Chapter 147: Entrance to the Royal Capital (1) (1/2)
Had a really bad day today with two people trying to steal my TCF summaries and not crediting me. Thankfully, both incidents have been resolved and my faith in humanity has been restored.
Terms used in this chapter:
Pabalma – Korean word for horse couriers. These horses were used in Korea’s late Joseon dynasty in order to convey urgent military information and official documents.
Carriages were driven by horses, a living animal.
For this reason, a carriage could not run for 24 hours a day. Second, the coachman would be exhausted from whipping horses that couldn’t run around the clock.
“In fact, the endurance of humans is better.”
Cordelia was sitting outside the carriage and taking a rest, and she widely opened her eyes at Jude’s words.
“Really? Isn’t that some ridiculous lie? Who are you trying to fool? I won’t be fooled. Last time, you lied about storks giving birth to babies and not eggs.”
“No, that’s the fault of the one being deceived… not. It’s my fault for deceiving you.”
“Hmph.”
“Anyway, that’s that, but this is real. Human beings may be different, but their endurance is amazing.”
When Jude spoke quite seriously, Cordelia furrowed her brows as she found it suspicious before she asked.
“Is that true?”
“It’s true this time.”
It might be an unbelievable story, but it was true.
Horses were naturally superior to humans when it came to reaching their top speed within an instant, but humans were much superior to horses in their ability to keep running while maintaining their speed.
Therefore, it would have been faster for a person to run than to ride on a horse if they were traveling for a long distance.
“Somehow, your story is becoming harder and harder to believe, okay?”
“But it’s true.”
“Then, why do we ride on horses? In the movies and dramas I watched, they always rode on horses when they want to deliver an urgent message. Yes, that’s right. It’s a fact. I’ve learned about Pabalma at school.”
Cordelia wasn’t guessing this time, because she recalled that fact from her memories and pointed it one by one with her fingers.
In historical dramas and even textbooks, the people who delivered urgent news were always riding on horses.
“That’s because of a simple and obvious reason.”
“What reason?”
“It’s hard for a person to run with their own feet.”
Running while on the back of a horse was hard, but running with one’s own feet was also hard.
As Jude had said, it was a simple and obvious reason.
“B-but when you’re in a hurry, it’s better to put aside the hard stuff and just deliver it quickly.”
“That’s right. So you have to ride a horse even more.”
“What? You just said that a person is faster earlier.”
“You can change horses in the middle of your trip.”
“Ah?!”
Cordelia’s eyes widened and she unknowingly clapped her hands.
“That’s right!”
Horses could be changed in the middle of one’s trip.
So if one had to any news to deliver urgently, they could maintain their speed by continuously changing horses.
One could ride a new horse before the horse they were riding on was exhausted and slowed down.
“Wait, then can’t everyone just do something similar to pass the baton? It’s usually a letter or something that’s used to deliver the news.”
“That makes sense, but a horse’s speed is faster, right? If you approach it from the perspective of continuing to change horses before the horses get tired, it will seem like horses are faster than people, right?”
“Hmmm.”
He was right.
And Jude smiled at Cordelia’s reaction.
Cordelia had claimed at first that ‘horses are faster,’ and then her thinking changed towards ‘people are faster so why do you need to ride a horse?’
‘This is the foundation of persuasive speech.’
To naturally induce the other person’s thoughts to your side.
To make them affirm what they had denied without them realizing it.
“And there are times when the person itself is important, right? So it’s better to ride a horse in the end.”
“Hmm….I see.”
As Cordelia nodded, Jude smiled again and continued his words.
“A person needs to properly rest when they travel on horseback after all. People can get tired sooner than they thought.”
“Hmm, I think I understand what you mean.”
They had already done that several times when they traveled by carriage.
But it was at that moment.
Cordelia grinned at her sudden thought and looked at Jude as she said.
“In that sense, my Jude is the best ride of all because he can run all day, right?”
He was faster than a horse, and he didn’t get tired.
When they had gone back and forth in Mount Plex, Jude had run with Cordelia on his back without even taking a single break.
“Yes, you were awesome. I like it. My horse, Jude.”
Cordelia stroked his head as if praising him, Jude narrowed his eyes and said.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t given you the detonating cord yet.”
“My horse. No, Lord Jude. Are you tired? Would you like a lap pillow? Cordelia is always ready.”
When Cordelia spoke as she patted her lap, Jude smiled at her appearance and thought that making that detonating cord was a good idea.
“You look like you’re thinking of something bad.”
“You’re mistaken. I was just thinking of making something a bit better than the detonating cord.”
“That’s a great idea. I wish that it’s a bit lighter than now. I also wish that it bends better. To be honest, it looks like a wire now.”
When the topic changed to the detonating cord, Cordelia mischievously spoke at first, but she suddenly became very serious.
Not just because she found explosions to be good, but because she wanted to better utilize the detonating cord, which was a fairly practical and powerful weapon.
‘She looks like a real warrior at times like this.’
What if Cordelia was a warrior character and not a wizard?
‘Perhaps she’ll be stronger than she is now.’
In fact, she had a pretty good aptitude for martial arts. Her speed in learning the Bayer’s martial arts was also very fast.
“And I’m going to make something like dynamite… Like C4…”
“Wait, wait. Dynamite? C4?”
“Uh, is that a bit too much?”
“No, you can make it.”
“What? Really?”
Cordelia’s eyes instantly turned crazy- no, her eyes sparkled, and Jude hunched his shoulders as he spoke to her while trying to calm her down.
“No, no. I’m just saying that it’s theoretically possible. There’s time and other things…”
“But you’re saying that you can really make it, right?”
“Maybe…?”
He had in fact already made a detonating cord. C4 might be impossible for him, but it was possible for him to make something like dynamite.
“Wow! My Jude is the best! Truly the best!”
Cordelia got up from her seat and exclaimed as she hugged Jude, and everyone’s eyes gathered on them.
“Hey, hey. Cordelia. Hey!”
“Ah! You’re so good! My Jude is so good!”
But Cordelia didn’t see the gazes around her when she hugged Jude’s head and said that she loved him, and Jude shut his mouth in the midst of his embarrassment and joy.
(T/N: Pun. ‘Good’ and ‘love’ have the same Korean word. So Cordelia’s words could also be read as: ‘Ah! I love you so much! My Jude, I love you so much!’)
‘Everyone, I’m sorry.’
He could feel the knights glaring daggers at his back, but he couldn’t help it.
However, Jude’s happy moment didn’t last long because he felt a gaze that he couldn’t ignore.
“Cordelia! Cordelia!”
“Huh? Uh? Ah. Uh.”
Cordelia came to her senses and blushed when she heard the sound of someone coughing from around her. She awkwardly smiled and headed to the carriage while Jude rose from his seat and faced the approaching Sir Cornwell, whose gaze he couldn’t ignore.
“Jude Bayer. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Of course, Sir Cornwell.”
Jude promptly responded, and Sir Cornwell pointed with his eyes at a place far away.
“Let’s walk for a while.”
“Okay.”
Sir Cornwell who had always not left Princess Darianne’s side, led Jude to a place quite far away, perhaps because there were many knights around them now.
And so a few minutes later.
Sir Cornwell stopped walking at a place where their conversation would not be heard by others.
“Jude Bayer.”
“Yes, Sir Cornwell.”
“It’s sudden but…thank you.”
“Are you…thanking me?”
“I mean, thanks to you and Lady Cordelia, we were able to get the Seven-Colored Herb.”
All that Princess Darianne knew was the location of Arkeman’s Dungeon and the information that the Seven-Colored Herb were wildly growing at the dungeon’s deepest part.
“If it were not for you and Lady Cordelia… we wouldn’t have been able to get the Seven-Colored Herb. Even if we had obtained it, we would have suffered serious injuries.”
They were able proceed with ease because they accurately knew in advance the structure of the dungeon and the types of traps installed in it.
No matter how powerful Princess Darianne’s ability was, she couldn’t know what kind of trap awaits them.
And the chimera.
Sir Cornwell was basically a warrior, but he also had some knowledge of magic as the knight commander.
Several auxiliary magic circles were drawn in the last room where the chimera lived.
Like what Jude had said, they would have greatly failed if they had fought the chimera there.
“That is why I would like to thank you now.”
His tone was still stiff, but there was a friendliness in Sir Cornwell’s eyes that was unlike before.
His expression was more sincere than the harshness Jude had seen before in him.
‘Well, he couldn’t help it.’
He was escorting royalty and not just anyone else.
Moreover, Princess Darianne didn’t act much like a royal, either because she grew up outside the place since her childhood or because of her nature.
Even if she was with her maternal family’s knights, she was a young girl who went on a trip without a maid.