“Riekan?” Hearing the name that came out of the human’s mouth, Valyr’s expression instantly turned into that of confusion. “But… isn’t that the name of the being you just killed?”
“That is true…” The human nodded in response. “However, the being’s name originally came from me.”
After that, the human could not help but let out a light sigh. “I had a feeling something like this would happen eventually, which was why I advised him not to do it back then. Unfortunately, he always pestered me to no end about it, so I just gave up and let him do what he wanted.”
“Of course, if you doubt my claims, you’re free to use any identification skill on me. I don’t mind.” As he heard those words come out of the human’s mouth, Valyr lightly nodded in response as a light blue haze appeared around his eyes soon after.
Ding!
From the aura emanated by the human earlier, Valyr knew that the thing he would mostly see on the screen that appeared in front of him would be question marks. After all, for him to beat Riekan, who was already Level 40 at that time, without even needing to move a finger, he was certain that he was at least Level 75, perhaps even higher.
Nevertheless, that did not bar him from being able to see the man’s name, which only left him at a loss for words, looking back at the human with his mouth slightly agape.
————
[Riekan the Enlightened One] (Level ???)
HP: ???/???
MP: ???/???
Stats: ???
Remarks: You’re lucky you’re on his good side.
————
Seeing the expression on Valyr’s face, Riekan let out a peal of laughter as he opened his mouth soon after. “I told you so.”
Awkwardly smiling in response to the words said to him, Valyr closed the screen in front of him as he lightly scratched his head, multiple thoughts coursing through his mind. After a moment of silence, he stood up, slung the bag he carried around his chest, and made the decision to move closer to where Riekan sat.
Seeing that Valyr was moving closer to him, Riekan could not help but smile widely, nodding in satisfaction as the former eventually sat a fair distance away from him not long after. Though Valyr went silent once more after that, Riekan knew that the man in front of him was thinking of questions to ask him, so he allowed him to be alone in his thoughts.
Eventually, Valyr found a suitable question to ask Riekan after the two seemingly basic questions he had asked earlier, shifting the topic to things regarding the dungeon. “Who is Riekan? Of course, I’m not pertaining to you.”
“Well, if you’ve been listening to what I’ve been saying earlier while I ‘fought’ against Riekan, then you would already have a greater idea of who he really is.” Nodding in response to the question, Riekan opened his mouth to answer. “Long story short, Riekan was a goblin I decided to teach sometime in the past. I noticed how would stare at me while watching me fight against monsters, so I asked him if he wanted to learn. Naturally, he said yes.”
“At first, our relationship was that of teacher and student, but as time passed, I considered Riekan as a brother of sorts.” As he said these words, Riekan could not help but let out a light sigh. “I don’t know if Riekan felt the same way as I did during that time, but I was certain that he idolized me, wanting to reach the same level of power I’ve achieved at that time.”
“Unfortunately, his lust for power overtook his rationality, causing him to accept the temptations of the underworld.” Riekan’s expression turned slightly grim. “Without hesitation, he went on a genocide to fulfill the deals he had made, slaughtering both innocent civilians and goblins alike, just so he could become my equal someday… or so he told me back then.”
“At that point, knowing that I was partly to blame for that incident, I went ahead and created an artificial dungeon to seal him in.” He took in a deep breath before letting out a sigh.
“The main reason why this dungeon was built was to sever the connections Riekan had made with the underworld, which did eventually happen. However, just as I was about to give what remained of my friend a proper farewell at that time, the side effects of the deals he made had finally erupted, causing a great portion of his lifespan to be robbed from him as my friend transformed into a vengeful spirit in front of my eyes.”
“That vengeful spirit was the Riekan I had killed earlier,” Riekan said, looking at Valyr with a slightly forlorn expression. “I was hoping a part of him would reappear at the very end, but alas…”
“I apologize for asking.” After listening to Riekan’s explanation, Valyr felt the need to apologize to the man, thinking that he had inadvertently brought up bad memories for the man. In response to the apology, Riekan shook his head before letting out a long sigh.
“You don’t have to apologize. What’s done has already been done.” Saying these words, Riekan sighed once more before trying to dispel the somber atmosphere surrounding the two of them, only being partly successful in doing so. Nevertheless, he told Valyr to ask him any other questions he had in mind, which the latter eventually did after sometime.
“Does the dungeon serve another purpose aside from what you’ve mentioned earlier?” Valyr asked soon after. “After all, you did give me a skill book and a chance to obtain some incredibly powerful items. If you hadn’t told me about the reason why you built the dungeon in the first place, I would’ve continued to think this dungeon was an inheritance.”
“But it is,” replied Riekan with a light smile, which only served to increase the confusion Valyr felt towards the dungeon he had just delved. At that moment, thoughts of whether the dungeon was an inheritance or a prison was all discarded in Valyr’s mind, deciding to just focus on what Riekan had to say instead.
“While I was in the midst of building this dungeon, I’ve become acquainted with a man that came from a village quite a decent distance away from where I was building,” Riekan explained soon after.
“Although he told me why he was in such an out of place village was due to the fact he was its leader, he and I eventually became great friends, with my dungeon being finished around a few years later.”
“Though he eventually died of old age since he could not ascend through the ranks quickly enough, he asked me if I could help his daughter, the one he elected to be village leader after him, achieve what he couldn’t.” As he reminisced through these memories, a light smile could not help but adorn his face.
“Naturally, I agreed, telling him that I was willing to give his daughter a subclass I’ve been making that would allow her to do just that. Of course, his daughter is the destined one I’ve been mentioning to you in our brief conversations earlier.”
At that moment, Valyr felt like all of the questions in his mind regarding the dungeon and the village had been more or less answered. From why the dungeon was so close to the village, to how the dungeon was connected to the village, all of it had been answered thanks to Riekan’s explanation.
𝑜𝐕𝓵xt.𝗰𝞸𝐦
The only thing left for him to find out was the identity of the destined one.
Though he already had his ideas as to who it was thanks to knowledge he had about the village beforehand, Valyr decided to ask the question anyway. “Who’s the destined one exactly?”
“And here I thought you’d never ask.” Riekan chuckled in response. “For one to be privy to this dungeon’s location, one would have to come from that man’s village. If I remember correctly, he said it was called Astarto Village.”
“You come from there, right?” He looked at Valyr as he asked, to which Valyr nodded in response.
“Well, the destined one to clear this dungeon and receive my inheritance is actually none other than the current leader of your village.” Hearing these words come out of Riekan’s mouth, Valyr was expecting to hear a name he was familiar with. But instead…
An entirely different name came out.
“If my memory serves me right, her name’s Veriona Astarto.”