Ending Maker Chapter 67
Ending Maker Chapter 67
Chapter 20 - Rough Avalanche #4
The battle was over.
They had defeated not only Zaracul, the wicked mid-ranking Demonic Human who had tried to corrupt the Dragon Vein, but every corrupted Angry Rhino warrior he had brought with him.
Cordelia, who had recovered to some extent, spoke with a beautiful smile.
"You can rest easy now. Those bastards have been punished for damaging the sanctuary."
"You're the ones who wrecked it! You did!"
"Tch."
That didn't work.
Cordelia clicked her tongue and pouted, while Yuder put on his best salesman smile.
"Rough Avalanche, the situation was so urgent that we had no choice. Although the sanctuary was partially damaged, did we not repel the enemy and protect the Dragon Vein?"
"This is partial? This is partial?!"
"It's not completely destroyed, is it?"
Cordelia quietly slipped that in, and Rough Avalanche clutched the back of his neck and staggered.
Perhaps because he was an adorable baby bear, even that sight was cute.
"Ugh...... ugh...... my blood pressure...... At least it's a rocky mountain, so that's a relief."
If it had been an ordinary mountain, countless animals would have lost their lives while the mountain collapsed.
Yuder approached Rough Avalanche in a friendly manner and spoke.
"Anyway, we defeated them."
"That's right, we defeated them, Rough Avalanche. We protected the sanctuary together with you."
Yuder and Cordelia spoke one after the other, and Rough Avalanche narrowed his eyes. There was something pointed behind every word.
"We repelled not only the mid-ranking Demonic Human but also the corrupted barbarian warriors."
"Yuder's right. If it weren't for us, the Dragon Vein would have been corrupted. You would have been corrupted too, Rough Avalanche. Ah...... isn't it horrifying just to imagine?"
Silent pressure.
No, pressure through last words.
Rough Avalanche backed away without realizing it and finally understood what the handsome young man and beautiful young woman—no, the two pests closing in on him—wanted.
"Are you saying you want a...... reward?"
"Rather than a reward...... how should I put it...... wouldn't it be fair compensation?"
"Give and take!"
"Great Storm showed the generosity worthy of a wild god."
"That's right, that's right. He gave us all sorts of things."
Cordelia tapped the Arrow of Winged Wind, then conspicuously held up her left arm to show off the tattoo.
Then Rough Avalanche muttered as if resisting.
"The mountain...... collapsed."
"It didn't completely collapse."
"It was a necessary sacrifice. Everyone will remember the noble sacrifice."
Though by 'everyone,' she probably meant only Yuder, Cordelia, and Rough Avalanche himself.
"Haa...... I suppose it can't be helped."
Either way, if it hadn't been for Yuder and Cordelia, not only would the Dragon Vein have been corrupted, but Rough Avalanche himself would have been corrupted as well.
They had saved not only his life, but his sanctuary and the Dragon Vein as well. A reward was only fair.
"But children, I have lost my true body, and the sanctuary has been damaged. The Dragon Vein also avoided corruption but suffered a great blow."
"Yes, I know."
Cordelia answered with a look that practically said, 'Don't try to con us,' and this time Rough Avalanche clicked his tongue.
And Yuder thought.
'As expected, the holy relic is safe.'
Like the Arrow of Winged Wind bestowed by Great Storm, Rough Avalanche was sure to possess a holy relic as well.
Just as Yuder expected, Rough Avalanche plopped down and began explaining as he looked at Cordelia.
"I don't have a tribe under my care, so unlike that Great Storm brat I don't own holy relics made for humans to use. Weapons, armor, things like that."
"I understand."
Great Storm had created relics like the Arrow of Winged Wind to bestow on the Great Storm Tribe, not for his own use.
It would have been stranger if Rough Avalanche, who had no tribe under his care, happened to own weapons or armor made for humans.
"So I shall give you this."
Rough Avalanche dug at the ground beside him, and an improbably large blue gem emerged from the earth.
"This is......."
"A Freezing Stone!"
"Wow! This shows up here?"
A Freezing Stone.
A beautiful gem formed from condensed cold yin mana.
But it was not merely beautiful.
The Freezing Stone held 'frozen time' within it.
'In other words, it was one of the main ingredients for Ancestral Regression.'
It was a material that required considerable hardship to obtain, so being able to get it here was truly fortunate.
"We're lucky."
While Yuder hummed and nodded to himself, Cordelia giggled and hugged the Freezing Stone Rough Avalanche offered tightly to her chest.
"It's pretty. Thank you, Rough Avalanche."
"Hmm...... I'm glad you like it."
Whatever else one might say, Cordelia really was very, very pretty.
Several days of sleeping outdoors and hard travel had left her unable to properly freshen up, yet Cordelia's lively smile still rivaled a goddess's.
Of course, being a bear, Rough Avalanche's sense of beauty differed somewhat from a human's. But he could still marvel at a sunset that summoned the night and lose himself in the glorious light of dawn.
Rough Avalanche smiled warmly. Yuder felt an inexplicable swell of pride, smiled to himself, and stepped forward.
"I think we should discuss the next matter now. You said they were trying to corrupt the Dragon Vein—could you tell us in a bit more detail?"
"Of course. This is a grave crisis. Every wild god in the Wild Lands... no, every living creature here must face it together!"
Rough Avalanche sprang to his feet in excitement. Yuder nodded, then faced him with a serious expression.
"It appears the Angry Rhino Tribe has been corrupted. The Demonic Human also seems to belong to a demon-worshipper organization called the Devil's Eye."
"What? How do you know that?"
Rough Avalanche knew only that they were demon worshippers; he knew nothing about their tribe or organization. When he asked with wide eyes, Yuder briefly explained where they had come from.
"We came to the Wild Lands at the request of the Guardians of the Holy Cross after learning that the Devil's Eye was making suspicious moves. On top of that, the Witch's Soul and the Fairy Queens warned us of a threat in the north."
"Ooh......."
In truth, Rough Avalanche did not know much about the Guardians of the Holy Cross. He also knew almost nothing about the Fairy Queens and the Witch's Soul.
Oddly enough, that made Rough Avalanche feel safer. An unknown threat had appeared, but so had unknown allies.
And Cordelia thought.
'Wow...... he really is a con artist.'
Inside the border, Yuder had shamelessly name-dropped the wild gods whenever it helped him. The moment they crossed it, he started name-dropping southern organizations and the Witch's Soul instead.
'He'd probably sell umbrellas in the desert too.'
It sounded exactly like something Yuder would do, and Cordelia could not help laughing.
'Because he's my Yuder.'
He was reliability itself.
And at the same time.
At that same moment, Cordelia was grinning as she watched Yuder hold a serious discussion with Rough Avalanche.
A similar situation was unfolding near the border.
* * *
"The Great Wall is exactly what the name says: a great wall. And because it is so enormous, there is no way to watch every part of it perfectly."
Moreover, the Great Wall had not been built in a straight line on flat ground as if drawing a line on a map.
The actual terrain was a mess.
Mountains and valleys lay everywhere, and even where there were no rivers or forests, the ground itself still rose and fell.
The Great Wall therefore had to follow and adapt to the natural terrain, which inevitably created blind spots.
"And ultimately, it is people who guard it. We can spot a large-scale invasion before it reaches the Great Wall, but a handful of people slipping across is almost impossible to monitor from the outset."
These were the words of the heir to House Bayel, whose heads had served as margraves of the frontier for generations.
'He has credibility......!'
No, it was not simply because of his birth.
The moment Gale learned that Yuder and Cordelia had crossed the border, his entire attitude toward this matter changed.
It was not to say that he had not been serious until now.
Gale had always been serious, but until now he had mostly followed Adelia's lead instead of taking charge himself.
But now it was different. He was stepping forward proactively and working to resolve the situation.
'He seems like an expert.'
The way Gale explained the Great Wall and the ravens made him look every inch the expert.
Perhaps because of that, Gale looked somehow more handsome than before.
'He was handsome to begin with, though.'
Yuder had not a single likable quality in Adelia's eyes, but she acknowledged his looks at least.
'Even if he does look too frail.'
In any case, Yuder was someone for whom even the word 'beautiful' was fitting.
Gale was Yuder's older brother, and brothers tended to resemble each other.
But Gale was the picture of health. He was also a master swordsman widely expected to inherit the title of one of the Ten Great Swordsmen after Count Bayel.
Take Yuder's features, remove the frailty, and add Gale's sturdy build, and the result could hardly be anything but handsome.
'No, this isn't it.'
This was no time to be evaluating Gale's appearance.
In fact, Gale was explaining how they would cross the border with an entirely serious expression.
"Unfortunately, we will have to abandon the horses."
"It can't be helped."
If someone else had said it, Adelia would have objected, asking whether they really had to abandon them and whether there was some other way, but she nodded obediently without realizing it.
Gale sounded like someone worth trusting.
'If this man says so, then that's how it is.'
Gale looked briefly surprised by Adelia's answer. Then he smiled faintly and continued.
"It will be quite a grueling journey."
"It's been grueling so far too. You know how many days we've been riding, right?"
"Of course I do."
Since leaving home, they had ridden nearly every single day until reaching this place.
Riding a horse was harder than one might think.
It drained stamina badly, and the pain in the hips and thighs was no joke either.
Yet they had ridden every day for more than ten days.
At that pace, even ordinary knights would have started complaining from exhaustion.
'But.......'
Gale looked at Adelia without realizing it.
She had not once said that it was hard on the way here.
It was not because it truly was not hard.
It was hard.
Even Gale was exhausted. For Adelia, who was both a woman and a mage rather than a trained knight, the journey had to be harder still.
But she deliberately did not say it was hard.
Strong will.
She simply endured the hardship for the sake of the mission.
'This is the first time...'
At least, he had never met a young lady like her.
Of course, he had seen a few female knights with similar dispositions, but the Adelia before his eyes was a mage.
Her situation was different from female knights who had trained since childhood to become knights.
'She is beautiful.'
At first he had thought her eyes were fierce, but now they somehow looked different.
Was it because those eyes now seemed to hold such strong will, glittering almost like jewels?
And although her constant frown tended to hide it, Adelia was strikingly beautiful in her own right.
Just as Gale was Yuder's older brother, Adelia was Cordelia's older sister.
"Gale?"
Just then, Adelia looked up at Gale and asked. Their height difference was close to 20 cm, so it was only natural.
But Gale instinctively looked away. His heart had given a small, unexpected flutter.
'How long has it been?'
There was a reason Gale had remained unmarried into his late twenties.
He told others that there was already a lady in his heart, but that was only an excuse. The real reason was different.
Count Bayel also knew the reason, which was why he did not pressure Gale to marry.
"Gale? Are you sick?"
"No, I'm not. My temperature just rose a little."
Gale gave a vague answer, then shook his head hard to drive away the distracting thoughts.
What mattered now was catching up to Yuder and Cordelia. He had to think only of that.
"I don't know much about the Wild Lands either. Once we're across, I'll be counting on you, Lady Adelia."
The tracking spell on Count Chase's ring.
Adelia nodded and spoke.
"Don't worry. I'll definitely get it done. And......."
"And?"
"A sword in your hands should be something I can trust even beyond the border, Lord Gale."
Adelia spoke quickly, and at that moment, both of them were flustered, if only slightly.
Both the speaker and the listener had surprised themselves.
That was only natural, since Adelia had always been prickly with him ever since they met.
"I am honored by your trust. I will do my utmost to protect you, Lady Adelia."
"Let's go quickly."
For some reason Adelia found it difficult to meet Gale's bright smile, so she hurriedly looked away. Gale, as always, stepped forward with the same reassuring confidence.
And at the same time, in a place far to the south.
"Uh...... how should I put it, isn't this a good thing for now?"
The study of House Chase.
Edward Chase—the handsome, long platinum-blond eldest son and heir of House Chase—was speaking with his father for the first time in a while. Count Chase frowned.
"A good thing?"
"No...... Adelia does need to meet someone, after all."
In terms of magical talent alone, Adelia was the best of the three siblings.
Perhaps because of that—or because she resembled their father most—Adelia had never had much luck with romance since childhood.
So if she had actually eloped for love—a phrase that fit Adelia so poorly it was almost absurd—shouldn't the family welcome it with open arms?
'And if the partner is Gale, there's nothing bad about it either.'
He was capable, from a good family, had a good personality, and was even handsome.
He was practically the perfect marriage prospect.
To be frank, Edward thought Gale was almost too good a match for Adelia, not the other way around.
'Of course, that's only if it really was an elopement for love.'
Unlike the concerns of Count Chase or Count Bayel, Edward saw the loss of contact between Gale and Adelia as fundamentally different in nature from the loss of contact with the youngest ones.
'There must be some reason.'
Bold—no, downright extreme though she could be, Adelia was not the kind of person who acted without thinking.
Gale was even more so.
So the possibility that it was a reckless elopement for love was extremely low.
Rather, it was more reasonable to think that some 'circumstance' had arisen that forced them to cut off contact.
"In any case, we cannot simply sit back and watch."
Following Yuder and Cordelia, now Gale and Adelia had gone missing.
The social circles catching fire was a secondary problem.
The most important thing was securing the safety of the two couples(?).
"If it's Adelia and Gale, they'll be fine. The problem is Cordelia and Yuder."
Gale's sword aura was already evaluated by some as approaching the level of the Ten Great Swordsmen.
Add to that Adelia, who was the commander of the Royal Guard Magic Corps, and the two seemed harder to put in danger than anyone.
But Yuder and Cordelia were a different story.
They had to secure the safety of those two as soon as possible.
"Shall I step in? The Count Bayel Household has no daughter, so there's no risk of me losing contact too."
At Edward's half-joking words, Count Chase shook his head.
"A pursuit team has already been prepared. Focus on your training. I told you because it is a weighty matter, but reaching the next stage is also important for you."
"Understood."
Edward, who had readily accepted, paid his respects and was about to withdraw.
But it was right at that moment.
"By the way, Edward."
"Yes, Father."
"Weren't you close with that Gale fellow when you were young?"
"We're still relatively close even now."
Edward had few people he could call friends, and Gale was someone he could count among the very first.
"I see. Then do you know what Gale likes?"
"Pardon?"
"I'm asking just in case. One must prepare for contingencies, after all."
Edward stared quietly at his father's solemn face, then narrowed his brow, but as always, he did not think too deeply about it.
As Count Chase requested, he began talking about the things Gale preferred.