Fenris woke with a jolt. Sitting up, he looked at his surroundings in a daze.

“... Why was I sleeping here…?” He racked his brain for possible answers.

A) He was abducted by aliens in his sleep.

B) He left his window open and a freak tornado blew him away.

C) It was comfy.

…

‘Probably… none of those.’

Setting aside the first two options—although the warm sun was pretty nice, the grass was coarse and itchy; he would have never chosen to take a nap there.

‘... Then, why…' 

Fenris tilted his head in puzzlement, only for something to drip into his eye. It was blood.

“Oh.” He finally remembered getting decked by the goretusk.

Fenris took a look at himself. He’d apparently landed on his head, since his scalp seemed to be bleeding profusely. A huge gash also ran from his abdomen up to his opposite shoulder from getting hit by the tusk. However, rather than his injuries...

“... My clothes…”

Fenris examined the shredded fabric of his top—which, unsurprisingly, had been torn along with his flesh. 

“I liked those clothes…”

———

'… I’m dead.'

In short, Lily got carried away.

Although she'd found her resolve to fight, it wasn't as though that would suddenly give her some kind of power boost. Setting aside the fact that the goretusk vastly outleveled her, Lily wasn't a melee-focused build, so there was no way smacking it with a stick was actually going to deal a significant amount of damage.

‘I’m suuuper dead.’ Lily thought to herself as the goretusk reared up to trample her.

However, a familiar dark blur came in from the goretusk’s blind side and knocked the beast away, the air audibly warping from the impact. 

Their hope renewed, Lily and Louis joyfully called out to their friend.

“Fen!” “You’re back--?!”

Then, they felt a terrible chill as a deep, menacing rumble emanated from Fenris.

“I’ll kill you.” Fenris snarled, his eyes murky with bloodlust. He landed another vicious right hook against the stunned creature. “Die.”

“I-is Fen growling?!” Louis drew back. “He’s totally growling, isn't he?!”

“WAAAH! THAT’S SCAAARYYY!!" Lily started panicking again.

The goretusk had literally no idea what had hit it the first time, and the second hit only concussed it further. It roared as it tried to turn to face Fenris, but was met with a third consecutive blow from its blind spot.

Desperate, it swung wildly at him—but Fenris swayed out of the way and flipped it upwards, using its own strength to fling it up onto its hind legs before knocking it onto its back with a fourth punch.

As the goretusk flailed its legs helplessly in the air, Fenris circled around, grabbed onto one of its massive tusks, and started pulling and pulling until, with a gruesome crack, the tooth broke off at its root. Mercilessly, Fenris immediately jammed it into the goretusk’s remaining eye and savagely hammered in with his fists like a railroad spike—each blow showering Fenris with blood and sending the point deeper and deeper until, with a dull crack, the goretusk stopped moving.

———

Once Gen finally recovered from her [Broken] status, the party began its long trek back to Firrstad.

Lily, who got nauseous after spending the rest of her mana healing the critically-wounded Gen and Fenris, was piggybacking on Gen.

“... Hey, Gen?” Lily asked apprehensively.

“Is something the matter?”

“How… do I become strong?”

“Ara,” Gen gave her usual, indecipherable smile. “I don't believe I’m qualified to answer that.”

“Really?” Lily seemed doubtful. “I think you’re pretty strong…”

“Mm… Well, I suppose I am a bit better than average~” Gen replied, the tip of her tail pridefully swinging from side-to-side. “——But I don't believe I’ve done anything in particular to become strong, and there are many people much stronger than myself. If you really want an answer… why not ask Wolfie?”

“To be honest, I wasn't sure how… sagely… his advice would be.”

“... Certainly,” Gen conceded. “But why not try anyways?”

“I guess it couldn't hurt… Umm, Fen?”

“Nn?” Fenris, who was walking ahead with Louis over his shoulder, turned his head to look back at Lily.

While Gen carried Lily, Fenris had to carry Louis because, despite his injuries, Louis had forgone healing since he couldn't fight without a spare weapon; it made more sense to let Gen and Fenris get more health instead.

“Fen, how did you get so strong?” Lily asked.

However, Fenris tilted his head.

“Am I… strong…?”

Gen, Lily, and Louis glanced at each other.

“Well…” “I mean…” “Yeah, kinda.”

Fenris blinked as he processed the question, the gears visibly turning in his head. After a solid minute of silence, he answered:

“You just… do it.”

“... Do what?” Lily was even more confused by his answer than she’d expected.

“... The stuff?” He blinked.

… Fenris tried thinking a bit harder.

“It's easy to just… not do stuff,” he continued. “But if you're not happy with that, then… try doing it, instead.”

“I feel like it's a bit more complicated than that…” Louis commented bemusedly.

‘He makes it sound so simple…’ Lily silently agreed. Her body was so weak that she couldn't do anything on her own—and so Lily was convinced that Fenris’s advice wouldn't help her.

But then, she remembered standing her ground against the goretusk—that feeling: where despite the odds and despite her weakness, Lily felt like she could do anything.

‘It’s complicated… but it's not.’

It would be a long process for Lily to be able to ‘succeed’, filled with complications and caveats—but just ‘doing it’?

“Maybe some things are just that simple,” she laughed to herself.

———

(EXTRA: After Lily used up her mana…)

Fenris scooped the incapacitated Lily into a princess carry.

“Fenris, switch.” Gen immediately said, sparing Lily from the mental damage.

———

(EXTRA 2: Meanwhile, the other two…)

“Hey, uh, Fen?” said Louis, who felt less-than-dignified being carried like a sack of potatoes. “Mind carrying me a different way?”

“?? Nn.” Fenris switched to the princess carry.

“... On second thought, that first way was fine.”