Ending Maker Chapter 53
Ending Maker Chapter 53
Chapter 15 - Intersection #3
The Lankebust auction house had one special rule.
'All participants must cover their faces with masks.'
Partial masks that allowed the face to be recognized to some degree were not permitted. Only masks that covered the entire face were allowed.
Of course, even so, height and build still allowed gender and age to be inferred to some extent, but the masks still guaranteed a considerable degree of anonymity.
"So they sell things people wouldn't want to be seen buying?"
"Well... there are quite a few shady goods here. Slaves are one obvious example."
In the Saelun Kingdom, slavery was regarded as an old-world vice that was gradually disappearing.
Moreover, most of the slaves traded in Lankebust were not meant for labor. They were sold for filthy, sinister purposes—as sexual playthings, human test subjects, or fighting slaves for gladiatorial matches.
"I want to rescue her quickly."
Yuder had not given specific examples, but Cordelia already knew these facts.
She wanted to rescue Red Wind as soon as possible.
"It'll be fine. We have enough money. Let's skip the pointless bidding war and just offer the buyout price immediately."
"Yeah, yeah. It'll be a pain if competition starts for no reason."
According to the original story, Red Wind was sold once at this point.
Only to be returned afterward.
'Either way, it means there is a buyer.'
If pointless competition arose, as Cordelia said, not only could it become troublesome, but it could also draw unnecessary attention.
Either way, since Yuder and Cordelia were fugitives(?), it was best to handle things as quietly as possible.
"Mm, good. Perfect knot again today. I'm good."
Cordelia smiled brightly after neatly tying Yuder's tie and praised herself. Yuder thanked her without argument, then took out the masks.
They were white masks that covered the entire face without any pattern.
"We dyed our hair too, so once we put these on, no one will recognize us."
"I couldn't wear pink dresses often before, so the dyeing was worth it."
Cordelia made the slightly random comment, put on her mask, and looked at Yuder as if asking how it looked. Yuder clapped lightly.
"It suits you."
"It covers my whole face, so how the hell does it suit me."
Cordelia, who answered with a giggle, took the lead as if telling him to hurry, and Yuder watched her back and admired her anew.
'She really is pretty.'
Because she gave off the feeling of being pretty even while wearing a mask that covered her entire face.
She was not a peerless beauty for nothing. Even Cordelia's bearing and figure were beautiful.
"Of course, I'm a peerlessly handsome young man."
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
"Recharging my confidence?"
"Hurry up, stop talking nonsense."
"Yes, my lady."
Yuder, who answered quickly, pulled on his own mask and caught up with Cordelia.
About ten minutes passed like that.
Yuder entered the auction house attached to the casino and took a deep breath first.
"Haaah...... good, I smell it."
"Smell what?"
"The smell of treasure."
At Yuder's remark, Cordelia snorted, then sniffed the air the same way, and soon blinked and said.
"Oh, it's real."
"Huh?"
"I smell treasure."
At Cordelia's words, Yuder tensed without realizing it.
Because it was Cordelia, of all people, who said it.
"Where? What grade? Is there a mythic-grade one too?"
"What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about? I was just joking. How could a person actually smell treasure?"
"You're a beast."
At the perfectly natural remark, Cordelia opened her mouth wide to bite Yuder, but it was impossible because the mask covered even her mouth.
"Anyway, enough nonsense. Let's secure Red Wind first."
They did intend to search for treasure, but the top priority was securing Red Wind.
Yuder, who nodded at Cordelia's words, looked around the auction house again and said.
"The Lankebust auction house uses two main methods."
"You mean the market-style one and the proper bidding-style one?"
"Well... strictly speaking, I'd have to correct the terminology a little, but that's roughly right."
Right before Yuder and Cordelia's eyes, items were displayed at regular intervals like in an art gallery or museum.
'If you write down a price for the item you want, when a certain amount of time passes, the item goes to the person who submitted the highest bid.'
It was a simple, clear auction method that required quite a long time.
"We're not participating in the proper auction, right?"
"Yeah, it'll draw unnecessary attention. Unless something I really want shows up."
The kind of auction commonly seen in movies—an auctioneer presenting each item while prospective buyers raised paddles to bid—was scheduled to begin two hours later.
"Let's buy everything we need before then and leave the auction house."
"And if possible, leave Lankebust entirely?"
"Exactly."
Setting aside the Count Hraesvelgr Household, the Devil's Hand was on Yuder's mind.
Crossing the border before being discovered by them was the best option.
"Alright, anyway, let's go buy Red Wind first."
"It's probably this way."
Thinking back to the Lankebust auction house from his Red Wind playthrough, Yuder started forward cautiously, but soon recovered his confidence and led Cordelia on.
Basement level 1.
Unlike the bustling atmosphere of the first floor, it was a place with a darker, more sinister, and subdued mood.
Inside glass cases placed at regular intervals, the slaves for sale stood almost completely naked.
"I don't like this."
Cordelia made a small sound through clenched teeth, then strode straight toward Red Wind's location.
"Red Wind."
Yuder saw her too.
A sixteen-year-old girl of the Great Storm Tribe.
As befitting someone with Winter Elf blood, her pale ivory skin and sky-blue hair, reminiscent of a clear winter sky, were striking.
Perhaps to keep her long ears clearly visible, she had tied her hip-length hair back in a single tail.
Cordelia gritted her teeth at the chains around Red Wind's slender ankles, then looked back up at Red Wind's face.
Perhaps because she was trapped in a case where people outside could see in but she could not see out, her blue eyes held a deep fear that could not be hidden even by anger and hostility.
"Let's buy her right now."
"Yeah, so calm down a little. Okay?"
"Okay."
Cordelia answered briefly and looked back up at Red Wind while Yuder wrote the buyout price in the bidding field beside the case.
"An auction house employee will come now."
Cordelia pressed her lips together instead of answering. She understood what Yuder was getting at: do not cause unnecessary trouble.
A few seconds passed like that.
Just as Yuder said, a neatly dressed auction house employee approached.
"Oh, an excellent choice. Even among the northern barbarian tribes, a beauty of this caliber is hard to find. However, she is a bit fierce, so please be careful in that regard."
Cordelia reflexively bristled at the employee's words, but Yuder quickly stepped in front of her and answered with an easy smile.
"The fiercer they are, the more satisfying they are to tame."
"Haha, exactly. That's the pleasure of training one, I suppose."
The auction house employee grinned, handed over several documents, confirmed Yuder's ability to pay, and continued.
"It will take some time to prepare her for delivery, so why not look around at the other lots in the meantime? Please come to the sales office on the first floor anytime from twenty minutes from now until the auction ends."
"Yes, I'll do that. Thank you for the kind guidance."
"No, thank you. I hope you have a pleasant time."
The employee bowed politely and gestured. The light in Red Wind's case went out.
They would probably take Red Wind away through the floor or the back wall.
"Now then, shall we go too?"
"......Yeah."
Yuder took Cordelia's hand after her quiet reply and hurried back up to the first floor.
"Phew, good. We finished the transaction without any problems, so now let's really enjoy the auction. There should be a lot of good items."
When Yuder spoke in a deliberately energetic voice, Cordelia pouted her lips a few times, then nodded.
She was angry because of Red Wind's situation, but it wasn't Yuder's fault. She couldn't take her anger out on the wrong person.
"Since we're here, let's find some real treasure. I'll trust your instincts."
At that, Cordelia put on a brighter voice and played along.
"You mean like in novels or comics, where something looks shabby so no one recognizes its value, but it's actually incredibly powerful?"
"Exactly."
Of course, there was no way such things were actually common.
The auction house staff were not fools.
If anything, they were a group of experts.
But the moment they thought so—
"Oh, isn't that the Heavenly Judgment?"
"Oh, it is."
Yuder answered blankly without thinking, then his eyes widened. Cordelia reacted the same way.
"Why is that here?!" they exclaimed in unison.
The two rotten fossils approached the glass case, trying not to attract attention even though anyone watching could tell they were hurrying.
"No doubt about it. It's still sealed."
At Yuder's words, Cordelia blinked. It wasn't because of the Heavenly Judgment that had suddenly appeared before her eyes.
It was because Yuder had spoken in Korean instead of the continental common language.
"Ko...... rean?"
Cordelia spoke Korean with slightly clumsy pronunciation, perhaps because it had been so long since she had said it aloud. Yuder nodded.
"Because no one should overhear."
It was the same as when they had first written letters and used Hangul as a substitute for a cipher.
Since Yuder and Cordelia were the only people in Pleiades who understood Korean, it was a perfect way to keep their conversation secret.
"Ah, it feels awkward and unfamiliar. Anyway, it's definitely the Heavenly Judgment. I'm sure."
"I wondered where it had been before its seal was released. So it was here."
Yuder marveled anew and recalled the lore behind the Heavenly Judgment.
"The Heavenly Judgment."
One hundred swords forged by Auriel, Archangel of Judgment—one of the four Archangels of Heaven who stood in opposition to the five Infernal Lords of Hell—for her warriors.
As expected of a blade forged directly by an Archangel, it was a superb weapon in its own right, but the Heavenly Judgment's true value lay elsewhere.
'Judgment Day.'
The name of the ultimate technique inherent in the Heavenly Judgment, which could only be unleashed with the Heavenly Judgment.
There were some differences in power and range depending on the caster's capability, but either way, when used, Judgment Day arrived just as its name suggested.
Countless blades of light pouring down from the sky like a downpour.
It did no harm at all to beings of Heaven, but against beings opposed to Heaven, such as demons and undead, it was no exaggeration to say that death itself rained from the sky.
"During the ages-long war between Heaven and Hell, most of the hundred swords were destroyed. Only a few remain..."
"And one of them is here."
Cordelia and Yuder swallowed at the same time.
"It's a relief that it's sealed. They seem to have recognized it as just a ceremonial relic."
"We absolutely have to buy this."
The Heavenly Judgment before them was still sealed, so as Yuder had said, it looked like nothing more than a somewhat ornate ceremonial sword.
The blade was blunt, no different from a club, and the decorations were so excessively flashy that they would interfere with use.
"But once the seal is released, it changes."
"Right, and the only ones who can release that seal are beings of Heaven."
Beings of Heaven.
Angels.
And what that meant was.
"Cordelia can release the seal."
That would only be possible after Cordelia underwent Ancestral Regression and awakened as an angel, but what mattered was that she would eventually be able to break the seal.
"Huff huff, I want to buy it quickly. I'm going to buy it and hug it every night while I sleep."
Yuder fully agreed with Cordelia and quickly checked the bidding board.
There was no buyout price, so without hesitation he entered a bid twice as high as the current one.
To everyone else, it looked like nothing more than an ordinary ceremonial sword. No one was likely to challenge a bid that high.
"Let's quickly look around the other places too. I think there really is more."
"Right, I really do smell treasure."
Cordelia sniffed the air and headed in one particular direction like someone possessed, as though she had genuinely picked up the scent.
And about an hour later.
"The Cursed Reaper's Robe, the Ancient Crest, and even the Sword of the Eastern Warrior."
Cordelia giggled behind her mask, and Yuder outright pulled Cordelia into a tight hug.
"We hit the jackpot."
"That's right, Daddy. We hit the jackpot!"
Cordelia also hugged Yuder back and rejoiced.
They really had hit the jackpot.
The Cursed Reaper's Robe was, as its name suggested, a cursed garment.
But if the curse was lifted, it could be used as the Reaper's Robe, and the effects of the Reaper's Robe were as follows.
'The wearer of the Reaper's Robe exudes the aura of a reaper. Those who attack the wearer of the Reaper's Robe fall under the Reaper's Curse.'
In short, it was armor that spread a weak fear effect over a wide area and inflicted a debuff on anyone who attacked the wearer.
Since it was a flowing robe, it was perfect for Cordelia to wear.
'It goes well with Witchification too.'
Because witches, reapers, and demons were all connected to the power of Hell.
"The Ancient Crest is an item needed for Ancestral Regression... and the Sword of the Eastern Warrior is really good too."
What Yuder held in his hand was a type of great tachi much longer than an ordinary longsword.
As its name suggested, it was an item that had come over from the fabled Eastern Continent that existed beyond the continent where the Saelun Kingdom was located, and while the sword's own performance was outstanding, the important fact was that, like the Heavenly Judgment, it contained an ultimate technique.
"Blood Wolf Hell Slash."
True to its flashy name, it was a powerful slashing technique. Later on, nobody would use it even if it were given away for free, but at this early point in the scenario it was not merely good—it was downright overpowered.
"This really is a jackpot. Most of them were cursed or sealed, so they were cheap too."
"Right, we still have money left even after buying all this."
The Reaper's Robe was cursed, and the Ancient Crest was a kind of puzzle, so it would not function unless solved with the proper solution.
The Sword of the Eastern Warrior was also sealed, so a ritual was needed to release the seal.
"Yuder Wiki, you can do it, right?"
"Of course, ma'am."
Yuder answered with a smile.
"By the way, Yuder."
"Hm?"
"You...... are you going to keep going with fist and foot techniques?"
"Fist and foot techniques?"
"Yeah, you've been fighting mainly with punches lately."
At Cordelia's remark, Yuder took stock of himself.
As she said, Yuder's current weapons were the Thunderclap Strike and Thunderclap Fist, both unleashed with his fists, and the Guardians of the Holy Cross's Divine Strike Fist.
"How about switching to the sword little by little with this opportunity? Landius is a swordsman too."
He had shown such shocking displays that it was easy to forget, but Landius was still a swordsman.
According to his own words, he apparently used a sword in real crises.
Moreover, Yuder was the son of Count Bayel, one of the Ten Great Swordsmen of the Saelun Kingdom.
Most of the Bayel family's martial arts were also sword arts, and most of the treasures passed down were related to swords.
In other words, if he wanted to make the most of his family's advantages, using a sword made sense.
"Hmm...... should I? In the original, Yuder used swords, spears, and fists anyway."
"Because of the Heavenly Martial Body."
The Heavenly Martial Body, which excelled at anything done with the body.
In the original, Yuder was an all-rounder capable of handling virtually every kind of weapon, much like Maximilian.
"Yeah, you're right, Cordelia. Since we got the Sword of the Eastern Warrior anyway, I should start taking the swordsman route."
"Good, good. If it's a sword, it'll be easy to swap equipment too."
Because the weapon that appeared most often in the Hero Legend series was the sword.
Wasn't the Heavenly Judgment a sword as well?
At Cordelia's words, Yuder thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Hey, Cordelia."
"Hm?"
"You... want to learn unarmed combat?"
"Unarmed combat?"
"Yeah, unarmed combat. And while we're at it, a little swordsmanship too."
The two of them were already destroying the original story.
If so, didn't their growth route also not need to follow the original?
The current Cordelia had a combat sense that could only be described as insane, which the original Cordelia had not possessed.
Close combat had been impossible for the original Cordelia—effectively sealed off for balance reasons—but the current Cordelia might actually be able to pull it off.
"Uh...... you want me to learn the Nine Heavens Nine Gates too?"
"No, that's impossible. It's a martial art only someone with the Heavenly Martial Body—or absurd muscles like Master Landius—can learn."
Now that he had opened the second gate, he could tell.
The Nine Heavens Nine Gates was a divine art developed solely for the Heavenly Martial Body. Unless one was an iron man like Landius, they would not be able to withstand the burden of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates and would instead ruin their body.
"The Twenty-Four Gale Steps also seem related to the Nine Heavens Nine Gates, so I'll exclude it from the candidates for now, and I'll teach you the footwork of the Count Bayel Household. It'll help."
"Swordsmanship too?"
"You'll become the Magic Swordsman Cordelia. Isn't that cool?"
At Yuder's words, Cordelia imagined it for a moment, then smiled softly.
And Yuder looked at Cordelia and thought.
'This really feels like playing Princess Maker.'
Of course, even with Cordelia's insane combat instincts, becoming a dedicated swordswoman like Lucas was out of the question.
Because a martial artist's internal energy and a mage's mana were similar yet different.
Basic footwork and ordinary martial arts should be well within her reach, but even Cordelia would probably struggle to properly master the advanced arts required to become a true expert.
So for now, magic would be the focus.
With mage as the main class, she would add martial arts and swordsmanship and grow into a 'mage capable of close combat.'
"Daughter, Daddy will even help you take down a Martial God."
"Yes, Daddy. I'm counting on you."
Either way, the two of them were rotten fossils of Hero Legend 2.
Character growth was, above all, an enjoyable thing.
"Now then, let's go quickly. I'll teach you the advance and retreat forms and the oral formula of the Gale Step, the footwork of the Count Bayel Household."
"Yes, Daddy. Let's go quickly."
They would become stronger.
And they would become stronger using methods that could not be used in the original.
The two excited rotten fossils grabbed the Heavenly Judgment, the Reaper's Robe, the Ancient Crest, and the Sword of the Eastern Warrior, then hurried out of the auction house.
And about twenty minutes later.
The two, who had arrived at their lodging, simultaneously remembered one fact.
"Red Wind!" they shouted in unison.
The reason they had gone to the auction house in the first place.
The two, who had completely forgotten about her existence due to the unexpected jackpot, scurried back the way they had come.