Radugan’s Grudge

“Ah. I-I’m Shinbi. Thank you for believing me back then.”

“In that situation, wouldn’t I be the worst kind of scum if I didn’t believe you? After you gave such an impressive speech.”

‘Ugh.’
I lowered my flushed face, remembering the time I had shouted.

“Valtael, thanks to the medicine you gave, I’ve completely recovered.”

Starting with him, the other Maha who were watching their surroundings approached me one by one, asking for a handshake and thanking me.
That I had saved their lives, that they would serve me well from now on, and that they were sorry for having been so rude in the past.
That was the content.

“…Do you have anything else to say to me?”

Since he was still loitering around without leaving even after I had shaken hands with all the Maha, I asked, and he answered bluntly.

“I have a lot to say.”

“What is it?”

“I’m here to apologize for being presumptuous before.”

“Ah, it’s okay. I’ve forgotten all about it.”

I was being sincere, but Radugan just stared at me and then suddenly held out his hand.
It seemed like he was asking for a handshake.

After hesitating for a moment, I clasped his coppery hand.

I wasn’t going to let it slide if he childishly squeezed my hand hard, but he just gently squeezed it and let go.

Then, he suddenly asked.

“May I sit next to you?”

‘…Next to me?’
‘It was empty, but why?’

It was so awkward I thought I would suffocate, but since it would be strange to refuse, I had no choice but to allow it.

“Aren’t you cold? I heard you were quite frail.”

He jeered, scanning my clothes.
Annoyed with explaining that it was freeze-resistant armor, I subtly changed the subject.

“It’s okay. But why didn’t you participate in the hunting competition? It seems like you would be good at it.”

“Because there was a better opportunity.”

“…What?”

“The opportunity to be close to the Valtael is a rare one.”

I understood the meaning of his words a beat late.

Since Tegen and Mashak had also participated in the competition, there were only escorting Sura wearing wolf masks around.

Even they were just watching us from a distance, worried that I might feel uncomfortable.

‘If you’re close, what are you going to do?’

I needlessly swallowed dryly.
Tegen’s face, which had been swollen as if stung by a bee, came to mind.

As I was tensing up, Radugan raised his hand.

I was so startled I was about to summon my Leviathan, but a subordinate with black fur who was standing behind him approached and held out a large basket.
The basket looked somewhat familiar.

“This, is the antidote. You can drink just a sip each.”

The day the antidote was completed.
I had delivered the medicine to him myself.
Although Tegen had jumped up and down, saying he would go, I wanted to thank him for believing me at a crucial moment.

I had put the medicine bottles in a basket decorated with a pink ribbon and even sneakily handed him one of the honey candies I used to give only to Tegen and Mashak, but he had glared at me so fiercely that I had flinched and just bowed, and then quickly ran away.
I had regretted doing something unnecessary.
But now, it seemed like it was a good thing.

“…A gift. I heard you like sweet fruit. I hope that information wasn’t wrong.”

To my surprise, the basket Radugan held out was full of pink peaches.
They were so clean they had a light sheen of water on them, and they looked quite delicious.

‘…Can I really eat this?’
‘Isn’t there something strange in it?’
As I was just looking at them, unable to readily take one, Radugan, as if to show me, picked one up and took a large bite.

“I haven’t done anything foolish.”

“…Ah…”

“I’m also a guy who was saved by the antidote you brought, did you think I was that lowly?”

Feeling a prick of conscience, as I was rummaging through the basket, Radugan picked up the biggest one and made a cut in it to make it easier to eat.

“Thank you.”

‘He’s more meticulous than he looks?’
As I looked at him with moved eyes, Radugan snorted and said.

“The rumor is that you’re so frail, I was afraid you’d lose a tooth while chewing.”

‘This, bastard.’
‘Would it kill him to just say he was being considerate.’
But unlike the man’s prickly attitude, the peach was sweet and delicious.

“I hear you’re the type to be chased by grim reapers.”

Radugan, who was watching me eat, started a conversation as he made a cut in the second peach.

“How did you manage to go to the Igra’s nest and back?”

“Ah, at some point, the Ob, the grim reapers, just stopped appearing. After imprinting with Karvan.”

After the full moon ceremony, when the imprint sickness had disappeared, the Observer had not appeared.
As I had guessed from the skill description, my mana had become completely the same as Karvan’s, so it was clear that the Observer could no longer recognize me.

“Do all Valta have that kind of power?”

“No, the current Valta is just unusually special.”

“Chief Radugan is also special, isn’t he! A power exactly opposite to Valta’s!”

“Shut up. Don’t say anything unnecessary.”

At his sharp words, the black mane subordinate who was holding the peach basket flinched and closed his mouth.

‘…An opposite power?’

‘Then, does he summon the Observer?’

A strange thought suddenly came to me.

The Observer is an entity that detects and handles cheats and bugs in-game.
That’s why it was persistently chasing me, claiming I was a ‘skill abuser.’

“…Uh, Radugan. By any chance.”

“I have a cursed body. I can be resurrected even if I die.”

‘No way.’
The man, who had glanced at my widening eyes, continued.
The corner of his scarred lips twisted grotesquely.

“Especially, if a Destroyer is nearby, I am resurrected without a break. Forever, regardless of my will.”

“…Ah…”

“Using that, the Destroyers killed me tens of thousands of times, desecrated my corpse, and took my remains.”

Only then did I understand the meaning of Radugan’s words.

He must be a respawn bug entity.

The monsters in ‘Legacyth Chronicle’ have a cooldown of a few minutes before they regenerate after dying once.

But if you get the ‘respawn bug,’ you regenerate on the spot in just a few seconds.
Users used to call that ‘Legacyth being Legacyth’ and take advantage of it.

It wasn’t a particularly sanctioned bug because it was common, and it wasn’t a particularly bad thing.
…In the game, that is.

“Dying and resurrecting tens of thousands of times, being dismembered, I had all sorts of thoughts.”

“……”

“What did I do so wrong? Did I incur the wrath of the gods to that extent? Did I commit such a great sin?”

I couldn’t say anything and just looked at Radugan’s trembling eye.

[Radugan: A Maha of the Varg. The chief of the ‘Black Manes.’]

The ‘Maha’ was a group of only the chiefs of the Varg tribes, of which there were once many.

Then he must have been at least a ‘high-level monster.’
Unlike normal monsters, special entities take a good few hours to respawn.

Since a high-level monster like that had the respawn bug, they must have used it like crazy, thinking it was a ‘honey pot.’

So, Radugan must have died countless times, had his corpse looted, died, and been plundered.
While he was fully conscious.

“I gouged out one of my eyes and begged the gods. To please end this pain. Perhaps they pitied me, as the gods let me escape from them.”

My heart pounded.
It was a bug I had used without much thought when I was a ‘player,’ but it was horrifying to think that I had done such a thing to a living being with a consciousness.

“So, Valtael. I recognized your identity as soon as I saw you. …I couldn’t stand it. Hatred and anger boiled up.”

Radugan had a small bottle at his waist that he was drinking from.
The strong smell of alcohol filled the air.
His one remaining red eye swayed unsteadily.

“…I was just taking it out on you. Even though I knew it wasn’t your doing. Even though I knew you were different from them.”

Only then did I understand why Radugan hated me so much, and why the black manes were so hostile to me.

“I won’t take back that I’m a lowly bastard.”

“No! Radugan, you did nothing wrong.”

Thud, I snatched the liquor bottle he had almost dropped and placed it in the man’s hand.
His hand was as cold as ice.

“It was just, bad luck.”

“……”

“It’s not because you lived wrong. It’s just…”

Just as a human who is busy walking down the street and steps on an ant and crushes it, in the distant future in the afterlife, if the ant asks, ‘Why me of all people,’ ‘Why did you step on and crush me,’ the human wouldn’t even remember.

It was just, that Radugan happened to be there.

“I’m sorry, Radugan.”

‘But he must have gone through all that and not even received any explanation or apology.’

“…I’ll apologize on their behalf. I’m sorry.”

Because I felt sorry for the man who must have lived all this time with that terrible memory.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“An Awakener…. a Destroyer. I, too, may have done something like that when I wasn’t aware.”

“……”

“You can take it out on me. If it makes you feel better, I’ll gladly take it.”

Scrape!
The man roughly pushed his chair back and stood up.
He stood up with a start and clenched his fists.

I just looked up at Radugan.

Just a moment ago, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t let him get away with harming me.
But now, I was even thinking of letting him slap me a few times if it meant he would feel better.

If it could dilute the man’s terrible memory, I was willing to do it.

“……”

But Radugan, who was glaring at me, left.

As if he was disgusted to even deal with me, with a shudder.

“…Valtael! Are you alright?”

“Did Radugan say something unnecessary again?”

“You don’t need to listen to him. He’s always like that.”

After Radugan disappeared, as I was sitting blankly, the escorting Sura rushed over to me and whispered one after another.

“He’s still sulking about something that happened hundreds of years ago, why does he hate Awakeners so much…”

I smiled and said that I was fine, that we had talked things over well, but my heart was heavy.

As I tried to turn away, the feeling of this strange world, which I had just regarded as ‘fake,’ kept feeling more and more real.