-◇-

I only wanted a normal life. I wanted friends, my own family and a big house.

Every single day of my childhood I would fantasize of one day meeting my prince charming.

He would ride a white horse and have long blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes.

There would be a field of flowers around us as the two of us ran towards one another. His stallion would stop in front of me as he looked down at me with a radiant smile and tenderly say to me:

My darling. I am home.

However, each time I look up at my prince-charming atop his horse with the sun at his back in my dream, all I would see was his face overlapping with Arnold’s face.

His disgusting grin that seemed to lick my entire body. Those narrowed eyes that looked at everyone as if they were inferior. That sarcastic tone of voice as he addressed me each time.

Purr for me, Lauran.

Lick my shoes, you filthy slave.

Hahaha!!!

Hahaha!!!

His laugh infuriated me so much. Each time he would laugh at my despair and suffering.

He would mock how I couldn’t save my parents.

It wasn’t my fault. What did I do to deserve this?

That was what I kept asking myself. However, in the end, I could do nothing but accept my reality.

Maybe I won’t be able to have that life I always dreamt of.

After enduring so long, I finally realized that I wanted it to end.

Save me.

Someone...

Anyone…

I pleaded in my heart as I was thrown inside the room of that man. I knew that it was hopeless to even believe.

“Let me savor that body before I begin.”

The demon of my nightmares said as he cracked his knuckles.

Please…

-◇-

Part 1

Arnold left Flora outside and broke down the steel front door with his hands alone.

‘Why am I feeling this way? Angry? Is it because Lauran is important to the story or is it something else?’

He had loved each and every member of the hero party in the game. They were not just important to the game, but to him as well.

He watched them grow since he played the game daily. Others always mocked him for being so anti-social and gloomy. Even at school he would stream the game during breaks.

But he never cared about what they said.

Whenever he played 《STAR FANTASY》, a part of him wished for reality on earth to be the same as this world.

Yet even though it finally was, he now felt empty. There was none of the excitement he always felt whenever he came out of school and booted up the system.

The smiles and laughs he shared with his guildmates.

The tears and sorrow whenever he lost a precious item due to his gambling habits.

Now all he felt was emptiness. His sole purpose was to steer the game in its destined part. He believed that it was solely his responsibility if there were no other players.

But why was it necessary to leave everything up to choice? It wasn’t his responsibility what happened to this world. Yet he wanted to save it.

He wanted to eliminate his death flags, yet he forgot the most important thing.

Arnold von Berkley would eventually have to die later on by the hands of the hero…

“….”

In the dark hallway of the second floor, Arnold stood blankly. Only a door separated him from saving Lauran.

‘Is this the right thing to do? Changing fate so everything can happen how it happened in the game?’

If so then it could only be described as shallow. Why try and change things so it could satisfy him? Was it even possible for everything to end how it ended in the game?

Like what was mentioned before…He would die. Was that it?

Get reborn, change fate, die and watch how everything else goes from the afterlife?

Arnold bit his lip.

He broke down the door of the bedroom.

And there they were.

A bloody and naked Lauran lying on the ground and a man sitting on the edge of the bed. The man’s knuckles were covered in blood.

Arnold’s face hardened under the mask. Lauran seemed on the verge of death. The only indication of her being alive were the frequent groans.

“You finally came.” Ruduli took a cloth that was on a table. He wiped his hands and stood up.

“You disturbed my playtime with this lovely maiden, intruder. Man, why did I install noise cancelling magic in this room? If I had known what was going on then I would’ve dealt with it myself. Even my door is infused with magic so that no one else but I can open it. But it seems you broke it rather easily.” Ruduli stood up and threw the cloth on the ground. It landed near Lauran’s bloody face.

There was a pool of blood underneath her head.

Arnold clenched his fists.

There was no telling how many times he had punched her.

Even when Arnold hit her in the past, it was never to this extend.

The interior of the room was dark. A window nearby blew cold wind inside the room. As the blinds kept blowing and light entered, Arnold could see that there were multiple women on the floor.

Some were unconscious and others were huddled in a corner, too scared to move. They probably thought that they too would be killed by this mysterious individual.

“Since you could come in here, that must mean you defeated my subordinates and my brothers?”

Arnold nodded silently to his question.

“I see.” Ruduli was calmer than Arnold thought he would be. A majority of his gang was taken down and his brothers were also killed.

The sounds of fighting had stopped long ago which meant that Flora already killed Kon.

Aura rose from Ruduli’s body. He got into a stance. Arnold finally got a good look at his face.

He was extremely ugly. The right side of his face was scorched and most of his hair was also burned.

“Oh? You curious?” Ruduli noticed Arnold looking intently at his face. He pointed at Lauran who was lying on the ground.

“This girl was a handful. First she was obedient but then she was going crazy when she was brought to my room. I didn’t know that she was such a strong magic caster. If I didn’t activate my aura then I would’ve lost more than just my handsome face.”

“….”

“Well, afterwards I taught her a really good lesson. Broke her jaw by accident in the process. It happens, I guess. Sheesh, I need to work on my temper.” Ruduli shrugged as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Original Arnold knew the kind of man Ruduli Felix was. He beat up woman for pleasure and tortures them to satiate his sadistic tendencies. His body was overjoyed at destroying the face of the one he had fallen for.

Arnold gritted his teeth.

“Before we start, who are you exactly?”

“My name does not need to be given to someone whose about to die.”

“Arrogant, aren’t we? Whatever then.” Ruduli’s smile vanished the next moment. He covered his entire body in red aura. The interior of the room was brightly lit up.

He beckoned Arnold with his hand as he circled around Arnold. The room was fairly large so there was a lot of moving space.

“Come on!” Ruduli roared.

Arnold clenched his fists and charged at him.

“Guah!” His fist connected with Ruduli’s face.

That punch was so strong and infused with so much aura that he flew through a wall. Ruduli was blown into the hallway.

“Ugh. What the fuck. I didn’t expect you to be this strong.” Ruduli moved his lower jaw a few times before spitting out a clot of blood.

Before he could get up, Arnold had already appeared before him. He threw another punch, however, Ruduli managed to dodge it.

The wall collapsed behind him.

“Phew.” Ruduli sprang to the side after avoiding the blow.

“For a kid, you’re strong. But not waiting for your opponent to be ready is very uncouth.”

“So you expect me to wait until you’re charged up? I’m not that nice.”

“Little brat.”

The two threw consecutive punches. Sometimes Ruduli was blown away, oftentimes it was Arnold.

If looked at it from another perspective, the two looked evenly matched.

Both were equally strong, however, it seemed that Arnold had the advantage when it came to speed. If an ordinary person were to be there, then they’d have no idea what was going on.

The two of them had a constant back and forth which caused most of the mansion to collapse under their exchange of power.

Arnold charged at Ruduli after manifesting his sword to which the latter brought out his own weapon. It was a greatsword.

Arnold and Ruduli clashed blades. The sheer shockwave made the hallway rumble.

The windows cracked under the pressure and much of the floor broke further after each exchange they had.

“What a strange swordsmanship you have, kid!” Ruduli roared as he swung his greatsword using the momentum from the spin he did. Arnold stabbed his sword into the marble floor and blocked the strike using the floor to stop most of the force.

“Where’d you learn that? Are you from another nation!?”

“…..”

Even as the two were locking blades, Ruduli continued babbling on.

Arnold took the initiative to attack this time. Surprised by the sudden increase in strength behind the strikes, Ruduli grunted.

A beautiful dance of swordsmanship continued. Though, one would expect the one with the bigger sword to be at a disadvantage, that wasn’t the case at all. It was like the sword’s weight wasn’t an issue at all.

“You get my blood boiling, kid! I can’t remember the last time I fought against such a worthy opponent! You must be a well-known swordsman from where you come from!”

With a kick to Arnold’s stomach, Ruduli jumped backwards. Even if he was holding out on his own, Arnold was still much too fast.

There were no pauses between his blows. The only time he would ever stop was when he gained distance.

Sweat poured down Ruduli’s chin. He exhaled deeply.

Arnold’s breath was still calm and composed.

“Tch.”

With an annoyed click of the tongue, Ruduli pounced forth with his greatsword. Since there wasn’t much room in the hallway, the greatsword tore through the wall as he ran towards Arnold.

‘His aura output suddenly increased immensely.’

Arnold coated his Aura Sword with the blue essence emanating from his body.

“Huup!” With a jump, Ruduli swung down the slab of iron.

“Kuh!” Arnold attempted to do an overhead block. It was a blunder on his part since he wasn’t that used to fighting in live combat yet.

His knees dug into the floor.

“Hahaha! How’s that!?”

“!!!”

Ruduli kicked Arnold in the face since the latter was too preoccupied with blocking.

Arnold flew back a few meters and crashed into the wall—breaking it.

“Kyaaah!”

“Uwaah!”

The women who were locked up inside the room screamed when the wall broke down. All they saw was the back of a young man as he unsteadily stood up.

‘Damn. That actually hurt a lot. Maybe I shouldn’t fight such battles again just yet.’

He had only used the moves he learned from Alecs so it was a little sloppy.

‘I can’t even use Arnold’s martial skills.’

Being equivalent in talent to the hero, Arnold had studied many sacred arts from the tombs of dead warriors. Not only had he mastered many, he even perfected their flaws.

However, he was not Arnold who had honed his skills from childhood. He was just a gamer who happened to be reincarnated in Arnold’s body.

‘I only know one martial skill. I should use that.’

When Arnold was about to stand up to prepare, he collapsed on his knees when he stood up from the wall.

“Huh…?”

‘Shit. My own aura is making my body go weak.’

Liam had forgotten that Arnold had never gone all out in a fight before. At least, he had never needed to. The burden of burning so much aura caused his body to go numb.

His body only cramped up so he should be back to normal in a few minutes. Although his aura would be severely strained.

“Hahaha! Look at you now!” Ruduli confidently strode towards Arnold with his greatsword being dragged along.

“You girls stay there. If you think of moving, I’ll kill you all.”

The women shuddered.

“Now then…” Ruduli lifted his greatsword above Arnold’s neck.

“I’ll see who you are after I cut off your head.”

When Ruduli was about to swing down the sword, a crash came from behind him.

“Hm?”

“…..”

Bloodied, bruised and having barely any clothes on her body; Lauran was leaning against the doorframe. She was panting heavily while gazing at the two of them.

‘Lauran…’

Rage burned within Arnold’s heart when he saw her collapsed figure. He could see two women standing behind her.

The two seemed to have helped Lauran towards the door.

“Hey, hey. I’m not done with you yet.” Ruduli made a shooing gesture. “Go back into the room before I get mad. I’m gonna need to release all this pent up stress from losing a majority of my people.”

The women shrieked when Ruduli made eye-contact with them.

Arnold saw blood drip from Lauran’s mouth as she tried to say something to him.

Her mouth moved:

---Why….?

Why are you going this far for me, was what she was probably trying to convey.

Arnold looked away from her.

That’s right. Why did he go this far for her? Was it because of the original Arnold’s desires to have her to himself or was it Liam’s resolve to save a major character he grew to love?

Without an answer to his question, Arnold concluded on his own.

“Both…Maybe it’s both…” He muttered.

“Hah? What did you say?” Ruduli heard Arnold’s mutter and looked at him. He put his foot on Arnold’s shoulder.

Arnold’s back hit the wall which made a groan escape his mouth.

He put his hand on Ruduli’s leg which was on his shoulder. He wanted to exert power into his arm, however, his body was still stiff.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Ruduli infused aura into his greatsword to cut off Arnold’s head.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arnold saw Lauran’s eyes.

Why are you looking at me like that even though I’m here to save you, he thought.

There was hate in her eyes even though he was there to save her. It was the same gaze filled with contempt she had given him in the past.

“Well, I can make the Archmage owe me a debt this way…”

He didn’t care what she thought of him. As long as she stayed alive, he would be happy.

“Hey! Stop babbling on your own and just die!”

Ruduli swung down his greatsword.

Then—

“!!!”

The greatsword bounced off an invisible barrier when the sword was about to near Arnold.

Ruduli was pushed back by the force and staggered backwards.

“Ugh! What the fuck!? You still have this much—”

When Ruduli stood up, he saw something.

Fierce stormy blue eyes like that of a dragon. His entire body was covered in a dense blue aura that seemed to roar like one as well.

Arnold’s sword appeared within his hand, when Ruduli noticed.

The sword cut apart and absorbed the aura into its blade.

ROOOOOAR

A roar caused Ruduli’s back to shiver.

“W-Wait! I-I was wrong! Please forgive me!”

Sensing his imminent demise, Ruduli went to his knees.

One could see that he recognized the disparity in power.

It was a disgraceful sight to Arnold, even though he had made many kneel by sheer force alone.

He lifted his sword which made the air itself vibrate. It was becoming hard to breath.

“While you may not know this, to me, Lauran is an important person,”

‘She is an important character in the game.’

Lauran’s eyes widened.

“—Letting her experience all of this was all my fault. I deeply regret everything I’ve done. But…”

The aura intensity from Arnold decreased.

Ruduli looked up in hope.

“I’ll let her decide your fate.”

Arnold turned his head without sparing the wounded Ruduli another glance. His eyes met Lauran’s eyes.

There was an unreadable expression on her face. Maybe it was the blood or perhaps it was something else but he could see her hate slowly diminish.

The grinding of teeth could be heard from behind him.

“Stop mocking me!” Ruduli conjured aura blasts and threw them at Arnold. One could see that he used all his aura he had left judging by the intensity of the aura.

Arnold, whose back was turned couldn’t help but pity the man.

He turned around and pointed his sword at the approaching attack which came from Ruduli.

“[Storm of the Water Dragon]” Arnold activated a martial skill.

It was one of the skills that Arnold managed to create on his own during his childhood.

It was one of his strongest martial skills. It was an aura-manifested water dragon which coiled from his sword.

“Now tell me,” The attack which Ruduli poured everything into was swallowed up by the monstrosity that came out of Arnold’s sword. "--do you want to die that badly? Even though I gave you mercy, you still point your fangs at me..."

His opponent was trembling in fear on the ground, disbelief etched onto his face.

“A-Ah…huuk…” Ruduli crawled away and began running down the hallway. He whimpered and screamed for help.

“So-someone! Where the fuck are all of you! Do I pay you to just to have my orders ignored!?” Ruduli ran for his life.

He might’ve thought that Arnold would’ve let him go after he threw away his one chance to atone for his sins.

But no. That was a wrong assumption to have.

A villain was ruthless to his enemies.

Just as he was about to run down the stairs, he saw a massive shadow behind him.

It wasn’t a second later that his entire body was blasted with the aura martial skill.

A giant section of the mansion was destroyed by the destructive power of Arnold’s aura.

◇

It was a second later that his vision was suddenly flipped. An explosion had just ended.

Am I….flying?

He felt like he became several times lighter.

Huh…?

He suddenly saw something as his vision was spinning.

It was pieces of his body lying around on the ground. He was flying in the air and could see the mansion below. It seemed that his head had been sent flying after he was hit with that powerful attack.

Ah…

I….I’m going to die just like this?

Me? A great knight who served this empire? A 6th star knight?

Ah…I shouldn’t have slacked off all these years…

His vision darkened. His brain had shut down.

Ruduli died just like that. A single head seperated from its body.

Part 2

“What the…” When Flora was about to head up the stairs, she saw several people, including Arnold come down.

Every one of them were women. They held onto Arnold like maidens who fell in love.

Arnold was carrying Lauran in his arms. He was silently walking down the stairs even as the women tried to talk to him. They kept thanking him over and over.

“You got yourself a harem, huh?” Flora joked. She then saw the look in Arnold’s eyes as he passed by her.

‘What’s up with him?’

Flora heard someone else come down the stairs.

It was Liumiala.

“You guys done already? That was quick.” She was carrying multiple bags in her hands. Inside those bags were all the documentation that she needed from this job.

Liumiala looked up at the portion of the building that Arnold demolished.

“So that was why I heard an explosion, huh? Anyway, we should leave while the reinforcements aren’t here yet.” Liumiala handed some papers to Flora.

“What are these?”

“It was something he requested I get. I don’t know what he wants it for though.”

Flora caught a glimpse of the documents. It was a list of people who owed the gang money. The other documents were of the stores that the gang owned through underhanded means.

“We should get going now.” Liumiala said as she looked at Arnold’s back. He was telling the women he rescued to go back home since more gang members would show up. Their lives would end up in danger again if they didn’t leave soon.

Each and every one gave Arnold a firm hug before leaving. Some told him to visit the brothels sometime. He only nodded his head mechanically. They were only happy that they were safe so he didn’t mind their expressions of gratitude.

When the last one left, Flora and Liumiala approached Arnold. He was holding onto Lauran while gazing into empty space.

He took off his mask and spoke.

“Shouldn’t you be going back, Liumiala?”

“You finally got my name right. I guess I should. If I don’t hurry then my squad leader will punish me.” She smiled wryly.

Arnold looked at Flora. “It seems the magic item broke during your fight?”

“Ah?” Flora seemed to realize only now. “I guess it did.”

“We’ll have to find some other way to disguise you then. We should make haste. Can you take Lauran? I need to talk with Liumiala. Take this potion and give it to her. Its effects should show after a few minutes.”

“Sure.” Flora took the unconscious Lauran and the potion with red liquid inside.

She silently headed to the gate.

**

Arnold and Liumiala waited for a while until one broke the silence.

“You must be curious about a lot of things.” Arnold wiped his hands with a handkerchief. It was covered in Lauran’s blood.

“I am.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you exactly.” Arnold shrugged.

“Tell me this then, are you really Arnold von Berkley?”

That question made Arnold stiffen.

Arnold feigned calmness.

“…What kind of question is that? I was obviously birthed by Adrianna and Marcus von Berkley.”

“I’m just saying that it’s strange for a person like you to go this far just to save a maid. I have a very good memory so I remember all the things I’ve heard about you. How you’re the scum of the Berkley family. You cause unnecessary trouble for your parents. You ruin noble gatherings in the imperial capital. You are the kind of person who would even kill your own servants for any small misconduct. None of the nobles in your father’s territory like you.” Liumiala took a breath before continuing. “A prodigy of the empire in the ways of swordsmanship yet is regarded as scum by the people. Tell me, did you kill the real Arnold? Are you a Doppelganger from that Undead Queen’s army tasked with spreading her influence?”

“…..” Arnold felt like the tension was released from his shoulders when he heard her remarks. He only shrugged. “Well, what if I am?”

He secretly sighed in relief.

“If you are then me and my superiors will do our utmost to slay you.”

“So you guys hate the Vampire Lord too, huh?”

“That is correct. We(Dark Elves) may have demon blood in our veins but that does not mean we condone the actions of monsters.”

Arnold and Liumiala silently looked at each other. Both were extremely skilled at keeping their emotions from showing on their faces. Arnold’s expression didn’t even falter at all.

In the end she gave up.

“Haa…I guess you’re not one of them, huh? Then why did you go this far to save that girl?” She looked in the direction Flora had left with Lauran.

“It is because she is extremely valuable to me.”

“So she’s useful, huh?”

“That’s right.”

Liumiala let out a breath from her nose.

Since she wasn’t saying anything, Arnold decided to leave. Their business had already ended so there was no need to interact any further.

“Wait!” Liumiala blocked his path.

Arnold grunted in annoyance. “What?”

“How did you know about us? You at least owe me that explanation, right?” Liumiala looked intently at him.

“You could say I know your boss. Fairly well.” Arnold said with a mysterious smile. He turned his head and looked at the setting sun in the distance.

Liumiala’s eyes widened. “N-No way… The leader doesn’t even have any close friends or family. There’s just no way!”

“Well, I guess I’m lying. Or am I?” Arnold walked past the bewildered Liumiala after his teasing remark.

“W-Wait!” Liumiala shouted again.

“Dammit. You’re annoying.”

“Can you at least tell me how you came to know about the boss?”

Arnold stopped. He spoke with his back turned towards her.

“Information is money to this world. Isn’t that your organization’s saying? If you want to know so badly, should you not work for it?” He continued walking. Flora was already waiting for him at the gate.

Liumiala stood atop the stairs and gazed blankly into sky.

She understood what he meant. If she wanted to know more then she’d have to pay him for it.

‘How much would such valuable information like the identity of the boss be worth?’

But did he actually know the leader? His earlier remark sounded too rhetoric. It was like he wanted her to figure out for herself how much he knew.

“Sly bastard! You don’t want to tell me!?” Liumiala stomped the ground with a frustrated expression on her face.

After a while of kicking the rubble lying around, she calmed down. She sat down on a nearby bench and gazed at the documents in her hands.

Liumiala’s expression was one of a person who was tired after a long day of work. “If he does know the leader then it’ll probably be an amount I can’t hope to pay.”

If he asked her to find a star-class item then she’d have to give up. That was too much for a low ranking member like her.

“Well…” Liumiala looked towards the faraway Arnold and the strange berserker swordsman as they walked away down the street. “...I’ll have to see what other surprises this Arnold von Berkley has in store.”