A man with a scarred face stepped forward to confront Jinyo. A muscular body honed through long training. Deep tattoos of dragon patterns carved from neck to arms. A wide grin revealing black metal teeth. Threatening intent from his aura dominated Jinyo, whose body was half the size. If this man was like bamboo, Jinyo was a rice stalk. The difference in strength was incomparable.

  A large sword reflecting moonlight versus an old, dilapidated wooden sword. Jinyo standing firm before them was no different from using a toothpick to pry open a log.

  "Hello, little brother. My name is Daikyo. I happen to have a little money problem. So I'd like to borrow money from you interest-free for about a hundred years. Consider it helping someone from the same hometown." The scarred man introduced himself.

  "Heh heh heh." Laughter came from friends behind. Who knew what they were laughing about.

  "Looking at my vehicle's condition, you should already know. I'm drowning in debt and unemployed. Squeezing me won't get you anything anyway. Or do I look like someone with money in your eyes?" Jinyo spoke in a flat voice without any tremor. Daikyo and his gang turned to make eye contact with each other. Eerie laughter like they were mocking the pitiful words that escaped his mouth.

  "Come on now, don't be stingy. I know you actually have money. It's not worth it to get crippled. No matter how much money you have, you can't enjoy it. I'm worried about you, so I came to warn you. We're from the same hometown, so we can talk nicely. I'm the easiest to talk to. I'll tell you now—others don't want to talk nicely like me." Daikyo raised his thumb and turned his back. Everyone simultaneously released various colored auras. Orange heat-wave planar. Water-flowing planar. Swirling wind planar.

  Everyone had high-level planar equivalent to ordinary hunters. Though not as much as officials or hunters who worked hunting jobs regularly, it was enough to crush ordinary people to dust.

  "I really don't have money. You're wasting your time."

  "Oh my. Why so stubborn? I already told you we know you have a lot of money. Won't you share a little for us to use? If you stay stubborn, I won't be able to stop my friends anymore." Daikyo stuck out his long, forked tongue. The deep purple-black aura he released threatened the father and children—it was both dark and disgusting. Ryse raised her hands to cover her face. He was like a demon escaped from a movie. Eyes dominated by greed were nauseatingly repulsive.

  "Strange. I don't know I have money myself, but you know I have money. Don't you think that's odd?"

  "Still acting tough and lying. We have lots of friends. The matter of you signing a ten million purchase contract is known everywhere. Even if you go home, you won't be safe. Better to let us take care of the money. Every penny of yours, I'll use it worthily."

  "I see... the shop owner, huh. At that time, besides the shop owner, there was another customer. But the only one who would know my name and address is the shop owner. Because customers don't have the right to search purchase documents."

  "What are you saying? I don't understand at all. So... will you transfer or not?"

  "If I don't transfer, what will happen?"

  "That's right. You should talk with my friends to understand. Or... I'll have to talk with the little sister on the vehicle." Daikyo pointed behind. The position where the three-wheeled sidecar was parked. The boy and girl hugged each other tightly, trembling in fear.

  "I understand. I'll transfer. But you have to let me and my children go."

  "Now you're being reasonable." Daikyo grinned wickedly. Finally, the prey walked into the mouth on its own.

  His planar smell is as strong as people in the camp. What should I do? If Mother were here, these shrimps would be... Gretel looked at Ryse whose eyes welled with tears but didn't even dare cry out loud. He turned to look at the back of the man in white who had almost no aura from his body. Gretel grew up not knowing his father. When he could remember, there was only a nanny and Mother Rina. With Ryse's mother who appeared with souvenirs once or twice a month.

  Gretel lived in a military camp village. There were only men smelling of sweat. Fierce, strong, manly soldiers. Passed through many battles until covered with scars. Every mark from claws or weapons was a trophy of honor. Gretel respected their way of life but hated their faces.

  Those men liked to mock his mother. It was a word Gretel asked the meaning from adults' mouths. But adults said it was too early for Gretel to understand the meaning of that word. But Gretel believed it wasn't a good word because he was strictly forbidden to say it. Even if he had an IQ as low as an autistic child, he knew how much Mother Rina's dignity was looked down upon. Not just Mother Rina but also Ryse's mother, Mother Norn.

  Gretel hated men with perfect bodies but twisted minds. They were crude and lacked respect for others. It made Gretel wonder what kind of man his mother chose to give birth to him. Stronger and more powerful than men in the military camp village?

  "Your father is a man stronger than anyone." Rina had once told Gretel on the day he asked what his father was like.

  "The man your mother chose can't possibly be weak. Someday you'll understand the meaning of what mother said yourself." On that day, Gretel embellished his imagination of the unknown father in his head. That the man his mother chose must have a noble spirit, hard as an unbreakable diamond, to be accepted by the two women he respected most.

  He never thought that someday he would meet the man who shared his blood. Everything collapsed and crumbled. A thin body. White skin, beautiful hair. Looking powerless, lacking confidence in every gesture. Completely different from people in the camp, as if living in different worlds. Imagination shattered and plummeted. Not at all what he had hoped for.

  In Ryse's view, Jinyo was a warm older brother. A divine youth who appeared from who knows where. She who had never heard stories of her birth father. Didn't expect or beautifully imagine someone she had never met. Different from Gretel who eagerly waited. But on the day he saw Jinyo, he eagerly waited to see how amazing his own father was.

  Now, the cowardly father was transferring money to bad people. So weak and powerless. Different from the ideal father like heaven and earth.

  Someone like that...

  "You coward!" Gretel exploded with vocal power. Calling everyone's attention to look at him.

  "You're not my father! You're weak! Cowardly! Why do you let yourself be taken advantage of? Let yourself be oppressed? Someone like that... is not my father!" Words born from filtered emotions. Disappointment and heartbreak. A heart brimming with justice that wouldn't yield to any evil.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "If it were Mother, she definitely wouldn't yield to anyone. If you won't fight, I'll fight myself." Gretel picked up a rock and threw it at Daikyo's face. The rock struck Daikyo's left eye squarely.

  "Argh! You brat! Undisciplined child!" Daikyo raised his hand, covering his throbbing eye. His right eye looked at Gretel with resentful gaze as if to swallow the boy whole. Gretel trembled but stood his ground.

  "You little pest, I'll discipline you myself!" Daikyo drew his sword. Deep purple aura surged, forming Sword Spirit. Daikyo swung his sword toward the boy around his child's age.

  I'm not afraid. Gretel's shoulders wouldn't stop shaking.

  I'm not a coward. Gretel kept his eyes open, fighting.

  Because I'm the child of a heroine.

  Clang!

  A metal sword clashed with an old, rotten wooden sword. The muscular man honed through body refinement was stopped by a thin young man with a single sword swing. The one who came to stop was none other than the cowardly father in his son's eyes.

  "What are you doing?" Jinyo asked.

  "Just scaring the kid. Because his parents didn't teach him manners."

  "What right do you have to discipline my child? What right to threaten them with that dirty sword?" The wooden sword in his right hand trembled.

  "Enough already. This is why I prefer talking to orchids over hairless chimpanzees."

  "What did you just sa—" Before finishing, the wooden sword thrust into his gaping mouth. The sharpened sword tip struck the back of his throat. Fast and merciless, unable to react. The impact force sent straight up to the brain stem until thinking stopped processing momentarily.

  "Damn it! Break his arm first, then we'll deal with the rest!" The moment Daikyo was attacked was a warning signal for the start of battle. Dozens of fierce men rushed at Jinyo endlessly. Different auras reflected in mirror eyes that changed to blue. Jinyo drew his sword back, watching metal weapons swinging toward him. How boring and pitifully lacking in technique.

  All movements became slow-motion images. Feet shifted in every movement that struck as if knowing the future. The wooden sword stained with the fool's saliva thrust precisely at foreheads or Adam's apples like placing them. No fluctuation whatsoever. Only eyes that didn't blink even for a second.

  "Cough, cough cough." Daikyo stood clutching his throat, backing away. Watching gang friends who surged in human waves at Jinyo. No power waves released from Jinyo at all. The wooden sword struck heads, chests, and throats again and again. The heavy sound from full-force impacts echoed in ears. Shoving pain and shameful inability to fight at all ten people.

  "What the hell... can't even handle someone without planar? You useless bastards!" Daikyo yelled at his incompetent gang friends. Everyone had superior planar but couldn't create a single scratch on the manaless person holding a wooden sword. What did this mean? Were they fighting ghosts or demons?

  So hot. This feeling, like blood is boiling. Jinyo swung his sword, graceful steps. Not a single second he stopped dancing. Clouds covering the sky moved past, letting moonlight shine on his unscarred body. Graceful movements but secretly containing violence and raw combat instincts.

  Jinyo smiled dreamily. Eyes usually calm and gentle ignited with flames of violence. A strange beast thirsting for victory and battle. The garment covering true human nature was stripped away. Leaving only the self running wild. Seeking only victory and glory.

  "Ah..." Jinyo moaned softly.

  Getting to fight and destroy opponents until exhausted, it felt... so good!

  This was the meaning of being alive.

  The me right now... won't let anyone stop it.

  "Yahhh!" Daikyo roared, rushing in with a sword brimming with energy.

  Song of Poisonous Serpent Silver Fangs, First Movement: Strike Prey

  A sword technique combined with planar created images showing the user's imagination and power. The sword in Daikyo's hand twisted into the image of a purple-black serpent striking prey. Its movement made it impossible to know exactly where the sword tip was aimed. What was certain from looking was that it was a fast thrusting movement.

  "I'll take one of your eyes, as punishment for what your kid did to my eye!" Daikyo's grin stretched to his ears. The hard-to-read sword aimed to stab the emerald green eye. In a split second as the image approached, Jinyo dodged until the blade grazed his face, creating a small red mark. All movements became slow-motion images Daikyo had never seen before. A wooden sword both light and weightless shouldn't create wounds or injuries for Daikyo who had refined his skin.

  Sword Spirit surged forth. Striking Daikyo's body until he screamed loudly throughout the forest. The blunt wooden sword slashed skin and clothes into marks.

  How is this possible? It's just a wooden sword. A wooden sword! Or... Sword Spirit?

  "Do you know I'm not without planar? It's just... my planar is too valuable to use on trash."

  "You!! You bastard, I'll kill you!" Anger took over. Daikyo opened his mouth with a movement. But whether from hot-headedness or lack of skill, the sloppy movement was full of openings. Jinyo adjusted his breathing until a long, high-pitched sound arose. The faint sweet scent of peach blossoms that shouldn't exist in autumn drifted to touch Ryse and Gretel's noses. Both children had seen this sword movement style countless times. Perhaps this was the first time since opening their eyes to the world that they felt it was frighteningly perfect.

  "Song of a Hundred Flowers, First Movement"

  Peach Blossom Dance

  In the blink of an eye when feet touched the ground, Jinyo's body surged like an arrow striking the exposed body. Heavy, fierce, and firm. In a short time, the wooden sword touched Daikyo eight times already. Muscles trained and refined to endure even blade edges showed bruises and violent stomach turmoil. Daikyo gradually lost strength and sensation until his hand released the sword.

  The last thing Daikyo saw was a wooden sword thrusting straight at his left eye.

  "Arghhhh!!" The wooden sword stabbed through the eyeball. Creating pain until Daikyo's brain couldn't bear it. The large man clutched his endlessly bleeding eye, knees crumbling to the ground, looking up at the monster in human guise staring down. His heart jolted as if blood was being sucked dry from his chest.

  "I-it won't end here. M-my faction... will avenge me. You'll get... what you deserve."

  "Thank you."

  "!?" What did it say?

  "Thank you for making me remember the joy of fighting humans. If you hadn't drawn your sword at my son, I would have forgotten this feeling forever. Thank you so much for making me draw my sword. And regret for life... what touching my important things will result in." Jinyo slowly slid the wooden sword, aiming straight at Daikyo's face. To be accurate, the position of his right eye.

  "Stop... please. Spare my life. I won't—"

  The sword stabbed through the throat, cutting through the Adam's apple. Daikyo's eyes rolled back white.

  Jinyo still mercifully let him live with the one remaining eye.

  The violent aura gradually calmed again. When turning back to look at his children, Jinyo made an awkward expression. Both Gretel and Ryse got goosebumps seeing that gentle smile again. But the feeling was different from before.

  "Let's go home."

  Police officers came along with the vehicle mechanic. Daikyo easily made a confession statement that he colluded with the raw materials shop. The shop owner who received the deposit informed his gang to extort money from Jinyo, the big-money customer. Thinking if Jinyo had no money to pay upon goods delivery, he would pocket the deposit himself and take a share from Daikyo.

  In the end, police would drag the raw materials shop owner for additional questioning. Jinyo got his deposit back but had to waste time negotiating transactions with another shop instead.

  On the way home, Ryse had fallen asleep but Gretel was still conscious. He couldn't stop looking at his birth father's face.

  "Why... when you're that skilled, did you agree to transfer money?" Gretel's attitude toward Jinyo had softened considerably.

  "The money I have is borrowed from Rina. Money transferred from government officials is strictly monitored. Even if Rina transfers to my account, I transfer to him, in the end the bank will call back to Rina to confirm the transaction anyway. That chunk of money, even if I transfer it, he can't transfer it to a mule account. In the end, the money will be transferred back to my account anyway."

  "Even so, why let yourself be looked down on? Fighting from the start would have ended it."

  "Gretel, I understand your feelings. But fighting isn't always the best solution. About today's matter, if not because I could fight, Ryse and I would be injured and Gretel would be hurt too. Do you understand that your shallow thinking put us in even greater danger?"

  "I... I'm sorry." Gretel shed tears. Looking down, not daring to lift his face for anyone to see again.

  He was wrong. He just wanted Jinyo to fight. Didn't want Jinyo to be so weak he couldn't protect his child. He didn't want a weak, cowardly father. Until being scolded, he realized how foolish he was.

  "I know Gretel doesn't like me. I'm not brave or the father Gretel wants me to be. But I want you to know that even though the methods used might be seen as unmanly, it's because I don't want to risk my important children being in danger. I love you both."

  [Gretel Erindel, your son, feels touched by you. Affection +200.]