Chapter 307: Treasure (3)
The Rogue Master had five treasures.
The Moon Crystal that let the user leap through space from a moonlit place to another moonlit place.
The Wings of Speed that granted the user the ability to fly.
The Red Dragon’s Armor said to be made the scales of an Ancient Red Dragon.
The Blue Dragon’s Protection that blocked all mental attacks.
And Sekhmet’s Eye that let the user see through everything.
Each of these treasures were powerful artifacts with mysterious powers, and their value was truly enormous.
And now, one of them.
Scarlet held Sekhmet’s Eye in her hands and blinked.
Sekhmet’s Eye looked like an eyepatch and was a relic of the ancient Mu Empire like the Red Dragon’s Armor. It was an artifact specialized in ‘seeing.’
One could see far like a telescope.
A zoom function was also added and it was possible to use it like a microscope or thermal imaging camera.
Added to that was its ability to see through things.
Its utility was seriously incredible as it could let the user see in the darkness and see through all kinds of illusions.
Therefore, Scarlet who was delighted to touch Sekhmet’s Eye asked with a bit of doubt.
“Can I really have it? Without winning a match or anything like that?”
“Yes, you can have it.”
Cordelia could just use magic.
But despite Sekhmet’s Eye being amazing, it was only a Legend-rank equipment. For Cordelia who was equipped from head to toe with Myth-rank items after defeating Malekith, it was something that she did not covet.
“Can I really have it? You’re not going to take it later, right?”
“No, I won’t.”
As Cordelia spoke unhesitatingly, Scarlet felt both good and bad.
‘Isn’t this nice though?’
After all, this is the Rogue Master’s treasure.
It’s my ancestor’s treasure.
Isn’t it normal for one to covet and want it?
Scarlet pouted her lips and wore Sekhmet’s Eye on her face for now. Sekhmet’s Eye was a golden eyepatch, but when she touched the tip and chanted a spell, it split into the left and right, turning smaller until it was completely hidden.
After moving her head a bit to see if there was any discomfort, Scarlet asked Cordelia again.
“So what are you going to do now?”
Scarlet’s own business was over, but not for Cordelia.
The emperor was still on the run, and a commotion should be occurring in the Red Gate and Orange Gate.
Elio Lombardi, the heir of the Lombardi family, was tied up and unconscious right now here in the Rogue Master’s hidden place.
At Scarlet’s question, Cordelia immediately responded as if she didn’t worry about it.
“I think I’ll wait until Jude wakes up.”
It was a universally reasonable answer.
However, Scarlet narrowed her eyebrows and said.
“But isn’t the emperor in danger now? You don’t even know what happened to them.”
When compared to Jude and Cordelia who completely headed inside the Red Gate ,the situation of the emperor was clearly better since he escaped using the Moon Crystal, but there was still the possibility of something going wrong.
But Cordelia shook her head at Scarlet’s question.
“First of all, there’s a good chance that they’re not in danger.”
“Because of the Moon Crystal?”
“That’s that, but it’s also because they ran out of the Red Gate. And the Elio you see over there is proof.”
Cordelia glanced at Elio who was lying in the corner and continued.
“Elio chased after us. In other words, the enemy’s greatest strength followed us. Considering the remaining troops at the Red Gate at that time… there is a very low chance that they can catch up to the Imperial Family who has the Moon Crystal and Sarah who is guarding them and can use Spirit Rush. Ah, Spirit Rush is a unique movement of Sarah, a Royal Knight, but you can think of it as a skill that allows you to move really quickly. She’s even faster than the elves in the forest, so there should be no problem.
Anyway, if Elio had known about the Moon Crystal and Spirit Rush, he would have pursued the emperor and not us, but he didn’t actually have a choice. If we had broken through the Orange Gate and reached the Yellow Gate, the Elven Privy Council would have learned of his rebellious act. From Elio’s perspective, that must be stopped. Judging from Elio’s actions, he and his followers had no intention of revealing their rebellion. Perhaps after killing the emperor and us, he would blame the deaths to someone else, which would highly likely be the Royal Knights.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have attacked us at the Red Gate. If they wanted to kill us without fail, wouldn’t the Orange Gate inside the forest be more advantageous for them than the Red Gate which was the entrance to the Shadow Forest? But the reason they gave up on it and attacked like that was because it had to be finished within the Red Gate. Probably, not all of the people inside the Orange Gate were on Elio’s side.
And… even if the emperor was captured, it would be better to wait for Jude to wake up. We’re already in a situation where we can do nothing about it. It’s best to wait for our strength to return and get a good picture of the situation.”
Cordelia who had been continuously explaining furrowed her brows. Because Scarlet’s expression was strange.
“Why?”
“W-wow, how scary.”
You were really just acting.
You were just pretending to be stupid to look cute in front of Black Cloak!
[I’m completely terrified right now. I can feel chills down my spine.]
Melissa also quietly said.
She couldn’t believe that Cordelia could think like that.
Cordelia’s words weren’t just a retelling of what Jude had told them. These were words that Cordelia herself had thought.
[You can actually do it!]
“Should I break this?”
Melissa turned silent at Cordelia’s warning, and Scarlet rubbed her arm that got goosebumps.
“Hey, hey, hey. What’s with that reaction? Are you amazed by what I thought?”
“I’m amazed. You were always growling, sniffing and saying that it smelled delicious. You liked to eat. You liked to sleep! You usually acted according to your instincts.”
“No, I’m not. And hey. I’m a wizard, a wizard. I’m also an archwizard.”
“Yeah, that’s why I thought that you’re an archwizard… who broke the stereotype that all archwizards are smart.”
“Why you… Should I take Sekhmet’s Eye?”
At Cordelia’s superficial threat, Scarlet quickly shook her head and backed down.
And Melissa who had been silent for a while said.
[Don’t they say that married couples become alike?]
Because she really seemed to be like Jude now.
Cordelia immediately blushed at Melissa’s words and scratched her cheek.
“I-Is that so? Is it… like that?”
A married couple.
They were only engaged though.
She twisted her body in her shyness, and Scarlet shook her head, continuing her words.
“Moving on, are you saying that we should wait until Jude wakes up?”
“Yes, I need to recover my mana too. I’m going to meditate, so please watch over me.”
Cordelia said that and sat down cross-legged next to Scarlet. She closed her eyes and concentrated.
One of a wizard’s essential skills was Meditation, which recovered one’s mana.
And around two hours later.
While chatting with Melissa, Scarlet turned her gaze. Because Jude and Cordelia moved almost simultaneously.
“Huu…”
After exhaling, Jude stood up. Cordelia who had been in deep meditation also slowly opened her eyes and looked in front.
‘Seriously, this fantasy couple.’
The two waking up at the same time was definitely a coincidence, but it seemed like the coincidence happened because it was the two of them.
Scarlet was amazed again and tried to speak, but Jude and Cordelia were a bit faster.
As soon as they woke up, the two looked at each other and drew closer.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“I am. What about you?”
“I’m all right.”
They affectionately asked each other’s condition and caressed each other’s cheeks before they locked lips so naturally. It was a light kiss at first, followed by a long and deep one.
Scarlet was momentarily stunned by the sight before her eyes, and then shouted with a red face.
“Hey! HEEEEY! I can see you, okay?”
[I’m always watching here.]
Jude stroked Cordelia’s cheek in response to the two women’s protest and said with a calm face.
“Yes, I know. So what?”
What if you can see?
What are you going to do about it then?
Scarlet and Melissa were left speechless at Jude’s words, and Valencia’s eyes turned cold.
Cordelia was thinking very much like herself.
‘A-are you crazy?’
But why does it look so cool?
It was the power of her love filter.
In any case, after Jude shamelessly spoke, he cleared his throat and straightened his posture.
In fact, even Jude himself found what he did to be a bit too far.
‘Is this the aftereffect of my emotions that suddenly soared right after I defeated Elio?’
“Jude?”
“N-no. It’s nothing.”
As Cordelia became concerned, Jude quickly smiled and hugged her as if nothing had happened.
And Scarlet sighed again at the sight.
“Haa, fine. Anyway, Black Cloak. I roughly heard about the situation from Cordelia.”
About the emperor’s situation, Elio’s betrayal, and so on.
After talking about the situation with Scarlet and Melissa again, Jude said as he glanced at Elio who was still unconscious and lying on the ground.
“It’s unlikely that Elio Lombardi is completely on the side of the demon followers. He probably allied with the Chancellor who is working with the demon followers. So rather than killing Elio, it will be better to let him live and take him to the elves.”
Scarlet nodded at Jude’s words. It was a plausible story for her who was born in the empire.
“Certainly, I can’t imagine the elves working with the demon followers at all. It’s a bit shocking though. There are Sword Masters who joined hands with the Chancellor, and even the elf Sword Master here also sided with him.”
Scarlet had been from the royal capital.
So she knew not only of First Sword and the Lord Protector’s betrayal, but also of Sebastian Leguin who became an enemy through brainwashing, and Matteo Luculia, a great swordmaster from the south who joined the demon follower’s side.
‘Is the Sword Master a symbol of betrayal?’
When Scarlet had a thought that she couldn’t say aloud, Jude and Cordelia had similar thoughts and exchanged words through magic.
[Isn’t it crazy if you think about it? Swordmasters are at the core of a country’s military power, but there are so many traitors among them. It’s amazing that the countries haven’t collapsed so far.]
[That was why they collapsed in the game’s storyline.]
[Is that so?]
As Jude had said, the kingdom and the empire were completely destroyed in the game’s storyline.
When he thought about it in a way, he understood why the kingdom and the empire collapsed due to their situation being so bad before they got destroyed.
[Yeah, it got so bad that only destruction awaited them.]
Because the probability of a country that used to be okay to suddenly collapse was low.
While Cordelia admired him alone, Jude stood up after briefly taking a look at Elio’s condition.
Elio was already half-dead after being defeated by Jude, and would still be quietly sleeping for the next few hours because he was enchanted with various paralysis magic.
‘There’s no need to delay it further.’
Jude had woken up and Cordelia had regained her mana.
Now that Scarlet was added to their group, they should quickly go.
“Let’s go to the Orange Gate.”
Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words.
***
It was unexpectedly quiet outside the secret place where the Rogue Master’s treasure was hidden.
“Are there… no search parties?”
She thought that Elio’s subordinates would be all over the place looking for them, but they weren’t.
Scarlet became very nervous after hearing Cordelia’s words, so she looked around with Sekhmet’s Eye just in case, but couldn’t see anyone.
“I don’t think there’s anyone around.”
Why though?
Jude could roughly guess the reason.
There was only one reason for such a change to happen in a matter of hours.
“Vincenzo seems to have noticed.”
Elio’s subordinates.
Even if the Red Gate and Orange Gate were under Elio’s jurisdiction, he could not have filled all the positions with his own followers.
‘Maybe that’s why he began their attack at the Red Gate in the first place.’
His logic was the same as Cordelia’s guess.
If Elio had been in complete control of the Orange Gate, he wouldn’t have needed to carry it out in the Red Gate.
“Then… are we safe?”
“We have to go to find out.”
Vincenzo Lombardi lost his hometown and family to the demons when he was a child.
It was unimaginable for him to even form a compromise with the demon followers.
But just because he didn’t join hands with the demon followers didn’t necessarily mean that he was on their side.
The heir of the Lombardi family attempted to assassinate the emperor.
Even if Vincenzo was the leader of the elves and the Lord President of the Privy Council, it was a scandal that he could not easily resolved.
Therefore, it was difficult to say for sure on how Vincenzo would react on what happened in the Shadow Forest that was like his kingdom.
Would he punish Elio?
Or would he try to hide the incident in order to erase Elio’s scandal?
The former was more likely than the latter.
But as Cordelia’s safety was at stake, Jude did not let his guard down.
And twenty minutes later.
In front of the Orange Gate.
A lightly-dressed woman with only a sword on her waist was sitting in front of the gate.
She had long black hair and drowsy eyes.
“Hi. This is our first meeting. My name is Elune. I heard that Elio’s caused some trouble, right?”
The strongest elven swordsman in existence.
Grand Sword Master Elune greeted their party.
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