356-1. Childhood Friend Ep – Liberation

“G-Game over! Reb Bijan wins!”

Leira Ainar looked up in disbelief at her opponent who had just crushed me.

I could hear the shocked gasps of hundreds of spectators, and I felt the hard floor against my back, wondering when exactly I had fallen. It all happened the moment the whistle blew.

I thought I had lost track of my opponent’s position, but that was just it. I… had been defeated.

I felt dazed.

Leira Ainar finally focused on her opponent. The young man who had stepped on her shoulder and held a sword to her neck looked pretty young.

He was said to be a warrior from the Orun Kingdom. I had thought to be careful of low strikes since he was short…

“Ugh.”

Only now did the pain hit me.

My wrist, crushed without mercy, and the back of my neck, slammed against the ground, throbbed. Being stepped on my shoulder didn’t hurt at all, surprisingly.

“…”

Was she enjoying the aftermath of her victory?

The young man, who had been looking down at me, finally withdrew his foot. He reached out his hand to help me up.

In a moment of surprise, I grabbed his hand.

I was going to refuse out of pride, but it felt just like when Ray had offered me his hand after our duel… what a slip-up.

As I dusted myself off, the audience’s cheers grew louder.

Leira bowed her head in acknowledgment to the victor and turned to leave the arena. As I stepped down the stairs, I began to feel the weight of my defeat.

But how?

This wasn’t arrogance or smugness.

The physical gap was stark, and I had also received the blessing of mana. Uncle Noel had even said my skills were enough to make me a knight.

I was in a match that offered a chance to join the Knights Order as a prize, so it wouldn’t have been strange for a person like me to become a knight right away.

Logically, I shouldn’t have lost in such a tournament…

“Wow! How does it feel to be so full of yourself and still get defeated?”

“Did you really think you could win without even blocking a single blow? How did someone like you even get a seed?”

As I tried to enter the hallway to the waiting room, I heard the jeers coming from the crowd nearby.

Leira had raised her head to shoot back a retort at the audience, but instead, she lowered it.

Since the palm of her victorious hand had felt so soft, even she couldn’t withstand mocking herself.

The Maunin-Letii tournament is open to the audience starting from the round of 16.

So, Leira had just been eliminated on the very first day of public matches. Having shown promise in the preliminaries, she had quickly advanced to the main event as seed B-1. She and Ray were touted as dark horses to stir up the tournament.

It must have looked adorable to see the daughter of a tribe warrior from Ainar participating in a tournament bustling with great warriors.

Moreover, Leira claimed she aimed to meet her boyfriend, who also advanced to the main event as seed C-1, in the finals and win. It was impossible not to notice how charming she was when an attractive girl from a native warrior background was talking big like that.

Since she belonged to group B and he belonged to group C, they could never meet in the finals.

At the most, they would meet in the semifinals… The citizens of Barnau were clutching their stomachs, laughing. They flocked there just to see that charming girl.

’So embarrassing!’

As she walked through the corridor, Leira felt beyond self-loathing; she felt pure shame.

This was humiliating. At this rate, I might just die!

In the corridor where the crowd’s cheers echoed faintly, she started hopping around alone, eventually curling up in a corner, hiding her now red face. She looked like a perfectly ripe persimmon.

Then, suddenly, thump.

The sky seemed indifferent as someone walked down the corridor. Leira, who had been crouched down, raised her head out of frustration at her thick nerves not fainting instantly and saw who was approaching.

Fortunately, it was Ray. It occurred to her that Ray would be competing next after her.

“R-Ray. I…”

“It’s okay. You can lose…”

“I’m so embarrassed!!”

Leira complained, covering her face. Cuddled in his arms, she berated herself for being so overconfident and sought revenge.

“Ray, you have to win your match for me. Go up there and take that shrimp-like guy down. Otherwise, I won’t be able to live with this embarrassment!”

“Uh… I’ll try my best.”

“Promise?! You’ve got to!”

…But her wish didn’t come true. No matter how desperately she begged him to win, Ray lost to that warrior.

Unbelievable!! This doesn’t make sense!

Nevertheless, Leira’s honor saw a slight recovery as the semifinal battle between Ray and Reb Bijan had become an epic showdown.

Each clash shook the arena with explosive force, and even ordinary spectators marveled at their movements on stage.

You would think that fighting like this would break swords and fizzle out, but the two pushed each other so fiercely that the audience could hardly breathe. Leira’s loss became a less shocking occurrence.

…Damn it.

Then in the following finals, that shrimp guy won overwhelmingly. Leira’s defeat began to be recounted not as ridicule but as the start of a legend.

Son of a… I can’t believe I’m becoming part of someone else’s legend!

Those who didn’t reach the semifinals can enter the loser’s revival match. Leira grumbled as she prepared for it.

At first, she was too embarrassed to participate further, wanting only to watch Ray win. But since he reached the semifinals and placed, she could win the loser’s revival match and become a knight beside him.

Embarrassing, but I can’t help it. My dream is nearly within reach…

Ultimately, Leira found herself on the stage for the loser’s revival match.

“Cheer up, daughter of the Ainar tribe!” The citizens of Barnau were much kinder than before, and the victorious players and the king watched as she put on a show.

Reb watched it with mixed feelings, a bit proud yet apologetic.

This time, Ray didn’t withdraw and made it to the semifinals. But he was already mentally apologizing, thinking he would have to go into the loser’s revival match.

At that moment, the king’s voice rang out.

“It’s decided. The champion of the main event, come forth.”

But Reb didn’t follow the king’s command. Ignoring it, he watched Leira’s last moments. Leira defeated her opponent named ‘Calli Toluca’ and shouted:

“Yay! Ray! I won!!”

Her voice filled with joy as she jumped around looking for Ray… It made Reb a bit choked up.

That was the normal ending to the engagement scenario that followed after hunting the Old Phantom Fox, preventing the War event, and getting rid of Malhas. To reach that natural happiness, so much had happened.

Though the ending would change again, Reb relished the moment. As memories of Leira Ainar’s endings rushed past his mind like a chariot, he wiped his eyes and turned around, only to find a royal knight approaching.

“Didn’t you hear the king’s decree?”

A clear and dignified voice.

It was Count Jacob Modred, strikingly handsome yet still just a royal knight.

Like Sir Bart, he seemed to have become something other than a Swordmaster. Regardless, he had gained a solid jawline and it didn’t look like a loss.

“…I apologize. I had some wind in my eyes.”

Giving a typical excuse, Reb turned back.

There sat the king, generously forgiving the rude victor, and surrounding him were the royal family of the Klaus dynasty, led by Prince Anolf, fittingly adorned.

The descendants of King Maunin and Queen Letty, who had been divided by civil war, had regained their former glory.

Regrettably, the prince of the Aster Kingdom, Pablo Klaus, was nowhere to be seen, but I could guess where he was.

He had fallen in love with some common woman from Manubiul.

The collar was one thing. It seemed love was also a sort of collar to the Divine.

Just then, a message appeared, briefly obscuring my view. Perhaps it would be the last message, and it contained the words that Minseo had once complained about, saying “How could this happen!”

[ Achievement: King 6/6 – Grants the ability of [Inspiration] to the Leos. time(1y) ]

It contained [Active Skills].

Reb thought that if Minseo found out, he might breathe fire.

He left the active skill untouched, and the Maunin-Letii tournament concluded with someone’s excited cry of victory.

“We’re getting married! We’re definitely getting married!”

*

After that, Reb took Leah further north.

Even though it was still autumn, they crossed the frozen sea to a place dubbed ‘Ice Island’. When they arrived, Leah’s belly was noticeably round.

The chief of the Ainar tribe, living on the Ice Island, welcomed them.

“I’ve never seen a warrior with a pregnant woman before. Welcome. If you came here seeking endless trials, then this is your final destination.”

“Thank you. But I will only stay until my wife gives birth.”

This was an island where numerous monsters supposedly landed, breaking the sea when the blue moon rose.

He had come there to fill his monster achievement counter, and Reb spent the winter there to fulfill his objective.

When spring came the next year, as Leah’s labor drew near, girls named Ran and Anne Abiker, who had experience with childbirth, offered to assist Leah.

After a night filled with anxious waiting and contractions that started at dawn, Reb finally held:

“She’s a beautiful daughter!”

For the first time in his life, no, for the first time across all playthroughs, he finally cradled his daughter. He could hold her.

“How did she come out so perfectly? Her face is wrinkle-free!”

Reb awkwardly held his daughter, standing stiffly, unable to move.

He felt as if he might be sucked into her face. His heart raced at her featherweight, and her presence felt immensely heavy.

So… this is my daughter.

“…I told you. I said she’d be pretty, didn’t I?”

Leah, exhausted from the grueling labor, muttered weakly. Reb couldn’t tear his gaze away from their daughter.

The name they had chosen for their daughter was Noa, meaning ‘overcome’ in spoken language. Reb burst into tears.

The name for their future son would be Soya, meaning ‘happiness’. It felt as if he had reclaimed a life that had been tossed around by the Divine.

Yes. This was my destiny.

No matter whether Leah left for the Monastery Church or not, whether she became a priest or not, the boy from the mountains in Demos would inevitably end up marrying his childhood friend.

Leah would have willingly waited for and accepted him…

Reb and Leah departed before the sea melted.

On the way down, they took in the sights of Lutetia, and as Leah was expecting happiness, the two set foot in their hometown.

Two full years had passed since they left the village, having circled the continent.

The two returned with their daughter.

The villagers were frantic and tried to hastily marry them off. However, Leah was so stubborn that she postponed the wedding until the following year.

To show Reb Soya. The next year, after holding their son to satisfaction, Reb finally resolved to meet the ending. The wedding took place.

“Thank you to all the villagers who joined us for this holy wedding ceremony. Here stand two young men who are about to bind a lifelong promise. These lovely young people have known each other since childhood…”

It seemed much time had passed.

Hans, having received information on {Initial Funds} and {Back Alley Rules}, had become a respectable merchant, and Priest Leslie had assumed the position of the church’s monastery head because Cardinal Michael had fallen from grace.

Reb listened to Priest Leslie’s officiation, reflecting on the past.

Behind him was his father, who had previously distanced himself from the villagers, now amidst their warm company. Next to him was his mother, alive, sharing whispers with Aunt Han.

Everything had returned to normal. Yet, Reb sighed through his nose, preparing for the abnormalities that lay ahead. He held Leah’s hand and whispered.

“Leah. Thank you for following me this time.”

“…”

“Next time, I’ll come for you. Traveling the entire continent. Throughout the journey, I’ll act as if I’m with you. Just like you once joked around, like a puppet on strings.”

“…”

“But I’m not ashamed at all. No matter how you teased me, I wouldn’t be embarrassed. If I’m a puppet coming for you, I’d be happy to do it a thousand more times. Leah, let’s meet again next time.”

“…Okay! See you next time!”

The beautifully dressed bride embraced her groom. She teared up on this joyous day, and the ending arrived.

But,

‘Huh?’

[ Lena has gotten married. Congratulations! ]

[ Thank you for playing Raising Lena. ]

The message didn’t appear for Reb. With the ending, his sight faded into the heights, but the sphere hovering in the air contained only Minseo.

Below, against the backdrop of the church, stood Reb with Leah in his arms, looking up in bewilderment…

Hahahahahahaha!!!

He laughed brilliantly. Holding Leah’s face, he kissed her.

With the blessing’s hymn, the peaceful village and church faded away.