Hero.
Do you know the saying that if you kill one person, you are a murderer, but if you kill hundreds, you are a hero?
However, in that small society, one could become a hero even without killing anyone.
Simply by soothing his spirit, Luke became a hero.
He was reprimanded by the guards who came after, saying it was dangerous, but Luke had no trouble escaping that uncomfortable situation since he showed no sign of hiding his exhaustion.
Although he was just tired from being forcibly woken up from sleep, the arriving guards assumed it was because he had been fighting an ethereal monster.
Yet, the concept of a spirit acting on its own no longer existed.
Then what exactly is Py?
Surely, it acts on its own and expresses its intentions, doesn’t it?
Could it be that Py is merely a being conjured from his delusions?
The existence of spirits is certain.
If that weren’t true, many things could not be explained.
The ‘external existence’ that cannot be explained even when assuming he hears hallucinations or voices.
The phenomenon that draws all the mana from Luke Forest and the ability that guides him to play previously untouched instruments beyond the ordinary…
Such things would obviously be impossible if spirits did not exist.
But why did Yerna lie to him?
There are so many questions he wants to ask.
What other lies have been told?
‘I must know things I do not understand.’
Learning begins with the awareness of one’s ignorance.
What does one misunderstand, and what does one understand correctly?
One must know.
Thinking this way, Luke decided to take action immediately.
He decided to return to ‘home.’
Since he couldn’t go to the music room anymore, and lingering in someone else’s dormitory for too long would be rude.
He wanted to say goodbye to Irsia, but he didn’t want to loiter around the music room again.
It was already bustling with people, and if he went back there, it would certainly attract unnecessary attention.
Regrettably, it would be better to postpone the meeting.
Carrying the cello on his back and grabbing an umbrella, Luke walks down the yellowing street.
The weather was very nice. The clouds painted by the sunset were quite beautiful.
This is the kind of sky one could see even 5,000 years ago.
‘I used to think that unchanging things were just boring…’
Perhaps it’s because so much has changed in the world, or maybe it’s because he’s grown older.
Now, such things felt welcome.
The truth that time passes, leading into night, and after some more time, day will come again, will not change no matter how long the years go by.
As he walked towards the bus stop looking at the sky, Luke suddenly felt a chill.
His ears perked up.
The hearing of a current animal is distinctly different from that of a human.
‘Is this all there is? Ha. What a joke.’
‘Is it really… just this…?’
‘What will you do if I dig it out? Hey, pull out your wallet.’
A robbery?
Luke sighed.
He was just feeling the beauty of unchanging things when he suddenly felt tired of the unchanging nature of the road.
In any age, there will always be scoundrels who extort others for money.
As he continued walking, he soon encountered a group surrounding a young man in a corner, spouting abuse and exuding an oppressive atmosphere.
‘Only one of them seems formidable.’
There was one man, appearing to have physical training, watching from a distance.
Aside from him, there were about three more, but they seemed like mere pests unworthy of concern.
Luke quickly assessed the situation.
No matter how he looked, he found it hard to believe that he would be defeated by street ruffians like these.
Even with level two, there were many effective attack methods against people, and wasn’t he holding an ‘umbrella’ in his hand?
Though his balance might be off, he could easily use swordsmanship or manipulate the umbrella as a temporary cane to assist with magic calculations.
The problem might be that the opponent had some skill, making it difficult to ‘subdue’ them.
There’s a chance he might inadvertently kill someone.
Well, for Luke Irsia, the ‘hero,’ killing a few people isn’t a big deal.
It’s just that the cleanup might be a bit of a hassle.
‘In this era, I don’t know the procedures after killing a robber…’
Normally, with bandits, animals or monsters would handle it if left as is.
But urban thieves are a bit different.
It would be convenient if there were evidence that they were robbers.
Back in the day, he could easily sustain a phenomenon that fixed illusions all day without issue, but that requires level four and is impossible…
‘Oh, I have my phone on me.’
Luke pulled out his phone and snapped their picture.
Click.
The sound caught their attention, causing them to turn their eyes to Luke in unison.
“What are you?”
One of the robbers looked at Luke as if finding it absurd.
Calmly checking the photo, Luke put the phone back in his pocket and said,
“Is it fun to bully the weak in numbers? Return the money you took.”
Luke said seriously with a frown, but…
“What did you say?”
“Ahahahaha!”
They only found it funny.
A sudden little kid talking as if scolding them struck them as utterly ridiculous.
They smirked at Luke with sneering smiles.
“Hey, kid. You come here too.”
“Bring your phone.”
Luke let out a deep sigh.
Indeed, this appearance posed no threat to them at all.
In the past, merely approaching confidently would have been sufficient.
Back then, just breathing could have subdued ordinary people.
One of them, ignorant of Luke’s inner lamentations, said nonchalantly,
“Hey, can’t you hear? Come here, or should I come to you?”
“From your uniform, you must be a student at Tig Academy. It seems your family is wealthy?”
“Oh, then he must be rich too.”
Their intimidating tone naturally reflected habitual behavior.
It implied that they had done this repeatedly.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“Ha, regret? What’s that…!”
He immediately whirled to enhance his body physically, taking a step.
Luke struck him in the face with the umbrella.
Crack!
Coating the umbrella with mana to bolster its hardness, and dedicating substantial magic power to enhance his physical abilities to the limit, that blow was powerful.
His nose probably collapsed, and he likely lost his front teeth.
He fell back, perhaps immediately losing consciousness from the shock, creating a loud noise as he collapsed.
Since nobody caught him, the back of his head struck the ground.
Thud—
Seeing one of their own suddenly drop dead, the others were bewildered.
“What’s going on?”
“Did that kid do that?”
Luke lightly retrieved the umbrella and resumed his stance.
Holding it like a sword, he took up a basic fencing position.
Luke was not only a great mage but also an extraordinary swordsman.
He was more skilled than the cultured fencing one would have learned naturally as a noble.
He had sparred countless times with Kail Propston, the best sword master of his time.
The difference in stature?
That posed no problem whatsoever.
Even in the past, he had faced giant monsters with swords and cast magic, so even if he had grown smaller, there was no way he couldn’t wield a sword.
Once again, Luke made his demand.
“Swear to stop robbing right now and return the money to him.”
Then, a man inside, smoking a cigarette, let out a laugh.
“Hahahahaha!”
He spat out his cigarette and approached, loosening his body.
“That weakling, getting knocked out by a little kid like this….”
Crack, crack.
He cracked his knuckles and twisted his neck.
That was also a clear act of intimidation.
Luke shook his head at this too familiar sight.
‘How can such things not change?’
It seemed that making an effort to shake off fear and regain his sanity only served to enhance his confidence.
“Hey, I don’t see you as a girl.”
“Is that so?”
It seemed he said it so confidently that he had threatened a girl like this.
Luke felt his heart circle intensely once more.
——–
In an instant.
He kneed him to break his joint and struck him on the back of the neck to knock him out.
One attempted to flee, so Luke used grease to trip him, then knocked him out with a spark.
Now only one remained.
Luke placed one foot on the back of the fallen giant, aiming the umbrella at the trembling robber like a sword.
“He, hey…”
“Return the money.”
“Ugh, ah…”
He was already half-conscious, faced with the unfolding situation before him.
Because it was not violence a normal kid could wield.
One had a broken nose and front teeth, bleeding and twitching.
Another had his knee shattered and bent backward, collapsing and bleeding on the ground.
The other one was twitching for unknown reasons and drooling.
No ordinary kid could do such things!
Moreover, he had done it without changing his expression!
He felt ‘fear’ towards this little kid who hardly reached his waist.
Pride? That doesn’t cover medical bills!
He didn’t want to endure the humiliation of being beaten just to take a few coins!
He quickly pulled out all the money he had stolen.
Luke snatched the money, turning around to return it.
“Now, you…”
Luke couldn’t finish his sentence.
There was no one behind him.
Did they flee?
Why?
Luke tilted his head, reflecting on his actions.
‘Isn’t it fine to kill robbers on the spot? I think I handled things quite gentlemanly…’
That’s right. Luke thought this was a form of controlling the level of violence.
Though he had treated the robbers a bit violently for threats, he had not killed anyone.
Fortunately, they had been weaker than anticipated, so there was no need to kill them to subdue them.
But to an average modern individual who hadn’t often been exposed to such raw violence, it would have been quite a shock.
However, Luke did not think that way.
‘Well, was it that badly wanting to get out of here?’
Luke looked down at the money he had in hand.
Just looking at it, there must be at least 120,000 gil.
Quite a large sum of money.
Even if he took it as is, nobody could blame him.
If he brought this money to Yerna…
‘…she wouldn’t be pleased.’
Rather, she would probably be troubled if she inquired about its source.
Shaking his head, he tossed the money to the still trembling robber.
“Take care of the cleanup yourself.”
“He, hick…”
Upon exiting the alley, he immediately spotted the bus he needed to take.
Hurrying onto the bus and sighing, Py was looking at Luke, trembling like a quaking aspen.
Was it dancing out of joy for the good deed?
“Why are you dancing? Oh, I see. It seems you feel good because I did something nice?”
-Luke…
It sounded almost like a hum.
What Py was looking at while making that sound was the umbrella.
“Ah, dear. There’s a bit of blood on the umbrella. That wouldn’t do inside the bus.”
Luke took out a handkerchief to wipe the umbrella.
The handkerchief turned red as Luke smiled, and the spirit felt dizzy.
-…
This meant ‘scary,’ but Luke didn’t understand.
“Haha, Py. There’s no need to hum a tune.”
Py shook her head vigorously, but it was all in vain.
