The Savior
Sierra Grimkeeper.
For her, life was nothing but an endless struggle.
From the moment she was born into the streets teeming with vagrants, that was her predetermined fate. To her, living meant fighting fiercely and clawing your way to what you wanted.
The daily battle to simply survive was brutal and exhausting, and each day she won victories that felt indistinguishable from defeat. It was a life that could only be described as mere subsistence.
If you didn't take it, someone would take it from you. That brutally simple survival logic had become second nature to her body.
Pickpocketing was a skill she'd honed through those survival struggles. There was no craft better suited to her — she had nimble fingers, a quick body, and a pretty face that made it easy to catch people off guard.
She racked up a long criminal record as a pickpocket.
But as they say, long tails eventually get stepped on. In the back alleys of the Royal Capital, where hardened lifers had weathered every kind of hardship imaginable, a nineteen-year-old girl's pickpocketing skills were nothing but a joke to the veterans.
"Heh heh! I don't know why such a pretty little thing bothers stealing from other people's pockets."
"Tell me about it. Even at a cheap brothel she'd pull in at least two silver a day. This girl's gotta be stupid."
The two thugs who had caught Sierra sneered and laughed at her. Sierra bit her lip and shouted.
"Let me go!"
"Heh heh. What a shrill voice. You'd look pretty entertaining squawking around."
To the thugs, Sierra's struggles were no more than a toddler's tantrum.
"You dog-faced bastards! You said you'd give the money back!"
When Sierra raised her voice without backing down, One-Eyed Hans struck her. There were no thugs in the back alleys who showed any consideration for women.
*Smack!*
"Aaah!"
"Shut your filthy mouth! Do you even know how much you've stolen from us!? You grew up looking pretty and got so spoiled you can't even read a situation — one more word out of that mouth and I'll rip your jaw off!"
"Hahahaha! If the boss says he'll do it, he'll really do it. He'll stab you right through!"
Hans glared with his one remaining eye, bloodshot and threatening, and Sierra clenched her lip shut with a frustrated expression.
"Excuse me. Could I trouble you for a moment?"
Then, from the mouth of the alley, a young man's voice rang out. The two thugs and Sierra all turned their gaze toward where the sound had come from.
"What do you want?"
Hans tilted his head at Yohan's sudden intrusion.
"Boss! That guy's that guy. T-that bakery owner's son, I mean."
"Oh, that dwarf-asshole-something bakery son?"
"It's the Dwarf's Hearth. Please remember the name properly."
Yohan replied with a slight smile.
He was handsome enough that no one could feel jealousy — when the gap in appearance exceeded a certain threshold, awe replaced envy entirely.
"Fuck. Seeing him makes me think God really doesn't exist."
One-Eyed Hans muttered bitterly.
At Yohan's appearance, a spark of hope ignited in Sierra's eyes.
She didn't know why this good-looking guy had suddenly shown up, but he didn't seem to be part of these thugs' crew. If things went well, this might be her chance to escape.
"Hey, bakery boy. What do you want from us? This back alley is a place too early for a soft little thing like you. I'll let you off easy since you're so pretty — turn back while you still can."
Hans said condescendingly. Yohan shook his head in response.
"If you let that girl go, I'll turn back on my own."
At Yohan's words, Hans and Sam looked at each other's faces. Then they burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs — as if they'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"Puhahahaha!"
"Hahahaha! Boss! This guy's a masterpiece!?"
He was the very model of a sheltered young master who knew nothing of the real world. He'd clearly read too many fairy tales about princes riding white horses. At least, that's what they thought of him.
"Puhahahaha! What a funny guy. I guess being born with a face like that makes the whole world look rose-colored."
"Tell me about it, boss. I had my own naive days back in the day."
"Kid, you're still naive right now."
They wiped the tears from their laughing eyes and looked at Yohan.
"Hey, brat. I get that you want to show off in front of a girl, but you should read the situation first. If you keep acting so cocky, these big brothers here might want to play with that pretty face of yours."
"I think a couple of knife cuts would be fine. I still look better than you, boss."
"Fuck, watch your mouth."
Hans smacked Sam on the back of the head and approached Yohan.
In his right hand he held a rusty dagger — one stained with blood. That dagger had actually been responsible for putting two clueless fools in the ground.
"Today I'll teach you something good. In this back alley, there's nothing that shortens your lifespan faster than acting like you own the place."
At those words, Yohan smiled slightly and reached out his hand.
"Shadow Chain."
*Fwsshhh!*
Pitch-black chains erupted from Yohan's shadow and seized Hans's wrist.
"What, what the—!? A skill?!"
"Eugh! Boss! Be careful!"
A skill.
Having mastered one meant you belonged to an entirely different class of human from ordinary people.
Even in this back alley, anyone who had learned a skill was treated with special caution. Even the simplest skill was quite threatening to ordinary people who hadn't mastered any.
But the skill the opponent had used was no ordinary ability.
*Thud!*
Hans lost his balance and collapsed. The black chain wrapped tightly around his wrist, gripping him with enough force to make his hand swell.
The dagger fell from his hand. Screaming was the natural next step.
"Aaaah! It hurts! It hurts!"
"You said there's nothing that shortens your lifespan faster than acting like you own the place, right? You were right!"
Yohan said with a smile, clapping his hands together.
Sam watched Yohan and trembled. What came out of his mouth wasn't empty bravado or threats — it was a desperate excuse.
"I-I was just following the boss's orders!"
"I know. Then, scram."
"A, alright! I'm leaving! Aaaah!"
Thugs had no loyalty to each other. That was simply how this world worked.
Yohan crouched down to meet Hans's eye level. He released the Shadow Chain. The chains gripping Hans's wrist vanished.
A dark bruise remained on Hans's wrist — a mark so vivid it made your eyes water just looking at it.
"Ghhhh..."
Hans let out a groan. But Yohan felt no sympathy. He narrowed his sharp eyes and spoke.
"Do you want to shorten your lifespan even more?"
"A, no! I was wrong!"
"You're lucky. You know what to do, right?"
"A, alright! I'm leaving too!"
The moment Yohan finished speaking, Hans bolted down the alley. He was so desperate to flee that he crashed into the wall and fell several times.
Yohan crossed his arms and watched until he was completely gone.
The situation was resolved in an instant.
Sierra, unable to believe what had just happened, stared with eyes wide as saucers and asked in a dazed voice.
"Why...?"
She'd thought Yohan's appearance might be her chance, but she hadn't expected things to end this cleanly and quickly.
What reason could that man possibly have for saving her?
She couldn't help but feel curious.
Yohan didn't answer — he just shrugged.
A gesture sometimes carries more power than words. Especially when you're showing off.
===
He had saved Sierra.
The first meeting didn't go badly. No — honestly, it seemed pretty good.
'I wonder if that got me at least 30 affection points?'
He certainly hadn't reached the 80 minimum affection needed for the kiss event, but he felt like this alone had earned a pretty significant amount.
"I don't have anything to repay you with."
Sierra said.
Give and take.
It was a phrase Sierra used constantly in the Legend Route.
She'd say it after making a dramatic entrance as a mid-boss and landing a hit on the protagonist — with the feeling of "what I've received, I'll always return!"
Anyway, it was a sentence that explained her values with remarkable clarity.
"I'm not expecting repayment."
That's what he told her.
Honestly, it was a lie.
His reason for saving Sierra was calculated — he wanted to copy her Trait.
But sometimes lies were necessary to navigate the world smoothly.
*Grrrble—!*
Sierra's stomach let out a loud growl. She grabbed her belly and blushed.
For a girl who'd grown up fighting like a pit dog in the back alleys, she was embarrassed to have her stomach growl in front of a man.
It was a detail not even described in the original game. He felt pleased to have glimpsed a secret side of her that never appeared in the source material.
"Uh... I'm really grateful for this. I'll definitely repay the favor. I have other things to do, so I should—"
He grabbed the hand of Sierra, who was trying to leave.
"!?"
"If you haven't eaten, want to grab a meal together? I'm a little hungry too."
At his words, Sierra's eyes widened like a rabbit's.
"They say even brushing sleeves together creates a bond. We haven't even brushed sleeves yet."
Was he coming on too strong?
Excessive kindness could become poison.
If someone handed him a stack of money and invited him to their house, he'd be suspicious first.
*Grrrble—!*
But for Sierra, hunger came before suspicion.
"T, then... since I've already troubled you, maybe I'll trouble you a little more."
As expected, everyone became a docile rabbit in front of food. In this regard, being reincarnated as a bakery owner's son wasn't such a bad thing after all.
"Let's go to my place. You know the Dwarf's Hearth, right? It's not far from here."
"I know! I've stolen bread from there a few times... Ah, no! I mean, I heard it's famous for incredibly delicious bread."
So it seemed she'd eaten for free at his place several times.
It had nothing to do with him directly. His father was the one who suffered.
He couldn't stand it when he suffered, but he could easily tolerate his father suffering.
Was there any filial son in the world as devoted as him?
"Is bread okay for lunch?"
"Of course! Even bread crumbs would be fine."
"No. I'm not serving bread crumbs to a guest."
"Then, even thrown-away bread would be fine!"
And so they headed toward the Dwarf's Hearth bakery.