The pleasure district.

　It is a particularly glittering section of the Adventurer's Town.

　I had stepped into such a place.

　My destination was set from the start. I followed the map I was given and made my way to the right and left.

　Eventually the shop would come into view. It is a bar where outlaws who live in the entertainment district seem to hang out.

　The outside of the shop is very grimy. As I push open the old, sooty door and enter, the smell of alcohol envelops me.

　All eyes are on me at once as if they were assessing me. Everyone is silent and gives me licking eyes.

　Eventually, one of them stands up. It's a good thing that you're not the only one to have a good time.

"'Move,'

　I cast a simple but clear spell of meaning, and the man jumped away with a startled look on his face.

　But the other man interrupted me again. This time he had a knife in his hand, and he lunged at me without a single greeting.

''Kneel!''

　But that doesn't mean anything either.

　As I utter the spell, the man throws out a knife and kneels down in front of me.

　A roar from the audience watching the man behave like a faithful servant.

'Is that magic?'

So this little brat is the one I heard about, huh?

Jesus Christ, he's a kid. Unbelievable.

　I can hear the whispered words being exchanged. The quality of the gaze directed at me has apparently changed a bit, too.

　From censoring to awe.

　In this place, power is everything. That's why no one is going to go against the strongest guy or turn him into an enemy. So make a thorough show of strength from the beginning, is Gardner's advice.

　I take a seat at the counter.

'Ale,'

We don't serve alcohol to children.

It wasn't me. It was the guy next to me.

　With my thumb, I indicate the man sitting at the counter to my right.

　The man indicated - Gant gets a reluctant look on his face.

'Ale?'　Don't be silly - it's whiskey. Straight up.

It's true.

Tsk.

　The clerk man takes out a glass, clucking his tongue.

　Without giving it a second glance, Gant opened his mouth.

'So what do you want, brat?'

I wanted to talk to you about the truth.

The truth?

　A rock of whiskey is held out in front of Gant. The glass is filled with water as an added bonus.

　Gant drinks the whiskey, which is normally drunk as a lick, while he clears his throat.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get away with it. It's not even a snack.

'It's like an answer to a question I've learned. I'll buy you a drink and you can come with me.

K... hey, go get all the snacks you can find. Give me a bottle of whiskey.

　Gant calls across the counter in a raspy voice.

　Then he pours the bottle of liquor into the empty glass. He has a strong drink, but his hand doesn't slacken.

Talk. I'll cut you down if it's boring.

　Gant prompts me to open my mouth.

　Questions about how he fought Mei Fan and took the dojo when rumor has it that he wanted a fight with the strong man.

　The fact that he is not afraid to say that he is the one who killed Xiaolan-san.

　The fact that Mr. Xiaolan and Gant headed to defeat the demon that appeared six months ago and only Gant came back.

　.... and why the dojo was kept clean.

　Even if each one is not a big deal, a certain inference emerges when you connect each of them with a thread.

''You know the heroic tale called 'The Last Battle of the Beast King Rex', right?

　Gant doesn't answer. He just tilts his glass with a sullen look on his face.

　But I took that as an affirmation.

　It's a heroic story about the man known as the Beast King, Rex. In the end, the hero thrusts a knife into his chest in a battle against a demon and defeats it by causing it to run amok.

　That's why this heroic tale is called "The Last Battle".

It's the only way to get a chance to win a championship.

Hm. How can you say that if you didn't see it happen?

　It was here that Gant finally spoke up. It must be because he had been schemed.

　His expression remained as sullen as ever. He didn't even try to change his expression.

　But his expression changed drastically at my next words.

'How can you say that?　That's because.............................I heard everything from Noel, you know.

Wha...?

　I looked up from the glass I was sipping my whiskey in and saw Gant staring at me with a terrific expression.

　If you are an ordinary person, just by being pierced by the sharpness of his or her eyes, you will surely be unable to move, completely atrophied. It's the kind of eye that makes you think so.

　But I met Gant's gaze squarely on me, not at all intimidated.

''Reporting on missions is an adventurer's duty, right?

Yeah.

''And it was Noel-san, the head of the guild, who submitted the request to defeat the demon. If that's the case, there's only one place to report to.

　Normally, the guild would mediate the client's request and the adventurer would undertake it.

　For that reason, it is customary to report the mission to the person in charge of mediating the request.

　However, the request to defeat the demon was made by the head of the guild himself, so the person to whom the mission was to be reported was the head of the guild.......in other words, Noel-san.

　In that case, it's not surprising that Noel-san knows what happened that day.

''That b*tc*........''

'He told us all about it, Noel. It's all about us, too, you know.

Tsk. That's what women do.

　Gant clucked his tongue roughly.

　But he didn't deny it.

'Also, you have some idea of a prostitute named Anna, don't you?

Tsk. Where do you get your information, one after the other?

　This is the information that Myl has procured for me.

　She is a prostitute who is a friend of Gant's and was asked by Gant to take care of Mei Fan, who escaped to the entertainment district.

　........By the way, she was the one who hammered home the knowledge that a man would be happy if she washed his back with her breasts.

It's very polite of you to go to such lengths to find out.

　With a bitter look on his face, Gant stirred the contents of his glass.

　Then he slammed the bottom of it against the wooden counter with a gun and opened his mouth in a whining tone.

'd*mn. That bastard.

''Well it's not Noel-san or Anna-san's fault. I just forced myself to ask them out.

　The words uttered as a follow-up, however, were met with a snorting laugh, "Ha.

No shit.

No?

Yeah.

　With that preamble, Gant speaks up slowly.

　The appearance of a demon.

　A request from the guild to defeat it.

　Xiaolan-san, his war buddy and rival - Xiaolan-san's self-destructing technique that divided the deciding factor in the deadly battle he had headed to with Mei Fan's father.

''I wouldn't have defeated him otherwise.

　I'm not going to be able to get it right," said Gant as he looked down at the amber-colored liquid wobbling on the counter.

I can't use magic," he said. You can't do anything but wield a sword. I'm sure Xiaolan is an expert at the Magic Fist, but he can't cut through a huge enemy like a demon.

　Perhaps Mr. Xiaolan was many times or even dozens of times more skilled than Mei Fan.

　Even so, there was no way he would be able to deliver a decisive blow to a demon.

　However, as a magic fist user, Xiaolan, who was skilled in handling magic power, was left with a desperately destructive self-destructive technique called magic runaway, a desperately destructive self-destructive technique with the greatest destructive power.

''That's right, I stopped it.

　Gant says, desperately, "I don't want to lose him, either.

"I don't want to lose him, either. Why does he have to die to save a city, anyway?　Instead of that bastard dying, let the city of Zeto die as well.

It's...

　I'm at a loss for words in return.

　The lives of all the people in this town or one person.

　It doesn't matter what's weightier. It's all the people in this town.

　But what if it's compared to, say, Mir's life?　Which is more important, Meifan, Sierra, my family or all the people who live in Zeto City?

　That was more important than the thousands and thousands of lives of Myl, Mei Fan, Sierra, Dad and Mom.

　That meant that that's what Mr. Xiaolan was to Gant.

"But. But, you know, that idiot wouldn't have stopped with my words. He decided to throw his life away in favor of the little guy.

Mr. Gant....

　

I'm not going to let the demon go to the city because of my daughter, so I can't say anything. The only thing I could have done was to kill Xiaolan at his behest.

That's how you saved the city.

Nah. I'm just a guy who had to take care of the little kid because that idiot asked me to.

　A twisted thing to say.

　It spoke of the fact that he hadn't fought the demon for the city.

　It was just claiming that he had only put himself on the line for Mr. Xiaolan and Mei Fan, who he cared about.

　--But...

Then why?

Oh?

''Why........why did you do it in such a roundabout way? Did you have to kick Mei Fan out of the dojo to try and imitate him?

Tsk ... the kid wants to know everything, that's the problem.

　I noticed that Gant had stopped tipping his glass. He didn't try to touch his drink, but instead turned his whole body to face us.

'Do you know when a man is strong?'

..........

"It's a time to protect what's important. It's a time to take back what matters to you. A man becomes stronger... dozens of times stronger than he was before.

'So you took the dojo from Mei Fan?　To make her stronger?

Xiaolan asked me for help. He asked me to make that dog's body stronger.

Couldn't you have done it any other way?

　No matter how many people were watching over her, it must have been no ordinary hardship for a girl in her early teens to be forced to leave the house she had been living in and survive for six months.

　What was the reason for forcing her to do that and using forceful means?

''I didn't know him directly, but Xiao Lang used to tell me stories about his daughter. He said she was kind, righteous and had a strong sense of justice. But you know ... she was just too good.

Too good to be true?

Oh. I was too nice. Too righteous. And the only thing keeping that doggy from doing that was his father, who was absolute. Without that, you wouldn't be able to stand on your own two feet and you already know what you need to do to prevent that from happening.

　Gant doesn't tell the whole story.

　But I could feel what he was trying to say, if only vaguely.

　He feared that Mei Fan, who had lost her father, would be completely blocked up and unable to move. To prevent that from happening, Gant prepared an enemy.

　An enemy to be vanquished (...) who had killed his father and even taken the dojo.

　Then Mei Fan would have no time to mourn the loss of his father. Just the enemy ... because he could continue to stand on his own two feet to defeat Gant and take back the dojo.

'I didn't feel like I could fulfill the promise I made to Xiaolan that I would make my daughter strong in any other way. It's just that.

　Gant continued to be a villain.

　The fact that he had blown up that he had killed Mr. Xiaolan and had been behaving roughly for some time gave his words some truth.

　He took away her dojo and reduced Mei Fan to a homeless child.

　He bought the hatred from her and rooted for that resentment to grow deeper.

　He waited for her to eventually grow stronger and come to defeat him.

　Just to keep his promise to his friend (Xiaolan-san).

''So........Mr. Xiaolan was an important best friend to you, wasn't he?

It's nothing. I just have a very annoying history with him.

''Yet you still kept your promise. It was only because Mei Fan made you continue to resent her that she didn't despair and gained strength...

　Gant doesn't deny or affirm my words.

　He just looks dumbfounded and snickers, "hmmm," he says, "hmmm.

'Hey, Teme. You know what I'm talking about, right?　If you tell anyone else about this...

'You think it's a bad choice, don't you?　Once Mei Fan learns the truth, I'm sure her opinion of you will change.

That doesn't make any sense. Xiaolan is right, that girl Mei Fan is a good and righteous fist fighter. Justice is only possible with a villain in it. And now that I've made a promise to Xiaolan, I'll just have to pull off the job.

It's a disappointing character.

Ha, you tell me, kid. You're obviously very good at meddling in things that you don't need to know.

　If you say so, I can't say anything back. It was a figurehead.

　Without me, Gant left the bag full of gold coins on the counter and stood up.

''Oh, I promised to pay for it.

Yeah. That's what you pay me. That's your reward for defeating a demon. It's almost as if you've defeated it all by yourself. You can have everything in it.

But...

As for the rest, well, you know, it's just a little snack to get your story out of the way. Here's some money for that.

　After saying this, Gant left the place. The bag, heavy with gold coins, is left with me.

I'm not going to be able to get it right. I'm sure we'll kill each other when we get a chance.

　With one arm raised over his back, Gant disappears through the door.

　I hurriedly bowed my head to his back as he walked away.

　This one thing has taught me a lot of things.

　That there is more to caring for people than just visible kindness.

　That there is 'strength' other than defeating something, protecting it, or taking it back.

　That will surely be a different kind of 'strength' than Xiaolan's father or my father.

　I will be strong. I want to be able to protect the people I care about even more than now, no matter how strong the enemy is.

　And I'm sure there's only one word to say to me, who has set such a goal for me, to the back that has shown me a form of strength I never knew existed before.

　With the utmost of gratitude - and

"'Thank you,'

　--I was going to say those words.