"Someone like you? Even the latest volume of Philip's Adventures doesn't brag as much as you do... At least the hero went through all kinds of hardships to defeat the Demon King of the Dark Country, and he was badly injured himself. How come you're completely fine?"
"Because I'm stronger! You should know that standing before you is the greatest Bard on the Sun Continent, Alexis! What nobody is Philip to dare compare himself to me?"
The blond young man looked disdainful.
The little boy was immediately displeased when he heard that. With cream still smeared around his mouth, he pointed at Alexis and said:
"Philip isn't a nobody! He's a hero! A hero who saved the world!"
The little boy pulled a face.
"You're the nobody! A big braggart performing on the street!"
"You little brat! Watch out, or I'll turn into an evil dragon in your dreams and eat you!"
Alexis was just about to roll up his sleeves and teach the little fellow a lesson, but the boy ran off laughing. His mother promptly grabbed him by the ear, reducing him to tears.
Watching the mother and son recede into the distance, Alexis rolled his eyes.
He slumped down beside the fountain. Looking at his upturned hat on the ground, which contained not a single Copper Crown, he let out a long sigh.
"A hero who doesn't get treated like one..."
He patted the bronze statue of the Black Messenger standing beside him and complained:
"Instead, this fellow got to be the hero."
Clink, clink!
Coins rang against one another.
To his surprise, Alexis discovered two Silver Crowns in his hat.
Looking up, he found a stooped old woman gazing at him kindly.
The old woman had a head of white hair and a face covered in