After Dolores said those words in his memories, Green had already considered the possibility that his rebirth was her doing. The probability was quite high.
Green’s memories stopped at the moment he was unknowingly poisoned by Dolores and killed by her in the flower fields of Sky City. At that time, it was impossible for Green to survive, because Dolores had stabbed him in the heart with the dagger they had found together, the one engraved with the word “Annihilation.”
That was a God-slaying weapon left over from the Mythological Era, and at that time, Green’s strength was still stuck below the Legendary rank.
Since Dolores knew he would be reborn, and since she had been planning this for decades, it was impossible for her to ignore the possibility of his revenge. Green wanted revenge, but Dolores, the object of his vengeance, seemed not to care at all.
This made Green angry and helpless, but he needed a target for his frustration. Dolores even acted as if she were doing everything for his sake. Green really couldn’t understand her true thoughts.
‘If Dolores is acting out of a desire for my well-being, then what reason could she possibly have for not discussing it with me directly? Since she knew about the rebirth, the system, and predicted all of this, why did she take it upon herself to commit such a redundant act of betrayal?’
‘Does she not realize how wicked her actions are? She has placed both herself and the current Dolores in a dangerous situation.’
Either Dolores’s feelings for him were fake, or she truly loved him. If the latter were true, the reason she committed such a foolish act had better be convincing.
‘She had better give me a reason that can persuade me. Not some simple “it’s for your own good” or some hesitant excuse claiming it was necessary when everything could have been resolved through honesty.’
Otherwise, Green would never forgive Dolores’s actions.
Since Dolores herself had allowed Green to retaliate against her like this, the last bit of moral hesitation in Green’s heart was suppressed. Perhaps Dolores’s trump card was this system; maybe she wanted to use this opportunity to be reborn.
Perhaps after her favorability was maxed out, Dolores would become the person in his memories, or she would become someone who completely loved him. Dolores had already pointed him toward the direction of the answers he sought.
Green suddenly paused and rested his hand on the sword at his waist.
“Who’s there!”
The next moment, he swung a wave of sword energy toward an alleyway, his figure flickering before appearing behind the corner of the alley.
Only the dissipating aura of magic remained in the alley; there was no sign of anyone. Green’s intimidating sword energy had accurately struck 1 meter to the right of the magic aura, carving a sharp indentation into the bricks.
300 meters away, Alberco’s hand, which was gripping the brim of her hat, trembled slightly. She panted heavily as particles of teleportation magic dissipated around her.
Even if she were caught, it wouldn’t be a big deal; she could explain herself to Green. But right now, feeling guilty, she was somewhat unwilling to appear before him. Alberco hadn’t expected Green’s perception to become so much more acute, likely due to his bath in dragon blood, but fortunately, her reactions were not slow either.
She saw Green’s updated tasks, which included the favorability quest for Dolores. Green’s actions were moving faster than she had anticipated, and it also signaled that Dolores did not have much time left.
Alberco’s heart was actually quite conflicted, a conflict that had even prevented her from appearing before Green. She truly didn’t want to be Green’s enemy, but whenever she thought of Dolores’s request, she somehow felt softened.
‘Is there really no way to have the best of both worlds… Little Flower Fish, think harder…’
But suddenly, Alberco noticed the “sincere heart” requirement in the task. Her anxious heart instantly settled down.
According to the game’s progression, the task was indeed this one. However, in the game, when Dolores reached this level of favorability, she “liked” the protagonist. The Dolores in the game had not the slightest bit of resistance toward Green.
But now it was different. Judging from Dolores’s reactions, it was basically impossible for the current Green to obtain Dolores’s “sincere heart,” let alone with the prefix of a kiss.
Green couldn’t use excessive means, such as a forced kiss, let alone making the other party say words like “I like you.” Otherwise, putting aside whether Veseryan could defeat him, the wrath of the King of Land alone was something the current Green could not withstand.
Without completing this favorability quest, Dolores’s favorability could not be raised to [Indescribable]. This was because [Indescribable] required the favorability to reach 99 and the completion of the favorability quest.
This was different from previous stages where the favorability had to arrive first before the task was given. Reaching [Indescribable] meant the conquest portion for that character was completely finished.
From then on, it would be the revenge stage. As for why there was a redundant memory portion…
Because in a game themed around revenge, so-called retaliation by no means ended once favorability was maxed. Everyone had to pay the price for their actions, whether their motives were good or bad.
Even for a child like Dolores, who betrayed him out of love, when the time came for revenge at max favorability, she had to be made to remember what she had done. Otherwise, wouldn’t the one being bullied and retaliated against simply be a doll?
Without the memories, the current conquest targets would only feel confusion and anger toward the protagonist’s wrath. Of course, this would also allow them to understand part of their past thoughts.
The causes, reasons, and motives were mostly supplemented by the three major memories: [Punishment], [Confession], and [Retrospection]. In addition, there were some special functions.
Replacing damage, increasing or decreasing sensitivity, sharing curses, and so on. But all of these had to be established on the premise that favorability reached [Indescribable].
Thinking of this, Alberco’s heart eased a bit. It was basically impossible for Green to complete this favorability quest in a short amount of time.
Not to mention, Dolores was still wearing the necklace Alberco had given her. This was enough to lock the system’s progress at 99%, as long as Dolores didn’t take it off. Her status as a princess also exempted her from the possibility of being coerced by Green, and a favorability of 80 was not enough to make her completely lose her will to resist him.
Since that was the case, she could safely go to the neighboring city to retrieve the items for Dolores. However, Alberco always felt as if she had forgotten something.
—
In the distance, Green looked at the dissipating magic traces, lost in thought.
He truly lacked the means to track magic, so he could only judge from these traces that the one watching him earlier was a person rather than a monster. To have such strength in the capital and remain so secretive—they didn’t seem like a good person no matter how he looked at it.
He moved to another spot to think, weighing that scroll of tree bark in his hand. Green opened it, and on it were densely packed words describing a certain innate curse of the elves. On it was also a familiar name.
‘Veseryan…’