Merun realized then that this was an interrogation.
"What do you think, Uncle Beggar Sage?" Merun said.
The Sage smiled faintly. "Uncle, huh? You think acting cozy with me will help you avoid my questions?"
"Then let's stop dancing," Merun said. "You know who I am. You know what I can do. If you think I'm a threat, say it."
"I already do," the Beggar Sage replied.
Merun's eyes narrowed.
"But threats are not the same as enemies," the Beggar Sage continued. "That distinction is why you're still breathing."
Merun scoffed. "I didn't come here to end the world."
"You say that, but again, I don't trust you," the Beggar Sage said calmly. "You have strength that violates every known rule. You were a half-baked fighter this morning, yet you nearly defeated a top-grade Noble Squire that very night. Not to mention, a village was ruined in the aftermath due to your reckless approach. Intent is irrelevant to consequence."
Merun's jaw tightened.
How can he convince this old fox? If I were him, what would I want to hear?
"…This life gave me something," he said. "Something I didn't have before."
The Beggar Sage waited.
"A family," Merun continued. "People who love and care about me as much as I do them. They are my reason to wake up in the morning. My reason to grow stronger. My reason to care and protect."
"And yet you didn't tell them about your origins, right?" the Beggar Sage said quietly.
Merun didn't deny it.
"Tell me… what would happen if you told them, and they hated you for it?" he pushed.
"Did you ever think about the betrayal they would feel, knowing the child they harbored wasn't actually human?" He pushed further.
"Can you handle it," the Beggar Sage kept pressuring him, "seeing their hurt and disgusted gazes when they learn about what you're capable of?"
"…" Merun's brows furrowed. His blood boiled. His aura was slowly rising.
"What's the matter?" the Beggar Sage openly mocked him. "Have you seriously not thought of that yet? Were you going to keep your secret to the grave? Does your family not deserve the truth? I see, they're just peasants anyway—why should they kno—"
"Stop. I know what you're doing, Uncle Beggar Sage." Merun finally spoke.
He smiled. "Are you baiting me into killing you? You think I'm that naive?"
"You're only eleven," the Beggar Sage went on nonchalantly. "I wanted to check how emotionally in control you were. After all, you literally tried to attack a Martial Master just because you thought they were about to hurt your family."
"Ahem… in my defense, I didn't know she was a Martial Master. Also, in my race, eleven is already an adult," Merun lied.
The Beggar Sage's fingers paused mid-motion.
"We're called Saiyans," Merun said. "We're a race born for combat. Our bodies mature faster for that reason. Eleven is when we're considered ready to stand alone, as you can see from my body." (bullshit)
"To fight and conquer, huh?" the Beggar Sage said.
"Nope, to live," Merun spouted even more bullshit. "Our race is under constant pressure from other powerful races. Saiyans like me are disposable, in a sense."
The Beggar Sage's brow raised, unable to tell truth from lie. Everything seemed unbelievable.
Then again, it was undeniable that the boy before him fell from the sky and possessed unknown technology—highly advanced and capable of space travel. A warrior race, then. Interesting.
"So then," the Beggar Sage said, "you're either here to seek asylum… or to find your kin a new world to move to."
"How the heck are you able to think of all the worst scenarios, Uncle Beggar Sage?"
Merun leaned forward. "…Test me."
The Beggar Sage's gaze sharpened.
"If I'm dangerous, or a conqueror, or a bloodthirsty alien," Merun said as he reached out his hand for a handshake, "then let me prove I'm not a net loss for humanity."
Silence stretched.
"There are places Sekigahara doesn't care about," the Beggar Sage said at last, ignoring his outstretched hand. "Villages crushed under martial excess. Peasants beaten for sport. Families erased because someone wanted to test a technique."
Merun felt embarrassed that his handshake was ignored, but he continued to listen.
"Our Beggar Sect intervenes where it can," the Beggar Sage continued. "But we are understaffed. Outnumbered. Stretched thin."
He looked Merun dead in the eye.
"I will give you… three tasks."
Merun didn't hesitate. "I'll do it!"
A pause.
"Ah, but first," Merun said, "I'm going back to Owari. My family—"
"Don't bother. They're gone."
Merun froze.
Gone?
Merun's aura exploded outward.
The hut groaned. The air distorted. For one heartbeat, the world felt like it was about to end. Merun's aura was a deep, blood red.
Then Merun crushed it back down.
"Say that again," he said softly.
"They're gone, as they were relocated to Gifu," the Beggar Sage replied nonchalantly.
Merun's breath hitched.
"…Alive?"
"Yes. Doing pretty well, actually."
The relief was immediate. It was as if that titanic force never existed.
The Beggar Sage watched closely and took a mental note.
"Why did they move?" Merun asked.
"They didn't. They were forced by the noble Iaiashin household," the Beggar Sage said. "Officially, for their protection. But unofficially—" He shrugged. "Maybe to ensure you don't seek revenge against the Kinzoku clan for the previous... transgression."
Merun laughed once. Sharp. Bitter.
"Damn it… she warned me, and I didn't listen."
"Who's she?" the Beggar Sage asked.
"Just a cool lady." Merun didn't explain further, feeling mellow.
"…Go," the Beggar Sage said. "Return to your hut. We'll prepare your tasks."
Merun stood, then paused at the door.
"You're not going to ask about my planet?" he asked. "Our technology? Space travel? How we communicate and all that?"
The Beggar Sage's eyes lit up instantly. "Of course I want to." He pulled out a chair. "You want to sit down?"
Merun grinned.
"…Nah. Maybe when I trust you, Uncle Beggar Sage," he said cheekily.
He stepped outside.
Before he slid the door shut, he asked a question. "If I had killed you, would I have failed right then and there? What would've happened to me?"
The Beggar Sage gave a knowing smile. "That goes without saying."
Merun sighed. "Thanks for reminding me. I forgot to tell my own family who or what I really am…"
"Right, before I go," Merun said, slipping the scouter over his eye and tapping it once.
006
"…Huh," he muttered. "You really are just a normal guy."
The Beggar Sage observed curiously.
"…Also, even if I killed you there, you still would've visited me the next day, right?" Merun winked.
The Beggar Sage froze, caught off guard for the first time.
Merun waved lazily at the door. "See you around." was there.
As he stepped out, he saw the peasant girl standing by the side, waiting.
"Let me escort you back." She said without emotion.
———
Inside, the Beggar Sage sat very still.
Although his title had the "Sage" in it, he wasn't a Martial Sage. He wasn't a Martial Artist at all.
He was what is called an "Immortal Sage"—non-martial artist individuals in Panama who are at the very peak of their fields; with the Beggar Sage the leading expert in Information, with each giving tremendous contributions to humanity.
He looked calm, if not for his eyes. They twitched furiously as thoughts raced through his head.
Terrifying.
How does he know about me?
How does he know all this?
He even knows about the ritual!
How… what? It doesn't make any sense!
Where did the information leak? Or was it all a bluff? No, i was observing him the whole time... should I have asked Psyker to probe him like originally planned?
As one of the top experts on information in the world of Panama, nothing scares him more than the unknown.
And at the moment, it seems the boy knows far more than he should.
…Can the Saiyan race read minds?
...I'll take note of that, just in case.