Ending Maker SS #28: Reunion (2)

Mother.

Mom.

It wasn’t a word he didn’t know.

No, it was a word he couldn’t possibly not know.

But it was also a word that felt so incredibly foreign.

Yuder couldn’t think as he normally did.

His lips parted and closed several times, but Gale didn’t press him. He simply sipped his tea quietly, waiting for Yuder to calm down.

How much time had passed before a voice, as if squeezed out with great effort, finally emerged?

“…How.”

Gale looked at Yuder, who struggled to open his mouth and form the word again.

“How.”

His mother had passed away.

Shortly after Yuder himself was born.

She had passed away.

It wasn’t a lie.

It was a fact.

There was no mention of Yuder’s mother in Heroic Saga 2, let alone Heroic Saga 3.

“Yuder.”

At Gale’s call, Yuder found himself letting out a ragged breath as he turned to face him.

Gale continued in a calm, subdued voice.

“Just as you said, it was shortly after you were born. Father, along with Count Chase… our father-in-law, took Mother and you, a newborn, on a trip to the North.”

It was a story Yuder had never heard in his life.

So he said nothing, simply waiting for the rest of the story.

Thankfully, Gale didn’t drag it out and continued right away.

“I was young at the time. But not so young that I wouldn’t remember. I recall crying and throwing a tantrum, begging to go with them. I didn’t want to be separated from my sick mother.”

“An illness… It was definitely an illness…”

“Yes, Mother was not in good health. She was frail even before she gave birth to you.”

This was a well-known fact.

It was one of the reasons Yuder deliberately avoided thinking about or digging into his mother’s past.

The child who was born by devouring his own mother.

No one ever said such a thing to Yuder.

Count Bayer and Maia would never have allowed it.

But that was what Yuder thought.

His frail mother.

The mother who had died from exhaustion after giving birth to him.

He had mentioned it a few times when he was a child.

He had sobbed, saying he had killed his mother, that a cripple like him who was always sick and miserable should never have been born.

That was the first time Maia had ever gotten angry.

The first and last time she had ever slapped his cheek.

Don’t you ever say that.

Don’t you ever think such terrible things.

Maia was certainly older than him.

But at the time, she was only six or seven years his senior.

When Yuder was a child, Maia was a child, too.

She wasn’t an adult.

He had never seen Maia cry like that before.

He was the one who had been hit, but he felt no pain, no sorrow, not a single thought of the sort.

He was just so scared and terrified to see Maia sobbing like that.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

He had hugged Maia tightly, crying and apologizing.

Maia had cried just as hard, hugging him back again and again.

And so, after that day, he never spoke of his mother again.

He never thought about his mother again.

Because he had Maia.

Because talking about his mother made Maia sad.

A lump formed in his throat.

Just thinking of Maia that day made his eyes well up.

No, perhaps it was for another reason.

His mind was in turmoil.

He couldn’t form a coherent thought.

“Yuder.”

He blankly raised his head at the call.

He didn’t even know what kind of expression he was making.

Looking at that devastated face, Gale continued once more.

“About two months after they left for their journey… Father returned with our father-in-law… and you. I cried and begged him to tell me what happened to Mother, but he wouldn’t say a word.”

As he’d said, Gale was just a child back then.

His mother had suddenly disappeared.

His father wouldn’t tell him where she had gone or what had happened.

Now, he understood.

No, he could at least guess.

Why his father had said nothing that day.

But what mattered now was Yuder.

Gale took a breath and went on.

“Father never held a funeral for Mother. But years passed and she never returned, so people came to their own conclusions. That the Countess of Bayer had passed away. That the Count, in his immense grief, had not held a funeral, but that she was surely gone.”

It was a story he had heard many times.

Gale’s shoulders slumped.

“I was the same. That’s what I thought, too.”

But now he knew that wasn’t the case.

“Yuder.”

Yuder looked at him again with a dazed expression.

He was a mythical being who had saved the world and stormed into Hell to crush even the Overlord, yet here he was.

Because this was about family.

Because this was about his mother.

“Mother was not born in the Sailun Kingdom. She was born in a place much, much farther away. The climate here didn’t suit her, which is why her body grew weak.”

“Then…”

“Yes, Father undertook that journey to return Mother to her homeland. He took you with them because he believed it was right for a newborn like you to be by your mother’s side.”

“Then why…”

Why did I come back?

Why was I never told this story?

Why hasn’t she returned, even after nearly twenty years?

Gale knew what Yuder was thinking.

Because he had had the exact same thoughts when he received his father’s letter.

And so, Gale gave him the answer.

“Yuder, Mother was not human.”

“What?”

“She was not human. Father said he only learned the specifics this time as well. Mother was a Wild God.”

“A… Wild God?”

“Yes, one of the divine beings who dwell in the Northern Wildlands… Mother was a Wild God.”

Gale repeated the words in a slightly dazed voice, as if he himself couldn’t fully believe it.

Yuder blinked.

He forced his sluggish mind to spin, forming words.

“A Wild God. A Wild God. A non-human being. She spent too much time away from her sanctuary? So she went back. Her homeland rejected me, a human. They only accepted her. Yes, and Father hasn’t been able to see her since. That’s why he couldn’t say anything. He’s the type of person to think that he alone was enough to bear the burden of waiting, with no promise of when she might return. And now, she’s truly coming back.”

As he continued to speak, his reason gradually began to return.

Yuder deliberately maintained his current state.

He kept forming words.

“But how? I, and Gale-hyeong, we should be human. Or did we just not know? There was never an event in Heroic Saga 2 or 3 where special blood awakened in Yuder… but thinking about it, Yuder was already special. The Extreme Cold Qi. And from that, the Nine Yin Severed Meridians. The Nine Yin Severed Meridians are almost never found in men. It’s a unique constitution almost exclusively found in women. But I was born with it. I had the Extreme Cold Qi despite being a man. It’s different from Kamael’s case. His situation was different; he acquired his Extreme Cold Qi after a special incident in his childhood. I had it from birth. Yes, I must have inherited it from Mother. She must have been a Wild God who wielded the power of extreme cold. And Hyeong—”

“Yes, perhaps Mother is a Wild God connected to the power of wolves.”

The reason Gale had been able to overcome Belkian’s potion.

The reason he had manifested the power of the wolf after absorbing the potion’s energy.

“Yuder, you probably know much more about the Wild Gods than I do.”

At Gale’s words, Yuder slowly nodded.

In fact, Yuder knew a secret about them that not even Gale, or the Wild Gods themselves, knew.

The origin of the Wild Gods.

The reason they existed only in the Northern Wildlands.

‘The Artificial Spirit King Project.’

A plan devised by the High Elves of the ancient Magic Kingdom of Magellan to fend off the demons.

The project had failed.

But it wasn’t a complete failure.

The artificial spirits created by the High Elves had merged with the nature spirits of the wildlands and become the Wild Gods.

The Golden Dragon King, who possessed the most formidable power, was even capable of wielding strength comparable to a true Spirit King.

Yuder slowly composed his breathing.

The origin of the Wild Gods wasn’t important right now.

“Yuder.”

“Hyeong.”

“Mother is coming back. According to Father’s letter… she should be back within three days at the latest.”

Mother is coming back.

Mother is coming here.

Mother.

He couldn’t form any more words.

His chest felt tight.

His vision blurred on its own.

“Let’s welcome her together.”

At Gale’s words, Yuder nodded.

It was impossible to say anything more.

Cordelia rushed back to the Holy Palace to get Maia.

It wasn’t something Yuder had asked for.

It was just something Cordelia herself felt she had to do.

‘I don’t know why, either.’

But she had a strong feeling that Maia had to be there when Yuder met his real mother.

Why?

Why did she feel that Maia had to be there?

On the way to the Bayer estate, she explained the general situation to Maia.

Maia didn’t seem overly agitated.

At least, not on the outside.

And when Maia arrived at the Bayer estate, Cordelia understood why she had brought her.

“Maia.”

Yuder greeted Maia with a devastated look on his face.

He wasn’t sobbing, but Cordelia could tell.

Yuder was extremely anxious.

It would even be somewhat accurate to say he was afraid.

What was he so afraid of?

Why was he so anxious?

Cordelia knew.

Yuder was the one in Pleiades who remembered the events of his past lives more, and in more detail, than anyone else.

In all of Yuder’s repeated lives, his mother had never existed.

It was the same for Kang Jin-ho.

He had almost no memories from before he met Alexei.

In a life that spanned hundreds of years, if you included all his past lives, his mother had never been present.

“Young Master.”

Maia took Yuder’s hand.

She pulled Yuder, who was much larger than her, into an embrace.

And she said with a smile.

“She is your mother, Young Master. She is someone who loves you very much. So you don’t have to worry.”

They were common words.

But the moment he heard them, Yuder felt a sense of relief.

He could finally look forward to his mother’s return with anticipation.

“Maia.”

“First, straighten your back. I never raised you to be like this, you know?”

When she spoke with a deliberately mischievous smile, Yuder managed a small smile of his own. He hugged Maia tightly once more before straightening his posture.

And one day passed.

Then two more.

The carriage carrying the Count and Countess arrived at the Bayer estate.

Hearing that the carriage was coming, Yuder waited by the front door.

Then, unable to bear it any longer, he went out to the entrance of the estate to wait.

Instead of chiding him, Gale went out with him. He was trying not to show it for Yuder’s sake, but in truth, Gale himself was so excited to see his mother that he was in a state of agitation.

Cordelia and Adelia joined the two of them.

Maia followed behind, and before long, it seemed as if nearly every servant in the Count’s household was waiting at the entrance of the estate.

Yuder swallowed dryly several times.

It was a side of him that was hard to imagine from the man who was always so calm and rational.

So Cordelia held Yuder’s hand tightly.

Instead of teasing her partner, who was more nervous now than when he had walked toward the Gate of Hell, she shared her warmth with him.

“They’re here!” someone shouted.

And in the distance, a carriage truly did appear.

It was too slow.

The moments it took for the four-horse carriage to race toward the mansion felt agonizingly long.

Yuder swallowed dryly several more times.

Bellencia opened her mouth to soothe him, but in the end, no voice came out.

She simply embraced his soul from the depths of her own.

And finally, the carriage arrived.

Yuder, tense with anticipation, stared at the carriage door.

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

And then they all vanished.

His mind went as blank as a white sheet of paper.

He just stared foolishly at the carriage door.

The door opened.

Count Bayer stepped out of the carriage with a smile that was a mixture of slight surprise, apology, and joy. He then escorted the woman who was inside.

Blue hair, like Gale’s.

A small frame that seemed even smaller than Cordelia’s.

Mysterious green eyes.

“Mother.”

Gale spoke.

Seeing his mother, who hadn’t changed at all from his memories, the word escaped him unconsciously. Tears streamed down Gale’s cheeks as if by magic.

“Mother!”

Gale ran toward his mother—toward Yuna.

Yuna saw him. Her eyes widened, and she smiled brightly. She opened her arms and hugged her grown son tightly.

“Mother, Mother, Mother!”

“Yes, Gale. My Gale. My baby.”

Patting Gale’s back, Yuna also showed tears.

Adelia tried her best to hold back, but she bit her lip and cried, and the long-serving members of the Count’s household couldn’t hold back their tears either.

“Mother, Mother. Yuder. Yuder is over there…”

Gale said, swallowing his sobs several times.

He was thirty years old, the father of two children, and one of the kingdom’s famed Ten Sword Masters, but in front of Yuna, he was just a son.

But he was also a brother.

He didn’t forget to look after his younger brother.

Releasing Yuna from his embrace, he pointed to Yuder. He gestured to his brother, who was standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

“Yuder, it’s Mother. Come on. Hurry!”

At the urging, which was barely coherent, Yuder hesitated. He flinched as if struck by lightning under Yuna’s gaze, then took a clumsy step forward.

Mother.

She certainly resembled Gale.

She resembled Yuder himself.

But he had no memory.

Moreover, befitting a Wild God, Yuna had maintained her youth.

A woman who looked to be in her late teens.

No older than Cordelia.

It was awkward.

Unfamiliar.

He didn’t even know what to call her.

He couldn’t open his mouth and cry out “Mother” like Gale had.

Yuder stood before Yuna.

Yuna looked up at Yuder.

She gently reached out her hand, caressed Yuder’s cheek, and smiled.

She spoke in a tearful voice.

“My baby.”

Yuder.

My second child.

Yuder looked at Yuna.

He still couldn’t remember her clearly.

But something faint surfaced.

A mother letting him go from her embrace, sobbing.

The sight of his mother growing distant.

Her face, stained with tears, yet forcing a smile at the very end for the sake of their parting.

Yuder opened his mouth.

He formed a word with clumsy pronunciation.

“M-Mom.”

It wasn’t “Mother.”

It was “Mom.”

A word he had never been able to say, not once through his many lives, not even as Kang Jin-ho.

A word he had desperately wanted to say.

“Mom,” Yuder said.

His vision blurred.

Yuna stood on her tiptoes and wiped away Yuder’s tears. Just as she had done twenty years ago, she cried and smiled.

But one thing was different from back then.

This was not a moment of parting.

It was a time of reunion.

“Come here.”

Yuna opened her arms, and Yuder embraced her.

He finally burst into tears like a child.

“Mom, Mom, Mom.”

“Yes, my baby.”

Yuna patted Yuder’s back.

She cried and smiled with him.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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