Chapter 106: World Boss Raid (3)

“What the hell is this guy?!”

The goddess Alia was utterly bewildered.

A mortal, one she had never seen before, was mentioning her name while picking a fight with Albus.

‘I’ve worked so hard to give Albus a good impression of the Holy Kingdom!’

She had even been preparing to invite Albus to the Holy Kingdom, her stronghold, to give him a grand welcome, once she had deepened their friendship a bit more.

Considering that Albus hadn’t even visited Deus’s stronghold, she thought that inviting him to the Holy Kingdom just once would be enough to win him over.

The problem was, how could she invite him to the Holy Kingdom during his precious vacation?

To achieve that, she had been quietly building up her relationship with him!

But before she could even put her plan into action, some weird guy started spouting nonsense, using her name to cause trouble!

“Is he a servant you’ve personally blessed?”

Albus sent her a message, wondering if the golden-skinned man in front of him was perhaps one of Alia’s apostles.

“No! I’ve never seen him before in my life!”

Alia couldn’t believe what was happening. 

There was no way a god would randomly bless followers without reason.

If anything, the only entity directly involved in the birth of believers was the World Tree, and gods like that were incredibly rare.

“He’s just talking nonsense! That guy has nothing to do with us!”

She was anxious, worrying that Albus might develop a bad impression of her or the Holy Kingdom because of this pest.

‘I really don’t like this.’

Meanwhile, the man who had picked a fight with Albus, Alia-class, frowned when Albus showed no reaction, seemingly distracted by something else.

To him, these worthless commoners, who couldn’t even achieve proper mastery in real life, were parasites leeching off the newborn server, acting as if they were something special.

He despised the players from the new server.

No matter how privileged he was as a child of a prestigious family, no matter how talented, it had taken him decades of training to gain his current power.

Though he had enhanced his skills with the blessings of Rudera, it had come with immense effort and sacrifice.

In contrast, the “vermin” from the new server hadn’t even trained properly, yet they hunted mindlessly and leveled up five times faster.

The state he had achieved by swinging his sword thousands of times was something they gained in an instant.

That’s why he had picked a fight with this guy, who clearly looked like one of the new server parasites.

He had, unfortunately, chosen the wrong target.

“If you were looking for a fight, you’ve picked the wrong one.”

Alia stood in front of Albus, blocking the man’s path.

“Bullying the weak before an important battle? Is that what our god taught us?”

“Our…?”

The tanned man looked up at the tall woman standing before him.

“…A kingdom follower, huh.”

She was clearly from the Holy Kingdom, nothing but vermin to him.

“Indeed. If your family has been blessed by Alia, then you should know the laws that warriors must uphold before a battle.”

‘Laws? Does that mean she’s not a commoner?’

Commoners didn’t know the laws well.

Only nobles adhered to them strictly.

The tanned man briefly considered the possibility that the woman before him had noble blood.

…No, that couldn’t be.

If she were truly of noble birth, she would have chosen the established servers, not a new one.

She was just a vermin trying to act important. 

Though, admittedly, she was easy on the eyes.

“How dare a lowly creature speak of laws!”

And so, the tanned man made the worst decision possible.

‘This is unbelievable.’

The laws of the Holy Kingdom were just a collection of Alia’s words from the battles of old, compiled into a sacred text.

Even she didn’t care for the ceremonial nature of those laws.

But at the very least, warriors blessed by her should follow her instructions in preparing for battle.

Especially someone who claimed to have received her blessing.

‘This guy is really bringing out my old self. Should I just strike him with divine punishment?’

Had Albus not been standing behind her, she might have struck him with lightning, even if it meant using her divinity.

‘He’s screwed. He’s acting up in front of his god.’

Albus, for his part, was silently amused, sensing some entertainment from the situation.

At that moment—

Boom!

A dark figure landed between them.

‘…A robe?’

A mysterious player, wrapped entirely in a robe, had appeared.

The intruder slowly stood up, glanced at Albus and his group, then turned his attention to the tanned man.

“I believe I commanded that no trouble be caused before the battle… Have I been taken lightly?”

“N-No, that’s not it at all…!”

The tanned man, who had been so brazen before, now trembled with fear at the robed figure’s flat, emotionless voice.

‘This man, who spoke so confidently before a god, is now terrified? Who is this person?’

Of course, the tanned man had no idea that Alia was his god, but the sudden change in his demeanor was still shocking.

‘I’ve been insulted by this lowborn!’

He wanted to shout those words, but he couldn’t.

He didn’t have the courage to talk back to a disciple of the Sword Emperor, who had intimidated countless strongmen with nothing but his presence.

“What do you mean, she’s taking command now?”

The unknown figure had crushed the objections of all the powerful warriors the moment the Sword Emperor introduced his disciple and declared that she would hold authority.

Even without revealing herself, the players gathered under the Sword Emperor’s banner immediately obeyed her strength.

“T-That’s…!”

“That’s what?”

“S-Sorry!”

The tanned man, along with his subordinates, immediately fled in terror.

His mind was too clouded with fear to think rationally anymore.

“Running away without even giving a proper answer… Discipline is crumbling. I’ll have to restore order.”

The robed intruder muttered as she watched the tanned man disappear from view.

Then, she slowly turned around to face Albus and his party.

“I apologize. My subordinate acted disgracefully.”

‘Is she the leader of a guild or an alliance?’

“Save your apologies for our party leader. It’s him that worm insulted.”

Alia stepped aside, revealing Albus.

“I saw that you, too, were insulted. My apologies.”

!!

The robed intruder, who had just apologized to Alia, turned her gaze to Albus.

And in that moment, both Albus and the intruder’s eyes widened.

‘Wait… wasn’t she supposed to be wandering and growing her strength? What is she doing here?’

For Albus, the name tag that automatically popped up in his status window made him realize that the woman in front of him was none other than Rebecca, his former apostle and princess.

As for Rebecca, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity and tenderness, even though it was her first time meeting him.

“Damn it!”

Meanwhile, the tanned man, Alia-class, slammed his fist against a pillar in his tent.

“That damn woman…!”

He had tried to put the lowly reboot scum in their place, but another reboot trash had blocked him.

And when he tried to discipline that trash, the commander of the alliance had intervened.

“Another woman, after the first…!”

His hands trembled with rage.

Humiliation. 

Anger. 

Frustration.

He couldn’t sleep like this. Even if he did, he couldn’t live the rest of his life carrying the memory of this disgrace.

He needed revenge.

An honorable revenge to restore his name.

But how?

In reality, he might have a chance, but he couldn’t touch players protected by the system in Rudera. 

The world’s god, the GM, wouldn’t tolerate crime.

Even just laying a finger on someone would raise his chaotic status and turn him into an orange player.

“…Wait a second.”

Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind.

This world was created by the GM’s servant for the World Boss Raid Event, wasn’t it?

But the GM didn’t oversee this world directly, right?

Maybe…

The tanned man tested his theory by stealing something from one of his subordinates.

“Of course!”

Just as he had suspected, this world didn’t have a chaotic status system.

A world without crime.

He could get his revenge!

Things were going so well, it almost felt like his goddess Alia was watching over him.

And so, he began to devise a plan for something he should never do.

Had he known what the future held because of this choice, he would have stopped, no matter the cost. 

But he didn’t.

***

In a secluded area beyond the encampment.

“So, you wanted to talk alone. What’s this about?”

Albus’s voice rang out as the robed figure, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened up.

Curiosity had gotten the better of him after Rebecca’s request for a private conversation.

“Thank… you. For accepting my request.”

“Well, after you helped us out earlier and dealt with that mess, I owed you one.”

Although Albus was genuinely curious about why Rebecca was here, he couldn’t exactly come out and say that.

“The reason I called you here… is because I need to confirm something.”

Rebecca hesitated for a long moment before finally speaking.

“You… Are you by any chance a servant of the GM?”

“…Excuse me?”