Chapter 151: A Long Story (2)

"Here's where my story ends. I hope I've explained enough," the grown-up Raina said.

Her story was over. It seemed like Raina didn't want to say anything more about it.

Almond had a question he wanted to ask. He was worried about the minion who was first defeated by Yuria.

"Do you know what happened to Mott?"

"... I don't know."

Raina's gaze shifted to the blue bow.

"I don't know what happened to Mott or Demian, but..."

Raina pulled something out. It was an old piece of paper with something drawn on it.

Almond realized what it was instantly.

'The map...'

"I learned something new because of this map."

It was the map that was made to escape the battlefield. She turned the map over to show the back.

[Demian & Lucen]

The handwriting was difficult to read.

"I didn't know what this word was at first. I realized after we escaped and I knew Demian's name."

The engraved names were Demian and Lucen.

Lucen was Raina's last name and Demain was the last name of the character Almond played.

"Demian and I had been working on this for a long time. We had been coincidentally hiding it in places we unconsciously ended up going to."

"..."

How long did Demian and Raina work on this map? How often did they lose the map and repeat the process of forgetting and remembering...?

Was that why Raina's affection for Almond in the story mode grew stronger? Was it an unconscious outcome?

Almond was silent for a while, dumbfounded. Although his head was full of tangled emotions, he responded, "... I see."

There was another brief moment of silence. Raina smiled softly. It was a sad smile.

Almond asked again, "Have you ever returned to that battlefield to look for them again?"

Raina was now a champion, a stronger being than a summoner. She was a legendary being who could easily wipe out the corrupt battlefield.

"When I went back later, there was nothing. No traces left."

Raina seemed to have gone back, but it was after the battlefield was already gone.

"There were some issues with the minions, so there was no way it could continue being like the way it was before."

"I see."

"I'm a little sleepy."

Raina finally stood from where she sat.

He felt like he shouldn't have asked her. Her reply wasn't very pleasant.

"Thank you for listening."

Raina disappeared soon afterward.

"She left," Almond muttered as he watched Raina disappear.

Raina didn’t end up explaining exactly why she felt upset. Instead of telling him why, she shared one of her most painful memories.

Thanks to that, Almond could sympathize with Raina's reason more than ever. It couldn’t be explained in a few words.

Almond summarized his thoughts about why Raina disliked being called for non-combat purposes. It was probably because it reminded her of her life as a minion.

During her days as a slave, she had to fight even without any justification or purpose. She was called to battle without proper explanations.

Even after becoming a champion and entering into a contract with a summoner, she still didn't want to be controlled that way.

Instead, she wanted to be treated as a colleague like how she treated the other minions.

'So... in short, is she asking me to treat her with care?'

Almond scratched his head. Although his conclusion seemed slightly off, it also felt somewhat accurate.

'Anyway, it's cleared.'

Clap, clap.

Almond slapped his cheeks to return to himself from Demian. He was too immersed in Demian's role and didn't even look at the chat for a while.

As Almond returned to streamer mode, he raised his hands and cheerfully said, "Everyone! We cleared it!"

Donations started to pour in.

[EggPlant has donated 10,000 won!]

[Wow! On the first try? Success!!! Congratulations!]

[BaldClub has donated 50,000 won!]

[OMG.. my Almond.. you're my god!]

[Vancouver has donated 10,000 won!]

[This donation is from selling my sister's shoes!!!]

There were so many donations that it took a while to read them all.

— Congrats on beating on the first try!

— Almond, did you know that he sacrificed himself? Or he just cleared everything without knowing that?

— Wow, three stars clear!!!

— Wow, three stars! I can't believe it!

— No, it was cleared because the goal was just to help Raina to escape, you dumbasses.

— It shows as much as you know ^^

— How did you know he was Demian?

— Right, how did you suddenly know he was Demian?

— Did you sacrifice knowingly? Was that the only way???

There were many questions about clearing the mission in the chat, as much as the congratulatory messages. Most were curious about how he knew his name was Demian, but the final clue was the sound in his head.

"You guys didn't hear the sound?"

— The sound?

— Stop bsing us.

— Don't tell us you heard a calling.

The viewers accused Almond of lying, but Almond was serious.

"When I made contact with Raina, I heard a whisper in my head. It felt like it was from the game."

— Just say kiss.

— I think you felt a death gaze from her fanboys.

— Almond's awareness of death.

— He's good at dodging ganks.

— No wonder he's good at dodging.?

— Did you really hear something in your head???

— What a crazy game.

"Yeah, I really heard it. It sounded like Demian, but at first, I couldn't even tell or knew what it was. I found out later on."

— Damn, it's made so you can hear Demain?

— LIL really cares about their story mode.

— The developers should put this much care into their balance patches.

— Ah, so that's why you knew you were Demian.

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won!]

[How did you decide to sacrifice yourself? Did you just do it unknowingly?]

"

Ah

, RubySword, thank you for the donation again. Well, the quest did give the nuance that only Raina had to escape, so..."

Almond checked the time.

'I wonder if I can say it all.'

He had some time left because the story mode ended quicker than he thought.

'I can change the stream a bit to explain what happened in the story.'

Almond decided to tell them how he made the decision to sacrifice himself. Game streamers tended to explain or discuss the game after long gameplays. Almond was naturally making his stream into something similar.

[MintChocoAlmond has donated 1000 won.]

[I couldn't watch the gameplay earlier, but I got to watch him explain! Heck yeah!]

Some viewers enjoyed this more than the gameplay.

"Thank you, MintChocoAlmond. I'll tell you guys how I came up with the strategy to sacrifice myself."

— Almond seems more talkative now. So adorable!

— I think he's excited because he cleared three stars.

— I think he still thinks he's Demian.

It was a good sign because the streamer needed the spotlight, not the game, to be a variety game streamer.

"The biggest clue I got was when I discovered my name was Demian. The name of Raina's bow is Demian, right?"

— He's excited.

— He's flexing himself.

— I don't blame him. He got three stars!

— So he decided to sacrifice himself after discovering his name was Demian.

"If she named her precious bow Demian, that must mean Demian was quite important. If he was so important, wouldn't she still be with him?"

— Yeah, you're right.

— That's true.

— We don't know anything like that. Don't ask us.

— An important thing? What is this? Kids show?

— Keke... I'm strong because I have no one important…

— Mans thinks he's a cold-blooded prince or something.

"But she wasn't with Demian. Instead, her bow was named after him. That made me realize that there was no way she was with Demian... which meant that he died."

— Wow...

— Hey, you're smarter than you look!

— Oh...

— Almond's quite a smart guy!

"And the quest description said it was helping Raina escape, so I knew at that point Demian had to die as well."

— Nooooooo!

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

— Oh, man...

— Demian...

— Bye, Demian…

Almond took a break there, watching the chat fill up with tears. After they stopped crying, he finished off.

"I had to die to allow her to escape. That's how I cleared it."

— Sniffle

— Almond's so smart!

— I thought you just had nuts in your head.

— I demand a refund! This isn't the Almond we knew!

— Breaking news: Almond has a brain too instead of nuts?!

"Nuts in my head...? What am I, mixed nuts?"

— Mixed nuts haha

— LOL

— Perfect drinking snack.

— You are mixed nuts! You have a peanut down there too!

"I'm going to ban that peanut comment."

— LOL

— Peanut ban!

— Hahaha you guys are crazy.

— Where's the macadamia?

— Speaking of, where are the Almonds?

Almond's explanation ended here. It was time to go back to his main job.

"Anyway, should I start cashing in the mission rewards now?"

Almond smirked and a wide smile formed on his face. Understandably so because the reward amount would've made anyone smile.

— Capitalism smile.

— That victory smile pisses me off, LOL

— I'm going to screenshot this.

— Wow... how much is all that?

A total of 2.8 million won. 2 million won came from clearing the three-star mission and 800,000 for completing it on his first try.

"Thank you to CantResist for giving the mission! I'll read the names of the others slowly as well."

[Mission Complete!]

As the mission success button was pressed, a list of the donors’ names scrolled past. It took him over five minutes to read all of them.

'Wow, 3 million won.'

He earned over 3 million won from the mission alone. Thanks to the donors congratulating him for completing it on his first try, he earned around 4 million won.

Not only that, but a heap of rewards awaited him for completing the story mode after he returned to the lobby.

[A large amount of EXP has been earned!]

[Account has reached level 7!]

First, he leveled up.

[Daily Quest Cleared!]

[4200 coins earned!]

And he earned some coins.

[A new relationship has been built with Raina!]

[Friendship -> Trust]

A new type of way to measure his relationship with Raina was formed. He didn't know its current effects, but it deepened their relationship. It wasn't over yet.

[Understanding of the legend has increased.]

[Maximum legendary understanding (★★★)]

[Raina's rolling skill has improved. Now she can stay invisible for 1 second after rolling. Cooldown 8 seconds.]

Raina's skill improved as well.

— Damn! She can stay hidden while rolling now!

— Damn.

— That's crazy.

— That's the power of three-star Raina!

— Wow shit.

Even Almond, who didn't know the game well, could tell it was a good upgrade. Turning invisible every time he rolled would make it difficult for the opponents to fight against him. There were only a handful of players in the world who earned this reward.

...

Bababam!

[You are the first to achieve this on the Korean server!]

[Check out your new honorable border and badge!]

There was only one in Korea.

— Wowwww!

— Congrats!

— Was he really the first one in Korea?!

— If it wasn't for Viking in NA, he would've been the first one worldwide. Darn!

— Wow…

— Damn…

There weren’t many rewards for being the first to complete it. He only received an honorary border and badge for cosmetic purposes to make the gameplay fair. Giving gameplay advantages to those who completed the story mode quicker would be unfair.

'But still, what a reward. This is probably enough LIL for today.'

Almond checked the time. It was 8 P.M. He had been playing for ten hours. Even though it was story mode, ten hours was a new record for Almond. He couldn't over-exhaust his body because he had a visit to the hospital the next day, but he still had to do something.

"I played for a really long time, but that's enough LIL for today. I still have to show my donation reaction though, right?"

It was the donation reaction.

[KAFfanboy has donated 1000 won.]

[Huh? Almond, but why are you turning on Battle Large? Turn on Kingdom Age instead!]

Almond was booting up

Battle Large

for his reaction.

— ??? Wow, it's true!

— What the?

— Is he done with LIL already?

— Maybe he likes the feel of real bows more.

— Is it just for the reaction? No way?!

— Breaking news: Battle Large is purely for reactions only now.