Chapter 211 - ULTIMATE ONE (1) (1/2)

Terms used in this episode:

Korean instant noodle with rice – Ramyeon is the word for Korean instant noodles. But some Koreans also like cooking rice along with ramyeon.

Dragonflight – subrace of dragons from the official lore of the World of Warcraft game.

Horse requisition tablet – a round tablet carried by public officials in Korea’s Joseon Dynasty in order to use a horse or horses owned by the state for their missions. It is also used by secret royal inspectors in order to prove and reveal their identities to public officials.

Secret royal inspector – an undercover official directly appointed by the king and sent to the local provinces in order to monitor government officials and look after the populace while traveling incognito. For their secret missions, they receive a letter of appointment and a horse requisition tablet.

The line ‘the secret royal inspector is here!’ is a famous line on how secret royal inspectors reveal themselves to government officials as they present their horse requisition tablet as proof of their identity. After they reveal themselves, their subordinates will appear to inspect the government officials’ records.

Here’s a video from the Korean series Haechi, about a secret royal inspector shouting that line and showing his tablet. It doesn’t have English subtitles though. Start at 0:30.

It was the only until next morning did Jude and Cordelia’s nighttime escape was discovered.

When the maid found the letter on the bed, she was surprised and urgently sought for Count Chase, and the news of the two running away at night quickly spread around.

“Count Bayer and Count Chase eloped!”

“What? Count Bayer and Count Chase?”

“N-no! Not the fathers! It’s the children!”

Since it was a topic about Jude and Cordelia, it only took about an hour before the entire royal capital heard the news.

And the reactions of the people who heard the news were largely divided into two.

“Elopement? Aren’t the two already engaged?”

“Their families didn’t object to them, right?”

Those who had learned about the two only after the royal capital’s incident had ended could not immediately understand the current situation.

Because they couldn’t understand why the two ran away at night when their families were okay with it, and no one was stopping them from loving each other.

And the reactions of those who had already known about the two were almost the same.

“Again?”

“Can you still call it an elopement at this rate?”

That was how they reacted.

Because the two hadn’t done it once or twice.

The two had already run away a total of five times.

Moreover, since it was a recognized relationship that their families actively pushed together, running away just because they wanted to go on a trip together didn’t make sense.

“But they’re still engaged, right?”

The two were not married yet.

Furthermore, they were only 17 years old now.

Even if they were engaged, it was inevitable that there would be a scandal if they went on a trip alone.

Just as how bad rumors circulated in the north when the two first ran away.

But the status and public perception of the two had changed since then.

The reactions to the two going on a honeymoon trip were as follows.

“What? They haven’t had an accident yet?”

“I thought she had an accident back then?”

“No, didn’t they run away back then in order to have an accident?”

“Wouldn’t it be because of an accident that they ran away in the first place?”

T/N: ‘Have an accident’ is a subtle way of saying that a woman got pregnant even though she is still unmarried.

It was the scandal that spread about the two known as the couple of the century who were already recognized by their families, as well as the entire royal capital, or rather, the entire Sälen Kingdom.

In fact, the public’s perception of the two was that they were no different from a married couple already, as their relationship had been synonymous to lovebirds who would die if they were separated from the other.

If the two ever broke up, the entire Sälen Kingdom would rise and express their opposition to it.

“All according to plan.”

“Uuuh…?”

The half-asleep Cordelia let out a confused voice, and Jude grinned before saying.

“My princess, shouldn’t you get up now?”

“Mmnnn…”

Cordelia usually slept a lot in the morning, so she was still half-asleep. Jude then lightly kissed Cordelia’s forehead and whispered to her again.

“You have to get up now.”

“Mmmnnn…”

Cordelia waved her hands when he put his lips on her forehead again.

“Kisses… no kisses…”

Because skinship was still banned.

But Jude tilted his head and slyly said.

“I didn’t do anything. Perhaps you’re still dreaming?”

“I-is that so…? Then it’s fine.”

Because kisses are nice.

Cordelia giggled and closed her eyes again, and Jude had a bitter smile before he pinched her cheek.

He wanted to let her sleep more, but it was already time for her to get up.

“You really have to get up now, okay? We’re almost there.”

“Uuuuuh…”

Cordelia forcibly opened her eyes, touching her cheeks as she looked around.

Her eyes were still half-open, so her vision was blurry, but she could roughly see that they were in a forest.

“Yaaaawn…”

Cordelia yawned and stretched her arms, raising her upper body as she closed her eyes again. Jude then quickly brought out a basin he had prepared.

“Now, wash your face. Drink a glass of cold water too.”

“Uuuh…”

At this point, she couldn’t help but wake up.

Having drank cold water after washing her face, Cordelia blinked her eyes, and by the time she was fully awake, her hair was already washed, or to be exact, he had washed her hair.

“Stay still, just stay still.”

“Okay.”

Jude had also learned various basic magic spells aside from <Message> magic, so he mixed <Wind> magic and <Heat> magic in order to dry Cordelia’s hair before he began to comb it skillfully.

‘Isn’t this more comfortable than when I didn’t run away?’

Shouldn’t I be having a hard time since I ran away from home?

Jude finished his combing while Cordelia was thinking alone, and he looked at her hair with a very proud expression before he immediately began to prepare their meals.

Since they were outdoors, he was thinking of serving some pancakes, fried eggs, sausages and a bit of vegetables in moderate amounts.

He fried it on a pan over the campfire.

And he even boiled water for tea.

As Cordelia sat and watched Jude’s actions, she sucked in her lips and said.

“Jude.”

“Yes, Cordelia.”

“I’ll definitely boil you some ramyeon later. I’m really good at boiling ramyeon.”

“Where will you get the ramyeon?”

“Wouldn’t you make it for me, Jude? Oh, and rice too. It’s nice to mix some rice in ramyeon.”

When Cordelia giggled, Jude used that opportunity to pinch her cheeks.

“Don’t you have a conscience?”

“Well, my heart feels warm.”

“Shall we check it then?”

Whether your heart really has any hair or not.

T/N: A return of the ‘hair in your heart’ idiom, which means a brazen or shameless person. Hair provides warmth to your head, so if your heart had hair too, your heart would also feel warm.

After his lame joke, Jude focused on cooking again.

And after a few minutes or so.

Cordelia took a bite of the sausage and looked around.

“By the way, where are we?”

“A nameless forest between Morrison and Garinto. A little further south from here is Mount Damos, which is a part of the fief we’ll be receiving.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened when she thought of the map of Legend of Heroes 2 in her head.

“Already? It’s only been a day since we left, right?”

“It’s the power of the Phantom Steed.”

The Phantom Steed could run continuously without getting tired as long as one supplied it with mana.

On top of that, its rider was Jude who was overflowing with stamina that he only needed to sleep for 2 hours, so it wasn’t a problem for it to run for hours.

“Umm… I’ll clean your ears later.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“No, it’s just that… you’ve had a hard time.”

“Are you feeling guilty?”

Cordelia’s lips twitched at Jude’s question before she nodded a bit.

“And… I’ll definitely boil ramyeon for you, so you have to make ramyeon, okay?”

“It’s like you’re forcing me to do it, but I understand, Madam.”

In fact, ramyeon was just noodles made from pulling flour, and all he needed to do was fry it in oil afterwards, so he could make it right away as long as he had the ingredients.

“Anyway, about Mount Damos.”

“Ultimate One is found in its underground, right?”

“Yes, though to be exact, it’s located at the smithy of the Black Horn Guild, one of the seven guilds of Sword Seeker.”

The Ultimate Seven series.

Seven decisive battle weapons created by Sword Seeker, one of the 7 city states of the ancient dwarven kingdom.

It might have been awkward at first to attach the term ‘decisive battle weapon’ to a sword, but for the Ultimate Seven series, it was a different story.

As its name implied, the seven were special swords developed for the ultimate sword that they sought, which was what Sword Seeker stood for.

“To make it easy to understand, the seven are mythical items.”

“Mythical items that are above legendary items. In terms of rank, it’s SS-rank.”