"Shou Takehiro. I'm sorry about what I did earlier. I just wanted to keep our heads from flying."

Hiroshi then pulled back his hand and lit his cigar,

Babu said,

"I'm happy that nobody hurt each other."

"We can't do something like that here. We must focus on what is going on outside."

It was good news that he was on our side, but there was still something on my mind that I couldn't understand.

"I'm very grateful that you helped us, but there is something that I have to ask you."

He looked right into my eyes,

Then I added,

"Choosing any side in the current state of war in which we are located will not yield any gains as of now. However, you are still on our side even-"

"You are the people fighting against Epics. I have been informed about that."

"But how do you know that?" said Babu with a surprised expression.

"Everyone in the kingdoms is talking about you."

He slowly looked at all of us and added,

"A young male who has reached high levels of power at a young age, A sharpshooter cowboy, a humanoid and a fluffy panda, and a young sorceress girl. It is said by almost everyone that you defeated one of the Epics. That is the rumor."

"In Kingdoms? But we have just been to two Kingdoms?"

"But it looks like so many people started to know about us."

Hiroshi then said,

"We have defeated an Epic, Kid. We can't just go around with a smile on our faces and travel among kingdoms. They were going to know one way or another. And that also means we are losing our security."

He was right too. After starting a battle with the Epic and getting in contact with the King, it was obvious that the information was going to spread like wildfire. But still, we needed to know more.

Babu pouted and said,

"Besides that, they called me a fluffy panda!? How dare they call me that, I'm a war machine!"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Yeah, a war machine at the table." Hiroshi replied, while throwing his cigar away.

Turning my head back to the Shou, I said,

"So you know about us. But then why are you here? Why are you helping us?"

"My purpose in being here is not because of something simple. Every single individual who has already been in this war has come here because they are aiming for something big. And the same goes for me."

Then he added,

"The fourth epic, perhaps the epic with the most power among the others, is the one I'm aiming for. I need to get his head for everything particular reasons that I do not see myself allowed to talk."

"You already saw the second one already messes up everything and creates a great fuss like this. You must have eaten your heart out to target the fourth directly." Hiroshi said.

"If you accompany me in my goal and target, I assure you I will do the same."

He sounded very confident. And it was obvious that he kept his goal above everything else. It meant a lot to him that he refused to even talk to us. But with so little information, neither he nor we could help him. So I needed to know.

"Why do you want to kill him this much, Shou? Why you are so dedicated about it?"

"As I said, I'm don't see any reason to tell you. It is between me and him."

"Now hold your horses there, metal ninja. I know that you have to keep your "Top-Secret" to yourself, but you also know that we can't help you without knowing anything right? So it is either you tell us, or we separate our ways without even doing something."

Hiroshi's attitude then got more serious and he said,

"What is the purpose? Why are you suddenly doing something so ridiculous?"

Shou knew that Hiroshi wasn't going to open his mouth unless he talked too. So he decided to say something different,

"I will explain my determination about my mission."

"You will?" Babu asked surprised,

"But in one condition. If you, Ryuu, tell me the main reason for you helping these people, I will definitely tell you mine."

He then added looking at me,

"Why are you helping these people? I figured you were the one who convinced everyone here. You convinced them to fight the epics, and they believed they were your comrades. It has even worked into all of your souls. But what I want to know is different. I want to know why are you insisting on making so much progress. What's pushing you forward?"

He looked so sure about his question. As much we wanted to know the truth, he did too. So I opened my mouth and slowly started explaining what was going on,

"I am a wolf descendant. I'm not a normal person. I haven't lived a normal life. And I was born with special powers. But the good things that these brought were only a harbinger of the painful things that were coming. They've killed almost everyone of my bloodline, they tortured them and they're now after me. I've lost people from my family., just like everyone else here has lost someone because of them. But that is not why we did start a war against them.

We started a war because we have something to fight for. There's something we're gonna risk our lives for.

And that is other people's lives.

Maybe we have dreams, maybe we have hopes, what we've been through, the pain we've been through, precious memories we can remember. But we are not the only ones experiencing these things. There are tens, hundreds, thousands of people in this world with us. Being happy, sad, angry. Experiencing so many things. That is why we aim to alleviate the suffering they can go through.

Maybe we can't save them all. But the lives we can save today can save those of others tomorrow. They can create new communities. They might make other people happy. They can cure sicknesses. That is why only what we did today can change their whole tomorrow. That's why we're fighting back-to-back here.

Because it is the best we can do."