"Hiss… that's a refreshing sting."
Dan Oni Roku removed the bandage from his arm, and sure enough, fine hairs had started to grow on his arm.
These hairs were still very tiny; if one didn't look closely, they might think Dan Oni Roku was naturally hairy.
Dan Oni Roku was focused on removing the bandage from his body. After the recent battle, the medicinal powder made from Golden Tree bark seemed to have permeated Dan Oni Roku's flesh and blood.
Now, Dan Oni Roku felt an itch all over his body, and combined with the changes on the Higi Village villagers' bodies, his own body had likely started to transform like theirs.
So, when he saw the fine hairs on his arm, Dan Oni Roku wasn't surprised, but the stinging sensation from removing the bandage was quite intense.
So intense that he didn't even notice Washizu and Ember approaching him.
"Whoosh!"
"Oh ho ho!"
Ember and Washizu simultaneously grabbed the bandages on Dan Oni Roku's arms. They pulled hard, and Dan Oni Roku's arms instantly saw the light of day from beneath the bandages.
Of course, Dan Oni Roku's cry of pain also emerged.
"That hurts! What are you two doing?!" Dan Oni Roku hugged his arms, rubbing his reddened limbs, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Removing the bandage slowly would make Dan Oni Roku feel a refreshing sting, but removing it quickly made him scream.
"You said you were a Shogunate elite?"
"I used to be. Now I should be called…" Dan Oni Roku directly denied his identity as a Shogunate Army soldier. He pondered for a moment, then continued rubbing his shoulders and said:
"I should be called a Ronin now!"
As he spoke, Dan Oni Roku even raised an eyebrow. There were many light novels in Inazuma featuring Ronin as protagonists, and Dan Oni Roku himself yearned for the freedom that Ronin embodied.
Now, thanks to the war, his wish had come true. However, whether Dan Oni Roku truly liked the profession of a "Ronin" or simply liked freedom was unknown.
"A Ronin? I think you'd starve out there." Washizu almost laughed when he heard this.
Given Dan Oni Roku's appearance, he genuinely doubted he would survive three days in the wilderness.
"Who said that? I've learned survival skills in the wild." Dan Oni Roku immediately argued, unconvinced.
"What about the others?" Ember asked.
"What others?" Dan Oni Roku was a bit confused.
"Things like camp defense, trap setting, guard patrols, and so on." Washizu listed all the areas where Higi Village needed improvement. As a former Shogunate elite, he must know these things, right?
"Uh…"
Dan Oni Roku scratched his head, then spread his hands and said, "Aren't those things the Captain needs to know? What's the point of a common soldier like me knowing so much?"
What Dan Oni Roku said was true. In the Shogunate Army, he only did three things: obey orders, fight, and run away.
Beyond that, he didn't know much else.
"I'm starting to think your 'elite' status is a bit questionable."
"Is the tatarigami Defense Squad really like this? Are you a deserter?"
Ember and Washizu's gazes towards Dan Oni Roku grew increasingly suspicious, which instantly made Dan Oni Roku indignant.
Ember and Washizu could doubt anything, but they absolutely could not doubt Dan Oni Roku's professionalism as a common soldier.
Immediately, Dan Oni Roku stood up from the ground, waved his hand, and declared, "What's the point of all that fancy stuff? Everyone in Higi Village is a workhorse; with a little training, I refuse to believe anyone could defeat you!"
In fact, Dan Oni Roku was being conservative. Judging by their performance during the earlier fire, Dan Oni Roku even felt that the villagers of Higi Village were more like workhorses than actual workhorses.
Could workhorses dig a firebreak around the entire Higi Village in less than an hour? Could workhorses withstand the attacks of element power? Could workhorses jump down from a fifteen-meter-high watchtower unscathed?
Workhorses couldn't, but the villagers of Higi Village could! Therefore, everyone in Higi Village was a super workhorse!
"You can do it?" The suspicion in Washizu's eyes had not yet dissipated.
"I'm not the best, but I still remember Sergeant training, marching formations, and the like." Dan Oni Roku was very confident now.
Because he was always the first to make mistakes in the squad, he often got his butt kicked by the Captain.
Therefore, Dan Oni Roku had a very deep impression of soldiers' daily training and battle formations.
Nonsense, if he didn't have a deep impression, his butt would have been kicked to a pulp by the Captain, and he'd be in a wheelchair by now.
"Alright, alright, alright! The defense and training of Higi Village will fall on your shoulders!" Ember immediately clapped, looking very much forward to Dan Oni Roku's performance.
Feeling Ember and Washizu's trusting pats on his shoulders, Dan Oni Roku immersed himself in the pleasure of being trusted by others.
But soon, Dan Oni Roku reacted. He moved Ember and Washizu's arms away, and belatedly asked Ember:
"Why don't you do this kind of thing? You seem much more capable than me, don't you?"
Dan Oni Roku looked at Ember with a suspicious gaze. He had seen strange people, but someone so strange that he never took off his armor was a first.
Since Ember liked his armor so much, he must be very skilled in martial arts and military affairs.
"Then you've misunderstood. While I am capable, it's only on a personal level." Ember indicated that Dan Oni Roku had only guessed half right.
"Besides, I have more important things to do!"
As he spoke, Ember pulled out the small notebook in his hand.
Thanks to the performance of those people earlier, the resistance's score had plummeted, hitting rock bottom, eighteen levels below ground.
If the intervention tendency score dropped any further, Ember would have to intervene in this war.
By then, with the current score, the Shogunate Army might gain an extremely powerful common soldier.
"What important thing? Planting trees?" Washizu thought for a moment and asked. It seemed the only truly important thing Ember had done was plant this Golden Tree, right?
As for anything else, was there any?
"Are you looking down on me?" Ember glanced sideways at Washizu, then eagerly said:
"I'm going to do… do… what was it called? I think it's called a social survey, right?"
Ember didn't know what he was doing either, so he just casually used a similar excuse.
"Social survey? What's that?"
Washizu and Dan Oni Roku exchanged glances. Although they weren't illiterate, their knowledge wasn't exactly profound.
They had never even heard of something called a "social survey."
"It's about investigating the current situation of Inazuma, analyzing problems, and so on… right?" Ember was also a bit unsure; he was also good at hearing things through hearsay.
He knew a lot, but if he actually had to do it, he could only say, "Hmm?"
"What's there to investigate? War, and then life isn't good, obviously." Washizu waved his hand; he now felt he could do this too.
"Then do you know why there's a war?"
Ember took out his small notebook and started writing. The social survey would begin in Higi Village!
"I think it's the Sakoku Decree, but the resistance seems to be promoting the Vision Hunt Decree." Washizu suddenly discovered a blind spot.
That was, what he believed was different from what the resistance was promoting, and he didn't know who was wrong.
Perhaps both were wrong? Or perhaps both were right?
"Then how do you think this war should stop?" Ember asked again.
"Hmm…"
This time, Dan Oni Roku spoke up.
"I personally believe the resistance cannot defeat the Shogunate Army, because the Raiden Shogun is behind the Shogunate's forces."
"As for the war stopping… either the Shogunate Army pushes all the way to Watatsumi Island, or the Raiden Shogun feels the people's will to resist and voluntarily revokes the Sakoku Decree and the Vision Hunt Decree."
Dan Oni Roku stated his conjecture. As for the resistance defeating the Shogunate Army, he hadn't even considered it.
The resistance and the Shogunate Army were not on the same scale. The current stalemate was simply because a large number of Vision wielders had joined the resistance, and there were too many parasites within the Shogunate Army.
As long as the stalemate lasted too long, or the Shogunate completed its internal consolidation, Dan Oni Roku believed the resistance would be finished without the Raiden Shogun even needing to act.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"