Ending Maker

Chapter 243: Divine Spirit’s Whistle (2)

“What are you doing?”

“Marking my territory.”

Kajsa nodded and clapped her hands in response to Cordelia’s answer. Because she finally understood Cordelia’s strange behavior.

“I see.”

Cordelia was now clinging to Jude, and rubbing her cheeks on his back.

Or rather, she was rubbing her head all over Jude’s body to be exact.

His neck, his back, and his head too.

“But why are you suddenly doing that?”

“Basically, the five senses of elves are more sensitive than humans. So if they smell me, their conscience will tell them to withdraw.”

Bentham was slightly impressed by her logical argument that she said with an indifferent expression.

‘As expected of a wizard.’

Even if they were both beasts, she was a little different from Kajsa.

They had only spent a short time together, but he could already tell that Cordelia was of the same kind as Kajsa.

But unlike Bentham’s impressed look, the real beast, Kajsa, gave a different opinion.

“I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“Eh? Why? Are you saying that sirens don’t have a conscience?”

“Uh, no. Not in that way. Rather, they’ll like it if it smells like you, I think? Because it means that they took someone else’s. Since sirens only have women in their race, they view men as a kind of resource. They need a lot of children to build up their family’s power, but they need a man to do that. So they share the man within their family, but never with other families. Rather, if they take a man from another family, it will be for the joy and pleasure of conquering someone.”

At Kajsa’s explanation, Cordelia was frightened by the erofu that were beyond her imagination, while Bentham was somehow impressed that Kajsa could give such a long explanation.

“So the sirens go together as a family when hunting for men. Unless they want to go on a really large scale man hunting.”

Cordelia was once again scared at Kajsa’s words.

She couldn’t help it since she heard a strange word.

“M-man hunting?”

“Yes, that’s what sirens call it when they seduce and capture male sailors with their songs. And well, the dryads living in the empire also do something similar.”

Dryads were also a race made up of only women.

They were famous for luring men into the woods and sucking the men’s energy.

“T-those erofu. What kind of monsters are they really? Are they succubi?”

“Well… they’re similar, I think?”

As Kajsa shrugged her shoulders and spoke, Cordelia hugged Jude a little tighter as if she felt a sense of crisis.

And at that frightened rabbit-like appearance, Kajsa shared more scary stories.

“Jude must be popular because he is handsome, young, and has a good body. Perhaps families will wage wars against each other. They’ll try to capture him. Or perhaps, he’ll be shared by the entire kingdom and not just the families?”

At this point, it was already close to a horror story, but for Cordelia, it was a really intimidating story.

She put more strength in her arms holding Jude.

“I-I’m going to protect Jude.”

In fact, Cordelia had been in a state of panic since earlier.

The cause was the strong emotions that she felt in her dream that she couldn’t properly remember.

Her fear of demonic human Cordelia.

Her sadness for the Jude who lost everything and became obsessed with revenge.

Her attachment to Jude who was the only person that remembered her past life as Yellow Storm and shared secrets that she couldn’t even tell her current family.

As all of these emotions were mixed into one, her affection for Jude grew stronger, as if she had become the child in her dream who was wandering around in search of Jude.

And Jude responded to Cordelia’s actions like always.

In other words, he was smiling in delight.

“Ha, that’s an annoying expression.”

Kajsa frowned and criticized him, but Jude didn’t care.

He wasn’t even listening to her in the first place.

“B-by the way, Kajsa. Does that mean that Sebastian and Bentham are in danger too?”

Kajsa smiled at the question of Cordelia who seemed to have become like a child.

“It’s all right because I’m guarding Mister Sebastian well. As for Bentham… sirens also have a taste. They do not like all men.”

“I see… That’s a relief, Mister Bentham.”

When Cordelia spoke with a convinced expression, Bentham said with a troubled expression like a mature dwarf instead of raising his fist.

“No, it’s not? I’m also popular, okay? The sirens like me too, okay? Bald dwarves are especially popular among sirens, okay?”

“I understand. There are times when one needs to rationalize to mentally cope with reality.”

Kajsa smiled benevolently as if she understood everything, while Cordelia gazed at Bentham with sadness and then said.

“Cheer up, Bentham. Cheer up.”

There was a strong feeling of compassion at the appearance of her cheering him up as she lightly pumped her fist.

Therefore, Bentham became angry again and lightly pound on his chest in his frustration, while Kajsa held her sides in her laughter.

“Moving on… the story is as follows.”

It was Jude’s job to organize the situation like always.

Kajsa and Bentham focused on Jude like Cordelia did because they had not yet heard of the post-battle situation.

“First of all, the sirens rescued and brought us to their realm. As you can see now, Kajsa and Bentham are fine and without any injuries, while Lord Sebastian has a few additional injuries. He’s unconscious because of the aftermath of the brainwashing, but he’ll wake up sooner or later. The sirens are singing healing songs for him. Hopefully, they can successfully get rid of his bewitched state.”

Cordelia nodded, and Kajsa and Bentham turned to each other at the explanation Jude gave.

They weren’t as good as Jude and Cordelia at having a conversation with their eyes, but they were able to understand what the other was thinking perhaps because a consensus was formed.

‘Isn’t he just talking to Cordelia?’

‘We’re just extras here.’

Or rather, they didn’t even seem to be extras from the way Jude talked.

In any case, Jude’s explanation continued.

“The Kraken we encountered this time isn’t the one from the deep sea. It’s the one who was sealed in the sea here and had woken up.”

Krakens being called the demons of the sea was not a metaphor.

Krakens were actually a kind of demon.

When one of the overlords of hell, the violent Behemoth, descended on earth, the Krakens came together with him and accomplished the feat of virtually destroying Perigeo, one of the ancient elves’ kingdoms.

“The Krakens back then numbered seven. Four were killed by the elves of Perigeo, but not the other three.”

The other three suffered serious blows from the elves of Perigeo, but they were not killed.

“Two of the three ran into the deep sea, and the other seemed to have been sealed deep in the sea by the sirens of that time.”

“They didn’t kill it?”

“I don’t think they could afford it.”

The enemies of Perigeo were not just the seven Krakens.

Because there were many demons and monsters that attacked Perigeo on the land side.

“Therefore, Perigeo was eventually destroyed.”

Anyway, what mattered was the fact that a Kraken was sealed in the southern sea of the S?len Kingdom.

“Are you saying that the seal was broken this time?”

Jude nodded at Kajsa’s question.

“Yes, the seal was released. Chloe said that Perigeo’s Crystal Ball that was keeping the seal had disappeared.”

“Perigeo’s Crystal Ball?”

“It’s a legacy of the ancient elven kingdom. Think of it as a mana generator.”

“Hmm…”

Kajsa furrowed her brows in her uncertainty, while Bentham’s eyes were sparkling.

Because he found a mana generator left by an ancient elven kingdom to be interesting.

And aside from these two, Cordelia’s lips twitched as she lightly pulled Jude’s sleeve.

[Jude, that Perigeo’s Crystal Ball is…]

[Yes, perhaps Sicilia took it.]

In the second half of Legend of Heroes 2, Kajsa attacked Malekith with several heroes in order to recapture her hometown, and one of the magic tools that Sicilia brought out at that time was Perigeo’s Crystal Ball.

[But I think the timing has come a bit earlier. The Kraken never appeared when we went to the south in the game.]

[Is it because of us?]

[Maybe.]

They weren’t exactly sure if that was the case, but it was highly likely that Jude and Cordelia were the biggest reason why Sicilia was more active than in the game.

“Moving on, the seal is broken, so the Kraken is moving again. I’m sure you know from our firsthand experience, but the Kraken’s a terrifying opponent.”

A big opponent that was too big.

One leg alone was tens of meters long, and it had dozens of those legs.

Kajsa frowned as she scratched her head, and said after her shoulders drooped.

“Frankly, I don’t think it’s possible to defeat it while riding a boat in the sea.”

She was right. If it swung its legs a few times, the fleet and everything would be destroyed.

Moreover, it could summon a storm.

Fighting on a boat was more like a suicide attempt.

“I didn’t expect the ancient elves to be that amazing.”

They killed four such monsters in the sea.

As Bentham stroked his beard and said, Kajsa nodded in agreement and looked at Jude again.

“It seems like the sirens have no other better solutions, right?”

“Until now, that’s the situation. They’re worried that the Kraken would attack their realm.”

The sirens could freely swim and breathe in the sea, but even for these women, the monster Kraken was a very difficult opponent.

‘In the first place, the Kraken is also a sea creature.’

It was much stronger if it fought in the sea.

“This is troubling.”

Kajsa said as she crossed her arms and frowned again.

If such a monster wandered around the southern sea, the southern region of the kingdom, which heavily relied on its various marine industries, would have no choice but to suffer huge economic losses.

“But Jude. Didn’t you just say until now?”

Jude nodded at Bentham’s question.

Because as Bentham had heard, Jude had indeed said ‘until now.’

“D-did you come up with a solution?”

When Kajsa hurriedly asked, Jude nodded once and said as he turned to Cordelia who was holding his sleeve.

“Because of Cordelia, things have changed.”

“Eh? Because of me?”

“Yes, it’s because of my angel.”

Kajsa and Bentham’s expressions turned cold when they heard the word ‘angel’ that Jude naturally spoke. Cordelia who was standing in front of the two then blushed, while Jude remained calm.

Being embarrassed was always Cordelia’s job.

‘No, wait. Why is it always me?’

Cordelia came to her senses and asked with her eyes, but by that time, Jude had already turned his gaze to Kajsa and Bentham.

Jude briefly explained on what Cordelia did, and was deeply satisfied when the two looked at Cordelia with a surprised face. As for Cordelia, instead of clearing her throat and bragging about it like always, she was lightly scratching her cheek in her embarrassment.

Because she only boasted like a child when in front of Jude.

Anyway, the important thing was the fact that the Kraken suffered a serious blow.

“Even if it haven’t suffered a serious blow, it’s been sealed for many years and has weakened from the injuries caused by the elves of Perigeo. What do you think will happen if it suffered a serious blow?”

At Jude’s question, Kajsa smiled as if it wasn’t something to think deeply about.

“It must have run back home.”

When a person or animal suffered from a serious injury, they would hide in their homes.

They needed time to heal their wounds.

“It thinks of the seal as its own house, perhaps because it’s been sealed there for a long time. In the first place, there are very few places where a monster as big as a Kraken can hide its body.”

“Anyway, it crawled back into the seal on its own.”

As Bentham said as he chuckled, Kajsa also said with shining eyes.

“It pushed itself into a place where its movements are restricted. No way… Are you saying that the sirens are thinking of using this opportunity to finally kill it instead of sealing it again?”

Just like Cordelia, Kajsa’s intuition was also good.

Moreover, the accuracy was bound to be higher this time because it had a fairly reasonable logic.

“Yes, the sirens are asking us, or more specifically, Cordelia, since we have done a huge blow to the Kraken. So let’s defeat the Kraken together.”

Kajsa very much welcomed the decision as she raised both her hands. So did Bentham since he lived in the south.

‘And Cordelia…’

Jude looked back at Cordelia and tried to suppress his laughter.

He couldn’t help it because Cordelia was reacting exactly as he expected.

Her blue eyes began to sparkle, her cheeks were glowing, and her lips slightly opened in her excitement. In addition to that, even her heart began to pound loudly.

‘Kraken! Raid Boss! Raid rewards!’

Cordelia’s gamer brain began to work, and she expressed her excitement through her trembling hands as she sent a magic to Jude.

[Jude, Jude. The sirens are also thinking of something, right? They must have prepared something like a trigger to weaken the Kraken, or something that could deal a decisive blow to it, right?]

[Yes, it seems like they’re preparing something. And…]

[And?]

[I have one in mind.]

[Wow, is this a new special move?]

Cordelia asked in excitement, and Jude replied as he lightly pinched her cheek.

[It’s still a secret.]

[Hmph, that’s unfair.]

But contrary to what she said, she had a smile on her face. Even though he was pinching her cheek.

‘Because I can’t just leave it to Cordelia.’

Summoning the Spirit King’s right arm was certainly a powerful technique, but it was also a reckless technique that used up all of Cordelia’s mana at once. The burden on Cordelia was enormous, so he couldn’t let her abuse it.

In that case, it would be better for him to do it himself since he could handle the burden much more.

‘I want to try it.’

I want to see if it’s possible.

I want to know if I can handle that much power.

Jude made a firm resolution as he pinched Cordelia’s cheeks with both hands. And Cordelia who had been smiling earlier now looked at him coldly and raised her hands.

She wanted to pinch Jude’s cheeks in the same way.

But fortunately for Kajsa and Bentham, that didn’t happen.

Because someone came to see the group at that right moment.

“Jude, this is Chloe. May I come in?”

At that very gentle and beautiful voice, Cordelia hurriedly hugged Jude’s arm and raised her vigilance like a cat with its fur raised. And Jude tried to hold back his laughter before shouting to the door.

“You may come in.”

Chloe Gallas.

A knight of the Siren Monarchy who saved their party.

She’s certainly our benefactor, but apart from that, I have to be alert since she’s an erofu of the sea!

Cordelia swallowed hard and tightened her arms around Jude’s arm. She focused her gaze on the appearance of Chloe, which began to appear through the crack of the door.