Chapter 233: St. Crute Monastery (1) (1/2)
Upon arriving in front of the large sarcophagus bearing Solari’s inscription, Jude and Cordelia turned to the side instead of immediately opening the lid.
Because the ninth-rank angels – the Tomb Guardians, lying flat on the floor due to Cordelia’s command had complex expressions on their faces.
‘Well, from their perspective, they had to unfairly succumb to authority. Or rather, they’re troubled by the conflict of orders.’
In fact, the Tomb Guardians were not so intelligent.
Because their job was to stay in one place like a tomb, seal, and so on, just like what they were doing now.
‘They would have gone crazy if they had high intelligence.’
Because they were completely trapped for life.
In any case, they were more compliant with that order than other angels since they were Tomb Guardians, but because of Cordelia’s order to ‘get down,’ they were suffering from an internal conflict.
An order to stop anyone who would approach the sarcophagus, and an order to obey someone superior than them.
But it was at that moment.
Cordelia looked back at the Tomb Guardians who were grumbling like a dog wanting to poop, and she smiled before sending Jude a gaze.
‘I’ll try to solve this.’
‘Wait, isn’t it a bit too much to blow up those who listened to you…’
‘Hey, I’m not blowing them up, okay? Of course, most problems can be solved by explosions.’
‘Excuse me?’
Jude flinched but Cordelia ignored his gaze and cleared her throat before speaking to the Tomb Guardians.
“Tomb Guardians, I am not here to covet the sarcophagus. Rather, I came here to set you free from your long-standing mission.”
What is she talking about?
Jude crossed his arms and listened in silence, while the Tomb Guardians looked at Cordelia with suspicious eyes.
Cordelia continued with her words.
“You’ve already done well for the past hundreds of years. That’s already enough. But as long as this sarcophagus remains, you will not be freed from your mission. Because your mission is to protect this sarcophagus.”
As the Tomb Guardians nodded, Jude looked at Cordelia in disbelief, while Cordelia puffed up her chest and said.
“So, Tomb Guardians, I, your superior, will open the sarcophagus and retrieve its contents, thereby freeing you from your mission. If the sarcophagus you’re assigned to protect is gone, your mission is also over. That’s why I’m here. To set you free.”
[Oooooh.]
The Tomb Guardians were in awe and looked at Jude and Cordelia with much more relaxed faces.
Their gazes seemed to tell the two to take it quickly.
‘Hehehe, what do you think? Huh?’
Cordelia asked as she put on airs, and Jude had a faint smile.
‘You really let them accomplish their mission to the very end. How righteous of you.’
‘Huh?’
If the sarcophagus was gone, they no longer had to protect it from any dangers because there was nothing to protect.
The bridge, Endymion, the Snow Queen, and so on.
Jude recalled all of the nonsensical assertions of Cordelia in the wild lands and stared at her warmly, but Cordelia was somehow offended by his gaze and pouted her lips.
‘So, how was it?’
‘Good, really good. You did a really good job. You’ve rapidly improved.’
“Is that so? Is that so?’
Cordelia was pleased at his words praising her ‘blackened’ status, and giggled before she looked at the sarcophagus again.
“Anyway, let’s open it now.”
“Okay.”
Jude pushed the lid off the sarcophagus by applying his strength at once.
A white light then shot up from the sarcophagus and was sucked into Cordelia’s chest.
“Cordelia?”
“Eh? Oh. It’s divine power. Solari’s divine power.”
It was like how she absorbed the divine power that remained in the Temple of Life.
At the time when they opened Galleon’s tomb, she was still a human so she was not able to absorb the divine power, but she could absorb it now that she was an angel.
“Haa…”
Cordelia closed her eyes and fully absorbed the divine power, and slightly leaned against the sarcophagus before sending a magic.
[I think I’m an angel from Solari’s group. Because it’s easier to absorb Solari’s divine power… even back then with Claíomh Solais.]
Cordelia had become an angel through Ancestral Regression, and it was the blood of her ancestors that determined her group.
The ancestor of the Chase family seemed to be an angel of Solari.
[That’s great then. Has your angelic power become stronger?]
[Yes, I’ve become stronger, but not enough to raise my rank.]
Cordelia flapped her wings of light and soon clenched her fist.
[All right, let’s take it out now.]
[Okay.]
The things inside the sarcophagus were not much different from those that came out of Galleon’s tomb.
One triangular slate, one Holy Lance of Solari, and a piece of female armor believed to have been worn by Berfa, a woman.
Jude held the slate while Cordelia picked up Solari’s Holy Lance and said with a soft look in her eyes.
[Do you remember Solari’s Holy Lance?]
[Huh? Yes, I remember that.]
Because they used it to destroy the rocky mountain of Violent Avalanche.
Even now when he closed his eyes, Jude could remember the small back of the crying Violent Avalanche who had collapsed on his knees.
But Cordelia stroked the Holy Lance and said with a little – no, with complete indifference.
[As time passes by, everything will be just a memory.]
No.
I don’t think you should say that.
I don’t think Violent Avalanche would like to hear your words.
No matter how much in love Jude was with Cordelia, he couldn’t agree with what she just said.
However, he didn’t interrupt or stop her.
‘I wonder how he is doing now?’
He imagined the toddling Violent Avalanche.
A few months had already passed since they said their goodbyes in the wild lands.
‘Well, I’m sure he’s doing fine.’
Because the Golden Dragon King was now awake.
Perhaps by now, the construction work to restore the wild lands was in full swing.
It would be the construction of a large city where several tribes would live together.
‘When Malekith’s event is over, it would be nice if we could stop by there before going to the empire.’
Jude made up his mind and then took out the last content of the sarcophagus, the armor. On the other hand, Cordelia was still hugging the Holy Lance and still immersed in her own memories.
‘Is this chain mail?’
It was a chain mail made of very thin chains, but the material was uncommon.
First of all, it was light, and the metal itself had traces of mana.
‘Mithril?’
The metal of fantasies that only dwarves could mine.
It was weak against blows because it was thin in the first place, but it could prevent most slashing attacks.
It also had a strong magic resistance.
[You can wear this.]
[What about you, Jude?]
[It’s for swordsmen, but it’s fine since I already have Sword Origin.]
Cordelia gently nodded because he was right, so she put the Holy Lance and the chain mail into the space expansion bag.
‘And the slate.’
After confirming the location of the next slate, Jude made sure to remember it in his Memory Palace before handing it over to Cordelia.
[Okay, so we’re almost done?]
[Yes, they’re the only ones we need to take care of.]
Cordelia nodded her head before speaking to the Tomb Guardians who was looking at them with anticipation.
“You’ve fulfilled your mission. But now that there’s no way to go back to heaven, I can’t just leave you alone. So I’ll give you a new mission.”
At Cordelia’s words, the Tomb Guardians continued to look with anticipation instead of annoyance.
Because they were born to fulfill commands in the first place.
“Come up with me. I’ll introduce you to humans who had inherited Solari’s will, so you shall protect them and this land.”
[We shall humbly do so.]
[We shall humbly do so.]
As the Tomb Guardians bowed their heads and responded, Cordelia proudly looked back at Jude and said with her eyes.
‘What do you think?’
Isn’t this quite efficient?
I got the slate and also gave a new mission to the Tomb Guardians.
Cordelia became even more excited when Jude nodded in acknowledgment, and she led the Tomb Guardians out while humming.
***
Manuel was surprised and blinked his eyes when he faced Jude and Cordelia.
He already knew that Cordelia was an angel, but he only then realized that there was a huge difference between knowing and actually seeing it.
“Aaah, an angel…”
When Manuel knelt down and prayed without realizing it, Cordelia spoke with a saintly face.
“Manuel, I absolve you of your sins.”
“Aaaah. Thank you very much. Thank you.”
Manuel bowed down once again, and Jude sent a magic to Cordelia.
[What sins are you talking about?]
[No, it’s just… I kind of got in the mood.]
Cordelia giggled and talked about the situation after Manuel stood up again.
“You found angels that were sealed?”
“Yes, these are Tomb Guardians, angels that belong to the ninth rank. In the future, they will defend St. Crute Monastery.”
“Ooooh…”
She deliberately omitted the story of Berfa’s tomb.
Because they might question where the contents of the tomb went.
‘Anyway, I did well, right?’
‘Uh… yes.’
Though only Jude would have agreed to that.
When did she become so ‘black’?
Could it be that I did something irreversible?
But it was at that moment.
“The branch leader is waiting. I will guide you to her.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”