just as badly, so he had no reason to refuse. He hurried after them, and once Cordelia reached a spot hidden by the decorations, she blurted out,
"What are you going to do?"
"P-please give me your daughter?"
When Yuder reflexively answered without realizing it, Cordelia covered her face with both hands.
"What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about?"
"No, before that, why did he call me in the first place? You don't know anything?"
"I don't. He just suddenly called for you."
"Is it really because of the daytime elopement?"
"I don't know about that, but he'll probably mention it, right?"
"Hah, that's why you shouldn't have gone so overboard back then..."
"You lunatic, you're the one who told me to do it! You!"
"Anyway, now isn't the time to argue about who's at fault."
"I want to argue. I want to argue like crazy."
But it truly wasn't the time to argue about fault. And when he thought about it, it was just a father-in-law summoning his son-in-law, so perhaps there wasn't any particular big purpose.
"Anyway, I'll do my best."
"Yeah, I don't know what you should do well at, but do your best. G-good luck!"
After receiving Cordelia's timid encouragement, Yuder nodded and then approached Butler Norden again to ask for guidance.
A little over a minute passed, feeling far too short.
"Young Lord Yuder Bayel has arrived."
Butler Norden raised his voice,
Then the door to the boss room—no, the Count Chase Household's reception room—opened.