CH 8

To kill the demon lord, it was necessary to proceed to the second iteration; however, the best-case scenario was to off him in the first playthrough. The fewer fights, the better, after all. Back then, I had nothing to lose, so I gave it a try. Unable to let go of my hopes, I attempted to get rid of Mayer Knox, the demon lord’s core, before the last battle. Needless to say, I failed.

As I cautiously observed him, I bit my lips out of anxiety. He couldn’t have noticed; if Mayer knew I had tried to kill him, he would’ve killed me on the spot instead of trying to recruit me… No. He wouldn’t have even come to rescue me in the first place. If I were to judge based on the goodwill visible in his gaze, I’d say it was impossible for him to know. Besides, I hadn’t been that clumsy to have left traces. Strictly speaking, what I did for him was more like digging a pit for him to fall into rather than trying to kill him with my own hands. I had discreetly leaked information to the Dark Knights about one of the dungeons I knew, one that seemed too difficult for them to clear… misleadingly, naturally.

However, my efforts were fruitless: Mayer Knox cleared that dungeon effortlessly. After repeating the same trap several times, in the end, I had no choice but to give up on trying to get rid of him. Since no one else was capable of killing him—a man who could clear high-level dungeons—how could I, a mere support mage, succeed?

But anyway, it seemed that for the time being, I wouldn’t be finding out how he truly felt on the inside nor why he was trying to have me in his expedition corps. Only time would tell, see in as I couldn’t even join Fabian’s corps at the moment. However, there was one condition—the most important one—that I had to negotiate before joining up. Surveying Mayer sharply, I said, “In exchange for joining, I have a condition.”

“A condition?”

I took a deep breath. I had no idea how it happened, but I was living in the husk of what used to be Jun—I had stolen her life. It wasn’t like it had been my choice, but I still felt sorry for her. That was why ever since I had possessed her body, I had constantly thought about what I could do for her. But no matter how much I thought about it, I could only come up with one answer. “I want you to… I want you to please carve the name of Jun Karentia in history.”

To engrave Jun’s name—someone who had been ignored for being a support mage—in the annals of honor so that she wouldn’t be forgotten as a mere shadow in the background. I felt this was the only way I could atone for visiting her body.

Mayer raised an eyebrow, taken by surprise. Then, after a moment, he burst into laughter. “Ha, hahahahaha! I never expected you to place such a condition. I had no idea you were so hungry for honor.”

It was easy for him to misunderstand from his point of view. I couldn’t correct him, nor did I have any intention of doing so. I quietly waited for his bout of laughter to end and, a while later, he spoke again with a satisfied grin. “Very well, I will have your name recorded in history for eras to come. You shall forevermore be remembered as the vice-captain of the man who slew the demon lord.”

Since he had declared as such, I had no more reason to refuse. Whatever the case, this life was the only opportunity I had left so I couldn’t carelessly throw it away just because Fabian abandoned me. I swore to myself that I would survive to the end and live a grand life as a hero in a peaceful world.

Yes, given a second chance, even a dog would change owners. Therefore, since I was Fabian’s dog once, why not become the Dark Knight’s? With a determined heart, I nodded and said, “…Fine, I’ll join the Dark Knights.”

“A wise decision. You will not regret choosing me over Fabian,” he assured me with a smile that reached his eyes, something I had never thought I would be seeing. The moment my guard lowered, he grabbed my hand for a big shake, making me feel as if I sealed some huge deal. His hand was so big I couldn’t grasp it completely, even when I stretched mine out as much as I could.

“I would like to thank you for your decision,” he continued. “I will not treat you badly, nor will I spare any support you may need. If you have any problems, you may come to find me anytime.”

Find him anytime? It shouldn’t be that easy to meet him, even if we were in the same corps. “Haha… You’re almost treating me like the vice-captain of an expedition corps,” I joked.

“Did I not say I would give you the best treatment?” he said, standing up. “I do not lie about such things.”

His upright figure cast its shadow over me. As he was still holding my hand, I had no choice but to get up as well, albeit with a crooked posture. It almost looked like he was escorting me.

I was—reluctantly—led away by the hand, feeling awkward as heck inside.