Ending Maker Chapter 78
Ending Maker Chapter 78
Chapter 26 - Wild Black Cow
There were many different kinds of fairies in Pleiades, but broadly speaking, they could be classified into eight types.
Four types of seasonal fairies symbolizing spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and four elemental fairies symbolizing the attribute powers of wind, water, earth, and fire.
Wild Fairies were one of the elemental fairies, possessing the power of earth that symbolized the wild, untamed life force.
'Among fairies, they have the strongest physical abilities, right?'
Though they were still fairies in the end.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Your skin is so pretty. Can I touch it? Huh? You said yes? Okay, I'll touch it."
"Me too, me too."
Seeing them do whatever they pleased, fairies really were fairies after all.
In any case, Cordelia thought as she watched the fairies rubbing themselves all over her cheeks and shoulders.
'Why are these guys coming out here?'
It did seem to make sense, since Wild Fairies popping out in the Wild Lands was only natural.
'Well, fairies do live scattered all over the place.'
Originally, in Hero Legend 2, you had to go to the border region between the Argon Empire and the Wild Lands to encounter Wild Fairies.
But just as there was more than one Fairy Queen, there was also more than one kingdom of Wild Fairies.
"It's been so long since I've seen a pretty person."
"Right, right. Nothing but animals live here besides us."
"How's the bathwater? Do you like it? We've been taking care of it."
As the fairies began chattering away, the quiet bathhouse quickly turned noisy.
Even Yuder, who had been trying his best to ignore everything, could hear their voices.
"Cordelia? Are you okay? What's going on?"
"Huh? Uh...... well......."
It was when Cordelia was trailing off. The Wild Fairies who had turned their gazes toward Yuder opened their mouths almost simultaneously.
"Wow!"
"He's handsome!"
"Who's that?"
"Let's play with him too!"
"......Fairies?"
Yuder was the one who spoke last.
Cordelia eventually let out a long sigh like someone who had given up, then spoke.
"I think they're Wild Fairies."
"Oh! Wild Fairies!"
The reason Yuder's face lit up was simple.
The Blessing of the Four Seasons, obtainable by gathering the blessings of all four seasonal fairies of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
The Blessing of the Four Saints, obtainable by gathering the blessings of all four elemental fairies of wind, water, earth, and fire.
And one more.
The Fairy King's Blessing, obtainable only by one who had gathered both the Blessing of the Four Seasons and the Blessing of the Four Saints—one of the three greatest blessings in the Hero Legend series, and a legendary blessing that no one had ever obtained.
'As expected of Kaplan!'
To think we'd encounter Wild Fairies here.
Come to think of it, Yuder suddenly remembered what Gentle Snow Breeze had said.
'Didn't she say that various mysterious races dwell in Bladebeak Canyon?'
Perhaps, besides the Wild Fairies, there were some quite pleasant fortuitous encounters waiting for them.
"Do you know us?"
"Do you want to play with us too?"
"Let's bathe together!"
"Shall we?"
"Are you insane?!"
When Yuder grinned and responded to the fairies' suggestion, Cordelia immediately reacted, and Yuder clicked his tongue.
"Didn't work."
"Stop messing around and come over with a blindfold on."
"Why a blindfold?"
"Because I'm going to keep bathing. I just got into the water."
At Yuder and Cordelia's exchange, the Wild Fairies looked at each other and spoke.
"What, what? Why is he covering his eyes?"
"I've seen this kind of thing in a book."
"Really? Was the cover red by any chance?"
For a moment, Cordelia wanted to retort something, but her opponents were fairies.
Having already dealt with Fall Fairies and Winter Fairies, Cordelia simply waited instead of protesting, and soon Yuder, wearing a blindfold, reached the vicinity of the tub where Cordelia was with slow but steady steps.
"He's handsome even with his eyes covered."
"I like him."
While the fairies were holding a critique session over Yuder's face, Cordelia, who had dunked her head completely underwater and pulled it back out, wiped down her body with her hands as best she could and spoke.
"Fairies, you said you want to play together?"
"Yeah, yeah. We'll invite you to our night revel."
"Ah! And! That's not all."
"What do you mean, that's not all?"
"The Queen said so, didn't she? To bring anyone we find who can help."
"Right, right. I remember now."
Someone who can help.
Yuder, who had been silent, immediately cut in.
"Is there something you need help with?"
"Yeah! There's an old problem that we can't solve on our own."
"The Queen said she'd give a reward to whoever brings someone who can help."
"Then the reward is mine, right?"
"It's mine, why would it be yours?"
As the fairies began squabbling, a fairy with rabbit ears crept up to Cordelia and spoke.
"While they're fighting, let's go quickly with me. Okay?"
"......They act exactly like people."
"Like what?"
Cordelia gave a bitter smile to the rabbit-eared fairy who asked back innocently, then rose from the bath and dried her hair and body with magic.
"Ugh...... I want to wear new clothes."
But what could she do? There was no time to do laundry.
Cordelia picked up her clothes and put them on, then approached Yuder, who was sitting on the nearby floor with his eyes closed.
"You can take it off now."
"Huh? You want to bathe together?"
"Don't push it. You sound like an old man when you keep doing that."
"Ahem, ahem."
Yuder cleared his throat, removed the blindfold covering his eyes, and faced the Wild Fairies.
"I understand. Cordelia and I will help you. Please let us meet your Queen."
"Yeah! Got it!"
"Let's go!"
"Wait!"
Cordelia was the one who spoke last.
When the fairies and Yuder all turned to look at Cordelia, she pointed toward the entrance some distance away.
"We have to bring Kaplan too."
Kaplan was sprawled out unconscious. What if something happened to him if they left him there like that?
"Right, we should bring Kaplan too."
Yuder rose from his spot and moved toward Kaplan with the Wild Fairies already perched on his shoulders. But as soon as the Wild Fairies saw Kaplan, they showed reluctance.
"Not him."
"Right, he's a no."
"Why?"
"He's bald."
At the rabbit-eared fairy's words, all the other fairies nodded, and Yuder felt a wretchedness that left him unable to open his mouth.
"Anyway, not him."
The Wild Fairies were surprisingly firm.
'Does it seem like there's no way?'
'You know fairies. Persuasion is impossible.'
Rather, a Fairy Queen could be persuaded, but these fairies, who were the very picture of little kids, were impossible.
Yuder and Cordelia, having finished their conversation through eye contact, pondered what to do for a moment, then immediately began to act.
"What, what? Why are you tying up the bald guy?"
"It's bondage play."
"Bondage play?"
"Yeah, what that is......."
"Oh my goodness."
"I haven't said anything yet, you know?"
"Hurry up and tell us."
Cordelia's expression soured at the fairies' conversation, but Yuder bound Kaplan tightly with rope taken from Kaplan's luggage, then set him down inside the bathhouse.
"This is our territory, so even animals don't come here."
"Yeah, yeah, so nothing will happen."
Yuder thought so too. After all, no animal fur or anything like that had been found inside the bathhouse.
The reason for tying Kaplan up now was concern that he might regain consciousness and wander out of the bathhouse on his own.
'We haven't even properly gotten our money's worth out of him yet.'
Of course, thanks to that(?), they had encountered the Wild Fairies, but they still hadn't even arrived at the ruins of the Magical Kingdom.
Letting Kaplan go when there was still endless use for him ahead was unthinkable.
"You really are wicked."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Yuder, who had given Cordelia a theatrical bow, wrote out a message with a pencil on paper he had, as expected, found in Kaplan's luggage.
Various aristocratic flourishes were attached here and there, but in the end, it could be summarized in one line as follows.
'We saved you. So do not be afraid and wait quietly. We will be back soon.'
"Won't he think he's been kidnapped?"
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that."
First, they had to resolve the matter with the Wild Fairies.
Yuder tied a new rope to the ankle of the firmly restrained Kaplan, then secured the end to a pillar in the bathhouse.
"Alright, let's head out now."
"But Yuder, you're really good at tying ropes."
"I learned it in Boy Scouts."
Yuder brushed it off and approached the Wild Fairies, who had been chattering excitedly among themselves and now squealed as they looked at Yuder and Cordelia.
"I don't want to ask what you were talking about."
Yuder nodded at Cordelia's words, which already sounded exhausted, and made a request to the Wild Fairies.
"Could you take us to your Queen?"
"Yeah! Let's go!"
The Wild Fairies flapped their wings and gathered around Yuder and Cordelia, and what followed was the same as before.
They closed their eyes once, and when they opened them, they were standing in a completely different space.
"Oh...... we came directly this time?"
It was not a dwelling space where ordinary fairies lived.
The Queen's residence.
If the Fall Fairy Queen's residence was elegant and the Winter Fairy Queen's residence was refined, then the Wild Fairy Queen's residence was, to put it nicely, overflowing with vitality.
'To put it badly, it's just a mess.'
Various kinds of flowers and trees were placed haphazardly.
But still, a Fairy Queen was a Fairy Queen.
The countless flowers and trees formed their own harmony, so it didn't feel disorderly in the slightest.
"Children of humans. It is a pleasure to meet you."
At the deep, resonant voice unlike that of ordinary fairies, Yuder and Cordelia looked toward the same place.
Upon a large sunflower sat a Fairy Queen with the ears and tail of a lioness.
"Yuder Bayel greets the Wild Fairy Queen."
"Cordelia Chase offers her greetings."
As Yuder and Cordelia each paid their respects, a smile spread across the Fairy Queen's face.
With her voluminous red hair and striking fangs, she wore a short, active-looking mini dress, unlike the other Fairy Queens who had worn splendid gowns.
But a Fairy Queen was a Fairy Queen.
Her face was filled with mature benevolence rather than girlish mischief.
"You are no ordinary humans. You possess very strong power. So, children, I have a request for you. Please resolve our problem."
It was a somewhat different pattern from before.
But it was not a bad pattern.
Depending on what the problem was, the story might change a little, but this way was much easier to milk for all it was worth.
'Your eyes look wicked.'
'You too.'
Yuder and Cordelia quickly exchanged glances, then turned back to the Fairy Queen almost simultaneously, and the Fairy Queen continued in a serious tone.
"Children of humans, a monster with an evil aura has appeared on the path connecting our Wild Fairies' dwelling and the kingdom of the High Elves. Could you slay the monster and reopen the path?"
The fairies could cross space and time, but that did not mean they could freely leap through space anytime and anywhere.
Since their means of leaping long distances were limited, physical paths were also important, and it seemed the monster was blocking that path.
"Could we know what kind of monster it is?"
At Cordelia's question, the Fairy Queen softly chanted a spell. Then the same image arose in Yuder and Cordelia's minds.
A bull's head and enormous bat wings, a body pitch-black from head to toe.
It was unmistakably a Lacto, a lesser demon species of hell.
'I see.'
'No wonder the fairies would ask for help.'
Even though it was a lesser species, a Lacto was still a demon of hell.
For fairies, who were far removed from combat to begin with, it was an opponent they had no way of dealing with at all.
"Can you do it?"
When the Fairy Queen asked with an anxious face, Yuder and Cordelia nodded at the same time.
"We can."
"We'll give it a try."
"Oh...... thank you so much."
As the Fairy Queen expressed relief, Yuder and Cordelia looked at each other again, and this time Yuder spoke first.
"However, Fairy Queen."
"Speak."
"We also need help."
"Help?"
"Yes, help."
The smile on Yuder's face deepened, and Cordelia's eyes narrowed slightly.
Yuder continued speaking.
"Fairy Queen, may we ask for the Blessing of the Earth?"
"Of course. I shall grant you the blessing."
When the Fairy Queen readily agreed, Yuder and Cordelia immediately held out the Fairy's Bond.
"Please take good care of us."
"Oh my, the Fairy's Bond. It has been a long time since I have seen one."
The Fairy Queen smiled innocently and granted the Blessing of the Earth.
It was a blessing that strengthened overall physical abilities and granted a weak regenerative power.
"Is that all now?"
"Yes, now we need the next help."
"Good, that's settled...... the next help?"
"Yes, the next help."
Yuder answered immediately to the blinking Fairy Queen and continued.
"Fairy Queen, we need weapons to fight the monster."
"Uh...... don't you already have weapons?"
The Fairy Queen's gaze quickly moved between the Sword of the Eastern Warrior at Yuder's waist and the Moonlight that Cordelia was holding.
But Yuder answered firmly once again.
"These are not enough. Our opponent is a demon, after all."
"That's right, we need stronger weapons."
Cordelia now chimed in on her own without being prompted.
The Fairy Queen pondered for a moment, then spoke.
"Hmm...... I do not know much about human weapons. Then, children, how about I show you the things left behind by the High Elves, and you choose the weapons you will use yourselves?"
"Thank you."
"We were waiting for those words."
It was another immediate answer.
For a moment, the Fairy Queen felt a strange sensation and hesitated, but soon took Yuder and Cordelia and crossed through space.
"You may open your eyes now."
It was a building made of stone.
It was extremely old and worn in many places, but an elegance that even the passage of time could not fully erase remained everywhere the eye could see—on the pillars and walls, the ceiling and floor, and so on.
The architectural style of the High Elves, also called ancient elves.
It was a wide room that looked to be at least ten meters in both width and length.
The ceiling was also quite high, seeming to be about seven meters, and all the pillars were attached to the walls, giving the space itself a wide-open feeling.
And the most important things.
On display stands placed between the pillars, various objects were arranged.
Now that they looked, it seemed less like an armory and more like a place where all sorts of things the High Elves had used were gathered together.
"Take your time choosing. Call for me when you are done."
Having said that much, the Fairy Queen leaped through space again and vanished.
And so, in the end, only Yuder and Cordelia remained.
With no one left to be mindful of—though they had not been mindful of anyone up until then either—the two, feeling much more at ease, spoke at the same time.
"I'll take the left."
"I'll take the right."
The division of labor began immediately. And at the first display stand, Cordelia stopped breathing.
"No way."
Why is this here?
Sitting prettily on the display stand was a golden brooch adorned with a large red gem.
As expected of a High Elf item, it radiated magical energy, and Cordelia already knew the name of this brooch.
"Echo of Spells."
The effect was simple and powerful.
It repeated and cast the spell used by the caster.
In other words, if you cast the Spear of Calamite while wearing the Echo of Spells, two Spears of Calamite would be created.
Of course, since mana consumption also doubled, it was not an item that could be overused, but being able to use two spells simultaneously in an emergency was an enormous advantage.
"This is it. This is definitely it."
There's no need to look at anything else.
The deeply moved Cordelia picked up the Echo of Spells with trembling hands and carefully attached it near her chest.
"Yuder! I've decided! It's the Echo of Spells!"
As she spun around and shouted loudly, Yuder also immediately reacted.
"What?! Echo of Spells?!"
At Yuder's face, which could only be described as sheer astonishment, Cordelia felt a thrilling satisfaction.
"Yeah, yeah, it's the Echo of Spells. I've decided on this. There's no need to look at anything else."
The possibility of finding something better than this was practically nonexistent.
Yuder agreed too.
Among the items usable at Cordelia's current level, there were only one or two in the entirety of Hero Legend that were better than the Echo of Spells.
Depending on the user's playstyle, some even treated the Echo of Spells as an endgame item.
But Yuder immediately shook his head.
"What are you talking about? We have to keep looking."
"Huh? Ah...... yeah. I'll look for something for you to use."
"No, that's not it. You have to look for things for yourself."
"Huh? I said I'm taking the Echo of Spells?"
"You're only taking that?"
"Huh?"
"I'm asking if you're only going to take that."
At Yuder's words, Cordelia blinked several times, then realized.
This wasn't a game. It was reality.
Moreover, the Fairy Queen had never said to choose only one.
"Ah, ahhh!"
As realization dawned in Cordelia's eyes, Yuder grinned and spoke.
"We'll need a lot of weapons to fight a demon."
"Right, because our opponent is a demon!"
"Yeah, let's fully arm ourselves to fight the demon."
"Yeah, yeah, a full set from head to toe. Full-full set-set!"
Cordelia shouted cheerfully and ran back toward the display stands, and Yuder looked at Cordelia and the display stands with a pleased expression.
'The Blessing of the Earth and High Elf armaments.'
But this wasn't all.
There was still the reward after defeating the monster.
'I love fairies so much.'
Yuder smiled happily and moved his steps toward the display stands on the right.
* * *
"So...... all of that is necessary?"
"Yes, we need all of it."