Chapter 280: VICTORY

EPISODE 269 – VICTORY (2)

Battles, whether big or small, always required cleaning up.

Like chasing after fleeing enemies, securing prisoners of war, or helping survivors from their side.

“I didn’t see Sicilia.”

Kamael frowned at the report of Carmen, a member of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.

Malekith had used so much large-scale magic that not only the battlefield but also the corpses were in a mess.

If so, was Sicilia’s body also destroyed?

Was it possible that Sicilia was among those unidentifiable corpses?

‘No.’

No matter how difficult it was to confirm a corpse’s identity, it was not to the extent that the race was indistinguishable.

If conditions such as a woman, an elf, a body with powerful mana, silver hair, and a pale purple skin characteristic of corrupted dark elves were given, Sicilia’s body could be identified whether her face was damaged or her limbs were missing.

But they couldn’t.

Sicilia’s body was not found.

‘Did she run away?’

Given the circumstances, it was highly probable. Therefore, Kamael furrowed his brows and clicked his tongue.

“It can’t be helped.”

Although the great threat called Ancient Dragon Malekith was gone, Sicilia was also a powerful necromancer.

If she had escaped the island alive, it was highly likely that she would harm the continent in some way.

“Have the Guardians post wanted posters of her everywhere.”

“Yes, sir.”

If it was Sicilia who was good at magic, there was no way she would be captured even if she was declared to be wanted, but it was still better than not doing anything.

If it interfered with her progress, whether big or small, the continent would be much safer then.

‘Still… Is it fortunate that Malekith and Orga were killed?’

Malekith died and only Sicilia, one of his three knights, survived.

The Dragonflights were almost annihilated, and only a few escaped from the island, so the threat to the south that lasted for three hundred years was pretty much gone.

“What happened to the orcs and goblins?”

“Most of them surrendered without much resistance. In the first place, the majority of them were captured by the Dragonflights… and because of their fear from what they saw before them.”

What they had seen.

A 150-meter long evil dragon raged, a giant Flesh Golem attacked the evil dragon, and lightning constantly struck from the sky.

A human hero slashed the dark sky and the evil dragon at once with a sword of light over a hundred meters amidst the earthquakes and storm.

There was even a streak of light that killed the evil dragon, so it was like they had witnessed a legend with their eyes.

Any race would have no choice but to give up on even fighting back.

“That’s a relief. Did you hear on how they would be handled?”

“The south still has slavery, but the numbers are so high that not all would be taken as slaves. The south will either give them to the nearby orc tribe for a ransom or contact the goblin kingdom.”

“It won’t be easy either way.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can kill anyone who surrendered.”

The number of captive orcs and goblins reached thousands, so it was impossible for anyone to turn a blind eye if they were killed.

Aside from ethical issues, the orc tribes and goblin kingdoms located around the southern region would not tolerate this.

“Well, they’ll figure it out.”

The subsequent work was up to the 7 southern families. It was not for the Guardians of the Holy Cross to intervene.

So Kamael said the more important things.

“What about Malekith’s body?”

“As you have said, the 7 southern families are greedy. Us Guardians are currently guarding it, but they are stubbornly persistent.”

As always, the spoils of war belonged to the victors.

And the best loot in this battle was undeniably Malekith’s corpse itself.

Even the corpse of an Adult Dragon was bound to have tremendous value, so what more for the corpse of an Ancient Dragon?

It was also 150 meters long!

‘Frankly, I can’t even imagine it.’

Kamael could quickly estimate things, but he could not immediately estimate the monetary value of Malekith’s corpse. Because the number would definitely be astronomical.

‘They will actively focus on seeking their own interests.’

They had united their power and fought together in front of the threat called Malekith, but that threat was now over.

Then what remained was a struggle amongst each other to secure their own family’s interests.

And Kamael’s prediction was not wrong.

As soon as the battlefield was cleared up to some extent, members of the 7 southern families led by Marquis Ophand and Count Kagehama, family heads who directly participated in the battle, stormed into Kamael’s barracks.

“We are not coercing you, we’re just claiming our right!”

When Count Kagehama raised his voice, representatives from the other 7 southern families were united as they nodded their heads.

It seemed like they were maintaining their alliance until they have taken Malekith’s corpse from the Guardians of the Holy Cross.

“We, the 7 southern families, have spent a lot of money in this battle. We’ve also made great sacrifices. The number of people killed or injured in this battle alone exceed a thousand.”

When Marquis Ophand spoke quite politely, Count Kagehama clenched his fist as he strongly agreed and said.

“Malekith has been us southerners’ longtime enemy. Now we must receive the reward that our ancestors paid with their blood three hundred years ago.”

Count Kagehama thought that this battle alone was a weak argument, so he even brought out his ancestors.

And that was why Kamael smiled coldly.

Because all their words were within his expectations.

“I know. Your contributions in this battle are not small either. It was the 7 southern families who led the fleet.”

Count Kagehama widely smiled at Kamael’s words, and the other family representative also had big smiles.

But not for Marquis Ophand. Because the divine creature’s blood that flowed in his veins sensed something ominous.

And that foreboding of his was right as always.

“Shouldn’t the 7 southern families have all the rights to the corpses of the Dragonflights including Dragon General Orga, or in short, all the corpses of the Adult Dragons?”

“Ahem, ahem. That’s obvious-… Wait, what did you just say?”

Count Kagehama was nodding with a satisfied face, but suddenly widened his eyes and asked again, so Kamael said it again with a very beautiful and bright smile.

“I said that the corpses of the Dragonflights would belong to the 7 southern families.”

The Adult Dragons of the Dragonflights including Dragon General Orga.

Count Kagehama raised his voice upon not hearing about Malekith.

“Ha! What are you talking about now? In this battle, us 7 southern families-”

“You were active. You fought well against the Dragonflights, orcs, and goblins. So the 7 southern families should have all the rights to the orcs and goblins too.”

“No, what are you talking about! Us 7 southern families-”

It was then. Count Kagehama whose face was flushed with emotion couldn’t speak anymore.

Because Kamael was staring at him with a very cold look.

Ghostblade Kamael.

The strongest swordsman of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, and said to be on par with the Sword God of the empire.

A hero of Paragon who defeated the Demon Prince together with Iron Man Landius.

His smile was chilling. He spoke as he looked straight at Count Kagehama.

“Tell me, what did the 7 southern families do? What role did you play in the fight against Malekith?”

“T-that…”

Count Kagehama was speechless. Kamael’s cold gaze was frightening, but he really had nothing to say about their role in the fight against Malekith.

“We defeated him. So we will have Malekith’s body. The rest is yours.”

The five heroes of Paragon.

Most of them wandered around and didn’t belong to any organization, but not for Kamael.

He was the highest among the six generals of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, and in terms of power alone, he was the strongest in the organization.

His words could never be taken lightly.

“Ugh.”

Is this how it’s going to be?

The battle against Malekith was truly legendary, so the 7 southern families who were ordinary humans couldn’t help much in that battle.

As Kamael had said, they pretty much did not help in the battle against Malekith, so they shouldn’t be claiming to have rights to Malekith’s corpse.

“Then… do you mean that the Guardians of the Holy Cross will be taking everything?”

When Count Kaolan’s representative plucked up his courage to ask, Kamael lightly shook his head.

“I will share with those who made contributions in this battle. The Guardians of the Holy Cross will only take my share.”

“Then…”

“It will be divided by exactly six.”

Four out of the five heroes of Paragon – Kamael, Landius, Lena, and Velkian, would get their shares.

And Jude and Cordelia would both have their shares.

“Don’t worry. The Guardians of the Holy Cross will be responsible for transportation to the mainland.”

“Umm… I see.”

Since Kamael was their opponent, the representative couldn’t no longer push it further.

Furthermore, it was hard to criticize ethically the Guardians of the Holy Cross for pocketing a share since they also participated in this battle.

‘If that’s the case, we’ll have no choice but to collect an intermediary fee.’

After all, they would have to go through merchants to dispose of Malekith’s body.

The heroes of Paragon were most likely to go through the Guardians of the Holy Cross that had Kamael, but it might be possible to somehow coax Jude and Cordelia who were nobles of the kingdom.

‘Then, don’t we have the most advantage?’

Marquis Ophand recalled the face of his youngest daughter who participated in the battle.

Jude and Cordelia were close friends with Kajsa, so they had the most advantage among the 7 southern families.

And Kamael saw the 7 southern families being split with joy and sorrow, so he smiled a little.

Because it was clear to him what they were thinking inside.

‘But it won’t be easy.’

Because the blackhearted Jude was their opponent.

‘Anyway, I’m relieved.’

It was easy to convince them because the ones here were probably the warriors of their families.

No one was so reckless as to insist even in the face of the obvious truth.

‘Landius and Lena will like it. And Master Velkian as well.’

Just because the three wandered around did not mean that they did not have any material wants.

In the first place, it took a lot of money to wander around the continent.

Moreover, in Velkian’s case, he would be more than happy to receive it because he was used to spending astronomical amounts of money for experiments.

‘Or he could just use it as material for his experiments.’

In any case, he had done his part in securing Malekith’s corpse.

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“Then let’s discuss the rest.”

Kamael completely changed the topic, and the 7 southern families took a deep breath and discussed about their withdrawal and the transportation of the prisoners of war.

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***

Two days later in the afternoon.

At a bedroom in a luxury inn in Argon Port, or to be exact, above the bed.

Next to Jude who was lying on bed in patient clothing was Cordelia who was also wearing a patient’s clothes.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. It’s still a bit hard to use my energy but… all my external wounds are okay.”

As a result of using both Yin and Yang energies, Jude’s body was in a bad state.

Because unlike Cordelia who simply exhausted her mana, his body and mind were affected.

“So you’re better now?”

“Of course. I have the Sphere of Life inside me, right? I will need some time to recuperate, but I’ll definitely get better.”

“Hehe, that’s good.”

Cordelia gently smiled in her relief, and Jude also smiled with her.

“More than that, what about you, Cordelia?”

“I’m fine. My mana has been restored. My body is just feeling a little weak, but it’ll get better with some rest.”

Cordelia raised her biceps as if to show it, and Jude smiled. All he saw was her trying to flex the non-existent muscles of her smooth arm, but anyway, her being healthy and fine was good.

“Moving on… we defeated Malekith.”

Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words.

Ancient Black Dragon Malekith.

In the game, he was the incarnation of destruction that not only devastated Argon Port, but also the entire southern region of the Sälen Kingdom.

“Was it possible only in the latter half of the game?”

“Yeah, maybe… it’s the biggest change in the game’s storyline that we’ve made.”

Defeating Malekith was only possible at the very end of the game’s storyline.

Moreover, his power was comparable to a Demon Prince, which the Lord Protector or the great demon Kriemler, a being who was supposed to appear in the north, were no match against.

“The Sälen Kingdom will not fall now.”

Because they had removed all the factors that could cause its ruin.

The northern region survived, and the wild lands that was originally supposed to be the invaders were now their strong allies.

Although the royal capital suffered a great disturbance, the royal family itself remained strong, and due to the Lord Protector, the current King Henry II was reborn as a wiser and more powerful king unlike the original storyline.

Malekith and the Dragonflights, who had the power to topple not only the south but also the entire Sälen Kingdom, were defeated and disappeared before they could even properly revolt.

They who were said to be invincible were destroyed.

At Jude’s words, Cordelia smiled in happiness again before she leaned her upper body against the side of the bed and said.

“We’ve already prevented two of the 7 major calamities. Now, there are only five left.”

In the game, the empire collapsed in front of the 7 major calamities, but it would be different this time.

The number of calamities had been decreased, and a kingdom that could fight it together was still present.

“Yeah, so… perhaps from now on, things that we really don’t know about will happen.”

A great upheaval was needed to bring about the Great Summons.

The fall of the Sälen Kingdom and the Empire.

The chaos caused by the 7 major calamities.

The despair brought about by Malekith in the south.

The Great Summons occurred in the game’s storyline once all these conditions were met.

“The one who would cause the Great Summons… In the game, it was slightly different depending on the route, but either way, they won’t stand still. They would try to create a new upheaval that we have no knowledge of.”

And that upheaval was more likely to occur in the empire than in the kingdom.

“Because you need an ember to start a fire.”

There were no more embers left in the Sälen Kingdom.

‘And…’

Perhaps the demon followers would now begin to feel burdened by Jude and Cordelia’s existence.

The two had been involved in all the failed things they had planned for nearly a year.

“Then Jude, are we going to the empire when you’re all better?”

“Maybe?”

Because they had to meet the playable characters from the empire side, including the protagonist, Maximilian.

“But we’re going to move a little differently than before. Until now, we only knew that a big danger was going to happen, and were a bit passive in our preparations for that, right?”

“Yes, yes, we did.”

“Yeah, but this time, it’s our turn to attack. We are now different from before.”

Cordelia tilted her head at Jude’s words, but soon understood what he meant.

“Because we have strength and power?”

“Bingo. We also have wealth and connections.”

If Jude and Cordelia from nearly a year ago had talked about the demon followers, no one would have listened to them.

In fact, even in the kidnapping case of the children from the 12 northern families, they had to use all their means to mobilize the knights.

But it was different now.

Jude himself was Count August Bayer, and Cordelia was Countess August Chase.

They also had a fief and a fortune that was not there yet, but would soon be theirs.

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Was that all?

The two were also closely related to the royalty who led the kingdom.

‘There’s also the five heroes of Paragon.’

The two weren’t who they were almost a year ago.

It was now possible for them to directly attack the headquarters of the demon followers within the Sälen Kingdom.

“Hehehe, I like it. I like attacking first.”

When Cordelia had a dark smile, Jude also had a dark smile and nodded his head.

“Once we clean up the kingdom, we’ll invade the empire next. Based on our past experience, it may be possible to block some of the 7 major calamities earlier.”

They needed to get rid of it before it becomes a calamity.

“Should we take those items in the meantime?”

“Of course.”

They had to secure Ultimate Four – Magic Blaster, the last one in the Ultimate Series that had no owner yet.

In addition, they had to get the Arkeman series and collect the slates pointing to Gallus’ tomb.

They had to get the protection of the fairies too.

“We’re going to be busy.”

“But we’ll be free for a while. In the game, there was quite a peaceful period of time after the Sälen Kingdom was destroyed.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right. Let’s get some rest for now. Being healthy comes first. Let’s postpone training for now, okay?”

“Yes, I will.”

Cordelia smiled again when Jude answered obediently, and suddenly wiggled her fingers as she glanced around.

Jude and Cordelia were the only people in the large bedroom.

And so, Cordelia bit her lips a few times before her hand reached out to grab Jude’s sleeve.

“Cordelia?”

Instead of answering Jude’s question, Cordelia just pulled his sleeve more, and Jude coughed as he saw Cordelia’s face that had suddenly turned red.

The reason Cordelia was wiggling her fingers.

The cause of her blushing face and sleeve-pulling as if she was begging.

Jude coughed and suppressed his embarrassment, but he eventually laughed.

Because Cordelia’s actions were very cute.

So Jude asked in a slightly playful and low voice.

“Do you… want to do it?”

Cordelia’s face grew even redder. But instead of getting angry or swearing as usual, she lightly nodded her head and then pulled his sleeve as she gazed at him with affection.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Jude, who was sitting down with legs crossed, looked around unconsciously before grabbing Cordelia by her hand, and Cordelia climbed on the bed and drew closer to Jude. The two then shared a kiss on the lips.

Light and soft, but it soon became serious and passionate.

And Jude was forced to admit.

Cordelia was also a genius. In just two days, she was perfectly attacking Jude herself.

As Jude gently stroked Cordelia’s back, Cordelia hugged Jude’s neck and attacked him more aggressively.

The two had not progressed further from kissing yet and just stopped there, but they had significantly improved in many ways compared to two days ago.

And one minute, two minutes…

The moment when they longed for and attacked each other.

Jude and Cordelia were both startled and stopped moving at the same time.

Because while the two had been preoccupied with each other, they had felt a small presence beyond the door.

But who came?

Even after waiting, the door did not open. Rather, it seemed like the small presence had left.

‘Was it just a passerby?’

Or a small animal?

However, Jude did not entertain his thoughts any longer.

Because Cordelia became active in her offensive again after the presence disappeared.

At this rate, he would be completely defeated.

‘I don’t know the criteria for winning or losing though.’

Anyway, I can’t lose.

Jude tightened his hug around Cordelia’s waist, and held the back of Cordelia’s neck as he changed their positions.

From being the one in the dominated position to being the one in the dominating position, Jude launched his offensive.

And as the battle of the two continued.

“Ahem, ahem.”

“Ehem, ehem.”

The two people outside the door.

The two counts looked at each other after having hastily hid their presence with <Silent> magic.

Unlike Scarlet, the two were mindful of the situation, so they conveyed their intentions with their eyes, hand gestures, and <Message> magic instead of suddenly opening the door.

‘Let’s have some tea?’

[Let’s come back in an hour or so.]

Count Bayer and Count Chase.

The two counts who had arrived late carefully left the hallway.

And half an hour later.

When the two counts were sitting face to face in a café on the first floor of the luxury inn and continuing their heated discussion about children names.

Someone knocked on the door of Jude and Cordelia.

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