After some light small talk with Flare-san, we decided to grab some tea and headed toward the bustling main street in search of a cafe.
While they weren’t quite as common as they were in Japan, this world still had plenty of establishments like cafes. In fact, the main street was lined with a wide variety of shops, including several for entertainment.
Public order was good, and life for the citizenry was prosperous. Since the crown provided various subsidies, there were no slums to speak of. That being said, it wasn't as if every single person lived a wealthy life; there were likely people struggling just to find a daily meal, though I simply hadn’t encountered them yet.
Still, compared to the image that came to mind when I heard the term "Middle Ages," there were far fewer of them. It really was a wonderful world.
As I was thinking about these things while looking over the crowded street, I felt a surge of intense emotion and instinctively turned around. Usually, when walking through places with heavy foot traffic, I kept my Sympathy Magic turned off. However, occasionally, it would be forcibly triggered regardless of my will.
This happened whenever there was a massive emotional shift nearby. What I felt this time was suffering, impatience, and conflict—an intense, stinging desperation.
Looking in the direction of the feeling, I saw a fruit stall. There, a man was reaching his hand toward one of the baskets lined up in front of the shop. The vendor was busy attending to other customers and hadn't noticed.
I was about to call out, but Flare-san’s voice reached my ears first.
"I cannot say I am impressed by an act like theft."
"——!?"
It wasn't a loud voice, but it was sharp and unusually clear. The man reaching for the basket had obviously heard it too, as he jerked his hand back in surprise.
Amidst the confused murmurs of the bystanders who had begun to notice, Flare-san stepped forward composedly and approached the man. Then, a strong sense of inner conflict radiated from him once again.
"D-Dammit!"
Looking frantic, the man pulled a knife from his coat and pointed it at Flare-san. The blade wasn't long—roughly the size of a paring knife at most—but a blade was still a blade. The people around them quickly distanced themselves, creating a small, open pocket on the street.
Flare-san stopped walking when she saw the man draw his weapon, her expression turning contemplative for a moment.
"Setting aside the morality of the situation for a moment... if I am challenged—in whatever form that challenge might take—it is my way to respond."
"……"
Having declared that, Flare-san slowly crossed her arms and stood with her feet shoulder-width apart.
"Perhaps that was a bit roundabout. I shall put it simply... Come at me. I shall be your opponent."
"Hee... Urgh..."
In that instant, an intimidation factor so heavy it felt as if the air was physically pressing down took hold, and silence enveloped the area. Flare-san hadn’t released any magic power or raised her voice. If anything, her arms remained crossed; she wasn't even in a combat stance.
However, it could only be described as the aura of the strong. The presence of a veteran radiating from her person made the air turn sharp and brittle in an instant.
Overwhelmed by that atmosphere, the man with the knife stepped back in fear. Yet, his desperation remained strong. It seemed he had grown reckless, feeling he had no path left; he only retreated one step before readying his knife again with a trembling hand and lunging toward her.
He swung the knife downward at Flare-san, who still stood with her arms crossed. But the knife stopped before it could strike.
"Guh... Ughhh..."
It didn't look like Flare-san had blocked it with magic; rather, it looked as if the man had stopped his own hand. He had managed to hold back at the very last second. The emotions coming from him shifted from intense desperation to a heavy resignation, and he let go of the knife.
Then, as if all strength had left him, he fell to his knees and hung his head in defeat.
"I see. It seems your heart has not yet been entirely consumed by baseness."
As Flare-san spoke, the sound of approaching footsteps rang out. Several people who appeared to be knights into the crowd.
The knights scanned the area, and once their gazes fell upon Flare-san, their expressions turned to surprise before they bowed deeply.
"Hmph, so you know of me. That makes things simple... Comrade."
"Eh? Ah, yes."
"Forgive me, but would you mind if we took a small detour?"
"E-Eh? Yeah, that’s fine."
"You have my thanks."
After that brief exchange with me, Flare-san spoke to the knight at the front, who seemed to be the officer in charge.
"Though it was only an attempt, a crime is a crime. Normally, it would be only right for you all to take this man into custody. However, I ask your pardon. Would you be willing to leave the matter of this man's treatment to me?"
The knights looked at each other with bewildered expressions, and then the lead knight spoke.
"Understood. If it is the request of none other than Heavenly Dragon-dono, I shall leave the matter to you under my authority."
"My apologies for the trouble. I shall convey the details of this incident and my apologies to the King of Sinfonia later. Ah, and I have also incurred a debt to you all."
As she said this, Flare-san reached into her clothes and produced several cards—matching the number of knights present—which depicted the same red claw mark found on the back of her outfit.
"If you are ever in trouble, you may come find me. I promise I shall lend you my strength then."
"Such words are more than we deserve."
After confirming the knights had received the cards, Flare-san nodded once and then turned to the fruit stall owner.
"I apologize for causing such a disturbance in front of your shop."
"Ah, no... Since there wasn't any actual harm done, it's..."
After offering a brief apology, Flare-san picked up the basket of fruit the man had reached for earlier.
"I shall take this. Keep the change as compensation for the trouble."
With that, she handed a Gold Coin to the shopkeeper. Holding the basket in one hand, she spoke to the man who was still kneeling on the ground.
"Follow me."
She gave me a brief bit of eye contact and started walking. When I followed her, the man also stood up slowly and trailed after us.
Pressed by Flare-san's dignified aura, the crowd parted, and we moved away from the street where the incident had occurred.
After walking for a while, we reached a park with few people around. Flare-san gestured with her head, prompting the man to sit on a bench. When the man complied, she offered him the basket of fruit... along with several other food items she had presumably pulled from a Magic Box.
"First, fill your stomach. I shall hear your circumstances after that."
The man looked back and forth between the food and Flare-san with a bewildered expression before tentatively reaching out and beginning to eat. He must have been starving; once he started, he ate with a frenzied intensity.
"My apologies, Comrade."
"No, please don't worry about it."
I could understand why Flare-san had brought him here. Though it was just a hunch, I didn't get the feeling that this man was a bad person at heart.
What I had felt initially was agony and conflict, then desperation, then resignation and regret while he was hanging his head... and now, my Sympathy Magic picked up bewilderment and deep remorse. I could guess that there must have been a reason.
After he finished eating a short while later, the man began to explain why he had tried to steal.
To summarize, the man was a former entrepreneur. He had started a business a few years ago, and things had gone quite well at first. However, he eventually suffered a major failure, which led to the business collapsing and him ending up nearly penniless.
Since then, he had been doing day labor while living on the edge. But lately, his luck had turned sour and he couldn't find much work; unable to bear the hunger, he had tried to steal.
Once the story was finished, Flare-san spoke in a quiet voice, her pipe held in her mouth.
"And then? What do you intend to do now?"
"I intend to look for work again."
"Hmph, but wouldn't that just be a repetition of the same thing?"
"I think I was unable to let go of my pride. I didn't want anyone to know how miserable I had become, so I didn't even contact my parents. But because of that pride, I was about to commit an irreversible mistake. I am truly grateful that you stopped me."
"I see. You will look for work, and if you cannot find any, you will bow your head to your family and ask for help. And then? What comes after that?"
"I don't know when it will be, but someday, once I've saved up money again... I intend to try one more time."
As he spoke with Flare-san, the hesitation vanished from the man's eyes. It was just a feeling, but I sensed that no matter how hard things got, this person would never turn to crime again.
Looking at the man's face, Flare-san allowed a faint smile to cross her lips before producing a giant hemp sack from nowhere and placing it in front of him.
"In that case, do it immediately."
"Eh?"
"I shall give this gold to you. Use it to challenge your dream again."
"Why...?"
The hemp sack was filled with a massive amount of money. Unable to process what was happening, the man muttered in a daze.
"You challenged once, and you failed. But at the same time, you gained something—the experience of failure. Right now, the thought of 'if only I had done this back then' must be smoldering within your heart. If that is so, do not let it end as a mere regret. Take the experience you have gained and try again. If you require gold for that challenge and do not possess it, then I shall provide it."
"——!? Ah... Ugh... Thank you... thank you so much."
Hearing Flare-san's words, the man's face became a whirlwind of mixed emotions, but he accepted the sack with trembling hands.
Though he was bewildered, I could see a faint light in his eyes—the light of someone looking for a comeback.
"It is your second challenge. You have the knowledge gained from the first and the experience of failure. If you fail again on top of that, then it simply means your ability is lacking."
"Yes."
"In that case, come find me. I shall retrain you so that you do not fail a third time."
"Heh? Eh?"
"To a challenger, failure is not defeat. True defeat is losing the spirit to challenge in the first place. No matter how many times you fail, no matter how many times you are broken, as long as a flame flickers in your heart, you are not a loser; you are a challenger. And I am an ally to all challengers. As long as you do not extinguish the light in those eyes, I shall not abandon you. I shall push you forward and send you back to the battlefield as many times as it takes. Do not fear failure. Challenge it with everything you have!"
"————!?"
Hearing Flare-san declare that she wouldn't abandon him no matter how many times he failed, the man was overcome with emotion, and tears began to flow.
"Challenging takes courage. Challenging a second time after failing once requires even more courage than the first. However, you pointed your blade at me—at Flarebell Needsveld, one of the Four Great Magic Dragons serving under Dragon King-sama. Compared to that, squeezing out enough courage for a business venture should be a simple matter, should it not?"
"Yes!"
In response to Flare-san's playful words, the man wiped his eyes and gave a powerful reply. Then, clutching the sack of gold, he spoke with unwavering resolve.
"Thank you very much. I shall gratefully borrow this money."
"I believe I said I would give it to you?"
"No, my conscience will not allow that. I will definitely return all of this money... no, I will return it twofold!"
"Ho... You've gained a good look, like a proper challenger."
Flare-san muttered with admiration, then continued with a joyful laugh.
"There is no need to return it twofold. However, very well—if you absolutely insist on returning more than the amount you received... when you come to visit with the gold, bring one bottle. It can be liquor or juice, whatever you like. We shall share a celebratory drink then to toast your victory."
"Yes!"
"It seems a third time won't be necessary."
A strong light dwelled in the eyes of the man as he nodded powerfully. Just as Flare-san had said, he now had the face of a true challenger.
Seeing that, Flare-san nodded with an expression of heartfelt joy.
Flarebell Needsveld
She is actually the wealthiest of the Dragon King’s subordinates. She primarily carries money to give to challengers who have the will but lack the funds. However, even though she tells them it isn’t necessary, many of them return to pay her back several times over, causing her wealth to grow continuously.
She is naturally a caring person who often helps or encourages challengers, making her highly popular and well-known in the human realm. The red claw mark pattern is not a symbol of the Crimson Fang, but a personal mark she favors. Those who admire her often put the same pattern on their clothing.