I’m Not the Final Boss’ Lover - Chapter 184: Late To Regret

Fabian wasn’t like his usual aloof self. Even when he had awakened his abilities during an incident, he had settled the situation with equilibrium. A dungeon had opened near their village and the escaped fellspawn attacked the villagers. Like a man who knew the future, he never lost his cool easily. It was because of that unshakeable composure that Decca came to trust and follow his childhood friend.

Fabian had been the same as usual until just before arriving in the capital and going to the performance report meeting. And yet… he had looked like a man possessed when he was recklessly trying to push past the crowd. Was he feeling burdened by the mistakes he made before the emperor earlier? That wasn’t becoming of him either, but Decca felt it was understandable. He thought it was his duty as the vice-captain to help Fabian get a grip in moments like this. And so, he did his best to give words of comfort.

“Is it because of the mistakes you made in front of His Imperial Majesty? Don’t mind it too much. So long as we keep working hard to close dungeons, today’s blunders won’t mean a thing anyway.”

Regardless of Decca’s efforts, the dazed look in Fabian’s eyes didn’t go away. His vice-captain’s sincere attempt at consoling him passed through one ear and went out the other. Fabian tried to capture the gray afterimage lingering before his eyes, wondering if he had truly seen her. But she… The support mage he had come across by chance in a dungeon. Although she wasn’t particularly useful, Fabian had been in dire need of company. That was how Jun Karentia had joined his expedition corps.

Unexpectedly, it turned out that Jun held a great deal of information. Secrets of dungeons that Fabian and the regular corps members didn’t know of. Jun explained that she had gained this information through a support skill. But if all support mages had such an ability, surely they would have higher prestige compared to now? He assumed it was a unique ability of hers.

At the time, Fabian had believed that his meeting with her was fate. A revelation from God that he was the chosen one to slay the demon lord. That was why he could meet a helper like Jun.

His belief was unshakeable until he entered the demon lord’s castle and pierced through the evil king’s chest with his sword. After barely managing to defeat the demon lord, the cunning fiend revealed its sinister designs. Everything was engulfed in light and, a blink later, all that Fabian had achieved disappeared like a mirage. He had returned to the past.

Forced to go back in time, Fabian pondered over the mistakes he had made in the first playthrough as well as how he should act from that point on. And so Fabian corrected his mistakes, one by one.

And Jun was included in the list.

She was very helpful to him, but Fabian didn’t believe she would be of any use in the second playthrough too. He knew the future now, after all. Of course, Jun was a rather skilled support mage, and her spells did prove to be of decent help. But Fabian judged that the level of her ability was replaceable by adding a moderately skilled attacker or defender. Moreover, Jun was too greedy for an elite position in the corps. Although she was loyal, her strong desire for fame and rise in stature was a strain on him. While he might have kept her by his side in the past because of the information she had… Fabian concluded that it would be better to recruit another attacker instead. Tragula, for example…

Thus, he abandoned Jun in the knowledge that she could die without his rescue. As comrades who had braved death together many times, it was a heartbreaking choice to make, but an inevitable one nonetheless.