In the forest, in the southern region of Fernmels, a tall man dressed in black was seen vigorously swinging his sword. He seemed to be practicing, repeatedly changing his movements as he continued to swing his sword.
The sound of water from a small waterfall could be heard beside him, but the man continued to swing his sword as he trained himself. Sweat dripped down his body; his gaze was very serious; his body felt hot; and his breathing was rapid. He had been doing this exercise for quite a long time.
And after some time, he swung his ninja sword one last time to end his daily training session.
"Huff... I think that's enough for now," he muttered after catching his breath.
He was Zhatten, a tall, 18-year-old man with brown skin and a sharp, cold gaze.
From his clothes and the weapons he used, it was very clear that he was not a native of this region or kingdom. But he wasn't a guardian of the southern forest or anything like that; he was just a traveling ninja.
"Looks like I'll find something to eat after this." He sat on a rock, placing his distinctive, short ninja sword beside him.
After that, he turned his gaze to the small waterfall in the river. He enjoyed the beauty of nature with his eyes closed, trying to feel the water's sound and the breeze on his sweaty body.
As a ninja who was required to live in harmony with nature, the forest in this southern region was the perfect place for him. There were many animals to hunt and many edible plants and trees. Nature in this region provided everything he needed.
He had been living in this forest for more than a month. However, until now, he had not wanted to leave this place because it was really comfortable and suited him. Moreover, not many people lived in the southern region, so the atmosphere in this forest felt quiet and peaceful.
"I don't know why, but I feel reluctant to leave this forest, as if there is something I have to finish here."
He didn't know what this feeling was because he had never stayed in one place for more than a month, but this place felt different, as if he were waiting for something to come to him.
Zhatten looked up at the sky, trying to understand why he was reluctant to leave this area.
Was he ordered to protect this area by someone? No. Was he actually born in this area? Definitely not. Or maybe he had a friend here? That was impossible because he had just arrived here.
"Is it because I see a lot of crime happening here? So I feel the need to help the people here?"
Yeah, even though Fernmels had extraordinary natural beauty and was very remote from other parts of the kingdom, there was still a lot of crime there.
And he had witnessed it all firsthand.
From robberies committed by bandits and chaos caused by crazy adventurers, to even crazier crimes such as the trade of contraband, wild animals, and humans, as well as rape, which was usually masterminded by the nobility.
And because of that, his heart was moved to help the people in this region, whose lives were not yet peaceful and prosperous, by destroying these evil and destructive people.
"Yeah, that's the only reason I can think of why I'm still staying in this region."
Zhatten looked back at the river in front of him, but suddenly, he was shocked when his eyes, which were connected to his crow through his magic, caught sight of something very crazy and very disgusting.
Anger immediately filled him. His hands clenched tightly, and his teeth gritted. He quickly grabbed his sword and ran, jumping from tree to tree to get to the place he had seen.
"Damn it, there's no end to the crime in this area."
He continued jumping from tree to tree to quickly reach his destination, then closed one eye to see what his crow had seen.
He saw a hut in the forest, where a woman in tattered clothes was covered in blood, especially around her mouth and hands. In front of her were an old woman and a little boy who were in a truly pitiful condition.
The old woman was dead, her body completely naked. Her stomach had been torn open, the result of multiple stab wounds. Some of her internal organs were exposed and damaged, along with spattered blood. Her right hand was stripped of skin, leaving only flesh.
Next to the old woman was a little boy who appeared to be her grandson, who was in an equally pitiful condition. His right eye was completely black and blue from being beaten very hard. There were also many cuts on his hands and feet. And on his stomach was a long vertical cut from his chest to his navel.
This made Zhatten growl with rage. Especially when he saw a woman covered in blood, enjoying the internal organs of the old woman and the little boy she had just killed.
"Damn it! Crazy people like this cannot be forgiven!"
He continued to jump from tree to tree until he finally arrived at the hut he had seen through his crow. Without further ado, he immediately ran towards the small building and kicked the door very hard.
Bang!
Instantly, Zhatten's gaze sharpened, and his jaw tightened when he saw the cannibal woman chewing the flesh of the old woman and the little boy very casually.
Meanwhile, the cannibal woman immediately turned around, disturbed by Zhatten's arrival. Without further ado, she immediately pointed her dagger at him with a very angry gaze. "Damn it! You're interrupting my lunch!"
Zhatten growled and threw his kunai, knocking the dagger out of the woman's hand. Then, with great speed, he ran towards the woman and kicked her in the head with his left foot, sending her flying to the side and crashing into the wooden wall of the hut.
For a moment, Zhatten's gaze shifted to the bodies of the old woman and the little boy who had been killed by the cannibal woman. And immediately, he growled angrily because when seen directly like this, their condition looked many times more tragic.
The little boy's body looked very pitiful with his inner thighs skinned and a gaping wound in his stomach, exposing his intestines and internal organs.
The old woman's body looked completely destroyed with more than 30 stab wounds in her stomach. Only her bones remained in her hands because the flesh had been skinned and eaten.
Seeing this, Zhatten once again directed his angry gaze at the crazy woman.
"Hahaha... Hahaha..." The cannibal woman laughed as she leaned her body against the wooden wall. At first, her laughter was soft, but it grew louder and louder, as if she were mocking Zhatten.
Zhatten looked even colder as he took his sword and walked closer to the psychopath. His aura was very intimidating. And even though his sword was not very long, it was very sharp. He could easily slash this woman at any time.
"You killed them just for your own pleasure?"
The woman grinned, then laughed very loudly in response to Zhatten's question. She did not feel intimidated or guilty about what she had done. In fact, she responded to Zhatten's intimidating gaze with a look of contempt.
Zhatten became so angry that his jaw tightened, and he kicked the crazy woman's stomach repeatedly with great force. Regardless of her helpless pain, he continued to kick her until she vomited the old woman's flesh she had eaten.
"Why did you kill them, you bitch?!" he asked again angrily.
The psychopathic woman laughed again with great satisfaction while holding her aching stomach. She looked up, then spat on Zhatten with her blood.
"Hahaha! They are interesting people, really very interesting, hahaha!"
She grinned even wider.
"You know? They were on their way to the city to sell the bread and food they made to earn money. Isn't that wonderful? They aspired to be successful merchants in the city, hahaha!"
Zhatten tightened his grip on his sword.
"But they forgot that the city is a place full of rotten people. So, before they get hurt by the people in the city, wouldn't it be better if they just became my food? That's more noble than living a miserable life in the city, hahaha!"
"Isn't what I'm doing very noble? I saved them from the evil that would have befallen them. And surely they are very happy to have become my food, hahaha! Their lives have become more valuable because they gave their worthless lives to me."
The psychopathic woman grinned even wider and brought her face closer to Zhatten's.
"If you don't believe they are happy to be my food, you can try eating them too. Aren't you interested in that? The woman is old, but her body is still firm, so the meat is still delicious even though it's a little tough. But the boy's meat is really delicious, he's quite plump, and the taste—Arrgggghhh!"
Suddenly, Zhatten stabbed his sword into the psychopathic woman's neck, silencing her and killing her instantly.
But that wasn't enough, because he then pushed his sword deeper into the psychopathic woman's neck, then moved the angle of his sword from vertical to horizontal, causing the wound on the crazy woman's neck to grow larger and her blood to spurt everywhere.
"You really disgust me."
Zhatten pulled his ninja sword out of the psychopathic woman's neck, causing her body to collapse to the floor with a gaping hole in her neck and blood continuously flowing out.
After that, he immediately dragged the murderous girl's corpse out of the hut by pulling her hair. His gaze was very sharp and cold. He was extremely angry at this psychopathic woman who killed just for her own pleasure and satisfaction.
Once outside, he left the crazy woman's body in the open without covering it with anything, and then he went back into the hut to pay his last respects to the old woman and the boy who were victims of this psychopath.
"Destructive people like you are not worthy of being burned or buried."
The murderer's body was left in an open area, allowing the smell of her blood to be immediately detected. Soon, one by one, crows began to approach the body and perch on top of it. Slowly, they began to peck at the psychopath's body.
Meanwhile, inside the hut, Zhatten tried to tidy up the bodies of these two people. Although their condition was truly pitiful, he wanted to give them a proper burial as best he could because that was all he could do now.
"Crime in this area is completely out of control. And surely the leaders of this area are just standing by and watching their people suffer like this. It's really disgusting."
He had seen so much injustice in this area, and that was what made him stay here. He felt sorry for them, but he also felt that he had to teach the criminals in this region a lesson because they had gone too far.
"No noble can be trusted; they are all scoundrels. Including the noble who rules this region."
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Zhatten, a maroon-colored cat had been watching everything he did. This was an illusion spell in the form of a cat belonging to Katheze, so Katheze had been watching what Zhatten was doing all along.
This included when he was practicing, when he used his crow magic, when he killed the psychopathic woman, and when he tried to pay his last respects to the old woman and the boy who were victims of the murder.
"Yeah, with this, I've made sure that you more or less share my thoughts about the many injustices in this region. So I really hope you can join me in making Fernmels a better place, Zhatten."