Ending Maker Chapter 77
Ending Maker Chapter 77
Chapter 25 - An Unexpected Encounter
Gale and Adelia tried to set out for the Gentle Snow Breeze tribe's village right away, but things did not proceed as they had hoped.
It was because the terrain of the Wild Lands was as vast and featureless as an open sea.
"Even with a map, outsiders are bound to get lost. Wait just a little. We'll send a messenger to the Gentle Snow Breeze tribe, so go with them—or so he says?"
Rough Avalanche, who had sunk his body into a leather chair that looked comfortable just to look at, said while patting his bulging belly.
Seated beside him was Red Gale, the chieftain of the Great Storm tribe.
"Yuder and Cordelia. Our benefactors and friends. You, their siblings, are also our friends. So we will help. But wait."
When Red Gale spoke in the common tongue, albeit awkwardly, Adelia frowned and turned to Gale, and Gale soothed Adelia with a smile that seemed to say it couldn't be helped.
"Red Gale, may I ask when the messenger will depart?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"Understood. Then we will wait until tomorrow morning."
"Thank you for understanding."
Gale, who had answered Red Gale with a smile, stepped outside together with Adelia, who still wore a slightly dissatisfied expression.
"Lord Gale, will it be all right?"
"I am quite worried as well, but... either way, this is the Wild Lands. Since it is a place we know almost nothing about, it would be best to receive their assistance. That way, we might actually arrive sooner."
"Ugh... It would be nice if we could leave this afternoon."
"They are already doing us a kindness. At this point, it would be good for us to step back a little as well."
When Gale spoke gently again, Adelia reluctantly nodded.
It was a strange thing. If her adjutant Oron or her fellow commander Katan had said something like this, she would have felt resistance first.
But when Gale said it, she simply wanted to go along with it.
"Now, since it's come to this, let's go to our lodging and shake off the travel fatigue. It's been a forced march, so you've had a hard time, haven't you? I'll brew you some tea that's good for recovering from fatigue."
"Yes, Lord Gale."
Adelia, who had answered with a bright smile without realizing it, was flustered once again, and Gale, who was seeing Adelia's radiant smile for the first time, was flustered as well.
'Why am I acting like this?'
'She's... pretty.'
And at that moment.
Rough Avalanche, who had been watching Gale and Adelia frozen by their respective embarrassment from beyond the doorway, clicked his tongue.
"They're the same. Exactly the same."
Rough Avalanche clicked his tongue once more and thought of that maddening couple.
Siblings really did seem to resemble each other.
* * *
A place where a white snowfield stretched endlessly.
Cordelia was sending Yuder a gaze that resembled Rough Avalanche more than Adelia.
"Sometimes I can't tell if you're smart or stupid."
"Sob sob."
Yuder and Cordelia were walking across a snowfield where their feet sank in with every step.
Rather than heading somewhere in particular, it was movement to find a place to rest for the day.
"You're a real child. A child."
The reason for the criticism was simple.
Because Yuder, who had carried Cordelia and unleashed Black Wind Arrival, had gotten too carried away.
Because he had focused only on running, he had ended up straying far from the originally set route, and the problem was that he didn't clearly know how far off course they were.
No matter how much they had a compass and a map, since the map wasn't accurately scaled to begin with, they couldn't easily find their way again.
The only fortunate thing was that constellations would appear at night, and that they had learned from the Gentle Snow Breeze tribe how to use the constellations to find their way to Bladebeak Canyon.
'If you keep going in the direction where the Great Axe constellation is, you'll eventually find it.'
It was Fine Eyes’s teaching.
"But Yuder."
"Stop with the criticism."
"I won't. I just suddenly got curious about something."
"About what?"
When Yuder turned around and asked, Cordelia naturally stretched both arms forward.
Yuder, who knew what that posture meant, narrowed his eyes first.
"Hey, you said you were curious about something."
"My legs hurt too."
"Our princess, haven't you been walking on your own two feet a bit too rarely lately?"
"I have a daddy who's gotten sturdy from leveling up."
"Our princess needs to become independent too. You can't stay in daddy's arms forever, you know?"
"Cordelia is going to be a kangaroo tribe member."
"...Somehow I feel wretched even though I’m not your real dad. I miss my father-in-law."
"Anyway, so are you going to carry me or not? Did you do well getting lost, or did you mess up?"
"I messed up."
"Then hurry up."
In the end, Yuder handed the backpack to Cordelia, and Cordelia put on the backpack and hopped onto Yuder's back.
"So what are you curious about?"
When Yuder adjusted Cordelia on his back and asked, Cordelia grabbed Yuder's shoulders and said.
"Wouldn't it be easier to get carried if you attached handles here?"
"Hey, you don't have anything you're curious about, do you?"
"No, I do. First of all, the Nine Heavens Nine Gates. You said you saw the fairy lady, right?"
"I did."
The woman he had seen in the mental world.
Yuder had been able to learn two techniques from her: Black Dragon Emerges and Black Wind Arrival.
"From now on, every time you open a gate, the fairy lady will come out and teach you new techniques, right?"
"Probably?"
"Good, good. You've properly started riding the tech tree. I like it."
Unlike Cordelia herself, whose tech tree of learning new magic by leveling up had been established long ago, Yuder's growth route had been somewhat ambiguous until now.
"It finally feels a bit clearer now."
Every time he raised the level of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates, he could learn new martial arts.
His existing martial arts would also be strengthened.
"But Yuder. Didn't Landius tell you about this kind of thing?"
"Master... probably didn't see her."
"The fairy lady?"
"Yeah."
"Why? Because the fairy lady hates macho men?"
"You're not being serious, right?"
"I'm not. Is it because of the Heavenly Martial Body after all?"
"Probably."
The Nine Heavens Nine Gates was a divine art that only the Heavenly Martial Body could fully master.
Because of that, Landius had not been able to fully master the Nine Heavens Nine Gates even though he had awakened the power of a giant through Ancestral Regression.
'Still, since he awakened the power of a giant, he must have reached the seventh gate.'
He had been able to tell after opening the third gate this time.
Even for Yuder, who had the Heavenly Martial Body, in order to open a new gate, his foundational body needed to become stronger than before.
That requirement increased with each higher-level gate, and for someone without the Heavenly Martial Body to learn the Nine Heavens Nine Gates, they needed a far more powerful body.
'Now that I think about it, he really is amazing.'
Because he had forced his way open to the seventh gate.
It was a result made possible only because truly tremendous physical ability backed it up.
'So there was a reason he kept going on about muscle loss.'
Because without those incredible muscles, he wouldn't have been able to endure the Nine Heavens Nine Gates.
"Hehe, so our Yuder has the Heavenly Martial Body, huh. Good, good. I like it."
Cordelia, who had laughed in a good mood, ruffled Yuder's hair and continued speaking.
"But Yuder."
"Yeah."
"You learned the Nine Heavens Nine Gates by chance, right? Meeting Master Landius too."
"Yeah."
"Then originally, how were you planning to get stronger?"
The original Yuder had learned the martial arts of the Count Bayel Household and grown into an orthodox swordsman.
But since the current Yuder had left home far earlier than in the original, he had only learned part of the Count Bayel Household's martial arts.
"Originally."
"Yeah yeah, originally?"
"I was planning to suck the martial arts of the Count Hraesvelgr Household dry, then learn Red Gale's martial arts in the Wild Lands."
Either way, Yuder had the Heavenly Martial Body.
If he set his mind to it and clung on, stealing and learning martial arts wasn't impossible.
Moreover, wasn't Lucas extremely favorable toward Yuder?
"I was planning to learn from Red Gale as repayment for saving Red Wind."
"You're an omnivore."
"Anyway, I was planning to learn the Imperial Sword Art after the mid-game."
The ancient sword art that Maximilian, the true protagonist of Hero Legend 2, would inherit.
But now his thinking had changed.
"In the final expansion, Yuder would have learned the Nine Heavens Nine Gates anyway. But since he's entered the Nine Heavens Nine Gates much earlier, there's no need to get distracted. Besides, there's Landius and Kamael too, right?"
"Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang."
"The Yin-Yang Body that can hold both in one body."
At this point, he already had more than enough in terms of martial arts.
If it weren't for the major events he absolutely had to intervene in, like rescuing Lena and stopping the Angry Rhino Tribe, Yuder would have just followed Landius or Kamael around and trained.
"Anyway, first I'll develop the Nine Heavens Nine Gates as my base... and I'm thinking of developing one sub-class."
"You're going to multi-class?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking of developing my scroll-crafting ability a bit more."
Yuder was already making good use of scrolls, but most of them were limited to basic magic.
That was because putting high-level magic into scrolls required magical ability to match.
"Hmm, good. You've thought enough about how to get stronger. Big sis is really happy that our Yuder is growing up well."
Cordelia stroked Yuder's head, and Yuder quietly accepted the touch.
Because it strangely felt good.
Anyway, how much time had passed as they chattered and moved forward like always?
After reaching the top of a low hill, Yuder and Cordelia looked toward the same place at the same time.
"Aaaaah!"
A man in white clothes was running madly across the white snowfield.
Perhaps because there was no one around anyway, instead of shouting for help, he was just screaming.
And right behind that man.
A giant monster running across the snowfield, shaking the very earth.
"Whoa, is that a White Giant Bear? So that's what they look like before being corrupted."
"It's bigger than I thought."
Its body length alone looked to be a full six meters.
"We should save him, right?"
"You don't turn down quests."
Cordelia hopped down from behind Yuder's back, and Yuder straightened his back and lightly loosened up his limbs.
"He's good at running away."
"Right?"
Despite his short limbs, the fleeing man was quite—no, really fast on his feet.
That was also why Yuder and Cordelia hadn't immediately rushed in.
"But doesn't he look familiar?"
"Short limbs but incredibly fast."
"Dwarf."
"Black beard and bald."
"Ah, his hat flew off."
The running man’s hat came off, revealing his smooth scalp gleaming in the sunlight.
"It's probably him, right?"
"Indiana Kaplan."
"Adventurer and archaeologist of the Argon Empire."
"A man who thrives on bad luck. Troublemaker. Bringer of calamity."
He was a great man who had explored countless ruins and produced brilliant results, but just as his nicknames suggested, he was a man who always dragged trouble around with him.
Because of that, he was one of the NPCs that beginners in Hero Legend 2 had to avoid if they met him.
But not for rotten fossils like Yuder and Cordelia.
Rather, he was a very welcome figure.
"So he was here at this point in time."
"Uh... then wouldn't he survive even if we don't save him here?"
"Who knows. Anyway, let's save him. At this rate he's really going to get caught."
Cordelia took off the backpack, and Yuder kicked off the ground and leaped. He immediately shouted to Cordelia, who cast Haste and followed.
"I'll show you something cool!"
"Bullshit!"
But Yuder had confirmed that Cordelia's two eyes were sparkling with anticipation. Moreover, Yuder still had a new technique he hadn't shown Cordelia yet.
"Take care of Kaplan!"
"Okay!"
Yuder and Cordelia shot forward like arrows.
As they plowed through the snowfield with fierce whirlwinds, Kaplan and the White Giant Bear, who had been in the midst of a breathless chase, also turned to look toward the two.
"Hoo."
Yuder let out a breath. At that moment, he kicked off the ground and activated Black Wind Arrival, and the afterimage of black wind dazzled the White Giant Bear's eyes.
"Groooar!"
The Giant Bear, which had been running on all fours to chase Kaplan, reared up and roared.
But even though it had widened its field of vision, Yuder was not visible in its eyes.
What was going on?
The Giant Bear hurriedly looked around.
At that very moment, Cordelia, who had grabbed Kaplan's arm, looked up at the sky with an exclamation.
"Oh?"
A black wind that had shot up into the sky.
From well over ten meters up, Yuder descended upon the earth. He thrust out a palm toward the crown of the White Giant Bear's head.
What was released because of it.
A dragon's roar that shook the atmosphere!
ROOOOAR—!
The energy of a black dragon emerged. As if it had truly become a dragon, it opened its mouth wide and charged, swallowing the White Giant Bear's head.
Boom!
With a thunderous sound, the White Giant Bear collapsed. But the black dragon's energy did not stop.
It did not stop at bringing the beast down, but shook the ground. The intense wave of energy scattered the snow within a radius of over ten meters in an instant, exposing the ground beneath.
"Wow."
Cordelia marveled at the earth-shattering power, and Kaplan gaped in astonishment.
At that moment, Yuder landed on the chest of the unconscious White Giant Bear.
Since it was his first time using the technique, he had put a bit too much power into it and spent more than half his internal energy, but he was satisfied.
"How's that?"
In answer to Yuder's question, Cordelia responded with a seal-like clap.
But the time the two had to enjoy themselves was far too short. Even though Black Dragon Emerges had already ended, the ground suddenly began to rumble.
"Yuder?"
"Kaplan."
Yuder said, and Cordelia's eyes went wide.
Troublemaker Kaplan.
The man of misfortune who could bring a bolt from the blue even on a clear day.
"Damn it."
Along with Cordelia's single word, the ground collapsed.
They began to fall.
* * *
"Cordelia!"
"Leave Kaplan to me!"
They hadn't realized it because of the snow, but the spot where they had been standing must have been a gap in the canyon, because beneath their feet was a sheer drop of a thousand fathoms.
Cordelia hastily grabbed Kaplan and cast Fly magic to slow their fall, while Yuder kicked off debris and repeatedly stirred up wind.
"Yuder!"
"Don't worry!"
Golden whirlwinds circled around Yuder, and he created a vortex to slow his descent while kicking off the wall several times to prevent a vertical plummet.
Of course, it was no easy task.
Although Twenty-Four Gale Steps was a footwork technique that doubled as lightness skill, that did not make it a flight technique capable of soaring through the sky.
Yuder focused, and focused again.
At the same time as he stirred up wind, he read the wind rising between the cliffs.
He rode the wind and traced the trajectory of his fall in his head.
He kicked off a surface.
He corrected his trajectory and surveyed everything around him. Not just with his eyes—he mobilized all his senses and felt everything.
It grew darker and darker.
And then he heard a sound.
The sound of debris that had fallen first.
It was not the sound of something splashing in.
Nor was it the sound of something crashing and breaking.
Thud.
Below was a snowfield.
And one of considerable depth at that.
But it was clearly not completely soft. Beneath the piled snow, it would be frozen.
"Yuder!"
Once again, Cordelia's voice rang out.
Since she could cast Fly magic, she was descending at a far more stable speed than Yuder, but Kaplan was the problem.
Trying to hold onto him, with his weight equal to that of three grown men, made her arms ache as if they would be pulled off—even for Cordelia, whose physical abilities had been enhanced past level 40.
But she was worrying about Yuder more than her own arms or fingers.
"Yuder!"
Because Cordelia was below Yuder and looking up, she could at least confirm his position with her eyes.
But Yuder could not. As he struggled to ride the wind while falling frantically, it was too difficult to properly check what was beneath his feet.
"Cordelia!"
Yuder shouted again. He clearly remembered the direction from which Cordelia's voice had come, then stirred up the wind one last time.
WHOOSH—!
A rough wind split through the canyon.
Yuder finally landed on the ground, and he could see a small light glimmering some distance away.
"Yuder! Are you okay?!"
It was Cordelia. Beside her, where she had lit a small magical flame, Kaplan lay sprawled with a face drained white. It seemed he had fainted.
"What about you?"
"I'm fine."
Cordelia let out a sigh of relief and plopped down on the spot.
Yuder walked over to Cordelia and looked around.
As expected, they were between canyon walls, and they had descended so deep that the surroundings were dim and the cold was far from ordinary.
Even while receiving Winter's blessing, he felt cold.
"What about Kaplan?"
"I think he fainted."
Yuder looked up at the sky again. Even at the lowest estimate, the cliff looked over a hundred meters high.
"It was exactly a gap."
"As expected of Kaplan."
Of course, what had ultimately collapsed the ground was Black Dragon Emerges, but both Yuder and Cordelia considered Kaplan the culprit behind this situation.
Because in Hero Legend 2, whenever Kaplan got involved, situations like this often played out.
"What now?"
"Climbing back up... would be too much, right?"
"Probably."
If Cordelia were alone, she could probably manage somehow with Fly magic, but bringing Yuder and Kaplan along was too much.
"We don't have the wooden board either."
"Even if we did, wouldn't it be too much?"
"Hmm... yeah, probably."
Kaplan was too heavy.
Even with Yuder and Cordelia both on it, the wooden board had risen unsteadily.
"Rock climbing... Kaplan can't do that either."
"No, even I'd rather not at this height."
Climbing a hundred-meter canyon without rope or any proper safety gear was something even Yuder, with his Heavenly Martial Body, wanted to decline.
"Then our only option is to get out through this canyon?"
"Probably. And... maybe this actually worked out for the best."
At Yuder's words, Cordelia tilted her head, but soon grinned and said,
"Because it's Kaplan?"
"Because it's Kaplan."
Kaplan was not simply unlucky.
He was a man of powerful misfortune.
A man who always caused incidents and accidents, but who profited from those very incidents and accidents.
'Like falling off a cliff and finding a fortuitous encounter! That sort of thing.'
And at this very moment, had they not literally fallen off a cliff?
"No matter how much this is the Wild Lands, a canyon this size won't be common. The direction roughly matches too... so there's a high chance it connects to Bladebeak Canyon."
Moreover, Bladebeak Canyon contained the ruins of the Magical Kingdom built by the ancient elves.
"Why would Kaplan, who operates in the Argon Empire, be here?"
"It's because of the Magical Kingdom ruins, right?"
The story roughly fit together.
And when it came to ruin exploration, Kaplan was among the very best in Hero Legend 2, one way or another.
He always seemed like an adventurer—being chased by someone or overcoming traps—but his actual profession was archaeologist.
"Amazing. So real misfortune does exist."
To think the ground would collapse and they would fall into a canyon hidden beneath the snow.
As Cordelia blinked in fresh amazement and looked down at Kaplan, Yuder shrugged as well.
"Well... magic exists too."
So there could be at least one person like this, as if by magic.
"Ugh... anyway, we lost our luggage again."
Cordelia said with a gloomy face.
It was the luggage they had newly packed when leaving the Gentle Snow Breeze tribe's village, and they had lost it all again.
"Still, we have Kaplan's luggage, so we'll manage somehow."
Yuder said consolingly, and before waking Kaplan, he looked around the surroundings once more.
It was because, well, this was Kaplan—just in case.
"Wow, for real."
"What is it?"
"No, there's a place to rest for a bit."
A small cave was visible some distance away, and it looked sufficient for a short rest.
"Amazing."
"Anyway, let's go for now."
Yuder and Cordelia each grabbed Kaplan's legs and arms, then grunted and hauled him to the cave, and marveled once again.
"Wow, seriously."
"Is this really okay?"
Because upon closer inspection, it was not a natural cave but an artificial one.
It had been heavily worn down by the passage of many years, but they could even make out phrases written in the ancient elf language.
"We really must be near Bladebeak Canyon."
Otherwise, there was little way to explain ancient elf script being carved in a canyon like this out of nowhere.
Cordelia examined the unconscious Kaplan's face as if truly amazed, while Yuder frowned and tried to decipher the ancient elf script.
Not because he didn't know the ancient elf characters, but because the wear was so severe that the letters were hard to make out.
A few seconds passed like that.
This time, Yuder let out a dazed voice.
"Good heavens."
"Why? Is it a treasure vault or something?"
"No, that would be too random. No, this is even more random."
"What on earth is it?"
"A hot spring."
"Huh?"
"A hot spring."
When Yuder said it again, Cordelia blinked. Then she promptly dropped Kaplan's hands she had been holding and shouted.
"A hot spring?!"
"Yeah, a hot spring. But Kaplan's head hit the ground first."
Fortunately, thanks to the piled snow, Kaplan wasn't particularly hurt.
Cordelia awkwardly picked up Kaplan's arms again and asked Yuder,
"Really? Really really a hot spring? It says hot spring?"
"Yeah, it seems there's something like an underground water vein."
"Is it still there? It has to be. It will be, right?!"
"I don't know. And even if it's not, the important thing is the tub, isn't it?"
"Right. If it's a hot spring, there'll be somewhere to hold water."
"We can fill it with water and boil it."
"Wow wow, a hot spring. A bath. A bath for the first time in forever!"
Cordelia had effectively not had a proper bath since crossing into the Wild Lands.
On the other hand, she had sweated an enormous amount, so right now a hot spring was more welcome than a treasure vault.
"A real lucky charm, a lucky charm."
Cordelia giggled and looked at Kaplan as if he were utterly adorable. If left alone, she looked like she might even kiss Kaplan on the head.
So Yuder quickly opened his mouth.
"Anyway, let's hurry inside."
"Okay!"
Cordelia answered brightly and entered the cave while humming, and the two soon marveled once again.
"It's real."
"It's a real bathhouse."
There were places worn down or broken here and there from the passage of time, but the inside of the cave, far wider than expected, was a bathhouse itself.
Large stone tubs and pillars placed between them.
What was even more surprising was that hot spring water was still gushing out.
"Sob. Sob sob."
"Co-Cordelia?"
"I'm so happy. I'm so happy."
Cordelia even shed tears of emotion, then set Kaplan down on the flat floor and turned to Yuder.
"I'll wash first."
"Uh... sure."
Bathing was important, after all.
Yuder searched the surroundings, found things to burn, and lit a fire, while Cordelia settled in front of a stone tub located deep in the bathhouse.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
After even finishing a prayer to no one in particular, Cordelia first checked the water quality and temperature.
She couldn't be sure, but it seemed fairly clear, and the water temperature was just right.
No, it was to the point where she could believe someone had been maintaining it.
"Kaplan is the best. Thank you. Thank you so much."
Cordelia even clasped her hands together in prayer, then immediately began taking off her clothes.
At the soft rustling sound of clothes being removed, Yuder, positioned some distance away, flinched repeatedly, but Cordelia had nothing in her head but the bath.
She did not hear the sutra-like chanting Yuder suddenly began reciting.
"Thank you."
Once more, thanks—and then she entered the water.
"Ah...."
She had only dipped her toes in, but a shiver seemed to run up her spine.
Cordelia slowly slid her legs into the water, then submerged her entire body in the bath.
The depth was just right, so when she curled up, only her neck and head came out of the water perfectly.
"Haaaah...."
How long had it been since she'd had a bath?
Not just wiping down with a wet towel, not just enduring whether she sweated or not—a truly proper bath.
Happiness spread across Cordelia's face as she breathed in the hot steam, and her lips parted naturally. She sang softly, as if whispering a song from her heart.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star~ How I wonder what you are~"
Laughter kept spilling out. Her whole body felt like it was melting.
And at that very moment.
"Wow, look at her. She's so pretty."
"She's really pretty."
"What's this, what's this? Someone came to our bathhouse? Wow! She's so pretty! Respect!"
A pattern of speech she had heard somewhere many times.
Come to think of it, the current situation itself felt familiar somehow.
A bathhouse.
A song.
An incomparably beautiful girl.
"Hey, hey, won't you play with us?"
"Right, right. Come play with us."
"With her looks, she might even be able to join the night revel."
At the chattering sounds, Cordelia opened her eyes, and she could see them.
Small, pretty fairies who not only had animal ears like dogs or cats on their heads, but also tails on their bottoms.
They were Wild Fairies, one of the eight fairy races.