I found myself waiting on an uncomfortably small box while facing a busy alley, all sorts of people passed through it, some with cargo, others empty-handed, the buildings were varied, mostly shops, some bakeries, and a bathhouse, all of which gave the place an anxious aura, however, the building behind me was noticeably empty, despite apparently being the only office of its kind in Tanja.

"Are you thinking about parameters?"

"Something like that. So is she there or not?"

"No, but she left this with a receptionist."

She handed me a small piece of paper.

"Is this some kinda code? It just looks like a bunch of scribbles."

"She's never had great handwriting, but I'll decode it. You should inspect this instead."

"Is this a wanted poster?"

I went through 39 of them this morning, so I was intimately familiar with their dimensions by now. But May didn't bother answering, instead pulling a paper and a miniature pen and slipping into a side alley. I followed along and looked down at the poster.

"..."

When faced with the overwhelming feeling of being 'fucked', the simplest way of expressing that is often the most astute.

"I'm fucked!"

WANTED ALIVE

Name: Jack Woods

Known aliases: red rag, black sandbag...

Organizations: N/A

Crimes: assault with a deadly weapon, murder

Bounty: 1200000 DH

"You sure they didn't add 5 too many zeros!?"

"Unlikely."

"Who put a fucking bounty on my head!?"

"Anyone with enough money can put a bounty on you."

"It's probably Zakaria, that fucker's the only one that would give some nickname like that. And what the fuck does he mean assault with a deadly weapon?! Is self-defence illegal?"

"You should be more concerned with refuting the murder accusation."

"Nah, I did it so that's fine."

"...Take this."

She tore up a part of the paper she was writing on and handed it to me.

"What's this?"

She leaned in close.

"It's directions."

"That's what your informant left?"

"Yeah"

"How many?"

It was obvious from her behavior that someone was following us.

"Two, from our 6."

"What's the plan?"

"If they're bounty hunters who got a tip about a new bounty. We'll split up if they confront us. It's not worth risking one's life for one million, so they'll leave if we give them enough trouble."

"Or?"

"They could be part of the Black Typhoon, in which case we still split up."

"Then lose them and meet up there, got you."

"One more thing."

"What is it?"

"Don't kill Leon if you see him. I've got an idea."

"Aye captain."

I put both papers in my pocket and let out a long sigh.

"What did I do to deserve a million on my head?"

"Screaming your name at an enemy."

"Point taken."

We moved from one alley to another, avoiding the main streets. I stopped feeling eyes on us after a while.

"They still following us?"

"No, or they've gotten better at hiding themselves."

"Well, hopefully we never meet them again, but man, this place's huge!"

It looked much smaller from the outside, roughly the size of a large mountain, but I couldn't even see the edges of this platform.

"It's the authority of Rahma's god; one's view of this country changes depending on their cognition of it."

Wow! This shit cool as hell! I looked up to see the platform above us. If I had to guess, I'd say it's as big as Texas, with countless lights adorning its bottom.

"How do they power all those lights?"

"That's one of Rahma's main exports, star glass; It's a rare stone that produces light."

"That's insane!"

"Not just that, it's identical to sunlight; you can even grow crops under it."

"How does that even work?"

"It's one of Rahma's four wonders, study it as they will, Maarifa's best scientists couldn't replicate its chemical makeup."

"Four wonders! Tell me more."

"We're not here for tourism."

"Cmon!"

"You can have your fill of that when we're safe."

"I'll hold you up to that."

"Eyes ahead."

"I'm serious!"

"Understood, now eyes ahead."

She stopped and pointed forward at a large building with a bright sign upfront.

"M&M's hotel-bar, are you sure this is the place?"

"Yeah"

"Well, let's go then."

"No, you stay here in case this is Leon's hiding place. Watch out for anyone suspicious. If I don't come out in 15 minutes, go back to the hunter's office."

"Why not just go in together then?"

"You're terrible for negotiations."

"Can you mince words a bit more!?"

"You let out your bloodlust often, and it's too easy to get a rise out of you."

"No, it's not!"

She raised an eyebrow and looked at me with a stern expression.

"Fiiiine, I'll look around to see if anyone's scouting out the place."

"Thank you, but don't do anything reckless."

"Aye aye, scream if you need a meat shield."

The chuckle was suppressed in 0.5 seconds, a world record!

"If I don't find him, I'll just rent a room and come out; it should take 10 minutes at most."

I walked off into the main street with closed eyes, taking heavy steps as I walked forward.

"I'm not that reckless, am I?"

The more I thought about it, the more obvious the answer became.

Yeaaah, but it's the only way I know.

"Ohh"

Something at the edge of my contract's range seemed odd, a back alley leading to the hotel. If somebody were to head there from the north, that would most likely be the way they would take. I turned on my heel to get closer. Two figures were in the middle of a fight, well, calling it a fight would be generous, it was more of a one-sided beating by the first figure while the second was running for their life.

"No way."

I could sense both their muscle structures as I got closer, one of which I was already familiar with. Leon was the second figure, getting the shit beaten out of him. The other was a woman I'd never seen before. What should I do now? I can get May, but that would take at least a couple of minutes, she might kill him during that time. I'd be happy with that, but May needs him alive.

Fuck it!

I ran until I was a few meters away from them, intentionally slowing down for the last few steps to let her get a few extra hits in. But all good things have to come to an end eventually. I delivered a kick to her side with all my weight.

"Shit!"

Despite attacking from her blind spot, I was the one crying out in pain, she lowered her arm at the last moment to meet my kick with her elbow, my right leg was probably broken, but she couldn't have gotten out of that unscathed. She jumped back after hitting him one last time. The woman before me was wearing a white t-shirt and some sweatpants, as if she hurriedly came out of her house, it was obvious from her strong physique and the scars running across her body that she lived a violent life, if one would look only at her basic features, she would be considered quite handsome by the majority of people, but looking at her now, all I could feel was caution, with a side of confusion, the overwhelming fury in her features made me think that I killed her family, is all this anger just because I stopped her from killing him?

"W-Why are you here?"

Leon looked at me with a dumbfounded expression, but I ignored him, looking at the woman in front of me.

"Get out my way!"

"Sorry, I want him dead too, bu-"

"Then give him to me!"

"It's not my choice, and bare fists are awfully slow murder weapons."

"You made your bed, so only curse yourself when you're dead."

She knelt down and took out a pair of tonfas, holding the left one normally and the right one from its top as if it were a crowbar.

"Be careful, she-"

I didn't wait for his explanation, immediately running towards the kneeling woman, making herself vulnerable in a situation like this can only be a condition for a strong contract. But my running was stopped by a strong impact from behind. Leon kicked me, that piece of shit! I turned around to take care of him before I fight her, only then I realized why he did that. She was standing where he should have been. A miserable whimper could be heard beyond, its source was Leon, who was holding his chest in pain, a shrill whistle reverberating through the air as he tried to take deep breaths.

Her crouching operated somewhat like Nak's contract, a build-up for a burst of speed, and power too, judging by Leon's condition.

"Why didn't you go for the head?"

"He doesn't deserve a quick death."

"Did he kill your mom?"

She didn't bother to answer, instead backing away until she was 12 meters away from me before ducking down again. The alleyway was tight enough that it would barely fit three people side by side, so predicting her trajectory's gonna be hard, so instead, I threw one of my swords, if the enemy has a bothersome attack, stop them from fulfilling their conditions instead of dealing with it, that's not my favorite way of fighting but I need this weasel alive.

What are those tonfas made out of?!

They looked like wood, but she easily deflected my sword with her left tonfa without getting up. What should I do? I'm too far from the hotel to make a run for it or call May. I can't move from my position in case she decides to kill Leon, and my gun's out of ammo. I closed my eyes and focused. I'll swing my sword the moment she shows a slight movement, even if I can't keep up with her speed, I can make up for it with a preemptive move.

I tapped my legs against the well-built surface. Since we were so close, I could feel everything, no matter how seemingly insignificant. The drops of sweat running across her brow, her somewhat ragged breath, and a slight shiver ran across her body a moment before the burst of speed. I swung right as she disappeared, the timing should have been perfect. I didn't expect the vertical slash to cut cleanly through her body, but neither did I expect her to side-step it completely. It should be impossible to change directions so abruptly, after all, her body would be destroyed from the whiplash alone. I can worry about how she did it later. I'm completely open from my left side now, and if Leon's condition is any indication, taking a hit from her isn't advisable. I hurried to grab another sword with my right hand, but she wouldn't allow that, swinging her left tonfa into an elongated grip and thrusting it into the back of my hand. Wasting no time, she grabbed my left leg with her right tonfa's handle and threw me completely out of balance. It was hard to understand what happened afterwards. I've never experienced falling so fast before, even when jumping off the God tree. My legs were in the air before I knew it, and my vision was filled by the one responsible, who, despite her overwhelming victory, was still glaring at me.

"At least look happy after beating my ass."

She was on top of me, her legs restraining my arms in place, so I closed my eyes and started tapping my feet.

"Why are you protecting him?"

"I'm really not, just need him alive for a bit, then you can have him."

"You're assuming I ain't killing you?"

"You are? I'd rather a quick death then."

"You fucking playing me!?"

"Nah, I'm waiting."

"Wai-"

Leon pushed her, his hand wrapped in 6 strings that quickly dissolved. It seemed rather cartoonish from my perspective, the simple push sending her flying off me as if she'd been launched from a cannon.

"Get up! That won't kill her."

I got up, checking my broken right hand.

"What was that?"

He moved to my other side before punching me with his other fist, which had four strings on it. It was familiar to Nak's knock-back effect, except way less painful. I flew gracefully through the air until colliding with the hotel's door. When I looked up, he was flying towards me at a terrifying speed.

"Agh!"

"We coulda just ran, man."

"Sorry."

I threw his body off of mine and looked around me. The momentum of Leon crashing into me put us in the middle of the surprisingly small lounge. But I didn't have time to sightsee. The woman was following in our trail, seconds away from reaching the hotel doors.

"Agh!"

I forced myself up with some help from my sword while Leon took a deep breath. I was wondering what he was doing until...

"MARIE!!!" The ear-splitting scream came from none other than the meek Leon.

The woman stopped in her tracks, terror coloring her features. Her gaze wasn't focused on either of us, but on something beyond, while her hand clutched her stomach, as if checking for something.

"Way too loud. What do you want?"

An astoundingly tall woman wearing a tailored suit walked down the stairs, scratching her tiddy, long black hair as she looked down at Leon.

I've fought many people in my life. Some were strong, others weak. But once in a while, I'd run into monsters like this one. It's hard to describe, but once I laid eyes on her, it was clear that we're in completely different leagues. But that still didn't explain our assailant's behavior. Just looking at her features, one would be justified in believing that this was her dying expression.

"She's trying to kill me in your hotel, please kick her out."

"You brought her here, moins que rien. I should kick you out too."

"That's not the point."

"Who are you?"

Our assailant seemed to regain some of her composure.

"An old woman who's running this humble hotel."

She answered nonchalantly, stopping in front of us. She wasn't as ridiculously tall as Zakaria, but 2.1 meters is still absurd to me.

"Then we'll leave it at that."

She tucked her tonfas in her belt before glaring at Leon.

"You can't run away forever."

"..."

With that, she ran off.

"What a shame, I might have handed you over if she insisted."

Leon laughed lightly-heartedly at her words.

"As if..."

She sighed in response, moving to check the doors.

"Right?"

I looked behind me to see May running down the stairs to the second floor.

"Heyo, you're late."

"How is your condition?"

"Never been better, minus the broken hand and leg, what does she have against my right side? But more importantly, I got you a gift."

I gave Leon a completely normal smile.

"L-Look, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

I wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

"I lied to you about Z's contract, among other things."

"So..."

"So?"

"Give me a good reason not to kill you."

"I'm sorry!" He ran behind Mary.

May put a hand on my shoulder before I could give chase.

"Calm yourself."

"Why?"

"We should extract all the information we can before killing him."

She took out a small knife from one of her bag-like pockets.

"C-Calm down, we can come to a peaceful seluti-"

Mary picked him up by his shirt like a stray cat and threw him to us. Harsh.

"You brought this on yourself."

I shot him another friendly smile.

"What do you want? I'll help you!"

Mary sat behind the Bar top like counter and pulled up a bottle and a small glass from under it.

We'll be here for some time.