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Chapter 36: A Chance Encounter, with a Touch of Kindness

Nickles was a fugitive criminal in the United Kingdom of Humans.

His crimes were numerous, including but not limited to murder, robbery, assaulting nobles, and prison breaking.

But to be honest, this 34-year-old man, a disciple of the Gale Swordsmanship, the eleventh student of the Empire’s Sword Saint, was never afraid of the Kingdom’s pursuit and wanted posters.

Because he had the strength.

Nickles was a peak Sky-level powerhouse, a true pinnacle, just a step away from the legendary realm.

Although this was nothing remarkable in his school, particularly among his legendary senior brothers and sisters and his master, Sword Saint Bivis Bernard, there was no doubt that he was a rather outstanding warrior in this world.

At 24, Nickles completed his Gale Swordsmanship training and, for certain reasons, left the Ost Empire to settle in the United Kingdom of Humans, becoming a guild-affiliated adventurer.

At 27, Nickles, irritated by some noble’s reckless behavior in the City of Courage, beat him up and severed a key part of his anatomy with his sword, thus getting arrested and thrown into prison.

Three days later, Nickles killed the prison guard who had been bribed by the noble and attempted to retaliate against him, forcibly breaking out of his cell and escaping the Royal Capital of Courage City.

At that time, a legendary adventurer personally pursued him but was successfully shaken off by Nickles using certain means.

—This was the official statement, but the reality was that the legendary figure was also displeased with that noble and intentionally let Nickles escape; otherwise, she would have had no chance to miss him, as she was also skilled in tracking and guerrilla tactics.

After escaping the Royal Capital, Nickles, unable to continue his adventurer work due to his criminal charges, lost his source of income and wandered to the vicinity of Norton Fortress.

Fed up with the endless pursuers, in a fit of rage, he simply gathered a group of fellow refugees and fugitives like himself and built a force to engage in banditry.

However, even though he had fallen to such depths and earned the title of “Fierce Wolf,” Nickles and his group still held a basic code of conduct.

They wouldn’t kill recklessly unless the other party was out to take their lives.

They didn’t commit sexual assault; even when they robbed young and beautiful women, they generally let them go safely.

They didn’t use poison, which was the most basic and last line of conduct for a Gale-style swordsman.

But because of this, some of Nickles’s subordinates, who originally acted without restraint, grew resentful, betrayed him, and ultimately led to a siege by the Kingdom’s army.

After a bloody battle, Nickles broke out with a batch of loyal followers, fleeing into the Oaken Gorge for refuge, but his remaining forces were left only with a tenth due to desertions and battle losses.

Maybe it was a stroke of fate; already cornered, Nickles unexpectedly encountered the legendary… Wish Fairy at a certain spot in the maze while fleeing without direction.

He was genuinely surprised at the time, but soon Nickles realized that this treasure wasn’t as omnipotent as rumored, and there were limits to its power, or it might be subject to certain restrictions.

For instance, when he expressed a wish to be invincible and become the strongest, the fairy immediately shot back a “Not possible.”

After pondering for a while, Nickles settled on a wish to ensure that his brothers, who had fought alongside him through life and death, could live safely and no longer be hunted by others.

The Wish Fairy granted this wish.

It created a complex maze that, unless one knew the correct route, couldn’t be traversed at all, and transported Nickles and his comrades to the maze’s deepest point.

With this, they were finally able to survive from the Kingdom’s pursuit and live in peace.

It should have been so.

“So… it really was that Wish Fairy’s doing; I thought it was a maze built slowly by a group of wizards, damn it, guess I misread it!”

The black-haired Priestess sat on a large protruding rock, her fair legs peeking out from under her holy robe, swinging in the air with an expression full of dissatisfaction.

Meanwhile, the blonde girl accompanying her stood in the “nest” center, expressionlessly cracking her knuckles, surrounded by dozens of variously dressed and aged men lying around in disarray.

The farmer—Fierce Wolf Nickles lay on the ground, his faithful sword bizarrely broken into several pieces, scattered along with the bundle of firewood that had previously been strapped to his back.

His legs twisted at an odd angle, the right eye swollen as if it had taken two punches, and his face looked like he had just eaten a dozen flies.

A monster, a true monster.

In comparison to the annoyance and disgust he felt when hunted by the kingdom, Nickles now only felt a single emotion—powerlessness.

He had never encountered such a terrifying being; his full-force strike of Gale Swordsmanship was shattered to bits by that blonde girl’s single finger, and the wounds on his face were not from an active attack, but caused by his own sword hilt bouncing back.

Facing dozens of brothers attacking, the other party merely stomped her delicate little foot on the ground, sending shockwaves that knocked everyone down.

Nickles himself, overestimating his abilities and trying to resist the force coming from underfoot, ended up with his legs twisted like that.

Moreover, the Fierce Wolf could sense that the other party didn’t see this as a battle at all; it felt more like swatting a fly that had inadvertently landed on a book.

He initially thought… that only a pair of naïve girls easily fooled would follow him. Unexpectedly, it turned out they simply didn’t regard Nickles as a threat and had intentionally set a trap.

They were not human; these two girls were absolutely not normal humans.

Even his master, who had broken the limits and reached the transcendent realm in human form, could never achieve such feats with mere physical strength.

…Utterly unlucky.

“I understand, I’ve said everything. This time, I was the one who failed to recognize the mountain, and I offended you and your companions… Please, great one, spare us these humble beings; we are willing to offer all our possessions as compensation.”

The man known as the “Fierce Wolf” struggled to lower his head, bowing and scraping to the little girl who appeared harmless.

The victor takes all.

Dignity was a load of rubbish; surviving was the most important thing, and although his heart brimmed with despair, Nickles had always respected the strong, so this act was without any reluctance.

“You say you fled from the City of Courage?”

Miss Vilyric chuckled, looking down at the man from her rock without acknowledging his plea or proposal.

“Yes, I lived there for about three years.”

“Three years, huh… That’s quite a significant duration. There’s a saying that three years can represent a lifetime in some sense; rounding up, it’s equivalent to you living your whole life in the City of Courage. Wouldn’t you consider that your hometown?”

“……?”

Nickles, who had been nervously anxious, suddenly felt a bit… confused?

He looked up at the black-haired girl with a “What on earth is she talking about?” expression and awkwardly realized he had caught her attention.

“Ahem!”

Miss Vilyric pretended to be dignified and cleared her throat.

“In any case, I’ll only ask this next question once; think carefully before you answer.”

“Do you want to go back to the City of Courage?”

Nickles suddenly froze.

Did he want to return to the City of Courage?

The answer, of course, was yes.

What seemed like a rather nonsensical remark from Vilyric had indeed stirred something in him.

Three years held special significance; the common notion is that if someone is willing to live in one place for three continuous years, it implies they could indeed accept living there for a lifetime.

This was half-truth and half-lie, but there was some basis for it; at least for Nickles, it was true.

If it weren’t for being forced out, why would he want to escape from a city he had lived in for three years, where many people and memories still lingered in his heart?

Although Nickles did not regret his past actions, to say he was satisfied with his current life as an outlaw would undoubtedly be a lie.

He felt this might be a crucial turning point that could change the trajectory of his entire life. So he reached out, grabbing onto it, betting everything he had.

“I… want to.”

“Very good.”

The Priestess smiled with delight.

“Then from now on, follow me. I will take you back to the Royal Capital and find you… a new job.”