What kind of trash game is this?
Rough ripples rose in the eyes of Marquis Weiser.
Serengeti left on a great expedition with 500 knights.
Though she was a daughter, she was his only child, and a 'transcendent' who had eaten a star and transcended.
How crushed had he been, when he saw that daughter return tied to a horse, her lower body severed.
There was nothing he hadn't tried to wake her.
The city's granaries were empty, and he couldn't even remember when he'd last slept properly.
Even so, Serengeti did not wake.
"Ooh. Serengeti······."
Focus returned to his little girl's eyes.
The time that had been stopped began to flow again.
Serengeti, who opened her eyes with Star's Blessing, looked at him.
Marquis Weiser's eyes grew wet.
He should reach out, and hug her fiercely.
Because for all those years, he'd been a terribly heartless father.
A pathetic father who made her swing a sword every single day without rest.
Sensing that heart, Serengeti painfully opened her tightly shut mouth.
"Hudson······!"
·····Who?
For a moment, Marquis Weiser suspected an auditory hallucination.
Hudson? Who was that?
Obviously, in this situation, something like "Father," or at least "My lord," should have come out, shouldn't it?
"Serengeti!"
From behind, a bastard who had had no presence until now rushed out and grabbed Serengeti's hand tight.
He was one of the two men who had come in with the Knight King's successor.
Wasn't he just some simple attendant?
Serengeti still looked like she couldn't believe it.
"This isn't a dream, right? How, Hudson, you're in front of me······."
"It's not a dream. I'm here. I'm sorry I'm late. I, I thought you might never wake up······ ah."
Hudson burst into tears.
Holding Serengeti's hand, his body trembled.
He was going to return to the golden city Arcana and become a councilor. After that, his goal was to formally receive permission and hold a wedding.
But then he heard the news that Serengeti had returned from the great expedition as a cripple.
Hudson couldn't come.
'He thought, as long as she was alive, that was enough.'
As long as she was alive.
If he became a city councilor and returned as quickly as possible, the marquis would acknowledge him.
If she had lost her lower body, then all he had to do was become her legs.
Even if she never woke up, that was fine. As long as she lived, he would care for her forever.
'If I'd been just a little later, I would have······.'
Looking back, he regretted it.
It was foolish. He should have forced his way here no matter what. The thought that he had to come back only after having everything prepared, was nothing but his arrogance and greed.
Serengeti's once robust body had withered to skin and bone. She used to lift him with one hand, but now he felt like he could lift her instead.
If he'd been any later, she wouldn't be here anymore.
And they would never have met again.
Duke Cyan would have kept her like a trophy, stored away somewhere only he could see.
'I cleaned up the casino, got a spirit, and came back here. If it weren't for Lord Randolph, I wouldn't have been able to see her face again.'
Hudson looked at Randolph.
He had no regrets even if he died now, but he couldn't shake the thought that all of this had been Randolph's plan.
From the moment he showed up at the casino and caused chaos to draw Hudson out, he had pierced through Hudson's wish and made him clean up the casino.
He obtained a spirit egg, and gained confidence too.
He had even climbed the Spirit Tower and become a master of spirits!
Now there was nothing he couldn't do. He could do everything he wanted, even if it meant throwing himself into a bottomless cliff.
"I will give you twenty million gold."
Hudson straightened his back, and turned around.
Marquis Weiser was staring at him with a stunned look.
"Please give Serengeti to me, Father-in-law."
"Fa···ther-in-law? What the hell are you babbling about, you crazy bastard?"
"Aren't you desperate for money? With twenty million gold, you'll be able to put out the city's urgent fires."
Shing!
Marquis Weiser drew his sword himself.
Then, pointing it at Hudson's throat, he said,
"What are you to dare?"
"I am······."
What should he say?
There was no way to explain himself.
He wasn't a councilor, and he had sold the casino.
An ordinary human, a player, he couldn't exactly say that kind of thing.
Hudson looked at Randolph.
"I am that person's loyal servant."
Marquis Weiser's face twisted like a ferocious demon.
"A servant dares to take my daughter?"
Hudson spoke calmly.
"That person is one who looks upon the stars and communes with the stars. A person who is respected by nature and the forest, the Knight King's successor, and one who will shine even more brightly than the Knight King. If I follow such a person, how could I possibly be a mere servant?"
"I'll tear out that tongue of yours right now······."
"Enough."
What are you doing, right now?
I clicked my tongue softly and stepped between them.
Come to think of it, Hudson was a merchant. A master at wrapping things up.
But now wasn't the time for that.
"I know you can't contain your emotions, but the Demon King's curse hasn't been completely lifted."
"······ Then?"
Marquis Weiser slid the sword back into the scabbard at his waist.
Sure. He could kill this absurd bastard named Hudson right now and still not feel satisfied, but lifting Serengeti's curse came first.
"At best, she'll only be able to keep her eyes open for today. To completely break the curse, we have to find another 'star.'"
The only ways to raise star power are leveling up, and finding stars.
The five stars that Knight King Wilhelm shed when he died.
We recovered one, but four remained.
If they fall into someone else's hands, the star's memories will be damaged.
'The secret effect of the Successor of Stars class. If I can read the previous owner's memories, then I have to recover the stars as fast as possible.'
Before the stars are damaged or contaminated.
While they still hold Knight King Wilhelm's memories, I had to retrieve them.
If someone else became the owner of those stars, I would never be able to recover Wilhelm's memories, his skills, ever again.
"So everyone get out. There's something I need to hear from her."
Shoo, shoo. I waved my hand, urging them to disappear from the room at once.
Soon Hudson and Marquis Weiser left through the door with complicated looks in their eyes.
The atmosphere felt like a tempest was about to crash down, but it had nothing to do with me.
"Who are you······?"
With only the two of us left in the room, Serengeti spoke to me.
"I am Knight King Wilhelm's successor. I came to hear about his final moments."
"······ He has no successor."
But Serengeti was certain, so she didn't erase her suspicious gaze.
As expected of my closest aide.
Even if others might believe it, I already knew this absurd lie wouldn't work on her.
Because her star still hadn't fallen.
"Isabella, make sure no one can hear."
Immediately, Isabella Von Dersian, who was standing outside the door, began to move busily.
She was an assassin. With Isabella on the job, not even a single rat could come near.
After the surroundings were thoroughly cleared, I looked at Serengeti and opened my mouth.
"Tell me about my last moments. You, the only witness, would know the situation even better than I do."
"······!"
She knew she was the final witness.
But up to here, it was still within the realm of inference.
So I drove the nail in.
"I definitely killed the Demon King."
I definitely killed the Demon King.
But the one who died was me.
Why, exactly?
"I drove the 'Path of Light' into his core. But after that, my consciousness was blown away, and I died too. In the meantime, what happened?"
Serengeti's eyes filled with shock.
***
"Wow, fuck! I killed him! Finally!!!"
In front of my computer, I threw my hands up and shouted.
I killed the Demon King!
I cut off his head and stabbed my sword into his heart. I'd been controlling my character for hours just to kill this bastard, to the point I didn't even know what I was doing anymore.
My fingers hurt like crazy. Like my joints had been wrecked.
It felt like at least half a day had passed.
But still, I killed him. I'd gotten through every boss pattern and every phase, and I stabbed the only sword that was poisonous to demons, the 'Path of Light', into his core. So even the Demon King's grandpa wouldn't be coming back alive.
For real, the Demon King died, and his soul was flowing out from the core.
It looked just like what you see when raid boss monsters die.
A triumph five years in the making.
They said if I cleared it, they'd grant my wish, right?
What should I wish for? Maybe ask for like ten billion won?
No clue if this mystery company running this garbage game even has ten billion won.
"Huh······? What? No, no-no-no-no, wait. Why the hell is there a blue screen?"
In an instant the screen turned bright blue.
No matter how much I smacked the monitor, it didn't come back.
Then about ten seconds later.
When the screen returned, with the Demon King's laughter, a painfully familiar phrase floated on the monitor: 'Game Over.'
"What is this?"
I was dumbfounded.
I clearly killed the Demon King, but a blue screen popped up and I died.
-Hahahaha!
And what was that Demon King laughter coming through the speakers? Was he alive?
'Ah. They made it impossible to clear from the start.'
Even the blue screen was weird. Looks like the game company set it up so you can't kill the Demon King.
'What a fucking doomed trash game.'
They must've really not wanted to grant my wish.
I slumped into my chair. Five years of effort had turned into nothing.
But sadder than it all turning into nothing, was the fact that I couldn't clear it.
A grand goal. The goal of finally achieving something in my life, was gone.
'It was impossible anyway······.'
It wasn't a game made to be cleared from the start.
Damn game company. I knew it would be like this.
Still, no matter how much I tried to understand, I couldn't stop the words that naturally burst out.
"Ah man, what kind of trash game is this, seriously."