Chapter 3 - Join Me, I Say!

Why, oh why was Mayer Knox so hell-bent on having me join the Dark Knights? 

Jun Karentia, the character whose body I had taken over, was the only mage in the game that exclusively used support magic. She had no offensive, defensive, or healing spells in her arsenal. Among all the players of ‘The Sacred War’, there was no one who didn’t consider Jun just a filler party member.

There was a time when I had hoped that things in this world would be different from my reality. Mages were revered in this world, so I naively thought that even a support mage wouldn’t be received too badly. Looking back, it had truly been wishful thinking. 

Disdain for support mages was prevalent not only among the players from my world but inside the game as well. Being a support mage was enough reason for my family to disregard me and for people to question why I had been included in Champion Fabian’s expedition corps. Even the other members of the corps gave me the stink-eye, their gazes full of doubt. Back then, it had still been somewhat bearable; the humiliation was brief and their appraising gazes were meaningless to me.

‘Reputation? Pah! Everything will reset when the first playthrough is over, anyway,’ I remember thinking at the time. To me, all that mattered was having Fabian’s appreciation. As a playable avatar, Fabian was the only character that began the second playthrough with memories of the first. Mayer Knox retained his memories as well, but only because he was the demon lord’s core. I was the only exception, being a transmigrated person. 

Then, Fabian had once again set out to gather comrades to help him defeat the demon lord. Of course, those who were useless during the first playthrough were not chosen by him. By the end of the first playthrough—no, actually, by the start of the second playthrough—I didn’t consider Fabian’s choice something for me to worry about. It was only natural that I would be included among the expedition members to be recruited on the second playthrough… or so I had mistakenly believed. 

“I can’t even imagine leaving you out of the expedition, Jun. I absolutely need your help to defeat the demon lord,” Fabian had whispered to me sweetly, only to abandon me in the end. Him not showing up at the promised rendezvous point in the current iteration was proof of his betrayal. 

We had agreed to meet inside the dungeon where we first encountered each other in the first playthrough. That dungeon was located near a village I was staying in at the time, and it had suddenly burst open. The villagers then panicked and tossed the only mage available—me—inside as a shield. I had lashed out, shouting at them, “What do you expect a support mage to do alone? Don’t you people know the meaning of support?” 

In short, I had become a human sacrifice. It hadn’t been long since I had entered the world while it was still in the first playthrough, so I hadn’t had the time to figure out my situation. I had struggled, face bathed in tears, to no avail—eventually, I got thrown into the dungeon. Meeting Fabian in there had been a stroke of good luck, otherwise, I would’ve died right after possessing Jun. 

Maybe that was why I had devoted myself to Fabian and thought of him as my lifeline. When the second iteration began, I was able to face the situation with more resolution than I had during the first time. And so, when the villagers decided to throw me in the dungeon again, I followed them without much resistance, certain that Fabian would come to my rescue. 

Had I known it would’ve been like that, I would’ve never gone in. Who’d be mad enough to challenge a dungeon alone? I could only silently regret it now, biting down on my lower lip. Sure, he already had all the information I could provide him so he was done with me. Still… Couldn’t he at least have come to save me? Even if I was too useless to have as a comrade, he could’ve… Even though he knew my situation better than anyone else…

Had it not been for Mayer Knox, I would’ve died in that dungeon while waiting for Fabian. Died without even knowing why he hadn’t come. I would’ve just assumed he was being held up by something. 

 Dungeon raiding was a political matter. Since Mayer had entered the dungeon I was in, it meant only one thing: Fabian had given up on the raid. 

There was only one reason why Fabian would give up on a raid: he had found a more profitable one. A dungeon where he stood to gain more by raiding it than saving me. And most likely… the one he went to was the Ignota Dungeon. 

 Ignota was one of the dungeons that opened around the same time as the dungeon I was thrown in. By raiding Ignota, it was possible to acquire a Ring of Flames—a significantly important item to Fabian, a flame mage. Since he could only choose one, he had given up on saving me.

I hadn’t even lost to a person; I lost to a ring. 

* * *

This was pathetic. As the saying went, “you never know what’ll happen in life…”

Life in a game world was proving to be no different than the life in the reality I knew. Who would’ve thought that, of all the expedition corps that could show up, Mayer Knox would be the one to rescue me? Truth be told, I was shocked when I spotted him. I was truly grateful that he had saved me, but my feelings of gratitude were separate from his offer to join his squad. That suspension bridge effect? I gave my heart away once because of it, and once was already too many. 

Wetting my lips, I forced them open and said, “First… Thank you for rescuing me, Your Excellency. If it weren’t for your assistance earlier, I would’ve died to that cyclops.” 

“…First, you say. You do not seem much inclined toward my offer.” Mayer raised a brow, seemingly unsatisfied by my response.

He immediately hit the bullseye. I gave him a very innocent smile, put on a troubled expression, and scratched my chin sheepishly. It would’ve been so nice if he played along and just forgot about the offer, but he was proving to be more persistent than I’d expected. 

“Moving with light footsteps, immediately casting magic upon sighting a monster… As someone who obviously knows how to act within a dungeon, you wouldn’t be trying to make me believe that you have no thoughts of joining an expedition corps, now… would you?” he questioned, staring at me.