Ending Maker Chapter 54
Ending Maker Chapter 54
Chapter 15 - Intersection #4
"As expected of an expert handler. After being left for so long with her sight and hearing sealed, her spirit must be thoroughly broken."
When they hurried back to the auction house sales office, the employee said with a smile.
He was a man who specialized in the slave trade, the same man they had met on the first basement floor.
Cordelia grimaced at the man's unpleasant words, but fortunately the mask hid her expression.
But Yuder could guess her mood just from Cordelia's small gestures. He moved slightly as if to shield Cordelia from the employee's gaze, then looked toward Red Wind.
Her eyes were covered by a large leather blindfold, and special sealing devices blocked her ears and mouth. She still stood upright, nearly naked.
Short shackles were fastened around both arms, and her legs were likewise bound with short chains just long enough to let her barely walk.
'She's been like that for about an hour.'
No matter how brave someone was, this would be enough to break their nerve.
Indeed, Red Wind's shoulders were heavily slumped.
"Then we'll be taking her."
"Yes, I hope you enjoy your rearing."
Yuder gave the smiling man a perfunctory nod, draped the large robe he had brought over Red Wind, and hurried away.
"We'll untie her when we get back to the inn. Got it?"
Because there was nothing good about standing out.
Moreover, the two of them had yet to form any real emotional bond with Red Wind. If they untied her here, she would most likely try to run away.
"Got it, let's hurry."
Cordelia answered quietly and stayed close beside Red Wind, who took tentative steps with fear evident in every movement.
And about thirty minutes later.
After finally reaching the inn, Yuder and Cordelia laid Red Wind down in the bedroom, then moved to the living room and began speaking in Korean.
"First, we need to become friends with Red Wind."
Yuder nodded at Cordelia's assertion.
Since the journey ahead would take place beyond the border, the help of Red Wind, a local, was absolutely necessary.
And what was needed for that was not a coercive master-servant relationship, but a friendship based on trust.
"But we don't have much time."
It was easy enough to imagine Cordelia and Red Wind becoming friends.
From Yuder's perspective—no, from the perspective of his previous life as Outboxer—the current Cordelia was kind and pretty, and even honest.
Moreover, Cordelia liked Red Wind.
Red Wind didn't have a particularly prickly personality either, so they would probably become friends quickly.
'But that "quickly" would still take at least a month.'
After all, they had not met under normal circumstances. Yuder and Cordelia had bought her at a slave market.
Winning Red Wind's trust would take a considerable amount of time.
"So the plan I came up with is... why are you making that face?"
"Because it seems like an evil scheme."
"Hey, what evil scheme? It's just a white lie."
"So you want to scam her."
Just as Yuder knew Cordelia well, Cordelia knew Yuder well.
Cordelia's eyes narrowed. Embarrassed, Yuder cleared his throat, but he did not retract the suggestion.
Because they really didn't have time.
And Cordelia knew that fact well too.
"What kind of method?"
"It's a good method."
"F**k?"
"Mm, it really is sweet to hear after so long."
Cordelia flinched at the smooth reply. Yuder chuckled as if he had planned the joke from the start, then beckoned her closer.
"Come closer. I'll tell you."
"You're always telling me to come closer."
Cordelia grumbled and approached Yuder, and Yuder explained the plan in a whisper.
* * *
Red Wind lay on the bed, repeatedly swallowing nervously.
She was pretending to be composed, but honestly, she was scared.
What was going to happen now?
What kind of people were the ones who had bought her?
She needed to find a way to cure her father's illness.
If she couldn't return, what would happen to her father?
No, what was going to happen to her right now?
She was terrified. She tried to hold it in, but tears kept threatening to spill.
'I have to become strong.'
She had to become ruthless. She would rather die than become a plaything for the northerners. No—she would not die quietly. She would kill them before she went.
Red Wind clenched her teeth and steeled her heart, but it only lasted a moment.
Because a sudden, immense fatigue washed over her.
'Sleepy...... hungry.......'
Come to think of it, how long had it been since she had lain in such a warm and soft bed?
Drowsiness swept over her all at once.
Then, at some point—
"Awaken, child of the storm."
At the powerful yet beautiful woman's voice, Red Wind's eyes flew open.
There was no blindfold. She could see. But Red Wind immediately squeezed her eyes shut again because dazzling light filled the space around her.
"Do not be afraid, child of the storm. I am Great Storm."
The majestic voice rang out like something from Heaven, and Red Wind held her breath. She prostrated herself on the spot in worship.
"Ah! Great Storm!"
It was a reflexive action.
And the voice gave Red Wind no room to doubt.
"Red Wind, daughter of Red Gale. Brave child who set out on a journey to cure her father's illness."
Red Wind swallowed again.
It was real.
The pronunciation was a bit poor, but that was a trivial matter.
The proof was that the voice knew her father's name and why she had crossed the border into the southerners' land.
She had never once spoken her father's name since coming south, after all.
Great Storm.
The guardian deity worshiped by the Great Storm Tribe.
One of the beings known as Wild Gods in the Hero Legend series.
"Red Wind. A great crisis is approaching your entire tribe—indeed, the entire Great Plains."
Red Wind flinched. Could her father's illness also be connected to this great crisis?
"You are correct. Red Wind, daughter of Red Gale, my child. I sent a revelation to two humans of the south, and they rescued you. Stay with them. Help them. They will overcome the crisis threatening the north."
"Humans of the south......?"
Red Wind raised her head and asked.
She still couldn't properly open her eyes because of the dazzling light, but she could faintly make out a person's silhouette.
It was the silhouette of an exceedingly beautiful woman.
"A man and a woman. The woman is Cordelia. The man is Yuder. The red-haired woman is very beautiful and kind, though sometimes fierce. She is like a little beast. The man is handsome, admirable, and kind—a truly good person who always understands that beast-like girl. For the record, the woman is completely smitten with the man... or so I hear."
Why did the lines suddenly feel a little strange?
What on earth was this saying?
Cordelia, playing Great Storm, shot Yuder a questioning look, but he feigned ignorance. So she continued reading the northern barbarian lines he had written phonetically in Hangul, without knowing what they meant.
"Child, trust the two of them. Help the two of them. The two of them will become your friends."
That was all.
The moment Cordelia finished reading, Yuder pumped sleep gas—made by combining Sleep and Wind magic circles—into the room again. Red Wind, still low-level and with little magic resistance, quickly fell back into a deep sleep.
"Good, let's quickly tie her up again."
Cordelia, who had been standing on the magic circle for projecting light, quickly stepped down and entered the room.
Inside the room, the various magic circles they had set up to deceive Red Wind's senses were active.
Each was only a low-grade spell, but with so many working together they could create a surprisingly convincing illusion.
"If she wakes up restrained just like when she fell asleep, she'll think this moment was a dream."
"And then we approach Red Wind saying we received Great Storm's revelation, right?"
"Exactly. Then Red Wind will trust us."
After all, this was guidance from Great Storm, the guardian of her tribe.
"Ugh...... it makes sense, but something feels off."
"It's for the greater good. Bear with it."
"How should I put it...... isn't this exactly the kind of line villains say in games or movies?"
The kind who go on about noble causes while pursuing their own interests.
"Hey, no way. It really is for the greater good. Anyway, let's quickly restrain her and clean up the magic circles."
"Hmph."
Cordelia reluctantly nodded and began restraining the deeply sleeping Red Wind, while Yuder hurriedly removed the magic circles.
And again, about an hour later.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
At the soft, pleasant voice, Red Wind woke from sleep. She tried to open her eyes right away, but the pitch-black blindfold kept her from seeing anything.
"Wait a moment, I'll untie you soon."
The continental common tongue.
The language spoken by the humans who guarded the Wall.
Red Wind was not fluent, but she could speak the language haltingly and understood it fairly well.
'Great Storm.......'
Was it a dream, or was it truly a revelation?
Red Wind swallowed hard as if trying to calm herself, and at that moment the darkness vanished from her vision.
"Ugh......."
She groaned and adjusted to the light. Two faces came into view.
A girl so beautiful it made her eyes widen, and a boy just as handsome.
As Red Wind unconsciously began recalling Great Storm's words, Cordelia dealt the finishing blow.
"Hello, um...... I'm Cordelia. And this is my fiancé, Yuder."
Cordelia and Yuder.
The names Great Storm had spoken!
"I, I am......."
That was as far as she got. Rather than rashly blurting out Great Storm's name, Red Wind awkwardly pushed herself upright. The shackles on her hands and feet were already gone.
"You don't need to be wary. Great Storm guided us. That's also why we bought you at the auction house."
At Yuder's words, Cordelia nodded, then abruptly took Red Wind's hand.
"You were really scared, weren't you? It's okay now. We'll help you."
Great Storm.
Her revelation.
Cordelia's warm hand and glistening eyes.
Her wariness vanished as if it had never been there. Red Wind had forced herself to stay hard-hearted ever since crossing the border, but she could not hold on any longer.
Her heart was at ease.
The tension left her body.
Tears poured from both eyes like a bursting dam.
"Waaah!"
Because she was still just a sixteen-year-old girl.
"It's okay, it's okay."
When Cordelia hugged the sobbing Red Wind tightly, her crying only grew louder instead of subsiding.
But it was fine. Cordelia comforted Red Wind, and Red Wind wept sorrowfully in Cordelia's arms for a long while.
And Yuder, who had been watching this whole scene, thought:
'Bingo.'
It was a somewhat inappropriate thought amid the heartwarming scene, but they had succeeded in breaking down Red Wind's wariness.
They would be able to build a rapport with Red Wind without wasting time or causing trouble.
'If the result was good, that was all that mattered.'
Mm-hm.
Having justified himself, Yuder watched Cordelia and Red Wind with a satisfied expression.
* * *
"I know. Place to cross border. Guards lax. Gap. Blind spot?"
The next morning.
Red Wind, who had cried herself to sleep, spoke haltingly while eating a sandwich Yuder had ordered through room service.
"Can you guide us?"
"Path only our tribe knows. Secret. But I tell you. Cordelia my friend. Yuder Cordelia's person."
The bashful smile she gave at the end somehow looked a little mischievous, but Cordelia only tilted her head before turning to Yuder.
"We're leaving right away, right?"
"We should. We've already stayed two days, so pursuers from either the Count Hraesvelgr Household or the Devil's Hand will be on our tail."
"We're fugitives."
The two of them used Korean when having private conversations.
Thanks to that, Red Wind tilted her head back and forth, not understanding what they were saying, and Cordelia turned back to her and said,
"We'll leave after eating. Please guide us. You know how to ride a horse, right?"
"I ride horse well. I guide."
Red Wind answered spiritedly, then stuffed the remaining sandwich piece into her mouth in one bite and gulped down her milk to finish her meal.
"Okay, then let's head out right away."
The luggage was already loaded onto the horses.
Yuder took the lead with the Sword of the Eastern Warrior at his waist. Cordelia followed with the Heavenly Judgment on her back, using the Holy Staff as a walking stick while looking after Red Wind.
"Sorry, but you'll have to keep wearing it until we cross the border."
"It's fine. Can't help it. I know too."
It was because of the slave collar around Red Wind's neck.
With her snow-white hair and long ears, Red Wind stood out just as much as Yuder and Cordelia.
If a northern barbarian walked around without a slave collar, everyone would find it strange.
"Uh...... who's riding in front this time?"
After they checked out, the stable keeper already had Yuder and Cordelia's horses waiting outside.
Since there were three people, two of them had to ride together, so Yuder asked, and Cordelia blinked and answered.
"Should I ride in front?"
"As my lady wishes."
But right at that moment.
"Cordelia ride with me. I lighter than Yuder. Better for horse."
It was true. Either way, Yuder had recently been growing taller and putting on muscle.
"Uh...... yeah, that's true?"
"Yeah."
The two answered somewhat awkwardly for no obvious reason, then mounted their horses. Red Wind settled in behind Cordelia.
And just before departure.
"Ah!"
"Hm?"
When Red Wind suddenly made a sound as if she had realized something, Cordelia turned around, and Red Wind spoke with an apologetic expression.
"Forgot. From now on, I read the mood. Be considerate."
"Huh......?"
Be considerate?
What was she talking about?
But Red Wind said no more, and although Cordelia was suspicious, she didn't pry further. She had a strange feeling about it.
And one person.
"......Anyway, let's go."
Yuder, who smiled bitterly, took the lead, and the three of them began riding north.
And at the same time, in the former Northern Viscounty.
Gale and Adelia had used every trick they could think of to cut down their travel time, even healing their horses with recovery magic whenever they tired. Now they faced each other with furrowed brows.
"You're saying they're heading north?"
"Yes, they're continuing to move north."
Adelia also tilted her head repeatedly as if she found it strange.
The last place Yuder and Cordelia had been spotted was Frost Anvil.
Since it was located at the northwestern edge, it wasn't impossible for them to go north.
If they continued north, they would reach the bustling city of Lankebust, and farther on lay Thunderdoom Fortress, the ravens' nest.
But it was strange.
Even if Lankebust was one thing, there was no way Yuder and Cordelia would head to Thunderdoom Fortress.
Moreover, the direction the tracking magic pointed.
According to the map, the two were heading somewhere other than Thunderdoom Fortress.
Where in the world were they going?
Could they really be trying to cross the border?
"Kidnapping."
"Pardon?"
"Couldn't they have been kidnapped? Perhaps the Devil's Hand captured them and is forcing them north..."
Gale flinched and stopped mid-sentence when he saw Adelia's terrifying expression.
"It's possible."
"Hey, Lady Adelia? It's only speculation......"
"Let's hurry."
Without waiting for Gale's answer, Adelia mounted and took off. Gale hurried after her.
And again, another place.
A sparsely traveled forest.
"They're heading north. We will meet them at the northern end."
At Kanos's words, spoken while hiding in the shadows, Soluzia nodded.
Kanos's foresight rarely activated, but when it did, it was remarkably accurate.
"They're going to the northern border region."
This time, they would definitely catch them.
The Demonic Humans led by Soluzia began to move.
And one person.
Someone whom neither Yuder and Cordelia nor anyone else had considered was also heading north.