With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

The safety devices of the sparring arena, continuously sounding warning alarms to indicate they had reached their limit.

The surroundings that had literally become a mess.

The dust that had not yet completely settled.

A muscular man dripping with blood and sweat mingled turbidly, and in contrast, one small and frail child.

Decisively, the blue shield that was carelessly strewn about with a large hole punctured in its center.

All of these made it too easy for [Cinia], the only restraint and secretary of the ruffian called the battle maniac, to guess the entire situation.

In light of this, it was only natural that another harsh shout was uttered from her mouth.

“Now you’ve gone so far as to lay hands on such a young child!!”

Of course, it was maddening for the person who hadn’t even touched a single strand of hair, let alone laid hands on the child.

Come to think of it, it was the child who first attacked Rier, who had been constantly telling them to go home.

It was also the child who fearlessly asked to fight first with the strongest fighter at the very top among the various powerful fighters of the Northern Continent.

The only crime Rier had committed was indulging that fearless child’s audacity.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

She ran to the child who didn’t have even a small scratch, not even looking at the person whose body was covered with bruises and wounds.

By any measure, this was severely discriminatory treatment.

Considering that Rier had committed various strange acts for the sake of wanting to fight, this was honestly too much.

Nevertheless, Rier couldn’t easily show even a slight sense of grievance, let alone clear up this huge misunderstanding, because…

“…I’ll hear your excuses after treating this child first.”

The person who was nominally a secretary glared at Rier as if she would kill them.

The childhood PTSD that naturally emerged at some point was an added bonus.

Even though they were no longer in the cliched relationship of ‘Strict Nanny and Immature Young Master,’ it was still difficult to deal with Cinia.

In the end, Rier was left alone in the ruined sparring arena without being able to provide any explanation.

Why did Rier feel increasingly lonely without even noticing?

“…I should have locked the door…”

Perhaps because even the adrenaline had now left Rier, the wounded areas began to sting little by little.

It was truly, lonely.

“Were you very scared?”

Even as the medical equipment brought in for emergencies examined the child, Cinia’s wrinkled hand continued to soothe them.

To this, the youthful face just showed an awkward expression without speaking.

However, for someone who had witnessed with their own eyes what seemed like nothing less than horrific abuse—although it was actually the opposite—such silence rather had the opposite effect.

“My goodness. How startled must you be that you can’t even speak…”

“…?”

The wings of imagination, which were already stretching in a direction somewhat distant from the truth, stretched in an even stranger direction.

Not long after, the meaning of the name Rier, which had finally been downgraded several levels from ‘a ruffian who can’t control his strength’ to ‘the world’s number one trash’.

She had known since he was young that Rier was a man with an excessively strong competitive spirit compared to others.

And she knew better than anyone that even after defeating all the strong fighters in the Northern Continent and reigning at the top, he was still a battle maniac who enjoyed life-or-death combat…

“I’ll give you a sharp lesson so that you can’t even imagine doing such a thing again.”

But she never thought he would go so far as to kidnap such a young child late at night and use them as a punching bag.

She thought he would at least know where to draw the line as a human being.

Anyway, when the examination results showed that there was nothing wrong, she was somewhat relieved.

Then, to contact the child’s guardian who must be desperately searching for the child who suddenly disappeared late at night, she asked the child a few simple questions.

“Could you tell me your parents’ contact information? Both of them must be very worried—”

“B-both of them have already passed away…”

“What…?”

It was the moment when the meaning of the name Rier changed from ‘the world’s number one trash’ to ‘a garbage who shouldn’t even be associated with.’

At this point, she was more bewildered than angry.

Wait, so did he knowingly kidnap an orphan and make them the opponent of those excessively violent fists?

He gave them just one thin shield and somehow made them withstand those incredibly ferocious blows?

Thinking that even if he accidentally killed the child, no one would care because they were an orphan, so he could beat them freely—

“W-wait a minute! I think you’re greatly misunderstanding something!!”

It was right after that when she realized that the words she thought she was saying only in her mind were actually leaking out of her mouth.

However, the child’s blue eyes, which seemed to have something they wanted to say, looked at Cinia desperately.

“What am I… misunderstanding?”

She barely held onto her mental state, which was on the verge of collapsing and foaming at the mouth, and asked in as careful a tone as possible.

The words that came from the child were enough to make her confused in a different sense than before.

“Well, you see… from beginning to end?”

“F-from beginning to end?”

“Yes. From beginning to end…”

The stories that followed were things that Cinia couldn’t have imagined at all.

And so, she was carefully told the reality of what had happened over the past few hours.

From the fact that the child had followed someone who was heading to the dungeon alone because they had something to ask Rier, to the fact that the child themselves had requested a duel with a wish as the reward.

The truth, which was corrected by the child from beginning to end, was as follows.

“You followed him all the way there because you had something to ask him?”

“Yes.”

“And you knew he was the strongest person in this Northern Continent?”

“I wasn’t… unaware.”

“And you still tried to talk to him somehow? Even by attacking him first?”

“Um, I did take a bit of courage, but…”

“…In the end, you were willing to risk your life in a fight because of that request. Oh, you poor thing…”

“…Why is that your conclusion?”

As a result, the meaning of the name Rier was slightly upgraded from ‘a garbage who shouldn’t even be associated with’ to ‘a fool who doesn’t care as long as it’s a fight’.

However, it was an undeniable fact that when the child said they wanted to fight, Rier had really tried to fight with this small and frail body.

“…It seems I need to re-educate him on morality.”

Cinia’s wrinkled hand searched for the long rod she had sealed in a safe.

Moreover, she was searching for the legendary rod said to have been made from the branch of the World Tree in mythology—

“…Please spare me that, at least.”

“Be quiet, stupid young master who knows nothing but fighting.”

“How old am I to be called ‘young master,’ really…”

Not long after, thump.

As someone said, Rier sat down on a chair, saying he would at least listen to what request this frail child had that they would risk their own life.

Sure enough, although Cinia’s sharp gaze continued to glare at Rier, for now, hearing what the child’s request was took priority. In the end, Cinia also turned her ear to the child.

The story told by the elegant mouth that slowly opened was about The Tower that was said to have reappeared in the world recently.

Perhaps because children will be children, at first she tried to correct the child’s non-misunderstanding, thinking they were only thinking in too negative a direction.

“That… The Tower isn’t as dangerous a place as you’re worrying about. Your sister is also an extremely strong person.”

“I know she’s strong. I know, but… I still think it would be better if mister Rier helped…”

Because even until the very last moment, the child wouldn’t bend their wish for their precious people to return safely.

In addition, the fact that this delicate child had walked alone all the way to this distant place to ask Rier for help once again struck a chord in Cinia’s heart.

“It’s only natural to worry about precious people no matter the situation. Yes…”

“…Why doesn’t that excessive level of empathy work for me?”

“Why should I worry about you, young master? Frankly speaking, you’re someone who would somehow crawl back up even if thrown off a cliff.”

Although Rier was honestly not very willing, they couldn’t bring themselves to utter the two letters of ‘no’ right now.

However, the fact that Rier didn’t immediately agree to the child’s request once again irritated Cinia.

“I’ve told you repeatedly. With great power comes great responsibility.”

“And I’ve told you repeatedly. Such words shouldn’t be said carelessly.”

“…Is it that comic book story again?”

“No, really, people who said that line usually didn’t live long after.”

Regardless of whatever strange things Rier was saying, Cinia tried to somehow make him accept the child’s request.

After that, Cinia’s nagging or scolding continued like a machine gun for a while.

Unable to endure it for long, finally, nod.

“Just this once. I won’t care what happens for the next Tower, no matter what.”

Rier finally uttered with their own mouth that they would lend their strength to The Tower conquest.

“But, let me ask for one favor.”