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Main Characters
Tiny
Click hereto see him after Karun.
The Hero of the story. A short-tempered, hammer-wielding knight who clawed his way out of poverty, he is one of the last knights standing in the Bad Future where mankind is overrun by the Demon Beastlord's armies. Due to Tiny's unyielding determination and willingness to take on any challenge for his goals, Esgard von Valentia selects him to experience Mental Time Travel to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
- Accidental Hero: Tiny had no intention of freeing Wollang's soul and becoming a spirit tamer when he set out to crush the gang that killed Erina. But by purifying the demonic energy within Wolf's spirit stone, it bound them together and saved Wolf's soul.
- Badass Cape: In his previous life, Tiny, one of the strongest knights in the land, wore a red cape that got burnt off in his battle with Gluttony. The cover for the first chapters of the webcomic features a young Tiny wearing a scaled down version of it. After his growth spurt, he starts wearing another one just like it.
- Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. Chloe treats Tiny like a younger sibling and dotes upon him despite their difference in social standing. Tiny is so touched by Chloe's kindness as his Hope Bringer that he becomes almost as protective of her as her father and brothers. This is not always a good thing, as Tiny's short-temper combined with his protective feelings means that he's quick to jump to violence when he thinks someone is making passes at her.
- Big Eater: Justified. Tiny's Mana Body technique, the source of his inhuman strength, requires him to eat ten times as much as an ordinary person to maintain as a side effect of not requiring special herbs or medicines to improve. The more he eats, the stronger he becomes. His appetite is so obscene that he's shown stacking piles of ten or twenty bowls of food, with some wondering if he has dwarven blood for eating so much.
- Blood Knight: Tiny takes clear pleasure in beating the crap out of Mooks who slight him, doing so with a huge grin on his face.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Tiny is a self-admitted musclehead who takes the heft and sturdiness of a warhammer over any "flimsy" sword. While he's quick on his feet when it comes to thinking up Indy Ploys, he's brutal in combat and crushes his enemies without remorse. One of his favorite manuevers is to use his superior strength to grab one of his enemies and use them as a club against their own teammates. When offered a choice between two warhammers, he instantly goes for the one designed to weigh 100 kg.
- Book Dumb:
- Tiny admits that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed and sometimes wishes that he'd paid better attention to his comrades' lectures. When Esgard tries to explain the power of gravity to him, Tiny tunes him out and starts picking his ears while showing disdain for Esgard's attempts to describe something that Tiny takes for granted. But Tiny's strength and martial talent are the real deal, having developed a form of mana manipulation that would make him one of the ten strongest knights in the land despite starting from nothing as a penniless commoner. He's also quite adept at manipulating others, taking advantage of how people think he's Just a Kid until it's too late. This is also Justified, Tiny's upbringing as a slum orphan means that he never obtained a formal education.
- This is also discussed when Tiny is speaking to Esgard, who is surprised at the breadth of Tiny's worldly experiences, such as Tiny's use of Eastern phrases. He then sarcastically advises Tiny to keep using these phrases because it'll hide Tiny's natural stupidity.
- Cast from Calories: Due to growing up as a penniless commoner, Tiny had to develop his own mana manipulation technique that wouldn't require special herbs or medicines to improve. The result of his work, the Mana Body technique, succeeds at granting him inhuman strength, speed, and durability, at the cost of making him hungry enough to eat ten days worth of food in a single sitting.
- Children Are Innocent:
- According to Tiny's old companion, Estina, humans could become spirit tamers if they were pure of heart and possessed enough mana to forge a contract. But she remarks that the only ones pure enough would likely be children. Given his love for inflicting harm on neer-do-wells, Tiny seriously doubts that he's pure enough despite being currently a child, but soon realizes that he made a contract with Wollang by accident when he broke the chains on Wolf's soul.
- Tiny often invokes this trope, acting like an innocent, polite child when he has to convince others that he's blameless while manipulating them.
- Expressive Hair: Tiny's spiky Shonen Hair droops downward from fear when he's the middle of a severe Oh, Crap! reaction from learning that the man he slapped is in fact the crown prince of the Asran Empire. It spikes back up while trying to act normal and when he's relieved to learn that the prince had forgiven him already.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Erina gave Tiny his name after taking him in because of his diminutive stature. While he barely comes up to the waists of others in the present, Tiny grew up to tower over his peers as an adult and became the World's Best Warrior, with others calling him a giant in his previous life. Following his Mental Time Travel, Tiny is continually underestimated for his stature before he inflicts Grievous Harm with a Body and later fighting veteran knights at just 13 years old. Lampshaded by Chloe, who noted that Tiny quickly outgrew his name as an adult, by which point he was feared as a giant of a man.
- Gravity Master: After taking note of how Tiny's Mana Body technique makes him heavier than he appears, Esgard suggests Tiny attune his aura to the power of "Gravity" instead of "Explosion". By manipulating his personal gravity, Tiny can make himself lighter to reduce his inertia and let himself make snappier movements before increasing his weight at the point of contact to let him dish out heavier blows.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Tiny's favorite method of attack when unarmed is to grab a Mook and use them as a club against the other mooks. Given his superior Super-Strength from his Mana Body technique, he's able to swing grown men around like clubs and throw them as projectiles.Tiny: [after being mocked for not having a weapon] Who said I don't have any weapons? [grabs a Mook by the ankle] I have one right here.
- Had to Be Sharp: After Tiny risks life to win his duel with Drexler, Esgard admonishes Tiny for his recklessness. Tiny says living on the edge like this is the only way a penniless slum kid like him could ever climb out of the poverty he was born into.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Tiny doesn't have a strong handle on his emotions unless he's consciously trying to act a certain way to manipulate others. It's easy to provoke him into violence by disrespecting him or someone he cares about in some manner.
- Having a Blast: In Tiny's former life, he attuned his aura to the power of "Explosion", causing his blows to erupt with explosive force. In his final battle with Gluttony, Tiny's last strike splits Gluttony in half before causing the demon's body to explode as if a bomb hit it.
- Humongous-Headed Hammer: To go along with his Super-Strength-focused fighting style and brutish combat technique, Tiny prefers hefty warhammers with enormous heads. His first Artifact Weapon in his second life is a hammer called "Stamp" designed to weight over 100 kg, enabling it to splatter almost anything he can swing it at.
- In-Series Nickname: Due Tiny's prodigious abilities, he's frequently called "Little Knight" by others who are trying to get on his good side or simply show him respect.
- I Got Bigger: After the events in Karun, Tiny shoots up in height in just a few months, practically doubling in height and gaining a sizable amount of muscle, making him look like someone in his late teens or early twenties despite being 14 chronologically. He attributes this to his Mana Body technique, which bolsters his growth rate and strengthens his body as his abiltiy to manipulate mana grows.
- Jerkass to One: Inverted. Tiny is often flippant and mouthy, taking pleasure in annoying others and beating the crap out of common crooks. But he feels indebted to Chloe for her kindness and generosity, giving him hope when he had none as a beggar in his former life. Because of this, Tiny is always respectful to her and does everything in his power to make her happy after she was trapped by The Chains of Commanding in the Bad Future.
- Hot-Blooded: Tiny is a Blood Knight who's passionate about getting stronger and furthering his skills. This is also deconstructed, as while his refusal to run away and work ethic are strong points of his, his willingness to pick fights can get him in hot water with the authorities.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tiny is a snot-nosed brat with a short temper who very clearly enjoys messing with and teasing others. He loves to lord his strength over common crooks and mugs a group of purse-snatchers who tried to mug him first. But Tiny is motivated by his desire to change the future and protect the people closest to him.
- Manchild: Downplayed. Despite being a grown adult in a child's body, Tiny manages to act his apparent age with his love of provoking others and his chlidish outbursts like rubbing his face all over a hammer he's grown fond of. But he can also be coldly rational and manipulative when he needs to be and remains deadly serious about his desire to change the future.
- Mouthy Kid: Due to his knowledge of the future, Tiny frequently mouths off to arrogant nobles to provoke them in order to manipulate them. When he brings this knowledge to Esgard, Tiny is blunt about his intentions and frequently calls out Esgard's eccentricities (albeit while earning a Dope Slap or worse for being a straight up Bratty Half-Pint at times).
- Multi-Melee Master: In addition to his proficiency with with maces and hammers, Tiny was taught an MMA-style form of hand-to-hand combat by a knight who saw Tiny's use of Grievous Harm with a Body as crass.
- Muscles Are Meaningless:
- Due to his age and being malnourished for so long, Tiny is a scrawny-looking kid at the start of the story. But while he bulks up to a healthier state a month after returning to the past, he's still a small 13-year-old. But his refined use of his future self's signature Mana Body technique grants him Super-Strength far beyond what his appearance would imply. He becomes strong enough to crush an entire bandit gang and use other people as weapons within a week of starting his training. Following his Training from Hell session with Esgard, Tiny can cause craters in stone tile as a result of his clash with Drexler, another expert-level knight.
- Zigzagged in Tiny's previous life. As an adult, Tiny had trained to become as big and strong as possible. While this meant that his raw physical strength was monstrous, it also reduced the effectiveness of his Mana Body skill, straining his mana recovery as his Mana Body and his physical body were out of sync. Tiny resolves to be more mindful in his current life and not bulk up so much that the integrity of his Mana Body is compromised.
- New Life in Another World Bonus: With the knowledge of his first life to guide him, Tiny is able to develop his skills properly from an early age. He trains himself to be on par with veteran knights after a few months of practicing his techniques from his first life. He also becomes a spirit tamer entirely by accident, rescuing Wollang's soul and forging a contract with him to aid him in battle.
- One Size Fits All: Invoked. Tiny asks for Stamp's handle to be made adjustible so he can wield it comfortably at his current size and so he can increase the length of the handle as he gets older and taller.
- People of Hair Color: It's noted that black hair and dark eyes like Erina's and Tiny's are uncommon in the Asran Empire, implying that they came from the same ethnic group. Tiny uses the exoticness of this hair color to pass himself off as a member of a spiritual clan to Lord Philes. It also acts as a point of identification when Tiny has to convince Chloe that he is in fact the same starving beggar she met a few months ago. A year later, Tiny dyes his hair on Esgard's orders to disguise him as a servant so he can be present at Chloe's wedding to prevent the disaster that befell the royal family in the Bad Future.
- Photographic Memory: Subverted. In contrast to the typical Mental Time Travel story, Tiny remembers many of the important details from the future, such as the names of the ten strongest knights and when the Catastrophes that weaken humanity strike. But he wasn't present for several of these events, especially since he was a starving beggar at this point his previous life. So his memory of the specifics of these events is limited to the general facts that everyone in the Bad Future knew. He also struggles to recognize several faces he encounters.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: As a thirteen-year-old, Tiny is half the size of most of the people's he's fighting. And yet he can swing around grown men as improvised weapons and shatter stone with his blows. Lampshaded by the English tagline for the series on Webtoons, "Small, but mighty." This ceases to be the case after the events in Karun, as Tiny doubles in height during three months of training and recuperation, making him the size of an adult and even stronger than before.
- Self-Made Man: In his past life, Tiny clawed his way toward becoming the World's Best Warrior despite being born a penniless orphan through nothing but grit, talent, and a refusal to run away from a challenge. In his present life, he subverts this by trying to take advantage of everything he can to get stronger more quickly, from refining his Mana Body by eating on Lord Philes' dime to demanding tutelage and a weapon from Esgard.
- Stock Shōnen Hero: When Tiny isn't using his future knowledge and maturity to manipulate others, he's firmly this. He's a Book Dumb Lightning Bruiser who prefers to handle all of his problems with a mace or a hammer and is motivated by a desire to save the world and everyone he cares about. He's got spiky Shonen Hair to match his Hot-Blooded nature and is often a Mouthy Kid when he isn't being a Bratty Half-Pint.
- Super-Strong Child: At 13 years old, Tiny is able to throw down with trained knights and wield other people as clubs. Following his Training from Hell with Esgard, Tiny's clash with Drexler leaves craters in stone tile and he swings around a hammer that weighs 100 kg with only moderate effort.
- Too Hungry to Be Polite: Tiny often eats with his hands because he's a commoner and is frequently starving because of the Cast from Calories nature of his powers. This elicits disgust when he's moving among circles of nobility. While he understands ettiquette as a knight in his former life, he prefers to avoid it when he can because it runs contrary to his rough-and-tumble personality.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Tiny's determination to change the future means that he's willing to lie to and manipulate others as well as assasinate estate lords while framing others for the act. He's also brutal in combat and splatters his foes across the pavement and walls. That said, the people he's doing this to almost certainly deserve it and he's out to save the world. He also makes sure to repay his debts and deeply cares about the well-being of others who have treated him well. This proves essential when Esgard's loyalty to Emperor Vincent prevents him from acting against the obviously corrupt royal. Tiny has no such ties and assault's Vincent's guards, who are only guilty of doing their job, to convince Esgard to act to prevent the Bad Future at any cost.
- World's Best Warrior: Of all the strongest knights, Tiny was the last man standing and the only one who could slay Gluttony, albeit at the cost of his own life. This, combined with Tiny's determination and refusal to run away, convinces Esgard to send Tiny's mind back in time in hopes of changing the future.
- Younger Than They Look: After his huge growth spurt following a Time Skip, Tiny is the size of a man in his late teens or early twenties at 14 years old. When discussing magical tools that are locked to people below a certain age, a wizard says Tiny is an adult and can't use them before Tiny brings up his chronological age.
Esgard von Valentia
The Duke of Valentia and one of the Ten Knights. Known as the "Swordmaster" for his unparalleled skill with the blade, he is the one who sent Tiny's mind back in time to change the future.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Esgard is a Doting Parent whose displays of affection for Chloe veer him into Amazingly Embarrassing Parents. His protectiveness of her extends threatening anyone who makes a pass at her with violence if he doesn't think them worthy of her. He even attacks Tiny for calling Chloe by her first name as though they were friends (even though Chloe herself dotes on Tiny and treats him like a little brother). Given that Esgard is one of the strongest knights in the land, he spouts every threat with deadly seriousness.
- Cool Old Guy: When he's not being a Stern Teacher or a Boyfriend-Blocking Dad, Esgard is surprisingly personable. It's clear that he runs his estate with the intent that all of his vassals are cared for and dotes on his daughter Chloe. He's also one of the strongest knights in the land and one of the last two knights remaining in the Bad Future.
- A Father to His Men: Esgard is highly personable to all of his knights on and off the battlefield. He tries to get them the best equipment they need for their station while also personally attending to their training when needed. His subjects are all fiercely loyal to him as a result.
- It Only Works Once: Tempus can only be used once to perform Mental Time Travel, after which it will vanish. This sparks an uproar in Valentia when Tempus vanishes seemingly without warning, as the Esgard of the present doesn't know that his future self sent Tiny's mind back to avert the Bad Future.
- Master Swordsman: As his title of "Swordmaster" implies, Esgard had no equal as a swordsman by the end of the war with the demons.
- Papa Wolf: Esgard is deadly serious about protecting his children, especially Chloe, from all of the enemies of Valentia. He will cut anyone who hurts Chloe down without hesitation, dicing assassins to pieces when they come after her.
- Stern Teacher: Esgard is annoyed when Tiny refuses to even try to understand the concept of "gravity" or its potential value as an aura attribute. In response, Esgard begins throwing Tiny from the top of a building repeatedly to force him to internalize the power of gravity. He also ignores Tiny's cries that he'll listen this time as a punishment for Tiny's cheekiness. His methods, while cruel, do work and help Tiny grow in leaps and bounds.
- Undying Loyalty: Esgard is sworn to the emperor of the Asran Empire and will not defy his decrees as doing so would be treason. Even when the emperor proves treacherous himself by wanting to kill Esgard along with the rest of the nobility to consolidate power, Esgard can't bring himself to defy said orders until Tiny defies them first by assaulting the emperor's guard. Tiny then reminds Esgard that their goal is the salvation of mankind and that they can't be afraid to break taboos if it means moving forward. This finally shakes Esgard out of his blindly loyal stupor, ordering Valentia's knights to break into the reception hall and rescue Adrian and Chloe.
Chloe von Valentia
Esgard's only daughter and "Valentia's Heart", Chloe is the sweet, loving lady who wishes the best for her people. She was sent to be married to the crown prince of the Asran Empire, but became its queen following the royal family's assassination in the Bad Future.
- The Chains of Commanding: In the Bad Future, Chloe became queen of the Asran Empire following the assassination of the royal family. The struggles and catastrophes that befell her reign soon gave her the label of "Queen of Misfortune". While she tried to help her people as best she could with a smile, Tiny could tell that Chloe was never happy in her position.
- Cool Big Sis: After surviving the attack of the dark wizard Irina together and being taken under Esgard's wing, Chloe declares herself Tiny's big sister and begins treating him like family. But because of the uproar this would cause, she tells him to keep this a secret.
- Cuteness Proximity: While Chloe is naturally inclined to be kind to everyone, she has a particular love for cute, weak-looking things. Tiny wonders if this is why she stopped to give him her ring when he was starving on the streets of Inveder. She also coos over Wollang's Sleep-Mode Size.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Chloe is a golden-haired noble lady is known as "Valentia's Angel" for her compassion and desire to help the poor. She dotes upon Tiny and treats him like a little brother despite the uproar that this would cause.
- Hope Bringer: After she gifted Tiny her ring and offered him a favor when he was nothing more than a starving beggar, Tiny considers Chloe his greatest source of hope and belief in good in the world. Prior to the Bad Future, she was known as "Valentia's Angel" for her kindness and compassion, treating commoners and nobles alike with equal respect and care.
- Protectorate: Tiny and Esgard both want to protect her and ensure her happiness because of how important she is to them. She was Tiny's Hope Bringer in both the previous and current timelines whlie Esgard is her father and loves her more than anything.
- White Mage: Clerics are people who have developed the ability to harness the power of the divine through rigorous discipline and boundless faith in the Goddess worshiped by the people of the setting. A select few are innately born with this power and are quickly hailed as saints for it. Chloe is the strongest saint that Tiny knows and he counts on her divine powers to beat back the fifth-level dark wizard Irina.
Asran Empire
Bradley von Asran
The current crown prince of the Asran Empire. Wise and magnanimous, he chose to arrange his marriage to Chloe to ensure deeper ties between the Empire and Valentia, becoming a vital ally of Tiny and Esgard.
- Good Is Not Soft: Bradley is kind and wise, seeking the best for his people in his role as their prince. He's Nice to the Waiter and readily forgives Tiny for assaulting him because he knows Tiny was doing so on Chloe's behalf. But Bradley can be startlingly ruthless when the time calls for it, as shown when he orders the deaths of his father Vincent and his half-brother's parents to ensure that there are no potentially corrupt rivals to the throne.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Crown Prince Asran is similarly golden haired and is the one to have requested to marry Chloe to forge a political alliance with Valentia instead of the more corrupt Lohiter. He's shown to be magnanimous and open-minded, readily forgiving Tiny for assaulting him earlier even though Asran would be well in his right to have Tiny put to death outside of Valentia's walls.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Bradley chose to marry Chloe instead of a member of House Lohiter because he prefers to strengthen his ties with Valentia and Esgard. Although Chloe has qualms about living in a Gilded Cage, her relationship with Bradley is depicted as nothing but functional and loving, with Bradley treating her as an equal and prioritizing her safety when chaos descends upon the capital.
Vincent von Asran
The current emperor of the Asran Empire.
- Evil Is Petty: Vincent was so sore that a young Esgard outdid him in swordsmanship that he became bigoted against knights and surrounded himself with mages. This useless grudge is so profound that he's willing to massacre his own countrymen, including his most loyal subjects, along with Valentia if it means getting back at Esgard for simply being more talented than him.
- Start of Darkness: His issues and bigotry began when he met a young Esgard and tried to teach him swordsmanship. Esgard's natural genius let him quickly outstrip Vincent and humiliate him in front of a crowd. This traumatized Vincent to the point of becoming bigoted against knights and surrounding himself with mages.
