Chapter 141: Unexpected Encounter (2) (1/2)
Double chapters today to make up for not posting one yesterday.
Regarding family and clans: This series uses a lot of wuxia and murim terms, so I want to clarify this stuff. Family usually refers to blood-related relatives or those with marriage ties. But in the world of wuxia or murim, family could mean the sect or clan they belong to and does not necessarily mean they have blood relations. You’re a knight of Count Bayer? Then you belong to the Bayer family or clan.
What makes this confusing is the fusion of western and eastern culture in this series. Knights are vassals of a lord, and technically do not belong to the lord’s family or clan, but in wuxia or murim, they do. So the 12 northern families are actually 12 sects with a feudal noble as their head.
And if you’re wondering why there is this fusion, this series technically belongs to the ‘fusion fantasy’ genre, where there’s a fusion of two or more genres in a story. In this case, it’s a fusion of western medieval fantasy, wuxia/murim fantasy, reincarnation, and game-like elements.
Princess Darianne.
Her official name was Perdarianne de Sälen.
As the child of the Second Queen, she was half-siblings with Princess Daphne and Prince Dion who were the First Queen’s children, but the relationship of the three were quite good.
‘Because they have a huge age gap and the probability of Darianne inheriting the throne is low.’
‘Because Darianne is the cutest.’
Jude frowned at the reason Cordelia gave, but she wasn’t exactly wrong.
If a cute child clings to her older sister and brother, it would be hard for people to not react or resist it.
‘Anyway, about Princess Darianne.’
Why is she, the darling of the Sälen royal family, sitting here now at an inn in a mountain village like this?
‘Though I have pretty good idea why.’
‘You know why?’
‘You, you didn’t properly read the character settings, right?’
‘No, I did. I know how many favorite shoes Cordelia has, okay?’
‘Hey, you’re Cordelia.’
‘Is that so?’
Cordelia smiled with her tongue slightly sticking out to hide her embarrassment, and Jude wryly smiled but was still happy.
Because she was cute.
‘Anyway, it’s just a guess?’
‘What?’
‘But isn’t this conversation with our eyes too high level? Do you understand what I’m talking about?’
‘Uh…roughly?’
No matter how well we understand each other, is it possible to have a conversation with our eyes like this?
Isn’t this almost telepathic?
‘Is this the power of love that master said?’
‘You must be nuts if you keep repeating that bullsh*t.’
Cordelia said with her eyes as she smiled prettily, and Jude laughed before tearing a scroll under the table.
The two had an almost telepathic conversation with their eyes, but it was still impossible to convey specific information without understanding the circumstances and context.
So in this case, it was better to just use magic.
[She probably came here because of the duke.]
[The duke…isn’t he the maternal grandfather of Princess Darianne?]
[Bingo. He is Henry Spencer, the father of the Second Queen and the current Duke Spencer whose family has royal blood flowing in their veins because they are collateral relatives of the royal family.]
[Isn’t he suffering from an illness?]
[That’s why she came here. To get some medicine that will cure her grandfather’s illness.]
[Ah, aaaah!]
Cordelia clapped her hands a little as if she understood now.
[Medicinal herbs in Arkeman’s Dungeon.]
[Bingo again this time.]
A medicinal herb called the Seven-Colored Herb naturally grew in the deepest part of Arkeman’s Dungeon, and though it was not as good as the Sunflower, it had a rather strong life energy.
[Will it perhaps cure an ordinary chronic illness in one dose?]
[But in the original, he was still suffering from it. Her duke grandfather.]
[I guess she couldn’t get the herbs in the end.]
[Well, it’s because Arkeman’s Dungeon is difficult.]
Arkeman was a particularly eccentric freak among the many eccentric Archwizards.
A wizard’s dungeon was originally more like a lab with excellent crime prevention measures rather than a labyrinth full of traps and monsters.
After all, it was a place created to conduct research.
But Arkeman’s dungeon was different.
The dungeon was filled with powerful traps and guardians as if the dungeon’s purpose was crime prevention and not research.
[In particular, the dungeon boss is a problem.]
A chimera created by Arkeman.
A creature that was created by combining three different beasts into one, and an inferior monster that could be taken care of in a funny way.
[Anyway, we’ll talk about it later.]
That was it. Jude looked to his side, and so did Cordelia.
Because one of the big men standing next to Princess Darianne approached them.
“Hey, you two.”
It was a deep and intimidating voice.
Because of her traveling with Jude, Cordelia’s acting skill had become excellent so she blinked with a frightened look on her face, and Jude slightly leaned forward as if to protect Cordelia before he spoke.
“What is it?”
“Are you travelers?”
“Yes, we’re travelers.”
When Jude immediately replied, the big man frowned instead of talking again.
‘He’s bad at this.’
‘He’s clumsy.’
He was probably sent here by his superior, but it seemed like this was his first time doing it.
‘Isn’t he a duke’s knight?’
‘I think this is the first time he’d ever gone undercover like this.’
What would I say if you asked me if I was a traveler at a place like this? Of course I would say I’m a traveler.
The man hesitated for a moment and looked back, and he caught the gaze, or more like the glare, of a fierce-looking middle-aged man sitting next to Princess Darianne.
‘Get it together?! – I think he’s being told something like that.’
‘I think so too.’
Shortly after Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances, the man flinched again and turned to Jude and Cordelia as his mouth opened and closed several times before he spoke.
“Why were you looking at our side?”
“It’s strange that there’s a lone child among adults. Their face is also covered with a robe.”
Cordelia spoke naturally, and the man was flustered again.
Because when he thought about it, she was right.
There was a small child who was alone among big men. Their body and face was also covered by a robe.
‘Even I would look at it.’
The young knight of Duke Spencer, Hunt, was troubled but he couldn’t look back again.
Because his superior would clearly scold him severely.
‘I think I can already hear it, huhu.’
In fact, Hunt felt that it was unfair.
Any of the knights who came with him would also respond in the same way as he did.
“Umm…is there a problem?”
When Cordelia cautiously asked, Hunt’s face slightly blushed and he faltered again.
Although he had some difficulties on how to respond, the main cause was Cordelia’s beauty.
‘She’s so pretty.’
She was pretty when he saw her at a distance, but she was much prettier when he saw her closer.
“Hunt!”
Hunt flinched after hearing the angry voice behind him, and he shook his head to clear his mind.
Since it had already happened, he had to do something even if it would be a success or a failure.
“You two, you’re too suspicious. Identify yourself. Are you really just travelers?”
He felt ashamed at the words that he said himself, but he couldn’t help it.
And at his shameful lines, Jude sighed and looked at Cordelia as he sent her a gaze.
‘Let’s just do it then.’
‘We’re going to get involved with them?’
‘Because it would be nice if we can get close to Princess Darianne.’
He was wondering on how they would go to the royal capital and meet Princess Daphne, but the problem would be solved at once if they became close to Princess Darianne.
After taking a deep breath, Jude stood up and said.
“Sir Knight.”
“Eh…what? I am not a knight. I’m just a traveling veteran mercenary.”
“I understand. You’re a knight of Duke Spencer, right?”
Right after Jude said that.
The air in the inn rapidly changed.
The men around Princess Darianne stood up at once, and even the bewildered Hunt gave off a sharp pressure and grabbed the sword on his waist. He was ready to pull it out.
Then one person moved.
The middle-aged man sitting right next to Princess Darianne.
He was Sir Cornwell, the head of the Knights of the Red Rose who were known as Duke Spencer’s sword.
“Who are you? Depending on how you answer, your life could be at stake.”
He did not give off a sharp pressure like Hunt.
He did not even hold a weapon in his hand like everyone else.
But the quality of his sense of pressure was different.
Jude took on his pressing gaze as he took a deep breath once and stepped forward. He stood in front of Cordelia as if to protect Cordelia from Sir Cornwell and everyone else before he opened his mouth.
“The second son of the Bayer family, Jude Bayer, greets Sir Cornwell of the Knights of the Red Rose.”
At Jude’s smooth words without any sign of fear, Sir Cornwell slightly narrowed his eyes, and Hunt and the other knights could not hide their confusion.
“H-how?”
“Bayer?”
Several very small voices were abruptly heard, but soon disappeared.
Because Sir Cornwell began to let out a terrifying sense of pressure.
But it didn’t last long.
“Stop it, Sir Cornwell.”
The cheerful voice of a girl, which did not match the current mood, broke the uncomfortable silence.
Sir Cornwell seemed to frown once before he looked back at Princess Darianne who smiled and walked towards Jude and Cordelia.
“My lady.”
“It’s okay. Sir Cornwell is next to me, right?”
At the words of Princess Darianne, Sir Cornwell eventually sighed and then stepped aside.
“Hehehe, thank you. As I thought, Sir Cornwell is the best.”
Princess Darianne cutely said before she took off the hood she was wearing on her head.
The golden hair that was called the symbol of the royal family, and her pretty doll-like face were then revealed.
“Whew, that’s better. It was quite stifling after all, huh?”
Mumbling to herself as if she was talking to someone unknown, she then took a deep breath and said as she looked up at Jude.