Both of them almost reached me.

“I said stop her, are you deaf?”(Man)

The girl passed me and hid behind my back. Cowering in fear and using my body as a shield. When she came near me I noticed her green hair as well as green eyes. She looked like every normal human girl, except how dirty she was, but in my eyes, she didn’t appear like 1. What I clearly knew though was, that I wouldn’t be able to get out of trouble anymore.

“So you are with her?”(Man)

“Looks like it.”(Me)

“Are you prepared for the consequences?”(Man)

“I don’t know, which consequences you speak of.”(Me)

“Soon reinforcements will arrive and we will bring the girl as well as you back to our boss.”(Man)

“How do you plan on doing that? Talking to me until I surrender?”(Me)

His objective was obviously to stall for time until his comrades would arrive. He was unsure if he could beat me in a 1 on 1. What he didn’t think about was that even with those reinforcements, they would not be able to subdue me.

“First you help a slave and now you get all arrogant. You are not from a city right? Otherwise you’d know the rules.”(Man)

“No you are right I don’t know the rules, but I am from the academy of this city.”(Me)

“Ho, you can use some little magic tricks than. This will fetch an even higher price at the market.”(Man)

“They can’t be far guys!”(?)

A voice interrupted our little talk. I could clearly hear footsteps coming in our direction.

“Guys, we are here!”(Man)

The girl looked desperate and pulled my clothes. When I turned around, her eyes tried to tell me that we should run away.

“Don’t worry. There is nothing to fear. Just promise me that you tell me everything after we finish this.”(Me)

Her face clearly said, “I don’t believe you at all”. It was a rather bad thing for my big ego, because I wasn’t even able to convince a little girl to believe in me. On the other hand, it was already too late to run away, because even from behind us, there were people coming. We were surrounded. Their numbers amounted around 30 people.

Does she have some special powers, or why do they send so many people after 1 little girl?

It was certainly strange, but I had other things I had to take care of first. When the man saw that we were surrounded, he started talking a lot more arrogantly. He probably thought that they had already won.

“Make a choice boy. Do you surrender or fight. If you surrender, we would spare you and would only sell you as a slave. If you decide to fight, you would have to fight us until your death, though.”(Man)

“Can I take the 3rd?”(Me)

“There is no 3rd choice. Surrender or fight, there are only 2.”(Man)

“Choice 3 is I beat you all up and we leisurely walk away. Can’t I take that?”(Me)

“Your provocations know no end. Guys attack them!”(Man)

Without hesitation they came at us. I kept my guard up and awaited them. After the first few seconds, I knew, they were nothing special. Just some underlings trying to please their boss. The pack had 0 coordination. They just ran at us like wild animals, but even those wild animals would be stronger, due to their bodies and instincts.

I didn’t have many techniques for physical fights, but because of my speed and strength advantage, I was able to see every single one of their movements. The 1st person who reached us and tried attacked, was also the 1st person who lied on the ground, with broken ribs and no longer able to fight. It took me only 1 punch and about 1 second to send him flying.

That naturally shook the confidence of the others. But they continued their attacks. If they would have attacked all at the same time, they could have hit some of my injuries and perhaps, with a lot of luck, knock me out. But they just kept coming 1 after another and in a 1 on 1 I had yet to lose against someone.

Dodging 1 punch after another and knocking them down with 1 or 2 punches or kicks, the remaining people started to fear the pain they could receive. Their attacks stopped and they from a safe distance, they waited for our next movements. I was also relieved, because some injuries opened up again.

“Are you finished yet? Can we go now, or does anyone else want to try?”(Me)

“Don’t get cocky. We will remember this and come back.”(Man)

And they ran away. The kid and I left the alleyway and went to a more crowded place.

“You haven’t told me your name yet?”(Me)

“Sylphy.”(Sylphy)

“Ok Sylphy. Can you tell me how you ended up in that situation or do you want to keep quiet about it?”(Me)

“I will tell you, but only on 1 condition.”(Sylphy)

“That is?”(Me)

“Your name?”(Sylphy)

“Ah, I haven’t even introduced myself yet, sorry. My name is Hikaru.”(Me)

“Why did you help me?”(Sylphy)

It was an odd question. Sylphy looked into my eyes and it felt like she could see everything inside me. Like every secret I had was exposed because she was staring at me.

“Naturally I can’t let a cute little child like you go with those bad guys.”(Me)

“Liar.”(Sylphy)

“It is the truth.”(Me)

“No. Tell me honestly why did you help me?”(Sylphy)

“Is this some kind of custom, or why are you questioning me like that? Shouldn’t you be thankful that I helped you?”(Me)

“Hmpf.”(Sylphy)

She didn’t like my reply at all and acted like she would ignore me, if I didn’t answer her question honestly. This was the 2nd time I helped a girl and I got into a discussion afterwards.

“If you tell me who you really are, I will tell you why I saved you from those barbarians.”(Me)

“You just told me why. Now I want something else.”(Sylphy)

“Ok this is getting on my nerves and my injuries hurt. Farewell little Sylphy I give up. Look after yourself a bit more.”(Me)

I turned around and started to walk away slowly. I left a little girl, in disbelief of what she just heard, behind. I was sure that she would understand her situation better if I’d act that way.

“W…Wait!”(Sylphy)

She started following me.

“Huh, I couldn’t hear you.”(Me)

“Ah. W…Wait for me. Please.”(Sylphy)

If she saw my wicked smile, she definitely would have preferred going with the men. I instantly turned around and waited for her.

“Is it now okay for me to ask what you are?”(Me)

She finally noticed that all of that was only an act.

“Fine. But only if you take me with you.”(Sylphy)

She said unwillingly.