Chapter 17 – Happily ever after #6

The next morning.

Yuder planted a kiss on the forehead of a soundly sleeping Cordelia before leaving the Sun Room.

If he had his way, he would have spent more time with her, but that was out of the question.

He had been away from the Holy Nation for over a week, and a mountain of work had piled up.

Of course, it wasn’t as if the Holy Nation would collapse from his absence of just over a week. It was staffed by many competent officials.

But leaving everything in their hands was simply not in Yuder’s nature.

And so, the moment he entered his office, he reviewed the documents that had accumulated over the past week and immediately convened a cabinet meeting.

In terms of territory, the Holy Nation of Yudelria was a small city-state, but its influence extended across the entire world.

In particular, the affairs of the Cordelia Merchant Guild, the Holy Nation’s main source of income and a dominant force in the world, were always vast and complex.

I suppose today is out.

There was more work piled up than he had expected.

Even if he worked as fast as possible, it would be dusk by the time he finished everything.

Maia and Dahlia will handle things. I’ve called for reinforcements, too.

The group from Earth.

Yuder himself was busy with work, and Cordelia would likely not wake until late afternoon, so he needed someone to guide the visitors in the meantime.

That was why he had thought of Maia and Dahlia.

Just as Yuder was known to the public as the Iron-blooded Chancellor or the Merciless Merchant Guild Master and had become an object of fear, Maia was known to everyone in the Holy Nation as the Ice Queen and was regarded with a mixture of awe and fear.

With her sharp and meticulous nature, she would handle any unexpected situation with ease.

And Dahlia is there, too.

Unlike Yuder or Maia, she was a female knight who always laughed heartily, making her seem to have openings, but the reality was completely different.

When it came to getting work done, she was as flawless as Maia.

And he had even called for reinforcements for today.

Yuder paused his pen for a moment, imagining the group from Earth facing the reinforcements, and a small smile touched his lips.

*

“I’m Scarlet Hresvelg. And this is my husband, Count Hresvelg.”

“I am Lucas Hresvelg. You must be Yuder and Cordelia’s friends, correct?”

Following Scarlet’s casual wave, Lucas offered a polite greeting. At this, the group from Earth—or more specifically, Kim Hye-eun—brought her hands to her mouth, at a complete loss.

She looked like a fan who had just come face-to-face with her idol.

Oh, oh my god. He’s so handsome.

In the game, he was a character she’d liked for his cute, big-golden-retriever vibe, but seeing him in person was a completely different experience.

He was handsome.

Just blatantly handsome.

And Scarlet was here, too.

So Scarlet was the real wife after all. I knew the Scarlet route was canon.

Clenching her fists, Kim Hye-eun quickly turned to look at Cowabunga.

She intended to give a victor’s smile to the man who always insisted that the Kaisa route was canon.

But it was at that very moment.

“Oops, I’m a little late. I’m Kaisa Hresvelg. You’re Cordelia’s friends?”

At the appearance of a belated Kaisa Orphend, Kim Hye-eun’s eyes went wide.

Kaisa Hresvelg?

Could it be? Was their big golden retriever Lucas a two-timing playboy?!

As Kim Hye-eun shot him a glare, Lucas flinched in surprise, and Scarlet returned the glare.

Her look clearly said, Why are you looking at my husband like that? But fortunately or unfortunately, Kim Hye-eun revised her thoughts before she even noticed Scarlet’s gaze.

No, maybe this was the only way to a happy ending.

After all, if you took the Scarlet route, Kaisa died, and if you took the Kaisa route, Scarlet died.

Hadn’t Yuder said it himself?

This was a world that had achieved a perfect happy ending.

It can’t be helped. This noona will understand. The three of you, be happy together.

Come to think of it, Pleiades was a fantasy world anyway.

It seemed wrong to condemn it outright in a world where things like polygamy or polyandry might exist.

Having sorted out her feelings on her own, Kim Hye-eun took a deep breath and rummaged through her bag to satisfy a personal desire.

Glasses, where are my glasses?

A maid outfit might be too much to ask, but glasses should be possible, right?

Kim Hye-eun was the most normal person among the chatroom members, but at the end of the day, she was still a chatroom member, and her excitement had been through the roof ever since arriving in Pleiades.

And so, she gripped the glasses case, fully intending to carry out her plan of ‘asking Lucas to wear glasses.’

But it was at that very moment.

“Hye-eun, don’t.”

Natasha grabbed Kim Hye-eun’s wrist and spoke softly, looking her straight in the eye. Thanks to her, Kim Hye-eun snapped back to her senses and loosened her grip on the glasses case.

“Yes, Unnie.”

“Good. Let’s act like normal people, okay?”

“Yes.”

For Kim Hye-eun, who always played the role of the “eldest sister” wherever she went, Natasha was the first “Unnie” she had ever encountered in her life. Perhaps because of this, she found herself being strangely obedient to Natasha, and this time was no different.

Natasha gave Kim Hye-eun a smile before turning back to Lucas’s group.

Partly because of Hong Yu-hee’s pestering and partly out of her own curiosity, Natasha had played Heroic Saga 2 several times, so she knew a fair bit about Lucas, Scarlet, and Kaisa.

I can’t help but feel a certain fondness.

How should she put it? It felt like meeting characters from a movie in person.

Moreover, the thought that these characters, who had suffered and agonized so much in Heroic Saga 2, had finally met a happy ending, warmed a corner of her heart.

And…

Scarlet.

Among all the characters in Heroic Saga, she was the one most similar to Natasha herself.

Maia’s position might overlap, but in truth, from her personality to her appearance, there wasn’t a single thing they had in common.

But Scarlet… even when playing the game, Natasha had often thought, ‘She’s kind of like me,’ and seeing her in person only strengthened that feeling.

You succeeded.

Watching Scarlet cling to Lucas’s arm, Natasha smiled warmly again. Meanwhile, Scarlet narrowed her eyes, suppressing the thought of, ‘What have they been on about this whole time?’

A few hours later.

After spending the entire morning with the Hresvelg family, the chatroom members, now joined by a slightly late Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee, finished lunch and sat in a picturesque garden, enjoying the tea Maia had served.

“Did you all have fun?”

At the appearance of a somewhat weary-looking Cordelia, the one who brightened up the most was, of course, Hong Yu-hee.

“Yes! Unnie! It was really, really amazing!”

In fact, if you only counted their physical ages, Hong Yu-hee was older than Cordelia, albeit by only a few months, but such things no longer mattered between the two.

And so, Cordelia laughed merrily and had a wonderful time listening to how the group had spent their morning and how moved Hong Yu-hee had been by the Moon Room.

And time continued to flow.

The group didn’t just stay in the Holy Nation of Yudelria; they traveled all over the world. For the chatroom members, who were veterans of Heroic Saga 2, they were, quite literally, ecstatic.

For them, this wasn’t just a trip; it was a ‘holy pilgrimage.’

There were so many amusing incidents.

Kim Hye-eun fainting from dizziness upon witnessing Landius, who was now over 2 meters and 30 centimeters tall and so different from his Heroic Saga 1 self, was just a minor happening.

Cowabunga was busy taking pictures wherever he went.

He usually avoided contact with people outside due to his psychometry, but not in Pleiades.

In a world where there were people who could take down dragons with their fists, a psychometry user felt like no big deal (?).

AAA was doing business.

No wonder he had so many bags; it seemed he had filled one of them to the brim with merchandise.

This feels so perversely thrilling!

AAA felt a surge of ecstasy as he introduced his products to Lena, Maia, Dahlia, Scarlet, and Kaisa. He was eventually disciplined with an iron fist by Natasha, but he was still satisfied.

Natasha also laughed a lot.

Her fandom level was far below that of the other chatroom members, but for her, the important thing was that she was traveling with everyone, not necessarily that she was in Pleiades.

And so, one day, two days, three days passed.

When nearly a week had gone by, as they were traveling from the Sailun Kingdom to the Argon Empire, Hong Yu-hee dozed off in the carriage and had a dream.

She was in the Holy Nation of Yudelria.

The garden, which had impressed her second most after the Moon Room, was as tranquil and beautiful as ever.

As she pleasantly gazed at the garden and inhaled the scent of flowers, Hong Yu-hee suddenly turned her head.

Besides herself, there was one other person standing in the garden.

Who could it be?

Hong Yu-hee stood up from her spot and tried to get a little closer.

In reality, she wouldn’t have acted so boldly, but this was a dream.

Moreover, she didn’t feel any fear.

On the contrary, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

It was a girl with long black hair.

She was dressed casually in a white blouse and tight-fitting black leather pants, and her aloof yet alluring white face somehow reminded her of Yuder.

And her blue eyes.

Though her eyes were a bit sharp, they were incredibly warm, blue eyes that were as embracing as the sky above.

Unconsciously reminded of Cordelia, Hong Yu-hee stepped a little closer to the girl, and the girl, in turn, faced Hong Yu-hee.

“Who are you?”

A question as blunt as one would expect in a dream popped out, and the girl smiled faintly.

And Hong Yu-hee knew instinctively.

It was a smile not shown to just anyone, much like Yuder’s and Maia’s.

“I’m Yuria. It seems we just missed each other.”

Missed each other? What does she mean?

Hong Yu-hee tilted her head in confusion, but the girl—Yuria—simply smiled prettily again.

And at the same time, in a different place.

Cordelia, who had woken up in Yuder’s arms, blinked with a dazed expression.

Seeing Cordelia, awake but still with one foot in dreamland, Yuder smiled faintly. He gently pulled her into an embrace and kissed her forehead.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, I slept well…”

Her voice was a bit more languid than usual. Yuder tilted his head slightly and asked.

“Did you have a dream or something?”

“A dream? Uh… I think so. A dream. I think I had a dream.”

“What kind of dream was it?”

At Yuder’s gentle question, Cordelia closed her eyes for a moment and tried to think, but nothing came to mind clearly.

The image of a boy smiling as brightly as the sun seemed to surface faintly, but it was only for a moment.

Like most dreams, it quickly scattered, and she couldn’t remember it properly.

But—

‘Yujin.’

The name of the boy that had flashed in her mind for an instant before disappearing.

“Cordelia?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

Replying reflexively, Cordelia stretched her body and smiled.

Instead of trying to force herself to remember the dream, she simply basked in Yuder’s warmth and the languid feeling, whispering in a small voice.

“I don’t remember it well, but I think it was a good dream.”

A really good dream.

“Yuder.”

“Yes, Cordelia.”

Cordelia quietly met the gaze of Yuder, who held her tightly in his arms with a warm look, and then she smiled faintly again.

It was because she was suddenly reminded of when they first set off on their journey to Langestrow.

The time she was confined to the carriage after sneaking out to meet the Fairy Queen.

The time she had all sorts of conversations with Yuder inside the carriage.

Back then, it was so fun, but also so scary.

Could they stop Minos at the social gathering?

Could they save Sylvia-unnie and Lucas?

It was only a few years ago, yet it felt like a distant past.

The many things that happened after that.

Going to the north to save the wild lands, going to the capital to save the royals, going to the south to defeat Malekith.

Our first kiss happened then, too.

The first kiss she shared with Yuder while the resurrected Malekith was on a rampage.

Their first adult kiss.

Emphasizing it once more because it was important, Cordelia smiled shyly and continued her thoughts.

The events in the Argon Empire.

Saving the emperor, fighting the traitor Sword Master, and spending their fi-first night in the Temple of Eros.

A real, true beast.

She felt it every day, even just last night, but Yuder was a real beast.

A real, true beast.

Because it was important this time too, she emphasized it again. Cordelia gently closed her eyes and thought of Solari.

The archangel who tried to save the people of the human world until the very end.

The legacy she left behind.

Auriel, who had gone mad from the fact that he couldn’t protect Solari.

After a fierce battle, they succeeded in defeating the archangel and stopping the great summoning.

But the trials didn’t end there.

They had to go to Hell to defeat Asmodeus.

I was so scared.

Going to Hell.

Leaving for another world to fight a battle with a slim chance of victory.

But still, they had to do it.

Because they had to save everyone in Pleiades.

I couldn’t have done it alone.

But she wasn’t alone.

Because she was with Yuder.

There were so many hardships in Hell, too.

But in the end, they were able to overcome them, return to Pleiades, and reunite with everyone.

But that wasn’t the end either.

Just when she thought it was all over, the Outer Gods invaded.

What kind of things will happen from now on?

Is it impossible for the peace we have now to last forever?

Yuder looked at Cordelia and held her hand tightly.

Having read all her inner thoughts through a conversation with their eyes, Yuder gave her a gentle kiss and said in a whisper.

“No matter what difficulties we face, it’s okay. As long as we’re together… we can do anything.”

As long as the 1st and 2nd place are together.

For a perfect happy ending, forever.

At Yuder’s words, Cordelia nodded.

She hugged Yuder tightly and whispered in a sweet voice.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Cordelia looked at Yuder.

As she always had, she smiled brightly.

<Ending Maker Side Story End>

*

Afterword

Hello, this is Chwiryong.

The main part of the Ending Maker side story has now concluded.

But, actually… it’s not completely over yet.

There are still some stories left to tell.

When I first started the side story, I promised the readers that I would write the story of the youngest of the Bayer family, ‘Regina Bayer’… but as I was writing the side story, due to the timeline in the plot, I couldn’t write Regina’s story within the main side story itself ;;

– Since Regina needs to grow up a bit ;;;

So, I’ve decided to write Regina’s story as a separate SS after finishing the main side story… and a short series of SS chapters featuring Regina’s story is scheduled to be released next week.

– Regina’s SS will likely include various stories, such as the second generation of Yudelria, stories related to Kamael’s writing, and so on.

For that reason, I will post the real (?) afterword at the end of Regina’s SS.

I’ll see you in Regina’s SS.

Have a happy day today 😀

---

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

Please do consider subscribing to my Patreon or donate to my Ko-fi if you like this work or to get early access to chapters