Me――Kaizer Clyde was an adventurer.
I became prominent when I first received an adventurer license at the age of fourteen, and climbed into an A-rank adventurer as the fastest ever in history.
When someone dealt with swords, they're called Sword Master; and when dealt with magic, they're called Sage.
A child prodigy since the Adventurer's Guild established.
That was my evaluation from the others.
But being praised by the people around me wasn't my purpose. My purpose was to become an S-rank adventurer.
Every day, I spent my days practicing swords and magic and completed my mission.
No one believed that Kaizer would become an S-rank adventurer in the future. It was none other than myself.
But――.
One day when I was seventeen, I lost everything.
It was when I went to an A-rank mission.
It was a mission to subdue the Wyvern that inhabited the volcano.
After climbed the volcano from the village at the foot of the mountain, I successfully defeated the Wyvern. Originally, the mission would have been accomplished there.
However――.
An Irregularity had happened.
The fierce battle between me and Wyvern awakened an ancient dragon asleep at the bottom of the volcano.
The dragon was a disaster-class monster――The S-rank class.
It flew out of the crater with a scream and flew towards the village at the foot. It was too late when I thought it was very dangerous and hurriedly back to the village.
There were numerous deaths in the very front of me.
The entire village was completely destroyed.
The building, the people, and the ground were all trampled.
Black smoke rose everywhere around here.
The smell of the burning scent of meat struck my nose.
The dragon was screaming in the middle of the burned village. I rushed towards the terrifying giant.
After a full day of struggle, the dragon fled.
I didn't have any power to chase.
"Someone! Is there someone?"
I screamed in the village where no one else was.
The villagers had all died.
The village head who welcomed me, the muscular carpenter who drank sake all night, and the signboard girl at the inn who liked me.
All of them were burned out.
"There's no way, such a..."
I was swallowed in despair and kneed down there.
It was all my fault.
If I could defeat that Wyvern more quickly. I would not wake up the dragon sleeping inside the crater.
What the hell is that A-rank adventurer status?
What the hell is the Sword Master? What the hell is the Sage? What the hell is the child prodigy?
If I couldn't protect the people I should protect, weren't my status and honor totally meaningless. Wasn't me such a big idiot――
It was at that time.
"Aaaaaaaahh"
I heard a voice from somewhere.
It was blown by the wind through the smell of death.
I stood up and startled, I started walking to the source of the voice.
I started to run.
As if entwined, I went towards the voice with all my strength.
The distance with the voice gradually shrunk.
――It's from around that rubble.
I scraped through the debris scattered around my feet.
Please.
Please keep alive.
While wishing so.
Around the time when I was scraping through the debris with my fingertips――I saw a cute baby in the gap under a piece of debris.
That was not alone. That was three.
"""Ogyaaa"""
The three were crying with their faces crumpled.
Anxiety, trembled in fear.
They were crying with a high-pitched voice.
But that was――.
It was also proof that these children were alive.
"Thank goodness. Really-really thank goodness..."
I picked up the three babies and hugged them tightly.
Let's took away the anxiety and fears of these children.
I thought everyone had died.
But, there were still lives that could be protected.
"I'll take the responsibly to raise you three. It'll make the people who died in this village happy too!"
That day, I swore to the villagers who I couldn't save.
I would make these children grew up nicely.
And it would make even the people who could not be saved happy.
After I returned from my mission, my life changed.
The Wyvern subjugation mission was successful, but I was blamed by everyone as the person responsible for the destroyed village by the awakened dragon.
The people who used to praise me also returned their palms. I had been treated like a criminal.
"To think he would do something like this someday! Being called a child prodigy, and you become cocky huh!"
"What the hell is that an A-rank adventurer. To destroy one village! Remove the adventurer license from him right now!"
"The dragon hasn't been subjugated yet? Sacrifice him to lure that dragon."
Everybody threw bitter words at me.
But I didn't feel like arguing. Their words were fierce, but it was also true that I killed the villagers.
And――.
I would resign from the adventurer business.
The receptionist at the guild was the only one who eagerly retained me, but I declined because I wanted to be with the babies I took.
"That's right..... It isn't Kaizer-san's fault at all. You just did your best on the spot."
"Thank you very much"
She was comforting me.
I bowed and left the Adventurer's Guild.
The double doors closed.
It was a sound that closed one's dream to be an S-rank adventurer.
At the age of 17, I became the father of these three babies from this day. I vowed to devote my life to raising these children into fine adults.
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