The Dragon-Proud Hero and His Mortal Childhood Friend

After the domineering hero saved the world, achieved fame and success, and became the greatest under heaven, he found himself surrounded by people who fawned over him, praised him, and hailed him as their savior. He also possessed countless rare treasures and miraculous medicines. Yet at night, sitting on the rooftop with the night breeze brushing past him, he felt an indescribable emptiness and loneliness.

He gazed at the bright moon in the sky and thought of his childhood friend from the village, back when he was still young.

Just an ordinary person with no talent for cultivation, but with a pair of lovely eyes, a somewhat dazed air, and a gentle nature.

He also had a pair of skillful hands, able to make the best taro cakes in the world and brew the finest wine.

Later, he tasted all sorts of delicacies and drank many a fine vintage, but none could compare to the cooling taro cake his childhood friend brought him in the banana grove when he was seven and had run away from home after quarreling with his family.

In the blink of an eye, how had fifteen years passed?

He wanted to go home and see.

*

The shou had lived an ordinary life all these years. Their village was cut off from the world, and news from outside rarely reached them.

He had a few playmates, family and friends, and ran a tavern at the end of the village. That was how his days went by.

Sometimes, though, he thought of a close friend from childhood. Later, that friend was always talking about going out to make his mark, and finally left the village with a sword. Before leaving, he gave him a few ingots of silver he had secretly saved and told him to be careful on the road. If he came across anything fun or beautiful, he should tell him all about it when he returned.

His mother beat him afterward, saying he was a fool to waste his money. The other boy had swindled him and would never come back.

He had insisted that this wasn't true. The gong was a good person. He had promised to come back, so he would.

He believed that the first year, and the second, and the third, the fourth...

By the tenth year, he was twenty and had long forgotten about it. Only sometimes, as he lay in bed at night listening to the cicadas outside his window, would he remember a night many years ago when he and the gong had sneaked out after dark to catch fireflies. The cicadas had been just as loud then.

At twenty-five, he was considered quite old for a bachelor in the village. His mother wanted to arrange a match for him with a girl from the neighboring village, who was well known for her gentle, virtuous nature.

The shou thought it sounded fine, too. Life was all about food, clothing, and the everyday necessities. Either way, you had to live it.

The next day, he was preparing to visit the neighboring village and meet the girl.

Then someone arrived in the village.

A travel-worn stranger, dressed in rags, with an old sword on his back. The wind at the village entrance tousled his graying hair, revealing a pair of sharp, solitary eyes.

He asked, "Do you have any wine?"

The returning domineering hero x a gentle beauty

Theme: Those destined to be together will always find their way back to each other