Swallow Return

They each punched the other hard a few times.

Qing Tianfang felt the pain from the force and involuntarily took two steps back, shook his hand, and gasped for breath.

Maeno Nagayasu staggered back several steps, lost his balance, and fell to the ground, covered in dust.

The difference in strength and weakness will soon be clear.

The security guards standing nearby stared wide-eyed, their jaws practically dropping to the ground.

They probably got used to seeing Maeno Nagayasu picking fights at the door when he was in a bad mood, but rarely saw him lose.

……

At that moment, the city gate of Hengshan City creaked open.

The person who came out of the city was not a stranger; it was Hachisuka Masakatsu, whom he had met once before.

Just like last time, despite being broad-shouldered and tall, he was also pot-bellied, with a leisurely and smiling expression, looking more like a businessman than a warrior.

To be precise, he wasn't a businessman, but a comedian—there's no such thing as crosstalk in Japan, so it should be called rakugo or kyogen.

The gatekeepers outside the city immediately stepped forward to pay their respects, and Liu Yun also greeted them.

Hachisuka Masakatsu nodded to the gatekeeper, then carefully bowed in return to Ryuun. He glanced around, walked to Maeno Nagayasu who was squatting on the ground, and said in a deep voice, "I know everything. It's normal for you to be upset, but don't take it out on others! We are samurai now, and private duels are a major taboo for samurai. This is not the time when we were collecting money for boats in the Kiso River!"

Hearing this, Maeno Nagayasu lowered his head, his voice trembling with tears, and said bitterly, "Brother! It would have been better if you hadn't said this... Six people won't be able to come back! Three more will be crippled, all brothers from Kiso River! I watched them fall one by one, and the opponent was just a lone ninja, yet he was as terrifying as a demon, and I couldn't stop him at all! I really can't bear to think about it..."

Hachisuka Masakatsu also sighed, his smile fading and replaced by a hint of sorrow: "Since they came out with me, they must have been prepared. I will treat their descendants well. You have nothing to blame yourself for saving eight lives."

At this moment, Liu Yun finally remembered.

It seems like in a game in a past life, Maeno Nagayasu was a local tyrant in Kiso River, Owari Province, who followed Hachisuka Masakatsu. Later, he also joined Kinoshita Tokichiro, thus rising to prominence and making a name for himself in history.

I just don't remember the specifics.

What was his final fate? Which side did he stand on in the Battle of Sekigahara? It seems like neither the Eastern nor Western armies had him in their ranks.

Liu Yun's historical knowledge was limited; apart from remembering the name, he knew nothing else.

A moment later, Hachisuka Masakatsu resumed his smiling, lazy expression and bowed to Ryuun in apology: "I'm really sorry, Nagayasu is just such a scoundrel. Please forgive him, you are a magnanimous person!"

Liu Yun hadn't taken it seriously to begin with, and responded in a friendly manner, "Since he's encountered some misfortune, I can understand his feelings. Besides, I didn't suffer any loss just now..."

“That’s right, that’s right…” Hachisuka Masakatsu was unfazed by the slight sarcasm in Ryuun’s words, and instead smiled and echoed, “I saw him from afar in the city just now. Your tall retainer is truly impressive. There are very few in the entire Yokoyama Castle who can beat Brother Nagayasu! However, I’m not surprised. With your abilities, Lord Ryuun, a little guidance from you would be enough to benefit your retainer greatly.”

That was a pretty clever way to flatter someone.

Liu Yun was delighted and suddenly found Hachisuka Masakatsu, this rough man, a little more pleasing to the eye.

At this moment, Maeno Nagayasu, who was squatting to the side wiping away tears and feeling heartbroken, suddenly raised his head, stared intently at him, and asked, word by word, "Is this... is this Lord Ryuun of the Sasaki family truly a master of martial arts, capable of defeating hundreds or thousands of people?"

Hachisuka Masakatsu clicked his tongue in annoyance, rolled his eyes, and said with a disdainful expression, "Of course! I witnessed Lord Ryūun's attack a few days ago. The speed and precision of his sword strikes were simply unimaginable! So, you should stop thinking you're so great. You've learned your lesson today, haven't you? You can't even beat someone's retainer. It's truly shameful..."

Upon hearing this, Maeno Nagayasu lowered his head and pondered for a moment. Then, like a fighting dog, he pounced forward, knelt down, and kowtowed in a dogeza posture, saying in a deep voice, "I beg Lord Ryuun to take action against the 'Demon-Exorcising Ninjas' and avenge my fallen brothers!"

"What kind of behavior is this!" Hachisuka Masakatsu's expression changed drastically, and he shoved Maeno Nagayasu away. Then he turned around, his expression changed again, and he said respectfully, "But this kid is right. The only one who can deal with the Demon Ninja is probably Lord Ryuun."

Chapter Eleven: Kinoshita Tokichiro, Who Loves Tea

Upon hearing the three Chinese characters “对魔忍”, Liu Yun felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember it.

I couldn't help but ask, "Who are the Anti-Demon Ninja? Which daimyo's faction are they under?"

“Hmm…” Hachisuka Masakatsu hesitated for a moment before replying, “It’s a long story. Let’s go to the city and explain it to each other slowly!”

Liu Yun nodded in agreement.

So everyone went inside.

Hachisuka Masakatsu instructed Maeno Nagayasu to run in and inform them first, while he and Ryuun walked behind.

Yokoyama Castle, where Kinoshita Tokichiro lived, was, as its name suggests, built on a mountain.

The gate opens to reveal a narrow "tiger's mouth" and a "horse's exit" that block the way, making passage inconvenient and clearly indicating that it was built for military purposes.

After that is the "San-no-maru" carved out at the foot of the mountain, with tall arrow towers at the four corners, where many samurai and soldiers have already gathered.

Many people, upon seeing the "important person," would fawn over him and try to strike up a conversation, but Masakatsu Hachisuka would only nod slightly as a response.

Liu Yun couldn't help but receive some envious glances.

Because of his excessive hearing, he overheard some comments he shouldn't have: "Who is this person that Lord Hachisuka has to personally greet him?"

"Judging from the flag the soldiers are carrying, it looks like the Sasaki family's by the lake. But didn't that family fall into ruin?"

"I heard they brought back a new master from the temple. He's so young, yet he's so good at scheming."

……

These nonsensical words are truly both laughable and pathetic.

After passing through the Sannomaru and then along a winding, rugged mountain path, you reach the Ninomaru, which is much quieter. Half of the area is used to store supplies, while the other half is allocated to samurai of higher status.

Therefore, people who encounter them will only greet them from a distance and will not react in any way.

Masakatsu Hachisuka then introduced them: this is Mitsuji Miyata, that is Tomonori Oto, the tall one is Katsutaka Toda, the one holding the book is Masaharu Mikota, and so on...

Liu Yun gave a perfunctory "Nice to meet you," but in reality, he didn't remember any of them.

I figured that since these people weren't going to appear in Koei Tecmo's games, they probably weren't anything special or impressive.

The reason he seems to have some status now is probably because Kinoshita Tokichiro's career is just starting out and he lacks truly talented people under his command.

While staying at Ninomaru, Hachisuka Masakatsu randomly picked someone and brought Aotabo and five other peasant soldiers to rest there.

Qingtianfang, seeing Liuyun's signal, left with five peasant soldiers.

Further up the mountain to the halfway point, you reach the "honmaru". It is the place where the lord and his close advisors work, as well as the residence of the lord's family. It also usually stores gold, silver and valuables.

Many servants and maids hurried about, busy running errands for the nobleman, while no warriors were seen moving about.

This citadel alone is at least four or five times larger than the so-called "Sasaki Mansion" of the Sasaki family. It not only has many houses and warehouses, but also a small courtyard in the corner with a small temple, probably for the lord's family to burn incense and worship Buddha.

The "palace" in the very center of the Honmaru is a large building several meters wide. A quince-patterned banner of the Oda clan stands tall on the roof, surrounded by other patterns, presumably indicating the presence of "important figures" such as Kinoshita Tokichiro, Takenaka Shigeharu, and Hachisuka Masakatsu.

Liu Yun looked around and suddenly asked, "I heard that forty or fifty people of similar status to me will be coming to Hengshan City today..."

Upon hearing this, Hachisuka Masakatsu smiled and shook his head: "Those people only need to be received in the Sannomaru, or at most the Ninomaru. There's no need to bring them here."

As soon as the words were spoken, a short, thin man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face, dressed in a magnificent kimono and haori, came running from the palace of the citadel with a big smile on his face, shouting, "Are you Lord Ryuun of the Sasaki family? I've been waiting to meet you for the past few days!"

Hachisuka Masakatsu solemnly introduced, "This is Lord Kinoshita Tokichiro, the lord of Yokoyama Castle who guards the northern Omi region for the Oda clan."

Actually, even without his introduction, Liu Yun could guess roughly what he looked like from his appearance.

The "important person" before me was truly unpleasant in appearance and his manners were crude and casual, lacking any semblance of dignity or nobility. No matter how formally he dressed, he would look like a monkey in a crown. Yet, he exuded a vibrant and energetic aura that made me feel instantly at ease with him.

Moreover, Liu Yun could vaguely sense a strange aura emanating from the other party that could not be ignored.

It was clearly not human, but it didn't seem like a monster either.

It's at least not like the monsters I've encountered before.

Perhaps the other party has some unknown inside story?

Anyway, it's a world full of strange and supernatural phenomena, so it's not surprising that everyone has their own destiny.

Liu Yun didn't think much of it for the time being, and bowed and curtsied as if to pay her respects.

But before he could even bow, Kinoshita Tokichiro rushed over to stop him: "No need, no need to be so polite! Anyway, I'm not of noble birth, hehe, being too polite makes me feel a little uncomfortable!"

These short legs are incredibly fast; they can cover several meters in an instant. Judging from this alone, their martial arts skills are definitely not lacking.

What's even more surprising is that Liu Yun, who is usually sharp and vigilant, subconsciously felt that Kinoshita Tokichiro was very friendly, like an old friend, and found it hard to stay on guard.

It felt as if some supernatural force was influencing my mind.

It seems that Kinoshita Tokichiro possesses some kind of innate ability.

It's truly amazing.

……

After they met and sat down, a young servant brought them tea.

The two sides exchanged brief pleasantries, saying things like "I've heard so much about you"—all rather pointless and superficial.

As a time traveler and a fan of Koei Tecmo games, Ryuun had long admired Kinoshita Tokichiro, this extraordinary man.

In the original history, this person would later change his name to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, establish the Kanpaku regime, and be considered the ruler with the lowest social standing in Japan's history, which is also worth mentioning in world history.

Having just arrived and being completely clueless about the world, the best option for me right now is to rely on this "chosen one" in front of me, first establish a foothold, build up some foundation, and then consider what comes next.

As for Kinoshita Tokichiro, he was probably newly appointed to a high position and lacked subordinates. Hearing Hachisuka Masakatsu say that there was such a master in the countryside, he became eager to recruit talent.

They hit it off immediately.

So after only a few pleasantries, the host and guests were all happy and complemented each other perfectly.

Maeno Nagayasu, who was accompanying him, couldn't help but interject: "Since Lord Ryuun is so powerful, he must be the best candidate to fight against the 'Anti-Demon Ninja'..."

"Who gave you permission to speak so casually!" Hachisuka Masakatsu interrupted angrily.

Maeno Nagayasu shrank his neck and lowered his head, then fell silent.

Kinoshita Tokichiro smiled and smoothed things over, saying, "Alright, alright! Nagayasu is just worried about important matters, so let's not blame him."

Liu Yun couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is this 'Demon Ninja'?"

Hearing this, Kinoshita Tokichiro sighed, his expression becoming somewhat complicated. He stroked his stubble and slowly said, "This all started about six months ago... Starting about six months ago, some mysterious ninjas appeared in the Kinki region, specifically targeting our Oda army's transport units. They were completely of unknown origin, their movements were elusive, and their attacks were always precise and ruthless. After being attacked several times, we began to take it seriously and wanted to retaliate. However, they only sent one or two people each time, making it very difficult to find their tracks. After much thought, the only solution we could think of was to lure them out. However, those people were not only skilled but also extremely cautious. Whenever we deployed a large force to ambush them, no matter how tempting the bait was, they would never show themselves."

At this point, Kinoshita Tokichiro took a sip of tea, frowned as if he was not satisfied with the taste, but after a pause, he still drank it all in one gulp. He then said, "We have a lot of things to do and can't keep an eye on this all the time, so we have to give it up for now. This time, we were worried about something going wrong when we were transporting military funds from Mino, so we specially asked Nagayasu, who is skilled in martial arts, to take twenty good samurai to do it. I didn't expect that we still couldn't stop them."

Maeno Nagayasu lowered his head in shame: "I have disappointed Lord Kinoshita! My twenty brothers and I combined could not stop a single enemy ninja..."

Liu Yun wasn't surprised when he heard this: "It shouldn't be uncommon for enemy ninjas to attack a transport convoy."

Kinoshita Tokichiro frowned, as if taking medicine, and drank another cup of tea that the servant had just poured for him. He shook his head and said, "Ordinary transport teams are one thing, but the people they sent this time are no ordinary people. Someone who can defeat twenty of our best fighters would already be a famous military commander if they had that ability. They shouldn't have appeared out of nowhere in the last six months."

Liu Yun added, "Perhaps it's someone like me who has just entered officialdom?"

Kinoshita Tokichiro smiled wryly, "If someone has just entered officialdom, they should leave a clear name. Even if they don't want to be famous, the people around them will definitely find a way to spread the word. But now they only use the code name 'Taimanin' and don't reveal their real name. There must be a reason."

Liu Yun couldn't help but frown.

As he spoke, Kinoshita Tokichiro drank his third cup of tea. He still didn't seem to like the taste, but his expression was much more natural, probably because he had gotten used to it. Then he added, "There's another point. Nagayasu once said that the person who attacked him was wearing a black veil, and judging from his build, appearance, and mannerisms, he seemed somewhat like Endo Naotsune, a retainer of the Asai clan. But that guy died in battle half a year ago, and we all saw it with our own eyes... This is something that makes us suspicious."