Chapter 40 - EPISODE 40 – HONEYMOON (1) (1/2)
Ten hours before Cordelia’s letter was found in Count Hræsvelgr’s guest room.
Cordelia placed the stationery on the bed and pouted.
“But you know…”
“What is it?”
“Why does it have to me again?”
When they jumped off the cliff in the middle of the Belkain Mountains, when she said that she wanted to go to Count Hræsvelgr’s territory with him, and now, they were eloping…no, they were just running away together, or more like they just want to get out of here.
“Well, that’s how it is.”
“That what?”
Cordelia asked as her eyes narrowed. If there was no good reason, the look in her eyes seemed to clearly say that he should be prepared for the consequences.
Because of that, Jude unconsciously gulped, but soon said with a cunning smile.
“Cordelia, imagine it in your head. There’s a beaker full of ink, and there’s a glass rod.”
“I’m imagining it.”
“Yes, now dip the glass rod into the beaker and then take it out. What will happen then?”
“The glass rod will turn black, right?”
It’ll be covered in ink.
“Yes, then dip it in one more time and take it out. What will happen again?”
“It’s still black, isn’t it?”
“That’s correct.”
“That’s no-…f*ck?!”
“I mean, the first offense stood out in the past, so if we do it three or four more times…”
“That’s all you wanted to say? You’re all talk!”
The enraged Cordelia began to seriously smack Jude’s back with her palm.
“Hey! It hurts! It really hurts!”
“It hurts when I hit you? Really?”
Cordelia, who had been slapping Jude’s back, tried to kick Jude’s shin, but he was faster.
Pak!
Twenty-Four Gale Steps.
At that moment, there was a gust of wind as Jude’s foot became blurred, and Cordelia’s kick only hit the air.
“Hey! What dirty trick are you using to avoid it? Is that your new skill?”
“It hurts when I get hit, okay?”
Cordelia’s hand was more painful than he thought.
As Jude shifted his position with an urgent look on his face, Cordelia sighed and said as she placed her hands on her hips.
“Anyway, this is extremely embarrassing.”
“But you’re pretty much used to it now…ah, no! It’s not something to get used to.”
Jude cowered and Cordelia sighed again, then approached Jude and asked.
“By the way, what were you planning to do?”
It doesn’t end with just simply leaving Count Hræsvelgr’s territory.
They had to prepare many things for their journey to Frost Anvil.
And the Jude that Cordelia knew was not a man who acted without any plans.
“First, we ought to be prepared. Measures to protect against the cold are necessary, and in order to get out of Vedrfolnir safely, we need a way to cross the city walls, horses for the two of us, and various travel supplies.”
It was a reasonable plan.
But there was a problem.
“We don’t have any money.”
The money from home had already been spent on hiring wizards at Langesthei.
The money that Count Chase gave them when they left Langesthei had almost been spent because they bought various kinds of equipment.
Moreover, money was not their only problem.
It was midnight now.
There was only one business type that was open even after the sun sets, which was the entertainment district where one can enjoy various kinds of entertainment, such as drinking and gambling.
They didn’t have the time to wait until morning too.
The time Lucas gave to Jude and Cordelia for their tour was only a few hours ahead.
“So, come closer.”
“You’re doing it again. It’s just the two of us here in the first place.”
“Well…it’s the mood.”
“Regardless of the mood…”
Cordelia grumbled but she soon got closer to Jude and brought her ears closer.
And after a while, a bright smile spread over Cordelia’s face when she heard Jude’s words.
***
Mick was a professional crook.
His specialty was marriage fraud.
With his natural-born handsome face, flowery language and eloquence that he gained through years of training, he specialized in wheedling innocent virgins and widows suffering from loneliness.
And he was now thrown down and being trampled by an incomparably beautiful girl.
“H-how did you know where I am-!”
“From the victims of fraud – among them, you can get clues by talking to the redhead, Marybelle. There was also the neighborhood rascal he picked a fight with on the day he first met Mick.
The name of that neighborhood scoundrel was Vic. If you look a little around the back alleys of Vedrfolnir, you can meet him, and when you beat him, he tells an interesting story about Mick. Of course, that alone doesn’t tell Mick’s whereabouts.
Mick is a shrewd guy. But it doesn’t mean he has very little income. Marriage fraudsters do not stay in one place for long, and Mick is one of the few guys who came from another place. Of course, these guys need the help of the locals in order to adapt to the city. Vic is the guy who teaches him how to contact the locals.
The local’s name is Kaal. Insane Knife Kaal. Now then, if you grill Kaal, he will tell you about Mick. Where he came from, and where he is now. But it takes too long to go through all of that process, so I just straight up came here.”
Listening to that long story stupefied the minds of those present there.
And Cordelia spoke with a dizzy expression.
“JudeWiki is weird.”
“The important thing is that we caught him.”
After hearing Cordelia’s words, Jude squatted in front of Mick, whose head was on the floor, and spoke.
“If you catch Mick, you have two choices. One is to put him in jail, and the other is to continue the new linked quest. Vedrfolnir is a bustling city, and like a thriving city, a lot of criminals are also gathered, and one of them wants Mick. To be exact, that person wants him as a gift to the head of the Thieves Guild in Langesthei.”
“Wh-what?”
“Marybelle is the youngest sister of the head of the Thieves Guild in Langesthei.”
Jude’s bright smile made Mick’s handsome face turn pale, and Cordelia immediately spoke after casting
magic on him.
“Jude.”
“Yes?”
“You just wanted to do that, didn’t you?”
Narrating line by line the entire process of catching Mick.
“What… Maybe it’s a habit?”
“Huh?”
“Well, we caught him, so let’s go. We don’t have much time.”
They had to leave Vedrfolnir before dawn at the latest.
“Okay, let’s go.”
To Fabian’s lair, one of Vedrfolnir’s gangs.
The two then hastened their movements.
***
Fabian was a successful transport dealer.
People, money, letters, drugs, dangerous goods, and so on. It was good to say that he would transport anything as long as it makes money.
And he was now facing in front of him, while still in his pajamas, an absolutely handsome boy and an incomparably beautiful girl.
“So, you’re going to give Mick to me as a present?”
“Yes, Fabian.”