Ending Maker Chapter 84
Ending Maker Chapter 84
Chapter 28 — The Returned #2
Lena.
Her full name was Lena Einsberg.
She was the beloved disciple of Bardo Einsberg, the former royal mage of the Paragon Kingdom.
To Bardo, who had lived his entire life unmarried, she was no different from a daughter of his own, and Lena, an orphan, likewise regarded Bardo as her own father.
She had entered the study of magic at a relatively late age, but she possessed Bardo's devoted guidance, an innate talent for magic, and—perhaps the most crucial element of all—a fervent desire to repay Bardo's devotion.
At the far-too-young age of fifteen, she obtained the formal rank of mage and entered the Gray Tower, which was also Bardo's school, and in only three years she achieved the remarkable feat of completing the entire curriculum.
'Master.'
Eighteen.
Still young, she set out on the road home with a face full of smiles to see Bardo, her beloved master and father.
Without ever imagining that the end of that journey would be riddled with tragedy.
Just as Yuder recalled Lena's story as depicted in Hero Legend 1, Cordelia let out an excited breath and looked at Lena.
'It's really Lena.'
It was Lena, whom she liked second only to Cordelia herself.
No, in truth, if Lena had been a Playable Character in Hero Legend 2, Cordelia would have agonized tremendously over choosing between Cordelia and Lena.
Because of that, the moment Cordelia faced the real, living Lena, her mind went completely blank.
'I love her so much.'
She simply loved her so much.
She loved her so, so much that she was happy.
Wearing a smile so lovely that Yuder would have clutched his heart in agony had he seen it, Cordelia simply gazed at Lena.
But Lena did not look at Cordelia, nor even at Yuder, who lay beneath her.
"This place is dangerous. I can't guarantee how many more times I'll be able to help you. So please leave this city as soon as you can."
With her robe pulled down low, she spoke as if spitting the words out, then spun around and vanished into light before Yuder and Cordelia could even say a word to her.
"Lena!"
Cordelia cried out urgently, but she was already gone.
As if the very fact that Lena had been standing there moments ago had been an illusion, only pure white particles of light drifted in the air.
"A clone technique."
More precisely, Shadow Clone Arts.
It was magic that created a duplicate, and it was one of Lena's ultimate techniques that could be learned in the very late stages of Hero Legend 1.
'Originally, it could only be created within her field of vision.'
Now, he couldn't even guess how far apart the main body and the clone were.
It seemed that Landius and Kamael were not the only ones who had become monsters over the past ten years.
"Ugh... Lena."
As Cordelia's face crumpled, Yuder straightened his head again and spoke.
"Still, it's a good sign. It confirms that Lena is alive and somewhere in Endymion."
It wasn't too late yet.
There was still a chance to save Lena.
At Yuder's explanation, Cordelia quickly lowered her gaze.
"Can we find out where she is?"
"We'll have to look. So, for now, will you get off me?"
It wasn't that she was heavy or that he disliked it, but he had to get up before he could do anything.
Cordelia nodded quickly, then climbed off Yuder's chest and sat down.
"Ah, right! Sir Kaplan! Are you okay?"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Kaplan was still under both Silence and Paralysis.
Feeling sorry at the sight of Kaplan sprawled on the floor and squirming, Cordelia hurried over to him.
"I'm sorry, I'll undo them right away."
"Mmph."
While Cordelia was undoing the spells on Kaplan.
Yuder rose to his feet and focused his attention beyond the illusion wall.
Fortunately, he couldn't sense any sign of the monsters. It seemed they had been fooled by Lena's magic and gone elsewhere.
'Does this illusion wall itself belong to Endymion?'
It was not something Lena had made, but something that had been in Endymion from the start.
'Did Lena activate it... or was it triggered while the monsters were awakening Endymion's functions?'
The corridor the monsters had passed through was lit with magical lights.
Whether it was Lena, the monsters, or even someone from the Devil's Eye who had summoned them, someone had apparently restored Endymion's city functions.
'Lena is definitely somewhere in Endymion.'
Lena had used expressions like "this city is dangerous" and "leave this city."
If Lena had been outside the city, she would have used expressions like "that city," "that place," or "there."
'It seems like a simple play on words, but it actually works quite well.'
Lena was somewhere in Endymion.
Then where could she be?
What was she trying to do in Endymion, and what in the world was happening in Endymion?
'An angel's feather.'
At the spot where Lena had vanished, a single white feather lay.
It was clearly not the feather of an ordinary bird, but an angel's—and Lena's, at that.
'Did she use it as the core of her clone?'
Yuder was examining the white feather, which emitted even a faint light, when—
"Yuder, Yuder."
Cordelia, who had even cast a recovery spell on Kaplan, approached with quick steps.
As soon as Yuder turned around, she spoke rapidly.
"Lena came to help us because we were in danger, right? So if we get into danger again, won't Lena show up again?"
It was a fairly plausible idea.
Given Lena's saintly kindness, that was entirely possible.
But Yuder immediately shook his head.
"It's too dangerous."
There was no guarantee that Lena could respond to every danger.
She hadn't even appeared when they had fought the named Najarus just moments ago.
"But still..."
"Let's find another way."
If this had been a game, he would have accepted Cordelia's proposal.
But this was reality.
If it were the only option, that would be one thing, but he couldn't gamble with their one and only lives.
"Cordelia, this is Lena's feather—could we trace it back somehow?"
At Yuder's hopeful question, Cordelia furrowed her brow, then shook her head.
"No good. I can't think of any magic for that right now."
"I figured as much."
"Um... if it's tracing you need, there is a way."
At those last words, Yuder and Cordelia turned their heads at the same time.
Kaplan, who had barely recovered, wiped his sweat-soaked hair and spoke haltingly.
"I'm not certain, but... have the two of you ever heard the name 'Bellagio'?"
Bellagio.
Yuder and Cordelia blinked once, then turned to look at each other.
They spoke at the same time.
"Ah."
"Ahhh."
"Ahh!"
"Ahhh!"
"Ah."
"Ah."
"Sir Yuder? Lady Cordelia?"
Just as Kaplan was beginning to feel left out between the two, who could communicate with their eyes alone, Yuder opened his mouth again.
"Bellagio. Right, Bellagio. We have Bellagio."
"If it's Bellagio, we can find Lena, right?"
"We can."
Especially since they had a feather right here.
When Yuder nodded, Cordelia sprang up from her spot, ran over, and pulled Kaplan's head into a hug.
"You're the best, Kaplan! I'm so glad you're here!"
"Ahem. Er, hmm."
With his head buried against Cordelia's chest, Kaplan coughed awkwardly, his face red, while Yuder narrowed his eyes and counted.
'One, two, three.'
That was enough.
Yuder stepped over, pulled Cordelia's arm to break up the embrace, and quickly continued.
"Sir Kaplan is right. With a Bellagio, we'll be able to find Lena."
"But, um... first, finding Bellagio..."
He had spoken on a sudden inspiration, but in truth, finding a Bellagio was no easy task.
Kaplan himself knew little beyond the fact that there was a Bellagio habitat somewhere in Bladebeak Canyon.
But Yuder and Cordelia were different.
"We know where the Bellagios are."
"More precisely, we know who raises the Bellagios, and we know how to meet that person."
The magical beast Bellagio.
A magical creature said to be able to track even a trace of mana as small as a fingernail.
"Oh! Is that true?"
"It's true."
Cordelia answered with a bright smile, then turned to Yuder as if to say, "Right?" and Yuder nodded.
'Because in Hero Legend, it was those guys who raised the Bellagios.'
So they would be raising them here in reality, too.
"Where do we need to go? Given that demons are roaming around like this, something serious has clearly happened in Endymion. Getting out of the city might not be easy."
Unlike Yuder and Cordelia, Kaplan had far less information about the current situation, but he wasn't a tenured professor at the Imperial Academy for nothing.
When he pieced together what little information he had and spoke coherently, Yuder grinned and answered.
"We don't need to leave the city entirely. We just need to go to the place marked on the map. And besides... it's not very far from here."
Having said that, Yuder spread out a map of Endymion for Cordelia and Kaplan, and Cordelia pointed to a spot marked with a check.
"We need to go here."
"What... is in that place?"
When Kaplan blinked and asked, Yuder and Cordelia looked at each other again, and then Cordelia puffed out her chest and said,
"A bathhouse."
* * *
"How's the temperature?"
"It's perfect. What about you—how's the blindfold?"
"I can't see anything, so I feel like I'm going to fall. Can't I take it off for just a second?"
"Nope, no way."
Cordelia giggled, then looked elsewhere and spoke.
"Sir Kaplan, I know it's uncomfortable, but bear with it a little longer."
"I'm fine."
Inside a bathhouse located on the outskirts of Endymion.
Like the hot springs in the canyon, this place was also fairly well maintained.
Yuder and Kaplan sat on an empty tub wearing blindfolds, while Cordelia prepared to bathe in front of a tub filled with hot water.
"Well then, shall we begin?"
Cordelia got into the tub and began washing her body with the hot water.
It seemed like questionable behavior while the monsters of Hell were roaming the underground of Endymion, but in fact, it could be called an extremely important ritual.
"Hmm hmm hmm."
Humming, Cordelia began washing even her hair, and Yuder coughed and spoke.
"Cordelia, are you going to keep bathing?"
"Tch, I'm just washing my hair."
After all, the chance to bathe in hot water didn't come around just any time.
After carefully washing her hair, Cordelia let out a long breath and murmured the magic incantation to summon the fairies.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star~ Shining beautifully~ Even in the western sky~ Oh, they're here."
She was used to it by now.
"Wow! So pretty!"
"Really pretty!"
"But haven't we met her before?"
"We've met her."
The last one was Cordelia.
After getting out of the tub and drying her body with magic, she spoke to the Wild Fairies looking up at her with sparkling eyes.
"Won't you play with me?"
"Yeah! Let's play!"
"What are we going to play?"
As the Wild Fairies bounced on the tub and shouted, Cordelia slowly nodded.
She glanced back at Kaplan and Yuder, who were flinching at the fairies' voices, then gathered her clothes and put them on as she spoke.
"First."
"First?"
"Let's go see the queen."
"The queen?"
"The queen."
A mischievous smile spread across Cordelia's face.
* * *
The Wild Fairy Queen.
With a lush mane of red hair like a lion's, the Wild Fairy Queen lay in bed resting.
She was a fairy either way, but while the other fairies were little kids, the queen was a young girl.
Because of that, she had not yet fully recovered from the aftermath of the storm-like pair that had swept through them not long ago.
'I'm tired.'
Not physical fatigue, but mental fatigue.
It was the strange feeling of having solved a problem without feeling as though anything had really been solved.
The sense of emptiness that came every time she looked at the ruined storehouse of the High Elves.
'No, well, it's stuff we couldn't use in the first place.'
But still, it was a bit.
Really, a bit.
'Anyway, it's all over now.'
So it was fine.
Yes, yes, it was fine.
Thinking like a fairy, the Fairy Queen was about to fall into a deep sleep.
But it was at that very moment.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!"
Startled awake by the voices calling her, the Fairy Queen opened her eyes—and was even more startled, tumbling off the bed.
Because a beautiful human girl was among the fairies.
"Your Majesty! I missed you!"
When Cordelia spoke with a radiant smile, the Fairy Queen found herself smiling back without realizing it, because that face was so pretty and lovely—but only for a moment.
"Er... didn't you two already finish your business? You received all your rewards, too."
Surely you're not asking for more rewards?
You do have a conscience, don't you?
At the Fairy Queen's question, Cordelia smiled brightly again and spoke.
"We didn't come because of the rewards. We already received plenty."
"Right? Yes, I knew all along that you were good children."
Relieved that they hadn't come to wring out more rewards, the Fairy Queen smiled benevolently.
But it was too early a judgment.
"We don't need rewards, but we do need help."
"Help?"
"Yes, Your Majesty's help. It's a really, really important matter. In a way, it's also something where the fairies—not us—receive help. Yes, if anything, it's something we're doing to help the fairies."
The fairies receive help.
It was a choice of words that gave her an ominous feeling, but the Fairy Queen decided to hear Cordelia out for now.
"Tell me."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After taking a breath, Cordelia began to run a con—no, began to tell her story, just as Yuder had taught her.