Side Story) The Birth of a Hero
I sensed death.
The mere "breath" emanating from a being so utterly beyond reach for a mere human like me—a dimension apart entirely.
The breath of a dragon, a once-great creature now wielding destructive power equal to the cataclysmic spells cast by dozens of high mages, as if it were already dead.
I thought, so this is how I die.
Unlike me, though, he moved.
He pulled me into a tight embrace.
And that's when I saw him.
"Fuck, Mom."
Cursing under his breath, the man before me was enveloped in gleaming golden armor.
As the golden light wrapped around him with a shrrrrk, I couldn't help but think:
He looked just like...
Just like one of those fairy-tale heroes.
"Fuck, for real."
But the words spilling from his mouth weren't exactly heroic, even if you squinted.
Still.
The way he gripped me tight with both arms.
This man named Kang Hanjo—someone I'd only ever thought suspicious and weird.
The burning will to survive blazing in his exposed eyes was so vivid.
That fierce, unmistakable desire to live shone so intensely, you could recognize it at a glance.
"Ah."
For some reason, I thought he looked cool.
When I opened my eyes, he was gone.
In his place.
"Hoah."
A little fox.
No—a tiny child with fox-like tails and ears, standing guard by my side.
Her appearance felt strangely familiar, though her hair was mostly black, with just a single streak shimmering gold. She looked at me and let out a "hoah hoah."
"...Are you asking if I'm okay?"
"Hoah."
Guess so.
But why was a kid like this left alone in a place like this? No way to know.
And then.
"Clack, clack!"
"Clack...!"
A horde of skeleton soldiers came charging in.
"Danger—"
As I pulled out the wand hidden tight against my chest and began chanting a spell against those skeletons.
"Hoah."
The little fox-child clicked her tongue and snapped her fingers.
Whoosh!
In an instant, she incinerated dozens of oncoming skeleton soldiers. I could only gape.
Probably shamanism.
A supernatural art from another world, specialized differently from magic.
Yet its power matched my own strongest destructive spell, Hellfire.
And she did it...
Without chanting, without even a ritual talisman known to aid shamanic arts—just a finger snap. I was stunned.
I'd been called a "genius" at twenty for etching five circles into my heart.
Yet this child, not even half my age, wielded power leagues beyond mine. I couldn't help but be shocked.
And that's when I noticed.
The piles of ash scattered around.
Don't tell me all these were skeleton soldiers?
As that thought crossed my mind.
"Hoah."
"G-Get up?"
"Hoah."
The nodding fox-child. I stood, at least.
"Hoahh."
"...Hand?"
Another nod.
I gripped her tiny hand tight, and she strode forward confidently.
I followed, like she was protecting me.
She actually was.
"Hoah."
"Hoahh."
"Hoah!"
Whenever skeleton soldiers or even higher-ranking skeleton knights appeared, she burned them to nothing with a gesture.
No sign of fatigue after unleashing such massive spells. I could only marvel now.
Even estimating, her shamanism used a different system from magic, but it must have consumed vast mana.
No dragon heart in her body, yet she poured it out endlessly. Of course she'd be fine.
Even.
"Hoah!"
For one or two, she didn't even use spells—just dashed in and slashed them apart with her claws, soldiers and knights alike.
Clearly a prodigy not just in shamanism, but hand-to-hand combat or martial arts too.
"...No way."
That familiar look.
Hair mostly black, but with golden strands peeking through, just like hers.
"...No way, could she be... Lady Cheonho's..."
Child? Hidden disciple? Wild delusions flashed through my head.
But no.
I'd never heard of Hoaran the Cheonho having kids, or even taking disciples—
"...Wait, I have heard that."
It got buried quick, though.
There was that rumor once: Cheonho Hoaran appeared on some street, out of nowhere, offering someone to be her disciple.
But the person in that rumor was definitely a man—
"......"
Shrrrrk.
Golden armor.
A man clad in armor resembling a fox. The image flashed in my mind.
"No way..."
"Hoah!"
But the little one tugging my hand snapped me out of it.
"Hoahh!"
Where she pointed with her finger: people from the Narmer Kingdom.
Meeting up with Narmer Kingdom folk, and there, under their protection, other World Government officials and dispensers.
I searched for him among them, but he was nowhere.
"Where..."
Did something happen?
But I couldn't dwell on it.
GRRRROOOOARRR!
The true dragon gearing up another breath, and a massive beast lunging at it.
The beast seemed to swallow the dragon whole, only to explode mid-air, raining down. Narmer Kingdom warriors handled the falling skeleton soldiers and knights.
It all happened so fast—a chain of massive events. Mouth agape, I could only watch, unable to intervene.
That's when he appeared.
BOOM!
In his initial golden gleaming armor, streaking across the sky.
And then.
Grabbing a falling Narmer Kingdom person and plummeting straight to the ground.
"Ah."
That spot.
Already swarming with skeleton soldiers and knights.
Seeing him drop right into the thick of it, I could only sigh.
But I couldn't help him.
No strength to.
"The Pharaoh's divine beast...!"
"Hold position! The Pharaoh is safe!"
"Block the undead!"
Even the Narmer Kingdom people barely holding back the horde were thrown into chaos by the sudden shift.
Much less could I suggest pushing through the fresh wave of skeletons pouring in like they timed it perfectly to rescue him.
"...Hoah."
A grinding sound.
The little one gripping my hand tight, teeth clenched, holding position.
"Maybe."
As I started to say, you could.
She sighed and squeezed my hand tighter.
Then let go.
"Hoahh."
She raised flames toward the horde assaulting the Narmer Kingdom people.
Like she'd decided to hold the line after agonizing over it.
I couldn't ask this fox-child to go help him.
Just.
"...Please be safe."
That was all I could pray for.
And the prayer was answered.
Clad in pitch-black armor like the night.
Holding a battered woman, he descended to the ground.
"Take care of her."
Handing her to Narmer Kingdom folk, he pulled something from his pocket, slipped it into her mouth, then unleashed wildly at the still-pouring skeletons and knights.
BAM BAM BAM! They vanished in a sweep.
The overwhelming, jaw-dropping power left me speechless.
Was this really the same slightly odd guy I'd thought?
I tried to call out to him.
"...I'll be back."
But he spoke to the woman he'd rescued—her wounds seemingly healing from whatever he'd given her, color returning to her face.
"It's a promise."
"Yes."
His voice so warm, like sweet talk between lovers.
"......"
What was this feeling?
Sudden sharp pang in my chest.
Then I recalled who the woman was, and it ached more.
Narmer Kingdom's great warrior.
Karura, was it?
Even first sight, I'd thought, damn, she's gorgeous.
They looked perfect together. No other way to see it.
"...Hoah."
The little one beside me sighed for some reason.
Why the sigh all of a sudden?
BOOM.
He took off again.
Heading straight for the Narmer Kingdom palace. Watching him, I thought:
A man rising defiantly in crisis, fighting on.
Saving people, keeping them alive, battling for them.
I knew what you call someone like that.
"Hero..."
Shortly after he left, the crisis ended in a flash.
No more skeletons or knights summoning from the rift in the sky.
The ones already underground attacking survivors crumbled too.
Just a guess, but it had to be his doing.
It wrapped up right after he went, so what else?
But...
I never saw him again.
Even after things calmed, long after, no sign.
The day after the sudden raid ended.
The impromptu festival wrapping up, only for the Narmer Kingdom Pharaoh to declare another.
No—could that dazzlingly beautiful Pharaoh really be the same one? She was there with him.
Yep, his handiwork for sure.
So I thought.
Then the Pharaoh shouted.
"A festival for the hero who protected Yeo and Yeo's land, this Narmer Kingdom, and all of you! And...!"
She turned to him as she spoke.
Something in her gaze at him—my chest twinged again.
And soon, I understood why.
"A festival for Yeo, and for the mate of Narmer Kingdom's greatest warrior, my dear Karura!"
Proclaiming it grandly, publicly.
His flustered face visible even from here.
But just for a moment.
The Pharaoh clung tight, and he embraced both her and the woman called Karura in his arms.
"Ah..."
"...Hoahh."
Tap, tap.
The little one patted my shoulder.
"...Comforting me?"
"Hoah."
She shook her head no.
"...Not comforting?"
"Hoah."
The fox-child nodding affirmatively at me was kinda annoying.