The moment they moved into a dimly lit, secluded stone alcove near the edge of the pavilion, Hideyoshi finally let go of Merun's shoulder.
Merun immediately whirled around, his coughing fit subsiding. He cornered Hideyoshi against the stone wall, his eyes wide with absolute disbelief.
"What the hell was that?!" Merun hissed, keeping his voice low but dripping with panic. "You just made that up to get them to stop, right? Tell me I'm right!"
Hideyoshi's cold, calculating, politically savvy heir persona dissipated. A goofy, smug grin instantly appeared on his face.
"That's right," Hideyoshi replied calmly, adjusting his robe. "I've made you untouchable."
Merun paused, his anger faltering as he waited for his explanation.
"I told you," Hideyoshi explained, "Right now, you are the hottest commodity. Every minor house, merchant syndicate, and predatory elder in Gifu wants to swallow you whole! They would have hounded you, cornered you, and trapped you in legal or social contracts before the night was over."
Hideyoshi leaned in slightly.
"Tying your name to the Iaiashin household's bloodline just saved you a headache. No minor house will dare touch you, manipulate you, or try to poach your rewards if they think they're crossing Master Iaiashin's daughter. It is a flawless smokescreen. It buys you absolute freedom to grow, train, and consolidate your strength without vultures picking at your flesh."
Merun stared at him, his mind analyzing the move.
He hatefully, grudgingly had to admit it.
It was a good move.
It shut down the nobles who had been hounding him.
Hopefully Inyen takes it well, though. Merun had never met her yet, but he'd heard she was very close with his sisters.
"Great," Merun muttered, rubbing his temples as a deep sigh escaped his lips. "It's really great. But you have to be there with me to explain when the rumor reaches their ears, alright?"
Hideyoshi chuckled, flashing a wicked smirk.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, brother. For now, enjoy the peace."
Merun sighed, why must he get caught up in all these politics? Can't he just eat, sleep and train in peace?
Hideyoshi placed his palm on his shoulder, "It's one of the things that come with power, Merun. There will always be weaklings that try to outsmart you through politics. Trust me, I've been in this battlefield for all my life."
"Thanks, brother. I'll keep that in mind."
Still completely stunned and trying to process the absurdity of what had just transpired, Merun turned around to walk back toward the main floor.
Thud.
He felt a firm, remarkably solid presence bump squarely into his right shoulder.
Assuming it was yet another relentless noble trying to matchmake him, his patience finally snapped. He threw up a dismissive hand.
"Save your breath, I already have a fiancée—"
"Oh? A fiancée already?" a teasing, warmly familiar voice murmured. "And here I thought we'd have to help you find a good girl from Owari."
Merun's entire body froze.
The air vanished from his lungs.
The world around him seemed to slow to a crawl as he violently snapped his head down to look at the people he had just blindly brushed past.
Standing there, dressed in clean, simple noble robes that looked vastly out of place among the glittering silk of the high nobility, were his very own parents—Budo and Nashi.
They were smiling broadly, their eyes crinkling with a mix of deep amusement and overwhelming emotion, having deliberately bumped into him just to play a little joke.
In an instant, nothing else mattered.
Years of brutal, agonizing separation.
Years of fighting, surviving, enduring, and tempering himself.
It all suddenly felt worth it.
Budo, the stoic, heavily scarred martial artist who had spent his entire adult life burdened by disability, enduring the crushing weight of exile from the clan and believing he had doomed his family, completely froze as he looked up at his son.
Merun was no longer the scrawny, hollow-cheeked boy who would always say outrageous things.
Standing before him was a towering, heavily muscled Martial Senior, draped in pristine white-and-black martial robes that commanded the respect of the entire room.
He had just watched the nobles fawn over him.
He had watched the elders begin plotting around him.
His son had become someone important.
Budo's calloused, battle-worn hands began to tremble violently.
His fierce, disciplined eyes instantly glassed over with thick, heavy tears as an enormous burden of lifelong guilt finally lifted from his chest.
Our son... saved this family.
Had Merun not somehow convinced Master Iaiashin to bring them to Gifu, they never would have been blessed with the life they now had.
The only question was...
How much had the boy sacrificed for their sake?
"Look at you..." Budo whispered, his voice cracking beneath the weight of his emotions.
"...Somehow, you're all grown up."
Nashi bypassed words entirely.
With a choked sob, she lunged forward and threw her arms tightly around Merun's neck.
She wept quietly, her shoulders shaking as she buried her face against his custom gi while simultaneously hugging him tightly and lightly smacking his shoulder.
"You cheeky little brat!" Nashi cried, her voice a mixture of fierce maternal anger and overwhelming relief. "Why would you push yourself to the brink of death like that?! Do you have any idea what you did to my heart watching from the stands?"
She pulled back slightly, her trembling hands framing his sharp, handsome jawline, searching every line of his face, desperately checking every scar to make sure he was real.
That he was truly standing here in front of her.
He definitely looked much healthier now, his body radiating a powerful yet comforting aura.
But deep inside...
He was still her little boy.
The one who scurried around helping his father in the fields and made her soup whenever she was sick.
Merun's fierce, unyielding Saiyan pride melted away into nothing.
He wrapped his arms around both of them, pulling his parents into a fierce, protective, bone-crushing embrace.
He buried his face into their shoulders, squeezing them so tightly it felt as though he could physically shield them from the rest of the cruel world.
He still felt tremendous guilt over causing enough trouble for Iaiashin to bring them to Gifu as "hostages," at least as the Beggar Sage had interpreted it.
But fortunately, she wasn't what he had expected at all. She had treated his family well and had even soft-adopted the Furutsu household under the Iaiashin estate.
After a long moment, Merun slowly pulled back, wiping a hand across his own eyes as a bright, genuine smile spread across his face.
"Where are Big Sis Ichigo, Ringo, and Mikan?" Merun asked, his voice still thick with emotion as his eyes scanned the surrounding area.
Nashi smiled beautifully through her tears, reaching up to pat his chest.
"Inyen took them to the inner chambers earlier to get them properly dressed. I saw how proud they were of their little brother a while ago... They can't wait to see you again."
Merun's jaw twitched slightly at the mention of the name.
Inyen again.
Great.
He had just remembered the ridiculous ruse he was now trapped in.
Still...
His chest swelled with a profound sense of peace.
His family was whole.
They were protected.
They were thriving.
And they were finally stepping into the light.
Merun's eyes widened as something suddenly clicked inside him.
Like a roaring flame, something began revving deep within his soul.
As though he had just climbed a mountain or shattered a long-standing blockage, the feeling boiled inside him.
It was...
A drive.
A drive to train.
A drive to explore.
A drive to become even stronger.
But just as he was about to internalize the feeling, a commotion erupted near the pavilion's grand entrance.
A late-arriving nobleman, draped in extravagantly layered, gold-trimmed martial dougi and radiating an aura of absolute entitlement, marched into the pavilion. Other noblemen and noblewomen approached him out of courtesy, but he waved them off as though he were on a mission.
His sharp, venomous eyes ignored the rest of the elite as they swept across the room until finally locking onto Merun's white cape from across the pavilion.
The crowd parted as he strode directly toward their group, completely ignoring Budo and Nashi before forcefully grabbing Merun's hand and shaking it.
"I've heard a great deal about you," the man said, his voice bright but dripping with condescension.
Beside Merun, Budo's entire frame went rigid.
His eyes trembled with deep-seated rage, his fists clenching so tightly his knuckles popped.
Nashi's face turned pale, and she quickly reached out, gripping Budo's arm to hold him back.
The nobleman finally glanced toward Budo, his wicked smile widening as he feigned sudden recognition.
"Ah... you look familiar," the noble purred, his eyes glinting with malicious amusement. "Ah, of course! You're that peasant martial artist who was discharged from the vanguard for defying direct orders. How have you been?"
Budo's jaw clenched, his chest heaving as he prepared to answer.
But the nobleman casually waved a hand, cutting him off before a single word could leave his mouth.
"Good, good. Anyway..."
The man turned his back on Budo, dismissing him like a piece of garbage before refocusing on Merun.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Noriyori Yamaguchi, head of House Yamaguchi. I have a proposition regarding the Senior-grade steel you've won. You see, my eldest son is currently looking for a new weapon, and we require the finest materials..."
He smiled.
"Ah, here he comes now."
Noriyori turned, gesturing toward a young man lazily walking up behind him.
The son looked bored, his chin held high with the arrogance of a wealthy heir who had never known a day of genuine hardship.
He had accompanied his father simply to meet this new "Moretsuna."
Apparently, some lucky peasant had stumbled his way into winning the tournament, and now his family would acquire higher-tier ore to recreate the Spirit Hawk Saber.
Shudder.
Remembering the eyes of the warrior he had fought, his newly regrown sword arm trembled involuntarily, as though recalling the terrible price of his survival.
Then his gaze shifted past his father's shoulder.
It landed directly on Merun.
The boredom evaporated instantly.
His face drained of all color.
His eyes widened into saucers.
It looked as though his very soul had just fallen through the pavilion floor.
His trembling finger slowly rose, pointing directly at Merun, too shaken to form a single coherent word.
Merun's eyes widened slightly in dark amusement.
A slow, terrifyingly smug, sharp-toothed grin spread across his face as he stared down the trembling heir.
"Noritsugu?! What on earth are you doing?" Noriyori barked. "Stand up straight and greet Champion Moretsuna properly!"
Noritsugu couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his father's mouth.
He... he's alive?!
"Nice to meet you," Merun said smoothly, his voice carrying a dangerous, rhythmic purr.
"I'm the winner of the Martial Senior bracket of the Steel Convergence."
Noriyori Yamaguchi blinked, looking back and forth between the two of them in utter confusion, completely oblivious to his son's mounting terror.
"You've met my son?"
Merun's grin widened.
His eyes locked onto the sweating youth.
"Ah, yes," Merun chuckled darkly.
"It's a touching reunion."