Chapter 94 (1/2)

Terms used in this chapter:

Hair grows in one’s heart – An idiom which refers to a brazen person. An English equivalent would be ‘having a lot of nerve.’

Haraken, a high-ranking demonic human of the Devil’s Eye and the main person in charge of all their plans in the wild lands, couldn’t retain his human form.

In his anger, his compound eyes, wings, and horns were all revealed, but he managed to suppress himself from screaming loudly.

‘Billvine’s dead?’

Black Knight Billvine.

Among the mid-ranking demonic humans of the Devil’s Eye, he had the best combat power.

‘What is it? What’s going on in the east?’

The demonic humans who were dispatched to pollute the eastern dragon veins had their connections cut off one after another.

When Zarakul first died, he thought that something like that could possibly happen.

When Madgar died, he was extremely surprised. So he asked for support from the Devil’s Eye’s headquarters in the Argon Empire and they sent Billvine.

But Billvine also died.

‘The east.’

Something like this had never happened in the west.

But strange things were continuously happening in the east.

‘Red Gale’s condition is not getting worse either.’

If it went according to their original estimation, he would have been dead or lying sick and unable to move, but that didn’t happen at all based on his spies’ information.

His condition had rather improved than before.

‘That’s not the only problem.’

The Eastern Alliance.

Now that the west was about to be unified under the flag of the Angry Bull tribe, their intelligence reported that Red Gale was trying to establish an Eastern Alliance centered around the Great Storm tribe.

‘No, that is unacceptable.’

Wasn’t that the reason he cursed Red Gale in the first place?

Wasn’t it to prevent the current situation?

However, his condition was improving little by little.

And as Haraken feared, he was trying to establish an Eastern Alliance.

‘In the end, should I solve it through force?’

By polluting the eastern dragon veins, they tried to incapacitate the wild gods and the tribes under them.

He tried to maintain the power of the barbarian lands as much as possible for their fight against the Sälen Kingdom, but that seemed to be impossible now.

‘Once this military expedition is over, I’ll gather the troops from the entire west to strike the east.’

After he made up his mind, Haraken calmed himself down by taking a deep breath.

He returned to his human form of a prophet with a long white beard and laid his eyes on at the map showing the locations of all the tribes in the barbarian lands.

‘Great Storm, Violent Avalanche, Gentle Snow Breeze, and the sacred place in the east.’

Who was it?

Who in the world was protecting the eastern dragon veins?

Was it one person?

Or was it several people?

“Who is it, who are you…”

Haraken’s low and angry voice was heard inside his tent.

***

At the same time, at a place far away from Haraken who was in the far west…

One of the people Haraken hated had slowly wiggled her body and opened her eyes.

“Uuugh…”

Cordelia grunted as she barely opened her eyes before closing them again.

But instead of falling asleep, she let out her voice again.

“Mmnnn…”

It was the typical sleepy voice.

Those who let out such a voice would normally fall back to sleep, but Cordelia was a little different.

She reopened her falling eyelids and forced them to stay open.

“Uhhhh…”

She uttered a groan as she tried to move.

Cordelia barely opened her eyes as she felt refreshed but also felt a slight pain as if her muscles were being pulled.

“Oww…”

“Are you awake?”

Upon hearing Jude’s voice, Cordelia blinked her eyes and somewhat became aware of her position.

‘I’m on his back.’

She was being carried through a podaegi on Jude’s back.

Instead of recalling why she was in such a situation, Cordelia rested her cheek on Jude’s back.

‘It’s cold.’

Did the leather get cold when I took my head off for a while?

But it wasn’t very cold. As she found the coolness to be pleasant, Cordelia replied.

“Mmm…I’m awake. I’m awake.”

Although her voice sounded weak, it was quite clear compared to when she just woke up.

But Jude slightly fixed his carrying position and peeked at Cordelia as he said.

“Would you like to sleep for a bit more?”

“No, I’ll wake up. I will wake up.”

Cordelia wiggled her body again and then removed her head from Jude’s back. She thought she would fall asleep again if she kept leaning her head on his back.

Jude said again to Cordelia.

“Are you no longer exhausted? You made such a fuss yesterday.”

“Huh? Yesterday? Yesterday I…ahhhh.”

At the end of her words, Cordelia turned red and buried her face on Jude’s back. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

The fuss she made yesterday.

Her shameful behavior last night.

“It’s because of Beast Mode, so I understand.”

Jude spoke in an exuberant voice, and Cordelia groaned once again before she snorted and said.

“I was going to get off, but now I won’t. I’ll continue taking advantage of this situation. I’ll continue this luxury. I’ll break Jude’s spine.”

T/N: Kind of a pun here, as Cordelia was both referring to an idiom and of literally breaking Jude’s spine because he was carrying her.

Break (someone’s) spine is a Korean idiom which means to exploit or take another’s fortune in every possible way. Also referred to as ‘spine breaker’ and commonly used on parents and children. Children are ‘spine breakers’ if they demand something that is so expensive or ‘burdensome’ to their parents that ‘it breaks their parent’s spine because of the burden.’

“If you insist. I’m fine with it because the warmth in my back feels like I’m walking around with a stove.”

Cordelia sulked even more at Jude’s sly answer, but she felt like she’ll lose if she continued further.

So Cordelia changed the topic.

“But Jude.”

“Yes.”

“How long have we traveled?”

“Based on my estimation…I think we can see it now?”

“Huh?”

“Over there. There. Can you see it?”

Cordelia silently shifted her gaze to the direction Jude was pointing with his chin, squinted her eyes, and soon shouted in surprise.

“What! Gentle Snow Breeze’s basin?!”

It was clearly Gentle Snow Breeze’s basin that was situated on a snowfield that was like a vast ocean.

As she blankly stared at the basin located at the foot of mountains that surrounded it, Cordelia gasped for a moment before she looked back at Jude again.

“Oh my gosh. Hey, how long have you walked while carrying me? What time is it now?”

“About half a day? It’s roughly 3 to 4 in the afternoon, I think?”

“Half a day?!”

In terms of time, that was about 6 hours.

The startled Cordelia writhed her body while still being carried in a podaegi as she asked.

“Are you all right? Does your legs hurt? What about your waist?”

It was no less than 6 hours.

Just walking was already hard, but he continued walking while Cordelia was on his back?

Moreover, Jude had one more luggage. The small rope tied around his waist was connected to a sled full of luggage that he was dragging.

When Cordelia was flustered and worried, Jude said as he pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.

“My princess is all grown up now. She knows how to worry. Daddy is going to cry.”

“Wow, you must be really comfortable if you can talk such nonsense. Has my Jude really become stronger?”

“It’s all thanks to Madam.”

Whether he was acting or not, Jude’s voice had indeed, sounded relaxed.

Cordelia suddenly touched Jude’s back and shoulder, and she widely smiled at Jude’s strong and firm body that resembled a savage animal, or rather, a beast.

“Yes, Daddy. That’s a good mindset. Please continue to thank me. Ahem, ahem, it feels nice.”

After smiling at the appearance of Cordelia who cleared her throat while wanting to be thanked more, Jude looked at the front again and said.

“Now then, just stay on my back as we’ll get there if we go a little further.”

They could see the basin, but it was still at a distance that would take 30 minutes on foot.

But Cordelia shook her head, patted Jude on his back and said.

“Jude, Jude. Can’t you just go fast? Just create some wind and go swoosh-swoosh.”

“No, over there. Can’t you see the luggage sled? Walking is okay but running is impossible, okay?”

If he did that, all their luggage would be turned upside down.

However, Cordelia said with a bright face as if it was not a problem.

“Why don’t you just leave the luggage sled for a while, take me to the basin, and then come back alone to take the luggage with you?”

“What?”

“Leave the luggage sled and only take me as you run fast, and then Daddy will come back alone to take the luggage.”