Ending Maker Chapter 98
Ending Maker Chapter 98
Chapter 34 - Cross
Night had fallen over Yuder and Cordelia’s tent.
Soft light and warmth spread from candles placed around the tent.
And amid that gentle glow,
a beautiful girl in a white dress and rabbit ears stood with pursed lips and a shy expression.
The candlelight was faint and meager beside the darkness of night, but that only made the girl’s beauty draw the eye like a single ray of light in the dark.
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes moist, and her lips formed a lovely curve each time she nervously pursed them.
After hesitating for a long while, the girl swallowed. Her long white throat bobbed faintly.
She parted her lips and forced out the words on a heated breath.
"M-my beloved Lord Yuder."
The moment the declaration of love became real words, the girl’s cheeks grew even redder, and the air already warmed by the candles seemed to heat up with them.
"A-and......."
A bead of sweat traced the girl’s smooth jaw. She clasped both hands tightly, squeezed out her courage, and spoke like someone making a confession.
"I-I...... c-can't live without you, L-Lord Yuder."
Her slightly stammered words sounded almost tearful.
Her voice seemed to blend shyness and resolve.
But it didn't end there.
After taking several deep breaths, the girl gathered her courage once more and spoke.
"I belong to Lord Yuder, and Lord Yuder belongs to me...... Oh, for fuck's sake! Hey!"
That was as far as she got.
Cordelia hurled the script in her hands to the floor, glared at Yuder, and shouted,
"Hey! You bastard! What the hell is this script?! Huh?!"
She could let "my beloved Lord Yuder" slide.
Sure, she could even somehow understand "I can't live without you, Yuder."
The goal was to protect Yuder from Adelia, after all.
But what?
"I'm yours? I'm yours?!"
The content was bad enough; saying it aloud was even worse.
How was she supposed to say something like this in front of other people?!
"Whoa, whoa. Relax, relax."
"Woof woof! Grrr! Woof!"
"No, if you're cute even when you're angry, what am I supposed to do?"
"What?"
"No, anyway. It’s fair, isn’t it? It’s not like you’re the only one who belongs to me. I belong to you too."
How perfectly fair.
Yuder said it with a perfectly calm face. Cordelia faltered for a moment, but she was not fooled.
"No! Fair my ass! What is this content?!"
"Is there a problem?"
"Everything from start to finish is a problem!"
"Come on, what are you talking about? Here, take a deep breath and think about it."
"Think about what?"
"Think back. Remember when we first acted?"
"Roughly."
"I remember it clearly. Back then, the lines were like this."
Yuder cleared his throat, then adopted an exaggerated voice as though reciting poetry.
"I-I want to have some private time with Lord Yuder! We'll be back before dinner, so wait for us! Don't worry!"
"Ugh."
The memory came rushing back.
When they had gone on an outdoor date to get Solari's necklace from Leisegang.
'Ah, this is still fine.'
It was fine. This much, well, she could endure it.
But it really was still just the beginning.
"And next, it went like this."
Yuder cleared his throat a couple more times, then continued in an even sweeter, more affected voice.
"I want to go with my beloved Lord Yuder! I-I can’t be apart from him!"
"Ughhh......."
Cordelia's face turned bright red.
No, not just her face—her neck and ears went red too.
But regrettably, it wasn't over.
"I am leaving on a private honeymoon with my beloved Lord Yuder. I will return within a few days, so please do not come looking for me. Understood?"
"Uwaaang......."
A helpless whimper escaped Cordelia as she covered her face with both hands.
The strength drained from her legs, and she even sank down on the spot.
"And next, I left a letter like this. 'I shall continue my honeymoon trip with Lady Cordelia, whom I love more than life itself, just a little longer. I have also regained my health by consuming the Sunflower Herb, so please do not come looking for me. P.S. I am truly happy right now.'"
"S-stop......."
"For reference, you're the one who made me do that. You were really happy about it, too."
It was true.
She remembered how delighted she had been to finally make Yuder do the same sort of thing for once.
Why had she done that?
Why had she been like that that day?
Cordelia crouched there groaning while Yuder, looking utterly refreshed, finished with a deeply satisfied smile.
"See? As you can tell, the lines have been getting stronger little by little. You could call it progression. So shouldn’t we take things one step further this time too?"
It was reasonable.
It actually made a disturbing amount of sense.
But!
But even so!
"Uwaaang......."
In her heart, she wanted to spring to her feet and beat Yuder senseless, but she didn't have the strength.
For a girl who had spent her entire life—more than a decade—with games as her only romantic companion, the situation was far too intense.
So Yuder approached Cordelia and spoke kindly.
"Hmm...... Anyway, don't we need at least this much to stop Adelia?"
That was true.
After all, the entire point of practicing this script was to keep Adelia from coming after Yuder.
Adelia was Cordelia’s older sister, and one who doted on her fiercely. If Cordelia appeared hopelessly in love with Yuder, Adelia would probably back down even if she disapproved.
Wasn't there a saying that no parent can win against their child?
'Though here it’s an older-sister and younger-sister problem.'
In any case, Yuder waited for Cordelia to recover. Once she had recovered even a little, she immediately started pummeling him.
"Ugh! Ooh!"
"Let's get you back to human language first, okay?"
Could this be some side effect of Beast Mode?
Yuder said it half seriously and half jokingly. Cordelia pinched him repeatedly, then drew a deep breath.
She sprang to her feet and shouted.
"Fine, let's say I let it all slide! Let's say I can understand it!"
To protect Yuder from Adelia!
To show progress in their relationship with stronger lines than before!
She could let it all slide.
She could somehow understand it.
But why!
"Why, why is Rough Avalanche here?!"
Cordelia pointed at the corner of the tent and shouted. Rough Avalanche—the one in question, crouched there watching Yuder and Cordelia’s little farce—nodded and said,
"Right, right. I'd like to ask too. Why are you showing me this? It is cute, though."
The moment he called her cute, Cordelia’s cheeks, which had finally started cooling, flushed bright red again. Yuder answered with perfect composure.
"Because we need to be able to do it naturally in front of other people."
"No, in my opinion, you two don't seem like a couple who needs to practice at all."
Rough Avalanche knew nothing about Yuder and Cordelia’s true relationship, so the practice already seemed strange to him. Even setting that aside, he doubted they needed to practice at all.
'Don’t they already look like an absurdly lovey-dovey couple to anyone watching?'
They fit together so perfectly that one might think they had been born married.
"Well, anyway, let's take a short break then."
"Ugh...... Do we have to do more?"
"We have to. You need to get used to it."
At Yuder's words, Cordelia nodded with her shoulders slumped.
The embarrassment had piled up until Cordelia’s head felt overheated, making coherent thought increasingly difficult.
In any case, Yuder sat the oddly subdued Cordelia down on the bed, then turned back to Rough Avalanche and spoke.
"Rough Avalanche, how is the construction of the eastern alliance going?"
"That's suddenly a serious topic."
The topic came out of nowhere, but it was one they needed to discuss.
It had been two days since Red Wind obtained the phoenix.
Rough Avalanche toddled over to the bed and spread his arms. Cordelia lifted him up and set him on the bed.
"Hoo, good. Anyway, well, things are progressing faster than expected."
The Eastern Alliance had already been coming together quickly with three Wild Gods backing it. Once Yuder and Cordelia added the news about the Golden Dragon King, the process accelerated even further.
"The west has already been corrupted, and the Golden Dragon King himself made the request... Even the Wild Gods who were hesitating have begun to step forward. Once this Karaval ends, a powerful Eastern Alliance will probably form around either the Great Storm Tribe or the Blade Song Tribe."
At Rough Avalanche's explanation, Yuder narrowed his eyes.
"Then the scale of the Karaval could end up larger than originally planned."
"It will. The basic structure—a one-on-one duel between Red Wind and Sun Song—will stay the same, but the number and caliber of the spectators will change. Most of the eastern tribal chiefs will probably gather to watch this Karaval."
They would come not merely to watch the fight, but to discuss the formation of the Eastern Alliance.
Yuder asked again.
"Is there no reaction from the west? They can't be unaware of the situation here."
"They probably know something. They must have at least a few spies, just as we’re watching the west closely. But... our assessment is that they’re more occupied with completing the unification of the west. The Angry Rhino Tribe’s main force is currently away on an expedition to the far western frontier."
In other words, they were pouring their strength into unifying the west and couldn't spare attention for the east.
'That makes sense.'
Everything the west had done in the east so far had amounted to small-scale covert operations.
"But Rough Avalanche."
During the conversation, Cordelia finally recovered enough to tentatively raise a hand. Rough Avalanche immediately smiled at her.
"Yes, what are you curious about?"
"Earlier, you said almost all the tribal chiefs would gather."
"I did."
"Then will the wild gods gather too?"
Before coming to the Wild Lands, Yuder and Cordelia had not even known for certain whether the Wild Gods truly existed.
But now it was different.
Meeting Great Storm had proven that Wild Gods truly existed. Meeting Rough Avalanche had then revealed that the monsters from the original game, which they had assumed were monsters from Hell, were actually corrupted Wild Gods.
'Wild gods who protect their tribes.'
As could be seen in the cases of Gentle Snow Breeze and Great Storm, the tribespeople greatly respected the will of the wild gods they served.
In other words, the Wild Gods’ wishes mattered even more than the tribal chiefs’ when it came to forming the Eastern Alliance.
Rough Avalanche understood what Cordelia was getting at. He smiled faintly and shook his head.
"Most Wild Gods probably won’t attend. Each of us has a sanctuary, and normally we remain within it. Gentle Snow Breeze allied with Great Storm, for example, but she still stays in her own sanctuary in the basin."
So the other wild gods would likewise be guarding their own sanctuaries for now.
"Then what about you, Rough Avalanche?"
Rough Avalanche was a Wild God too, yet here he was staying in Great Storm’s territory.
At Cordelia’s question, Yuder quietly looked away. Rough Avalanche exploded in outrage.
"You destroyed it! You did!"
My sanctuary! My rocky mountain!
Of course, they had not destroyed all of it. About half still remained.
"Ahem, anyway, so you'll be attending the Karaval as an observer, Rough Avalanche."
"Well, I suppose so."
Rough Avalanche answered grumpily. Feeling guilty, Cordelia impulsively hugged him, and Rough Avalanche did not reject the beautiful girl’s embrace.
"Ahem."
The sight of a baby bear and a beautiful girl together was undeniably adorable, but Yuder cleared his throat with a strangely uncomfortable expression and subtly tugged Rough Avalanche away before continuing.
"In any case, there isn't much time left until the Karaval."
"Right, but I believe in Red Wind. She's obtained the phoenix, and she's practicing really hard, isn't she?"
That was true.
Red Wind had been growing explosively ever since obtaining the phoenix.
With Yuder and Cordelia’s customized training added on top of that, her odds of winning the Karaval were rising by the day.
'Cordelia is teaching her the fire-spirit combat style unique to Red Wind.'
Because the character Cordelia had played the most after Cordelia herself was Red Wind.
And when it came to combat itself, even Yuder had to admit Cordelia was better. He therefore left Red Wind’s overall development entirely in Cordelia’s hands.
'What I'll handle is the countermeasure against Sun Song.'
Yuder had memorized all of Sun Song's combat patterns.
Of course, Yuder had memorized the combat patterns of the corrupted Sun Song. But corruption changed temperament and personality, so the fundamentals of Sun Song’s martial arts were likely to remain the same.
'She learns the combat method from Cordelia, then spars with me while I imitate Sun Song.'
It was the best training method available right now.
'But the time really is tight.'
Only four days remained until the Karaval—little more than three full days in practical terms.
'Can we make it in time?'
'We have to.'
Yuder exchanged glances with Cordelia, nodded once, then turned back to Rough Avalanche.
At that look, Rough Avalanche suddenly clapped his hands, hopped down from the bed, and said,
"Ah, now that I think of it, I have something to tell you."
"Something to tell us?"
They had just been discussing the formation of the Eastern Alliance. Was there something else he needed to tell them?
Seeing their curiosity, Rough Avalanche gave them a slightly wicked but clearly delighted smile.
"Your brother and sister will arrive in two days."
Gale and Adelia, who had gone to Bladebeak Canyon and come up empty-handed, were returning.
To meet Yuder and Cordelia.
To catch the two of them!
"Ughhh......."
Cordelia squeezed her eyes shut, and Yuder took her hand.
Yuder had teased Cordelia relentlessly, but the thought of actually meeting Gale and Adelia made him nervous too.
But it was an unavoidable fate.
Four days until the Karaval.
The night deepened with two days remaining until Yuder’s brother and Cordelia’s sister arrived.
* * *
It was an unusually clear day.
Standing side by side on the pure white snowfield, Yuder and Cordelia stared into the distance and spotted the approaching figures at almost the same moment.
Two days had passed since Rough Avalanche gave them the news.
The day they had been dreading had finally arrived.
"Hoo...... Hoo......."
Cordelia’s face was rigid with tension as she took one deep breath after another.
Yuder turned to her and asked.
"Nervous?"
"Very."
"It's okay. I'm here."
"I'm nervous because of you, you know?"
Because she had to protect Yuder from Adelia.
"Hoo, hoo."
Cordelia took another deep breath, clenched her jaw, and straightened her posture.
Beside her, Yuder also straightened his back and faced forward.
"They're coming."
Over there, in the distance.
Adelia and Gale came into view.