The sun was setting by the time they left the restaurant. There were street lamps on the roadside to light up the sidewalks, but their brightness was nothing compared to the sunlight.
“Should we finish our date with a drink?”
Lyla’s eyes narrowed at Zich’s suggestion. “What are you planning to do after making me drunk? Also, we already had a cup of wine.”
“How is that a drink? That’s juice—just a condiment to eat more delicious food. Or are you weak against alcohol?”
“…I’ve never tested my limits.”
“Then, you should find out your limits this time.”
“How is that different from leaving my treasure in a thief’s cave?”
“That’s a good analogy. Then, it’s fine if we don’t drink. Why don’t we just talk?”
Lyla looked as if she was thinking about what to do. True to his words, Zich had used his money from start to finish. Furthermore, although Zich kept making jokes, he never stepped out of line.
“We can have snacks with the drinks.”
“Let’s go.” Lyla quickly stepped forward, and Zich laughed while clutching his stomach.
Lyla chose their next destination. Even though the moon was up in the sky, there were still many shops with their lights on. The shops were open for people who couldn’t get enough of the city’s free atmosphere and wanted to stay outside till late in the night.
“There.” The place Lyla pointed at was a normal pub. When they went inside, the pub was bustling with people. And while they looked for empty seats, they realized that the atmosphere in the pub was strange; everyone was looking at a specific spot.
“Ah? Why don’t you try me!”
‘It’s a fight.’ Zich’s eyes shone. ‘The timing is perfect.’
Somebody had said the best entertainment in the world was fighting, and Zich agreed with that person. Although Zich had watched countless fights before his regression, he never got tired of watching them; and what he enjoyed more than watching a fight was meddling into a fight. Zich heard a sigh next to him. As if she knew what he was thinking, Lyla looked at him with disdain.
Zich made a fake cough and muttered loudly enough for her to hear, “I wonder whose fault it is. I should really be kind and intervene…”
“As if.” Lyla mocked him, but Zich ignored her and walked towards where the crowd was.
‘I should listen to the situation first and strike…no, persuade the side at fault.’
“We don’t have anything to say to you guys!”
‘Hmm?’ It was a different voice compared to the rough one he just heard. It probably belonged to the other person involved in the fight. But the voice sounded familiar. Zich widened his senses; while he was with Lyla, he had narrowed his senses to focus on her and couldn’t cover a wide area.
‘Those two are here?’
Lyla followed him from behind and asked, “What is it?”
“I know those guys.”
“Are they like you?”
“Don’t look at me like you’re thinking, ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ Those guys are on a different level from the great me. Besides, they don’t have the guts to pick a fight first.”
“Don’t you think it’s a problem to phrase that as having guts?”
Zich snorted, and after he pushed a group of people out of his way, he saw the scene of the fight. Two groups were facing each other. One was a group of four, rough-looking men who might as well had ‘I am a thug or a gangster’ written on their faces, while the other group was made up of two familiar-looking young men.
“What are you doing here?”
The crowd’s eyes shot towards Zich at once.
“Sir Zich!”
One member of the young men group, Hans, greeted him. Snoc, who was right beside Hans, also greeted Zich happily. But as soon as Lyla stood next to him, everyone’s eyes moved towards her. Neither Zich nor Lyla was surprised by this—ever since she took off her robe and wore what Zich had bought, she was used to these gazes.
“You really are popular. As your date, it makes me proud.”
Punch!
Lyla hit Zich’s stomach with her elbow. Zich clutched his chest and groaned, but his protruding tongue showed viewers that he wasn’t hurt at all. On the other hand, Lyla didn’t hit him another time for that.
“Just quickly resolve the situation.” She pushed him, and Zich stepped forward.
“Sir Zich! She definitely is…!” Surprised, Hans recognized Lyla’s face.
“I met her by coincidence and tried to hit on her. You know, since she is so pretty.”
“Stop spitting out nonsense and quickly resolve the situation.”
“Even her personality is my type.”
She glared at him, and Zich waved his hand while chuckling. Then, he began to move closer to the fight scene. Lyla watched him as she crossed her arms. While she clearly ignored all the eyes staring at her, her expression became serious; it was different from before, as if she had something to confirm.
Zich asked, “What happened?”
Hans kept glancing at Lyla, but he didn’t ask any more questions. He thought Zich must have had a reason to hang out with her.
Not wanting to make the situation bigger, Hans replied, “Some people just picked a fight with us at the bar.”
But Hans’ opponents had a different plan in mind.
One of the men who looked like the leader asked Zich, “Who are you?”
The man looked like he was drunk but his mind was still intact. The alcohol had fully brought out his rough and volatile personality.
“I’m the master of these two guys.”
The man widened his eyes. But rather than being surprised for real, he moved his eyes in an exaggerated way and mocked Zich. “What! Our two great heroes here have a master? Hahahahahaha!”
The man laughed. The three other men next to him also laughed. The way they looked down on their opponents and mocked people was annoying. However, Zich made a bright smile. Hans and Snoc, who knew what that smile signified, flinched and quickly took a step back.
But the four men thought it was because Hans and Snoc had become afraid of them. “Hey, look! Just look at those two! Our two great heroes here are shivering in fear just because we laughed a bit!”
“Wait, does that make us Demon Lords who make the world tremble and shake in fear?”
“Would a Demon Lord be enough? Shouldn’t we be like a Demon God or something?”
“Since we made these noble heroes tremble in fear, we must at least be up to that level!”
When the leader of the men excitedly talked on, all the other men also raised their voices. Their mockery was so childish and frivolous, Zich wondered how they could possibly find their words funny. But now he was able to make a clear assessment of the situation.
“While you guys were drinking, did you say that you were ‘going to be a hero’ or something like that?”
“Yes, sir.” Hans and Snoc nodded their heads. Even though they seemed a bit embarrassed by this, their reply to Zich was calm. Zich was not the type to mock their dreams. The men’s laughter became even louder.
However, Zich ignored them. “That was it?”
“Yes. But those people just suddenly intervened in our conversation, saying that our dreams were childish and said, ‘Huh, you think you guys are such great people.’” Snoc was very angry as he relayed the story to Zich.
“And how did you respond?”
“We ignored them at first, but since we didn’t respond, they came all the way to our table to bother us. And that’s how our voices got louder.”
“No, we just wanted to see the skills of those two great heroes, but they just ignored us. Even if they are great heroes, how can they be so rude to us like that?”
Great hero—they kept adding ‘great’ to the word ‘hero’ and continued to mock Hans and Snoc. Zich had already finished assessing the situation; gangsters with bad personalities had just wanted to make fun of Hans and Snoc’s dreams for no damn reason.
With a strict face, Zich told Hans and Snoc, “You guys were the ones who responded improperly.”
The men laughed out loud. “Wow, our great heroes are getting scolded by their master! I think this is the first time I’m witnessing such a wondrous sight!”
Zich turned his whole body around. “Watch me. I will show you guys how you two should have responded.”
He walked step by step towards the four men. Zich was able to reach them with a few steps.
“What, have you come to apologize to us? Well, that’s great. To think about it, the woman you brought is hella pretty.” The leader among the group of men scanned Lyla from head to toe with lustful eyes. Lyla scrunched up her eyes in disgust.
But despite doing that, she still looked charmingly beautiful, and the group of men instinctively gulped their saliva. “If you hand over that woman, we will forgive—”
“Hey!” Zich made a bright smile and cut off the men’s words.
“Are your parents doing well?”
“…What?”
“I’m asking if your parents are doing well.” Zich erased the smile off his face and stared at the group of men from head to toe as they did to Lyla. It was obvious to anyone that his eyes held bad intentions.
“I’m asking how your pitiful parents are faring. Their bodies and hearts must have rotten from the ordeal of taking care of shitty bastards like you guys.”
The four men’s faces became immediately red. “What, you—!”
Even though the four men began to hurl swears and insults at him, Zich was unfazed.
And Zich continued, “Or is the biggest reason why your personalities are so shitty is because of your parents? In other words, are your parents also trash like you, and all of you guys are actually clones of each other?”
Zich did not raise his voice even a little bit. If one didn’t hear the content of his words, he sounded kind and caring. However, it was clear that no one was touched by Zich’s kind tone.
“Or are they actually dead? Ah, yes, that is a very high possibility. If your parents were alive, they would have never been able to raise such trash. If I were your parent, I would have… Huh? Are your parents actually dead because they felt so guilty that you guys grew up to become trash? How could you do that to your parents! What kind of sons are you!”
Zich was now angry at what bad sons they were. It was even more ridiculous because his anger was not from being unable to control his emotions but as if he was scolding little children.
“You bastard!” Finally, the leader was unable to control his temper and swung his arm. However, a local gangster from a random street would never be able to injure Zich.
Thud!
Zich easily blocked the man’s fist with his palm.
Punch!
And then, Zich returned his punch and sharply hit the man’s chin.
“Ugh!”
The man’s neck spun around. He spurted blood out from his mouth and fell down. The other men all jumped on Zich. The gangsters utilized their numbers by jumping on Zich all at once. But to Zich, it felt like turtles were moving towards him.
Punch! Punch!
Zich didn’t need to use any advanced techniques. He didn’t use mana and moved faster than the three remaining men and gave two of the men a punch in the abdomen.
“Ugh!”
“Oop!”
They couldn’t breathe and their bodies automatically bent down. Alcohol and food spilled out of their mouths.
“Eeck!”
The last remaining man did not move towards Zich. Seeing all his comrades fall down at once, he changed his trajectory. He passed his comrades and ran towards Lyla. It seemed as if he planned to use Lyla as a hostage. The crowd around them screamed out ‘Ah! Ah!’ as they saw the man rushing towards Lyla. To the audience, Lyla looked as if she was in danger. But Zich dusted his hands as if the fight was over.
‘Stupid punk.’
That was Zich’s assessment of the man’s attempt to make Lyla his hostage.
Psssh!
“Aghhhh!”
There was a piercing noise and a painful scream. Zich slowly turned around. Seeing the man in front of Lyla blasting out smoke from all over his body, Zich clicked his tongue.