Ending Maker Chapter 85
Ending Maker Chapter 85
Chapter 28 — The Returned #3
At the same time Cordelia encountered the Wild Fairy Queen, Yuder removed his blindfold and left the bathhouse with Kaplan.
"We'll head back underground like this and rejoin Cordelia."
Their exact destination was the bridge where the Lacto had appeared—the place from the Fairy Queen's request.
The bridge no longer existed, but the far side still connected to the outskirts of Endymion.
"To think you can make contact with fairies this way... I've learned a great deal. When I return, I must try this at a place where fairy legends remain."
"Ah... yes. Good luck."
Though it probably wouldn't work.
After all, a girl as beautiful and lovely as Cordelia was rare even across the vast empire.
'Not because I'm biased.'
After making that excuse to himself, Yuder spoke again.
"Anyway, this area is still relatively safe, so I'd like to share what we know while we're at it."
"It's related to the current situation, I take it?"
"Yes, it is. Actually... we aren't simply affiliated with the academy."
Kaplan nodded at Yuder's words.
He had seen with his own eyes that Yuder and Cordelia's combat strength was far too great for them to be mere undergraduates.
"We actually have ties to the Guardians of the Holy Cross."
"Ah! I see!"
The protectors of Pleiades, who operated across the entire continent and fought fierce battles against the demon worshippers.
"Now I understand."
Why the two of them had come to Endymion.
Why their hearts were so kind.
'They were a saintess and a saint.'
'He's got a serious misunderstanding on his face, but it doesn't seem harmful, so I'll leave it.'
Once each of them finished their thoughts, the two resumed their conversation.
"The woman we encountered earlier is Lena Einsberg. Have you heard of her, by any chance?"
"Of course. How could I not know Lena, the Holy Angel, one of the Five Heroes of the Paragon Kingdom?"
Although many stories about the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom were said to be distorted, the incident itself was widely known across the continent.
After all, it was a great catastrophe in which the entire kingdom fell because of a Demon Prince summoned from Hell.
"She's as famous as Landius the Iron Man or Kamael the Sword Demon."
Lena the Holy Angel.
The last angel born and raised on earth.
Bearing all manner of epithets, she was the only woman among the Five Heroes of the Paragon Kingdom and, at the same time, carried the symbolism of an "angel."
Thanks to that, in the songs of bards who sang of the Paragon Kingdom's tragedy, she always played the role of the beautiful heroine.
"We hadn't planned to meet Lady Lena here originally. We came to investigate... but it seems something far bigger than we expected is happening here in Endymion."
Kaplan nodded gravely at Yuder's explanation.
And with good reason—hadn't he already seen quite a few monsters from Hell?
"This is all I can explain for now."
"That's plenty. Though my strength is meager, I will do my utmost to help."
Kaplan thumped his chest and stepped forward eagerly, and Yuder felt a peculiar satisfaction at how different Kaplan was from his in-game counterpart.
Some time later,
Following the map, Yuder and Kaplan finally arrived at the far side of the bridge.
"Ah! Yuder's here!"
Cordelia, who had been crouching and chatting with the fairies, sprang to her feet.
Seeing her smile brightly and wave, Yuder's heart naturally warmed.
"Cordelia."
"The talk went well. Right, Your Majesty?"
When Cordelia asked as if prompting her, the Wild Fairy Queen, who had been sitting on her shoulder, nodded.
"I heard everything from Cordelia. You truly are working hard for us fairies. As the queen of the Wild Fairies, I express my gratitude to you both."
Kaplan blinked at the Wild Fairy Queen's words, wondering what she meant, but Yuder didn't.
Because Cordelia was grinning and sending him signals with her eyes.
'I did well, right?'
'You did great. I'll give you a gold star later.'
'Bullshit.'
But perhaps because she was satisfied, Cordelia's smile deepened a little.
In truth, what Cordelia had done was simple.
'It's not a complete lie, either.'
Something ominous was happening beneath Endymion.
The Lacto's appearance was no coincidence.
If left alone, more demons would appear within the fairies' territory.
'I can't stand by and watch the fairies be put in danger. To protect the fairies' territory, Yuder and I will investigate Endymion. It will be very dangerous, but we'll manage. For the safety of the fairies and Your Majesty!'
The order had been slightly rearranged and a few embellishments added, but it wasn't a lie.
If they saved Lena and resolved the Endymion incident, wouldn't the fairies be safe too?
'Everyone wins.'
Killing two birds with one stone.
Sweeping the yard and picking up a coin.
"Truly, I don't know what to say. To think I resented you, even briefly, when you have thought of us this much..."
"Huh? You resented us?"
"No, no. I never resented you. Never at all."
At Yuder's pointed question, the Fairy Queen became flustered despite her elegant bearing.
But Yuder had only been teasing.
After they had taken so much, it would have been stranger if she didn't feel at least a little resentment.
'Either way, the whole dynamic had changed.'
Instead of Yuder and Cordelia begging the Fairy Queen to lend them Bellagio, the Fairy Queen was now thanking them for their sacrifice and service.
There was an enormous difference between the two.
'Especially when it came to rewards.'
Yuder's eyes glinted for a moment, but he set aside his personal desires and began the official discussion.
"Fairy Queen, as you may have already heard from Cordelia, Lena Einsberg, one of the Five Heroes of Paragon, appears to be somewhere in Endymion. We must find her."
"Yes, I heard from Cordelia. Since you have worked so hard for us, it is only right that we help you in return. Our children have already gone to fetch the Bellagio, so they should arrive soon."
"Thank you."
"No, thank you."
It was right after Yuder and the Fairy Queen exchanged warm words.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
"We brought the Bellagio!"
"Good, good."
The last words came from a fairy riding atop the Bellagio's head.
"Ohh! A real Bellagio! It looks exactly like the legends say!"
'Yeah, it really does look like a golden retriever.'
A white golden retriever with wings.
The Bellagio, which had flown in carrying fairies on its head and back, panted with a gentle face, as if its personality also resembled a golden retriever.
"I-it's cute. Your Majesty, may I hug it?"
"You may."
When the Fairy Queen gave her permission, Cordelia beamed and hugged the Bellagio.
"Wow, it's so soft. Yuder, Yuder, isn't it cute? Huh? Eek."
The last little shriek was because of the Bellagio.
Because the Bellagio was licking Cordelia's cheek with its tongue.
And because of that, instead of answering Cordelia's question, Yuder counted numbers in his head.
'One, two, three, four, five.'
That was enough. This much was sufficient.
Three for people, five for beasts.
Yuder grabbed the Bellagio by the scruff of its neck as it burrowed into Cordelia's arms, stopped the embrace, and changed the subject before anyone could say anything.
"Your Majesty, please forgive us for hurrying, but we don't have much time."
"Yes, I know how urgent the matter is. The Bellagio must memorize the traces of mana, so will you hand over the feather?"
"Here it is."
When Yuder held out Lena's feather, the Fairy Queen infused magic into the object, which was nearly as large as she was.
"Luke, can you remember it?"
At the queen's question, the Bellagio—Luke—immediately panted and nodded, even wagging its tail.
"Yes, good."
The queen smiled softly and looked at Yuder again.
"The Bellagio will guide you."
"Thank you. And Your Majesty, though the introduction is late, this is Sir Indiana Kaplan. He is a tenured professor at the Argon Empire's Imperial Academy and our precious colleague."
At Yuder's introduction, the Fairy Queen gave Kaplan an elegant smile, and Kaplan's eyes grew red.
It was because of Yuder's expression, "precious colleague."
"Indiana Kaplan greets the Fairy Queen."
When Kaplan offered his respects in a trembling voice, the Fairy Queen replied in a graceful voice as well.
"Indiana Kaplan, thank you so much for helping us. And... since you are a colleague of Yuder and Cordelia, it is only right that I grant you a blessing as well."
It was just as the Fairy Queen said this and moved to approach Kaplan.
"No, no. He's bald."
"He's got a potbelly."
"He's a runt."
The fairies who had brought the Bellagio grumbled and voiced their objections.
Should one say it was just like fairies steeped in lookism?
But the Fairy Queen was a little different.
Unlike the other fairies, who were the very picture of little brats, she was thoughtful and considerate, and she approached the shrinking Kaplan and said,
"That's not true. Look, all of you. At these beautiful, glistening eyes. They are like jewels."
Having said that, the Fairy Queen pressed her lips to Kaplan's broad forehead.
"May the blessing of the earth be with you."
It was a smile so benevolent that anyone watching could only think of her as a saintess.
"Thank... you."
When Kaplan, lost in rapture, barely managed to express his thanks, the Fairy Queen let out a fairy-like giggle and flew up again, speaking to Yuder and Cordelia.
"May the blessing of the earth always be with you as well."
"Thank you, Fairy Queen."
"Thank you so much."
The Fairy Queen waved to Yuder and Cordelia as they offered their respects once more, then withdrew with the other fairies.
As Yuder had said, time was of the essence, so they could not delay any longer.
"When your work is done, be sure to come find me again."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"We definitely will!"
They had to return the Bellagio, and while it was questionable whether there was anything more to receive, they also had to collect their reward.
After waving back at the Fairy Queen, Yuder began moving again with the Bellagio in the lead.
And after some time had passed.
"Woof woof! Woof woof woof!"
The Bellagio stopped in place and barked low.
"What's it saying?"
Yuder was well-versed in the various languages of the Hero Legend series, but no matter how knowledgeable he was, he couldn't understand dog speech.
But at that very moment—
Cordelia narrowed her eyes slightly and said,
"Uh... I think it's saying it senses several traces of mana?"
"Huh?"
Yuder asked in surprise, but instead of answering him, Cordelia looked at the Bellagio and said,
"Luke, you're saying the feathers are in several places?"
"Woof woof! Woof woof woof!"
"I knew it. It seems the feathers are in several places. It seems to be asking which one we should follow."
At Cordelia's interpretation, the Bellagio wagged its tail and nodded.
It seemed she had gotten it exactly right.
"As expected of beasts. You two understand each other."
"Wanna die?"
Yuder nodded at Cordelia's adorable threat, then thought for a moment and said,
"Tell it to follow the largest trace of mana."
"Got it. Luke, follow the largest trace of mana... wait, you could just do it yourself."
"No, I thought you'd translate it into beast language... ow! Ow! Ow!"
"Of course it hurts when I hit you. Did you think I'd hit you so it wouldn't hurt? Woof woof! Woof woof woof!"
Cordelia growled and smacked Yuder's back repeatedly, then caught her breath and spoke to Bellagio again.
"Luke, please."
"Woof woof."
Luke nodded and began moving forward again.
And after some time had passed.
The party steadily but surely drew closer to the center of Endymion.
Along the way, they encountered monsters from Hell several times, but fortunately, they appeared at most two at a time, so they were able to break through without much difficulty.
But when about an hour had passed.
Yuder felt a strong sense of unease.
'Strange.'
They had encountered quite a few monsters on the way here.
There had even been five different types.
But none of them had included a Demonic Human.
They hadn't encountered a single demon worshipper.
What was going on?
This was no longer the outskirts. They were on their way to the center.
'And the monsters themselves are strange too.'
They had defeated every monster they had encountered so far.
Yet no alarm had sounded. It seemed no monster had even noticed that they were roaming about.
How could that be?
If someone had summoned the monsters with a purpose, there should have been some degree of organization among them.
What was going on?
What was the cause of this strangeness?
"Woof."
It was just then.
The Bellagio barked low, and Cordelia nodded with a tense face.
"Yuder, it says Lena's energy is strong. And... it seems we're entering a completely different section from here on."
At Cordelia's words, Yuder hurriedly unfolded the map.
Indeed, just as she said, leaving this sector would take them into the 'Underground City,' the heart of Magic City Endymion.
"Looking at the map, it seems a city is built inside an enormous cavern... would it be similar to the underground cities of the ancient dwarves?"
When Kaplan asked in a low voice, Yuder nodded.
Up until now, it had been ordinary underground facilities, but from here on, it was different.
It was the beginning of a true underground city, with buildings erected inside a massive cavern tens of meters high.
"Let's be more careful from here."
"Yeah."
Cordelia answered with a tense face and stroked the Bellagio's back as she spoke quietly, and the Bellagio wagged its tail and began leading the way again.
And a few more minutes.
The party reached a great stone gate and involuntarily frowned.
"Do you feel it?"
"I feel it."
Yuder was sensitive to ki, while Cordelia, empowered by the witch, was skilled at sensing demonic energy.
No, even Kaplan, who was dull in such matters, could feel the tremendous demonic aura emanating from beyond the stone gate.
What was it? What on earth was beyond the stone gate to give off such demonic aura?
"It's not right beyond the gate. It's far away."
Cordelia said, closing her eyes and maximizing her senses. Yuder also couldn't feel any notable presence just outside the stone gate.
"Lena's energy is among that ominous aura."
The link between whatever was happening in Endymion and Lena's death.
Yuder steeled himself, took a deep breath, and looked back at everyone.
"Let's go."
"Ready."
"Woof woof."
After hearing everyone's answers, Yuder opened the stone gate.
And immediately afterward, the moment the sight before him came into view, Yuder understood.
He realized the single answer that could explain all the unease he had felt so far.
"A Hell... Gate."
It wasn't a summoning.
Nor was it an incident involving the Devil's Eye.
The monsters from Hell that had suddenly appeared.
The ones roaming about without any real control.
It was only natural.
Because they had never been summoned with a special purpose in the first place.
They had simply set foot in Endymion through the Hell Gate.
Beneath the enormous magic sphere that hung in place of the sun, at the center of Endymion—far in the distance.
Violet miasma from Hell churned within the vast rift in space.