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Terms used in this chapter:
Wasp waist – Wasp waist is a women’s fashion silhouette, produced by a style of corset and girdle, that has experienced various periods of popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its primary feature is the abrupt transition from a natural-width rib cage to an exceedingly small waist, with the hips curving out below. It takes its name from its similarity to a wasp’s segmented body. – Source: Wikipedia
Yondu – a fictional character in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy comics. Through a series of whistles, he is able to control an arrow made of a special sound-sensitive metal. Depending on the tone and intensity of the whistle, the speed, strength, and direction can be controlled. The arrow is capable of penetrating anything and seems capable of moving at a speed of Mach 5 at least. – Source: Marvel Fandom
Black card – a highly regarded and exclusive credit card issued through invitation only for bank customers with high incomes and A+ credit. The card entitles its holders to VIP access, upgraded flights, event tickets, and special treatment at stores, etc. In Korea, the black card is also known as the Hyundai Card.
There were two playable characters from the land of the barbarians, but in fact, it was extremely rare for the land of the barbarians to become the stage in the game.
The reason was simple. It was because the stage of both Red Wind and Kirara’s main activities were not in the land of the barbarians.
‘Red Wind is in Sälen, while Kirara is in Argon.’
Red Wind began her scenario after escaping from slavery in the northern part of the Sälen Kingdom. She had only been active in the Sälen Kingdom up to the middle of her scenario, before she fought against the corrupted barbarians to avenge her father.
‘Kirara started in the far eastern section of the barbarian lands, and as soon as she was finished with the tutorial, she went straight to the Argon Empire.’
She was not affected by the great invasion of the northern barbarians because she had transferred to the Argon Empire and not the Sälen Kingdom. Kirara had never thought of going back as the reason why she left her hometown in the first place was because she had run away.
Therefore, in Legend of Heroes 2, there were only two events where the land of the barbarians appeared with great importance. One was the ‘Homecoming’ event, where Red Wind mourned at the sight of her hometown that had already become deserted ruins, and the other was ‘Lena’s Death’ event.
***
“Okay, for more details such as the location of the sanctuary and so on, the tribesmen will deliver it.
When Jude and Cordelia said that they will take on the investigation of the sanctuary, Great Storm spoke with a sigh as if he had been relieved.
Great Storm didn’t want to make it obvious, but he was actually under heavy stress.
It was quite difficult for Great Storm, a young wild god, to connect the minds of Jude and Cordelia, who were not his tribesmen, and to also appear before the two.
“Then, let’s organize everything for now. When the investigation is over, then…”
“Please wait!”
Cordelia quickly stopped Great Storm who was trying to stand up from his seat.
Because there was still something left to talk about.
‘Right?’
‘That’s right.’
The two had obviously not discussed in advance on what they should do and talk about if they met Great Storm.
However, Jude and Cordelia had already talked about how to proceed when they arrive at the land of the barbarians.
There was one more important thing that they have yet to tell.
“O magnanimous Great Storm. We have some information we must tell you.”
“What is it?”
When Jude assumed a very serious expression, Great Storm was curious, so he sat down again.
Instead of talking right away, Jude took a deep breath before he spoke in a calm tone.
“It concerns the illness that Red Gale contracted.”
“…Tell me.”
Great Storm’s gaze sharpened.
Because Great Storm was also well aware that the illness Red Gale had contracted was unusual and was actually some kind of curse.
“The illness, or rather, the curse’s name is ‘Blue Spider Lily,’ and it’s a spell that followers of Belial, the overlord of corruption, likes to use.”
T/N: Yes, ‘Blue Spider Lily’ was the translation of 푸른 피안화. How a fictional flower from ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ ended up becoming the name of a curse or spell in this series is beyond me. Shouldn’t the author have named it as ‘Blue Spider Lily’s Curse’ or something? The author also called it a curse, but frankly, ‘poison’ would make more sense. Anyway, I’ll call it the ‘Curse of the Blue Spider Lily’ from now on, so that it would make more sense.
The Curse of the Blue Spider Lily was not a curse to kill the enemy.
It was a curse that made its target powerless in order to make them easier to corrupt. The person who contracted the Curse of the Blue Spider Lily would become weak in both body and mind, and eventually become unable to do anything.
The one who cursed him was Haraken, a witch doctor and also an executive of the Devil’s Eye.
Seven Horns, the chieftain of the Angry Bull tribe, was the first person to be cursed in the land of the barbarians.
As the strongest warrior in the Angry Bull tribe, he became very weak in just a month as his condition was no different from a withered tree, and after half a year, it became impossible for him to do anything without the prophet Haraken’s help.
And in the seventh month, he was sacrificed by Haraken, ascended as one of Belial’s kin, and was reborn as a complete demon.
“The effect of the Curse of the Blue Spider Lily gets stronger the closer the target is to the caster. Fortunately, Red Gale is quite far from the witch doctor, so the illness’ progress is relatively slow, but in the end, he will be completely helpless.”
“Is there no other way?”
Great Storm inquired with a fretful face.
As he cared for the tribe, tribal chief Red Gale was like a child to him.
“There is only one way to get rid of the curse. You must kill the caster who cast the curse.”
In fact, there was a much simpler solution.
It was to purify Red Gale with a stronger power than Belial’s curse.
But that was impossible.
Among the wild gods, Great Storm belonged to the fairly strong group, but the opponent was Belial, one of the five overlords that ruled hell.
Comparing the two was pointless.
“He clearly contracted it when he attended the meeting of the chieftains. It’s obvious that one of the people who attended the meeting was the culprit!”
Great Storm burst into anger, and Jude nodded.
It was highly likely that Haraken attended the meeting of the chieftains and cast the curse on Red Gale, who would become an obstacle to the unification war.
“O Great Storm, please calm down your anger. I have a way to improve Red Gale’s condition.”
“Is that true?”
Hearing Jude’s words, Great Storm jumped from his seat and asked.
Jude nodded his head and took out the Sun’s Necklace hidden under his clothes.
“Anyone who contracted the Curse of the Blue Spider Lily will be eternally exposed to hellish chills. Therefore, if we get rid of the chill using Yang energy, the progress of the curse will slow down, and his condition would improve.”
T/N: Yin energy symbolizes coldness, or chills, while its opposite, Yang energy, symbolizes hotness or warmth. So something with ‘Yang energy’ is needed to counteract the curse’s chill effect.
In the first place, the reason why Red Wind came down to the south was to obtain the Sunflower.
‘The Sunflower loses its effectiveness the moment it is plucked out of the place where it bloomed, so it cannot be used to treat illnesses in the first place.’
Jude had the Sun’s Necklace.
If a person was sick, Solari’s item that continuously gave off Yang energy would be able to stop the Curse of the Blue Spider Lily.
“Ooh…then we can give the necklace to Red Gale.”
“Yes, he can borrow it. I will lend it.”
He didn’t care if he lent it, but it was absolutely impossible for him to entirely give it away.
Moreover, Jude wasn’t willing to give it to him for free.
‘Because the situation has changed.’
If it was before Great Storm appeared, Jude would have lent the necklace for free to save Red Gale, but there was Great Storm now.
If so, wasn’t it proper to receive a rental fee?
“The Sun’s Necklace is a must-have item for me to cure my chronic disease. It’s like a lifeline to me.”
When Jude emphasized the importance of the Sun’s Necklace, Great Storm knit his brows.
“Chronic disease? Don’t you look healthy?”
Jude was clearly in good shape.
At Great Storm’s question, Jude shook his head and suddenly let out a cough before speaking.
“No…cough. Even if I look like this, I’m quite weak. Isn’t it? Cordelia?”
Cordelia suddenly came to her senses when Jude called her, and she immediately stepped forward and said.
“That’s right, my Jude is quite weak. Look at that pale skin. His blood vessels are visible. Not so long ago, I carried him on my back.”
It was true that his skin was clear enough for his blood vessels to be visible and that he was carried on her back.
“No, I think he looks healthy…”
“Look at his forearm here. He has a thin waist too. It’s completely a wasp waist, a wasp waist. What should I do? My Jude is so pitiful…”
Perhaps thanks to having traveled together with Jude, Cordelia’s acting skills have rapidly improved.
It was obvious that her crying was fake, but the beautiful girl’s tearful acting was enough to shake the heart of the viewer.
“Ummm…but I am a god of the wind. There is no way for me to provide Yang energy.”
“It’s all right. If that is so, anything related to the wind will be of help too.”
“That’s right. Although Jude is weak, it’s not to the point he’ll die right away if he didn’t have the necklace.”
Jude and Cordelia spoke together, and eventually, Great Storm conceded to his inevitable predicament of being scammed by the scammer couple despite being aware of it.
“…All right, then I will award you the most powerful one among the new items that I have.”
“Thank you very much.”
“I’ll use it well. Great Storm is so cool. Handsome. The best.”
Cordelia was just saying whatever words that came to her mind, but to Great Storm, it sounded nice.
Great Storm burst into laughter and summoned a blue-colored arrow in the air.
“It’s the Wind’s Wing Arrow.”
The whole arrow was pure white, as if they were looking at an ice crystal.
“It can be manipulated according to the user’s will.”
“Will?”
“Yes, the user can manipulate it to move in the air through their will.”
As if responding to Great Storm’s words, the Wind’s Wing Arrow began flying through the air at a truly terrifying speed.
“Wow! Yondu!”
“Yondu?”
Great Storm asked again, but Cordelia just smiled and turned to Jude, who spoke with a serious face.
“Because Jude uses it like- Ouch!”
“Dad joke Out!”
T/N: It’s a pun. ‘Yondu (욘두)’ and ‘Yudeo (유더)’ sound similar in Korean. ‘Yudeo’ is how Jude’s name is pronounced in Korean. I’m not a 100% sure about this one though, because Cordelia cut him off before he finished his ‘dad joke.’
As for Cordelia’s ‘Dad joke Out!’, it’s based on baseball’s ‘Out!’ that umpires shout when a batter or baserunner is taken out of play. Umpires usually shout ‘Out!’, ‘Batter, Out!’ or something like that, so in this case, Cordelia replaced ‘batter’ with ‘dad joke’ to tell Jude to stop using dad jokes or that his dad joke is ‘out.’
Cordelia smacked Jude in the back and thanked Great Storm again.
“Thank you very much. We will use it well.”
“Yes, it will be a weapon that suits you well. It’s good for wizards to at least have one long-ranged weapon like that.”
“Yes, you’re right…eh, wait a minute. Are you giving it to me? Not to Jude?”
“Yes, I’m giving it to you?”
Great Storm spoke as if it was natural for Cordelia to receive it, and Jude said in surprise.
“Wa-wait a second! The Sun’s Necklace is the cure for my illness-”
“So what? I want to give it to her. Are you going to take the stuff I gave to your fiancée?”
“No, that’s not it…”
No matter how Jude tried, he couldn’t come up with anything else to say.
And it was true that the Wind’s Wing Arrow was also a weapon that suited Cordelia more than Jude.
Eventually, Jude gave up and his shoulders slumped, and Great Storm brightly smiled and said.
“When you arrive at the village, head to the altar. I will put it there.”
“…Okay.”
“Thank you so much!”
There was a difference in temperature between the responses of Jude and Cordelia, and after Cordelia thanked him, Great Storm stood up from his seat.
It was time for him to return them.
But not yet.
There was still some things left that they could rip off from Great Storm.
“Wait! Please wait! There’s one last thing we have yet to say!”
“What is it again?”
“It’s really important.”
“That’s right, it’s really, really important.”
Cordelia didn’t know what it was about but stopped Great Storm anyway as she sent a gaze to Jude asking about it, and Jude began talking to both Great Storm and Cordelia.
***
“Haa!”
“Haa!”
Jude and Cordelia’s minds suddenly became clear and they opened their eyes at the same time.
They were inside the white igloo.
Red Wind was still fast asleep, and the morning dawn shone through a small gap in the entrance.
“Haa…”
“Huu…”
Jude and Cordelia first took a deep breath before they simultaneously rolled up their sleeves to confirm the emblem.
“It’s real.”
“It wasn’t a dream either.”
They met Great Storm and became his warriors. They also ripped off a bunch of items from him.
“Hehehe, gold is gold.”
As Cordelia stroked her emblem and spoke, Jude’s expression naturally turned sour, and Cordelia’s smile grew even deeper.
“Sil-trash, Sil-ronze, Deep sea person.”
T/N: The above three terms are Korean slang words in League of Legends (LOL). LOL has rankings, and the lowest is the iron tier. Above it are the Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, etc. ‘Deep Sea’ refers to those near the bottom tiers, so if you belong to the Iron tier, you are at the deepest of the sea. It’s arguable where the surface of the deep sea is, since it could be Diamond, Platinum, or lower.
‘Deep sea person’ refers to a player stuck in the ‘deep sea.’
‘Sil-trash’ is a combination of the words ‘silver’ and ‘trash.’ ‘Trash’ is a derogatory slang referring to people of low social status or class. And ‘silver’ refers to LOL’s Silver tier. So if you’re Sil-trash, you’re someone who belongs to the low-ranking/low class Silver tier.
‘Sil-ronze’ is a combination of ‘silver’ and ‘bronze.’ It refers to people who are constantly going up and down the Bronze I and Silver IV tiers. Meaning they’re always stuck in either of those two tiers.
So why is Cordelia using this? Because she got the ‘gold’ emblem and Jude only got the ‘silver’ emblem. Gold tier is higher than Silver tier, and since Jude got silver, she called him all these three terms to emphasize that he’s lower than her.
“Ahem, ahem.”
“Pretending not to hear me, huh?”
“You were saying silver or gold.”
“Yes, next time, Sil-ronze will come out for you.”
It was a squabble that he couldn’t win from the very beginning.
Jude gave up before he got to his feet and removed some of the snow blocking the entrance. He looked outside and said to her afterwards.
“Let’s just eat enough for this morning and then depart. We’ll have to reach the village by tomorrow night.”
They had thrown away all their luggage while running away, but fortunately, he had carried some portable rations on him. It was enough for two days as long as the three ate in moderation.
Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words, and said as she rummaged through her pockets.
“I want to go quickly. I’m really looking forward to what the store would be selling.”
It was the norm in RPGs to go to the store first when one stops by the village.
But what was good this time wasn’t just because they were expecting to upgrade their equipment.
“It’s free, free.”
It was what Jude had demanded from Great Storm.
“We needed a free pass.”
“Free pass?”
“In other words, a black card.”
Wasn’t it reasonable for Great Storm’s warriors to receive equipment that they would use to fight for Great Storm?
Shouldn’t they support the warriors on their journey to uphold Great Storm’s will by handing over supplies and covering their expenses?
‘It’s because we actually don’t have any money.’
It was doubtful if the Sälen Kingdom’s currency would be accepted in the wild lands, and in the first place, Jude and Cordelia had lost almost all of their money when they escaped across the border.
They weren’t exploiting them just for their own benefit, as it was a rather necessary measure.
“Jude the Scammer, King of Rip-offs. A vicious man who even ripped a god off.”
“So you don’t like it?”
“I love it! A man who has the strong ability to maintain a livelihood is the best!
He was her scammer, and not someone else’s scammer.
“Daddy, daddy. You’re so cool. You’re a man of this generation who can turn a crisis into an opportunity.”
“If it’s for my princess, I’d even cheat a god.”
The two exchanged warm whispers while laughing, and after they woke up Red Wind, they hurriedly prepared for their departure.
And on the following night.
Not long after the sun had gone down.
The three finally arrived at the village of the Great Storm tribe.