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EPISODE 289 – ILLEGAL ENTRY INTO THE EMPIRE (2)
Kirara.
A girl with a different name despite being from the wild lands where people were usually named with a combination of intuitive words like Red Wind or Sun Song.
Because she was a beastkin by birth.
Only a few people in the wild lands were pure human descendants.
Most of them were mixed-blood elves, dwarves, or orcs, but there were also a few mixed-race beastkin that came from the beastkin races in the western region of the empire.
Although there were a lot of beastkin in the western region of the empire, the reason why the mixed-race beastkin were a minority in the wild lands was because of the barbarians’ origin. Most barbarians were descendants of ancient races that fled to the north in order to escape the invasion of the overlords of Hell, or were descendants of Magellan, the magic kingdom of the elves that was located in the wild lands.
Since the descendants of these ancient races were already settled in the wild lands by that time, the mixed-raced beastkin who came from the empire ended up becoming the minority.
Most of the beastkin who dared to leave the empire and migrate to the wild lands were criminals.
Therefore, beastkin were often ostracized in the wild lands, and Kirara was someone who was even ostracized by her fellow beastkin.
Because she was an orphan, a child of a family whose parents both died after having been caught stealing.
‘From an early age, she had an uncomfortable life being attentive to other people’s remarks and behavior while not expressing her thoughts.’
In fact, Kirara was a despised character when one played other characters’ routes, but she was also famous for making one’s eyes moist when one played her route.
‘Of course, that’s only for a short time as you’ll get mad at her again if you take another character route.’
Because she was a habitual betrayer.
One could have a touching and genuine friendship with her, or a proper master and slave relationship, but right after a certain event, she would stab you in the back and run away, so it was quite shocking.
Fortunately, she was unlike Keynes, the villain-like character of Legend of Heroes 2, as she wouldn’t stab you at a really critical moment.
Most of the events would have her running away secretly without anything in hand, or running away with expensive stuff.
‘In the first place, she ran away at night from the beginning of her scenario.’
The first major event of the Kirara route was to run away after robbing the house of the village chief who usually abused and treated her like a slave.
‘After that, the world fell into chaos while she was heading to the empire and collecting money by repeated stealing and betrayal.’
As anyone could tell at this point, Kirara was a character who slightly deviated from the game’s main scenario.
Among the playable characters who fought for a cause, such as Red Wind and Kajsa who fought to restore their hometowns, Jude and Lucas who lost everything and fought the demon followers in their vengeance, and Maximilian and Leon who fought to protect the imperial family and restore peace, she was a character who lived for the sole purpose of survival.
“Hiiiiieee…”
When Kirara was grabbed by Jude at the back of her neck, she made a crying sound with her ears and tail hanging down, so she looked really pitiful.
A kind of look that stimulated one’s protective instincts.
But Jude and Cordelia were not easily fooled.
Because they knew that Kirara was skilled in pretending to be sick or pitiful.
“Lord Jude, what’s going on?”
What did he mean by an agent sent to catch Mountain King?
Who was Mountain King in the first place?
“Is he like the king of bandits? So he’s the mountain king? Hmm, that’s possible…”
Kajsa answered her own question as her eyes glistened with interest, and Cordelia added.
“Mountain King is the king of bandits. He’s a tiger beastkin who caused trouble in the far west side of the empire, and he’s quite powerful.”
He was a figure similar to Gamorr Khan who led the Black Hand Mercenaries in the Sälen Kingdom.
“Why that person though? Does this have something to do with the Guardians of the Holy Cross?”
At Lucas’ question, Jude nodded his head.
“Yes. There are rumors that Mountain King and the demon followers were in contact, so an agent from the empire was sent to spy on the situation and verify its authenticity… Though it’s more like they hired a local to be exact.”
As Jude spoke seriously, Lucas and Kajsa didn’t even doubt him a bit. They nodded their heads and even said things like, ‘I see, so that’s what happened.’
Though from Kirara’s perspective, he was crazy.
‘What?’
Who was hired by whom?
Did I have some split personality who woke up while I was sleeping and secretly made a contract?
Kirara had a lot of things she wanted to say but couldn’t say because she was seriously afraid of Jude’s hand holding her neck.
“But why did you do that earlier? Why did you openly reveal her identity when you had her work hard in infiltrating?”
Because Mountain King’s subordinates would have been watching them earlier.
In response to Kajsa’s question, Jude turned to Kirara and continued.
“I suspected that she has betrayed us.”
Kirara was taken aback by Jude’s words.
There was no betrayal since they never even had a relationship in the first place, but she unknowingly reacted to the word ‘betrayed’ because she had been stabbing people in the back for some time.
Seeing that Kirara’s tail stiffened and she began to tremble, Kajsa touched her chin and spoke.
“So she’s what was that again… Ah, that’s right, a double agent. Are you saying that she became a double agent or something?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
She infiltrated Mountain King’s base, but rather than spying on them, she ended up becoming Mountain King’s dog.
It was a false accusation from Kirara’s perspective, but Jude’s party believed his words to the point that if he said that sun would rise from the west tomorrow, they would believe him.
Lucas then spoke in a convinced tone as if he finally understood.
“I see. If that’s the case, your talk earlier was to block her route of betrayal.”
“Oh my. Our Lucas is smart?”
When Kajsa gave Lucas a shoulder hug and praised him, Lucas blushed like a pure boy and cleared his throat.
“Look how shy you are.”
Kajsa giggled again and slightly tightened her shoulder hug before she gave Lucas a peck on the cheek and let go of her hug.
Even though Kajsa was three years older, she was fond of Lucas.
“Anyway, she’s a traitor?”
Kajsa’s gaze turned vicious.
Unlike Lucas who had yet to experience betrayal in his life, she grew up in the southern region of the kingdom where the fights among the families were fierce, so she had seen many traitors since her childhood.
‘No, I’m not a traitor. I haven’t betrayed anyone yet!’
I’ve thought of betraying him someday, but I haven’t done it yet!
Kirara looked pitiful as she trembled and her shoulders drooped.
It made Jude want to trouble her more.
‘No, let’s stop.’
Jude came to his senses and shook his head before he organized his thoughts again.
To start with, there were two reasons why Jude was holding Kirara by the neck even if he was overdoing it.
One was the fact that Kirara was unlikely to survive under Mountain King.
She might be Kirara, but judging by the fact that she was wearing a necklace with explosive magic on it without her knowing it, she already had something close to a death flag.
‘Is this the butterfly effect on the imperial side?’
In the game’s storyline, she wasn’t treated like this at this point.
The reason why Jude held Kirara’s neck so tightly was to prevent those who were watching from activating the magic to kill Kirara.
‘Use the energy of the black dragon to destroy the magic.’
Jude had never done it before, but he had gotten strong enough to do it.
“Ahem, ahem.”
After clearing his throat for a bit, Jude looked down at Kirara again.
The second reason why he saved Kirara.
Kirara had talent.
It wasn’t just about her ability to easily make anyone fawn over her because she was small and cute, or her perfect acting skills that lured in people.
‘What do you think?’
‘Yes, I think her talent had bloomed.’
Jude smiled at Cordelia’s reply via her gaze.
Among the 11 playable characters of Legend of Heroes 2, only Kirara had that talent.
Kirara had the talent to become a monster tamer.
During her childhood, Kirara went to the mountains to find herbs under the orders of the village chief and almost died after meeting a monster. But she was saved by an unknown man, and from that day onwards, she strangely awakened her talent as a monster tamer.
She clearly didn’t know the extent of her talent’s capabilities, so she only used this talent to communicate with animals. Thus, Kirara was able to form a one-man army and grew up in a different sense from the other playable characters.
‘Kirara never betrayed the monsters she tamed.’
If one considered that, she wasn’t completely evil.
But she wasn’t called a ‘chaotic good’ for no reason.
In any case, Kirara was a very useful person even if she didn’t create a monster army.
He would be able to give her a variety of tasks once she could communicate with animals, and monster taming also had a so-called cheat route.
‘Ghost taming.’
The biggest disadvantage of monster tamers was the fact that they had to bring along their monsters with them, so in the case of big and strong monsters, it was difficult to bring them along.
No city allowed monsters to enter.
But ghosts were different.
They were easy to hide, and even if one had many of them, there were no problems in food or housing expenses.
‘The problem is that Kirara is deathly afraid of ghosts.’
So it was a hidden cheat route.
‘Well, even if she’s scared of ghosts, it will be fine if we calm and appease her.’
Rather, their problem was betrayal.
How would they prevent Kirara from betraying them?
There was an option to put a bomb on her neck and threaten her just like what Mountain King did, but Jude didn’t prefer that.
Or rather, it was more than a matter of preference.
Because Kang Jin-ho had actually worn a bomb necklace before.
‘Hmm, as I thought, there’s only one way to solve this.’
A way he had already briefly discussed with Cordelia.
“Lord Lucas and Kajsa. We’ll be talking to her for a while.”
Jude said that, and Cordelia walked closer to Jude.
“I understand.”
“Well, it’s fine since it’s related to the Guardians of the Holy Cross.”
Lucas and Kajsa quickly understood, so Cordelia and Jude moved towards the bushes while still holding Kirara.
“Huhu, huhu. Spare me. Spare me.”
As soon as they entered a shaded place, the scared Kirara immediately began crying and begging.
If he released his hand from her neck, she would most likely prostrate herself and lick his feet.
The warmhearted Cordelia knew that Kirara was a master betrayer in Legend of Heroes 2, but she unconsciously felt sorry for Kirara. However, Jude was different.
While holding Kirara’s slender neck, he made her turn around gently, holding the front of her neck instead of her nape so that he could see her face-to-face.
“Huhu, huu.”
I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. Please spare me. I’ll do anything if you spare me.
Her blue eyes were filled with tears and her pleading thoughts.
Jude opened the space expansion bag in front of Kirara’s eyes and said.
“Kirara, I’ll be blunt with you. I will pay you, so work for us from now on.”
“…Eh?”
“We want to hire you.”
At Jude’s words, Kirara stopped crying and blinked her eyes.
“You want to hire me?”
“Yes, I want you to work for us from now on.”
Kirara immediately looked moved by Jude’s words, but inside, she was thinking of something else.
‘I don’t know what’s going on, but they need my help!’
If that was the truth, she would accept it.
She would make enough money and then run away.
At the time when Kirara was having thoughts of betrayal and was about to nod her head despite her neck being held.
“This is the down payment for now.”
Having said that, Jude abruptly pulled out a money pouch from the space expansion bag.
A big money pouch.
Maybe there’s a lot of copper coins there?
Or maybe it’s silver coins?
I hope it’s silver coins.
Jude read Kirara’s reaction and had a dark smile as if it had gone according to plan. He then opened the pouch.
“Wha-”
At that moment, Kirara was so surprised that she stopped breathing. She couldn’t help it.
Because there were many gold coins inside.
“I-is this real?”
“It is.”
“I pledge my loyalty! Please let me do it!”
Yay! I’ll grab that and run!
It was the time when Kirara thought that.
“Here’s another pouch.”
Again, it was a pouch full of gold coins.
“Huaaak.”
This is so good! I thought my life was about to end, but it was my lucky day!
If I grab that and run away, my life will be~
“And one more pouch.”
“HIIIE?!”
W-wait a minute.
Three bags of gold?
You’re giving me three?
I have to b-be-betray them.
I have to grab it and e-escape.
“And one more.”
“Aaaaack… aack…”
Kirara staggered as she blankly stared from mental shock.
And Jude fired the last shot with a whisper to Kirara’s big cat ears.
“I’ll give it to you again next month.”
“W-wh-wha…”
Kirara was completely defeated.
She erased the word ‘betray’ from her mind.
“I belong to my master from now on. Master, you may do as you please. I will serve you with all my heart and strength!”
Kirara’s eyes sparkled with loyalty.
Betray.
Yes, betray.
It’s the only way for me to survive in this life.
It’s how I, Kirara, have lived in this world!
Are you trying to break my faith with money?!
I can’t! Betrayal is the creed of my life! What exactly do you see me as!
…But it’s too much money to say no.
“This Kirara is your loyal servant!”
Look into my eyes. Can’t you see the words ‘loyalty’ in it?
Seeing Kirara wag her tail and turn into the so-called dog mode, Jude and Cordelia looked at each other and realized a truth of the world again.
If you tried to do something with money and it didn’t work, then it meant that you didn’t have enough money in the first place.
But if it was money, Jude and Cordelia were overflowing with it.
Moreover, it was impossible to hire Kirara for a long period of time.
[And we have to take as much as we give.]
Because there was no such thing as free lunch in this world.
Jude had a dark smile again and Cordelia liked it as she widely smiled.
[As expected of my Jude. I like a man who’s good in making things work!]
In any case, Jude, Cordelia, and Kajsa were satisfied when the negotiations were over, and Kirara spoke with a very obedient expression.
“Master, are we going to hunt Mountain King from now on?”
She had thought that from the context of the situation.
Moreover, Jude and Cordelia had the scent of strong people.
The reason that Kirara had lived a good life after her constant betrayals was because she was good at smelling strong people, and the smell from these two were stronger than that of Mountain King.
‘So let’s kill him. I’m scared of that guy.’
She would be marked as a traitor by Mountain King because of her new masters.
Therefore, Kirara wanted to get rid of Mountain King and any repercussions.
But Jude shook his head.
“No, now is not the time.”
It had been almost a week since the empire closed their borders.
This was not the time to take it easy and beat up bandits.
They had to quickly meet Kaplan and set out on their next task, which was to ascertain the situation in the empire.
“W-what about Mountain King? He must be preparing for a fight now.”
“It’s more convenient then. Now that they’ve heard the name of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, wouldn’t they ready their base for defense?”
“That’s right, that’s right. So now is our chance to pass through this place.”
There was a saying ‘he who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith.’
Having been already tainted by Jude, Cordelia began to naturally talk on how to screw over Mountain King. Afterwards, she reached out her hand to Kirara.
“Umm, anyway, nice to meet you. I’m Cordelia August Chase. You can just call me Cordelia-unnie.”
Because Kirara was only fifteen now.
“N-nice to meet you too.”
Kirara hesitated before grabbing Cordelia’s hand, and Cordelia giggled softly before tightly hugging Kirara.
‘How nice.’
As expected of Cordelia. Kirara’s been moved.
June grinned before he turned to the northeast.
They had been lucky today, but they still had a lot of work to do.
‘Let’s head to the Imperial Capital Academy first.’
Towards the empire’s capital where Leon and Maximilian were staying.
Jude and Cordelia quickened their steps.