After I started solving requests for the Steel Wolf Mercenary Corps in Aldebaran and receiving rewards in return,
I had accumulated enough money to live as a wanderer for several months without doing anything, thanks to resolving the backlog of troublesome requests piled up within the mercenary corps.
Because of this, I was treated with great respect and honored as a distinguished guest among the Steel Wolf Mercenary Corps.
They revered me as the “Mercenary King,” a title passed down among mercenaries for someone who had never failed a request.
Naturally, Renis, who was introduced as my attendant, also received exceptional treatment.
It wasn’t just because she was known as my attendant—her own achievements over the past ten days had been quite significant.
After I dealt with the experimental fusion creature that had escaped from the Magic Tower, Renis had been relentlessly training in magic, cutting down on her eating, resting, and sleeping as if she were possessed.
It was hard to believe that this was the same Renis who had previously only used flashy and wide-area magic.
Now, she was solely focusing on practicing and perfecting the most basic spell, Mana Blade, over and over again.
In Crusader Bryden NX, Renis was considered an extremely powerful mage.
However, in the game, much like in reality, her efforts had initially been misguided, making her performance poor.
Yet, if she could be guided to refine her fundamentals properly, she had the potential for rapid, dazzling growth.
Renis, despite her immense talent, had built her magic like a house on sand, weakened by her inferiority complex about her origins.
But after the fusion creature subjugation request, everything changed.
The fact that she had been able to use high-tier, flashy, wide-area magic without properly mastering the basics had always been a foreshadowing of her hidden potential.
Renis, despite neglecting her fundamentals, had an excellent theoretical understanding of magic.
She used up every bit of amplified mana from her staff to train in the basics.
Additionally, whenever I fought the requested target monsters, she would silently cast the staff’s unique ability, Pain Deferment, on me, improving her proficiency with it.
Originally, she would have rushed in herself, eager to prove her worth with flashy magic.
Seeing her change so drastically was somewhat unsettling, but since it was ultimately a positive transformation, I didn’t interfere.
And then, on the eighth day, Renis managed to defeat a magician ogre entirely on her own.
While this request had been easier than the ones I had been handling, it was still a significant milestone for her.
She finally received the genuine recognition from others that she had always longed for.
“Wow, this is incredible! So, the Mercenary King’s attendant isn’t just any ordinary servant!”
“Amazing, young lady! With skills like yours, you could easily secure a place in our mercenary corps. Any interest?”
Each time she heard this, the corners of Renis’s mouth twitched with pride, though she tried to act indifferent and shouted back nonchalantly,
“I-I have no interest! This level of work is nothing to me, so there’s no need to make a fuss over it. Please, keep your praise in check!”
“Haha! Traveling with the Mercenary King must have turned her into a first-rate warrior too!”
Thus, while Ravi and Elfin were away, we made a name for ourselves in Aldebaran as the “Mercenary King and his attendant.”
On the tenth day of this life—
“Alvis! Renis! What are you doing here?”
“Ravi!”
I pushed through the crowd to approach Ravi, who was wearing a tightly pulled-down hood.
Seeing that people were still cheering for Renis and me, I figured it would be difficult to talk here, so I grabbed Ravi’s hand and pulled her toward the inn where we were staying.
“There are too many people here, and it’s too noisy. Let’s go somewhere quiet first.”
“Eep?! Ah… okay!”
I had grabbed her hand without much thought, just to keep from getting separated in the crowd, but Ravi’s face turned red as she quietly held onto my hand tightly.
I had expected her to let go immediately.
We ran all the way to the inn and only after entering our room could we finally escape the crowd’s gaze and catch our breath.
“Whew, being famous isn’t always a good thing.”
“I like it, though? This is what it means to live among people.”
Unlike me, who was exhausted, Renis seemed to be glowing with satisfaction, thoroughly enjoying the cheers of the people.
After all, she had finally obtained what she had always yearned for—recognition.
However, that satisfaction wasn’t entirely complete, as the honor she had earned wasn’t as Lady Renis of House Valentine, but as the attendant of Mercenary King Alvis.
“This is no time for this. I need to hone myself even further. Alvis, I will become such a great person that you won’t even be able to compare yourself to me, so be prepared! I still haven’t forgotten that humiliation from last time!”
“Wait, but I never humiliated you in the first place—”
Without even listening to me, Renis stormed outside to resume her training.
It was great that she was finally motivated to build up her fundamentals, but she was so excessively eager that I worried she might burn out at this rate.
Once we hit the road again, I’d have to help her pace herself.
Ravi, who had no idea what had happened with Renis, tilted her head in curiosity and asked,
“Renis seems different somehow. Did something happen? And what was that about ‘Mercenary King’ and ‘attendant’ that the people in the streets were talking about?”
“Well, you see…”
I told Ravi about everything that had happened after she and Elfin had left.
After listening to my long—yet short—story, Ravi burst into laughter.
“AHAHAHA! Renis always hated introductory magic theory classes ever since our first year. She only took the basic magic courses because they were mandatory, and she absolutely despised them. What was it she said again? That they were boring, overly academic, and that just sitting through them made her feel like her world was falling apart? I never took magic courses myself, so I just assumed she found them dull.”
“I get what you mean. She was probably too focused on impressing others with flashy spells to pay any attention to those foundational lessons.”
“The academy professors eventually gave up on trying to convince Renis, but I never expected you to succeed. And without forcing her, no less—she’s willingly training her fundamentals. Maybe you have a talent for teaching?”
“Well, if they’re willing to ignore all my past behavior at the academy and accept me, then maybe.”
“AHAHA! Yeah, good point. You should’ve lived a little more diligently back then.”
“I’m reflecting on it. That’s why I live responsibly now, right?”
“That’s true. If you had been even half as diligent back then as you are now, I would have…”
Ravi trailed off mid-sentence, as if she had suddenly recalled something.
I then noticed her rabbit ears slowly drooping.
That was a telltale sign that she wasn’t feeling great.
Concerned, I asked,
“Something wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, no, it’s nothing. Talking about the academy just reminded me of Bryden…”
She still hadn’t gotten over her first love.
I had assumed she was bitter about not being chosen by Bryden and instead traveling with me, but what she said next was unexpected.
“Actually, when I went back to my homeland, Bryden officially visited. Celine was with him too.”
“Oh? That must’ve been nice, meeting them again after so long. How are they doing?”
“They seemed to be doing well.”
Despite saying that, Ravi’s ears remained drooped.
That was a habit of the Bunny Tribe when they weren’t in a good mood.
“Then why do you look so down? Is it because you met Bryden again, then had to part ways?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t look happy. Look at your ears.”
“!?”
Ravi’s face turned red as she hastily covered her rabbit ears with her hands, but it was pointless—she had already been caught.
Realizing this, she sighed and removed her hands before giving me a small smile.
“You really do know everything about my people, don’t you?”
She then told me about the conversation she had with Bryden in the Carat Principality.
After hearing the whole story, I was dumbfounded.
“Seriously, what the hell, Bryden? Were you there to make an offer, or to piss off the Bunny Tribe? How do you manage to say exactly the things they hate hearing the most? You’ve lived with a Bunny Tribe friend for three years and still don’t have the slightest bit of awareness?”
Maybe he thought he was acting with good intentions, trying to ensure that the Carat Principality wouldn’t suffer any damage.
But from the recipient’s perspective, his words were the worst possible thing he could’ve said.
If Duke Liev hadn’t been restraining himself to avoid direct conflict with the Crusaders, things might have escalated.
But in the end, Ravi couldn’t hold back.
And what surprised me most was that even someone as gentle as Ravi had gotten so angry.
This was Bryden we were talking about—someone she liked.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I had been struggling all this time to avoid that awful game storyline where the “defeated heroines” clashed with Bryden, inevitably becoming enemies who fought to the death.
But in the end, Ravi and Bryden’s relationship had crumbled outside of my reach.
Did this mean Ravi was now one step closer to her inevitable death?
I didn’t know how I ended up with the title “One Who Defies Fate,” but at this rate, I wasn’t living up to it at all.
At that moment, Ravi looked at me and smiled.
“But it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Huh? What do you mean it doesn’t matter? You completely fell out with Bryden.”
“It doesn’t matter. Because at that moment, I realized something. I realized who truly cares about me, and who I really need by my side.”
At this point, the only kind of person who wouldn’t realize who she was talking about would be the clueless protagonist of a romantic comedy.
“Wait… are you talking about me?”
Nod, nod.
With a slightly flushed face, Ravi nodded.
Then, she leaned in closer, bringing her face near mine, and whispered,
“Alvis… Will you kiss me one more time?”
“Ravi? It really seems like you’re asking for this because you’re heartbroken from your fight with Bryden and acting out of despair—”
“Do you really think that?”
As Ravi’s bright, shimmering eyes stared straight into mine, I could no longer resist my desire.
After all, I wasn’t some kind of eunuch or an ascetic who had transcended worldly pleasures.
I gently cupped the back of Ravi’s head and pulled her toward me, and soon, our lips met once again.
Ravi’s lips were much softer and more moist than when we had kissed under the moonlight last time.
When our lips finally parted, Ravi gazed at me with an even more flushed face than before.
“Alvis, you seem to know all about my race’s habits. So, what do you think when you see this?”
Ravi pointed to her rabbit ears.
They were standing stiffly upright, trembling as if they were quivering with excitement.
That was a reaction that only appeared when a Bunnyfolk was truly happy and overjoyed.
If she had been acting out of despair, just throwing herself at me out of desperation, there was no way she’d be showing such a reaction.
Seeing her trembling ears, my heart pounded with exhilaration.
“This… You already know what it means, don’t you? Do I still look like I’m forcing myself into this out of hopelessness— Mmph?!”
I pulled Ravi into a tight embrace and kissed her again, this time with fervor.
Our previous kisses, including the one just moments ago, had been nothing more than light pecks on the lips.
But this time, I pushed my tongue into her mouth, invading her completely.
Instead of pulling away, Ravi closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around my neck.
Our tongues entwined like snakes, and the wet sounds of our passionate kiss filled the room.
As I kissed her feverishly, I reached up, feeling the arm she had wrapped around my neck.
Ravi’s arm, despite having a decent amount of muscle, was still soft to the touch.
I trailed my fingers down her arm until I found her hand, and then I intertwined my fingers with hers.
Ravi responded immediately, squeezing my hand tightly in return, as if we were lovers deeply in sync.
When our lips finally parted, a thin string of saliva stretched between us before breaking, and Ravi gazed at me with a dazed, ecstatic expression.
“Ravi…”
“Alvis…”
We called each other’s names in a yearning tone.
Ravi placed her arms on my shoulders, her voice trembling with excitement.
“Alvis… I finally understand my feelings. No, I’ve known for a long time, but I kept denying it. But I won’t do that anymore. Alvis, back then, when I was captured by the enemy and could do nothing but be used, you chose to protect me even at the cost of your own pain. You never laid a hand on me. Now, I want to return the favor.”
“Ravi…”
“Alvis, I never thought I’d say something like this, but now I know for sure. I love you. Not Bryden, but you—the one who truly sees me for who I am, the one who treats my people the same as humans, the one who genuinely understands us. I love you, Alvis. I want to give myself to you. Just like you protected me, I also want to—”
A surge of excitement rushed through me, sending my blood racing to both my head and lower body.
I pushed Ravi onto the bed, pinning her down.
“Kyaa!?”
Straddling over her, I took deep, heated breaths before speaking.
“Ravi… You’d better choose your next words carefully. Because if you tell me you want this now, even if you say no later, I won’t stop. And I won’t let you go back.”
“Ah…”
Ravi, also panting heavily, placed one hand on my cheek and entwined her fingers with mine using the other.
Then, she whispered softly,
“I won’t go back♡”