Chapter 223 Ninja attack on the road
"Kojiro! That great sword master Sasaki Kojiro who fought Musashi at Ganryu Island!" Souji cried out in surprise.
"Lord Kojiro? I must request a match." Hōzōin Inshun, beside her, also spoke excitedly, gripping his weapon.
"I'm afraid I cannot meet your expectations. After all, I am merely an obscure ronin who practices swordsmanship in the mountains, and I have never met the Sword Saint Miyamoto Musashi in my life," Kojiro shook his head and said.
"But your swordsmanship is top-tier on a global scale. Are you here to join us this time?" Shirou asked.
"No, I only saw a massive fire at the lord's mansion, and a black-eyed demon king jumped out of it, so I followed to see. I didn't expect to get involved with you," Kojiro looked at Shirou and said.
"Then are you interested this time? You are welcome to join us anytime. The secret sword you possess, the 'Tsubame Gaeshi,' is reliable enough," Shirou said.
"Well, helping villagers is too much trouble, and I have no interest in slaying more bandits. But if it's a demon king and a demon person, I am interested in trying to cut them down," Kojiro chuckled and said.
And so, the Seven Samurai were officially assembled.
"However, first we need to figure out why that Demon King Nobunaga can use a Noble Phantasm?" Shirou said.
"Indeed, the situation is too disadvantageous for us now. My inexhaustible rice!" Tawara Touta said with a pained heart.
"This, I know! It's all because of the Holy Grail! After I was summoned to this world, I originally planned to go to an antique shop to look for some nice teacups, and I accidentally picked up another Holy Grail. I originally wanted to use it to make a bomb, but something went wrong during the process, and it became like this,"
"It was Nobu's fault again, wasn't it?! You have to cause some trouble every year!!" Souji shouted angrily.
"Eh? As for my Noble Phantasm, while my speed will be slower now, my swordsmanship is fine," Souji said, puzzled.
"Noble Phantasm? Special move? My secret sword can be used at any time," Kojiro said coolly.
"I see. If it's a special move that was completed during one's lifetime, it can still be used even without magical power," Shirou nodded, thinking, 'Then if I could forge three pairs of Kanshou
and Bakuya, perhaps I could also use Tsuru-yoku San-ren. It's a pity that even if the technique is sufficient to reproduce them, the special, mutually-attracting material is not something that can be found just anywhere.'
Shirou looked at the katana on his body, lost in thought, and then summoned one of the villagers who was starting a fire outside the door to prepare a meal.
"Yes? Samurai-sama, what is it?" the villager walked over and asked.
"I have written a letter. Please help me deliver it to the government's blacksmith shop over there. I have something I need there. Just help me bring it back," Shirou instructed the villager in a low voice.
"Yes! Understood." The villager nodded repeatedly and agreed.
"Master, what are you going to do? I can run the errand!" Young Yukino walked out and said.
"It's nothing. I have a connection with a nearby blacksmith and asked him to fetch some tools for me. Yukino, go and buy me some ink and a brush nearby first," Shirou said.
"Yes," Yukino agreed.
When Yukino came back with the ink and brush for Shirou, Shirou found a flat wooden board, spread out a white paper, wrote the letter on it, took out a tag and applied ink to it, and then stamped Muramasa's inscription on the letter.
After the ink dried, Shirou put the letter away and handed it to the villager.
The villager took the letter without looking too closely, as he wouldn't understand it anyway. He put it inside his clothes and, before the sky darkened, the villager quickly ran out to run the errand for Shirou, hoping to return before nightfall.
The remaining three villagers who stayed there, washing rice and preparing to start a fire for cooking, also smiled happily.
"This is great, this is great! I can't believe we really did it. We really invited the Samurai-sama!" the older villager's face crinkled with wrinkles as he spoke, deeply grateful.
"Early tomorrow morning, the two of you go back to the village first to notify everyone. Then we'll all come out together to welcome the samurai. We are a poor village, so we must at least take good care of the samurai in other aspects. Don't be disrespectful," the leading man said to the other villager.
"Understood," the two villagers nodded in agreement.
The next morning, the farmers woke up before dawn and prepared food. After the two farmers ate the foxtail millet rice, they set off to run back to the village first.
They deliberately used twice the amount of rice, making the rest into rice balls for the samurai to eat on the road.
In the morning, Shirou put on the travel bag that the villager had retrieved from the blacksmith for him yesterday, and together with his companions, embarked on the journey to the mountain village.
On the mountain path, they suddenly saw a snow-white rabbit chewing on green grass under a large tree.
"A rabbit! So cute! If it were a white cat, it would be even cuter! Master, should I go catch it?"
"Ooh, wild rabbit meat on the mountain is delicious," Nobu said, highly interested.
"?" The villager nearby looked somewhat confused.
Shirou noticed this, so he said to everyone, "No, you wait here. I'll go take a look."
The rabbit wasn't afraid of people, and its lips kept twitching. As Shirou approached the white rabbit, a black shadow leaped down from the tree, flipping in the air. Its head was pointing down, and there were three black, shining shuriken between the fingers of each hand, which were thrown at Shirou, instantly covering the gaps around him and making it impossible for him to dodge.
"Ninja!?" Shirou exclaimed in surprise.
"Waaaah!!" At the same time, two bandits wrapped in animal skins and wielding swords, who were hiding in the grass behind the white rabbit, leaped out, intending to strike Shirou in the back.
"Master!!!" Young Yukino's face turned pale with fright.
"Shirou!" Souji shouted.
"Aww, Shirou is going to be stabbed to death!" Nobu, who had some trauma from assassination, cried out, clutching her head.
In the nick of time!
Shirou turned slightly, not retreating but instead moving forward. He spun on his toes, twisting his waist, and slammed the package on his back towards the thin, long kunai flying at him from the front, producing a clang of steel.
Then, his right hand reached into the package and drew out six cone-shaped kunai, throwing them out instantly. The spinning black shadows—five of them—directly collided with the incoming kunai.
Shirou no longer worried about what was behind him and immediately turned to face the attackers behind him.
His swordsmanship as a samurai was not considered top-notch, but his eyesight was excellent. His true skill lay more in the weapons he used and the experience of effectively utilizing every part of the weapon.
Because he had to manufacture the best weapons, as a blacksmith, he naturally had to master and understand the methods for using various weapons, comprehending and summarizing their advantages. Over time, he even learned the best fighting techniques for using the weapons.
Now, he had achieved the ability to apply what he knew to new things; once he could use over a hundred types of weapons, he could master similar weapons after just a brief practice.
With his identity as a top-tier swordsmith, he used the token to get a package of small tools from the blacksmith shop, just in case. He just didn't expect to use them so quickly.
Shirou's right hand gripped the sword handle, feeling an immense familiarity. This was the fighting technique his body had mastered to perfection through countless hours of training.
Instantaneous sheath removal!
Battoujutsu - Sword Draw Kill—!
A dazzling silver light flashed, and blood splattered! Two heads were effortlessly sent flying, spinning and flipping in the air.
The headless bodies, standing on the ground, held two broken swords that had been cleanly sliced, the blades stuck into the ground. The decapitated bodies were still twitching, blood gushing like a fountain from the severed necks, and they crumpled to the ground in a twist.
Everything was completed in an instant. At this moment, the six black shadows thrown by Shirou fell to the ground after colliding with the kunai, revealing their true form: four-pointed shuriken (Kurumaken).
Five shuriken counteracted the kunai, and the last shuriken spun and flew into the air.
"Guh!" The figure in the sky let out a young girl's pained cry.
The attacker turned out to be a black-haired, Japanese-style girl wearing an eye patch. She was clutching her bleeding arm where Shirou's shuriken had struck. The girl was wearing revealing fishnet bodysuit, with black cloth wrapped around her body, arms, and legs. Faint marks, as if from a python coiling around her body, could be seen.
"It seems my technique for throwing weapons is better than you" Shirou said with a smile, looking at the ninja girl. As a top-tier blacksmith skilled in all weapons, he forged not only samurai weapons but also ninja weapons.
The girl pulled the shuriken out of her arm and licked the wound on her fair arm with her tongue, smiling enchantingly. "Hehe, so you're trying to say you want to be my senior?"
"I'm afraid not. I just want to say that ninja methods are ineffective against us, so how about you, Miss Ninja, leave Demon King Nobunaga now and not participate in this struggle?" Shirou suggested.
"I regret that. I really don't want to go up against you, but I also have things I want to do that I haven't finished," the ninja girl said.
At this moment, Yukino and Souji, who were approaching with their swords, and Nobu, who had taken out her matchlock gun, all rushed forward, forcing the girl to grit her teeth, flip around, and prepare to flee.
"Tch!! That's all for now." In her last moment, the girl glared fiercely at Nobu, then leaped into the forest and disappeared.
"Hmm?" Nobu, who had been quick enough to grab the rabbit while the other two girls were distracted by the ninja's movements, blinked in confusion. 'Why does she hate me so much? Was this silly, innocent white rabbit hers?'
"Ah! She got away," Souji shouted.
"Don't run! You despicable person!" Young Yukino raised her katana, wanting to use her agile and quick movements to jump into the forest and give chase.
"Yukino! Stop! Don't pursue a cornered enemy. She's a ninja, and the forest is her home turf," Shirou called out to the girl. Because the fight was dangerous, he hadn't held back. Killing one more bandit now could mean a few less villagers would die later.
However, the samurai in this world are not Servants or people with bodies strengthened by magic. Their flesh is as fragile as that of an ordinary person. At best, they have more muscle from training. If they get injured, they could easily die, so they couldn't risk it.
"Haha, Boss, that shuriken throwing technique just now was superb. I'll have to raise my assessment of your strength," Tawara Touta praised in surprise.
"No, I only relied on the sharpness of the weapon and some reckless courage," Shirou said with a light chuckle as he sheathed his long sword.
"No, no, Boss. Being skilled in so many weapons cannot be called mere reckless courage. By the way, how many types of weapons are you proficient in, being so versatile?" Tawara Touta asked curiously.
"I know a bit of everything, but what I can say I'm most skilled in is only the bow," Shirou said modestly with a smile.
"Hoo, then we must spar sometime," Tawara Touta said, sounding very interested.
Hōzōin Inshun squatted down and picked up the four-pointed, centered shuriken with a round hole in the middle. It had suffered no damage in the collision. He turned to Shirou and asked, "That shuriken, and that precious sword that cuts through iron like mud, Lord Shirou, I am truly curious about your identity."
Souji also scrutinized the accessories in Shirou's hand, frowning. "Ah, speaking of which, Shirou, the style of the sword you use is very similar to the 'Demon Sword' favored by the anti-
shogunate faction. Because Muramasa injured the Tokugawa Shoguns multiple times, those ronin from the anti-shogunate faction like to use counterfeit Muramasas."
"I know! Lord Shirou is a very amazing blacksmith, right?" a villager said with a smile.
"What's going on?" everyone asked curiously.
The villager started recounting his experience from yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, he held the letter and, with a nervous heart, went to the blacksmith shop that specialized in forging weapons for the government, where he found the Master Blacksmith in charge. Although the people here were blacksmiths, they also received stipends, and this Master Blacksmith even had an official rank, which was completely different from a farmer like him.
After reading the letter, the Master Blacksmith sighed helplessly. "Ah, it's that Muramasa guy. I can't stand him! Is he meddling in something again? With his skill, he could get an official position even with the most powerful daimyō. Forget it, wait here."
The Master Blacksmith turned and walked away, carrying the key to the warehouse where valuable weapons were stored.
Before long, the Master Blacksmith returned with a large package and shoved it into the villager's arms, saying, "Here, take it."
"Can I really just take this?" the villager asked, stunned, receiving the package and feeling the precious steel inside.
"Why not? Take it, take it. These were all forged by him before. That monster only started blacksmithing in his teens, yet he reached the level of a top-tier blacksmith in just ten years. If we only talk about swords, he might already be the best in all of Japan. Once he becomes famous, the price of the armaments he forges now will surely multiply.
Given his unpretentious and undemanding nature, every single one of his works will surely not be shoddily made. Perhaps soon his weapons will become synonymous with guaranteed quality in people's mouths. His weapons will certainly not lack high-paying buyers!
Damn it... I originally wanted to keep these to sell for a high price later. It seems he guessed that I wouldn't sell these armaments, though. Damn it, I can't believe he's taking them back. Next time, I'll definitely make him pay me back double," the Master Blacksmith at the forge said.
After that, the villager took the armaments and rushed back to their lodging before it got completely dark...
The villager who told this story looked at Shirou with sparkling eyes. Although he didn't fully understand, he felt like they had invited some very important person here.
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