BXBX NOVEL Chapter 372: She Who Atoned
"Really...?"
Her eyes gradually turned to the bead that was on the table.
- Tap, tap...
Ruby, who had been staring intently at the beads, cautiously extended her finger to poke it.
"I-It’s soft."
The bead was indeed soft. It felt oddly addictive, like touching pudding or jelly.
"Just before he fell to corruption, I extracted his soul and turned it into a bead. I\'ve been hiding it until now."
"R-Really...?""Of course not, you idiot."
With those words, Ferloche quietly got up from her seat.
"Anyway, now that I\'ve given you the bead, my job is done."
"Wait. Why did you give this to me...?"
Grabbing desperately onto her sleeve, Ruby asked.
"In case you regress further, you\'ll need support.”
"Ah..."
“Unlike me, who has limited mental strength, your mental strength is at the maximum value... but just because your mind is intact doesn’t mean everything will be solved.”
Exhausted from the prolonged regression, Ruby nodded quietly and agreed with her point.
"And there are other uses too... but you might have already figured that out."
"Huh?"
"Congratulations. You\'ve finally succeeded in conquering one of us."
"...?"
Ruby tilted her head at Ferloche\'s meaningful words, then she opened her mouth.
[Soul Bead Collection (2/6)]
Could it be... everything I\'ve done so far was just part of a quest?
The result of her hard work and effort was one of Frey’s soul beads, given to her by Ferloche.
To obtain that one bead, Ruby had spent a long time gathering information and practicing soul manipulation.
Then, what did she have to do to obtain the other four beads?
No, it might be surprisingly easy.
Thinking that explaining her intentions and asking for the beads might make things easier, Ruby started to feel excited.
"Swallow Frey\'s soul bead before regressing. By merging your souls like that, it won\'t be affected by the regression."
"T-then... Frey will also remember..."
"He\'ll be fine since he is in the form of a soul bead. Before you completely digest him after the regression, just take him out again in the form of a bead, just like I did."
"... Thank you."
Then, she looked at Ferloche leaving the inn and gave her gratitude.
"Even if you thank me, your regression life isn\'t over yet~"
"Yeah..."
"Oh, and!"
"Huh?"
Just as Ferloche was about to leave, she exclaimed loudly, causing Ruby who was reaching out to the bead with trembling eyes to withdraw her hand.
"Don\'t do anything weird with the bead, okay?"
"..."
"Oh, and... since I’m going to be exiled anyway, I thought I\'d share an interesting fact with you."
"An... interesting fact?"
"To fuel your spirit of challenge."
Ruby, nodding involuntarily at Ferloche\'s somewhat chilly tone, tilted her head at her word.
"Listen well, okay?"
Then Ferloche spoke with a smile.
- Flap Flap…
And behind Ferloche, Gugu quietly soared through the sky, unnoticed by anyone.
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"This is all... the path you\'ve walked."
Since leaving the inn, Ruby\'s frequency of gazing at the trembling bead in her hand with a tender gaze has noticeably increased.
"Frey, how much did you love me..."
- Rumble...?
"Even if I regress countless times, can I surpass your love and devotion?"
It was because Ruby had heard speculation about how many times Frey had regressed so far, and about the truth behind the bizarre situation unfolding now.
"Maybe I can\'t surpass it?"
The ‘Ordeals’ were conducted under the supervision of the \'Path of False Evil\' system, testing the limits of a hero.
According to Ferloche, the strange occurrences happening now were most likely because reality has been affected by the \'Ordeal\'.
Of course, Ruby had already somewhat anticipated this.
The fact that she had been given a \'Retry\', and the inevitable exile that Ferloche, along with Glare and Roswyn, couldn\'t escape, indicated that the world was artificially manipulated.
"I resent my past self so much, Frey."
But there was a crucial point.
The Ordeals were based on events from the \'past\'.
That meant there had been similar events to what was happening now.
"Even if I think of this as the price I paid for tormenting you for eons, this is nothing."
Indeed. According to Ferloche\'s words, the situations Ruby had experienced so far seemed to be reenactments of what Frey had already endured to save her.
Suddenly encountering mysterious quests, achieving only 2/6 of the first quest\'s unkind conditions, all of it seemed highly likely to be events Frey had already faced to save her.
There was no evidence, of course, but at least Ruby chose to believe so.
- Smooch...♡
- Rumble…!
And since that realization, Ruby\'s love for Frey only grew several times more.
"I love you, Frey."
- Rumble…
"Even if only your soul remains. Forever."
Taking every opportunity to take out the Frey’s soul bead and caress it with a gaze full of genuine love, constantly whispering sweet nothing to it.
- Slurp…
And occasionally, after checking her surroundings, she secretly stole a kiss on the bead secretly, it was all because of her growing love.
"F-Frey. It\'s winter... Are you cold? You seem to be shivering... Then..."
When she was blushing furiously while putting the bead into her cleavage.
"Frey, I can\'t forget the times we drank wine together at the party."
Or when she wore her party attire and delicately dipped the bead into the glass of wine in front of her, and stared at it intently as she drank her wine as if Frey was sitting in front of her.
"Hauuuu..."
Or when she put the trembling bead to her own stomach...
"While doing this... I remember the time you hit me like crazy."
- Rumble…
"I’m starting to forget... The sensation of your fist hitting my belly."
Sometimes she crossed the line, but it was inevitable.
She had long since shed her identity as the Demon King and became a girl.
Moreover, a girl who had just discovered love.
"... Frey, today is a somewhat special day."
So, after separating from Ferloche, Ruby spent time with Frey’s soul bead for several months.
Then, one day, when spring had just arrived, she brought up the topic with a determined expression.
"I guess it\'s time to stop resting. You wouldn\'t have had a refuge like this. It\'s unfair that only I am this happy."
- Rumble...!
Then, Ruby removed the accessories and stickers she had attached to Frey\'s soul bead, softly kissing the bead as she whispered.
"Just wait a little, Frey. I\'ll return you to your original state."
I have something I want to discuss regarding Frey.
From her hand, four letters were fluttering in the spring breeze.
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"..."
"Uh, um..."
The atmosphere was tense.
"Everyone..."
"Do you expect us to believe that?"
Except for Ferloche, the four main heroines gathered in one place and listened after receiving Ruby\'s letter.
Kania, Irina, Clana, and Serena.
"Are you telling me to give you this bead, which is the last means to remember the Young Master?”
"How can we trust you? Do you not remember what you\'ve done so far? The mocking expression as you poured out all your magical power is still vivid in my mind."
“Who was it that sacrificed me in the previous cycle?”
"... Get lost."
They were glaring at Ruby with cold and wary eyes.
"I-I’m sorry... No, I mean... that\'s..."
Cold sweat began to trickle down Ruby\'s forehead.
The intense killing intents were directed towards her.
"T-This is Frey\'s soul, you know...? If we combine this with all of your beads and feed it to him..."
"Young Master’s soul?"
"I knew it. It was your scheme after all."
"You corrupted Frey, didn\'t you? There’s no other explanation.”
"..."
For some reason, the atmosphere among the four heroines wasn\'t quite right.
Why was that?
Despite having become friends at least once in countless past cycles.
She had thought that getting close again to obtain the beads would be a piece of cake.
But the moment she demanded the beads in this cycle, everyone had turned hostile, as if they were completely different people.
“Let’s take that soul bead.”
"S-Serena."
"Are we close? Why are you calling me by my name?"
Even Serena, who was the first to understand the situation and had been nagging her advice to death like Ferloche, was now looking at her with hostility.
"... Are you all ready?"
"W-Wait."
The main heroines were trying to kill her.
...If we fight, I\'ll win.
Quietly observing the four heroines approaching her with cold expressions, Ruby thought to herself.
Once I overpower them all here and get the beads, I\'ll feed them to Frey.
It was a valid plan.
In the last cycle, she had already raised her combat power to the level where she could confront Frey one-on-one after countless regressions and constant research.
With no Frey present, it would be a piece of cake to subdue the four heroines.
...No.
However, instead of moving her fingers, Ruby quietly squeezed her hand and grabbed the soul bead.
- Rumble...
I can\'t do something like that.
A feeling of guilt was holding her back. It was an emotion she couldn\'t have imagined feeling in her past self.
But with each regression, Ruby had begun to keenly feel the emotion of guilt as she watched the people around her who had accumulated relationships and memories with her forget everything.
Regression meant the death of the people she had been with.
Fortunately, Retry was an ability that affected not only her, but the entire world. If it hadn\'t been for that, Ruby wouldn\'t have been able to endure it.
- Shaa…
"Ugh."
Kania\'s dark mana and Serena\'s lunar mana corroded Ruby\'s body.
The unpleasant and terrifying dark energy and sharp, tingling poison encroach on her body.
- Crackle...!!!
"Ugh."
A punch filled with Clana\'s solar mana struck her chest.
"Aaargh...!!"
Irina\'s flames engulfed Ruby along with her clothes.
"..."
Even in such agony, Ruby clenched her eyes shut and endured the pain. As the attacks from the four began to subside, she staggered and sank to the ground.
- Rustle
Then she lay flat on the floor while bleeding from her mouth and eyes. Despite the agonizing pain, she was still holding on to the soul bead in her grasp.
"I\'m... sorry."
Laying on the ground with her skin burnt, her whole body was exposed,
“I… apologize to you all.”
Ruby apologized with tears streaming down her eyes.
"..."
"As much as I have tormented you until now... Please torment me until you\'re satisfied..."
As the four girls looked at each other with frowns at Ruby\'s appearance, she added, grinding her forehead against the ground.
Retry Quest
[1 - 03]
[Atone to His Wives (0/4)]
[Atone to His Knights, And Your Kin (0/2)]
[Atone to His Family (0/2)]
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Immediately after that, a system window quietly floated in front of her.
"Help System."
After confirming those phrases, Ruby quietly called upon the Help System, something she hadn\'t used in a long time.
"What is the nature of the first stage?"
She had already learned through questions that there were fewer than three stages to the quest.
Now, if she could almost guess the nature of the first stage, she might be able to learn something she hadn\'t known before due to her lack of power.
The identity of the first stage is your ‘retribution.\'
"Ah..."
After a moment, as expected, the Help System came up with an answer, and Ruby sighed.
Face your retribution with sincerity.
"Do you think... we’ll forgive you so easily?"
"...The citizens, we can still hear Ariane\'s wails..."
"We cannot forgive you. Leave."
She had fallen, and it was time for her to be weighed down by the karma for every misdeed she had committed so far.
"I don\'t seek forgiveness..."
"..."
"So, please just do it."
Realizing that and answering with a trembling voice, Ruby felt the warmth emanating from Frey\'s soul bead that was still shaking in her hand.
I love you, Frey.
If it was to save Frey.
She would gladly be crushed as much as needed.
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"Haah, haah..."
"Hmm."
Somewhere, there was a panting sound like a puppy.
Was Ruby licking me again? Or was she pressing me against her stomach again?
I hoped she would do it in moderation.
"Please, please... Please let this succeed... Please......"
While having such thoughts, the words coming through sounded a bit unsettling.
"I don\'t know how many times I\'ve failed... There are various ways to feed the bead... This is the last method I can think of..."
Ruby\'s voice sounded as if it would be extinguished at any moment.
Where had I heard such a voice before?
The most similar voice that came to mind was mine from the Third Ordeal and Retry Ferloche\'s voice.
Could it be that she was also nearing her limit?
Hmm...
When I opened my eyes, I would know.
"If I fail this time too... What should I do? I can\'t do it anymore... My soul can\'t endure it... No, wait. I haven\'t done it as much as Frey yet. I have to somehow until then..."
"...Excuse me."
"Huh, huh?"
I opened my eyes to see Ruby pressing her cheek against mine with a desperate expression.
"...Frey."
Looking at her like, my mind started to blur.
Why?
Is it the side effect of just having my soul returned? Or am I also being affected by the Fourth Ordeal, like the main heroines?
Well, I will find out later.
"Frey!!! A-Are you back? Really? Is it really youuu...!? Y-You finally came back for real?"
"..."
"I-It’s me! Ruby!! Yo-Your..."
It seemed it wouldn’t be long before I had to assess her actions as the protagonist of the Fourth Ordeal.
Retry Quest
[2 - 01]
[Recover Frey\'s Memories]
"Who are you?"
"...What."
[Retry points are being reassigned.]