A Man Stands Tall

"If you want to know who I am, open that door and you'll find out."

"No. Now that I've seen your wretched, neither-human-nor-ghost appearance, I suddenly don't want to know who you are."

The towering figure froze and stared at Curze.

"Neither human nor ghost?"

"Yes."

"Wretched?"

"That's right."

"Ha ha ha! Hahahahaha! Ridiculous brat! What do you know?!"

"I don't know anything. Aside from the wisdom my father taught me and the knowledge that was already in my head, I'm an idiot."

"But I'm a little better than you."

"How could you possibly be better than me?!"

"At least I'm human. As for whether you're a god, a ghost, or some kind of bat Xenos, I couldn't say."

"Of course, looking at your hunched back, I'd say you look like a rat standing on its hind legs."

"And the kind that just crawled out of a waste pit at the bottom of the mining hive."

"Do you know what a rat is? A rodent. As the saying goes, everyone wants to beat a rat that runs across the street."

"Impudent brat! You..."

"Save it. I don't know why you're here, but I know you can't do anything to me, and you need something from me."

The figure made no unnecessary movements. He simply slumped onto the ground without a shred of dignity, looking like a small mountain.

He pointed a finger at Curze and laughed so hard his whole body shook, rocking back and forth without a shred of dignity.

"Hey, big bat, stop laughing. You look kind of pathetic when you do."

"Hahahaha! Pathetic? Yes, I am pretty pathetic!"

"But don't you want to protect your father?"

"What do you mean?" Curze grew serious.

"If you want to protect him, open that door. I can help you."

"Help me?"

"Yes. That door puts up a lot of resistance. You'll have a hard time pulling it open, but I can help you."

"Believe me, as long as you open that door, you'll have power to rival a god. When that time comes, no one will be able to touch your father."

This time, Curze took a careful look at the door, then at the filthy fellow.

"Hey, you said you wanted to help me. Do you have a hammer or a pickaxe or something?"

The enormous figure looked at Curze strangely. Clearly, he hadn't expected that question.

"What do you need those for? You're not thinking of smashing the door, are you?"

Curze nodded. "Are you going to give me one or not? If not, I'll find another way."

"I can only help you open the door. I can't do anything else."

"After all that talk, you're still a useless good-for-nothing. What a waste of breath."

After that remark, Curze took out a bracelet.

Han Mingxuan had made it.

Several pieces of the hardest ore were strung on it, and a few words were engraved on them.

Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust.

Curze took out the bracelet, put it on like a set of knuckle-dusters, and walked up to the door.

He didn't open it. Instead, he slammed a punch into it.

Creak!

Wood chips flew.

"There are no gods or emperors in this world!"

Boom!

"I'm human, and a human should stand tall between heaven and earth!"

Boom!

"To hell with your damn god!"

Boom!

"That felt great!"

After three punches from Curze, the door was smashed to pieces. The boy put away the bracelet, his face flushed and his eyes bright with excitement.

As for what was behind the door?

Nothing.

"All that talk of gods and ghosts, and he wouldn't even see that I got one full meal. And he still wants me to kowtow and burn incense to him?"

"Eat shit!"

Curze took a few deep breaths and felt a sense of conquest for the first time.

He understood what his father had been thinking whenever he said, "To hell with your damn god."

So that's how good it feels!

Looks like Father really is amazing. He must have beaten up a god before.

After all, he had just beaten up a so-called god, and it felt great.

So he concluded that his father had beaten up a god too.

"Hey, big bat, do you have anything else to say?"

The enormous figure looked at Curze, a complicated mix of emotions in his eyes.

Shock, fear, ecstasy, numbness, disbelief.

"N-no, nothing else. Here, take this."

The towering figure took out an exquisite black crown.

"Not interested. That thing wouldn't even trade for a few decent pieces of nutrient paste. Keep it."

"Oh, and a big guy like you had better clean himself up. You look awful. I'm leaving."

Curze opened his eyes. He was still lying in the mine tunnel, and the smell of blood around him had mostly dissipated.

But Curze noticed that his appearance had changed.

His six-year-old body had grown even more muscular than Han Mingxuan's.

He was now over 1.9 meters tall.

That made Curze somewhat uneasy.

Would suddenly growing so big cause trouble for his father?

"Hey, kid."

"Big bat?"

Curze had never expected the big bat to be in his head.

"Call me whatever you like. What are you planning to do now?"

"I'm going to trade for some nutrient paste, then go back."

Although it was his first time doing this, Curze felt no qualms about it.

"Go back? Go back and cause trouble for that mortal father of yours?"

"Don't you know he was reluctant when he first started taking you in?"

"After he took you in, people criticized him for it, to say nothing of how you grew to the size of a six-year-old in just a few days."

"Now you've grown taller than him overnight. To anyone who knows you, he'll have taken in a freak."

"Do you want to drag him down?"

Curze froze.

In truth, Curze had known from the beginning that he and Han Mingxuan weren't related by blood.

Otherwise, how could he have grown to the size of a six-year-old in such a short time?

As for Han Mingxuan's reluctance to take him in, Curze had known about that for a long time.

Han Mingxuan had been open with him about it long ago.

Curze was grateful for it.

If Han Mingxuan hadn't taken him in and taught him how to be a person, he might have become a monster.

He had become an adult overnight, and after hearing the big bat's words, Curze began to think.

Maybe... I shouldn't cause Father any more trouble.

After all, he was grown up now.

"Hey, big bat, what's your name?"

"You can call me the Night Haunter."

"All right, big bat, do you have any workable suggestions?"

"..."

The Night Haunter fell silent in Curze's mind for a moment.

I wasn't like this when I was little.

Isn't he a bit too mouthy?

"You need to build a force of your own. Only then can you protect him."

Build a force?

That could work.

"Then let's get going."

Curze stripped the clothes from the corpses and put them on, then took all the bodies to the guild and traded them for nutrient paste.

He had grown up overnight, so no one recognized him at all.

At most, they wondered where such a burly laborer had come from.

Curze put all the nutrient blocks he had traded for under Han Mingxuan's pillow, then quietly left the labor camp.

"Make Nostramo great again!"

"So this place is called Nostramo."

"You didn't even know that?"

"Even if I knew, I'd still be mining. It makes no difference. I might as well be more practical."

He had nothing to say to that.

"All right. The first step is to purge and suppress."

"We need to let the people here know that, from this moment on, we're in charge of the mining hive's middle levels."

"Makes sense. How do we do it?"

"Deterrence."