Chapter 314: Proclamation (3) (2/2)

After Marquis Buckingham joined them, the emperor’s group grew larger and the number of escorts exceeded a hundred.

As a natural result, Lucas, Kajsa, and Scarlet’s positions in the group became ambiguous.

They were neither Royal Knights like Leon and Sarah, nor absolutely strong people one would not even dare to recklessly fight like Jude and Cordelia.

They were outsiders in an ambiguous position.

But Lucas did not pay much attention to the surrounding gazes.

He drank the elixirs made from various medicinal ingredients that Jude and Cordelia took from the Breeze Fairies, and focused on training whenever they had spare time.

‘I’m getting stronger.’

The effect of the elixirs made by Jude was clear.

After their battle against the Demon Prince, his power grew so rapidly that it became hard to control, so he thought that there would be no growth for a while, but he was mistaken.

Jude made various kinds of elixirs to prevent the efficacy of the elixirs from weakening, so Lucas was able to feel the rapid growth of his body and soul every day.

And it was not only Lucas.

Kajsa and Scarlet also continued to grow.

The two grew stronger and more beautiful day by day.

‘B-beautiful?’

But that was not wrong either.

As a result of absorbing the good energy of the elixirs, Kajsa and Scarlet’s skin and hair were much better than before.

Furthermore, their constitution and body shape were also improved, so as Lucas had said, they had become more beautiful as they grew stronger.

And this was something that applied to Lucas as well.

The three became stronger and more good-looking with each passing day.

In fact, this was the result of Jude and Cordelia’s choice and focus.

‘I’m sorry for Leon and Sarah, but we don’t have enough time and resources to raise them now.’ (Jude)

Leon and Sarah were not lacking in talent as they were playable characters, but Jude and Cordelia had met them too late.

Therefore, instead of raising the levels of five people evenly by 5, Jude and Cordelia chose to raise the levels of three people by 10, choosing to neglect one while focusing on the other.

And Jude was right this time.

The three were showing growth beyond expectations.

Lucas practiced hard to improve himself instead of being envious or harboring wicked thoughts.

Kajsa and Scarlet had a strange rivalry with each other ever since they met in the south.

The three people’s personalities and their slightly subtle triangular relationship created a synergistic effect that exceeded expectations.

And one more.

There was a variable that even Jude had never expected.

‘What is this? This sensation?’ (Lucas)

At certain moments, he felt something that was out of place.

Every time he swung his sword, and every time he got stronger, he experienced a familiar yet unfamiliar sensation.

Like he was going back to a place he had been to before.

There was bound to be a huge gap between aimlessly wandering around the open sea and advancing along certain milestones.

He was moving forward.

He was stepping towards that distant horizon.

He was on the road that had already been passed once.

So he knew the way.

The skills of the three began to explosively grow.

And at the same time, the feelings of the three also intensified.

***

Three days after they split with the emperor’s group.

Jude and Cordelia finally arrived at Zainan Gorge.

They were still in the vast and expansive Buckingham March, and Zainan Gorge was the most remote area of the march.

“It’s like the Amazon.”

Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words.

The Buckingham March was generally colder as it was located in the north, but Zainan Gorge was an exception.

It was a place dominated by extreme weather as a tropical rainforest and a barren gorge coexisted there.

To be exact, it was a barren gorge surrounded by a vast tropical rainforest, so it was either hot and dry or hot and humid. In short, it was a place that was hard to live in.

“Now, all we have to do is go to the desert, right?”

“That’s right.”

As they traveled all over the continent, they had encountered all kinds of terrain.

Jude narrowed his brows as he looked at the bushes that seemed to be full of bugs and snakes.

Even though he had traveled to all sorts of places in his past life, he had strangely never been to a rainforest like this.

‘Anyway, about Zainan Gorge.’

In Legend of Heroes 2, it was not an important place.

It was more or less just a hunting ground for leveling up that had an exotic atmosphere.

The nearby Catan Mountains was much more important than Zainan Gorge because it was the place where one of the seven major calamities in the middle to late half of Legend of Heroes 2 would appear.

‘Maybe we should stop by after we finish our business in the gorge.’

The calamity in Catan Mountains would appear at least a few months later, but they had long departed from the original storyline flow.

With their good luck, it might be possible to stop the calamity before it became a complete problem, just like in the wild lands or the Forest of Eternity.

“Anyway, let’s hurry.”

“Okay!”

“Yes!”

Kirara immediately answered after Cordelia, and the group headed towards the rainforest.

And a few hours later.

As the sun went down, Jude and Cordelia began preparing the campsite, and Kirara headed out of the campground to talk to the animals in their surroundings.

‘Yes, good job. A person must be sensible.’

She began to hear a voice in her head as she moved away from Cordelia.

‘I’m sure she’ll be annoyed if you keep clinging to her. You’ve already experienced it several times, haven’t you?’

Instead of denying it, Kirara hastened her steps.

It was the voice that she began hearing when they run away from the Red Gate last time.

No, she wondered if it was even a voice in the first place.

Perhaps it was just Kirara’s own thoughts that sounded like hallucinations, or perhaps it was her thoughts that were brought about from her fear of being abandoned.

‘It’s a mistake that you’ve already followed her, but it’s fine. Cordelia is weak towards you. You just have to pretend to be a bit pitiful in front of her. You’ve done this a lot before, right?’

To betray, betray, and betray again.

Her thoughts imagined Cordelia showing her back out of trust, and her own self stabbing a knife on that back. It was a scene she could never imagine, but it strangely felt real.

Kirara sat down and caught her breath.

She slapped her own head to drive out the bad thoughts.

I will not betray her. It will be different this time. It’s not because of money. I will not betray her. I will not betray anyone either. I don’t want to betray anyone anymore.

Kirara burst into tears without realizing it, and sniffed several times before standing up again.

She held the handkerchief that Cordelia gave her and continued to walk.

‘I will help them.’

This time for sure.

I must this time.

It’s not just because I want to make time alone for the two.

I really want to sincerely listen to the animals this time.

What kind of animals are here?

Which animal should I hear from?

Kirara looked around and walked. Cordelia told her to not go too far because it could be dangerous, but as she listened to the stories of the small animals, she had gone quite far from the campground.

[It’s right there.]

At the words of the giant snake looking for an opportunity to eat her, Kirara grasped the dagger and looked away.

She stopped breathing at the sight beyond the bushes.