...
"…Okay. I'll try."
—SMACK!
"ARGH!"
The moment he said that, his master smacked him on the head again without hesitation.
"Don't try. Just do it," the man said stoically before turning around to walk away.
"Do you really have to hit me every time?!" the boy cried out in frustration, both hands on his aching head.
The master paused mid-step, causing the boy to flinch in fear of another strike. But instead, the man glanced back over his shoulder, expression still as lazy and uninterested as ever.
"By the way, brat…" he asked in that same flat voice,
"Why do you want to get stronger?"
The boy froze.
'That question again.'
The master had asked him this many times before. Every time, the boy gave an answer. And every time, the man just replied with a simple "I see" and moved on, never showing any reaction.
He never explained why he kept asking.
But after traveling with him for years, seeing the world, experiencing hardship, and witnessing both cruelty and kindness—
