Ch.77Chapter 77. He Is But a Mere Human After All

The World Postman truly arrived like the wind, reaching the Imperial Palace of the Isles in just half a day.

“The Hero was about to destroy everything, you know?”

With those words, both Lin and Tigria simultaneously breathed sighs of relief.

If they had delayed even a little longer, something terrible might have happened.

Lin, who had briefly thought things were finally calm, felt his shoulders grow heavy at the realization that they still had a long way to go.

Currently, they were traveling to the nearest city after paying for passage on a golden carriage.

Though too small to properly be called a city, it supposedly had a teleportation magic circle, so they should be able to return to the Isles by evening.

However, Lin was leaning against the luggage compartment, absentmindedly waiting for the World Postman while recalling the conversation he had with Tigria in Gilesman.

“Lin, I want to share the conversation I had with the Goddess.”

While munching on bacon topped with the fried egg Lin had prepared, Tigria suddenly brought up a serious topic as she was brewing tea.

“Remember when I told you that the Goddess asked about my wish when she bestowed the exclusive item?”

Lin still found Tigria’s changed manner of speech awkward.

It wasn’t just that it had become natural—her tone was exceptionally warm and kind.

The way she poured the brewed tea and brushed back her flowing hair showed a delicacy that her previously blunt self would never have displayed.

“When I fought the Demon Swordsman, the Goddess stopped time and enhanced my exclusive item.”

This was something Lin already knew from having cleared the DLC once.

“At that time, I asked her why she had asked about my wish before, but the Goddess said she never did. Then she was startled and mentioned the name of the Demon God Angria.”

Of course, Lin knew this too.

One didn’t even need to play the DLC to know.

In the original Arrogant Saga, when each party member received their exclusive items, the Goddess asked everyone except the Porter and the Hero about their wishes.

Arsil wished for the establishment of an academy to develop the Sewage Alley and for Lee to live well until they could meet.

Naidrian wished for the development of seeds that could grow anywhere to quickly establish the forest for his race, and to be proud of himself.

Tigria wished to complete her research on true love.

Finally, Rainfold… wished to become a guardian who could adjust the balance of this world.

All problems stemmed from this.

Originally, the Goddess had bestowed the exclusive items and ended her manifestation as she said, but the Demon God Angria seized that brief moment to disguise himself as the Goddess and draw out the party members’ desires.

Not for nothing was he a Demon God—merely speaking desires aloud greatly inflated the party members’ obsessions, and he arranged everything around Rainfold, whose greed was the strongest.

This was why the party members had turned so sharply against Luci despite her kindness and devotion—the Demon God’s machinations were behind it all.

And this was still valid now.

Unless they overcame it themselves like Tigria had, they would continue to lose themselves to their desires and act irrationally.

‘Tigria would have had a hard time too if Denaruah hadn’t beaten some sense into her.’

However, Lin failed to realize that he himself had been the decisive factor in Tigria’s change of heart.

He was needlessly burdened with guilt.

“It’s highly likely that the Demon God interfered not just with me but with the other party members too. Even after stating my wish, it kept circling in my mind, and when Rainfold proposed the deal, I was drawn to it so strongly I could barely think straight. I know the other party members didn’t have much hesitation either.”

“……”

“Lin?”

“No, it’s just… this is the first time we’ve had a conversation like a strategy meeting.”

“Didn’t you discuss various things with Luciena?”

Various things like which of you she would kill first and how.

Better not to say that out loud.

When Lin quietly shook his head, Tigria seemed to understand.

During important decisions, the Hero’s party never included Lin, instead assigning him menial tasks.

“If what you’re saying is true, we need to check if the other party members were also influenced by the Demon God.”

“Yes, the Goddess asked me to do that too.”

So this was the situation.

The proper order to resolve the issues within the Hero’s party was to free the party members from the Demon God’s binding in the DLC version and help them regain their senses, unlike in the original version.

Except for Rainfold.

Lin wondered why he had tried so hard to retire Rainfold.

The answer was that with the Shield Knight in the party, it was impossible to bring the other party members back to their senses.

Because of his constant meddling and reinforcement of their desires, Naidrian, Arsil, and Tigria could never recognize the truth and reality while he was present.

If that happened, not a single one could be made an ally, and the game would inevitably lead to a bad ending.

The reincarnated Lee had apparently gritted his teeth after seeing that bad ending and loaded a save file, determined to kill Rainfold immediately upon meeting him.

The result?

Surprisingly, during the palace raid, the option “Kill him!” appears.

So he tried killing him.

And then an entity that should never have appeared manifested using Rainfold’s body.

Naturally, the Hero’s party was annihilated by her—an entity that only the ‘Goddess’ could stand against.

Only at the end did Lee understand why Rainfold’s well-being triggered such a sensitive response, but by then the reincarnated Lee had to buy a new keyboard.

The cause of the keyboard’s death was repeated shotgun blasts.

The conclusion was that it wasn’t serious enough for the supreme being to sense danger and manifest, but Rainfold needed to be appropriately injured so he couldn’t directly influence the party, sending him to the Zramun Archipelago for recovery.

That’s right.

It wasn’t that Lin wanted to keep Rainfold alive.

He was originally from Sewage Alley.

People from Sewage Alley preferred to decisively eliminate threats.

Lin couldn’t possibly feel at ease with Rainfold alive.

As if things weren’t frustrating enough, Tigria added fuel to the fire.

“I asked you once before, but wouldn’t things have been different if you had revealed your identity to Arsil?”

When he heard those words, Lin didn’t even have the strength to sigh.

Sewage Alley was clearly established in the original version, and the fact that it was the hometown of the Saint, the Thief, and the Porter matched the reincarnated Lee’s memories.

In fact, when playing as the Porter, there were two opportunities to reveal one’s identity and information about Sewage Alley to Arsil at the beginning of both the original and DLC versions.

Sadly, both led directly to bad endings.

The cause was a failure to properly understand Arsil’s character.

“Arsil has trouble managing her emotions. If I had told her, she would have been devastated by the reality that her hometown was gone.”

No matter when the truth was revealed, Arsil would become deeply depressed and the party members would notice.

If revealed at the beginning of the original version, she would share her complicated feelings under her companions’ concern, and Lin would be discovered and eliminated by Rainfold.

It would be portrayed as being caught in a monster battle, and the game would end with Arsil’s scream.

If revealed at the beginning of the DLC, after betraying Luci and rejoining, Arsil would realize that all her actions until then had no justification, and she would go berserk with vengeance.

Then she and Lin would be eliminated by Rinascien and Rainfold.

The game would end with Ravin’s scream and Luci’s rampage.

In the end, regardless of which episode was pursued, Rainfold had to be retired from the party for anything to be possible.

Then at least, even if Arsil was devastated, she could be comforted by Ravin and helped back to her feet.

Could he really comfort her?

While betraying Luci could be mitigated by the Demon God’s influence, the contempt she showed him during their journey was entirely Arsil’s own will.

‘Um… Lady Saint, I’m sorry, but I’ve injured my arm. I’m having trouble carrying the backpack, so could you heal…’

‘Can’t you see all these severely wounded people on the battlefield? I’ll help you if I have divine power left after treating them.’

Her words were so correct that he could only retreat without argument.

Even outside of large-scale battles, Arsil never spared her divine power, especially when fighting against demons, so after healing the party members, she would be completely drained.

There were potions, but Lin felt too self-conscious to ask for them, so he had to wrap himself in medicinal herbs and bandages.

That was always the case, both before and after receiving the Porter’s bag.

He wanted to immediately reveal himself as Lee and demand how she could treat him like that, but doing so would have certainly gotten him killed by Rainfold.

Yes, after revealing his identity, Arsil’s attitude would change.

But did that mean he wasn’t a comrade before revealing his identity?

He also wondered if he would have been satisfied seeing her attitude flip like a pancake depending on whether he was Lee or not.

The sorrow that had risen to his chin refused to let him remove his mask.

Because this was reality, not a game—even though the main episodes flowed the same, the details were different, so he could have tried something—Lin cut off communication with Arsil following his human emotions.

He was human too.

Even though he’d heard he was part of Guerrero’s soul, he wasn’t a saint like Guerrero.

Eroded by the sadness of not being able to say he was in pain when he was hurting, and the sorrow of not being able to say he was suffering when he was in agony, he surrendered himself to an uncomfortable but cozy silence until the Goddess locked his heart.

After the Goddess made him stronger, he acted solely based on the reincarnated Lee’s memories, so he didn’t feel the need to tell her.

“It’s all my fault.”

In the end, Lin rubbed his face dryly and gave a bitter smile.

He admitted it.

That he hadn’t even tried when he could have.

Pouring his untouched tea onto the sandy ground, Lin idly poked at the bonfire.

That was when Tigria embraced him from behind.

“It was… a difficult time for you. So I think it couldn’t be helped.”

Tigria whispered, hugging his neck and shoulders tightly.

Her faint scent tickled his nose.

“I’m not one to talk, but Lin, you’ve always done your best since joining until now.”

“…Why are you crying?”

Then I can’t cry either.

“I’m not crying.”

“Sure.”

After a few hot drops fell on his shoulder, Tigria made a promise to Lin.

“I’ll help you.”

“How?”

“Any way I can. If nothing else works, I’ll even be a meat shield.”

Lin shook his head.

“No matter how difficult things were, I won’t carelessly tell someone I have a connection with to die.”

Even though he was treating them as chess pieces, Lin had no such intention whatsoever.

He firmly believed that was the difference between himself and Rainfold.

In the luggage compartment of the golden carriage, Lin’s face was contorted with deep thoughts.

“When we get back… I should tell Arsil everything later.”

“Specifically when?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to wait for an opportunity.”

Their next destination was none other than the Theocracy.

The place where Lin, Ravin, and Arsil’s enemies were.

But Lin had no confidence in how to untangle this knotted thread.

“Ah, this is hard.”

A phrase he blurted out without realizing.

And Lin, still unaware of what he’d said.

Tigria quietly moved beside him and spread her robe to wrap around his shoulders.