For Kevin Knight, his mother Fleur was literally the most important person in the world, the only family he had.
He knew very well that she worked day and night for his sake, and as a child, he felt deeply troubled by the burden he placed on her.
Being still a child, he had no choice but to rely on his mother.
But he wanted to at least be of help to her, so he tried to assist her, yet her face always looked tired.
Thinking that perhaps the nutritional supplements he saw on the internet might help, he casually suggested she try them. However, they ended up not buying them because they were bad for the body, and Kevin deeply regretted even considering giving such things to his mother.
He spent most of his days alone.
At least until recently, he didn’t play with friends; he would return home immediately after school to do household chores.
But his mother insisted, “You’re still a child, so go out and play,” and he reluctantly started playing in the park.
However, no one wanted to play with a selfish person who always went home alone, so he was alone in the park again today.
That was supposed to be the case.
“Hey, Kevin! Catch the brilliant pass from the magnificent me, Clare!” said Clare, kicking the soccer ball hard in a completely wrong direction.
Kevin hurried to retrieve the ball, but this seemed to infuriate Clare.
“You’re saying I’m terrible at this!!??” she exclaimed.
“No, but the soccer ball…”
“It’s my fault it went in the wrong direction, so I should be the one to retrieve it, right!?”
He didn’t know…
But as a child, he understood that the female heart was complex, so he didn’t argue back and just nodded, “Okay.”
Then he kicked the soccer ball back to Clare.
Clare caught it elegantly with her foot and kicked it again, making a triumphant face—yet again, the ball flew away from Kevin.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…Hey.”
“What?”
“You’re going to make the clumsy lady fetch it?”
“Uh, no, but you just…”
“To take a lady’s words at face value, you’re still such a child, aren’t you~”
He thought about hitting her, but his mother had told him to be kind to girls, so he reluctantly went to retrieve the soccer ball.
Despite everything, he had somehow started playing with her, Clare.
Playing with Clare, who was more than just cheerful—she was intense—left him no time to feel sad in his daily life.
She was like the sun that truly illuminated people’s hearts, he thought, but he didn’t say it out loud because she would definitely get carried away. Instead, he just smiled wryly.
“Huh? What are you laughing at?”
“Ah, just thinking how fun today is.”
“Hmph, as long as the clumsy me is here, you won’t feel bored.”
“That’s true.”
“You’re unusually agreeable today. You usually talk back unnecessarily. Did something happen?”
The way she genuinely showed concern for him made him think highly of her character.
Anyway, he kicked the soccer ball towards her again—
“Are you Kevin Knight?”
A suspicious man appeared.
Or rather, Kevin vaguely remembered his face.
This guy had once tried to recruit his mother into some religion.
…This was bad.
In other words, he was the type of dangerous person who wouldn’t listen to others, and now, his mother wasn’t here.
“I don’t mean to alarm you, but I want you to become our collaborator,” the man said.
“Hey, you! What are you doing to my friend all of a sudden!” Clare ran up, interrupting.
She hugged Kevin’s arm tightly and glared at the man in front of them.
“You, I don’t know who you are, but the police will be here soon!”
“This brat… Kevin, I—”
“Shut up!”
It was a tense moment.
In that case, Clare was in more danger than himself.
He didn’t want to see his precious friend get hurt by a suspicious person.
But his mouth trembled, and his legs shook.
He could hardly move.
Still, he had to try.
For the girl who stood up for him, he couldn’t just stand there trembling; that wouldn’t be manly!
“I don’t care about you!”
Kevin shouted, hoping someone would hear him and come to help.
But such convenient things wouldn’t happen—
“Hey, what are you doing to the kid?”
“…!”
A sharp kick, like a shooting star, narrowly missed the man.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Me? My name is Nein. I’m just a guy who likes to play the boss for fun.”
Saying that, he tapped the ground lightly with his toes.
“Shall we continue? I have no mercy for kicking around nobodies.”
“…Tch.”
The man clicked his tongue and chose to flee the scene quickly.
Left behind were the three of them.
Kevin felt like his legs were about to give out, but before that, Clare hugged him tightly.
“I was so scared!”
“Wah!”
She cried for a full minute.
“Hmph, it’s all thanks to the clumsy me that we managed to get through this!”
Kevin nodded, “That’s true,” looking at her now red eyes.
“Thanks, Clare.”
“You’re being unusually honest.”
“And then…”
At that moment, Kevin spoke to the boy who was about to leave.
“You are?”
“Nein, didn’t you hear? I’m just a guy who likes to play the boss for fun.”
“That, um…”
“If you don’t need anything, I’ll be going. I’m busy patrolling.”
“…That!”
Kevin mustered up his courage to speak to the boy who was about to leave.
“Could you… make me your disciple?”
He wanted to become stronger, to be of help to his mother.
To protect Clare.
To become a strong man.
“Hmm?”
Nein looked down at Kevin, who had bowed his head, and hummed with interest.
“Well then. Come with me on my patrol.”
And that’s what he said.
