Chapter 84: Returnees (2) (2/2)
“Ahem, ahem. Uh, ahem.”
With his head buried in Cordelia’s chest, Kaplan blushed and cleared his throat, and Jude’s eyes narrowed as he counted numbers.
‘One, two, three.’
This was enough.
Jude stealthily came closer and stopped the hug by pulling Cordelia’s arm before he quickly spoke.
“Sir Kaplan is right. If we have Bellagio, we can find Lena.”
“But that…we have to first look for Bellagio…”
Although he promptly said it, it was actually not easy to find Bellagio.
Kaplan himself knew little about the Bellagio’s habitat somewhere in Raptor Canyon.
But not for Jude and Cordelia.
“I know where Bellagio is.”
“I know exactly who has Bellagio, and how to meet them.”
Mystical beast Bellagio.
A magical beast who could track even small traces of mana as small as fingernails.
“Oh! Is that true?”
“It’s true.”
Cordelia replied with a big smile and looked back at Jude to confirm, and Jude nodded his head.
‘Because they were the ones who raised the Bellagios in Legend of Heroes.’
So he assumed that they would have raised it here in reality.
“Where should we go? It’s clear that something big has happened to Endymion, given that the monsters are going around like this. Getting out of the city may not be easy.”
Unlike Jude and Cordelia, Kaplan was absolutely lacking information on their current situation, but he was not a lifelong professor at the institutional academy for no reason.
Despite their insufficient information, Jude smiled big and replied in a coherent manner.
“We don’t have to go out of the city completely. We can go to a place that is marked on the map. What’s more…it’s not too far away.”
Having said that, Jude opened Endymion’s map for Cordelia and Kaplan, and Cordelia soon pointed to a place marked by a checkmark.
“We have to go here.”
“There…what is there?”
When Kaplan blinked and asked, Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances, and soon, Cordelia placed her hands on her hips and said.
“Bathhouse.”
***
“How’s the temperature?”
“Just good. How about your blindfold?”
“I can’t see anything, so I might fall. Can I take it off for a second?”
“Hmph, no.”
Cordelia giggled and looked elsewhere before she said.
“Sir Kaplan, please be patient even if it feels uncomfortable.”
“It’s all right.”
Inside the bathhouse located outside Endymion.
Just like the hot springs in the canyon, this place was well maintained.
Jude and Kaplan sat on an empty bathtub with blindfolds on, while Cordelia prepared to take a bath in front of a bathtub filled with hot water.
“Now then, shall we start?”
After entering the bathtub, Cordelia began washing herself with hot water.
It was an act that was questionable since monsters from hell were wandering around Endymion’s underground, but in fact, it could be called a very important ceremony.
“Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~”
The humming Cordelia began to wash her hair, and Jude cleared his throat and said.
“Cordelia, are you going to keep bathing?”
“Tsk, I’m just washing my hair.”
The chance to take a hot bath didn’t just come at any time.
Cordelia washed her hair with great care, deeply took a breath, and then uttered a magic spell to call the fairies.
“Twinkle, twinkle little star~ Shining beautifully~ In the western sky~ Eh, they came.”
She was used to it by now.
“Wow! So pretty!”
“Really pretty!”
“But haven’t we met her before?”
“We have met.”
The last one was Cordelia.
After getting up from the bathtub, she dried her body with magic and told the wild fairies looking up at her with sparkling eyes.
“Would you like to play with me?”
“Eh! That’s surprising!”
“What are we going to play?”
As the wild fairies jumped and shouted in the bathtub, Cordelia slowly nodded.
After peeking at Kaplan and Jude who flinched at the voices of the fairies, she dressed herself and then said.
“First.”
“First?”
“Let’s see the Queen.”
“The Queen?”
“The Queen.”
A villainous smile spread over Cordelia’s face.
***
The Wild Fairy Queen.
Having rich blonde hair like that of a lion’s mane, she was lying in bed and relaxing.
She was a fairy one way or another, but if the other fairies were kids, as a queen, she was a girl.
Therefore, she had not yet fully recovered from the aftermath of a stormy pair who had swept through them just a while ago.
‘I feel tired.’
It was mental fatigue and not physical fatigue.
A subtle feeling of having solved a problem but not having solved it.
She felt dejected every time she saw the almost empty warehouse of the High Elves.
‘No, it’s not something that we can use in the first place.’
There was something though.
There was something that she really felt.
‘Anyway, it’s all over.’
That’s it.
Yes, yes, that’s it.
The Fairy Queen thought like a fairy and tried to fall into a deep sleep.
But it was at that moment.
“Queen!”
“Queen!”
“Queen!”
The Fairy Queen opened her eyes in surprise at the sounds of the fairies calling her and was even more surprised that she fell out of her bed.
Because there was a beautiful human girl among the fairies.
“Queen! I missed you!”
When Cordelia brightly smiled, her face was so pretty and lovely that the Fairy Queen unconsciously smiled but it was for a moment only.
“Uh…aren’t you done with your business already? You’ve been rewarded.”
You’re not asking for more rewards, right?
You also have a conscience, right?
Cordelia said with a bright smile again at the Fairy Queen’s question.
“I’m not here for rewards. We have already received enough.”
“Is that so? Yes, I knew right away that you were good children.”
Having been assured that she didn’t come to get rewards, the Fairy Queen graciously smiled.
But it was too early to judge.
“I don’t need rewards, but I need help.”
“Help?”
“Yes, the Queen’s help. It’s very, very important. In a way, it’s actually also for the fairies, and not us, who’ll be helped. Rather, we’ll help the fairies.”
The fairies would receive help.
It was a word choice that made her feel something ominous, but the Fairy Queen decided to listen to Cordelia’s story first.
“Let’s talk.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After taking a deep breath, like what she learned from Jude, Cordelia began her scam…no, she began her story.