*Ehem* manga spoiler?

"If you already watch this anime "

Pls you can leave now (im not mad at you lol)

ty :))

have a great day 💓

Amakawa Haruto, a college student living in Tokyo.

Summer.

He was walking below the clear blue sky as the sun shone brightly above.

With the sun shining down combined with the asphalt on the ground, the area was filled with hot air rising causing a heat haze.

In such hostile environment, Haruto still had a cool expression on his face as he continued walking towards the University campus.

Along the way, Haruto discovered a group of female college students walking nearby secretly raising small shrill voices.

Haruto had this hard to approach atmosphere, tall along with a handsome face.

Also as a practitioner of ancient martial arts, he was able to train his body resulting in an excellent physique.

Therefore Haruto walking to University was seen as some sort of celebrity by the opposite sex.

Despite that, no rumours could be found about Haruto being interested in any girls.

It did not mean that he was into men.

Just that in the 20 or so years he had been alive, Haruto never found himself a girlfriend.

The reason was that there was only one person in his heart.

That person was Haruto’s childhood friend.

Unfortunately, his crush never bore fruit.

Yearning for her, Haruto was almost able reached her but she suddenly vanished.

Five years passed since Haruto’s childhood friend’s disappearance.

The last time he talked to her was 13 years ago.

Ever since the time he first encountered her, it took no time for Haruto to fall for her.

Playing with her everyday, it was difficult for him not to notice his attraction towards her.

Playing with her everyday, it was difficult for him not to notice his attraction towards her.

But Haruto’s parents divorced when he was still young and he was taken by his father to live in his father’s home town in the countryside.

At that time, the two childhood friends made a certain promise.

Someday, when they were reunited, they would get married.

There was no binding force to that promise, only a fleeting transient promise in their childhood.

But Haruto was determined to make that dream a reality and poured all his strength towards that promise.

To achieve their dream, he built his foundation towards manhood through the pursuit of knowledge, agriculture, housework, and martial arts.

He wanted to meet.

He could not stand not being able to meet her.

He did everything with great effort and impatiently waited until the day he reached adulthood for their reunion. Haruto blindly believed in the promise.

Haruto, who dedicated great effort into all his endeavors, was recognised by his father.

Owing to that, his father allowed Haruto to enroll in a famous high school near the area his childhood friend resided.

It was where a shocking reunion was about to happen.

Coincidentally, his childhood friend also enrolled in the same high school.

Dokun, Haruto could feel his heart race.

There was no mistake, it was her.

Even if her appearance had changed over the years, he would make such a mistake.

She was still in the distance but he knew because she was his beloved.

Even if her appearance had changed over the years, he would make such a mistake.

She was still in the distance but he knew because she was his beloved.

He was fascinated, looking at her back, covered by glossy black hair.

Her small, beautiful face.

Her skin, white as snow.

Her short stature, but possessing finely balanced features.

Her appearance, neat and tidy, giving her the most graceful atmosphere.

She was like a girl straight out of a painting.

Haruto felt grateful to the fate that reunited them.

But he simultaneously cursed that same fate.

Next to her was an unknown guy.

Haruto became scared.

Was it possible that the two were dating?

When he thought this, he became unable to call out to her.

And then just like that, while he was agonizing over what he should do, Haruto’s childhood friend vanished.

Ever since then, Haruto continued to live in regret.

By the time he realised that she had vanished, Haruto finally noticed the great mistake he had committed.

His spirit almost broke.

He could not even let out a sound of his heartbreaking cry, only letting it resound in his body.

But, he did not give up.

There was no way that he would give up.

He would not be so easily discouraged with just this.

Because he did not get to confess his feelings yet.

He embraced the faint feeling that he would someday, somehow meet her as long as he was in Tokyo.

After graduating from high school, Haruto enrolled in a University in Tokyo.

But even to this day, he was not able to get his hands on a single piece of information about her.

Eventually, three years rolled by.

There was not a single day where he forgot about his beloved childhood friend.

He even sought the police’s help to investigate his childhood friend’s disappearance but the truth remained wrapped in a mystery.

After lectures ended, Haruto headed back home by bus.

The time was just before evening so there were only a handful of passengers riding the bus. Currently there were only three passengers including Haruto.

The inside of the bus was wrapped in silence.

Staring out the window, Haruto watched the flowery scenery pass by.

Suddenly, the bus started violently shaking.

Before he noticed, the bus was suspended in mid-air causing a floating feeling, followed by a sudden impact to his whole body. In an instant, Haruto’s consciousness faded to black.

“…te…”

The moment before all became darkness, a beautiful voice in an unknown language resounded in his mind.

“…to the next news. This afternoon at 3:15 in the Tokyo ○○ prefecture, a bus and medium sized truck collided. Three bus passengers were pronounced dead on scene. Despite suffering serious injuries, the two drivers survived the accident

ty for reading this :))

"NEXT CHAPTER". --------->

Chapter 2 - Awakening

Year 991 of the Holy Calendar.

Yufilia Continent, Beltram Kingdom.

In one corner of the Capital’s slums, with his chest full of agony, a boy was lying on the ground.

“Ha~, ha~…”

Even after opening his eyes, the anguish he was feeling could not be extinguished nor could he distract himself from it. Knowing so, the boy still strongly gripped his chest.

Before he noticed, his body was already drenched in sweat.

His whole body felt hot.

It felt as if his flesh was on fire.

Suddenly, like a miracle, the torment subsided and slowly, warmth spread throughout his body.

(What was that…?)

The boy did not understand what just happened, only that the unpleasant feelings were slowly dissipating.

When he regained his composure, he took a look at his surroundings.

It was a gloomy and dirty alley lined by crude wooden houses.

Unpleasant odours drifted into his nose. He frowned at the foul air but thanks to the stench, his head cleared up a bit.

As for what happened during his sleep, he had no memory of.

At that moment, the boy realised he had slept on the ground.

Dirty clothes hung on his body. He felt the need to do something about his clothes but thought they could last a bit longer.

Lifting up his face, a vast clear blue sky was reflected in his eyes.

(What was that uncomfortable feeling and why am I lying down on a road?)

Having just awoken, he still could not think clearly despite having no memory of drinking sake.

He noticed the surrounding houses seemed unusual before realising their architecture differed greatly from the Japanese wooden style houses he was accustomed to.

Feeling uncomfortable, the boy lost himself in thought.

Moreover his body was not in the best condition. Maybe it was due to being exposed to the cold weather from sleeping on the road. His joints also ached.

(!?)

Trying to raise his body again, he noticed the greatest disaster. Screams were rising in the boy’s head.

What entered his view was the body of a young child.

I’m supposed to be a college student.

No, I’m supposed to be an orphan.

(What’s the meaning of this?)

The boy was confused at his overlapping memory.

Thinking slowly about the problem, the boy directed his gaze towards his own hands and feet.

It was not the healthy skin of a person living in a wealthy country like Japan.

On top of that, his skin was dry and body was frail as a result of malnutrition as well as being covered in dirt.

The boy tried rearranging his thoughts; there were no memories of him taking a bath there.

(Seriously…)

He unintentionally performed a tsukkomi on himself after witnessing his dirty self.

The clothes he wore were made from worn down rags.

Of course, he did not own a pair of shoes either.

However, he still felt grateful that he at least had something to wear.

He was unsure what his facial features were like but from his long bangs, he discovered the slightly dirty hair was black in colour.

His limbs were in a similar state to his worn out clothes but his mind was not in chaos.

Cooling down his thoughts, he tried to assess his situation.

The boy’s name was Rio, it was also Amakawa Haruto.

Looking at his memories, he determined that he was 7 years old in the current world, as well as a 20 year old Japanese man.

A wave of dizziness hit him due to excessive hunger. After confirming his situation, he sat on the ground and began to think.

He, as Amakawa Haruto still had recollections of his memories before he died.

He also had memories of Rio’s everyday life until now.

He did not know the reason why he was unconscious on roadside just a while ago but for the time being, it was not important.

Possessing the knowledge of Amakawa Haruto along with obtaining Rio’s memories, he concluded that at the moment, he was not on Earth.

Rio was an orphaned child without education, but he knew the name of the country where he resided.

Judging from the level of civilization and taking into account the circumstances as well as other factors made him arrive at the conclusion that this country was not located on the Earth Amakawa Haruto knew.

Possibly, he was reincarnated.

(But it’s really hard to believe… no, perhaps there’s still some chance that this is a dream?)

But when Rio thought harder about the situation, the possibly of it being a dream was greatly lowered.

His mind was far too clear for it to be a dream.

Calming himself, he tried but failed to find any irregularities about himself.

At most, it was an influenza-like symptom that caused his joints to ache. This was reality and he had already assured himself that.

Rio never heard of this country’s existence before on Earth. The things such as Kings and nobles, things like countless numbers of vagrant orphans becoming slaves, the absence of electricity and any products of science. In addition, monsters existed in this world.

This was not a dream neither was it on Earth.

Currently, Rio was in the slums district of the Beltram Kingdom’s capital.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that his condition was at the lowest and if things continued as such, he would not survive for long.

It seemed that is was due to luck that Rio was able to survive until now.

Only the most fortunate orphans were able to live in orphanages. As for the ones living in the slums, it was a never-ending struggle for survival; scavenging for scraps of food and pick-pocketing.

If his luck was good, he would be able to buy some cheap hard bread with the insignificant amount of money he looted. It was no surprise that he was suffering from malnutrition.

That was what Rio did every day to survive.

In such a condition, to be honest, it would not be strange if he dropped dead on the streets.

For the time being, he needed to secure some food but thoughts about his current situation still lingered.

It was common sense for weak orphans to form groups, however due to Rio’s unusual black hair he was ostracized by orphan groups.

As a result, it was exceedingly difficult for him to cooperate with other orphans. One way or another, he managed to survive until now by himself.

(Now I need to find work and settle in but…)

It was difficult to find a workplace where they would employ an orphan.

It was convenient for people to treat orphans as if they never existed.

Even if he was able to find one by chance, it would be hard labour with low wages.

In that case, Rio wondered if he had any advantages in this world. The skills he carried over may prove to be useful.

Most of the skills he possessed were ones he developed in his previous life.

He could perform mathematical calculations meaning he had a big advantage. Fortunately, this country was already using the decimal system.

Other skills that seemed useful were martial arts, cooking, and miscellaneous everyday life skills.

He had already engraved into his head how to use all those skills.

But currently, he lacked social status so it was challenging for him to make full use of his skills.

Either way, right now there was nothing in this place that could solve his problems.

Feeling the need to ease his hunger, Rio began looking around the city.

And then, Rio noticed another change that occurred ever since his memories awakened.

He noticed that a faint light was being emitted from people’s bodies.

At first he thought it was just an illusion but it did not disappear even after he tried refocusing his eyes.

The amount of light emitted differed from person to person with the majority only emitting a small amount.

He already ran into hundreds of people since his memory awakened so he was confident that his ability to measure the amount of emitted light was fairly accurate.

Suddenly, Rio noticed his own body was emitting a similar light.

The amount was many times greater than that of other people.

No, it was best to say that his knowledge on this matter was still too limited.

Looking at other people, there was no way the light emission would be infinite.

Just like vapour rising from boiling water and dissolving into the air, that light was also coming out of Rio’s body.

Moreover, the amount of light emitted started slowly increasing.

At the same time, he became more and more sensitive to that light.

It was as if he could feel his surroundings through his five senses.

Through his own eyes, he could see anything in the world that came in contact with the light as if they were his own eyes. He was able to grasp one of the properties of the mysterious light.

He could infinitely stretch his senses allowing him to perceive things beyond any normal person can.

(I have an unpleasant feeling the light’s only function is to enhance my perception…)

Stretching his senses granted a feeling similar to his spirit parting his body. With the sudden increase in perception, a question appeared in his mind.

Was he the only one who could see the light?

Because the amount of light emitted from his body was clearly abnormal, Rio understood that being different may expose him to danger.

Anyhow, he needed to find a secluded place away from people. Rio immediately left the main street and entered a back alley and sat himself on the cold ground.

The amount of light emitting from his body continued to increase but there were no changes to his physical condition.

There was no need to be impatient.

He thought so with a serene mind.

Rio started meditating, his mind achieving perfect unity of body and mind.

He did not expect the martial arts he learned from his grandfather would become useful in such a way.

While still being aware of the hustle and bustle on the streets, a significant amount of time passed. Who knew how long he had been meditating for? His mind was already beyond its limit.

Having achieved unity of the mind, Rio felt an overflowing amount of energy pulsating throughout his body.

The power filling his body was as thick as blood.

The true nature of that light was magic.

The magical power gushing out from his body could not be perceived by the ***** eye.

Therefore Rio instinctively understood that a powerful sense of imagination was required to control the magical power.

It still felt surreal to him.

(Alright…)

Feeling confident about his speculation, Rio slowly and cautiously began decreasing the amount of magical energy overflowing from his body.

It had a similar feeling to erasing one’s presence.

Not entirely the same but similarities were noticed.

Understanding the concept, Rio immediately gained control over his magical powers.

Now, all of his magical powers were sealed within his body without a single speck flowing out.

The feeling could not be expressed solely with words but somehow he got the gist of it.

A slight smile emerged on Rio’s face.

But a question still lingered in his mind.

What was that light?

Currently the only changes he felt were a sharpening of his senses.

And most people only released a small amount of magical powers from their bodies.

Rio questioned whether there were any other uses for it.

Quantity verses quality meant that he still had to carefully think about the appropriate conditions for its use.

For the time being, he suppressed the questions that kept popping into his head and tried absorbing back all his magical power surrounding him.

With that, he verified a number of things. He understood that his magical power could slowly move in accordance with his imagination and gather in one place.

However he still did not know where to store it all.

His knowledge was still too limited.

After making sure there were no people around, Rio released his magical powers over his body for examination.

Suddenly, in a flash, he felt power coursing through his body.

It felt like a body strengthening skill.

Judging from the various changes he observed in his body, he concluded it was a form of body strengthening.

(…my body feels light.)

He felt as if his insides were brimming with power.

Rio tried to test his newfound powers with a simple jump. In spite of possessing the body of a child, the height he reached was equal to that of the average professional basketball player’s.

It was by pure chance he discovered the body reinforcement skill. While he only vaguely understood the concept before, he could now clearly imagine the body reinforcement skill.

By removing his brain’s limiter, he would be able to gain even greater body enchanting abilities by imagining his body clad with magical power.

As expected, it seemed that it was a good idea.

Rio imagined body reinforcement while walking.

He was performing some light movements to confirm its effects.

The results were movements deemed impossible for a boy in such bad shape.

(This, it seems continuous usage of body reinforcement is possible…)

However to do so, he was required to expend even more magical power than normal.

Suddenly his body started screaming.

It was apparent that any further usage would incur damage to his body.

His flesh could not keep up with his body reinforcement technique.

An idea emerged in Rio’s head. In that case, he would try and reinforce individual parts of his body. He imagined reinforcing his flesh’s endurance and focused on his muscle fibers and bones.

The burden on his body greatly lessened.

It seemed that this was also correct.

For the time being, Rio was satisfied with the results of his experiment.

But no matter how strong his ability or body reinforcement was, it could do nothing to supress his intense hunger. His stomach growled in confirmation.

Although his experiments were interesting, he was unable to continue unless he could secure food.

Looking up at the sky, it was already dusk.

Night would soon fall.

Truthfully, he had neither money nor a method to procure food through decent means.

In the worst case, he was prepared to go without food for the day. But at the very least, he wanted to have some sort of goal.

For the time being and the sake of his life, he needed to look around for hints at earning money. Rio left the back alley.

Walking unsteadily in the market, a large building suddenly came into view.

He could not read what was written on the signboard but understood the building belonged to the Adventurers’ Guild.

He could earn money by becoming an adventurer.

But Rio immediately brushed off the idea because he was still underage.

One of the rules of the Adventurers’ Guild was that they would only employ those who were of 12 years or older.

Rio once overheard other orphans talking about adventurers along with information about the age limit.

The manual labour limit was also 12 years old in Japan but in this world, many places did not have an age limit.

Because working children could also serve as war potential, many were used for manual labour.

However in the case of adventurers, there numerous cases where adventurers could not gain achievements due to the age limit.

Rio still considered it.

Speaking of adventurers, their work was somewhat vague. Rio imagined they risked their lives in exchange for acquiring raw materials and selling them.

In that case, there were no rules preventing him from collecting materials and selling them himself.

Only that the customers were not the Adventurers’ Guild.

Possibly some merchant.

Rio decided to investigate items that would likely be bought by merchants.

He immediately put his idea to action and headed towards the marketplace according to the map of the capital in his mind.

“Oi brat! What’re you looking at? Get out of my sight!”

However when Rio was browsing the commodities in the marketplace, the sharp eyes of a shopkeeper noticed him and threateningly yelled at him.

Shopkeepers were wary against orphans as they usually attempted to steal items from the market. Orphans were poorly treated in the marketplace.

Since some orphans possessed small amounts of money, they were not instantly kicked out but shopkeepers would keep a keen eye on them in case of theft.

An orphan that only browsed market items would indeed be suspicious.

Thanks to that, Rio could not even freely browse the market.

At the current rate, he had no other choice than to find another way to earn money.

As he currently had no food on him, he could only scavenge for scraps of food.

Rio was urged to find himself anything edible to fill his stomach but as Amakawa Haruto, he harboured resistance against the idea.

Rio decided to make full use of his ancient martial arts skills he developed in his previous life.

He erased his presence and blended in with his surroundings.

Because Rio’s existence faded in an instant, the shopkeeper who was only half-heartedly keeping an eye on him stopped looking out for him.

(Alright…!)

With his presence erased, Rio could look over the commodities displayed at the store.

What to sell? Where to sell?

Rio leisurely walked while wondering about that.

This skill gave him the opportunity to safely pilfer items with little risk.

But he chose not to do so.

His morals as Amakawa Haruto, an upstanding Japanese citizen prevented him.

Rio just walked amidst the stores understanding he could not touch the various commodities on display.

He was especially interested in the medicinal herbs, plants, and vegetables.

As politely as he could, he asked the store’s salesperson about the goods.

While the salesperson was wary of Rio, he answered all the questions presented to him once he was stubbornly pressed by Rio.

Various plants were successfully cultivated on farmlands surrounding the capital but some could only grow in the wild.

For such plants, they needed to be grown outside of the capital’s boundaries.

When required, adventurers were usually employed to harvest them.

Some adventurers would buy the plants they harvested with money from their own pockets.

However for a child like Rio to try and harvest these plants alone would be tantamount to suicide.

The salesperson could only give Rio a sympathetic look along with some advice.

Accepting the salesperson’s advice, Rio could only show a bitter smile and thanked him.

It was certainly a dangerous endeavour but it was still better than sitting on a hungry stomach.

He could perform body and flesh reinforcement.

There was also the ancient martial arts from his previous life so he could stand his ground in battle.

In any case, he had no other choices but to go.

But the day was almost over.

Before the end of the day, he needed to find something to supress his hunger so he abandoned the thought for the time being.

Without searching for food scraps in garbage dumps as he usually would, Rio headed back towards his home in the slums.

To distract himself from the hunger, he recalled the various shocking events that transpired that day.

The first event was the awakening of his previous life’s memories.

Recollections of Amakawa Haruto and him taking over as the main personality, but Rio’s memories and consciousness also remained resulting in the two personalities fusing into one.

Both sides became the main personality, both fused perfectly with no complications.

He as Amakawa Haruto perfectly accepted Rio.

And Rio, the orphaned child, also accepted Amakawa Haruto.

In his previous life, Amakawa Haruto’s purpose in life was to find the whereabouts of his childhood friend.

Apart from that goal, given his current situation, he had no other.

For the time being, he had no other choice than to live as Rio.

Rio also had something he must do in this world.

In the beginning, Rio did not live in slums in poverty.

His father and mother were adventurers.

The two formed a duo and travelled to a foreign nation together.

When Rio’s mother became pregnant with Rio, she took a temporary retirement.

Naturally, his father became the sole bread winner for the family.

Until that time, the two always completed quests together.

Then Rio’s father made a blunder during a quest with another adventurer.

And as a result died.

With the death of her husband, Rio’s mother raised Rio all by herself.

Using money saved from their time as adventurers, she was somehow able to safely raise Rio.

But that only continued until Rio turned 5.

Rio’s mother was a gorgeous woman overflowing with an alluring atmosphere.

She already had a child but was still young enough for the surrounding men to send lustful gazes at her.

Taking Rio hostage, a man acquainted with her during her adventuring days raped and killed her.

Rio witnessed his kind mother being raped in front of him.

At that time, he made sure to engrave the name and features of that man into his soul.

Rio did not give up on life. Even if he was forced to scavenge for scraps of food to survive, he swore to someday exact revenge.

The desire silently burned in his heart even to this day.

But on the other hand, Amakawa Haruto felt uneasy about revenge.

Suddenly the memory of that horrifying day replayed in his head.

Rio mourned with a frown.

He shook his head clearing the thought and hastened his pace.

ty for reading this :))

"NEXT CHAPTER" ----------->

warning manga spoiler?

Chapter 3 - Kidnapping

Rio walked along the winding street before turning into a hidden path. The path led directly to the red light district.

Following the main road in the red light district, he saw many soldiers looking awfully busy.

The red light district’s main street was located closer to the slums than the market and commoner district’s main street.

When the day turned into night, the streets became overflowing with prostitutes and men trying to buy their bodies.

Sweet voices calling out and negotiations being made could be heard along the street.

Public order in the red light district was surprisingly good due to nobles being among the many customers soliciting the area’s services.

Only upstanding brothels were permitted to operate in most of the Kingdom.

The few doing operating illegally situated their business near the slums.

Rio was heading to that part of town.

Upon arriving, the sounds of competition between legal brothels immediately ceased, replaced by an eerie silence. Not a single person could be seen

It was in such a place that Rio was passing through.

There were no good feelings associated with that place.

It took him less than a minute to arrive in the slums.

“Get lost!”

Then, Rio bumped into trouble.

A little distance from him were four rough looking men wearing leather armour with cheap swords strapped to their waists.

The four men gave off the feeling of hoodlums.

An awful lot of noise was coming from the direction of the thugs. Two of the men were carrying large sacks on their shoulders.

One sack moved as if a large animal was inside.

“What’re you doing!? Where’re we going!? Who are you!? Let me out! Don’t think things will end like this! Father won’t forgive you! I’ll send all of you flying!”

Glancing at the noisy bag and the appearance of the shady men, suspicion arose in Rio’s mind.

The voice of a young girl could be heard from the noisy sack.

“Che— she regained consciousness. Shut up! Quit fussing around!”

Loud voices could be heard from the dubious quartet.

The bag instantly slightly shook and shriveled.

“Idiot! Watch your voice!”

“Ye-Yes. Sorry aniki.”

The way the loud man was apologising suggested that aniki’s position was quite high.

It seemed that aniki was also the group’s leader.

“Che— for 10 gold coins this bag is awfully suspicious but this job is really profitable.”

The one referred to as aniki frowned while clicking his tongue. Judging from his expression, the baggage was proving to be very troublesome.

“Hehe, but 10 gold coins is really an unbelievable reward. With just this, we can spend 10 months drinking and playing around with women.”

All the underlings were smiling, their faces full of lust.

The leader was not disturbed at all.

In this country, one gold coin was enough to feed a common family for two months.

By the way, if he remembered correctly, the exchange rate for money was 100 copper coins for 1 silver coin, 50 silver coins for 1 gold coin, and 25 gold coins for 1 mystic coin.

“What kind of person’s inside? Based on the size and weight, I’d say it’s a girl.”

Unable to contain his curiosity, one of the men carrying the sack asked the leader to check what was inside.

“Maybe it’s a merchant or noble’s daughter… Oi, open the sack!”

Curiosity getting the best of him, the leader displayed a vulgar grin and ordered the sack to be opened.

“Are you sure?”

“Hmph, that man never said we couldn’t open the sack. And we need to find out if the contents are worth more than what we’re paid for. We’ll request another payment during the handover.”

The subordinates cheered hearing those words while the leader snorted.

“You, watch the surroundings and don’t let anyone come near. Well I doubt anyone’ll come to this place anyway.”

The leader ordered the man to set his bag on the ground. The man who was ordered from before had a “Let me see her face too” expression on his face.

But in Rio’s eyes, the lackey’s vigilance was extremely sloppy.

“Well then…”

After confirming their surroundings, the man placed the sack on the ground and roughly opened it.

“Kya!”

With a thud, a soft slender limb was exposed, together with a scream coming out from the young lady in the sack.

“Hehe, now we can enjoy a young woman to ourselves.”

Smiles crept onto the sketchy quartet’s faces after hearing the young lady’s cream.

They leisurely unfastened the ropes binding the sack.

Only 10 seconds were needed to finish the deed.

After seeing who emerged from inside the bag, the men leaked voices of admiration.

What they saw was a young girl around the same age as Rio.

Silky violet-blonde hair, purple coloured irides, and a determined expression; the charming girl had the appearance of an angel.

Due to her features and attire, she exuded the atmosphere of a high class individual.

Possibly she was the daughter of a noble.

Her exceptional beauty mesmerized Rio in an instant.

There was no mistake; a noble’s daughter had just been kidnapped.

But for what reason? For such important cargo, they would not be handed over for transportation to some hooligans.

Rio was speechless and had no idea what was going on.

It was safe to say they must have received inside help from guards of the noble’s house.

“Ah— Curiosity killed the cat huh? This is bad… we may have overstepped our boundaries.”

The leader nervously scratched his head with a difficult expression painted on his face.

They must have understood what it meant for them to kidnap the girl. They finally realised the gravity of the situation.

“Well good thing we only carried them this far. After reaching to our destination, let’s ask for additional payment. C’mon, let’s go! We gotta finish this quickly.”

The criminals’ plans continued along with the girl’s misfortune.

Being glared at by the goons, the young girl tightly shut her eyes.

“Well come on. Quietly get back in the sack again.”

“NO! !”

The young girl raised her hands up and recited something. Something started coming out from the palm of her hands.

However before the phenomenon of magical power could be converted into a magic spell, the girl received a sharp kick from the leader.

“Agh— gah ho…”

Rio was startled witnessing the young girl being blown away.

At the same time he was fascinated by the magic she was about to release.

Rio could only use his magical powers for body and flesh reinforcement while that young girl was doing something else entirely using an unknown technique.

Before the magic discharged, something resembling geometrical patterns floated in front of her.

“Che, that was a close one. I let my guard down. To think she’s a magic user, as expected of a noble’s daughter.”

The unfamiliar word “magic” reached Rio’s ears.

“Uu~…”

Looking at the young girl clutching her stomach in pain, one of the hoodlums opened his mouth.

“E~tto, she’s not dead yet right?”

“It’s alright. She’s still moaning in pain.”

“We don’t know if they’ll give us our payment for damaged goods…”

“Ah? Ah, well we’ll know at that time comes right?”

The leader’s outrageous conduct made his underlings tremble in fear. They responded by giving him troubled smiles.

From their conversation, they were a bunch of worthless people.

(What should I do…?)

While suppressing his impatience, Rio pondered at the question.

The young girl would not die from only that level of a kick.

But at this rate, she would be abandoned.

Or he could head over and provide her some assistance.

But that was easier said than done.

There were four opponents, based on Rio’s estimations they were no threat to him.

Still, even with his abilities he was not had doubts he could flawlessly defeat all of them.

Moreover they were all armed while he was unarmed.

His opponents would not hesitate to kill him.

Even though Rio practiced ancient martial arts in his previous life, he had never once taken a person’s life.

In other words, Rio had to fight barehanded against a group of four armed men who had experience in committing murder.

Furthermore, if he was slashed by one of those cheap blades, the injury would most likely suffer an infection.

Rio was strongly against killing other humans.

He recalled the words of his grandfather who was also his master.

If he remained in his position, the scene before him would soon disappear.

But the incident would not end just like that; the young girl would be moved somewhere against her will.

Rio heard from rumours that some brothels in the area sometimes held sadistic events where people gathered and tortured young girls.

There was a chance the girl in front of him would be sent to one such place.

However the incident unfolding before him had nothing to do with him.

Hiding and watching the group depart the area would leave a bad aftertaste, but there was no need for him to risk his life for a complete stranger.

Really? Was that really okay?

While Rio was mulling over those matters, by coincidence, it really was a coincidence, one coincidence on top of another, the girl’s line of sight matched Rio’s.

Noticing him, her face distorted in fear and anger. Seeing that, Rio felt he could no longer run away.

Another man came over with a sack.

The man suddenly started moving; he focused his line of sight on the young girl and let go of the sack.

“Ah!”

With a thud, a soft resigned voice resounded from inside the sack.

“Kya~”

From inside the bag, a young girl similar in age was kicked letting out a similar voice.

“Che— Oi, she’s not injured right?”

In a tired voice, the leader asked the man carrying to sack to verify the content’s safety.

With an evil grin, the subordinate opened the bag to confirm.

They were distracted, it was now or never.

(Damn it all!)

Rio wrapped his entire body in magical power in an instant and launched himself like a bullet. No other human being his age would be able to achieve the same speed.

He was shocked at the acceleration and resistance he never felt before. Even with his flesh reinforced, his body was still that of a child’s and should not be able to produce something to this extent.

Success of failure would be decided in an instant so immediately Rio seized the initiative.

“Na?”

The first to notice Rio was the leader and he immediately drew his blade. But in that short moment, Rio was already in front of him.

“Gu ha.”

Without letting the chance slip by, he twisted the leader’s elbow dislocating his joints before throwing him.

He flawlessly executed techniques learned from the ancient martial arts he practiced in his previous life.

By reinforcing his body, he was able to throw a grown man twice his size.

The leader did not know anything about Ukemi and spectacularly hit the ground with a loud sound.

(Next!)

Rio was already moving his body.

“Eh?”

He gathered all his power and drove a kick into the abdomen of the man standing beside him. Using that force and his opponent’s own weight, Rio slammed the thug into the ground.

“GAH!”

Confirming his opponent was unconscious, he prepared to face the remaining thugs.

“This brat!”

Enraged by the loss of their companions, the remaining two chose to face Rio together.

If they took the girl hostage, the situation would be hopeless.

Multiple opponents meant they had more choices than him.

Rio was afraid of that.

However the men were suffocated by their emotions that they forgot to adopt the most effective means.

“Dieeeee!”

Brandishing a 50 cm long sword, one of the thugs rushed and slashed at Rio.

He avoided the blade by side stepping and launched a counter with his palm aimed at his opponent’s chin.

The counter connected with the thug’s chin and instantly knocked out him out.

“Y-You bastard!”

The last thug desperately brandished his blade but could not even come close to landing a hit on Rio.

Avoiding the poor swordsmanship, Rio slipped into the man’s bosom, grabbed the thug’s hand and forcefully twisted, disarming and making him unable to hold the weapon. He then knocked the thug out with a throw.

“Haa… Ha…”

I did it.

I ended up doing it.

Before he realised it, his body moved on its own.

It was strange for him to risk his life to save a young girl he never even met before.

Rio did not move an inch from where he was standing, because he was out of breath.

He felt his body temperature rising and his heart beating so wildly that he could hear it resounding throughout his body.

SHUT UP, he nearly screamed those words.

He was unable to deliver the final blow to the thugs.

He could not bring himself to kill them.

But he still had the skill and strength to overpower them and lightly damage their internal organs.

The damage was only to the extent where they lost consciousness.

Given the current situation, it would not be strange if they were fatally injured and died.

All kinds of terrible outcomes flooded Rio’s mind.

If by some chance the thugs died from their injuries, Rio would be unable to cope with the sense of guilt.

He currently lacked the resolution to kill another human being.

No problems would exist if he could calmly kill a person.

But he was not that kind of person.

And undoubtedly, none of the thugs were dead.

So he did not kill anyone yet.

Still all kinds of excuses for killing them popped up in his mind. Realising the kind of thoughts he was harbouring made him feel disgusted.

What’s done is done.

At least he would not be blamed for helping the two young girls.

Rio fought down the emotions he was feeling to prevent them from showing on his face. He suddenly remembered the existence of the two girls and noticed one of them was watching him in awe.

The two girls resembled each other in appearance.

One of them was still trying to free herself from the sack while the one that got herself kicked was already freed.

From their violet-blonde hair and identical faces, Rio concluded the two were sisters.

The one who was causing a ruckus earlier was the elder sister while the one still trying to free herself was the younger sister.

“Are… you alright?”

Still breathing roughly, Rio timidly greeted the sisters.

The elder sister glared sharply at Rio.

From her glare, Rio found it difficult to believe they were the same age.

Rio’s train of thought halted for a second.

The same shining geometrical pattern that made her get kicked appeared again.

(Is that… magic?)

“Cough, cough. What are you waiting for? Help me!”

“O-Onee-sama, I just casted so please don’t move around so much. Don’t push yourself too hard…”

Ignoring her younger sister’s plea, the elder sister approached Rio and slapped him across the cheek.

“Eh?”

Pan, a dry sound resounded in their surroundings.

To this sudden development, Rio could not understand what was happening.

Why did this girl get angry at him?

Why would she slap her saviour?

He fell into confusion, his cheek stinging in pain.

“You watched us the whole time right? If that was the case you should’ve helped us sooner!”

Rio almost got himself slapped a second time.

However this time he was expecting it and caught the girl’s arm.

Her face became distorted in frustration and she tried using her free hand to slap him.

“…”

The young girl became hysteric and started acting violently. Rio started turning angry after experiencing such unreasonable treatment, but he could not treat a young girl like her poorly.

“Let go of my hand! Filthy! Smelly!”

“O-Onee-sama, he saved us so isn’t it wrong to get angry at him?”

The younger sister was trying to soothe the elder sister’s fury.

The elder sister could smell the foul odours originating from Rio and it was clearly reflected on her face.

She was also greatly shocked at his repulsive appearance.

Though thanks to the younger sister’s cries, the elder sister ceased her violent actions towards Rio.

Even if the other party was still very young, her actions were unreasonable since the beginning and Rio’s anger was reaching its boiling point.

He already got himself into another troubling situation.

The elder sister was glaring at his filthy forelocks.

“A-Aah. Thank you very much for saving us.”

Sensing Rio’s displeasure, the younger sisters came forward and lowered her head.

“No, it wasn’t much.”

As expected Rio could not disregard the young girl expressing her gratitude to him so he gave a curt reply.

“What? What kind of attitude is that?”

Rio decided to disregard the elder sister.

“O-Onee-sama!”

The dangerous atmosphere dissipated again due to the younger sister rebuking her elder sister.

“Hmph, I’ll forgive you for Flora.”

It appeared the younger sister’s name was Flora.

Seeing her older sister calm down, Flora breathed a sigh of relief. But right after that, the elder sister’s words were like pouring oil onto a dying fire.

“Peasant, lead us to the noble district. As for the men over there… take two of them with us.”

Rio was amazed at how easily he commanded him.

“You were able to throw them so this should be simple right?”

Rio was unamused at her attitude. In addition her tone was almost hysterical.

Her panic was probably due to only recently escaping from a horrific situation but the current Rio was too irritated to notice such things.

“…Is that the attitude one uses when asking for assistance?”

Rio understood it was necessary to provide assistance to the daughters of a noble.

But this girl’s overbearing attitude chased out that thought.

He wanted her to at least consider his feelings a little.

“A-Ah no, I’m sorry! I would also like to request your help. If necessary, I will ask father to reward you!”

Rio’s current impressions of nobles were rock bottom.

But thanks to Flora it did not drop any lower.

Surely the two girls must have experienced life void of hardships so far.

They got whatever they desired.

They were so dazzling for someone like Rio that it only gave birth to one vulgar thought after another. As for Haruto, he could not stand Flora’s straightforwardness.

“…Understood.”

Rio unwillingly agreed to Flora’s request.

“Thank you very much!”

Rio got to work immediately.

The two young girls cut the sacks previously used to transport them into ropes and Rio tied the men with them.

He also took their weapons along with any valuables he could find.

It was bulky but it could not be helped; the current him was in dire need of money.

Since a while ago his actions could already be classified as a crime so he did not bother justifying his actions.

Rio did not know of any laws regarding the treatment of a criminal’s possessions. Since that was the case, he might as well loot all the thugs’ belongings; there was nothing wrong with getting his hands on a few valuables.

“Hmph, so greedy…”

Looking at his behaviour, Christina said those lines while looking down on him. Hearing that, Rio felt some resistance but pretended he did not hear anything and continued with his work.

Finishing his work, Rio and the sisters left the red light district and continued towards the market.

Along the way, people in the red light district looked at Rio and the young girls with great curiosity. However no one called out to them due to the foul smell Rio gave off.

Upon arrival at the market, soldiers immediately ran up to Rio and the sisters. Christina and Flora were put under their protection afterwards.

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ty for reading this

NEXT CHAPTER ----------------->