From his dimly lit room, Haring could sense that the end was near. His life as a duelist would be over very soon. He was driven from the village, driven from the town, and now he would be driven from the duel city he had wound up in. Even so, he strangely didn’t feel miserable about it. It wasn’t that great of a life to begin with, so what did it matter what happened at this point?
Mirka’s words were the one thing that seemed to be holding him back.
“The reason you fight—I hope you can remember.”
He never had such a reason. Thinking back now, he had never once actually wanted to fight. Not once in his life. He had just grown irritated and smacked the kids who pranced around calling him a “nuisance.”
Once upon a time, the daughter of the guardian who took him in told him, “You sure are kind, Haring!”
She was born after he was adopted, so she was something of a younger sister to him, and she likely saw him the same way.
“I mean, you ignore it when people say bad things about you, but you always get angry when they insult me or dad. But if you go too crazy, dad will shout at you again.”
She said it as if she was completely unaware. The kids would jeer. He’d reach the end of his patience. And Haring would hit them. That’s all it was to Haring.
“Hey, hey, tell me about the world outside the village! Oh, we can play the guessing game! I know you have another name, but you never tell me what it is!”
By that point, it wasn’t just the villagers. Even his guardian called him Haring, and the girl never had the chance to learn his old name. That’s why she would often play a game.
If he left her alone, she would continue spewing out random, silly, nonsensical names forever, so he would always just give up and tell her stories of the times he left the village.
The village adults would never leave unless for work, and the kids were forbidden from leaving. Without any place to be, Haring would often venture outside to kill time, and not a single villager ever tried to stop Haring the nuisance.
The limited exposure made every story so new and fresh to the girl.
Whenever he told her about anything, she’d ask, “What’s that?”
“What sound does that animal make?”
“Was the flower beautiful? What did it look like?”
Just answering all her questions would make the sun set. She really was a troublesome girl who wanted to know everything.
“Hey, Haring! What story are you going to tell this time?”
But Haring didn’t hate to be called Haring by her. She would never say it with the same meaning as the other villagers. And, one day—she would never say his name again.
The girl got into a quarrel with the village kids and took a tumble down the cliff. She managed to survive but wouldn’t open her eyes. Before she closed them for the last time, the girl told Haring what had happened.
“Haring, you always get angry for other people, so I decided I would get angry for you.”
She had heard the village kids badmouthing him, and that had sparked an argument, his guardian told him. Immediately after he heard the details, Haring hunted down the kids who pushed her and beat them to the verge of death. His guardian stood up for him, but he was ultimately banished.
He would soon find himself going from town to town looking for work. It was in one of these towns that he came across a peculiar old man.
“Ni shi shi! Haring? Why, isn’t that a peculiar name!”
If he was remembering right, it was the day he’d picked a fight with a customer and gotten fired from yet another job. Yes, he remembered hearing the voice when he was lying by the side of the road without a penny to his name.
“To think, someone called ‘Nuisance’ would get into a fight to protect someone! I was holding my stomach in laughter when that drunkard you punched went straight through the wall!”
Considering the old man somewhat pretentious, Haring opted to ignore him. Surely he would leave eventually. Unfortunately, the old man just kept talking.
“You, why did you decide to punch him?”
It was only then that Haring finally took a look at him. A withered old man in a tattered old robe. While he could see the tip of an auburn tail peeking out from the end of his clothes, he was thin, so scrawny it was hard to believe he was from the Dragon Tribe.
“You should have known what would happen to you if you hit him.”
Of course he did. He’d been fired for something similar a number of times. This was hardly the worst one. When things really got bad, he would be driven out of town and permanently banned.
But what was he supposed to do? His body moved on its own.
He answered as such, prompting the old man’s mouth to curve like a crescent moon.
“Ni shi shi...you understand what will happen, but are unable to restrain your instincts? At a glance it may seem foolish, but—I don’t see it that way.”
The old man held out a map and a cloth bag. The path to Duel City Babel and more than enough coins for the ferry.
“Haring, my boy. Have you ever thought of becoming a duelist?”
When Haring glanced at him, the old man gave a toothy smile.
“You may not realize it, but those instincts are rare and precious. You can get angry, not for yourself, but for others—that is the foundation of the conflict in your heart.”
The old man left, leaving the map and bag behind.
“He...really was an incomprehensible geezer.”
Haring found himself smiling as he thought back to the scene. He had swallowed that enigmatic man’s words and had come to the duel city. A place that would accept even someone who only knew how to live as a villain.
And—
“Mr. Haring!”
Haring lifted his face at the sudden mention of his name. He hadn’t even noticed the wall of the jail open.
The glass wasn’t there this time. Standing right in front of him was Yuri, with his usual smile.
“...What is it, brat. They sent you to read off my verdict?”
“No. I came because I have a favor to ask you,” said Yuri, who happily went on to say, “We’re about to do some bad things.”
“......Hah?”
“We’re driving Navie Ionesca out of the city. Please help out.”
“I’m sayin’ I have no idea what you’re sayin’. Why do I have to—”
“It has to be you, Haring,” Athena interrupted, stepping out in front.
“You remember the girl who was saved from the slave incident, don’t you?”
“...What about her?”
“The kid was crying the whole time, muttering, ‘save them.’” Athena’s expression turned bitter as she recalled the scene. “You heard her too, didn’t you?”
“......Yeah.”
There was no way he would ever forget. It had never left his mind, not for a moment.
He could still remember the girl who sniffled and cried and held out a filthy copper coin.
“Now’s our chance to save the kids. So we want you to help.”
Athena reached her hand for Haring. And...another hand was also thrust before his eyes.
“Mr. Haring, I’ll ask you again,” Yuri smiled as he repeated what he once said before. “Please, oh please—won’t you fight by our side?”
Last time, he wouldn’t have taken the hand. Haring had lived alone; he would never borrow the strength of others. But—
“...I’ll hear you out. What’s the plan?”
He couldn’t leave the city like this. He couldn’t quit being a duelist just yet.
“I remember—there’s still somethin’ I have to do here.”