Fred's Son Rescue (3)

"Tch."

He kept attacking me with his tiger weapon. It bothered me a bit. In addition, I heard the sound of falling rocks, the possibility of this cave will be destroyed due to the attack that only hits the rock.

"Why? I've only used 1 Heirloom, but you're already overwhelmed."

Maybe he saw me like someone who was panicking, that's why he said that. But actually, I'm not panicking right now. I'm currently worried as to whether Fred and his son have made it out of here or not.

My goal here is complete, saving Fred's son. But because I have another goal, wanting to find the treasure of the black lizard, I am stuck here and keep looking here and there. That's why I had a panicked look in his eyes.

"You chose the wrong opponent. You shouldn't have come here when I've become strong."

He arrogantly said that to me.

"Yes."

I just said yes, but his expression changed, turned into anger.

"You're belittling me? If that's the case, I'll show you this power of mine."

He paused after saying that, gathering something from his weapon. And strangely enough, I saw it instead without any desire to run away.

What's this? Does he want to attack me with his ultimate attack?

Something tugged there, between his arms that were wearing the weapon. It was the wind, the wind that rippled and swirled between the gaps of his weapon.

He suppressed the wind with his right hand, then prepared to do something.

"Come, Wind-"

Before he could do anything, I threw the ax at his feet, making him fall and fall to the ground.

As I was about to approach him, an explosion occurred there. It likely came from the wind he had gathered together, and it exploded automatically the moment it hit the ground.

"Shit... You're cheating."

I don't think I'm cheating on this, but why is he saying that as if I cheated?

"No, I was just preventing something. I don't know what you were doing, that's why I threw my ax at your feet."

"That's cheating!"

"Hah? Cheat? It's a fight, and you're saying it's cheating? Listen, if you fight 10 people, and you do that, you're killed. Therefore, thank me for not killing you, only injuring your leg."

He needed time to gather the wind. It was clear he was caught off guard when he did so. He's wrong to say cheat in this case, so it's not me cheating.

Humans are so easy to take advantage of something without you knowing it. Therefore, don't let yourself be caught off guard.

And I was careless.

He stood up and limped over to it, grabbed something from it, then tied his injured leg with a shawl. After that, his feet were covered in something gold, they looked like boots but were gold.

"I am forced to use this Heirloom."

After he said that, briefly smirking at me, he disappeared.

"Wuaah… Did he run away?"

Even though I say that I still feel his presence here, circling, circling around this place.

I walked leisurely, looking left and right, looking for treasure to exchange for cigarettes later, then suddenly he came back and was about to attack me from behind.

I realized that immediately looked down and turned around, then hit him so hard in the stomach that he bounced up.

Falling to the ground, he briefly lost consciousness, then got up and looked at me.

"H-How did you notice me? Even though my running speed is fast."

"You are the one who chose the wrong opponent, lowly being. I have high reflexes, don't think that disappearing like that can hurt me."

"Fuck you, you are so arrogant to be human. Even though you're only Class E, and I'm Class B and got the power of this Heirlooms, but why… why am I still getting injured?"

"Isn't that obvious? You are weaker than me."

"... What did you say? Am I weaker than you? No kidding!"

"It's not that it's been proven. See, you can't attack me, even though you've already used those two Heirlooms."

"Fucking..."

"Now, I have a choice for you. Tell me where your treasure is, or you want to die at my hands. Select which one?"

"Don't be arrogant human!"

He ran towards me, disappeared a few times, and then reappeared once he was in front of me.

Since I already know about it, he will get angry and try to attack me again, I have prepared my breath to flow to my left leg.

Kicking him in the face, thinking that I was kicking too much, I saw him bounce quite a distance into the stone wall.

"O-Oh… I was overreacting it seems."

After saying that, I heard rumbling sounds from various directions.

"Umm… this place is going to be destroyed, I have to quickly get him to tell me where the treasure is."

I approached him, but he passed out there instead.

"This is serious? Even though I just kicked him, but he fainted. Oi, oi, at this rate, I won't know where the treasure is."

Since he passed out, and I couldn't do anything about it, I took the two Heirlooms from him, then turned around and took the sack containing the Heirlooms.

"Next time, I should be able to hold my breath."

Walking past it after stuffing two Heirlooms into this sack, I passed it casually.

"Ah, ah~ I'll just borrow money from Hiyori. Maybe she has a lot of money."

As I continued walking to get out of this cave, my thoughts suddenly felt strange.

"Umm… looks like I forgot something, but what is it? Well, that's not important."

I subconsciously forgot Hiyori's ax that was left there.

***

"Here, look for it!"

Tossed the sack at Fred, and Fred started looking for his Heirloom, I made it a bit of a hassle because his Heirloom was mixed up with the other Heirlooms in the sack.

I shouldn't have put the Heirloom in there.

"Are you okay?"

He asked that while looking for his Heirloom.

"Why are you asking such a trivial thing? You have eyes, don't you? You're not blind, are you?"

"Oh, sorry..."

It was obvious he knew that I was fine, but instead, he asked something he had seen, which irritated me a little.

These trifles piss me off sometimes, hey, are you okay? Even though the person being asked was fine if his body was not injured, that person asked that question. That kind of thing pisses me off.

"Father, I found it."

It was his son who found the Heirloom.

"Ah, thank you... Thank you, Ryuki-san."

"Yes."

"Thanks to your help, I was able to save my son and this Heirloom. Once again, thank you."

"Yes."

"Ryuki onii-san, thank you."

"Oh, it doesn't matter. As long as you're safe, that's even better."

"I don't know why he's cold to me, but not to my son."

I heard Fred say that, but I paid no heed.

Holding Kevin, Fred's son, who is half tiger, I looked back.

"The cave will be destroyed, and they will be buried there."

"That's right. But you're great, being able to fight them alone, Ryuki-san. Even though their class is the same as Hiyori's, Class C, and their family head is Class B, you were able to fight them without getting hurt."

"Yes."

"…Why does this person just take my word for it? This guy is so cold."

"Hey, Ryuki onii-chan."

"What?"

"You're great, Ryuki onii-chan."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're great."

"Yeah, you're great too, Kevin. That was good magic earlier, you know the timing of when to dispel that magic."

"That's because I studied with Sarah Hansen-sensei."

"Sarah Hansen-sensei?"

"You don't know her?"

"No."

"She is the greatest witch in the land—no, she is the greatest witch in the world."

After Kevin said that, Fred opened his mouth, and I looked at him so intently.

"You don't talk, Cat! Let your son do the talking."

"..."

He paused, took a step back and I heard him say, "Why? Why can't I talk to him? And... I'm a tiger, not a cat. Why is this person so cold to me, while my son is not?" in a low voice.

"So you learned magic from her?"

"Yes, totally correct. Because of that, I know the timing when to attack and defend. Great, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you're great. Without your magic earlier, your father would have been a roast cat. You saved your father's life, ask him to thank you, Kevin."

After pleasantries, we hurried away from this place because our goal had been accomplished. Even though I didn't find any treasure here, I tried to be patient and think about how I could get money to buy cigarettes later.

"Let's go!"

Again I accomplished my goal well. I have to find another purpose to stay alive in this world. I don't care if it's a heavy or light goal, as long as I have a goal, that's better.

Because of that, I kept thinking about what I should do at this point. It might sound ridiculous, but considering Hiyori's condition of being burdened and struggling to earn money, relying solely on selling logs, I think I need to become an adventurer. Of course, in that case also so that I can have a purpose in life.

***

Only halfway through, I felt a very strong aura there on the hill.

Out of curiosity, I pulled the reins of this horse to get there.

"Ryuki-san, where do you want to go?"

Without answering, I continued to it.

Arriving there, I saw a man wearing nothing lying there.

I moved this horse, and this horse stepped on its body.

"Looks like he's dead."

To check whether he was dead or not, I dismounted from this horse.

Lifting his body, seeing his handsome face and thick black hair with a hint of red, I slapped him hard and checked his pulse.

"He's still alive, but dying."

It's a little strange to me, why this person can be on this hill, even though no river around him makes him drift. And strangely enough, the aura of this person was so overwhelming, so terrifying, and threatening. Because of that, I found it strange.

Laying him down, making him lie on the ground, trampling him several times to wake him up, I did anything to him.

"Umm, he's not awake."

"Hey, Ryuki-san, what's wrong..."

Fred and his son came over, saw I was stepping on this man a few times.

"What are you doing, Ryuki-san?"

Not answering the question, I sighed and then mounted the horse.

"Just leave that person!"

"But… he's still alive, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"…Why did he just say yes?"

After Fred said that, suddenly his son got off the horse.

"Ryuki onii-chan, he's still alive, right?"

"He's still alive, it's just that he's dying."

"Why isn't he cold to my son, when he is so cold to me?"

I paid no heed to what Fred said, and continued to watch what Kevin did.

"Hey, Ryuki onii-chan..."

"What?"

"We can't leave him. He can still be helped."

"Alright, we'll take him."

"Why? Why is he so obedient to my son? What is this person doing?"

Dismounted from this horse, picked up this man, and smiled at Kevin while saying, "Let's save this man," I put this man on my horse.

Riding this horse and making the man my seat cushion, I walked with them towards the village.

"No, can you be more human to that person? Why did you make that person your seat?"

Ignoring Fred's words, continuing to feel quite a strong aura from this person, I sighed and hoped that this person would not threaten Dinda and Kevin in the future.

I don't want little kids like them to get hurt because of my mistakes, just like what happened to my imouto. To be honest, I love little children so much, I would even protect them with my life. No matter where I am, I'm still the same, always loving the little ones.

Therefore, I do not show my evil and cruel nature to them, so that they do not imitate me someday when I grow up. I don't want them to end up being killers like me. What I want is for them to live happily in this world with their families.

Because for me, adults are role models for young children. Whatever adults do, the little ones will surely imitate them. Therefore, never be mean to small children. Be kind to them, it will make them grow well and become someone they can rely on for their family.