Ending Maker Chapter 26
Ending Maker Chapter 26
Chapter 5 - Devil's Hand #7
"I want to go with my beloved Lord Yuder! I-I can’t be apart from him!"
"Mm, perfect. That'll do."
Yuder clapped his hands, and Cordelia squeezed her eyes shut with a reddened face and let out a string of curses.
"Ugh, seriously."
"Yeah, I get it. I get it."
When Yuder chimed in with sympathy, Cordelia's face grew even redder. Not from embarrassment, but from fury.
"Hey!"
"Yeah."
"Why!"
"Uh."
"Why is it me again this time? You—you could do it too! Right! It doesn't have to be me!"
The story was that Yuder and Cordelia loved each other; it was not supposed to be Cordelia pining after Yuder one-sidedly.
As if she had just reached a grand realization, Cordelia's eyes sparkled with excitement, but Yuder shook his head from side to side.
"Come on, that’s not how this works."
"Why? What—what's not it? Is it because of that damn Nine Yin Meridian Blockage again?"
"No, even I wouldn't blame it on the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage. Let's just think about this with common sense."
Yuder made a fairly large gesture with both hands as if to calm her down, then rose from his seat and continued.
"Between you and me, who's the one with business in the north?"
"You are."
"Right, me. So the situation is that Cordelia wants to tag along with me, right?"
"So?"
"If I said I didn't want to be apart from Cordelia and that I'd 'bring' her along, then no matter how much we love each other, that would be a little... you know?"
Yuder smiled bitterly as if troubled, and Cordelia's face crumpled into a pout again.
Because he was right.
There was a massive difference between Yuder "bringing" Cordelia along and Cordelia "following" Yuder.
"Therefore, if we think rationally, this is a situation where Cordelia has to appeal that she wants to follow Yuder. If it were the other way around, I would have done it. Really. I can swear on it."
As Yuder placed a hand over his chest as if truly swearing an oath, Cordelia scrunched up her face.
"I hate you so much."
"I'm sorry, I love you."
"What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about?"
"I know, right."
Yuder grinned slyly and sat back down, and Cordelia, though she pouted her lips, sat down as well.
"Good, let's say we've settled the matter of the two of us traveling together... For tonight's information exchange and everything else, we need to get our stories straight."
"This is because we defeated Minos, right?"
"Right. Lucas did join in, but even so, he was too big a fish for the three of us to catch."
If Minos had only fought Yuder's group, they could have brushed it off with "Minos was simply weak." But the problem was that Minos had defeated none other than the fire mage Ronin in front of everyone.
If Yuder and Cordelia claimed to have brought down someone that strong, everyone would naturally find it strange.
"Hmm... couldn't we just say he was exhausted and weakened from fighting Ronin?"
"That could work, but with the matter of using my father's name and all... If we want to draw the big picture, I think it's better to reveal one card here."
"Reveal a card?"
"Come closer for a second."
Yuder glanced around once more and spoke quietly, and Cordelia blinked and leaned in close to him.
"So..."
As Yuder explained in a low whisper, Cordelia listened quietly and nodded at some point.
Because, as always, it was a fairly plausible story.
"Hey, but you know."
"Hm?"
"Did this really need to be whispered?"
There were only the two of them, after all.
"No, I didn't even realize. I just got caught up in the mood."
When Yuder laughed awkwardly, Cordelia narrowed her eyes.
'Sometimes I can't tell if he's an idiot or a genius.'
He was clearly insanely smart, but there was something clumsy about him.
'Well, Outboxer is human too.'
Cordelia, having convinced herself, nodded with a hum, and Yuder smiled slightly and spoke as if wrapping things up.
"Anyway, you get the gist, right? I'll lead the overall story, so just play along."
"Got it."
They would put the plan into action that evening.
Yuder and Cordelia looked at each other and nodded.
* * *
Trejean, one of the finest lodgings in Langesthei, was far busier than usual.
All the children of the Twelve Northern Houses who had been staying in Langesthei had moved their lodgings to Trejean, and once night fell, guests began arriving from the knight orders and elsewhere.
While the Blue Lion Knights and the Langesthei guard defended Trejean like an iron fortress, Sir Barua, commander of the Blue Lion Knights, the captain of the Langesthei guard, and the mayor of Langesthei all visited Trejean, and the mages of the Red Dawn Tower, led by the fire mage Ronin, also paid a visit.
And at 8 p.m.
Standing in the grand conference hall on the first floor of Trejean, Yuder began to speak before everyone.
"We met the Fairy Queen."
"What?"
"The Fairy Queen. A queen of the fairies. Ah, of course fairies, like humans, have more than one queen. There isn’t just one."
At Yuder's explanation, everyone in the conference hall blinked and looked at one another.
Wait, wasn't this supposed to be about how they defeated Minos?
What was this sudden talk of a Fairy Queen?
And moreover, they met a Fairy Queen?
"You're confused, right? I understand. But it's true. Lady Cordelia and I met the Fairy Queen. A few days before arriving in Langesthei."
As Yuder continued calmly, the atmosphere in the conference hall shifted toward "let's hear him out."
Satisfied, Yuder went on.
"It was a fantastical night beneath a beautiful moon. Fairies captivated by Lady Cordelia’s dazzling appearance approached us and asked whether we would like to join the Fairy Queen’s night revel."
When Yuder pointed at Cordelia as he spoke, everyone's gaze turned to her, and Cordelia's face instantly flushed red as she lowered her head.
'Wh-what the hell is this crazy bastard talking about?'
It was true, but embarrassing was embarrassing all the same.
But Yuder paid no mind and asked Cordelia.
"Lady Cordelia, that’s right, isn’t it? The fairies came over, said you were so beautiful, and told you they wanted to invite you to the Fairy Queen’s night revel, right?"
"Er... yes..."
Cordelia answered in a voice that was barely audible, but no one in the conference hall doubted her sincerity.
Either way, it was a fact that Cordelia was a peerless beauty. And her blushing face from embarrassment was cute, too.
"Anyway, in the middle of that, a Bicorn suddenly appeared and attacked us. They said it was a creature that had long tormented the fairies."
At the word Bicorn, the mages led by Ronin lit up.
A Bicorn was a magic beast as rare as a unicorn.
"This is the horn of the Bicorn we caught then. Lady Cordelia and I repelled the beast together and each kept one."
When Yuder lightly waved the Bicorn horn he took from his chest, admiration spread among the mages.
"A moment, may we see it?"
"Of course."
Yuder readily agreed to the mages' request and passed the Bicorn horn through Jun, who was beside him.
"Ohh, it's real."
"It's real. It's definitely a Bicorn horn. The power of chaos dwells within it."
As the mages each expressed their admiration, the atmosphere in the conference hall shifted a little once more.
The atmosphere had shifted to one of complete trust in Yuder’s words.
"After we repelled the Bicorn, the fairies insisted even more that they had to invite us and guided Lady Cordelia and me to the fairies' banquet hall. And there, Lady Cordelia and I met the Fairy Queen."
"Wow."
The one who let out a small exclamation was Sylvia.
Though her appearance was that of a haughty, peerless beauty, she was still only eighteen—a young maiden who still held a girl's heart.
Had this been a private gathering, she would have rushed over immediately to ask all sorts of questions about the Fairy Queen.
For Sylvia's sake, Yuder described the Fairy Queen's appearance in considerable detail, then turned back to Cordelia.
"The Fairy Queen gave us a gift for defeating the Bicorn. It was Moonlight."
Now it was Cordelia's turn.
Cordelia swallowed hard, picked up Moonlight, and stood beside Yuder.
"This is the Holy Staff, Moonlight. It contains powerful lunar magic."
When Cordelia held Moonlight out before her, not only the mages but the knights as well showed interest.
And Yuder was satisfied.
The mood had already been set.
From here on, as long as he didn't make any absurdly excessive claims, whatever he said would sound fairly credible.
"Moonlight contained a hundred years' worth of accumulated lunar magic. In the battle with Minos, Lady Cordelia released that power all at once... and as a result, we were able to defeat the Demonic Human who had been greatly exhausted from his fight with Sir Ronin."
There was no need to bring up the Sun's Necklace or Bellastin's Magic Circle.
'Lucas doesn't know much about Bellastin's Magic Circle anyway.'
Like the swordsman he was, he would simply think they had used some kind of magic, so they could talk their way around it as much as they pleased.
"I see, so that's how it happened."
Sir Barua, commander of the Blue Lion Knights, gave exactly the answer Yuder most wanted, and as if dominoes were falling, everyone in the conference hall began to put on expressions of understanding.
'Good, it worked.'
The fact that Lucas, who had actually participated in the fight, was nodding in understanding was the best possible sign.
No one would raise an objection to this matter now.
'I hope the matter with Father goes over well too...'
The reason Yuder had deliberately revealed the Fairy Queen card.
'The Fairy Queen told us.'
That something major would happen in Langesthei.
That it was a place where ominous energy had gathered, and she had even taught them the location.
'I thought no one would believe it if I said it came from the Fairy Queen, so I had no choice but to use my father's name. I am truly sorry. I will gladly accept any punishment.'
Since he had told Sir Barua that the source of the information was Count Bayel, Count Bayel would surely demand to know where Yuder had gotten such information.
So he would attribute the source of that information to the Fairy Queen, a being whose word could not be verified.
'And... what matters is that we stopped it, one way or another.'
Thanks to Yuder’s information, they had captured nearly seventy demon worshippers and, in doing so, prevented the attack as well.
Count Bayel was a man who judged merit and fault fairly, so if Yuder had achieved this much, he would overlook the fault of having used his name.
'Perfect.'
As Yuder smiled with satisfaction, Cordelia, who had been watching from beside him, narrowed her eyes.
The skill of weaving truth and lies together into a story, and the acting ability to spin lies without trembling before so many people.
Could Outboxer009's former profession have been a con artist?
'It's... possible!'
Cordelia was getting excited, even snorting through her nose, when—
"Hey, I can see exactly what you're thinking. Anyway, let's slip out soon."
Yuder poked Cordelia's side lightly as before, and together with Cordelia, who let out a tiny squeak, he stepped down from the platform and returned to their seats.
After that, the discussion flowed just as Yuder had expected.
"Since the purpose of this attack is unclear, I ask that the children of the Twelve Northern Houses remain in their lodgings until reinforcements arrive from their houses, inconvenient as that may be."
The purpose was unclear.
Only Yuder and Cordelia knew that the Devil's Hand had been targeting Lucas and Cordelia.
And that was only natural—the Devil's Hand combatants hadn't known their own objective in the first place, and the Demonic Human Minos, who had known the objective, had died screaming.
No matter how much they tortured and threatened the captured Devil's Hand combatants, nothing would come of it.
'I need to keep this hidden for now.'
If it became known, moving together with Cordelia would become even more difficult.
Of course, they would have to prepare for additional attacks from the Devil's Hand, but with such a large-scale operation having failed, it would be difficult for them to execute another large-scale operation.
"That is all. Blue Lion Knights will be stationed on the first floor, so if you need help or have any inquiries, please contact them at any time."
With Sir Barua's words, the meeting was effectively adjourned.
But no one except Sir Barua's party left the conference hall.
They wanted to talk among themselves, and the two people everyone most wanted to talk to were, of course, Yuder and Cordelia.
"Thank you so much. We survived thanks to you two."
The first to approach Yuder and Cordelia was Sylvia.
When the peerless beauty thanked them with reddened eyes, even Yuder couldn't help but blush.
Cordelia let out an unconscious huff, then took Sylvia's hands in hers and spoke.
"No, Sylvia. You must have been so scared."
"Yeah... but you even fought directly, Cordelia. You're really amazing. And..."
When Sylvia trailed off, Cordelia tilted her head, listening for what came next.
Cordelia’s Yellow Storm side came vividly to life around Yuder, but in front of others, she more naturally became Cordelia Chase, the young lady of the Count Chase Household.
"Could we talk a little more? The story of the fight with the Demonic Human is scary, but... I want to hear more about the fairies too."
"Of course, Sylvia. I’ll tell you everything."
When Cordelia smiled brightly, Sylvia blushed slightly this time.
Because it was a smile as beautiful as a flower blooming.
"Viola, come here too. Let's talk together."
"...Yes, Cordelia."
Viola, who had been watching nervously from the corner, flinched when Cordelia beckoned, but judging by her slightly excited voice and eyes, she seemed very happy that Cordelia had called her over.
"So, you see... it was a night with a truly beautiful moon."
Once Cordelia began the story, Felix—hopelessly obsessed with Sylvia—slipped into the group, and the mages and knights who had grown curious about the Fairy Queen gathered as well.
'Good, I'll leave that side to Cordelia.'
Instead of going to Cordelia, Yuder turned toward Lucas, who was still sitting where he had been.
And whether by coincidence or because he had been looking this way from the start, Yuder's gaze met Lucas's.
"Lord Yuder, may I have a word with you?"
Lucas rose from his seat and approached Yuder as he asked.
For Yuder, who had things to discuss with Lucas anyway, this was a welcome turn of events.
"Of course, Lord Lucas. I wanted to talk about the fight that day as well. We truly survived thanks to you."
When Yuder spoke smoothly, Lucas gave a bitter smile.
Lucas had eyes too, after all.
The ones who had led that day's fight were Yuder and Cordelia, not Lucas himself.
'Now, how do I handle this.'
Yuder sat down with Lucas and pondered.
Because, as he had told Cordelia, he needed to subtly pass along information about the Sunflower Herb to Lucas while drawing out an invitation to the north.
'Let's start with the fight.'
Start with the battle against Minos, slip in the matter of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, and then subtly bring up the treatment.
Yuder had just finished sketching out the rough plan in his head and was about to open his mouth when—
"Lord Yuder."
"Yes, Lord Lucas."
When Yuder answered smoothly, Lucas took a breath, then spoke in a somewhat lowered voice.
"Have you ever heard of something called the Sunflower Herb?"
Sunflower Herb.
A soft smile spread across Yuder's face.