Chapter 362

SIDE STORY – CORDELIA’S DIARY (3)

49.

A merit ceremony was held.

With everyone in the royal capital watching… His Royal Majesty, Henry II, acknowledged me and Jude for our meritorious deeds and granted us titles.

Both of us became counts.

Jude became a count, and I became a countess.

The titles could only be passed down to one child, but because Jude and I each have our own titles, I’m relieved that it could be passed down to two.

No, uh… I-I’m not saying I want to have two children.

Really.

Ah, I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m relieved now.

Hehe.

Moving on.

It was good.

I also felt it back then when we destroyed the Hell Gate in the wild lands, and I felt it again this time.

The world has changed in a better way.

In a way that even one more person is happy.

Like this, more and more things will change little by little.

For a perfect happy ending.

Hehe.

It was a very hard, scary, and painful fight, but thanks to the merit ceremony, I felt energized.

I have to work hard again starting tomorrow.

We can do it.

50.

Jude is indeed an idiot.

Since that last incident, he has been kissing me all the time.

Ah, seriously.

I-It’s not that I hate it. Uh, to be honest, it feels a bit good… I also want to do it often…

But argh. There’s a time and place for everything.

He’s always kissing me whenever we’re alone.

It’s embarrassing.

I think my face is always red these days.

I guess I’ll have to take some special measures.

51.

I’m an idiot.

I’m definitely an idiot.

EUAAAAAAAAA!

Why did I make a bet with Jude again?

With that scammer!

AAAAAH

I lost again.

I lost again. He got a wish again.

Eueueue…

He still has his previous wish.

Uh, of course, Jude has asked me to clean his ears last time, but as I’ve said before, it’s kind of strange for that to be a wish, right? I have a conscience too, yes, yes.

Eueu, seriously.

When are you going to make a wish?

P-Perhaps this time?

Ahem, ahem.

Ahem.

Umm…

O-Okay.

I don’t know if it’s something good, but anyway, I’m fine with it.

52.

We ran away again.

I wonder how many times we had done this.

Frankly, the entire Sälen Kingdom now knows, the royal family acknowledges it, and J-Jude and I also acknowledge it, so… we’re a real couple now. But we still left a love letter and ran away again.

Like something’s lacking if we don’t leave a letter? Something like that?

Anyway, we had no choice but to run away.

The king and Crown Princess Daphne didn’t want to let us go.

But we needed to quickly go south and prepare to stop Malekith.

Haa.

Malekith.

A giant monster that’s 200 meters long.

Defeating it will be hard, but I think we can somehow do it.

Yes, yes.

That’s how I feel.

53.

We arrived at our fief.

Our fief.

Not someone else’s territory, but mine and Jude’s territory.

Of course, we weren’t greeted or welcomed because we didn’t contact the people or visit the place officially, but those did not matter since we arrived at our fief, right?

It seemed like this place was a good location as Jude had aimed for.

I hadn’t been able to look around the entire place, but the territory seemed to be quite wide.

The place also looked pretty good, though I wasn’t sure if it was caused by originally being under the direct control of the royal family or was it the good health of the people? Or perhaps their financial state?

Jude said that the tax rate in territories under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family was less that that of other lords, so that might be the reason why.

As expected, budget rules the world.

T/N: ‘Budget rules the world’ is a quote from the Korean novel ‘The Rogue’, which is also the author’s inspiration for the Rogue Master in this series.

Anyway, we were originally looking for Sword Origin, one of the Ultimate Seven series, but luckily (?), we were able to get another from the series thanks to meeting Gamorr Khan, Malekith’s subordinate.

Gamorr Khan carried Ultimate Five – Grand Order.

Thanks to Sword Origin, Jude became very strong.

Hehe.

I really like him.

My Jude is the best, right?

I’m only saying this here, but my Jude is seriously cool.

He’s tall, has a handsome face, and is good at cooking and fighting too. Hehe. Sometimes, he does mean things, but he’s very nice to me too.

He keeps his promise ever since I banned him from any skinship.

Hmph.

But it’s actually fine for me if he breaks it a little though?

Anyway… Jude obtained Sword Origin, defeated Gamorr Khan, and got the base of the Black Horn Guild, the group of dwarves who created Ultimate One.

Ah, and in the process, I talked to Melissa after a long time.

I’m sorry.

I’m really sorry.

I forgot.

But I’ll try to talk to you a lot from now on.

It’s a promise.

Yes, I promise.

54.

A lot of things happened.

We passed through the Forest of Eternity, and whether through fate or inevitability, we somehow met the elven princess.

So we also defeated Jabberwock who would later become one of the 7 major calamities.

Yes, yes.

In the meantime, it was a fact that my performance was remarkable.

Because of my negotiation abilities that dominated the fairies at once, Jude was in awe several times.

Heh.

Hehe.

That Jude.

Hihi.

But something happened then.

We were invited and welcomed to the palace of the elves, and in that time, Jude figured out that their sword dance was wrong.

My Jude is really amazing.

My Jude.

Anyway, that was why Jude danced the real sword dance, and then, wow, the Spirit King appeared.

And that Spirit King. The Spirit King of Storms and Lightning chose me as his contractor.

As expected of Cordelia. Cordelia is amazing.

No, I’m not talking in third person. I’m talking about the Cordelia who’s my favorite character.

What the heck am I saying?

Anyway, that was how we got into trouble again.

Yes, but what could they do?

I’m the contractor of the Spirit King.

Jude said that it would be fine.

55.

It’s not fine.

It’s not okay at all!

These erofus!

I realized it since they mentioned that they did not have a marriage culture.

These impudent erofus began to target Jude.

Even though I, his FIANCEE, was right next to them with my eyes wide open.

I understand it.

Because my Jude is very handsome.

He’s handsome, tall, has a good body (especially the abs. I touched it a bit last time), and he’s talented.

Yes, it’s natural to want him.

Very natural.

So no way.

We need to get out of this forest quickly!

I wrote a letter full of words of love just to properly dissuade the erofus.

It was really thick, but it should be fine!

I’m not embarrassed!

B-Because all of it is true now!

Yes! It’s true!

Uh… no. It’s a lie.

In fact, I thought I would die from embarrassment while writing it.

I can’t even write it here.

Absolutely impossible. Impossible. Completely impossible.

Anyway, we left that behind and left the forest.

Jude kept slyly asking me to do things and wanted to read the letter, so I seriously hated Jude for a while, but I endured it all.

Because getting out of the forest was our first priority.

An escape.

We escaped.

56.

A lot of things happened.

We went to find Kajsa, stopped by at the pirate’s island where we rescued Kajsa and defeated the brainwashed Sebastian, one of the Ten Great Swordmasters.

No, seriously, should I be suspicious of this guy because he’s one of the Ten Great Swordmasters?

So far, most of the Ten Great Swordmasters I had met were enemies except for Seryu, the Seven-Killings Sword.

Hmm… From now on, I shall begin to suspect any Ten Great Swordmasters.

Anyway, we ran into another problem.

The ship was wrecked by the Kraken, and we woke up in the realm of the Sirens.

Siren.

The erofus of the sea.

Seriously, another obstacle, huh?

57.

After defeating the Kraken and saying goodbye to the erofus of the sea, we arrived at Argon Port, the largest port in the south and home to the 7 southern families.

It had the same name as the Argon Empire, but it was a different place.

Hmm, wouldn’t it be better to change the name?

Anyway.

When we arrived at Argon Port, Scarlet was waiting.

I’m sorry.

I forgot.

Yes, it was good to see you after a long time. Hehe.

Although she often quarreled with Kajsa, I was relieved because they seemed to get along very well.

In Legend of Heroes 2, these two always fought each other.

58.

I didn’t have the time to write in my diary for some time.

To summarize, we collected all the tokens Carlos left to the 7 southern families, and obtained Ultimate Three – Dragon Sword Ascalon.

With this, we united the forces of the 7 southern families and joined the party of Landius-nim.

Landius, Kamael, and Lena.

These three.

It was seriously reassuring.

There was even Velkian whom we met in the royal capital, so four out of the five heroes of Paragon who died in the original, except for Kamael, had now survived.

Where and what was Fran doing now?

Anyway, I felt reassured because the heroes of Paragon were together.

Isn’t it reassuring when the main characters of the previous episode join in the second one?

Hehe.

While fighting in Argon Port, we also defeated the dwarf Madhur, one of Malekith’s three knights, so we decided to not delay it any longer.

Our side would attack them before we get attacked.

The decisive battle against Malekith approached.

59.

We defeated Malekith.

We also obtained a Dragon Heart and was able to save the south from its fated destruction.

And.

And.

Hehehe.

Jude and I ki-ki… hehe. Uh… hehe, hehehe.

Ahem, ahem.

Umm.

Uh.

W-We did it.

No, not that… the kiss. Yes, kiss on the lips.

Lips to lips. Kya.

I’ll stop here for today.

60.

After we defeated Malekith, we decided to organize things first.

We settled this and that when Jude and I went to our fief, and also called Dahlia and Maja to our fief.

Dahlia became the knight commander and Maja the housekeeper.

Both of them were too young to manage a fief, but who cares?

Jude and I were the lords.

It was all up to us.

Both of them were capable enough despite their young age.

Yes, that’s right. My Dahlia is amazing. So was Maja.

We brought in a lot of dwarves and also invited Cassius, a master craftsman, to work and use the legacy of the Black Horn Guild.

It was nice to meet the witch of the west forest too, but she left so quickly that we couldn’t talk long.

Well.

It was good.

Anyway, I needed to rest while absorbing the Dragon Heart for some time.

I’m also going on a date with Jude.

Hehe.

61.

Jude is a kiss addict.

62.

We attended the wedding of my older sister and Gaël.

It was the union of two people who were not in a relationship in Legend of Heroes 2, and faced tragic deaths no matter what route the player took.

The event was very happy and joyful, but strangely, I cried.

We have to work a little harder.

For a really perfect happy ending.

63.

The movements of the empire were unusual.

As expected, we had changed the fate of the kingdom so much that problems rose on the empire side.

There were many playable characters on the empire side too.

I wonder what kind of situation all of them were in.

I think we should quickly go to the empire.

64.

We entered the empire and met Kirara.

She was cute.

Just like in the game, she was playing tricks here and there, but Jude was here, remember?

In the end, Kirara was trapped in the palm of Jude and quietly came to our side.

But she was a bit different from the one in Legend of Heroes 2.

Or rather, she was originally a child who suffered a lot in Legend of Heroes 2.

I want to be nice to her.

65.

A lot of things happened again.

After rescuing the emperor and the empress dowager from the imperial chancellor who revealed his true colors much earlier than the original, we tried to ask for help from the elves in the Shadow Forest, but there was a battle again.

Elio Lombardi.

He was not an enemy in Legend of Heroes 2, but I began suspecting him when I heard that he was a great swordmaster, and my prediction was right.

As expected, it was good to be suspicious of Sword Masters first.

Anyway, Jude defeated Elio in a cool way.

And I feel like he’s gotten stronger while fighting?

As expected, my Jude is cool. Amazing. I like it.

We also met Scarlet again.

I was worried because I knew that she was somewhere in the empire, but meeting her here relieved me.

Anyway, a lot happened after that.

Jude fought and ended up in a draw with Grand Sword Master Elune… or great swordmaster if you went with how the kingdom called them.

Isn’t my Jude seriously so amazing?

His skills were improving. He also grew up.

His height had grown so much that me standing on tiptoes was not enough. Jude also needed to bow his head to me and support my back… what am I saying here?

Anyway, since it was only Elio Lombardi who committed an offense, we reconciled well with the elves, and received support from all sorts of things before we headed north.

It’s heartbreaking to think that a full-scale civil war is about to begin.

66.

I had not been able to write in my diary for a while.

After stopping by the northern part of the empire and defeating the lava giant, a being who would become one of the 7 major calamities, a lot of things happened here and there.

Oh, and… haha.

The relationships of Kajsa, Scarlet, and Lucas were strange.

Yes, strange.

Very strange.

No matter who gets chosen, I’ll be on Lucas’ side. I’ll cheer for you.

Hehe.

67.

It had been a really, really long time since I had gone on a trip with Jude alone.

A trip to the tomb of Gallus.

It had been so long since we had traveled alone, so my heart was pounding.

68.

Crazy. No way.

Jude was the oppa next door.

No, seriously.

Does this make sense?

Wah.

It’s a lie.

That bad grade schooler Outbo and the oppa next door were the same person.

Give me back my fantasy!

Eueueu.

Well.

Yeah.

Umm.

It’s somewhat understandable.

As expected of my Jude.

He was a cool guy.

He’s still cool now.

Where else could you find a man like my Jude?

Yes, that’s right.

My Jude is the best.

The best.

The coolest.

Hahaha.

And…

And…

Umm… I climbed the stairs to adulthood.

Yes.

I’ll stop here.

I don’t want to write it here in detail.

But if I have to write just one thing…

Jude is amazing.

He’s much more amazing than the one in Kajsa’s book.

Really, really.

69.

Jude is a beast.

No, really. Wow.

Spare me – did I suddenly say that?

He said that we’re just taking a bath, but he sneakily…

Liar.

B-But.

It was so good.

Why is he so good?

Huh? Why are you so good?

70.

Jude is a cheat.

He has infinite stamina.

He doesn’t get tired.

71.

So many things happened.

The events were confusing.

I inherited the divinity of Solari, and after several battles… the fight in the Forest of Eternity made me completely realize something.

The truth of this world.

The reason why me and Jude remembered our past lives.

The struggles of Jude and the young goddess Atalia in trying to escape the fated destruction.

The memories I occasionally saw while traveling were not dreams.

It all really happened.

The past lives of me, Cordelia Chase.

The tragic events that I personally experienced in my past lives.

I did not remember everything.

But I now knew what happened.

For a perfect happy ending.

It was not an easy statement.

It was the only wish that all of the Cordelias in my past lives had wished for.

72.

Auriel, who learned about the truth of this world – the copy and paste method, then became our enemy.

She said that we dragged both Heaven and Hell into the problems of Pleiades.

That the fate of Heaven and Hell was willfully played around by Pleiades.

So history had to be returned to its proper order.

A battlefield was necessary for settling their battle with Hell.

She put forward several reasons, but frankly, I didn’t understand it.

In fact, how many times had Auriel trampled on Pleiades for her own convenience?

We had to stop the Great Summons.

We had to protect Pleiades.

For a perfect happy ending.

The day of the decisive battle was approaching.

73.

Tomorrow.

The decisive battle in the imperial capital would begin.

The final fight to stop the Great Summons and lead to a perfect happy ending.

It was scary and terrifying.

When I closed my eyes, I remembered the terrible moments of my past lives.

But Jude is here.

Jude is with me.

The memories of my past lives were definitely difficult, painful, and distressing… There were many such memories.

But there were also pleasant and happy memories of being with Jude.

It was the same this time.

And it would continue to do so this time.

For a perfect happy ending.

This time, we will protect the future of Pleiades.

Cordelia who was writing in her diary paused for a moment.

She covered her diary and turned to her side.

Jude was sleeping.

Usually, Jude rarely fell asleep, but he was still sleeping at this moment.

“Tomorrow…”

The final day.

Cordelia closed her diary. Instead of trembling in fear, she lay down next to Jude and curled up in his arms.

And whether Jude was sleeping or awake, he also hugged the waist of Cordelia.

Tomorrow.

Cordelia shut her eyes.

She struggled to sleep in Jude’s embrace.

74.

It had been very long since I wrote in my diary.

The passage of time flowed somewhat differently in Hell… or to be more exact, the connecting path created by Asmodeus.

Around 8 months? Or 9 months?

So many things happened in Hell that I cannot write it all down here.

Jude alienated the overlords of Hell, and the overlords of Hell were locked in power struggles rather than supporting us in defeating Asmodeus… In addition, Cassius and the witch helped us.

We formed contractual relationships with the territory we acquired in Hell, and even held hands with demons.

We also did not forget Archbishop Manuela who continued to fight alone after he fell to Hell.

Anyway, the conclusion was that we killed Asmodeus.

Heaven lost Auriel and Hell lost Asmodeus.

The archangel and overlord who were most interested in Pleiades were gone, and due to the shock the worlds received from their deaths, Pleiades became a place independent from Heaven and Hell again.

That’s right.

Pleaides was safe now.

It had been completely freed from the threat of the Great Summons.

So…

Now, we should put our last efforts in achieving a really perfect happy ending.

The wedding.

I will marry Jude tomorrow.

We’ll become one.

75.

It’s been a while again.

I married Jude and many things happened.

It was peaceful, but a lot of fun things also happened in that time.

Especially…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ah, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Not too long ago.

Recently.

Jude and I switched bodies… Well, I’ll stop here.

I’ll write about it next time.

Today’s not the only day, right?

Cordelia finished writing with playful words, and grinned when she saw Jude watching from her side and tilting his head before asking her.

“Why are you smiling so much?”

“No, it’s nothing. Why? Are you anxious that someone is watching?”

What are you talking about? (Jude)

Jude could not understand what she meant, but knew that it was not right to peek at the diary, so he decided to just keep being curious about it.

“Anyway, are you ready now?”

“Yes, I’m ready.”

Their preparations.

Things they needed for their new trip that would begin now.

“But isn’t this more like… a homecoming than a trip?”

Because in a way, they were going back to their hometown.

At the words of Cordelia, Jude nodded his head.

“It is.”

The hometown of Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee.

The other selves of the two who remained there and lived their own lives.

“Ah, I’m curious. Have the two met already? Do they know each other’s identities now?”

“I’m not sure. To be honest, wouldn’t that be a little difficult?”

“Why?”

“I mean, I can’t even imagine it.”

I would have never thought that Yellow Storm was that nice, pretty, cute, and lovely girl next door.

“Hey, I wouldn’t have ever thought of it too, okay?”

I would have never thought that the bad grade schooler Outbo was that cool and stylish oppa next door.

“Give me back my fantasy.”

“Isn’t it the same for me?”

The two of them giggled and chatted before kissing again.

Cordelia stood on tiptoes and Jude bowed his head as he hugged her waist.

“Then… Shall we depart?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

To Earth.

To see Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee, and their families and friends.

Jude and Cordelia looked straight ahead. They sat besides each other on a chair, and transferred their consciousness to the avatars they had prepared for traveling across worlds.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

As always.

As in the beginning, now, and forever always.

Jude and Cordelia held the hands of each other and stepped forward.

Their journey to Earth began.