I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover Vol. 1 (novel): I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover, #1

ACT 1: GIVEN A SECOND CHANCE, EVEN DOGS WOULD CHANGE OWNERS

Ihad been betrayed.

The second I realized this, blood rushed to my head, making my temples throb. Betrayed. Backstabbed by the very man I had devoted my heart and soul to for so long. I never imagined I'd be the protagonist of a 'dedicated partner being deserted' trope. After all I suffered, all I sacrificed to turn Fabian Corps into the best expedition team, this was my reward.

Fabian only managed to assemble a decent expedition corps under his command thanks to me. I provided him with quality information and scouted talents for his corps. With the help of my support magic, he and his subordinates cleared dungeons and leveled up with ease. When crisis fell upon them, I sacrificed my left arm and saved them all.

At first, so long as Fabian appreciated what I did, I didn't care whether my efforts were acknowledged. Even as I got mocked by the others, I hadn't cared. For Fabian, and for him alone, I had endured being called a dog and labeled as a support mage who curried favor. And yet all I got in return for my efforts was abandonment, even though he knew I’d die if he didn’t come to rescue me. I knew I had to feign calmness as much as I could, but it wasn’t easy to refrain from displaying any emotion. Even worse, only Fabian and I were aware of my past devotion.

My thoughts were interrupted and I remembered that we weren't the only ones who knew. Have you made up your mind?

I was so dizzy that, for a moment, I forgot about that man. He radiated such a presence that it was a miracle I even forgot about him. That beast was also somewhat aware of what had happened between me and Fabian.

Mayer Knox. The descendant of a hero, the sole grand duke, the Dark Knight, the strongest swordsman... The man of many titles was the one who had enlightened me about Fabian’s betrayal and drove me to a dead-end. Now he was busy whispering honeyed words of temptation to my ears. He was also the one who saved me from the clutches of death, instead of Fabian, who had abandoned me.

I shall ask you once more, Jun Karentia. Will you join my expedition corps, the Dark Knights? he asked, his low-pitched voice paralyzing me. His words resounded throughout our surroundings like the strike of a hammer on iron. Superficially, it seemed like he was giving me a choice, but that wasn’t the case at all. The mere pressure of that knowledge made the inside of my mouth dry.

I wanted to escape, but there was nowhere to run; I was inside the Dark Knights’ camp. There was nothing around me that wasn’t of the highest quality, be it the material of the tent or the array of furniture. Everything lived up to the standards required of the title of grand duke. But Mayer Knox outshone everything else. His black hair resembled a lion's mane while his unblinking eyes seemed to have been carved with a knife. Despite being impressively handsome, his aura made it impossible to appreciate his appearance. Covered in black armor, he seemed carved from black steel, true to his fame as a dark knight.

In short, he was like a fortress, impregnable to any word I might say. Truly a formidable one.

Mayer had been bestowed the title of grand duke at a young age. After the fellspawn invasion began, portal gates appeared throughout the empire. He had been the first and strongest swordsman to enter a gate. And yet, right now he seemed anxious, unlike his usual self. Was it because I wasn’t answering his proposal with an immediate nod?

Why are you agonizing over it so much? It is not a bad option; in fact, it is the best option you have. I cannot, for the life of me, comprehend why you are rejecting it, he said, his tone urging me to accept his proposition. And he was right. Everyone wished to join his acclaimed expedition corps, the Dark Knights. Be it before or after Fabian’s debut, they had occupied the number one seat in the rankings for a long time. 

However, I wasn’t willing to accept his offer. This man was the core of the demon lord, the true final boss of this game I possessed my way into. The true final boss, or the real final boss—whatever the name, the meaning was the same. He was the strongest enemy that the player would encounter in the end, regardless of whether they were evil or good. The ultimate boss. 

This world that I had unwittingly transmigrated into was an RPG game called ‘The Sacred War’. The title wasn't the only feature that evoked nostalgia; the story was also a very classical trope. The goal was to defeat the demon lord, who was hell-bent on dominating the world. It was unbelievable how a game released in 2020 came with a plot like this. Granted, playability mattered more in a game than the story.

In an attempt to take over the world, the demon lord created dungeons around the continent. They were dangerous locations that were connected to the Demon Realm. The player helped the protagonist—Fabian—in recruiting allies and clearing dungeons. One of those recruitable allies was the person I was possessing, Jun Karentia. A support mage in her mid-twenties, with gray hair and cat-shaped scarlet eyes. She was my favorite character in The Sacred War. Of course, that didn’t mean I wanted to become her. It still eluded me how I ended up transmigrating into the game and possessing Jun.

Back home, the demon lord had been advertised as the final boss, the last hurdle the player had to cross to reach the end. In truth, that was only for the first playthrough of the game, because the demon lord was, in fact, a fake. A figurehead.

Once the player defeated the 'final boss', it would become enraged and go berserk. The player would then witness a hollow ending where the demon lord used his hidden core to turn back time. Of course, that wasn’t the end. The game had a feature very common within games of the latest generation: a hidden ending. To see that ending, the player had to begin a second playthrough. After playing the story a second time with the same characters, the player would fight the demon lord. From that point on, the plot would branch out and take a different route.

The former rival of the protagonist, Dark Knight Mayer Knox, would then appear in the castle. The player would then learn that Mayer was the core of the demon lord. To be rid of the demon lord’s curse that slumbered in his blood, the duke would slay the king of evil. However, there was an unexpected factor in all this. Once the demon lord died, Mayer would absorb all his power. Consumed by the vast demonic energies, he would then become the new lord of the demons and go berserk.

Only by killing Mayer Knox would the player be able to see the true ending.

Therefore, joining the Dark Knights meant being booted straight out of the main story. Also, once Mayer turned into the demon lord, his corps would most likely be persecuted. They would probably be captured as demonic minions and I didn't want to be involved in any of that. My goal was to live a glorious retired life in the peaceful era after the demon lord's demise. For that, I had to fight alongside the champion, kill the final boss, then reap the benefits. Even if joining the champion's party wasn't possible anymore, I couldn't abandon my plan.

Despite the bitterness I felt from Fabian's betrayal, I couldn't just join Mayer's team. While his offer seemed like a shining golden rope of deliverance, it would soon turn into a rotten thread. My situation was already bad enough. Mayer's appearance only worsened it, giving me a headache and making cold sweat run down my cheeks. I had to decline his offer no matter what. The question was: how? The duke did not seem like a person who would back down easily. He was still staring at me with a fierce gaze, his golden eyes sparkling with determination. He would have me join his expedition corps by any means necessary.

Why was Mayer Knox so hell-bent on having me join the Dark Knights?

Jun Karentia was the only mage in the game that only used support magic. She had no offensive, defensive, or healing spells in her arsenal. Among all the players of ‘The Sacred War’, there was no one who didn’t consider Jun a filler party member. There was a time when I had hoped that things in this world would be different from my reality. Mages were revered in this world, so I naively thought that even a support mage wouldn’t be received too badly. Looking back, it had been wishful thinking.

The players weren't the only ones disdaining support mages. Being a support mage was enough for my family to disregard me. People questioned why I had been included in Champion Fabian’s expedition corps. Even the other members of the corps gave me the stink-eye, their gazes full of doubt. Back then, it had still been somewhat bearable. The humiliation was brief and their appraising gazes were meaningless to me. I remember thinking then how everything would be reset once the playthrough ended. At that time, all that mattered was having Fabian’s appreciation. As a playable avatar, Fabian began the second playthrough with memories of the first. Mayer Knox retained his memories as well, but only because he was the demon lord’s core. I was the only exception, being a transmigrated person.

Then, Fabian had once again set out to gather comrades to help him defeat the demon lord. Of course, those who were useless during the first playthrough were not chosen by him. By the start of the second playthrough, I didn’t consider Fabian’s choice something for me to worry about. Naturally, he would recruit me on the second playthrough… or so I had mistakenly believed.

I can’t even imagine leaving you out of the expedition, Jun. I need your help to defeat the demon lord, Fabian had whispered, only to abandon me in the end. His absence at the promised rendezvous point in this iteration was proof of his betrayal. We'd agreed to meet inside the dungeon where we first met. That dungeon was located near a village I was staying in at the time, and it had burst open. The villagers then panicked and tossed the only mage available—me—inside as a shield. I had lashed out at them. What do you expect a support mage to do alone? Don’t you people know the meaning of support? 

In short, I had become a human sacrifice. At that point, it hadn't been long since I entered the world with it still in the first playthrough. I hadn't had the time to figure out my situation yet. I had struggled, face bathed in tears, to no avail—I got thrown into the dungeon anyway. Meeting Fabian in there had been a stroke of good luck, otherwise, I would’ve died right after possessing Jun.

This could be why I had devoted myself to Fabian and thought of him as my lifeline. I was able to face the second playthrough with more resolution than I had during the first time. When the villagers decided to throw me in the dungeon again, I didn't put up much resistance. I was certain that Fabian would come to my rescue. Had I known it would’ve been like that, I would’ve never gone in. Who’d be mad enough to challenge a dungeon alone? I could only regret it in silence now as I bit on my lower lip. Sure, he already had all the information I could provide him so he was done with me. Still, couldn’t he at least have come to save me? Even if I was too useless to have as a comrade, he could’ve… Even though he knew my situation better than anyone else...

Had it not been for Mayer Knox, I would’ve died in that dungeon while waiting for Fabian. Died without even knowing why he hadn’t come. I would’ve assumed he was being held up by something. Dungeon raiding was a political matter, after all. Since Mayer had entered the dungeon I was in, it meant only one thing: Fabian had given up on the raid. And there was only one reason why Fabian would give up on a raid: he had found a more profitable one. A dungeon where he stood to gain more by raiding it than saving me. And, most likely, the one he went to was the Ignota Dungeon.

Ignota was one of the dungeons that opened around the same time as the dungeon I was thrown in. By raiding Ignota, one could acquire a Ring of Flames—a very important item to Fabian, a flame mage. Since he could only choose one, he had given up on saving me.

I hadn’t even lost to a person; I lost to a ring. 

This was pathetic. As the saying went, you never know what’ll happen in life...

Life in a game world was proving to be no different than life in the reality I knew. Who would’ve thought that, of all the expedition corps that could show up, Mayer Knox would be the one to rescue me? Truth be told, I was shocked when I spotted him. I was grateful that he saved me, but his offer to join his squad was a separate matter. That suspension bridge effect ¹? I gave my heart away once because of it, and once was already too many.

I wetted my lips before saying, First, thank you for rescuing me, Your Excellency. Were it not for your assistance earlier, I would’ve died to that cyclops.

…First, you say. You do not seem much inclined toward my offer. Mayer raised a brow, seeming unsatisfied by my response. He immediately hit the bullseye. I gave him a very innocent smile, put on a troubled expression, and scratched my chin sheepishly. It would've been so nice had he just played along and forgotten about the offer... Alas, he was proving to be more persistent than I’d expected.

Light footsteps, casting magic upon sighting a monster... As someone so versed in dungeon tactics, you have no thoughts of joining an expedition corps? And you expect me to believe that? he questioned, staring at me so intensely, sweat beaded my forehead. Had he been watching me the entire time I was fumbling to get away from the cyclops? But I didn’t even sense his gaze!

Chills ran down my spine. I hadn't felt like this even as I was trapped in the dungeon and had a monster on my heels. That's, well... I'm a support mage.

How is that a problem? he interjected.

But you don’t even know my skills, Your Excellency! I retorted. After rescuing me from the cyclops, Mayer had immediately summoned me to his tent. Then, he proceeded to doggedly persuade me to join his corps. Ha! What a joke. Did he think the Dark Knights just had to act overbearing and people would suck it up and join?

Then again, some people would do that.

As I racked my brains, trying to think of a way to dissuade him, Mayer seemed to also be deep in his thoughts. He rubbed his chin for a moment before saying, Fine, I admit I was impatient.

I couldn't restrain the delight I felt at his retreat and my face involuntarily displayed it. I quickly covered my elated expression with an awkward smile, trying to show him how sorry I was. Haha… Well, I’m thankful that you’d consider giving such a good opportunity to a support mage like me, but—

Very well, he cut me off. Let us have another talk after I take a look at your skills. After all, we have yet to finish raiding the dungeon.

After that, Mayer sent me out of his tent so abruptly, his earlier persistence seemed like an illusion. And yet, I was convinced he was never going to let me escape. I trudged out with heavy footsteps, determined to lay low. How I would dissuade him from recruiting me, I didn't know yet, but I had to hide my skills as best I could.

I was doomed.

A while later,