For the past year and eleven months, I've lived with a cheerful little girl who isn't mine.
She's not my blood, not my kin.
But she's the reason I haven't gone mad.
Her name is Nina. Julius's daughter. The last promise I made before the battlefield turned cold and silent.
Without her, I would've thrown myself into the jaws of monsters long ago. Not even the system could've saved me from that kind of death.
Yes the system.
I'm level 85 now.
I've unlocked Hellfire, Weapon Mastery, Teleportation, and every known school of magic. I'm not just strong I'm overwhelming. Cities fear me. Armies couldn't stop me. I could face a million men alone and walk out untouched.
But it means nothing.
It came too late.
Back then, I was just a level 42 swordsman. My team Rose, Mercy, and Julius we were tired, fighting a losing battle in the black valley of the Demon King. We'd fought for two days without rest, without food. Our healer's mana was gone. Julius's shield had cracked in half.
We were holding on by threads.
And I needed just two more experience points two to unlock Hellfire.
But fate didn't wait.
A bat demon appeared. I struck it down with fury. That was it. I leveled up.
Too late.
The moment I turned, the Demon King appeared behind Rose his blade came down like a guillotine.
Her head rolled across the stones.
Before any of us could react, Mercy screamed. Then she was gone too. Just dust in the wind.
Julius turned to me, blood in his eyes, tears in his throat. "Run behind me," he said. "Now!"
Then he lunged forward, tackling the Demon King with the last of his strength.
I teleported behind the monster and slashed with everything I had.
My blade tore through flesh, but not before the Demon King pierced Julius through the chest.
He collapsed, choking.
I fumbled through my inventory potions, runes, scrolls none of it could stop the bleeding.
Julius's hand trembled as he grabbed mine. "Don't let her cry," he whispered. "Promise me. She can't know. Not yet."
And then… he was gone.
I buried him with my own hands.
And I never told her.
"Hey, Nina," I said, stepping through the wooden door of our cottage, bow slung across my back. "Uncle's heading out for today's hunt. What should I bring back? A wyvern or a dragon?"
She looked up from the small sketch she was making on the floor. Her eyes big, bright, curious lit up.
"I want a red dragon from the mountain!" she shouted. "And some mushrooms, too! The red ones, with the dots!"
I laughed. A real laugh. The kind I hadn't known before her.
"You got it, baby girl. Red dragon stew, coming right up."
She ran over and hugged my leg.
"If you see Daddy…" she looked up at me, her voice soft, "tell him I'm still waiting, okay?"
I knelt down and smiled, hiding the sharp twist in my chest. "Of course. He'll be proud you're being so patient."
She nodded.
And just like that, I left.
Every time I walk away from her, my heart screams. But I can't let her see that. If she knows what I know, she'll break. So I hold it in for her.
The sky darkened as I reached the foot of the Red Dragon Mountains.
A level 120 beast lives here. A monster whose breath melts steel and whose wings blot out the sun.
I stared up at the peaks, cracked my knuckles, and whispered:
"For Nina."
Then I stepped into the dragon's lair.