“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you aspire to be, Igor-kun?”

And as if a light had been switched, Igor confidently grinned. His eyes blazed into her soul as he uttered this sentence.

“The strongest in the universe.”

.

|DxD|

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Shuri was quite taken aback by his declaration. While she certainly didn’t expect the blonde to aspire to gain wealth, it didn’t cross her mind that he would make such an arrogant statement of becoming the strongest.

But the weird thing was, she believed him. The level of confidence Igor had in his words and the strength he has now proved that he certainly has the determination to reach that goal.

It made Shuri even more curious him.

“Ara ara, Dimori-kun. I never expected you to have such a lofty goal.”

“Of course, aunty. You better believe I’m going to surpass everyone and become number 1 on the list of strongest people.”

“Fufufu~. You certainly have an admirable goal, Dimori-kun. But how will you achieve it?”

“Easy. I’ll train and climb up the ranks. I’ve already surpassed the old man. Next on my list is Uncle Azazel. Although he doesn’t show it, I know he’s crazy strong.”

Igor could still vividly remember when Azazel blocked his punch. Although he didn’t pay attention to it at the time, he noticed the issue when he was reviewing the entire battle during his feast.

“I still remember when Uncle A blocked my punch. Although I managed to break his arm, it’s like some invisible force prevented me from tearing his arm clean of his shoulders.”

Shuri almost froze at Igor’s sudden description of the events.

“You…you broke his arm?”

“Yeah! Although…I feel like he let me break it or something. I think he intentionally weakened himself just to get a feel as to how powerful I was.”

Shuri was getting a bit light-headed, something Igor noticed.

“What’s wrong, aunty?”

Shuri waved away his concern with a sigh.

“It’s nothing, Dimori-kun. It just amazes me that you can talk about breaking someone’s arm with such ease.”

“Oh. Well, you have to be ready to do much more than that if you want to embark on the path of the strong, aunty.”

Shuri’s face darkened in dread.

“What do you…mean?”

Igor easily replied.

“I’m talking about killing, aunty. You have to be prepared to either lose your life or take lives if you want to be strong.”

Shuri had a bad premonition.

“Dimori-kun. Have you killed before?”

Igor looked up in thought.

“Yeah. A couple of times actually.”

There was silence. Shuri did not know how to reply to such an answer.

[So young and yet…]

Noticing that Shuri was suddenly quiet, Igor looked over at her with a frown of confusion.

“Aunty? You there?”

Shuri’s absentmindedness ended when Igor started waving his hand all over her face.

“Oh…sorry, Dimori-kun. It’s just that…I never guessed that you’d killed someone before.”

“Of course I did. What else am I supposed to do when four guys come at me with knives. Let them go? I’m not an idiot.”

Having replied as a matter-of-factly, Igor continued to regale his story.

“It was a few years ago and it was my first time having stepped into Kuoh. I was SUPER hungry at the time so I didn’t know what to do. I then came up with the idea of scavenging some metal from the abandoned factories outside town so that I could sell them to the local scrapyard for money. I was carrying a bundle of copper wire at the time when some random guys I don’t know showed up and told me to drop the wires and go.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

His face then darkened.

“Aunty. I did not break bones and tear muscles in my training just to get bullied by some scrubs with missing teeth. I naturally told them no and so they rushed at me with their weapons out. I hadn’t killed anyone at the time so I dodged a few times and tried convincing them to leave. It didn’t work. Since they continued attacking me, I didn’t hesitate any longer. I immediately killed them and took their possessions.”

He stopped walking right then and there and looked at Shuri directly in the eye.

“If I was weak, I would’ve been either forced to go hungry, or die that day. I don’t regret killing them and I would do it again. Because if I have to choose between satisfying my hunger or sparing their lives, sating my hunger is worth hundreds of times more than their worthless lives.”

Shuri also looked at Igor. She couldn’t understand how the normally sunny boy she had come to like could reveal such a dark expression and harbour such negative ideals.

[Just what did you see to make a face like that?]

Although Shuri didn’t agree with his method of thinking, she understood. Even though she advocated for kindness, she wasn’t naive. If she was, she wouldn’t have been able to stay married to Baraquiel for this long.

Seeing Shuri’s discomfort, Igor laughed before walking ahead.

“Aunty. Don’t embark on the path of the strong. You won’t survive.”

Shuri was in a daze for a moment before she suddenly processed Igor’s words.

“D-Dimori-kun. What do you mean?”

Letting Shuri catch up to him, the both of them began walking slowly.

“Your heart is too kind, aunty. At some point in time, I can see you sparing the wrong person and dying from an attack to the back.”

Shuri wanted to refute it. She truly did but…she could only smile weakly.

“You’re probably right. I am a healer, not a warrior. I just cannot bring myself to take someone’s life.”

“You know, aunty, sometimes in life you’ll have to do some things you hate. For example…”

Igor turned to look at her directly in the eye.

“If Akeno were to be in danger, would you not kill for her?”

Shuri clenched her fists.

“I…would.”

“That’s very admirable, aunty. But what if the person who’s targeting Akeno is powerful? What if me or the old man aren’t there?”

Shuri’s eyes instantly darkened.

“Dimori-kun. You’re going too far.”

The blonde released an exasperated sigh.

“Aunty. The enemy won’t care about whether they’re going too far or not. What’s important here is what if someone as strong as the current me comes and wants to kill Akeno? What will you do?”

Not knowing how the conversation had been switched into being about her, Shuri remained silent in the face of Igor’s questions.

“...”

Knowing that she couldn’t answer his question now, Igor continued.

“Aunty. I know I look stupid and seem stupid. In fact, I am stupid. But just because I’m stupid doesn’t mean I’m not observant. Akeno has no grandfather or grandmother, no aunts or uncles aside from Uncle Azazel, and no cousins to speak of. I once read in the library that there is a great Himejima clan somewhere in Kyoto…I think. Yet you as a member of the Himejima is here in Kuoh. No one comes to visit Akeno from your side or the old man’s side. It’s easy to guess that Akeno is seen as an abomina-”

“STOP!”

Silence…

The surrounding pedestrians looked at Shuri with curious gazes, wondering what was going on. But Igor didn’t pay attention to that.

“Do you know why I want to be strong, aunty?”

“...”

“Because in the eyes of the world, I’m an abomination as well.”

Shuri looked up, confused as to what Igor meant. The rest of the people watching the scene moved on with their day. Even though both Igor and Shuri were at an intersection, they did not cross the robot despite it being green.

The situation was dark but Shuri wanted to know.

“What do you mean, Dimori-kun?”

“Heh~”

Igor approached closely and whispered in her ear.

“Have you heard of Aryans, aunty?”

“?!”

Shuri’s eyes widened.

“No…”

“Yes.”

Igor went back to walking while swinging the plastic bags in his hand. Despite the grimness of the situation, the blonde seemed to treat it lightly.

“You’re looking at one. Whether I believe I’m one or not, the entire world won’t care. Once rumours of my existence come out, my life will get chaotic.”

“Are you not…scared?”

Igor grinned with an unseen level of confidence.

“Scared? I’m looking forward to it! I’m going to train as hard as possible so that when the entire world is after me, I can enjoy a good fight. Hehe. I can already see it. Me, against an army of thousands…”

He eyes grew hazy at picturing such a scene. His battle lust was rising. The Kaioken he kept at 50% started increasing. A faint red aura was starting to emanate from him which caused Shuri to panic.

Grabbing the blonde by the shoulders, she began shaking him.

“Dimori-kun!!!”

Igor quickly recovered his senses under her furious shaking and nervously scratched the back of his head.

Readjusting his grip on the bags, he smiled with a tinge of embarrassment.

“Sorry, aunty. I just get really fired up imagining myself fighting against strong opponents.”

Shuri rubbed her head in exasperation.

“Come on, Dimori-kun. We’re almost late to pick up Akeno.”

Crossing the intersection, Igor remembered.

“Oh right. The reason why I told you about what I am aunty, is because Akeno will soon experience the same thing.”

Shuri frowned.

“Dimori-kun. Can we leave this?”

Without hesitation…

“Nope. When the people with machetes and axes break down your door, they won’t ‘leave this’ just because you asked.”

But Shuri really didn’t want to converse about the possible death of her child.

“Please…Dimori-kun. We can talk about this another time. Right now, I just want to see my daughter.”

Igor raised his eyebrows at the dismissal of the conversation. Although he wanted to push the issue, he chose to respect Shuri’s feelings.

So stealing a stick sweet (lollipop) from the shopping bags, he opened the wrapper and threw it in the trash.

“Okay, aunty.”

But inwardly, he thought.

[I’ll have to talk about this with the old man as well. I don’t want to come back after a few years to find out everyone’s dead-]

Upon noticing how much he’s come to care about the family of three, Igor smiled weakly.

[Tch. There goes my plan of not getting attached.]

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AN

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I know the drill, you know the drill. I’ll upload two chapters today as part of our silent agreement since I was prevented from uploading yesterday, not writing.

Another thing, I’ll cancel the free trial option on my patreon as of 24 hours from now. Reason being, it has come to my attention that people can actually cheat me by using different accounts and other stuff to re-subscribe. Now, I’m pretty sure everyone knows how hard it is to get a job these days. It also certainly doesn’t help my case that I’m still studying. I’m not forcing anyone to subscribe. But it’s damn near depressing when I find out I’m being exploited.

I won’t rant any further. Just know that every dollar matters to me and I damn well make sure YOU get your money’s worth.

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