CH 227

EPISODE 227 – PRIME ROYAL FAMILY (2)

“Ahem, ahem. Then, shall we begin our conversation now?”

Three people sat around a round table in the room.

Princess Leica, Jude, and Cordelia.

Unlike Princess Leica who was still smiling despite the awkwardness, Jude did not hide his dissatisfaction while Cordelia was feeling resentful and embarrassed.

Anyway, it was impossible to reverse the situation.

So Princess Leica continued to speak, ignoring the atmosphere around her.

“As you may have already guessed, a commotion has occurred. Because the Spirit King has appeared.

Ynix, the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning.

It had already been 500 years since the seventh sword dance was lost, so it was the first time for most of the elves to see the Spirit King in person.

‘But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t meet other Spirit Kings.’

The Spirit Kings were kings after all, so it wasn’t easy to meet them.

Aside from their status, summoning them was also difficult.

“It seems to me that the Spirit King has never appeared, even if the sword dance was performed.”

Though he was still dissatisfied, Jude listened to Princess Leica and continued their conversation.

Princess Leica was relieved by this and nodded her head.

“Yes, it’s usually an ordinary Storm Spirit or Lightning Spirit that have appeared in the past.”

“Eh? So you haven’t seen a Spirit King, Your Highness?”

When Cordelia’s eyes widened in surprise, Princess Leica replied with a bitter smile.

“It has been a long time since the seventh sword dance was lost… I don’t know how old you think I am, but I’m actually still quite young.”

Cordelia furrowed her brows at Princess Leica’s response.

Not because she didn’t like the answer, but because she was curious.

‘How old are you then?’

You seem to be really young based on the way you talk.

But since you’re an elf, are you around a hundred years old?

“Moving on… So aside from Cordelia’s contract with the Spirit King, it seems like my knowledge of the sword dance is of high value to you.”

Jude said in a lowered voice, and Princess Leica frowned as if she had been stabbed at her sore spot. She then nodded her head.

“You’re right. First of all, the fact that the Banquet of Spirits has been restored is important. Being able to communicate with the spirits of storm and lightning that had been cut off once is highly valuable in itself. And well… If I say this, Midas will get angry, but since there’s only us here, I’ll say it… Anyway, even among the previous royalty, you could barely count in your hand those who had signed a contract with the Spirit King.”

The fact that they couldn’t sign a contract with the Spirit King wasn’t a big problem.

The problem was that Cordelia, a human, signed a contract with the Spirit King, but there was also a solution to that.

“That’s why, I’ll be praising you a lot in the future.”

“Praise?”

“Yes, something like that. Something like exaggerating the facts, I think? I’ll make you into an amazing person.”

Because it was much better than saying that the Spirit King was stolen by some random ordinary people.

A person worthy enough to be chosen by the Spirit King.

Something that justified that person signing a contract with the Spirit King.

“The two of you will leave this forest anyway.”

If Cordelia had been an elf, the situation would have been a little different.

Because Cordelia might be excessively deified and gain followers. And that would pose a threat to Princess Leica’s authority.

But Cordelia was a human who would have to leave the Forest of Eternity eventually.

[Jude, can we let her do that?]

[It’s fine. There are many cases in history where people get praised after their deaths even though they were seen as a competitor when alive, right? For their enemies, it’ll be fine if the dead person was given awards or honor since the person wouldn’t be able to do anything with those awards since they’re already dead anyway.]

A classic example was King Seonjo who originally struggled to undermine Yi Sun-sin’s military achievements to somehow keep Yi Sun-sin in check during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, but changed his attitude when Yi Sun-sin died.

[Hmm, I see.]

Cordelia didn’t know about any historical examples, but she nodded her head because his words made sense to some extent.

And Princess Leica spoke again.

“To sum it up, I want you two to match my words. I’ll hand over the settings I’ve made sometime tomorrow.”

“Setting?”

“Yes. Oh, I’ll listen to you too, of course. It would be much more plausible to mix in a little bit of truth.”

Princess Leica broadly smiled as if she found it fun, but Cordelia thought as she narrowed her brows.

‘She’s like Jude.’

No, Jude is better than her, I think?

But it was at that moment.

“We understand. If that’s the case, our side will actively cooperate with you.”

Cordelia flinched when Jude replied with a dark smile, but Princess Leica was delighted and breathed in relief because it was the first time she had seen Jude smile ever since she had entered this room.

“You have my gratitude.”

“It’s okay. Let’s continue our discussion then.”

Jude still had a stern attitude, but Princess Leica continued with a small smile as if this was enough for her.

“Regarding the Spirit King… Cordelia, can you summon the Spirit King?”

“Eh? Uh… I haven’t tried to do it yet.”

“Have you ever signed a contract with a spirit before?”

“No.”

At Cordelia’s answer, Princess Leica had a bitter smile as if she had expected it, and then she slightly moved her hand.

A wind seemed to blow from Princess Leica’s fingertips, and soon, a wind spirit in the form of a cute little girl appeared.

“Wow.”

It was like a fairy.

The wind spirit seemed to have the same butterfly wings as that of fairies.

“It’s not difficult to summon the spirit itself once a contract is made. Unless you and the spirit have a falling-out.”

Princess Leica moved her hand again to unsummon the wind spirit before she turned to Cordelia.

“You have just signed a contract with the Spirit King, so I don’t think you and the spirit are on bad terms already, but there is one more problem when it comes to summoning the Spirit King.”

“Is it mana?”

Princess Leica nodded when Cordelia answered reflexively.

“Yes, mana. Because it requires a tremendous amount of mana to just summon it.”

At this point, Cordelia seemed to understand what Princess Leica was talking about.

To summarize, she was asking Cordelia if she had enough mana to summon the Spirit King.

‘Now that I think of it, it was like that at that time, huh?’

When she thought about it, it was only after Red Wind reached the final tech tree in the game was she able to summon the Spirit King of Scorching Heat.

In short, it was like the ultimate skill that max level players could get.

“Please wait. I will try to summon it.”

Cordelia quickly spoke and closed her eyes as she tried to summon the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning.

When she called out the name of the spirit imprinted in her head at the time of the vow, she could clearly feel the existence of Spirit King Ynix, but that was it.

And Cordelia understood the reason why.

‘It’s not enough.’

Her mana was seriously lacking.

Even if she hadn’t reached the level of Count Chase, an Archwizard, she was still someone who surpassed the magic power of Adelia, one of the Royal Guard Magic Corps’ commanders.

But even with Cordelia’s magic power, it was still impossible for her to completely summon the Spirit King.

“As I thought, it’s impossible, huh.”

It was as Princess Leica had expected.

Even the high elves, whose magical power were superior to humans, had to raise their mana capacity for hundreds of years or more before they could summon the Spirit King.

So it was impossible for a human child, who would only live for a few decades, to have enough mana to summon the Spirit King.

‘On the contrary, this is actually better.’

She had mentioned this and that from the beginning, but if Cordelia was really able to summon the Spirit King, it would have been politically difficult.

‘Because she’s a human… It’s probably impossible for her to summon it during her entire life.’

Princess Leica breathed in relief again, but she soon felt sorry for Cordelia.

Even though Cordelia had signed a contract with the Spirit King, she couldn’t summon the Spirit King because of her lack of mana.

She wouldn’t be able to summon him even if she tried because of the limitations of her race’s lifespan.

It was simply a pitiful fate.

But Jude and Cordelia were thinking differently.

[What? Your mana’s not enough?]

[Yes, it’s not enough.]

[Will it still be not enough if you transform into Angel mode? Or a witch?]

[Well, I think it’s still not enough.]

[Then… will raising your angel rank do it?]

Because Cordelia was an angel and not an ordinary human.

[That’s why I want to hurry up. Jude, if we defeat Malekith, the Dragon Heart is mine, okay?]

[Hey, as I said before, Malekith is an ancient dragon, okay?]

[But we’ll defeat him anyway, right?]

[Well, that’s true.]

It was a powerful enemy that must be defeated in order to achieve the perfect happy ending.

[And… uh, that is. I’ll tell you about it later.]

[Have you thought of a way?]

[Hehe, that’s still a secret.]

Cordelia giggled and turned to Princess Leica.

“Anyway, we understand, Your Highness. Thank you very much for telling us about this and that.”

“Eh? Oh, yes…”

Far from being disappointed, Cordelia had a big smile, so Princess Leica was surprised. She then looked at Cordelia with warm eyes.

‘She’s a kind girl.’

You’re not showing your disappointment in front of me and Jude even if it’s hard for you.

I misunderstood you when I saw you, uh, threatening the fairies, but you’re actually a nice child.

“Your Highness?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Don’t be too disappointed. Since you’ve signed a contract with the Spirit King…. it will be easier for you to sign a contract with spirits of the same kind.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When Cordelia answered nicely, Princess Leica smiled happily again before looking back at Jude and saying.

“And Jude, I want to ask you a favor.”

“Are you talking about the seventh sword dance?”

“Yes, it is as you said. I want you to pass on the seventh sword dance to us elves.”

One would normally say, ‘Yes, I understand,’ but not for Jude.

Instead of answering immediately, Jude was silent for a while, and Princess Leica understood the meaning of his silence since she was a crown princess.

“Don’t worry about compensation. I’ll reward you generously.”

“I understand. We’ll discuss that later then.”

You keep saying that you’ll reward us, but you have yet to tell us what you’ll be giving.

In fact, it was rare for Jude to reveal his innermost thoughts like this, but perhaps because of what happened earlier, his reaction was more harsh than usual.

But Princess Leica was very pleased with the fact that Jude had accepted it.

“Okay, then I’ll talk more about it tomorrow.”

There were a few more things to talk about besides the setting and the sword dance.

When Princess Leica got up from her seat, Jude and Cordelia also stood up, but she waved her hand as if saying that it was not needed, and said.

“You can remain seated. And as for what you were doing before… uh, you can continue doing that.”

Princess Leica blushed at the end before she turned around and hurriedly left the room.

And the two were left.

Jude wanted to put into action what Princess Leica had said, but not for Cordelia.

Instead of having reddened cheeks because of embarrassment, she turned to Jude with slightly narrowed eyes.

“Hey, Jude.”

“Yes, Cordelia.”

“How did you know all of these?”

About the Banquet of Spirits, the seven swordsmen, and the seventh sword dance.

Normally, Cordelia would have exclaimed, ‘JudeWiki is amazing!’, but it was different this time.

The three things mentioned above were things that had never appeared in the game.

“How did you know?”

Cordelia asked again as she intensely stared at Jude with her blue eyes.

In terms of knowledge, Cordelia might be less than Jude, but in terms of instinct and intuition, she was far better than Jude.

So instead of uselessly lying, Jude told her the truth.

“The sword spirit taught me.”

“Sword spirit? Of Sword Origin? Do the Ultimate series have sword spirits in them?”

“Uh, I just found out when we became one.”

His answer was somewhat strange, but it was true.

Cordelia urged him with her eyes to continue, and Jude said as he scratched his chin.

“The sword spirit of Sword Origin is Valencia, the Elf Sword. The first owner of Sword Origin and a powerful swordsman in the past… Also a member of the Prime royal family and a high elf.”

At Jude’s explanation, Cordelia blinked her eyes and asked.

“Then, is the sword spirit still there? Since it’s a sword spirit, it lives in the sword… Wait a minute, is it living in your body then?”

Sword Origin was a sword that became one with the user as soon as it was equipped.

Jude hesitated to answer Cordelia’s question, but he eventually came up with an answer.

“Well, you see, that is true… but the sword spirit is normally asleep. It’s not awake, okay? It’s like it doesn’t wake up unless you call them.”

“Can you talk to it when you’re awake? Can they watch the conversation we’re having now?”

“It’s not like that. Our conversations only happen in something like an imaginary world, so it only happens in my mind.”

“Hmm… Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s like that.”

“Is the sword spirit very pretty?”

“Eh?”

“Is it pretty?”

Cordelia was brightly smiling but Jude could tell.

Unlike her smiling lips, her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

Because she was like a beast staring at her prey.

Jude swallowed hard. He slowly opened his mouth and realized that his back had somehow began to get wet from sweat.

“That…”

“Yes, that what?”

“She is pretty? But in my eyes, no, even if I look at it objectively, you’re the prettier one.”

As Jude said while sweating, Cordelia narrowed her eyes and only heard the words she wanted to hear.

“So she’s pretty. And she’s a woman.”

Oh sh*t.

Now that I think of it, Cordelia doesn’t know yet if Valencia is a woman or not.

But what I just said now made it clear that it’s a woman, no, I pretty much confirmed it.

“Hmph, I see. Jude’s sword spirit is a woman. In addition, she’s pretty. The two of you secretly meet in your mind.”

“No, that’s not it. Countess August Chase?”

“You even became one with her, right? Wow, unbelievable. You truly merged with her. Jude has merged with Valencia. You merged with a woman other than me.”

“E-excuse me?”

Isn’t your choice of words a bit strange?

“So Jude will merge with anyone. That’s the kind of man he is.”

It was a checkmate.

No matter what Jude would say here, he would only be seen as trash in the end.

But it was then.

Cordelia who had been coldly staring at him suddenly burst into laughter and began to laugh out loud while holding her stomach.

“Look at you getting flustered. Was it a bull’s-eye? Is that it?”

Cordelia raising her voice at the end was very cute, but it was unpleasant at the same time too.

“Hehehe, I won again today.”

“Wait, what exactly did you win?”

“I won, I won.”

Cordelia laughed at whatever Jude had said, and then asked as she leaned her back against the chair.

“Anyway, I have a sword spirit too, right? Grand Order is also an Ultimate series.”

“Yes, I’ve asked about it before, and it seems like it’s a cute girl.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. It would have been nice if it was a charming guy.”

“Miss Cordelia?”

“Why? Mister Jude who merges with anyone?”

“Ugh.”

It was an unwinnable fight.

Aren’t you the one who always called piggyback rides as ‘merging’ though?

‘Anyway, this doesn’t make any sense.’

Even if Cordelia’s intuition is amazing, this is a bit too much.

Jude tried to regain his composure and said again.

“Anyway, I’ll teach you how to do it. But as Valencia said, the sword spirit will remain sleeping unless something special happens, so it may not work.”

“Why was Valencia awake?”

“Because of swordsmanship.”

Jude briefly narrated his conversation with Valencia, and Cordelia nodded her head.

“Ah, so that’s why you were fighting a bit differently.”

Because Jude’s way of fighting now was more like swordsmanship rather than martial art skills.

“Okay. Then I’ll try to meditate too.”

Cordelia answered cheerfully before she corrected her posture and closed her eyes while holding the handle of Grand Order.

And a few seconds later.

‘It’s… already too late to finish what we were doing earlier.’

I have no choice but to postpone it for next time.

Jude smiled bitterly and sat across Cordelia before closing his eyes.

Likewise, he began to talk to the sword spirit.

***

“Did your conversation go well?”

Princess Leica nodded at Midas’ question.

“Yes, it somehow went well. He will teach us the seventh sword dance tomorrow. And as expected, Cordelia is unable to summon the Spirit King.”

This was a satisfactory result for Princess Leica, but not for Midas.

“Is it impossible to transfer the Spirit King’s contract?”

“Midas, that’s impossible. The Spirit King chose Cordelia. It’s not something that we can easily transfer like paper contracts, right?”

“Uuuh…”

In fact, Midas was aware of that.

But it was not easy for him to maintain his composure since this was about the Spirit King and not anyone else.

“Anyway, isn’t this better than having Kelthur be chosen?”

“That’s true.”

Princess Leica and Kelthur had a very close relationship, but nevertheless, the two were still the first and second in line to the throne.

Even if the two didn’t have any thoughts of competing against each other, things might still happen depending on what the people around them thought.

‘I don’t think Solfege has given up yet.’

Princess Leica recalled Kelthur’s mother and sighed before she looked at Midas again.

“Anyway, it already happened. So stop thinking about the Spirit King and move on.”

“…I understand.”

Midas seemed reluctant to answer, but he was someone who kept his words once he said it.

Therefore, Princess Leica smiled and said.

“Moving on, shouldn’t we be grateful to the two? Thanks to them, we defeated Jabberwock and got the Banquet of Spirits back.”

“I’m worried on how we’ll reward them.”

“You’re right. I think we should reward them generously.”

To sum it up, the two had made huge contributions one after another in just two days.

They saved Princess Leica’s life, defeated Jabberwock, and restored the sword dance that had been lost for a long time.

“Well, should giving them this country be enough? Should I bestow Jude the position of ‘my lover’?”

When Princess Leica said that with a playful smile, Midas nodded his head seriously.

“It’s worth considering.”

It was rare for elves to have an offspring, so they didn’t have a marriage culture.

That was why Princess Leica’s mother and Kelthur’s mother were nobles with their own titles and not queens.

“What do you think, Your Highness?”

It was the moment when Midas seriously asked.

“Your Highness!”

Vanessa appeared as soon as the door was opened, and she hurriedly spoke without even giving a courteous greeting first.

“His Majesty The King has awakened.”

“My father?”

“Yes, he just woke up now!”

Vanessa said that with a wide smile, and Princess Leica was filled with joy. Midas was also pleased as he clenched his fists.

Grave Prime, the leader of the High Elves who led the elves of the Forest of Eternity.

He had been asleep for a long time, but he finally woke up.

Why?

Maybe summoning the Spirit King had an effect on him?

“Let’s hurry.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

With the smiling Vanessa leading the way, Princess Leica and Midas hurried out of the room and headed for the king’s residence.

And at the same time.

At a completely different place.

Two people were heading out of the royal capital with their horses besides each other.

One was Count Bayer, one of the Ten Great Swordmasters and the new Sword Saint of Wind, and the other was Count Chase, one of the Northern Sagang and the Tower Master of the Red Dawn Tower.

“Because we can’t just sit back and wait.”

Their children had run away at night (because of love) in a situation where the royal family’s attention was focused on them.

They didn’t understand why their children who were already engaged kept running away at night, but it was impossible for the two counts to sit by idly as their children acted as if they were on a honeymoon.

Because the two were no longer just children from the 12 northern families, but heroes of the kingdom that the Sälen royal family paid attention to.

“Is it south this time?”

It was north last time.

Count Bayer had a bitter smile and turned to Count Chase who snorted before fixing the reins and saying.

“Anyway, let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

To catch their runaway children.

To go after Count August Bayer and Countess August Chase, their children.

The two counts turned their heads along the north wind and pulled their horses’ reins.

Their horses ran like the wind towards the south.