Eight years earlier, I had been thrown in a cell. I had used the same logic as the guys who’d killed the old man who’d looked after me, and I beat them to a pulp. That had ended up causing more of a commotion than I’d anticipated and resulted in me getting arrested.
Then, for some reason, a holy knight had come to visit me. From what I was told later, he had apparently taken an interest in me after hearing about a ten-year-old kid beating up three adults.
“I see, so you were getting revenge for that old man. That’s a lot of effort to put in on someone else’s behalf.” The expression on the face of the holy knight leaning over in a chair across from me wasn’t that of sympathy—it was something more complex.
“Didja not hear me, asshole? I said I just wanted to beat the shit outta them usin’ their own logic. They can’t complain if it’s their own words being used against ’em.” You should be able to back up the logic you force onto others. There was nothing wrong with that. Whatever happened as a result of the rules you believed in, you just had to accept it.
“I understand your feelings. Anyone would hate the people who took a loved one from them. Wanting to kill them is a natural emotion.”
“The hell is love? You lost me. Also, I didn’t kill them.” I had just done to them what they had done to the old man. That was all.
“Hmm...” The man placed his hand on his chin and after a moment of uncertainty, he said, “All right, I’ve decided! Become my son.”
“Huh?” I gave him a blank stare.
“That tiny body of yours has the strength to take down three grown men! It’d be a shame to let that go to waste. You’ll make a fine holy knight one day!”
“Oh, I get it. You’re messed up in the head.” Nothing he said made a lick of sense. Nobody who came to see a dirty criminal in prison and then invited them to their home could be sane.
“Would you prefer to remain here in a cell? If so, I think that would make you the one who’s messed up in the head.”
“If you’re serious, then get me outta here.” If the bizarre man meant what he said, then that’d be a big help to me. All I had to do was run away after he got me out.
After that, the man really did get me out of prison. However, my escape was a complete failure. I let myself get persuaded by him and went to his house, where he welcomed me into his family alongside his beautiful wife and capable son.
At first, I was just confused and assumed he must have had some sort of ulterior motive, but if they were gonna give me food, clothes, and a place to sleep, I figured I might as well make use of it. Then before I knew it, I had gotten attached to them. As my heart calmed, I decided to pursue what the old man had called a “man’s happiness” in my own way.
It wasn’t a bad feeling. I wasn’t interested in being a holy knight, but the training made me stronger, and that part I did like. Swordplay was surprisingly complex, and it would take a few years before I could ever beat Dan. But I did. That’s right, I became stronger than Dan.
Which meant I could force my way out and run away. But by then, I didn’t really feel like doing that anymore. At some point, I really had become part of his family, and I felt like I had to repay that debt. It wasn’t like me at all. Just stupid attachment.
I had seen my comrades lose their lives because of it countless times, but it turns out people don’t learn from example quite that easily. There was an undead right before my eyes and I couldn’t kill him. I ended up getting bitten, all because I owed him a debt—because he was my adoptive father. It really was stupid.