148 The Frontier

Jun turned around and walked towards Marichu Hill.

Even though he could brute force his way through their blockade, he knew that it would only cause further trouble and misunderstanding. Don't be mistaken, Jun was never afraid of trouble. If anyone wanted to fight he would gladly hand it to them.

Marichu Hill glared at Jun when he brushed her off but now that he's coming back, she became a bit distracted.

Jun stopped a few meters in front of her.

"What do you want? Be quick." Jun said

Marichu composed herself and pushed her chest forward. "We received reliable information about you. Although you didn't assassinate the mayor, it was done by people under you. Also, you enslaved innocent people and used them for your personal interests."

"This is a waste of time," Jun said, "Do you have proof?"

Marichu remained silent for a few seconds before she replied back. "Yes we have. Its a reliable information."

"Then show it." Jun replied.

Marichu hesitated but decided that it's a must. She turned around and looked around. Her eyes looked for someone, then locked on a particular person. The man was hiding behind some people she doesn't recognize.

Marichu waved her hand and called for the person to step forward. "Lieutenant Cedric, please come here. Once and for all, let's prove that this man isn't what he seems to be." She looked around the people and passionately expressed herself. "This man isn't a hero!"

Jun looked towards Lieutenant Cedric who was hiding behind Adrian's group. When Adrian heard that the woman claimed to have evidence of the mayor's killing and slavery, a somewhat strange feeling arose from him. When he killed the mayor, the only people in the room were police officers. Afterwards, the police helped guarding the station jail and even brought criminals in to be enslaved.

Adrian turned towards Lieutenant Cedric. A sour look appeard on his face as he whispered, "He'll kill you."

Adrian was trying to be sarcastic but Lieutenant Cedric took his words as a threat. With determination, he stepped forward and stood behind Marichu. He pointed towards Jun and shouted for everyone to here: "He truly enslaved people! Do you know why you're not allowed to visit your love ones on the jail? Its because there's no one in jail!"

Lieutenant Cedric turned around and strode towards the masked men on the group.

Nik, who was the spiritual leader of the masked men, wanted to confront Lieutenant Cedric but he saw Jun shook his head. Though a bit confused, he backed off and let the lieutenant come closer.

"This people are the proof." said Lieutenant Cedric. Afterwards, he slowly raised his hand to remove the mask. He wasn't sure whether these people would let him take it off, so he was doing it slowly and carefully. He thought they would surely stop him but to his joy, they didn't.

It was all thanks to the fact that everyone saw Jun shook his head. Though they don't know what he was thinking, everyone unanimously accepted his decision.

Lieutenant Cedric removed their mask one at a time, revealing their faces. "This people were prisoners turned slaves! Everyone, look at them! Is there any relatives here? Anyone who recognizes these people?" He looked around as he waited but no one spoke up.

Why were Nik's group imprisoned and enslaved? Because they have no other choice but to do the mayor's dirty work! Those people who joined the raid were the lone desperate people, who doesn't socialize well with others. Even if they were able to warmp up with some people, they would become forgotten and thought dead after disappearing for a long time.

Seeing that no one was stepping forward, Lieutenant Cedric was about to speak again but Jun interruped him before he could rile up the crowd. He stared at Nik and said, "Are you a prisoner?"

Nik stared at Jun's eyes trying to figure out what he wanted. Several seconds later, a smile sprouted from his lips, then he said, "No. As a matter of fact, I'm sponging off you. My father and mother died during the initial outbreak. I survived together with my sister but was unfortunate to not have the strength to fend for ourselves. I thought the mayor would be my salvation but he wasn't. The food were rationed inappropriately and we were left to starve. That's the time when I took a gamble and applied at Black Haven to become a scavenger. After a few days of scavenging, I was promoted as a guard and I'm currently the leader of the elite squad."

Nik turned to Lieutenant Cedric, "I'm just an older brother to my little sister. Please don't call me a prisoner when I'm obviously not."

With Nik's confession as the start, his squad member's passionately recounted their stories while expressing their good will to Jun for accepting them.

"You, you guys!" Lieutenant Cedric's eyes widened.

"I don't know why you're trying to accuse me, but I can't just keep standing still when I'm being bullied right?" Jun raised his hand while pointing his finger towards the sky. A black vortex appeared and his bonehammer slowly descended from above. The black vortex only disappeared after he held the bonehammer's handle.

Jun brought it down to the ground, causing sparks to fly in the air as the hammer's head blazed with crimson fire. He said, "What do you think?"

Just as he started teasing Mirachu, several bright lights flashed from the statue. Dozens of people appeared after the lights dimmed. A few people quickly ran out and separated the crowd, followed by individuals carrying injured people behind their back.

A man who seemed to be the leader was relaying orders to someone when he noticed the large crowd over the plaza. He observed the area and saw two familiar faces. He waved his hand as a greeting then walked forward.

"What are you doing here Chuchu?: the man said as he stoof beside Marichu.

"Please stop calling me that. I'm not a dog." Marichu replied.

"Come here, Chuchu[1]~"

Marichu rolled her eyes and ignored him. Finally having enough fun for himself, the man stopped and turned to Jun. "Seeing the way you look at me, you have probably already forgot about me. I'm Alday Ruan, one of the people you rescued on a secluded farm. Is your dog still okay? After scavenging around, I wasn't able to encounter a pure dog. Most of the dog's I met were already mutated, so it was interesting how your dog was able to remain pure."

Jun entertained him a bit and said, "Takaw is a picky eater, a spoiled dog."

Alday thought hard what Jun was implying and when he realized what he meant, he nodded his head. "I see. Being a picky eater actually became a blessing for your dog. Never mind that," Alday turned to Marichu and said, "What's going on here?"

Marichu became troubled as to whether she should answer or not. But when Alday called her real name she knew that he was serious and would not stop.

"I'm just doing something... You know... that discussion yesterday. I received a tip today from someone that that old man knows things and he would help! But he's totally useless."

Alday thought back to what was the topic for yesterday's meeting. When he remembered the topic, he couldn't help but frown. He turned to Jun and made a sincere bow. "I apologize for whatever my subordinate did. As the founder and leader of the Frontier, I should have watched my words when speaking since it could affect how the people around me think."

"Leader!" the Frontier guards that were blockading Jun were shocked.

Mirachu quickly whispered to Alday, "What are you doing!?"

"Apologizing." replied Alday casually. Mirachu was fuming as she stared not able to believe what he just said.

As to everyone's surprise, the black vortex reappeared and Jun stashed his bonehammer. "That's alright. I think it's just a misunderstanding. And you're wrong — I recognize you. You remember my dog Takaw? He's a snobbish one. Seeing that he opened up to you made me remember you. How's your wife? There's also a woman with two daughter's right? How is she?"

"See, he's a reasonable person." Alday said to Mirachu. "My wife's doing okay, she's been staying home after we almost got slaughtered by a D2. She's spending her time with Germina, learning how to cook. If I remember correctly, they wanted to setup a restaurant." Alday chuckled. "A restaurant."

Everyone calmed down and felt that things were going well when Jun suddenly cut him off. He said, "So, what's the thing that you're talking about yesterday? In your meeting."

Alday's face slowly turned from a smiling one to a stoic one. He scratched the back of his head and said, "I don't know how to say it, so I'll just be blunt about it. I don't want you as mayor."

Adrian, Nik and the rest of the group frowned after hearing what the man said. True to what he said, it was straightforward and blunt.

Adrian slowly hid his hand behind his back while Nik put pressure on his toes, ready to dash forward at anytime.

[1] chuchu is the sound when you calls a dog to come to you