After three days of nonstop running, Merun finally reached Sakai Port.
He stopped at the edge of the road and blinked.
…That was it?
No shaking legs. No burning lungs. Not even sweat clinging to his clothes.
His body felt fresh.
He exhaled slowly, half-amused, half-annoyed. Saiyan genetics are fucking ridiculous.
Sakai was nothing like the villages he'd passed through. Even from afar, the port town buzzed with life—ships docking and departing in steady rhythm, sailors shouting over creaking planks, merchants haggling, carriages rolling freely through the wide wooden gates.
The guards barely glanced at anyone coming or going.
Martial artists sparred openly in cleared spaces near the docks. Laughter followed hard blows. Power wasn't hidden here—it was expected.
Merun walked through the gates without resistance, eyes scanning everything.
He was wearing peasant garbs with a mask to lay low.
So this is a town.
He approached a guard leaning against a post. "Excuse me. Do you know someone named Warden?"
The guard snorted. "You mean the Warden?"
His eyes dragged over Merun's peasant clothes with open contempt. "Why would you want to meet him? Got another complaint on our martial artists, peasant?"
Before Merun could answer, the guard grabbed his collar and yanked him close. "Maybe I oughta remind you that you weaklings should just shut up."
Merun didn't flinch. His eyes curved as he just smiled through his mask.
That… unsettled the guard.
He glanced around quickly, making sure no one important was watching, then drove a punch into Merun's gut.
THUD.
The impact rang wrong—like striking metal.
The guard's eyes widened. "Huh—?"
Merun's hand shot out and pulled him in close.
"So that's how it is," Merun said mildly.
He returned the punch.
THUD
The guard folded instantly, foam spilling from his mouth as he collapsed at Merun's feet.
Merun crouched beside him. "Where's the Warden?"
The trembling man weakly lifted an arm and pointed toward a tall, fortified building looming over the district.
Merun stood. "Thanks. Have a great day."
He walked away as if nothing had happened.
———
The building turned out to be a jail.
Merun paused at the entrance, staring up at the iron-reinforced doors. "…So he's an actual warden."
Inside, the air smelled of oil, stone, and old iron. A clerk behind the desk barely reacted to his presence. He gave his name.
She nodded, already standing. "This way."
She knows, Merun thought. Beggar Sect?
She led him down a short corridor and opened a door.
Inside sat a man in full set of samurai armor, lounging as if this were his private parlor. The pressure of his aura washed over Merun the moment he stepped in.
Upper Tier Squire, Merun assessed calmly.
The man smiled. "Ah the mask. You must be the bounty hunter."
Merun blinked. "Sorry?"
The man waved it off. "Doesn't matter. Here's the job."
He slid a paper across the table.
"There's a piece of shit hiding near the village of Ota. Poisoned their well. Been squatting in the forest since."
Merun picked up the paper.
It was a rough sketch.
Of a boy.
"…He's young," Merun said slowly. "What happens to him?"
The Warden smiled without warmth. "Death, of course."
Merun looked up.
"He poisoned his own village," the man continued casually. "If we don't make an example of him, what's stopping others from doing the same?"
"I see," Merun said, folding the paper. "I'll be off."
"Wait, what's with the mask?" The Warden asked.
"...I am horribly disfigured."
"Real unfortunate." The Warden tossed a small pouch onto the table. "Here's some funds. Buy yourself some respectable clothes."
His eyes flicked down Merun's outfit. "You look like shit."
Merun caught the pouch. "…Understood."
He was about to turn and leave, but then he put on the scouter for a brief moment, to the Warden's confusion, and left Immediately after, expression unreadable.
Warden: 4200
As he stepped outside, he also looked at himself using the scouter.
Merun: [ERROR INTEGER PAST ALLOCATED LIMIT]
———
Merun arrived at the village of Ota at dusk.
At first glance, it looked abandoned.
No smoke from chimneys. No voices calling across the road. Only the low, broken sounds of mourning seeping through closed huts—muffled sobs, quiet wails, the kind that came from people too exhausted to cry loudly anymore.
Merun sat on a fallen log at the center of the village and waited.
The grief hung heavy in the air. Whatever had happened here wasn't old. The wounds were still open. Whoever poisoned the well hadn't just killed people—he'd broken something that hadn't begun to heal yet.
A few villagers peeked out when they noticed him. Whispers passed between doors. Someone hurried off.
Minutes later, a tall, gaunt man approached. His face was drawn tight, eyes sunken, clothes hanging loosely on his frame.
"Welcome to Ota," the man said quietly. "If I'm not mistaken… judging by your clothes… are you the bounty hunter?"
Merun nodded. "Tell me what happened."
The man swallowed.
"A week ago, the elderly and the children started vomiting uncontrollably. High fevers. Weakness. We sent for healers from Sakai, but…" His voice cracked. "For some, it was already too late."
He clenched his fists. "Afterward, it was discovered our well had been poisoned. And a village boy—one of ours—was heard bragging about doing something that would 'save the village.' He fled into the forest."
The man bowed deeply. "Please. Capture him. He must face justice."
Merun didn't respond. He only nodded once, then turned toward the trees.
———
The forest near Ota wasn't dense—it was coastal.
Brackish water flooded the ground up to Merun's ankles. Thick roots jutted out at odd angles, slick with moss. Mangroves twisted overhead, their branches tangled like skeletal fingers.
How does a kid survive here?
Merun knelt and examined the ground.
Broken roots. Bent reeds. Mud displaced just enough to tell a story.
The trail was faint—but not gone.
It took longer than usual. This wasn't the terrain Merun was used to. Still, years of hunting combined with senses far beyond human meant distance didn't matter.
Eventually… he felt him.
Above.
Merun stopped beneath the trees. "So," he said calmly, "am I going up—or are you coming down?"
A sharp, panicked breath.
Leaves rustled.
After a long moment, the boy climbed down shakily. He couldn't have been more than twelve. Mud streaked his legs. His hands trembled.
"…Are you going to kill me?" the boy asked.
Merun sighed. "No. I'm taking you back to the village."
The boy's face crumpled. Tears spilled immediately. "You're lying. You're going to kill me."
Merun didn't answer right away. "Why did you poison the well?"
The boy broke.
He cried as he spoke, words tumbling out unevenly.
He had a sister. She'd always been sick—fevers that lingered, weakness that never left. She couldn't run or play like the others. One day, he went to the village elder and begged for medicine.
The elder told him to go to Sakai. To find the healers himself.
He went.
It took him a whole day's worth of non-stop walking to get there.
But when he arrived, he was told he couldn't afford them.
"They told me there was no point in coming," the boy sobbed. "That her illness is a curse from the heavens and that I should just accept her death."
Then he remembered something.
A martial artist had once visited the village. He took a sip of the well water and spat it out, laughing. That tastes like piss. I shouldn't have drunk that. Maybe I'll call some healers, just in case.
That's when the idea came.
He crushed bitterroot—something he'd seen used on animals. Something that caused vomiting and weakness.
"I didn't mean to kill anyone," the boy cried. "I didn't mean to kill my friends. I just wanted a healer to come because of the village's sudden sickness and maybe they'd help my sister while they were at it. You have to believe me!"
Merun was quiet for a long time.
"…I believe you," he finally said.
The boy looked up, hope flickering.
"For my family," Merun continued, voice low, "I would have done the same."
The hope died.
"But intent doesn't change the outcome. You took away lives of innocent people," Merun said softly. "I'm sorry."
Before the boy could speak again, Merun struck once—clean, precise.
The boy went limp.
Merun lifted him over his shoulder and began the walk back to Ota.
He said nothing the entire way.