Chapter 31
“—Are you all talk, aspiring hero?”
Angered by those words, Sieg swung his fist.
But his fist cut through empty air with dismaying ease.
“Why…?!”
Seeing the masked figure evade his attack without moving a step, as if nothing had happened, Sieg began to wonder if the scene before him might be a dream.
(Why can't I reach him…?!)
His father, Rain, had been Sieg's hero ever since he was a child.
A strong and kind father.
Since Rain was the captain of the knights in the great city of Lyon, they rarely had a chance to meet. Whenever they did, Sieg would ask him to train.
Of course, Sieg had never once beaten his father.
Even so, Sieg believed that someday he would close the gap.
That the difference between them was something he could one day overcome.
—But reality was unbearably cruel, and brutally simple.
“You've got a good punch,” the masked figure said.
The masked figure facing Sieg wore an unusual outfit.
His face was hidden behind a gray mask. The eyeholes were slightly open, but Sieg couldn't read any emotion in those eyes.
He also wore somewhat old-fashioned noble's attire.
But the strangest thing about this man wasn't his appearance; it was his attitude.
He was strangely polite.
“Come on, Sieg-kun. You can attack me from anywhere.”
He knew Sieg's name, and for some reason spoke in a gentle, familiar tone.
But contrary to his manner, his strength was backed by overwhelming violence.
“Aaaaaaah!”
His fist swung through empty air.
Carried forward by the momentum of his charge, Sieg was immediately met with a counterattack.
“…………Khah!!!”
The punch struck home.
The impact spread through his entire body.
What that punch conveyed was the difference between them.
An overwhelming gap in their abilities.
(There's no way the gap should be this huge…!!)
Though he felt he might lose consciousness, Sieg kept fighting.
He wasn't being conceited.
But he had worked hard all this time.
He had worked hard day after day.
Even his father had told him he had no talent.
Because Sieg had almost no mana.
No matter how much he sought the strength to save people, without mana, he would eventually hit a wall.
Even when everyone in the village mocked him, telling him to give up dreaming of becoming an adventurer or a hero when he had no mana and could live a perfectly normal life, Sieg had worked desperately hard.
He had worked harder than anyone.
That, and that alone… was Sieg's pride.
That was why he couldn't afford to lose here… or so he thought.
“Aaaaaaah!!!!!”
Sieg roared.
He rallied himself and lunged at the masked man.
But at that moment, he felt something hot strike his face.
His momentum was stopped.
Kicked from the side, he was sent flying in one smooth motion.
“Nice,” the masked man said, waiting for him with unhurried ease.
He continued to wait for Sieg to attack.
The difference in their abilities was so overwhelming that no excuses were needed.
(This isn't good enough.)
On top of that, Sieg was in a hurry.
(I have to get there soon…!!)
—The reason Sieg had come here in the first place was that he'd learned bandits had attacked the neighboring village of Hafen.
In Hafen lived a girl named Iris, whom he'd only recently become friends with. She was an unusual girl, brimming with a sense of justice, who treated him as an equal instead of looking down on him for being a noble.
That was why, before he'd even realized it, his body had started moving.
He had to get to Hafen.
—But he couldn't reach it.
“Mm-hmm. Nice.”
His fists, his kicks—nothing could reach the man.
He couldn't even imagine landing a hit.
“Not bad. Not bad at all.”
He was slammed into the ground.
Something dark began to cloud his heart.
Had the path he'd chosen really been so impossible to see to its end? Was the summit really this far away?
“Aaaaaaah!!!!!”
With a wordless cry, Sieg charged at the masked man.
How many times had he been counterattacked?
Before he knew it, Sieg was lying facedown on the ground.
His mind was hazy; he couldn't think.
“Phew… It's about time,” a voice came from above him.
He could feel the light fading from before his eyes.
Maybe he was going to die here.
But he couldn't accept that.
“—Who…”
But that was the one thing he couldn't accept.
“…would die here!!!”
He summoned all his strength.
He couldn't give up.
That's right. If he gave in here, he would no longer be himself.
That was why—
“—Like hell I'll give up!!!!!!”
At that moment, power erupted from every part of his body.
He sprang up, kicked off the ground, and closed in on the masked figure in an instant.
—That strike was probably perfectly timed.
His enemy had completely let his guard down.
And now came the perfect strike, better than any he'd ever landed.
His body, pushed to its absolute limits, had never been so finely honed.
(I can do this!!!)
Sieg was certain.
His fist bore down on the masked man.
That fist would reach the masked man, who had let his guard down, thinking the fight was over,
or so it should have…
—But then, at that very moment.
Sieg had just witnessed something utterly unbelievable.
As Sieg desperately leaped at him, the masked figure was clapping—not cowering, not afraid.
“Wha…?!”
Even an onlooker could tell he could barely contain his delight.
“Amazing…”
Praise poured from the person before him.
“Amazing! You're incredible, Sieg-kun!!!!!”
And then.
The next moment.
The strike he was certain would hit cut through empty air, and the mysterious figure vanished from right in front of him in an instant.
“Huh…”
He couldn't understand.
Then a cheerful voice called “Sieg-kun” from behind him.
A chill ran down his spine.
“No, no. I never thought you'd push me to use mana to enhance my body. You really are amazing.”
Despair.
Hearing the masked man's words from behind him, Sieg realized what they meant and couldn't hide his trembling.
(No way…)
This man had been fighting without mana this whole time.
Sieg had almost no mana.
That was precisely why he knew better than anyone how important mana was.
Mana was essentially fuel. Using it to enhance one's body would dramatically increase one's combat ability.
The man behind him hadn't used it until now.
Which meant this man had another level to reach—no, even two more.
“Aaaaaaah!”
He no longer cared about form or anything else.
He threw a punch as he spun around.
—But that strike never reached him.
“No, really, you're amazing. You can become even stronger,” the masked figure said.
At the same time, he felt a blow to his neck.
“……Kah.”
“That's why, for now—”
His field of vision narrowed, and his consciousness began to fade.
“—Sleep, future hero.”
What a joke.
After trying so desperately, he hadn't protected anything.
He was a miserable loser, sprawled on the ground after failing to protect his new friend.
He really was just an aspiring hero who talked a big game.
—And someone like him, a future hero…?
The words, spoken so cheerfully, stuck in Sieg's ears and wouldn't leave him.
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Sieg-kun, the kind of protagonist who gets pushed to the dark side by a mysterious powerhouse.