< Chapter 101 - Immigration (with illustrations by Cordelia) >
Chapter 101 – Illegal Immigration
That night, Jude and Cordelia left Count Bayer’s residence with the rest of their party.
It was a bit difficult to get Cordelia to take Dahlia with her, but she was still able to persuade her.
[I don’t think sleep magic is persuasion.]
Melissa’s point was valid, and in fact Cordelia didn’t want to force Dahlia to use magic, but she had no choice. It was too dangerous to take Dahlia to the Empire.
‘Sorry, sorry, Dahlia.’
Cordelia left a letter at Dahlia’s bedside asking her to take good care of the land, and once again apologized to Dahlia in her heart.
[It’ll be okay.]
In fact, it seemed to Melissa that Dahlia was somewhat aware of it.
That there was a huge gap in skill between Cordelia and himself.
Of course, this was when we were simply talking about fighting power.
The reason Dahlia wanted to accompany Cordelia even though she knew their differences in skill was to protect Cordelia’s heart and other things.
Anyway, once I got rid of the dahlia, things went smoothly from there.
Uther and Cordelia, Lucas and Kai’sa each paired up and boarded the Phantom Steed, while Red Wind and Sunsong boarded the Phoenix together as they had originally come.
“let’s go.”
To the north.
Even before the border blockade came into effect, Uther had already created several routes into the Empire.
It was too much of a bother to go in openly as a simple tourist because of the devil followers.
He sneaks in under false pretenses.
In other words, illegal immigration was Yuder’s plan.
“We will enter the Empire via the Wild Lands.”
The central area, where the Silates Plain is located, was heavily guarded and was usually difficult to enter illegally.
Since the North also had closed its borders and could not use the usual smuggling routes, they decided to try to smuggle people from somewhere other than the kingdom.
The border between wild lands and empires.
Kaplan crosses into the Empire following the same route he took into the Wild Lands.
“Once we get there, we’ve prepared fake identities for use through the Holy Cross Guardians. We’ll pretend to be students at the Imperial Academy.”
“As a student at the Imperial Academy?”
“Yes, things like school uniforms and student ID cards have already been prepared.”
“Wow, you’re really talented. How did you get that?”
Cordelia shrugged and cheered as Caesar admired her.
“Our Yuder is a bit.”
[But how did you actually get it? How long did you start preparing it?]
I smiled and replied to the magic message that followed at the end of the sentence.
[Kaplan was a great help. He was a professor at the Imperial Academy. And we had already made the preparations before we went to the royal capital.]
Because I knew that I would have to go to the empire someday.
[Remember that guy? Fabian.]
[Huh? Oh… Ah! I remembered! The transporter of Berdfolnir!]
[That’s right, this kind of illegal immigration is Fabian’s specialty. I prepared for it in advance. I even exchanged letters with Kaplan through Fabian.]
It was always amazing to see Yuder’s skills.
I would have thought that in the two months between returning from the wild lands and heading to the royal capital, such preparations would have been made.
[I didn’t do everything then.]
Should I say that it was carried out intermittently thereafter?
But whatever it was, it was great, and Cordelia puffed out her chest a little more proudly.
‘This is our Yuder. Is this what our Yuder is like?’
However, Lucas, Kaisha, Red Wind, and Sun Song, who were already accustomed to such things, appropriately ignored Cordelia’s boast.
And for about three days.
The party quickly covered a distance that would normally take at least a week to travel, crossing the northern border guarded by crows and entering the wild lands.
“Ha, it reminds me of the old days.”
No matter how strong their physical strength and magical power were, they couldn’t operate Phantom Steed or Phoenix all day long.
So, Cordelia spent about half of the day just resting, but as she prepared to camp and light a campfire in the wild, she was reminded of old times.
‘At the time, I didn’t know it would turn out like this.’
There was a hint, just a hint.
In fact, in some ways it was a natural thing.
Because only they could fully share their past lives, as well as the threats that would come in the future, with each other.
Even now, only Yuder in this world remembers and understands her as the vivid Hong Yu-hee.
Cordelia was the only one who remembered and understood, even if only a little, the person named Kang Jin-ho.
‘Now that I think about it, I realize I don’t know much.’
Yuder rarely talked about his past life, whether it was on purpose or not.
All I found out was that there was a three-letter name called Kang Jin-ho and that there was a foreign teacher named Alexei?
‘What on earth was our Yuder doing?’
I guess he was a spy or a soldier or something.
Because he knew how to make bombs and traveled all over the world.
‘You look like some kind of cartoon character.’
In the first place, being reincarnated into a game world was a strange thing in itself.
“So, Sister, what do you want to ask?”
As I was laughing alone, the red wind that had come near me started talking to me. It was thanks to the fact that I had told him in advance that I would meet him once I was done with the basic preparations for camping.
“Huh? Huh··· That······.”
Cordelia looked around with her mouth slightly slurred, then grabbed Red Wind’s hand and headed towards a less crowded place.
Kaisa, who had been watching us from afar, followed us, but since we only had to avoid Yuder, Lucas, and Sunsong, Kaisa left us alone.
‘No, I think I’d be more embarrassed without Caesar.’
Cordelia, her cheeks slightly red, guided Red Wind, who tilted his head as if he didn’t know what was going on, to a place he had seen before, and sat down.
“Ahem.”
Cordelia pretended not to see Caesar sneaking up to the two of them and pressing his butt against hers, wiggling her fingers as she spoke.
“There’s that Red Wind.”
“Yeah, sister.”
Cordelia, who became even more embarrassed as Red Wind smiled innocently, eventually chose to whisper instead of speaking out loud.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz.
However, when it came to physical ability alone, Kaisa, who was a beast greater than Cordelia, blushed and made an awkward expression upon hearing that rumor, and the Red Wind laughed heartily.
“Sister, you’re crazy.”
“But, but.”
You’re the only one I can ask.
that.
That one day I’ll be with Yuder.
Adelia and Dahlia, of course, pass.
Maya is also in a difficult position, so she passes.
Then the only thing left was Caesar-
“I’ve never tried Caesar, but my taste is strange.”
“Hey! Hey hey! Who hasn’t done that before! Huh? Who said that?”
“Then have you tried it?”
When Cordelia asked with a sullen face, Caesar answered by cringing.
“I don’t have any strange tastes… but the binding is good….”
Cordelia ignored Caesar’s small muttering and asked the Red Wind, who was laughing, if this situation was just funny.
“Just, that… just, uh, yeah. Just. Would you mind telling me a little bit?”
Or anecdotes.
After all, I was the only married person in the group.
“Okay, I’ll tell you.”
But when it came to speaking, Red Wind was equally embarrassed, so he moved his lips and hesitated, while Cordelia and Caesar gulped with impatient faces.
“therefore······.”
The story of the Red Wind begins, and Cordelia and Caesar face a new world.
&
“Hey, beast.”
“hmm?”
Sun Song, who was looking over the campfire, tilted his head at the sudden and quite different gaze of the women.
“Eww, my goodness.”
“It’s a total beast.”
“What about Lucas?”
“As expected, it’s not going to be cool.”
“How do you know that? Huh?”
“You can tell just by looking at it.”
While Red Wind and Kaisa were chatting away, Cordelia looked over at Uther, and blushed again when she saw him sitting with a serious expression on his face, studying the map.
Gulp.
The story of the red wind.
Various things described by the red wind.
“Melissa, Melissa.”
[Oh, you finally spoke to me.]
Melissa tried to sarcastic because it had been so long, but Cordelia couldn’t hear her.
Cordelia, her face flushed and clutching the moonlight tightly, whispered softly.
“If it’s our Yuder, anything would be better than the sun song, right?”
[That’s an unfounded belief.]
“Why? It’s Yuder.”
[Then how about trying ultrasonic magic? Or clairvoyance magic?]
“huh?”
At Melissa’s suggestion, Cordelia blushed again and nodded.
I was too embarrassed to use clairvoyance magic, so I used ultrasonic magic instead.
Body shape, various sizes, etc.
“That’s a lie.”
Immediately after using the ultrasonic magic, Cordelia quickly turned around as she looked at the startled Yuder, pressing her chest with both hands and taking a deep breath.
It was because my heart started pounding like crazy.
If we add the story of the red wind to the results of the ultrasonic magic······.
Cordelia looked back at Moonlight without realizing it, squatted down, and covered her face with both hands.
I couldn’t do anything about the delusions that were starting to run wild.
And the next morning.
Red Wind and Sun Song left the group and headed to the great city located in the center of the wild land – the land of the Golden Dragon King.
If necessary, he would lead the forces of the wild lands and enter the empire to help the party.
“Be careful, sis!”
“Okay! I’ll be careful! For sure!”
After exchanging greetings that sounded slightly different to Caesar, the group continued across the wild lands towards the Empire.
And then a few days later.
‘Velencia.’
[Yes, posterity.]
‘Haven’t you noticed that Cordelia and Kaisa’s gazes at you have been a bit strange for the past few days?’
[I think so. But later on, have you thought about the things I mentioned?]
Something we were going to talk about next time.
While Cordelia and Caesar were chatting with the Red Wind, Uther was having a rather serious conversation with Velencia.
The topic that Belencia raised was the purpose of the fight. The reason for the fight.
In fact, the answer itself came right away.
To prevent the world from being ruined.
To survive.
But Belencia wasn’t satisfied with that answer. She told him to think about it a little more. She said that once he entered the empire, he wouldn’t have time to think seriously.
[Look back slowly. What fighting means to future generations. What are future generations’ goals and wishes.]
Velencia didn’t know about Yuder’s past life.
But there was something heartbreaking about her story. It made Yuder look back to the days when he was Kang Jin-ho without even realizing it.
The story of Kang Jin-ho, who started out as a boy soldier – or rather, a bullet shield.
Everything that happened between meeting Alexei and the others, and sending them off again.
My chest felt tight and blocked.
Memories of the past that I thought I had forgotten while playing games with Cordelia for nearly five years – in fact, they were just covered up.
So, Uder couldn’t come up with an answer easily.
It was because the obvious fact that we had to fight to survive felt so vague.
[It’s better not to rush. So don’t be impatient and find an answer that you can accept on your own, posterity.]
Yuder nodded to Velencia’s words and changed his thoughts again. Before he knew it, the border between the wild lands and the empire had come into view.
‘It’s really different from the North.’
It was a wild land that fought fiercely with the Kingdom of Seilun whenever it was forgotten, but surprisingly, it never fought a war with the Empire.
The reason was simple: the lands of the empire bordering the Wild Lands were barren wastelands that even the barbarians of the Wild Lands did not particularly desire.
‘The road is rough.’
To begin with, the dwarves were strong and Kaplan was strong against bad luck, so he managed to enter the wild lands. The border between the Empire and the wild lands was so dangerous that ordinary humans would most likely die by suicide.
Of course, for Yuder and his party, who had been equipped with various magic items and supplies, it was a perfectly safe area.
“Once we enter the Empire by land, we will cross Asain Pass and head towards the Imperial Academy.”
“Huh? Uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Uther frowned again at Cordelia’s answer from behind him.
Because Cordelia has been really suspicious for the past few days.
‘Suspicious.’
Should I say that he seems to be secretly avoiding Yuder? He doesn’t make eye contact much and his face turns red more often than usual.
‘I think it might be because of the red wind.’
What on earth were those two talking about to cause that to happen?
It’s like some kind of delusional switch has been turned on.
Anyway, the party entered the empire more easily than they had imagined, sent the Phantom Steeds back, and walked up the mountain pass on foot.
“It doesn’t really feel real that this is an empire.”
When Lucas spoke with a face that seemed to be in a daze, Caesar also nodded.
“But, well, that’s how people live, right? By the way, this road looks like it would be perfect for bandits to come out. I’ve never met a bandit before, but do you think they’ll come out?”
It was while Caesar was talking comfortably.
“Help me! Save me!”
At the top of the mountain pass, a little girl was running away, sobbing.
He was wearing fairly nice clothes, but they were dirty and torn in places, as if they had been rolled around in various places.
“Lady! This way!”
When Lucas instinctively shouted, the girl turned to him and ran towards him, panting as if she had barely managed to survive.
“Help me, please. Help me.”
When I looked closely, I saw that she was a very pretty girl.
The large ears characteristic of the cat-like race stood out from among the black hair, and a long tail with a red ribbon tied around its rump was attached.
“The group, the group, to the bandits. I barely managed to escape… sob. Please save me. The group, ugh. Sister.”
As the girl continued to cry and struggle to continue her story, Lucas suddenly turned around to look up the mountain path, expressing his anger, and Kaisha also turned his gaze with an angry face.
“We will help you. Can you tell us where to go?”
“Over there, over there. I’ll guide you. Hehe.”
Lucas was deeply moved when the girl volunteered to be his guide, even though she was trembling with fear. Caesar also looked at the girl with eyes that were filled with wonder.
And two people.
Uther and Cordelia looked at each other and spoke with their eyes.
‘Wow, the acting is awesome.’
‘As expected from Kirara.’
It was highly likely that I would see it around here due to the timing, but since the butterfly effect was so effective, I had no idea it would appear like this.
That’s just like Kirara.
‘Is that a trap?’
‘If you wear a mask, there will be bandits waiting in ambush.’
‘Did you touch our weapons on the way?’
‘I’ll probably cast a curse spell too. Oh, and I just tried to poison Lucas.’
Looking at the fact that Kirara is not acting as the leader but rather acting as bait, it seems like she is working under the Mountain King.
“Prince Yude! Let’s hurry!”
“Let’s go!”
As the innocent Lucas and Kaisa shouted, the cat-tribe girl Kira looked at Uther and Cordelia with tearful blue eyes.
You will help me, right?
yes?
Even in Heroes Chronicle 2, Kirara is a master of betrayal who betrays others when he is bored.
So, Uther and Cordelia looked at each other and smiled, and then did in real life what they always wanted to do in games.
“Kirara! Good job! You said you’d infiltrate the mountain king, and you did a great job!”
“As expected of Kirara! You set up a trap in advance to have the bandits ambush you? That’s according to plan!”
As Uther and Cordelia each shouted, Lucas and Kaisa blinked, and Kirara was too embarrassed to say anything.
to?
No, what are you saying now?
“Hey! As expected from Kirara!”
“Thank you for your hard work on the lurker!”
Lucas asked in confusion as Uther and Cordelia shouted again, as if they were trying to hear him.
“Oh, so… we know each other…?”
“Of course. He is one of our agents who was lying in wait to capture the Mountain King.”
“yes?”
Our agent?
Lucas wasn’t the only one taken aback by the unexpected story.
Kirara looked back, sweat dripping down her face. She was doing a good job as bait, but there were still the Mountain King’s men watching her.
“Uh, uh. There’s something wrong now······.”
Who is your agent!
And how do you know my real name?!
And that was the moment.
“Magic Missile!”
Cordelia scanned the surroundings with search magic and fired two magic missiles simultaneously toward the bushes.
“Huh?!”
“Tch!”
Two men who had been hiding in the bushes over there quickly emerged, avoiding the magic.
Both of them were dog-man, and judging by the swords on their waists, they seemed to be the Mountain King’s subordinates.
“Kirara! You betrayed me!”
When the dog Suin vomited out his anger, Kirara was startled and quickly waved both hands and shouted.
“Oh, no! I haven’t betrayed you yet!”
“yet?”
“Heeeeeee!”
Because I did plan on betraying the Sanwang side someday.
Although she was a master of betrayal, she was also not very good at ending things, which was typical of Kirara.
“Anyway, take care of it!”
After all, bandits are bandits.
For a moment, Caesar leaped up like an angry tiger and threw the chain at the dog that was nearby.
“Ugh!?”
As the chains instantly tightened around the dog man’s body as if they were living snakes, Kaisa swung the chains again with great strength. After slamming the dog man to the ground and making a wooden bowl out of it, he tried to strike the remaining one – the one who had already turned around and was running away.
“Wait! Stop!”
But just then Cordelia shouted loudly and stopped Caesar.
“why!”
[I have a plan!]
Cordelia, who had once answered the message with magic, looked back at Kirara, and Kirara shouted, unable to sit still.
“Why don’t you catch them! You have to catch them all!”
It wasn’t a situation where I could shout loudly, but it was urgent.
And Cordelia shook her head as if it was impossible for Kirara to do so, and then used message magic.
[Hey, you can’t catch them all. If you do that, they’ll run away and tell the mountain king that Kirara betrayed them.]
“Hieee?!”
Are you a devil?!
“Anyway, I caught it.”
Get Kirara.
Even while they were talking, Yuder grabbed Kirara’s neck tightly, who was thinking of running away, and smiled.
“You’re lucky.”
“I know”
As Lucas and Kaisa made expressions demanding an explanation, Uther and Cordelia looked at Kirara in bewilderment, then looked at each other again with dark smiles.
&
————————
This is Cordelia fan art drawn by Soso.
Thank you so much ;ㅁ;b
< Chapter 101 - Illegal Immigration (with Cordelia illustration) > End
