Chapter 29: I QUIT

[OPTION B CONFIRMED.]

The words hovered before Vael.

Then the pink interface vanished.

A different window appeared.

White.

Simple.

No hearts.

No jokes.

[REGRET CORRECTION SYSTEM]

Vael said nothing.

Lyria stepped closer.

"What?"

"The name changed."

Morrigan frowned.

"To what?"

Vael read it aloud.

"Regret Correction System."

For once, nobody made a joke.

The System continued.

[Host Vael Zar Astaroth reached natural end-of-life threshold with Regret Index: 99.97%.]

[Primary pattern: life experienced through domination, survival, duty, conflict, and avoidance.]

[Correction protocol selected according to missing developmental experiences.]

Vael’s eye twitched.

"So the romantic comedy was therapy?"

[Crude summary: Yes.]

"You gave me cat ears."

[Motivation architecture.]

"You made me attend a picnic."

[You enjoyed the picnic.]

"There were three thousand soldiers."

[That was not my fault.]

Morrigan folded her arms.

"I maintain that P.I.C.N.I.C. was a reasonable interpretation."

Everyone ignored her.

Vael looked back at the System.

"Why romance?"

[Romance was one category.]

Images appeared.

Mira’s hand.

Toma smiling.

The Harvest Supper.

Lyria laughing.

Morrigan at the kitchen table.

Seraphina arguing over maps.

Edran’s closed door.

[Host incorrectly interpreted affection primarily as romantic acquisition.]

Vael stared.

"You named yourself Romantic Comedy Protagonist System."

[You would have refused a Regret Correction System.]

He opened his mouth.

Closed it.

"That is manipulative."

[Correct.]

Lyria laughed under her breath.

The System continued.

[Correction threshold achieved.]

Vael waited.

No percentage appeared.

"What is my regret index now?"

[Measurement discontinued.]

"Why?"

[Because the remaining regrets should remain.]

The throne room went still.

Vael looked toward the broken throne.

"Ashfen."

[Yes.]

"The people I killed."

[Yes.]

"The things I cannot repair."

[Yes.]

Vael’s voice hardened.

"Then the System failed."

[No.]

A final line appeared.

[The objective was never to erase regret.]

[It was to teach you the difference between regretting the past and refusing to live after it.]

Vael stared at the words for a long time.

He hated them.

Which usually meant they mattered.

"So I keep it."

[Yes.]

"The guilt."

[Yes.]

"The memories."

[Yes.]

"No convenient absolution?"

[No.]

Vael exhaled.

"Good."

The System displayed the final reward.

[FINAL REWARD]

[Permanent restoration to healthy physical prime.]

[Normal mortal lifespan resumed from restored biological age.]

[Personal magical capacity retained.]

[Sovereign authority relinquished permanently.]

Vael read the lines twice.

"No immortality?"

[No.]

"No divine ascension?"

[No.]

"No eternal youth?"

[No.]

"Just a normal lifespan?"

[Yes.]

Vael looked down at his hands.

Young.

Strong.

Mortal.

It was the smallest final reward he had ever received.

It was also the only one he wanted.

The System began fading.

Vael felt sudden panic.

"Wait."

The window paused.

He had insulted it daily.

Threatened it hourly.

Tried to stab it.

Yet for months, the absurd voice had been there every morning.

"What happens to you?"

[Correction complete.]

"That does not answer the question."

[Core System will terminate.]

Vael’s chest tightened unexpectedly.

He looked annoyed because that was easier.

"You were extremely irritating."

[Affection +1.]

Vael laughed.

The System flickered.

One last message appeared.

[Live well without instructions.]

Then it vanished.

No hidden panel remained.

No sound followed.

Vael stared at empty air.

Morrigan watched his expression.

"Is it dead?"

"Gone."

"Can we kill it retroactively?"

"No."

"Pity."

Lyria came to stand beside him.

"There is still one unfinished quest," she said.

Vael instinctively looked toward the empty space where the System used to appear.

"The System is gone."

"Good."

Before he could ask what she meant, Lyria caught the front of his coat and kissed him.

Vael went completely still.

No pink window appeared.

No timer counted down.

No reward chimed.

There was only Lyria, the ruined throne behind them, and the deeply inconvenient realization that he wanted the moment to last longer.

When she pulled away, Vael remained silent for half a heartbeat too long.

Lyria narrowed her eyes. "Were you waiting for a reward?"

"No."

"Liar."

"I was verifying that the System was truly gone."

"With your eyes closed?"

Vael considered several strategic responses.

None survived contact with her expression.

"...Fine."

Lyria laughed and threaded her fingers through his.

Still no System.

Vael squeezed her hand anyway.

"We are doing this without instructions," she said.

"That seems unnecessarily dangerous."

"You’ll survive."

Vael looked at her.

For once, he hoped so.

"What now?" Lyria asked.

Vael looked toward the fortress doors.

He had no quest.

No throne.

No schedule.

No magical interface telling him whether a decision counted as progress.

For the first time in his life, no one was telling him what came next.

That should have terrified him.

Instead, it felt like an open road.

"I think I’ll open an inn."

Morrigan looked more horrified than when he abdicated.

"An inn?"

"Yes."

"You possessed seven fortresses."

"Too much maintenance."

"You commanded thirty thousand soldiers today."

"Too many complaints."

"You can reshape mountains."

"Useful for foundations."

Lyria smiled.

"What will you call it?"

Vael considered several respectable names.

Then rejected all of them.

"The Retired Demon King."

Seraphina finally lifted her pen again.

"That is the least subtle thing you’ve ever done."

"Exactly. No one will believe it."

Three months later, Vael would discover that this logic was somehow correct.