170 – On the Value of Money -3-
-Reading will begin.
Olivia gently closed her eyes and heard the soothing voice of the Blue Window.
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The emotionless, firm voice of the Blue Window, always narrating stories unknown to her.
A story never seen before.
A story never experienced.
It could have been ignored, but strangely, the voice of the Blue Window was stirring Olivia’s heart.
-As a penalty for quest failure, you will read a portion (5%) of ‘The Weight of Unpayable Debt’ from the 〈66th side story〉.
┗Information will be limited.
┗You will read the final part of the story.
Eyelids slowly closing.
As the reading started, voices of many people began to fill her ears.
-…Ugh, the smell of blood.
-I knew you’d do this.
-Can you cast a buff spell?
-I will definitely kill.
People’s voices were filled with confusion and malice. There were cries and screams coming from deep dungeons, voices pouring out with malice and condemnation.
‘What is this…?’
Is it because it’s the last part of a story without a narrative? Or is it because only voices are heard?
Olivia couldn’t understand how this story would unfold.
Simply hoping that the criticism of those people wasn’t directed at her, Olivia listened to the Blue Window’s voice, writing in blue letters.
“Ricardo had many concerns about a substantial debt. It was too much money to handle alone, especially with a patient like you.”
“‘Burden’ would be the right term, wouldn’t it? Although Ricardo didn’t think so.”
“Ricardo tried. He tried to repay the debt, to protect you by his side.”
“At times, he worked at construction sites, ventured as an adventurer to the point of injury, things he had never done before.”
“But earning 1 million gold in a short year proved insufficient, and Ricardo’s worries only grew with time.”
“Ricardo became impatient and anxious. So, he began to break his own rules and act.”
“One day, strange rumors began to circulate in the empire. While you were lying in bed, unaware, the common folk spoke of a ‘red-haired demon’ murderer.”
Where the red-headed devil passed, unknown priests lay dead, their offerings emptied.
The public favored provocative content.
Leaving aside the fact that a sinner worthy of death was found where the devil had passed, they began to write malicious articles about the devil.
At some point, Ricardo’s absences grew longer, and you misunderstood, thinking Ricardo would abandon you.
Five years passed.
The weight of the unpayable debt gradually lightened, and Ricardo’s absences grew longer.
By the time you started seeing the face of the maid Ricardo hired more than Ricardo’s face.
Ricardo left you. With a bottle of potion and a substantial amount of money.
You came to resent Ricardo for leaving without a word, but as time passed, you could meet Ricardo again.
There.
You didn’t know it would be Ricardo’s last place.
As the story of the blue window came to an end, Olivia’s eyes slowly opened.
Olivia was taken aback.
She made an incomprehensible sound, as imagining hating Ricardo was unimaginable.
Why did Ricardo abandon me?
From Ricardo’s final words to everything else incomprehensible, Olivia, unable to understand a thing, let out a trembling breath.
And as her vision slowly cleared, Olivia screamed in horror.
“What is this…!”
Turning her head with a trembling voice, Olivia was stunned by the sight before her.
It was a cathedral.
A cathedral where the warmth of God lingered.
Ricardo, wiping a sword stained with thick blood, illuminated the pile of bodies and spoke in a languid voice.
-Oh… Have you come?
Ricardo’s voice was directed towards the entrance of the cathedral. Towards the many people who had come with weapons in hand.
Ricardo, looking emotionlessly at the piled bodies.
Olivia couldn’t understand the many people who had come to capture Ricardo with weapons.
Mikhail.
Uriah.
Ruin.
Royal Knights.
Many factions surrounded Ricardo, and he scratched his head awkwardly.
“It’s troublesome to have so many of you come.”
Ricardo looked very tired.
His kind eyes held a deep resolve, and his fatigued face showed nothing but exhaustion.
With his hair tied up to his shoulders, Ricardo looked like a transcendent figure, exuding an aura that even Olivia, looking beyond the illusion, felt a deep tremor from.
It was pitch black.
So deep that you couldn’t discern its depth.
Ricardo, emitting a vitality that seemed to stop breathing at the slightest gesture, smiled coldly, but as a woman slowly walked out, an awkward smile formed on his face.
“It’s you…”
A familiar voice.
A voice that had been with him all his life.
– Is this what you’re doing now?
Ricardo awkwardly smiled as he watched the woman walking among the many soldiers surrounding him.
Ricardo, displaying a sense of confusion.
Bowing his head as if he were a sinner, Ricardo spoke.
– Miss.
The person who walked up was Olivia.
Olivia, with her hair fluttering in the air by magic as she walked gracefully, lightly disregarded Ricardo’s bitter smile and said.
– Trash.
-…
– Garbage scum.
Ricardo looked at himself with a sad expression. Ricardo, without any excuses, simply smiled quietly at himself, muttering softly.
– I’m fortunate to be able to walk.
– Shut up.
– I’m glad you look peaceful.
– Peaceful? You’re causing me so much trouble because of the crap you’ve stirred up, and you call that peaceful?
-…Isn’t that right? That’s how it should be.
In the fantasy, I spoke to Ricardo.
– Why did you do that?
-…
-Abandoning me. Killing people like a madman… Why did you do that! Do you know how hard it was for me because of you?
Ricardo muttered softly as he looked up at the sky of the cathedral.
– Is the sky clear?
– What?
– It’s really disgustingly clear.
-…What are you saying?
-Even if I tell you, you probably won’t believe it, but I’ve become a target for some dangerous people.
-What… Speak clearly.
Ricardo forced a bitter smile.
Then, he smoothly drew his sword and approached everyone. As Ricardo casually waved his sword and loosened his wrist, everyone took a step back and raised their weapons.
Ricardo smiled.
– Blame me.
And he muttered softly.
– It was unavoidable to protect.
Dark energy began to emanate from Ricardo’s body.
Familiar magic.
A sticky, deeply malicious spell.
Dark magic.
As Ricardo’s sword swept through like a storm, in Olivia’s ear in the fantasy, a familiar alert rang out with a ‘ding.’
*
“Should we stop…?”
Ricardo, who had been unleashing black swordsmanship as if possessed, came to a halt in front of his own neck and stood still.
The explosively pouring swordsmanship.
The dark crimson aura.
The dense black magic also halted and remained motionless.
“…What’s going on.”
Olivia’s eyes widened.
“What… is this.”
Suddenly stopping in the middle of the battle, Olivia, who was staring blankly at Ricardo as if just waking from a dream, spoke with trembling eyes.
“Wasn’t it?”
What it wasn’t.
In Olivia’s eyes realizing what went wrong, Ricardo’s sword was visible.
Ricardo hadn’t killed anyone.
Neither Mihail nor Uria, nor the people who had spewed malicious words at him, stood without a single person being killed.
With a body covered in blood, Ricardo, with a determined expression towards himself, stood as if preparing to fall only for one person.
“Miss.”
“…It’s not you. It wasn’t you.”
For some reason in the illusion, Olivia looked at Ricardo with trembling eyes. As if realizing something unknown, she looked at Ricardo and spoke, and Ricardo smiled bitterly, lowering his head.
“Shh. However you found out, you found out too late.”
Looking at Olivia with trembling eyes, Ricardo spoke softly.
“Be a hero.”
“No…”
“It’s time for me to leave.”
*
Three days after the reading was over.
“What are you doing.”
Ricardo sat on the bed, watching Olivia attaching eyes to a teddy bear.
“Hmm?”
Olivia responded with a serious expression.
“Make money.”
“Stop it.”
“Whyeee!”
Ricardo sighed deeply, holding up a teddy bear.
“Where do people put eyes on their foreheads. And why stick them on the chest!”
“Female bear.”
“…True.”
Nodding his head, Ricardo sat next to Olivia, helped with the teddy bear, and only after hearing the scolding from the people who came to collect the teddy bears was he able to fold them.
“Ricardo, I got fired.”
From Noble mtl dot com
Olivia was laid off today as well.
thanks for the update
Interesting so far we have seen different endings each one seemingly real. Are they future events that did happen yet were somehow undone? Or different timelines that are being shared? Regardless Olivia always regrets what happned and something changes in her after Ricardo goes and what she does is left unclear. It’s clear the system is meant to help Ricardo and those around him that much is clear but who created it? Who gave it to Ricardo? Why is it helping him yet heavily focusing on Olivia in particular? Like sure it’s helped others realized their mistakes and has been shown to be harsh to Yuria but it holds nothing back with Olivia in particular I get that it’s partially because she’s the main reason our mc suffered but even then it seems to be idk personal? Sigh all that said Ricardo truly is hopeless loving and supporting someone so whole heartedly out of loyalty/ love while asking nothing in return it’s a beautiful form of devotion but damn is it painful to watch.
Every AU, Ricordo dies in a different way… I guess system window being sent by AU Ricardo and Olivia seems fitting. I was expecting Mikhail to find out about her relation to Ricardo by a system window but we still got time for that.
Thanks for the chapters!