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At twilight by the riverbank that faced Takeshita Town, dozens of Hojo Clan’s samurais decided to camp by the river. It seemed they didn’t want to enter Takeshita Town.
Akira’s dozens of martial monks also joined this team.
Hojo Dijon the “Giant” was three meters tall. He was really handsome and majestic as he was standing by the riverbank, Akira and Hojo Ujinori at his two sides.
Hojo Dijon had two red, upturned strips by the corners of his eyes, which gave him the style of the ancient samurais in the far-off Asuka Period. His speech contained a deep accent, carrying trails of classic charm, “That man is occupying Mount Amegyo. This time, my Hojo Clan has to mobilize almost half of the samurais. We must hunt him down successfully!”
There were more than sixty samurais inside and outside the tents behind Dijon. Indeed, the Hojo had mobilized half of their assets. Among this group, there were three familiar figures, which looked as though they weren’t welcomed here. Those three were sitting around a bonfire in the corner.
Among them were one experienced middle-aged samurai and two younger samurais. They were Matsuda Nagahide, Kanzaki, and Kimura. This time, the Hojo Clan was going to organize a big hunt in the mountain, and they also mobilized the Matsudas.
Hiroko had already left with two other servants. She didn’t join this operation. Besides, this was a big monster hunt so they couldn’t afford to bring a woman who would be a burden like Hiroko.
Akira looked at the fierce samurai troops and horses as he said servilely, “Your Highness, of course, everything will proceed smoothly when you take actions personally! It is our Daidouji Clan’s honor to accompany you on this mission.”
“An addition of a warrior contributes to strength in number. What’s more, that guy has terrain advantage and we also have no idea how many pawns we will be facing,” said Dijon. “Anyway, Lord Akira, there is one thing I want to ask for your help.”
“Do tell, Your Highness. If it is within my ability, Akira won’t decline.”
Dijon turned to his cousin, Motoshige, who stood next to him and said, “For this hunting operation, it’s better to have the firearms to hold them back. Our casualties would reduce greatly. I’ve planned to let Motoshige go to Suruga Province to buy twenty firearms. However, I’m worried that he couldn’t buy them. If Lord Akira can accompany him, I can feel at ease.”
“Firearms…” Akira raised his brows, “In this Kanto abuttals, we can only buy firearms from the Saikanji House in Suruga Province. What’s more, Saikanji Yomika, the head of the Saikanji House, is a tough woman. I heard that she doesn’t have many firearms, and she only sells to the Genji Clan, the Taira Clan, and the state. They don’t sell to other samurai families.”
“That’s why we need you, Lord Akira. You’re a businessman, right? You’re not willing to cooperate?” Dijon’s eyes looked mighty even when he wasn’t enraged.
“No! No! Your Highness, please rest your mind. I will be sure to help Lord Motoshige to buy firearms,” Akira was damp with cold sweat as he hurriedly to reply.
Dijon said, “Then I’ll have to bother you, Lord Akira. You and Motoshige will go to Suruga Province. Our team will camp by the foothills of Mount Amegyo and wait for you. When you come back, we will enter the mountain.”
Akira repeatedly agreed. Motoshige didn’t look happy, he was a samurai yet he had rely on a low-status businessman to handle such a deal. However, he still nodded silently.
“Oh right, Your Great Highness, how about the expense to buy those firearms…” Akira mentioned worriedly.
“What?” Dijon’s eyes opened wide, “What expense?”
Akira shivered, sweat beading on his forehead as he waved his hands in a fluster, “No, nothing.”
“Brother, look…” At this moment, Motoshige saw some people coming from the distance. He pointed at them.
They saw a samurai pulling a white horse that carried a woman dressed in a kimono and veiled conical bamboo hat. Several other people that looked like their servants walked behind them. They were walking alongside the riverbank to this area.
As the delegation came closer, they could see the woman, even though she was wearing a veil, she looked like a married woman.
When the samurai walking the steed saw the group of people by the riverbank, he became extremely cautious. With a serious face, he kept walking forward. The woman on the horse also turned her head aside to not get noticed.
Motoshige stared at the woman then turned to Dijon. Dijon’s eyes didn’t leave the woman, but he stood still.
Motoshige understood what his cousin was thinking. Though he had the weakest standing among the young generation in Hojo Clan, he was still able to keep hanging around Dijon. Regardless of hunting or fighting, he had his share of actions. Of course, he must have something better than the others…
Seeing the other party getting closer, Motoshige immediately ran from the riverbank to the road. He stopped them and yelled, “That samurai over there, what is that woman to you?”
The samurai’s eyes turned cold. That man was just a stranger yet he asked something so rude. Although this Heian Empire was uncivilized, the samurai should at least respect each other.
With a cold tone, he answered, “This is my wife.”
The woman on the horse fearfully glanced at those samurais through her veil. Then, she hurried to stoop her head. The servants behind them were even more frightened they didn’t dare make a sound.
That woman was the other’s wife, indeed. It was as Motoshige had predicted. He said, “Can you ask your wife to get off the horse and drink a cup of liquor with His Highness?”
“What?!” The samurai holding the rein of the horse became angry. Placing one hand on the handle of his sword, he raised his voice, “She’s my wife! How could she drink with you! Please let us pass. Otherwise, I won’t be polite!”
As he was brave enough to bring his beautiful wife to travel through the wilderness, this samurai must have some powers. He was indeed a high-level samurai!
His power level was almost equal to Hojo Motoshige. Taking real battle experience into account, Motoshige couldn’t beat him if they really fought.
However, at this moment, Akira led several martial monks and seven to eight Hojo Clan samurais to surround them, which terrified the woman and servants.
When the lone samurai saw their attitude. He understood that they couldn’t get away without complying to drink with them.
Motoshige said, “His Highness only wants to drink a few cups with your wife. Since you rejected, are you looking down on our Hojo Clan?”
The lone samurai looked at Dijon, who was strangely large, as he heard the name Hojo. He was so frightened that he had to subside his anger and nod obediently.
The woman on the horse took off her conical bamboo hat, revealing her white, beautiful face. She had shaved her brows and drawn two black dots on her forehead. She had the classic beauty of a woman from a rich family.
Although the lone samurai was really patient, he really couldn’t stand watching his wife drinking with Dijon outside the camp. She became somewhat seductive when she got drunk. In any case, Dijon’s handsome but strangely large-build was really attractive to women in the Heian period. One should know that the men in the Heian period were relatively short. Plus, the woman felt hurt and disappointed by her man’s cowardice.
The samurai couldn’t bear such a humiliation any further.
All of a sudden, he shouted, “Ⓢⓛⓤⓣ! Prepare to die, you cheating couple!”
In his wrath, the lone samurai drew his sword, dashing toward Dijon and the woman who were sitting and drinking.
The high-level samurai stormed, risking his life in his outrage. The Hojo Clan’s samurais standing nearby couldn’t stop him on time.
However, Dijon wasn’t flustered. He pushed the woman aside and kicked the small table.
Dijon’s force had blown the woman several meters away. She hit a rock and died with a broken neck.
Seeing that, the lone samurai became frenzied. He screamed and attacked Dijon.
Dijon waited until the lone samurai came in front of him. His handsome face beamed a disdainful and cruel smile. He didn’t even draw his sword. He just used his bucket-sized hand to flick the sword.
“Clang ——!”
The others could only see a flash on Dijon’s hand, as the Odachi had just been drawn thirty centimeters out of the scabbard!
The waves of spirit power, which was as heavy as six thousand kilograms, pressed and hit the samurai’s chest.
“Pufft!” The samurai spurted blood. The powerful air wave sent him flying dozens of meters away before hitting a pine tree, breaking the bowl-sized branch before falling helplessly.
The Hojo Clan’s samurais took out their swords, chasing after him. However, they soon knew it wasn’t necessary.
The samurai was dead.
He couldn’t save his wife nor could he wound Dijon before he died. He didn’t do anything wrong. His only fault was that he wasn’t strong enough.
Well, it was merely a pipe dream for wanting to protect his wife without enough strength. In this dark Heian period, power decided everything. It could even suppress the laws. Of course, the only thing power couldn’t prevail over was dignity.
And, it was unknown to anyone if this lone samurai had won against his dignity…
The dead samurai’s servants now had jelly legs as they were too terrified. They just stood there, trembling and begging the other party to spare their lives.
Hojo Dijon rolled his eyes, which looked dreadful and as big as walnuts. To the vulnerable people that couldn’t cause any threat to him, he said heartlessly, “Kill them all.”
The Hojo’s samurais screamed and stormed forward, slashing the servants as if they were butchers chopping meat. A moment later, blood splashed everywhere and the air reeked with bloody smell.
Dijon turned around and sat down. He picked up the bottle of liquor on the ground and continued to drink as if nothing had happened.
Nagahide, Kanzaki, and Kimura weren’t far from there. They saw everything. Although they hated the injustice, Hojo Dijon was their Lord’s oldest son, one with outstanding power. They hated him but didn’t dare to say a word. So, sighing was all they could do.
Nagahide had followed his Lord to attack and kill everywhere through those territories. But today, seeing the future leader of the Hojo Clan this cruel and malicious, he felt pained and disappointed.
Killing people, killing common folks, or killing samurais who were just passing by, in Hojo Dijon’s samurai life, were like side dishes, which was as common as his daily meals.
However, he was a little regretful as he had slipped his hand and killed that samurai’s wife. Dijon drank liquor under the dimming light of the sunset and felt somewhat irritated.
A cold but charming voice came from behind the tree where Dijon was sitting and drinking.
“Lord Hojo, why are you drinking to vent your sadness alone?”
“Who!?” Hojo Dijon was startled!
He didn’t get up. Placing his tumbler down, he slightly turned his upper body, his hand grabbing the handle of his sword.
He then saw a slender girl wearing a prajna mask appearing under the dark shade of the tree.
“It’s you?” It seemed this wasn’t the first time Hojo saw the girl in the prajna mask.
“Haha, Lord Hojo, I bring you a message from my master. Please be on the lookout for a person with… an ancient mirror.”
“Shut up!” Hojo was enraged. “I, Hojo Dijon, am from a powerful, noble family. How could I associate with dark stooges like you! If you take off your mask and drink with me, I will spend time to talk to you. If you are just to relay some ⓑⓤⓛⓛⓢⓗⓘⓣ messages, don’t blame me for not being polite!”
“Clang!” Hojo drew a section of his shiny blade.
“Lord Hojo, I’m only here because I’m ordered to relay the message. The gate of Hundred Demon Nation is always open to you. But as for drinking with you, I have no interest. Hehehehe…”
A faint brush of wind came over, and the girl disappeared into thin air under the shade of the tree.
Hojo rolled his eyes and stood up. Grabbing the handle of his sword, he looked at the dark forest.
The red sun dimmed out under the misty clouds. Quietly, it set down behind the black mountain range.