Ending Maker Chapter 128
Ending Maker Chapter 128
Chapter 47 - Engagement Ceremony #5
'The Witch of Explosions' or 'The Explosive Angel.'
Either way, a truly terrifying existence had been born, and a few hours had passed.
Beneath a full moon that lit the deep night in solitude, Yuder revealed himself.
"Cordelia."
"Over here."
A low call was answered by an equally low reply.
On the roof of the lodging.
Cordelia, who had been crouching at the edge, gestured. She was dressed in black clothes she had prepared for covert movement.
'Though her hair stands out like crazy no matter what.'
Cordelia's crimson hair seemed to shine especially brightly under the moonlight.
She had tied it back into a long tail—the so-called ponytail—and a smile spread across Yuder's face.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"
"Yeah, okay."
Ponytails really are better than twin tails.
After that idle thought, Yuder quickly went over and sat down beside Cordelia.
Yuder, like Cordelia, was also wearing black clothes that clung tightly to his body.
"Let's go right away. Put this on your back."
"Okay."
When Yuder held out the backpack, Cordelia quickly put it on and crawled across the roof to move behind Yuder's back.
"How long will it take?"
"As long as we don't waste time negotiating...... we can definitely get back before sunrise."
"Oh, and your stamina's fine?"
"Of course, milady. This humble servant's stamina is second to none."
"Bullshit."
Cordelia giggled, then moved like a mollusk again, slithering onto Yuder's back and clinging to him.
"Let's go quickly. It'll be big trouble if we get caught."
"Nah, it's not exactly big trouble."
We'd just get scolded a bit more and it would become even more of an established fact.
Yuder grinned slyly, adjusted Cordelia on his back, and took a deep breath. He raised his head and cast his gaze into the distance.
Twenty-Four Gale Steps.
Black Wind Arrival.
A golden whirlwind rose.
Yuder kicked off the roof lightly and silently, and became the gale itself.
He shot across the night of Langesthei.
"Wow!"
In the wind brushing her cheeks, Cordelia let out a small exclamation. She hugged Yuder's neck tightly and enjoyed the speed.
Tap, tap, tap.
Lightly, lightly, even more lightly.
Yuder leaped between rooftops without difficulty. He ran across the roofs as if running on flat ground, and at some point leaped high into the air.
"Black Dragon Ascension!"
Yuder called out under his breath, and Cordelia instantly got goosebumps.
'So embarrassingggg!'
Why is the embarrassment mine!
But it wasn't fake—it was real.
It wasn't mere eighth-grade syndrome; it was an actual power.
Yuder wielded the energy of a black dragon through the power of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates.
Just as the name suggested, he soared as if ascending to heaven and cleared the walls of Langesthei in a single bound.
"Whee!"
Feeling as if she were riding an amusement park ride, Cordelia let out a delighted shriek without realizing it, and Yuder's smile deepened.
And then the forest again.
From behind Yuder, who ran without hesitation, Cordelia raised her voice.
"But Yuder!"
"Yeah! Princess!"
At Yuder's shout, Cordelia's cheeks flushed again.
It was a pet name(?) she had grown used to from hearing it so often, but it still made her feel awkward from time to time.
"Ah, anyway! What are you planning to do?"
"About what?"
"The Fairy Queen!"
The words were hard to follow without context, but this was Yuder and Cordelia. They could read each other's thoughts from a glance alone, so with this many words provided, it was more than enough.
"How are we going to get the Autumn Blessing from the Fairy Queen?"
"Yeah!"
The Fall Fairy Queen.
Of the three Fairy Queens Yuder and Cordelia had met so far, she was by far the most formidable.
'The Fairy Queen is no pushover!'
Some of them had been pushovers, but at least the Fall Fairy Queen was not.
To receive her blessing, they had to pay a fitting price.
After all, when they had visited before, she had handed over Moonlight but had not granted the Autumn Blessing, hadn't she?
"I do have an idea, but what about you? Got any ideas?"
Yuder asked skillfully even while running at full speed, and Cordelia answered as if she had been waiting.
"If she won't give us the blessing, we blow it up!"
"Blow what up? Don't tell me—the Fairy Queen?"
"Are you crazy? That valley, or the fairies' forest, or whatever!"
"Hey, do you realize you sound like an excellent terrorist right now? Threats are a crime, a crime!"
"Tch, no I don't."
"What do you mean, no you don't."
"Nooo, but based on our experience so far, once we blow something up, most problems get solved. Right?"
"No, you demon. Saying it cutely doesn't make it not wrong."
"I never said it cutely."
When Cordelia spoke with a lisp, Yuder closed his eyes for a moment and sank into despair.
'She's a severe case.'
Because even this felt cute.
In any case, Yuder opened his eyes again and began climbing the mountain to head toward the valley where they could meet the Fall Fairies.
Cordelia spoke again.
"So what's your idea?"
"Cordelia, you know the backpack you're carrying?"
"Yeah."
"Inside it are three sets of premium Langesthei specialty chocolates I went out and bought earlier."
"Wait."
"What."
"No, you're going to seduce the Fairy Queen with chocolate?"
"Yeah, with premium chocolate."
"Hey, is the Fairy Queen a kid? You think she'll listen just because you give her chocolate?"
"She won't?"
At Yuder's counter-question, Cordelia blinked, then nodded and said,
"Now that I think about it, yeah."
She was a kid, after all.
Even if she's a queen, she's still a fairy.
"Wow, our Yuder is so smart. I'll praise you a lot."
As Cordelia said that and patted his head, Yuder adjusted her on his back and said,
"A little more. Praise me a little more."
"What more do you want me to do?"
"Think about it."
Cordelia, who was secretly the diligent type, actually began to think about it, and Yuder increased his speed even more.
And at last, they arrived in front of the valley.
Cordelia grumbled as she immersed her body in the cold valley water, and succeeded in summoning the fairies with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
'Fairies are easier than I thought.'
At first, they had struggled because they thought they had to match the date and time, but now...... it was almost like a vending machine: press the button and out it came.
In any case, Yuder and Cordelia met the Fairy Queen, and after a brief negotiation, they succeeded in achieving their objective.
No, it wasn't just a success.
It was a huge success.
"Wow, wow, wow."
Standing alone beneath the full moon, Cordelia spun in place, and Yuder let out an involuntary exclamation of admiration.
Because she was so beautiful.
Because the Cordelia of this moment was like a goddess—no, truly like a fairy.
It was not merely Yuder looking at her through rose-colored glasses.
The Cordelia of this moment could truly be called half-fairy.
"The Fairy Dress!"
Instead of the black covert outfit, Cordelia was now wearing a white dress that was flowing and gave off a translucent feeling.
The main material of this garment, made of soft yet sparkling fabric reminiscent of fairy wings, was none other than moonlight.
"A fantasy dress made by gathering fantasy moonlight."
Yuder Wiki went to work for the first time in a while, and identical smiles spread across Yuder and Cordelia's faces.
"She's giving us this here?"
"She's giving us this for two boxes of chocolate?"
One box had been enough for the Autumn Blessing.
The Fairy Queen, tasting chocolate for the first time in her life, revealed her true fairy nature, and Yuder and Cordelia were able to complete a successful transaction under extremely favorable conditions.
As Cordelia spun in place again, the wide skirt spread beautifully like a flower bud blooming.
"It's pretty, hehe."
Smiling brightly like the fairies, Cordelia grabbed the hem of the dress and struck various poses.
"Fairy Dress. A-rank."
Both Yuder and Cordelia knew it, but the Fairy Dress was not actually for combat.
Nevertheless, the reason it was A-rank was because the Fairy Dress was an item truly faithful to the fundamental role of a dress.
"It multiplies your charm stat by 1.5."
It was a terrifying piece of equipment that didn't add an absolute value but simply inflated it.
On top of that, it also applied a correction to appearance stats, and granted the wearer a fairy-like mystique as well.
'If there's ever a ball, everyone's dead.'
Cordelia in full makeup, wearing the Fairy Dress, attending the founding anniversary ball?
And not in her normal mode like now, but with her awakened mode activated?
'And with full angel transformation added on top of that?'
Just imagining it was stunning. He couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
'Seriously, everyone's dead.'
She could conquer the founding ball itself.
'Well, of course it's not a beauty contest or anything, so there's no need to conquer it.'
But good things were good things.
And if she really could conquer it, it would be possible to gain various benefits from doing so.
"Hehe, it's a little embarrassing."
Cordelia spoke shyly and smiled bashfully with a reddened face, and Yuder once again gave thanks for the fact that the girl before his eyes was his fiancée before composing his expression.
"Alright, anyway, let's head back now."
"Yeah, yeah, let's go back."
Cordelia, now in high spirits, quickly changed clothes and climbed onto Yuder's back again, and the two became a gale and returned to Langesthei.
And then, two days later, in the afternoon.
"Young masterrrrr!"
"Maiaaaaa!"
The Count Bayel residence located in the frontier city of Baylun.
Maia, despite her nickname of Ice Princess, expressed extremely intense emotions, and Yuder was no less enthusiastic.
He pulled the running Maia into a tight embrace, then lifted her by the waist and even spun her around.
"Y-young master?!"
"Hahaha! I missed you! Maia!"
Thanks to Cordelia, Yuder had grown accustomed to lifting people like this.
Maia flustered with a reddened face, but soon burst into laughter. It was partly because she was seeing Yuder after a long time, but also because she truly felt the fact that Yuder had become healthy.
'He's grown.'
Yuder had originally been shorter than Maia herself, but that was no longer the case.
He had grown so tall that she had to look up at him, and his body, which had once been so slender that he looked like a girl rather than a boy, now felt firm and sturdy.
"Young master, I have so many stories I want to hear."
"Me too. I have so many stories I want to tell you, Maia."
To Yuder, Maia was like an older sister.
But there was an order to all things.
Yuder carefully set Maia down, then turned his head and looked at Count Bayel, who was facing Gale some distance away.
"Father."
"I've heard the general story from Count Chase. But I want to hear the details from you two."
Everything that had happened since they left Vedrfolnir.
Joy and curiosity coexisted in Count Bayel's eyes. And with good reason—his son, who had been a source of worry, had run away from home and brought back so many gifts on his way back.
'He's become strong.'
Count Bayel was a peak-level master who ranked among the strongest even within the Ten Great Swordsmen.
Just by facing him, he could roughly gauge Yuder's level.
Abnormal.
Growth that could not be explained by ordinary means.
But Count Bayel also thought it was only natural.
'Has the talent that was suppressed for so long exploded all at once?'
The Heavenly Martial Body that had been crushed under the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.
And the several fortuitous encounters added on top of that.
'I want to test him soon.'
How strong Yuder had become, what level he was at now, how much stronger he could become in the future.
And one more joy added on top of that.
"Preparations are already underway. Let us hold the engagement ceremony two weeks from now."
"Yes, Father."
Gale answered somewhat awkwardly, as if embarrassed, and Count Bayel smiled faintly.
Truthfully, it was a bit unfair to Yuder, but Count Bayel was slightly more pleased by the news of Gale's engagement than by Yuder's achievements.
'It's been a long time.'
Nearly ten years.
Who would have thought the day would come when Gale, who had not spoken a word about marriage since the incident that day, would bring up the topic of engagement himself?
"This is a joyous occasion, a truly great joyous occasion."
Who would have thought the second son's running away from home would bring about such a result?
Count Bayel burst into hearty laughter once more and looked around.
Everyone in the Count Bayel Household was rejoicing at the return of Yuder and Gale.
"Let us go inside. Tonight will be a very long night."
"Yes, Father."
Gale answered, and Yuder also smiled as he followed behind the two.
And then, two weeks later.
The engagement ceremony of Gale and Adelia was held.
* * *
The Count Bayel Household and the Count Chase Household, two of the Twelve Northern Houses.
The union of the two families was something to be wary of rather than simply celebrated, but unexpectedly, the reaction of the Twelve Northern Houses was on the positive side.
'They were going to merge anyway.'
The two families had intended to join forces through the betrothal of Yuder Bayel and Cordelia Chase from the start.
With the betrothal of Gale and Adelia added on top of that, the bond between the two families would grow a little closer, but in the end, it was all the same thing.
'No, you could even say it's better.'
Marriage was, from the start, a union of families.
This was especially true for nobles—and even more so for high-ranking nobles like the Twelve Northern Houses.
The Count Bayel Household and the Count Chase Household had lost the opportunity to strengthen themselves by selling the cards called Gale and Adelia to other families.
'Right, go ahead and play among yourselves in Baylun.'
It was only a frontier city, after all.
It wasn't a very good reason, but in any case, for this reason, the Twelve Northern Houses sincerely blessed the engagement of Gale and Adelia.
"It's rare, an engagement that everyone blesses like this."
"Huh? What do you mean? It's an engagement, so of course everyone should bless it."
When Cordelia tilted her head and asked at Yuder's words, Yuder simply smiled instead of explaining properly.
Because he didn't want to dirty the pure heart of Cordelia with the harshness of the world.
"My sister is pretty."
The garden of the Count Bayel Household.
The banquet hall, decorated with the full effort of both count households, was packed with countless people, but there was one person who stood out as if shining alone.
Adelia Chase.
She was indeed Cordelia's older sister. She was a beauty even when she didn't dress up, but when she made a deliberate effort, she became the very definition of a stunning beauty.
With her beautiful golden hair elegantly pinned up and wearing a white dress with restrained lace that gave off an extremely elegant feeling, she was as beautiful as a goddess.
And beside her was Gale Bayel.
He was handsome, as befitting Yuder's older brother, but what stood out more than that was his sense of stability.
Despite being in a place where countless eyes were focused on him, he maintained his usual demeanor, and Cordelia felt the composure of an adult from him.
"He's kind of cool."
And kind of enviable.
As the light of admiration shimmered in Cordelia's sparkling blue eyes, Yuder spoke quietly in a low voice.
"Cordelia."
"What, Yuder."
"Should we ask them to do one for us too?"
"Do what?"
"An engagement ceremony."
At Yuder's words, Cordelia blinked.
Have an engagement ceremony?
Who?
Me and Yuder?
"I mean, we were betrothed in the womb, so we've never had a separate engagement ceremony or anything."
Cordelia searched her memory for a moment, then nodded.
Because Yuder was right.
'We were distant before we recovered our memories, anyway.'
They were called fiancés, but seeing each other's faces was a rare occurrence.
'Yuder was always sick, and I was holed up at home myself.'
They were conscious of each other as fiancés, but there were no feelings beyond that—a relationship that was literally nothing more or less than a fiancé arranged by their families.
"How about it? Should we ask them?"
When Yuder asked again, Cordelia turned her gaze back to Gale and Adelia.
They were standing affectionately before everyone, facing each other, and even from afar, it was clear how much they loved each other.
'Put me and Yuder in there?'
She imagined it for a moment.
And then Cordelia covered her face with both hands.
"Cordelia?"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait."
And then she thought again.
Yuder suggesting they have an engagement ceremony.
Yuder, watching Gale and Adelia's engagement ceremony, suggesting they do it too.
'Does he really like me?'
He's doing this because he likes me...... right?
But she couldn't be sure.
Because it was Yuder.
Because it was Outboxer009, who had been dying to get at her in the chat window every single day!
'L-let's look into his eyes.'
Because her sister had said so.
That you can tell by looking into someone's eyes.
Cordelia took a deep breath, lowered the hands covering her face, and swallowed dryly. She turned her head to face Yuder.
But—
'Aaaah! I can't look!'
Because she and Yuder could communicate with just a glance.
If she turned around now, he would definitely read her thoughts.
'Hey, do you like me?'
'Why are you giving me a look that asks if I like you? What, are you being paranoid?'
—something like that would happen.
So it was impossible. She couldn't meet Yuder's eyes right now.
'No, then how am I supposed to confirm it?'
Should she find another way?
"Cordelia?"
Yuder tilted his head and asked, but Cordelia, covering her face with both hands, sank into her own world, and the engagement ceremony continued.
And how much time passed?
"Ah, they're kissing."
"What did you say?"
Cordelia, who had been floundering in all sorts of delusions, snapped her head up and saw Gale and Adelia exchanging rings and then pressing their lips together.
Both of them looked incredibly happy.
"We made this happen."
Yuder said quietly, and Cordelia nodded. She clapped enthusiastically along with everyone gathered in the banquet hall.
May this happiness continue.
May they be able to keep protecting this happiness.
Cordelia pushed thoughts of Yuder out of her head, clasped her hands together, and prayed and prayed again.
She wished with all her heart.
And what was needed to do so.
The fate and future of everyone that they had to change once again.
One month after the engagement ceremony.
One month and fifteen days before the start of the 300th anniversary celebration of the kingdom's founding.
Invitations from the royal capital arrived at the Count Bayel Household and the Count Chase Household.