Terms used in this chapter:

Tech tree – in strategy computer games, it is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can take.

Girin – Also known as Qilin in Chinese, or Kirin in Japanese. It is an imaginary and mysterious animal in the East which is said to appear when a saint is born in the real world.

Many things had happened overnight.

Recognizing the seriousness of the problem, the Blue Lion’s commander, Sir Barua, mobilized not only the knights, but also the general soldiers of the Langesthei Guard, to simultaneously strike all six branches of the Devil’s Hand.

Because of that, the Devil’s Hand didn’t have a way to resist the simultaneous raids.

Although more than a hundred people had sneaked in Langesthei, the group had been scattered into twelve branches, with around ten people per branch.

The Devil’s Hand were overpowered and literally defeated by the human-wave strategy of the knights and soldiers.

As a result, six branches were destroyed.

Even though one branch noticed the situation and fled, it was already a huge achievement that six out of seven branches were destroyed.

This meant that the Devil’s Hand had suffered a huge blow.

“Wha-what the hell happened?”

In a forest near Langesthei, a middle-aged man, with a bulging and protruding belly, burst into an angry voice inside a forest ranger’s cabin.

He is Baron Edgar, a man of wealth among the three fingers of the Devil’s Hand, and one of their longtime sponsors.

“Seven branches were robbed overnight! Do you know how much money I spent trying to hide those guys?”

Moreover, the guys that had hidden this time were not just all sorts of people. All were combatants, so the damage caused to the Devil’s Hand was enormous.

“I apologize. We’re still trying to figure out the cause.”

The demon follower, disguised as a forest ranger, bowed his head at the end of Baron Edgar’s gaze.

In fact, he was also bewildered.

The Order of the Blue Lion knew the location of the branches too accurately.

“Oh, damn it! What happened to the rest of the branches?”

“It’s more dangerous to move right now, so they’ve been hiding somewhere else outside the branches.”

“Ah…my blood pressure… Lord Minos, can we still proceed with this?”

Baron Edgar, who had raised his anger over the forest ranger, asked as he looked at the last person seated inside the cabin.

He is Demonic Human Minos, a distinguished figure from the Devil’s Hand’s headquarters and is in command of the entire attack.

With a pale skin and bluish-silver hair, he looked like a 20-year-old man. However, Demonic Humans who accepted the demons into their bodies cannot be judged just by their appearances.

Minos was disguised as Baron Edgar’s nephew, and was dressed in a young nobleman’s attire. He then said with a cold smile.

“It’s not whether we can or cannot proceed, Baron Edgar. We will proceed as per my orders.”

Five of the twelve branches still remain.

Their troops were more than halved, but there was no option of not carrying out the attack.

As he involuntarily flinched at Minos’ glistening eyes, Baron Edgar shut his mouth and stepped back.

He had thought that he’d be hit if he insisted in talking about it any longer.

Minos had a small laugh at Baron Edgar’s behavior. Edgar was a loud and frivolous man, but the one thing Minos liked about him was that he could read the atmosphere well.

“First of all, we’ve managed to obtain information from our side.”

At Minos’ words, Baron Edgar pricked his ears again and showed interest, but just as it was before, he kept his energy down and did not pressed Minos to talk.

The forest ranger gulped and waited for Minos to talk too.

Minos continued his story with a slight frown.

“Count Bayer’s son, Jude Bayer, and Count Chase’s daughter, Cordelia Chase, arrived in Langesthei this morning.”

In the first place, Minos came to Langesthei to attack the 12 northern families’ social gathering.

It was only natural to pay close attention to the entry and exit of the 12 families’ children.

“As soon as they took up their quarters, they headed for the Blue Lion’s headquarters. Then the Blue Lion’s raid on the branches began.”

The timing was too perfect to dismiss it as separate events.

Baron Edgar raised a fuss, saying.

“Ha, you mean that chap and bitch handed over our branches’ information to the Blue Lion? How the hell did they know?”

Count Bayer and Count Chase resided in the remote and distant Bailon, which was several days away from Langesthei even by carriage.

How did the two Counts there get information on the branches of the Devil’s Hand that hid in Langesthei?

Minos couldn’t figure out either, so he thought and spoke.

“Bring them alive.”

Jude and Cordelia.

Find out how the two got the Devil’s Hand’s information.

Minos was the only one who knew the exact locations of the Devil’s Hand’s branches that were hidden in Langesthei.

But seven locations, if not all, were exposed.

How did they find out?

What means did they use to find out?

“We’ll figure out when we catch them.”

There were plenty of ways to play with the human’s feeble mind.

Furthermore, Cordelia was originally, one of the two most important targets of the attack.

It was just a matter of waiting until the day of the social gathering to capture their prey at once.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

What secrets do they hide? What kind of scream will a lady born and raised finely in the 12 families have?

Minos smiled brightly as he straightened his posture.

As he told Baron Edgar himself, there was no option to cancel the raid.

It was his duty to carry out the mission stamped by headquarters at any cost.

“Two nights later, we will execute the plan as scheduled.”

Speaking with a little modulation in his voice, Minos looked out the window as his glass-like eyes glistened in the moonlight.

***

Cordelia looked up at the sky.

The clear night sky was full of stars, as if dimming the moonlight.

“Haaa….”

However, what came out of Cordelia’s mouth was not a voice of clear and pure admiration. It was a weary sigh.

“My legs hurt.”

I’ve been walking around all day.

In the morning, they and the Order of the Blue Lion raided the branches, and in the afternoon, they met the wizards of the Red Dawn Tower.

Not to mention the wizard, Cordelia, but even the trained knights, Jun and Dahlia, were exhausted.

As for the other person…

“There’s no response. It’s like a corpse.”

Poking the shoulders of Jude, who had collapsed and seemed to have fallen dead on the balcony’s bench, Cordelia giggled freely, and Jude said as he tried to stretch out.

“Did you fall behind?”

“Look at you talk. You have a really foul mouth.”

Cordelia clicked her tongue, and Jude opened his eyes in chagrin.

“Hey, who has a foul mouth?”

“You.”

Cordelia replied shamelessly, pushing away Jude’s legs as she sat down at the end of the bench.

“I’m glad it went well though.”

“Yeah.”

The wizards of the Red Dawn Tower were more cooperative than expected.

Not only did all four wizards we met today promised to cooperate, but they also offered to spread the word around.

“Is this the sweetness of money and power?”

The combination of things such as being a beautiful girl, her identity as the Tower Master’s daughter, and lastly, the Count’s wealth, all gave us more results that we could have imagined.

“Maybe they helped me because they were just worried.”

“That’s better then.”

It definitely couldn’t have been that.

Well, I’m sure they felt compassion for a beautiful girl’s pleading, but if it wasn’t for Cordelia’s status and the money offered by Jude, not even one of the four would have responded.

The wizard was a job that belonged to the social elite, so in order to move them, a corresponding price was required.

“What’s important is that the second stage was also successful.”

Among the four wizards we persuaded today was ‘Flame Wizard Ronin’.

When you choose the wizard tech tree in Legend of Heroes 2, he is someone you’ll meet at least once. And as his nickname suggests, he is a promising wizard in flame-based magic.

Was he around 30 years old?

It was quite a sight to see him flustered at Cordelia’s pleas as if he was weak against women.

“Minos handles ice and cold air, so Ronin is the best wizard against him.”

Strictly speaking, Minos was not a wizard.

He accepted the demon into his body and became a demonic human, so he could use the different abilities he received from the demon.

“He’s close to a battle mage. Can Ronin handle it?”

“Well, Ronin is not the only one here.”

Sir Barua, the Blue Lion’s commander, wasn’t a weakling.

The search operation of the Devil’s Hand’s branches would make him be suspicious of Langesthei’s security, so he definitely wouldn’t overlook the social gathering of the 12 families.

‘The social gathering won’t be cancelled, so he’ll send a few knights on that day.’

The knight wasn’t just a knight for no reason.

Even Dahlia right now could handle more than 10 ordinary soldiers alone.

“Besides, there are other children from the 12 families.”

Rather than the children, they were talking about the escorts that would have been sent by their families.

The 12 northern families weren’t just the strongest in name, so they’ll definitely attach talented people as escorts.

Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words, but she soon shook her head and said as she clenched her fist.

“But don’t let your guard down. In the game, everyone had escorts attached to them, but in the end, the escorts were all shaken off.”

“That’s right, that’s a good mindset. But don’t worry too much. We knew that in the first place, so we prepared for stages 1 and 2, right?”

Cut the enemy’s forces in half and reinforce our allies’ forces.

Both the 1st and 2nd stages went smoothly, so it was a much better situation than the game.

“Okay, then let’s do stage 3 now.”

Cordelia asked as her glistening eyes were full of expectations.

It was no wonder, because Jude haven’t told her what the 3rd stage is yet.

“Well…that’s the thing.”

“Yes, that’s what?”

“How should I say it… the third stage is actually almost over?”

“Huh? What’s stage 3?”

When Cordelia became confused, Jude replied with a bitter smile.

“Guess it.”

“Guess?”

“Uh, in the original scenario, the attack itself was literally a raid, and there were a lot of Devil’s Hand members, right?”

“Oh, I think I know what you mean. You mean their target?”

“Yes, the target of their attack.”

In the original story, the number of children from the 12 families that were at the social gathering were six, including Cordelia, and the Devil’s Hand targeted all six of them.

“The ultimate goal of these guys is to summon demons after all.”

It was only a secondary goal to kidnap the children of the 12 families and cause confusion in the north.

The easiest way to summon the demon was a human sacrifice, but simply having a large number of sacrifices did not mean that a high-ranking demon will be summoned.

‘Because the rank should match.’

In order to summon a high-ranking demon, it was necessary to offer a worthy sacrifice. And in terms of human sacrifices, the children from the 12 families were all appetizing prey.

‘It’s because there is, more or less, angel’s blood flowing in the 12 families’ blood.’

The nobles of Pleiades were really special beings, not just nobles in name.

However, though they had the blood of angels, that was already over hundreds of years ago. The angel’s blood may be diluted now, but it was still the blood of angels.

Occasionally, there were people born with a strong awakening of the angel’s blood because of atavism (a recurrence of traits of an ancestor), even among the 12 families’ members.

“Their power is only half now. So they won’t be able to go after all the 12 families’ children just like in the game. They will focus all their power on the one person they need to secure.”

“And we stick to that one person?”

“Yes, that’s stage 3.”

To weaken the enemy, to strengthen the allies, and to focus on defending the enemy’s target – those were the three stages.

“So who is it? You said it was almost over?”

At Cordelia’s question, Jude smiled bitterly and looked at Cordelia again as he spoke.

“As you already know, if you consider the original development and their goal, they will target two people.”

Two people.

At this point, Cordelia finally guessed it.

She let out a long sigh and said as she frowned.

“Cordelia and Lucas.”

“Correct.”

If Jude was born with Gueumjulmaek and Cheonmujiche, Cordelia was born with a clear, noble soul and the blood of a high-ranking angel.

It wasn’t a prominent talent like Jude’s, but it was the ability to have a high endurance depending on Cordelia’s development.

At any rate, in terms of offerings for summoning the demon, Cordelia wins as an A-rank prize.

The other is Lucas Hræsvelgr.

He is a sword genius called the Girin of Hræsvelgr and is one of the playable characters in Legend of Heroes 2.

“Eh, I don’t like Lucas.”

“Huh? Why?”

Yellow Storm had played all kinds of characters, but she had played Lucas less often. She had never written a capture strategy for him.

It was more like she just saw the character’s ending for the sake of being a rotten water.

‘He’s handsome?’

If Jude was absolutely good-looking boy, Lucas was a cool-looking man.

It’s not that his personality was bad, so why does she hate him?

When Jude tilted his head sideways as if he was clueless, Cordelia said with pouting lips.

“If you play as Lucas, Cordelia becomes a demonic human.”

“Ah.”

I thought I knew.

Cordelia and Lucas will both be targeted by the Devil’s Hand at the social gathering, but if you went the Lucas route, he’ll become the main character and Cordelia will be captured by the Devil’s Hand.

‘She was used as a sacrifice, but became a demonic human afterwards, and eventually became a demon.’

Because she was born with a strong angel’s blood, she had become something like a fallen angel.

“You really like Cordelia.”

“Because she’s my favorite in Legend of Heroes 2.”

And now she has become her favorite character.

‘Was Jude my favorite?’

I played this character the most, but I don’t know if he’s my favorite character.

Anyway, now was the time to put aside personal likes and dislikes.

“Then, let’s protect both. You do know that if you leave one alone and they got taken away, it will be really difficult later on, right?”

“I know. If you chose Cordelia’s route, it was really terrible because he blocked the road ahead.”

Just as Cordelia became a demon on the Lucas route, Lucas became the demon on the Cordelia route. And because his inborn talent for the sword itself was colossal, he became a terrifying monster.

“Let’s protect them both.”

“Yes, let’s protect Cordelia and Lucas.”

Cordelia suddenly giggled, as she found it funny to say it with her own mouth.

She, who was Cordelia herself now, was talking in the 3rd person perspective to protect “Cordelia.”

And it was at that moment…

“Young master.”

“Miss.”

Beyond the balcony window came the voices of Maja and Dahlia.

It was a call that implied that they should finish their secret time together and come in now.

“I should go to sleep now.”

“Yes, I think I’m going to sleep very well tonight.”

It’s been a while since we’ve been to a luxurious accommodation, and we’ve had a hard time today.

Cordelia had a little laugh at Jude’s answer as she stood up and brushed the dirt off her behind, before grabbing the balcony door’s handle and saying.

“Now then, good night.”

“Yes, dream of me too.”

In their same exchange as usual, Cordelia smiled and raised her middle finger. She opened the balcony door, but Jude looked up the night sky for a moment instead of following her in right away.

“Lucas Hræsvelgr.”

He is the heir to the Hræsvelgr family, who is the current head of the 12 families.

In Legend of Heroes 2, he and Maximilian were the two greatest heroes talented in the sword.

‘Well, I’m looking forward to Sylvia rather than Lucas.’

Sylvia was an incomparably beautiful woman, and belonged to the Crossbell family, one of the 12 northern families.

As a man, it was in his nature to expect for an absolute beauty more than a handsome man.

‘Fairy Queen, you were right.’

As I recalled the Fairy Queen’s graceful smile, I heard Maja’s voice again.

“Young master!”

“Uh, I’m coming in.”

After taking one more look at Langesthei’s night view, Jude opened the balcony door and entered.

In the afternoon two days later, the social gathering of the 12 northern families began.