Ending Maker Chapter 34
Ending Maker Chapter 34
Chapter 7 - Full Moon
[If you can hear my voice, open your eyes. Wake and look at me.]
At the faint voice reaching him, Yuder slowly opened his eyes.
Warm firelight, a cozy space.
The face of a witch with long black hair and green eyes filled his vision.
[Your consciousness has awakened.]
A pale-faced beauty who looked to be around thirty.
The witch wore a black dress adorned with black bird feathers, and on her head sat a wide-brimmed pointed hat, as if it were the very symbol of a witch.
"This place is......."
[This is my world of consciousness. Your body has fallen into a deep sleep because you pushed yourself too hard. I awakened only your consciousness so we could speak. Now, take my hand and get up.]
Still dazed, Yuder took the witch's hand and stood. Across from him, he saw Cordelia likewise take another witch's hand and rise.
"Cordelia?"
"Yuder?"
[Even here, the way you look after each other is truly a lovely sight.]
The last words came not from the witches standing before the two of them, but from the rocking chair swaying gently in front of the fireplace.
This time as well, it was a witch.
[Now, both of you come here. It is warm before the hearth.]
When the witch by the fireplace beckoned, the witches before Yuder and Cordelia dissolved into shimmering heat and vanished.
Yuder and Cordelia reflexively turned to each other, then exchanged glances and nodded.
'Let's go.'
The witch would not harm them, after all.
As Yuder and Cordelia awkwardly rose and stood before the fireplace, the witch likewise rose from the rocking chair.
[First... I suppose we should talk. But before that, I want to ask you something. Tell me: do you know why I was sealed here?]
The reason the witch was sealed.
Yuder hesitated over whether to pretend he did not know when he saw the quiet expectation in the witch's eyes, but Cordelia instinctively nodded.
[I see...... so you know this too...... you know.......]
The witch visibly deflated, her shoulders slumping as she pouted slightly.
The reason the witch was sealed.
Despite being a lowly slave, the witch had defeated countless demons, enough to draw the ire of the five Infernal Lords of Hell, the Demon Realm.
In the end, the witch clashed with Belial, Lord of Corruption, one of the five Infernal Lords, and suffered a crushing defeat before his overwhelming power.
But just before Belial's flames could completely annihilate the witch's soul, another Infernal Lord stole her soul away—none other than Asmodeus, Infernal Lord of Lust.
'Asmodeus thought the soul of a witch who had defeated countless demons could become a dagger to pierce the other Infernal Lords.'
To hide the witch's soul from the other Infernal Lords until the day it might prove useful, and to subjugate the witch's soul as well, Asmodeus sealed the witch's soul deep within Trafalgar Forest.
'That was also why the great witch's soul had been sealed in the human world with only a single magic beast guarding it.'
Had the witch's seal been in Hell—or even heavily guarded in the human world—the other Infernal Lords would likely have noticed.
In any case, when the witch openly sulked, the flustered Cordelia hurried to speak.
"Ah, no...... that's...... I, I don't really know! I'd love it if you told me in detail!"
[Truly?]
"Yes, truly."
The witch immediately perked up. Cordelia smiled brightly as she answered, and a smile returned to the witch's face as well.
And Yuder thought.
'She was lonely.'
After being sealed away alone for hundreds of years, it was understandable.
[So...... it began.......]
The witch began recounting her story in a soft, measured voice, while Cordelia listened attentively with sparkling eyes.
And so roughly four hours passed.
[And that is how it came to be.]
The witch beamed in satisfaction, while Cordelia and Yuder nodded with dazed expressions.
The game had summarized the story briefly, but hearing the full version directly from the person involved made it an extremely long tale.
[Ha, I feel refreshed. Anyway, now I should get to the main point.]
"What?!"
She had talked for four hours, and only now she was getting to the point?!
Cordelia blurted out the question in surprise. The witch giggled, moved close to Cordelia, and said:
[The past is over and done with. Let us talk about what comes next.]
In truth, in the original work, a conversation like this had never existed.
After all, in the original, the witch descended into Cordelia's body, defeated the magic beast, and then ascended immediately afterward.
[Cordelia, my lovely child. You carried my soul, if only for a short while, and I sensed potential in your body and soul—the potential to possess power like mine.]
Having said that much, the witch wore a slightly bewitching smile unlike before, then pressed her lips in turn to Cordelia's forehead, eyes, cheeks, neck, chest, and the back of her hand.
"M-Madam Witch?"
[I have left my mark on your soul. Remember what it felt like to wield my power. Use that memory to cultivate power of your own.]
After saying that, the witch whispered something into Cordelia's ear. Cordelia swallowed hard, then murmured the incantation the witch had taught her.
The change came in an instant.
But it differed slightly from the previous Witchification, when the witch herself had descended into Cordelia.
Cordelia's hair darkened to black, but its ends remained red.
Instead of turning green, her eyes became an even deeper shade of their usual blue.
[Cultivate your power.]
Cordelia's witchification.
It was a time-limited transformation spell that greatly enhanced all of her magical abilities while she was in her witch form.
Cordelia looked herself over and nodded. As if she found her truly adorable, the witch kissed her forehead once more.
[Examine the place where I was sealed carefully. There should be a magic tome I wrote.]
A magic tome containing all of the witch's spells.
"Thank you so much, Madam Witch."
When Cordelia bowed her head in thanks, the witch giggled and pulled Cordelia into a tight embrace.
Yuder, who had watched this entire exchange, gave a small cough.
"Ahem."
A cough that clearly meant, 'Don't I get anything?'
Unlike in the original, Yuder had also met the witch face-to-face. Maybe he could get something too.
Of course, Yuder had already obtained the Divine Strike Fist and the Guardians of the Holy Cross's arts on this journey, but the more the better.
At Yuder's wordless appeal, the witch narrowed her eyes, lightly licked her lips, and said:
[Yuder, my power is not suited to you. Rather... you harbor a different potential.]
At the unexpected words, Yuder tilted his head.
'A different possibility?'
In the original, after curing his Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, Yuder became a powerful martial artist through the power of the Heavenly Martial Body.
But that did not seem to be what the witch was talking about.
[You do not yet know yourself well. But do not worry. Fate will guide you.]
The witch gave an enigmatic smile, then stroked Cordelia's head as she blinked curiously just like Yuder.
[Look for the place where the magic beast lived. There should be something there that will help both of you.]
That was all.
The witch released Cordelia from her embrace, stepped back, and looked at both her and Yuder.
[I have lingered too long. It seems I must depart now. But Cordelia, and Yuder.]
The witch's body floated up into the air.
The cozy fireside around them likewise transformed into a pitch-black void.
[We shall meet again.]
Words hinting at reunion, not eternal farewell.
Yuder and Cordelia's eyes widened at the line, which differed from the original, but that was all.
Before they could say anything, darkness swallowed their vision.
* * *
"Ah," they said in unison.
Yuder and Cordelia opened their eyes and sat up at the same time.
"Young master."
"My lady."
The voices that came almost simultaneously belonged to Jun and Dahlia, respectively.
Yuder and Cordelia blinked and looked at each other, then realized they were still within the witch's seal.
"Oh, you've come to!"
Lucas, who had been speaking with the knights some distance away, approached with a bright smile.
"Madam Witch guided the knights here. I have already relayed everything that happened here to everyone."
"Uh...... everything that happened here?"
"Yes, I conveyed everything I saw without missing a single detail."
Lucas proudly squared his shoulders and thumped his chest, but the knights' expressions seemed oddly meaningful.
They all looked at Yuder and Cordelia with warm, deeply satisfied smiles.
'What the hell did this guy tell them? Why does Dahlia look like that?'
Cordelia quickly questioned Yuder with her eyes, but instead of answering, Yuder squeezed his eyes shut.
He could guess well enough.
'I just shouldn't ask.'
But Lucas apparently had no intention of letting the matter drop and was already speaking.
"At the very moment the magic beast was about to strike Lady Cordelia! The sight of Lord Yuder throwing himself toward her was truly magnificent. It was proof of a true love that did not even fear death."
As befitted a hero-novel enthusiast, Lucas suddenly became remarkably eloquent about things like this.
The knights, led by Dahlia, once again looked at Yuder and Cordelia with pleased smiles, and Cordelia turned to Yuder.
So Yuder hastily spoke with his eyes.
'That's not it, okay? I did it trusting Fairy's Footsteps, okay?'
'I know, okay?'
The two carried on a perfectly clear conversation with nothing but their eyes, then tried to cough their way past the situation as if they had planned it.
And fortunately, Lucas did not torment the two of them too much.
"The knights are all safe. Madam Witch also said that the two of you are simply exhausted and that there is nothing wrong with your health."
They had coughed up nearly a basinful of blood, but just as Lucas said, they seemed merely exhausted, with nothing else wrong with them.
"We decided to camp here tonight and leave the forest early tomorrow morning."
"Yes, that sounds good."
They also needed to retrieve the witch's magic tome and the useful item said to be in the magic beast's lair.
Besides, they really were exhausted.
Yuder closed his eyes for a moment and thought over the flow of the original work.
'Cordelia, who obtained witchification.......'
While repelling Devil's Hand's pursuers in the Witch's Forest, she learned two facts.
One was that the reason Devil's Hand had kidnapped the children of the twelve families was to use them as sacrifices for summoning a demon, and the other was that the location where the demon summoning ritual would be held and the date set for the ritual were not far off.
Since time was too short to return to the Count Chase Household and report the crisis, Cordelia, after much deliberation, headed north to stop the ritual and rescue the children of the twelve families.
'It's already diverged.'
Because Devil's Hand had failed to kidnap the children of the twelve families at all.
In the original work, even though they had missed Cordelia, they had Lucas, Sylvia, and others to use as sacrifices, so they forced the ritual through. But now, having secured not a single one, it was questionable whether they would even hold the ritual.
Moreover, this attack by Devil's Hand was enough to awaken the wariness of the cities in the north.
Now that vigilance against demon worshippers had risen, holding a large-scale gathering would be impossible.
'But there's always the off chance.'
Yuder and Cordelia's goal was not simply to follow the main scenario.
Their goal was to twist the main scenario and create a happy ending that did not exist in the original.
'Let's go north.'
If the ritual is held, stop it.
And fundamentally twist Yuder's main scenario, the 'Great Invasion of the Northern Barbarians' scenario.
When Yuder, having made up his mind, opened his eyes, Lucas continued his explanation.
"For now, we plan to stop at Viscount Norden's manor as scheduled and stay for a day or two. And... I believe the person coming from the main house to meet us will join us there as well."
At Lucas's explanation, Yuder reflexively looked at Cordelia. Cordelia had turned toward him at the same time, and their eyes met.
The reason was simple.
'Who's coming?'
The event of each of the twelve families sending someone to meet them had not existed in the original work.
Strictly speaking, the fact that Gale and Count Chase had come from the Count Bayel Household and Count Chase Household was already a departure from the original.
Who was coming from the Count Hraesvelgr Household?
Yuder began seriously going through the members of the Count Hraesvelgr Household in his head. Cordelia shook her head and simply asked Lucas directly.
"Lord Lucas, do you know who is coming?"
"Yes, I hear it is someone I greatly respect. It is a little embarrassing to say, but since it has been a long time since I last saw them, I am very much looking forward to the meeting."
When Lucas spoke with sparkling eyes, as if telling an adventure story, Yuder and Cordelia's curiosity grew even greater.
Who could it be?
Who could it be that made Lucas react like that?
As Yuder and Cordelia's interest visibly grew, Lucas spoke with a proud smile.
"Both of you, have you ever heard the story of the 'Red-Haired Warrior'......? Ah, you have."
Yuder and Cordelia nodded at the same time. They couldn't help it.
The Red-Haired Warrior.
Landius of the Crimson Flame.
In Hero Legend 2, he was one of the five protagonists of Hero Legend 1 who, according to the setting, died early and therefore never appeared.