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Chapter 56: Winter Flower (2)

Sorry, late post~!

An explanation regarding the chapter’s title:

Winter Flower refers to the “Camellia” flower. And in some languages, Camellia sounds similar to “Kamael,” so the Winter Flower is indirectly referencing the character Kamael. Why that is so is something the author only knows. Maybe his parents named him after the Camellia flower and because he’s a guy, it became Kamael? I don’t know, but that’s the closest explanation I could give.

When one thinks of the word ‘fantasy,’ it conjures up thoughts of swords and magic. Thus, numerous swordsmen existed in Pleiades, the world of Legend of Heroes.

More than half of the characters used swords, and there was also a high proportion of swordsmen among the playable characters.

In particular, the main characters of each episode, such as Landius and Kamael in episode 1, Maximilian in episode 2, and Luichel in episode 3, all used swords as their main weapon, so it could be said that among all the characters, those who were called ‘heroes’ used swords.

‘Thus, it can be said that the Four Great Swordsmen symbolized the strongest people in Legend of Heroes.’

These Four Great Swordsmen were chosen by players among the many swordsmen characters.

The Four Great Swordsmen was not a title that existed in the setting, as it was a kind of meme commonly used like the Four Heavenly Kings and the Four Great Kings, but because it was so widely used in Legend of Heroes, the title was virtually treated as an official setting.

‘Kamael, Maximilian, Luther, and Scarlet.’

There was a lot of discussion on who among the four was the strongest, but in any case, Kamael took the lead among the Four Great Swordsmen and the allies and enemies altogether.

‘He was also the only character that appeared in the entire Legend of Heroes series.’

That was why some say that Kamael was the true main character of the Legend of Heroes series.

‘He had a lot of fans ever since he appeared in the first episode.’

Although Jude himself liked Landius more, Kamael was in the top range if he ranked in sequence all the characters that had appeared in the game.

‘Now then, about Kamael.’

The Ghostblade.

He was the strongest in the Guardians of the Holy Cross if you exclude Elendia, their leader, who was completely shrouded in mystery.

As one of the Four Great Swordsmen, he owns the extremely cold magic sword ‘Almace,’ one of the 7 famous swords in Legend of Heroes.

Unlike Landius, who underwent a shocking visual change in 10 years, Kamael remained the same familiar character when he appeared in the second episode.

He was dressed in black with a hood covering his pure-white hair.

He had a beautiful face that heavily exuded a neutral charm, and infinitely cold blue eyes that were like gems.

As if it was his character setting, he had a stiff facial expression and rarely smiled except when he’s with Landius, who had been with him since the first episode.

He quietly stared at Jude before he opened his mouth and spoke again.

“I was observing your movements at the request of Landius.”

Jude nodded a little at Kamael’s words.

Because Landius was a magnanimous person and not a foolish one.

He wasn’t a person who would leave his disciple unattended.

“In fact, I tried to somehow end my observation here in the north, but I couldn’t. Because Saluzia moved.”

It was Saluzia, one of the six branch executives of the Devil’s Hand.

The power of a high-ranking demonic human was comparable to the heads of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, and even as one of the heads of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, he had no choice but to be focused and stay alert in order to immediately respond against her.

“I found and saved you while I was tracking down Saluzia’s whereabouts.”

It was a roughly understandable story.

And it was really like Kamael to start an explanation and not care about introductions.

To put it simply, he was not interested in anyone other than Landius and his colleagues in the first episode.

“Where were you going? If you keep moving north, there wouldn’t be any other place except outside of the border.”

It was a low but beautiful voice.

Jude pointed towards the trembling Red Wind behind Cordelia and said.

“She is Red Wind, a member of the Great Storm tribe. In order to cure her father’s illness, we were crossing the border…and on our way to the land of barbarians.”

Because Red Wind was with them and listening, Jude was reluctant to use the word ‘barbarian,’ but there was no other different term for it that he could use right now.

At Jude’s explanation, Kamael knit his brows.

“How is a child from the 12 northern families and a barbarian girl related?”

“There was a divine revelation from the barbarian god, Great Storm.”

When Cordelia stepped forward and spoke, Kamael’s eyes were filled with curiosity.

“Barbarian god?”

“Yes.”

Cordelia replied once again and secretly glanced at Jude afterwards. Because it was her asking for help, Jude also spoke.

“Great Storm is the barbarian god of the wind who watches over the Great Storm tribe. And…I heard that the illness of Red Wind’s father, Red Gale, seems to be related to the power of demons.”

Red Wind was startled and surprised by Jude’s words as her eyes widely opened, but on the contrary, Kamael’s eyes narrowed.

“Indeed, that is something worth investigating.”

Kamael didn’t know much about the demon followers that settled down in the land of the barbarians beyond the border.

However, Kamael was someone who had willingly declared an oath to eradicate all the demon followers that existed in this world.

His eyes, which had been indifferent until now, were now filled with emotions for the first time.

“I see, your purpose is to cross the border. As Landius’ acquaintance, I’ll help you up to there.”

“Before that, Kamael, I’d like to ask you one question.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the movement of the Devil’s Hand. Does one of our enemies have the ability of foresight?”

First of all, to the best of Jude’s own knowledge, there was no one in the Devil’s Hand who possessed the ability of foresight.

However, the Devil’s Hand were their enemy, and not their ally.

Naturally, he couldn’t identify all their secrets during the time when he played it as a game.

‘They appeared as if they were waiting for us.’

The Hellhounds of the Devil’s Hand.

It was only during Frost Anvil that their location was specified, as it was possible for them to gather clues and track them down because Jude had a clear motive to go to Frost Anvil in order to search for the Sunflower.

But now, this place was a snowfield where there were few to entirely no people.

It was possible to follow the trail, but it was impossible to predict where they would go in order to set up an ambush.

At Jude’s question, Kamael considerably looked at Jude in interest before asking.

“Why do you think it’s a foresight ability?”

“Because it’s hard to explain the ambush if there was no foresight ability. And…my guess is, their foresight ability seems to be imperfect.”

Judging from Kamael’s reaction, it seemed that there was indeed a foresight ability within the members of the Devil’s Hand.

But fortunately, it was very likely that the ability was imperfect.

Hearing Jude’s words, Kamael’s face became like that of a teacher testing their student.

“Why do you say it’s imperfect?”

“Because of the appearance of Hellhounds.”

If it was a perfect foresight ability, it would be Saluzia and the demonic humans who would appear in that position instead of the Hellhounds.

But it was the Hellhounds that appeared.

It could only infer one thing here.

Their foresight was imperfect. And because it was not a perfect foresight, they released the Hellhounds over a wide range, and one of them encountered Jude’s party.

Kamael had a very faint smile at Jude’s hypothesis, and then he whispered in a low voice.

“Are you really the disciple of Landius?”

Jude wondered on what the connection was between his reasoning ability and Landius, and also wondered why Cordelia was casually humming all of a sudden. But Kamael himself was convinced and had a stiff expression again as he said.

“That’s right. In the Devil’s Hand, there’s a middle-ranking demonic human called Kanos who has an imperfect foresight ability. According to my investigation so far, it seems that his foresight could only tell the rough location. And given that he hasn’t frequently used it, I think that he cannot freely control the ability itself.”

“Indeed, so it was like that.”

Imperfect foresight.

With that in mind, Jude also understood on what happened at Frost Anvil.

They knew that Jude and Cordelia were going to Frost Anvil, but they didn’t exactly know when and what route the two were going through.

And that was why they made a mistake when they held their ground and waited for the two on the 1st floor.

‘Is this the price for being too lucky at the casino and auction house?’

There was no such thing as a law of total luck, so it was natural to think that it was crazy when their foresight that they could not freely control, suddenly succeeded in succession.

‘Whatever.’

It was bound to be annoying if there was a foresight ability on the enemy side. Crossing the border would get them out of the Devil’s Hand’s area, so they wouldn’t have to pay much attention to the enemy by then, but when they come back later, they would have to resolve that issue.

But it was then.

Cordelia suddenly tugged the edge of Jude’s sleeve and sent him a quiet glance.

‘It’s strange.’

‘What?’

‘It’s just a little strange.’

Kamael was strange.

It was a groundless story, but Cordelia’s words bothered him.

And at the exchange of the two, Kamael had a faint smile again.

“Your sense is good, girl.”

“…it’s Cordelia.”

Kamael had a similar way of speaking like his friend Landius.

He turned back to Jude and said again.

“It is my clone who is in this place now.”

A clone made from the secret arts of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.

Since it had appeared several times in Legend of Heroes 2, Jude was first surprised but was soon convinced.

‘No, wait. It’s a problem if he’s a clone.’

The strength of the Ghostblade Kamael, one of the Four Great Swordsmen, was different from the other heads of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.

Two higher-ranking demonic humans like Saluzia was not enough, and three of them must be gathered before they could have a chance at confronting him.

However, the story was a little different if it was a clone.

‘It would be possible for Saluzia to fight against him.’

At his current status, it was certainly possible. If they properly fought, Saluzia was more likely to win.

“This clone will now be heading north to strike Saluzia.”

The Guardians of the Holy Cross was not only active in the S?len Kingdom. As they were active throughout the continent, Kamael did not always stay in the S?len Kingdom.

‘That’s another reason why he’s using a clone in the first place.’

“Do not worry too much. I will not leave alone those who have received the barbarian god’s divine revelation. I will protect you until you reach the border.”

Kamael straightly said that when Jude’s expression became serious.

But Jude shook his head.

“No, I think it would be better for us to move separately.”

Do not let Kamael accompany them.

At Jude’s words, Red Wind blinked her eyes, but not for Cordelia. Because she understood Jude’s real intention.

“The only one who can stop Saluzia is Kamael. On the other hand, Saluzia is absolutely necessary on their side in order to stop Master Kamael.”

“So?”

Rather than being really curious, his eyes had a testing look again.

Therefore, Jude explained in detail like a student making a presentation.

“When Master Kamael shows up, Saluzia has no choice but to move. It’s good if they mistakenly think it’s your real body and hide their tails between their legs and run away immediately, but it isn’t bad if they notice that it’s a clone too. Saluzia will not be able to neglect Master Kamael. They will surely think that my group is hiding together with the real Kamael. If it doesn’t work though, Master Kamael can attack Saluzia then.”

A confrontation between the strongest person of each side.

Have the white queen and black queen engage with each other to prevent each side from moving.

Kamael now understood Jude’s real intention. So he asked as his gem-like eyes narrowed.

“Can you do it?”

What Jude meant was simple.

As long as it’s not Saluzia.

The two can pass through all the other enemies through their own efforts.

That is why they needed to separate Saluzia in advance, as she’s the greatest risk factor. They’ll remove Saluzia herself from the battlefield so that they could move.

“If the two of us are together, we can do it.”

When Jude held Cordelia’s hand as he spoke, Cordelia seriously nodded her head too.

If the two are together, they can do it.

Red Wind, who was not included in their declaration, had a gloomy expression, but Kamael only saw Jude and Cordelia. And soon, he smiled.

“It reminds me of Landius.”

If the two of us are together, we can do it – It was what Landius habitually said during their hardships in the Paragon Kingdom.

And indeed, Kamael and Landius did it.

So Kamael nodded his head.

“Okay, I’ll move along with your plan. But before that…”

The end of Kamael’s words trailed off, as he walked straight towards Jude and stopped in front of him. Kamael then asked, looking straight into Jude’s eyes.

“I heard that you ate the Sunflower. But was there any problem while you were ingesting it?”

At Kamael’s question, Jude nodded after a little hesitation.

Because it was true.

While in the middle of absorbing the Sunflower, he had quit once and went to battle in order to save Cordelia.

However, Jude did not look back at Cordelia. Because he was somehow worried that Cordelia would feel burdened.

But Cordelia’s hand, who was still holding on Jude’s hand, slightly twitched.

Kamael said again.

“Indeed, it was not absorbed properly. It wasn’t that you couldn’t absorb all of it…but that it couldn’t fully settle down in your body. But thanks to that, your Gueumjulmaek is almost cured.”

Kamael, who had spoken so far, placed his hand on Jude’s shoulder. He looked down as he said.

“It’s impossible to completely cure it right now. However, the distortion caused by the interrupted flow during absorption can be corrected.”

Cordelia’s face instantly brightened at Kamael’s words.

“Really?”

“Yes, indeed.”

Because he was Landius’ disciple, and not anyone else.

If it was someone else, Kamael would have ignored it even if Jude had properly absorbed it or not.

“I’ll correct the distortion. Then the Cheonmujiche would be able to properly exert its power.”

“Wait, its proper power?”

Cordelia asked again.

If so, what the hell was that Cheonmujiche that we had seen so far then?

“Cheonmujiche is the heavenly talent for martial arts. Even if I correct the current distortion, it is still not possible for it to exert its full power. Because the Cheonmujiche had been suppressed by the Gueumjulmaek for a very long time.”

In short, what he was saying was that Jude’s current Cheonmujiche was not yet the full power of the true Cheonmujiche.

It would still not be at its full power, even after the treatment that Kamael said he would do.

‘Cheonmujiche is completely a cheat.’

Cordelia absurdly looked at Jude, but soon, her face brightened up again.

Because Jude wasn’t someone else’s cheat, but her side’s cheat.

T/N: The word that Cordelia actually used is uri-jip (???), which can mean ‘my house,’ ‘our home,’ or ‘our place.’ ‘Uri’ is usually used when addressing your own family members. So technically, Cordelia was sort of unconsciously (?) acknowledging Jude as ‘belonging to her house/home,’ or that he is hers already, hahaha. I used ‘her side’ though, as using ‘my home’s cheat’ looked weird.

“We don’t have time. Can I start right now?”

“Yes, please.”

Jude couldn’t refuse this opportunity.

Or rather, it was the main character of the first episode who had offered him this much opportunity, so he couldn’t refuse.

When Jude agreed, Kamael said with a little mischievous smile.

“It will seriously hurt like hell.”

“Yes?”

That was it.

An excruciating pain suddenly struck Jude’s whole body.