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290. Engagement Ep – Auto Select

– Kaang!

Leira’s sword blade deflected off Malhas’s dense steel feathers. Ray quickly removed one hand from the sword he was hanging onto and supported Leira’s back as she was about to fall.

“Step on my shoulder! Stab the wound here!”

Ray pushed his left shoulder forward, but Leira stepped on his right shoulder instead. Being left-footed, her stepping foot was reversed.

As they flew up, they struggled to stabilize themselves on Malhas’s undulating back, which was like a cliff with blades. Leira used her right foot to step on Ray’s shoulder and her left foot to step on Malhas’s nape, managing to regain her balance, but soon an angry voice rang out.

“Damn it, stop shaking and just kill this bastard! Shit! I can’t believe I trusted that bastard!”

It was Arpen.

He was dangling from the blade-like wings, cursing vehemently.

Ray should have just let him crash to the ground; they could have killed him easily, yet those fiancés were bickering about tossing the ball to each other and complaining loudly. Ray and Leira paid no attention to his words.

Leira lowered her stance and grabbed the sword again. It wasn’t a situation where she could swing it, so she held the blade barehanded as Arpen had done. Aiming for a moment on Malhas’s heaving back, she suddenly plunged the sword down.

Malhas watched this unfold.

However, considering his massive size, there was little harm in being poked by a sword as thin as a needle, so he let it be. He focused on soaring into the sky, which turned out to be a grave mistake.

Ray’s wound became the target for Leira’s sword, Abota. The blade, which was white with Lachar’s blood, shone brilliantly, and Malhas, who was trying to lift off, let out a scream.

– Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

– Bang!

Just as Malhas burst through the ceiling, soaring above the castle, he lost control of his body. One of his wings, torn like a dragonfly, spun around erratically as Abota devoured him.

Blood flowed from the nape where the sword was embedded. Veins stretched and turned pale, swelling considerably. Malhas began to hallucinate.

= The arrogant crow has returned. Do you not miss my shoulder?

– L-Lachar, my lord.

A colossal divine figure covered the sky, the god of battle and honor, wielding a sword and shield, spoke condescendingly. Lachar crossed his arms and said.

= Since when did the wind become yours? Do you claim everything that shines belongs to you? I warned you. Your greed would bring great misfortune. You have been punished by Azra, yet you have not cast aside that wretched nature. Farewell.

Lachar raised his fist, thunder crashing down. The gargantuan fist struck Malhas, but all of this was an illusion. The veins throughout Malhas’s body turned completely white, losing their strength, and he began to plummet.

[ Quest: Guardian, 2/4 – Barbatos MalHas ]

Meanwhile, Ray felt a pull in his stomach. He quickly looked down, and everything went dark.

He was falling from 650 feet in the air. Moments ago, Malhas had lost his balance and spun around, causing Leira to slip off Ray’s shoulder, her pants barely caught in his hand.

Ray clung to the sword embedded in Malhas’s neck with one hand and held onto Leira’s clothing with the other as they continued to fall. As acceleration kicked in, his face turned white as a sheet.

There seemed to be no way to survive.

Altitude could only be reduced by gradually applying force; other than that, falling would replace altitude with acceleration, trapping him in the realm of physics. Ray’s best effort was to hold onto Leira, preventing her from flying off into a terrible fate.

If only they could fall gently, that would be a blessing.

Malhas spun slowly as he fell. Ray worried about the sword being pulled out of his neck and feared the swift approach of death. No, what scared him more was the fate of Leira, spinning wildly while clutching her pants, crying out, “Aaaaaah!” Her limbs flailed helplessly.

Everything was dizzying.

As they fell through the ceiling, the surrounding corridors twisted in a blur. Up was down, and down was up.

In that moment, Ray realized there was a way to survive. Before accelerating further, he had to leap toward that corridor over there.

But he was already falling from a height of about three floors, with no energy to set his foot down. He was clutching the sword and Leira tightly under both arms.

What to do? It was the moment of confusion. Ray screamed, this is the only choice!

“Arpen!! Catch! Catch and jump!”

“What, what…? Ugh!”

Ray threw Leira toward Arpen. His pectorals bulged as he forced out strength. The wrist holding the sword snapped with a crunch.

Leira, who had no idea what was going on, screamed “Kyaaaaaah!” as she flew into Arpen’s plush belly, reminiscent of Dehorman. Arpen hugged her tight and crashed into his blade-like wings.

“Gack!”

Arpen, who fell onto the corridor’s twelfth floor, groaned while Ray continued to drop endlessly. Bright sunlight poured through the gaping ceiling. Looking up at it, Ray bitterly smiled.

Of course, that’s how it goes.

No matter what I do, I can’t catch two rabbits. No, I only caught one with Leira’s help. Without her, I would have completely failed.

The fall felt interminably long. If only it had been brief. Leira peeked over the railing, shouting.

“Ray!! Ray! No!!”

“…Leira.”

He recalled her wailing upon losing Dehorman. Ray couldn’t bring himself to tell Leira to be happy.

– “What am I to do now? If I die like this… how am I to live? You bad guys. Bad, bad guys…”

She could never be happy. The people around her, her father, and Dehorman had all been led to their deaths; this was the cycle she had rushed through. To revive her mother, she had acted more selfishly than ever.

But this would be the last time.

Ray stretched out his hand towards Leira. I’m sorry, he thought just as a thud! shook his vision dark.

[ Leo has died. ]

[ You have died. 6/6 – The player shares their life with Leo. ]

[ Achievement: Sixth Death – The speed at which the player syncs with Leo slows down. ]

[ Thank you for playing Leira’s story. ]

The throne room rapidly receded.

His vision soared through the broken ceiling, reflecting the blood-soaked floor and the surrounding corridors. As he passed, he caught a glimpse of Leira, who was trying to leap over the rail, and Arpen, who was trying to catch her. Both were struggling as darkness enveloped them. Minseo, now a round orb, could only sigh.

It’s not going well, after all.

Ever since the scene played out without a necklace, Minseo had anticipated this turn of events, feeling remorseful. He watched the darkness where Leira mourned and turned his attention to the ending credits.

The text rose, as always, dry and emotionless.

[ Leira Ainar Albasete ]

[ Final Job: Count Albasete ]

[ Marriage Partner: Single ]

[ Ray Dexter ]

[ Final Job: Unemployed ]

[ Marriage Partner: Engaged to Leira ]

[ Engagement Ending: Heroic Tale ]

[ True Ending ]

– Born in Abrival Castle, Leira Ainar was… (excerpt) …heading toward the capital city of Barnau in the Austin Kingdom with her father, Dehorman, Noel Dexter, and her fiancé, Ray. There, she encountered Malhas and vowed revenge after losing her father. Learning swordsmanship from Baron Albasete, Leira went to the Aster Kingdom with Ray’s help and succeeded in defeating Malhas. For this achievement, Leira was revered as a hero who had vanquished the Evil God alongside Arpen, but for a period, she struggled to find a reason to live. It was when her belly began to swell that she finally regained her senses. Leira gave birth at the Albasete mansion and, a few years later, traveled north to the ice island with her young son. While hunting countless monsters there, she received a summons from Count Albasete and returned, becoming his successor. Under the complete support of Prince Anolf de Klaus, Leira became the Count of the unified Asran Kingdom but quietly left somewhere, passing on the title to her now-adult son. Only numerous heroic tales remained, hinting at Leira Ainar Albasete’s footsteps. –

– Born in the capital city of Barnau, Ray Dexter… (excerpt) …was merely remembered as the lover of Leira Ainar Albasete, who died while fighting Malhas. –

[ Childhood Friend scenario ending has been changed. ]

…

[ Beggar Siblings scenario ending has been changed. ]

…

The ending credits were long, but only one picture floated up.

The Childhood Friend scenario and the Beggar Siblings scenario were reverted to their original states before Astroth’s changes, with nothing new. Minseo stared blankly at the picture.

In the photo, a middle-aged Leira basked alone by a campfire. She slung the great sword, Abota, over her shoulder, which didn’t appear small at all. Rather, she was overwhelming the mystery of Abota with several patterns etched on her face from the curses of some ancient spirits.

What kind of life had she lived since then? As he gazed with mixed feelings,

Whoosh—Leira’s eyes moved.

Countess Leira Ainar Albasete was watching the human who was spying on her and snorted with a “Hmph!” as she spoke.

[ Namir, don’t mess around. ]

The light of the picture faded, and Leira returned to her original appearance, basking once more in the campfire. Minseo, shocked and frozen, suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

Namir.

Seeing her casually refer to one of the avatars of the divine as a friend made him imagine the kind of life she must have lived. Also, it thankfully revealed one thing he had always been curious about. It had become clear that it was not the divine being but Namir himself who devised this game.

Previously, he had been puzzled as to how Astroth could smash through the realm where the ending credits appeared, but that question was answered, and the inconsistencies in the messages and the system feeling clumsy were all understood.

Most recently, when the moment the True Ending of the last Engagement scenario appeared,

[ Thank you for playing Leira’s story. You have cleared all scenarios. You may now exit the game. ]

The player was presented with the message that they could now exit the game:

[ The Guardian quest has been unlocked. You logged out while still on this quest. Would you like to re-enter? You cannot exit the game until the Guardian quest is completed. Yes / No ]

Right after, it contradicted itself. Besides this, there were many imperfect elements that made it hard to believe that the divine being was responsible for everything.

For example, killing achievements like ten soldiers, one knight, or ten thugs.

It was amusing to classify people by their jobs, but achievements regarding ten priests or one holy knight never appeared. He found it petty, but it was highly likely that this was simply a design flaw or that priests received the divine will through the holy woman and thus Namir would not have been able to touch their souls.

However, that didn’t mean that this entire system of looping time could solely belong to Namir.

Though clumsily, Namir was an avatar of the divine, the embodiment of the divine being. There would be no disagreement among theologians that his will was the same as that of the divine itself.

‘In any case… If Namir created and ran this system, it makes sense that the texts are so dry. While the Holy Woman often nags about the God Binard, and the gods Boar and Lachar are friendly, Namir is said to be quite blunt… Ah! This isn’t the time to be thinking like that!’

Minseo snapped back to reality.

Before the ending credits disappeared, he needed to reflect on this round and decide what to do in the next playthrough.

Minseo thought, at least Ray managed to catch Malhas; he won’t say it directly because of his personality, but surely he must feel quite sorry for me. However, there was no time to indulge in such sentiments, and he quickly sank into thought. Fortunately, due to the excessively lengthy ending of the previous Beggar Siblings scenario, he could finish brainstorming before the text disappeared.

Minseo resolved to select the Beggar Siblings round.

‘First, I need to fix that necklace, but it seems there’s no way to do that unless it’s a reward for the True Ending. If I get a reward for fixing the necklace in this round, I’ll choose the Childhood Friend scenario, and if it doesn’t come out, I’ll pick the Beggar Siblings scenario, which I haven’t cleared yet, to go for the True Ending.’

That was Minseo’s plan. However, the subsequent message dashed his hopes.

[ You have cleared Leira’s story. You may now select a scenario you wish to play. ]

[ Childhood Friend – True Ending ]

[ Engagement – True Ending ]

[ Beggar Siblings – Cleared ]

‘…?’

With a question mark in his head, no matter how long he waited, the text did not change. Minseo, unable to rein in his frustration, shouted.

‘The round reward! Even if it’s not the True Ending reward, shouldn’t there still be a reward for completing this round?!’

Minseo felt he couldn’t continue like this. After enduring hours of shouting in the darkness, a message finally appeared. Minseo thought Namir might finally respond and felt delighted, but,

[ The scenario will be automatically selected due to the player’s absence. ]

That was impossible.