Chapter 33

"Then......"

With a "ching" sound, Masahiro drew his sword and thrust it forward.

"Ah? No!" Kousuke, thinking that Masahiro was about to cut off his head, immediately shouted at the top of his lungs. The sharp sound echoed throughout the wild high mountains in the afternoon.

"Ching" The sword was thrust into the ground a few inches from Kousuke, the blade still trembling slightly.

"Tell me, what is your relationship with the original owner of this sword?" Masahiro asked.

Seeing that the sword had not cut his neck, Kousuke felt a sense of relief from a near escape. He exhaled deeply, but despite it being midsummer afternoon, cold sweat kept seeping out of his body. He looked forward and immediately began to tremble again. Wasn't this the leader's sword? Could it be that what those guys said that night was true, that the leader was really severely injured by a swordsman? Recalling how he and his two comrades, armed with weapons, were defeated in a few moves by this man with a broken branch, Kousuke became even more convinced.

"Hmm?" Masahiro, seeing that the man in front of him was only trembling and couldn't say a word, became dissatisfied.

"Ah? Sir, that is the sword of our bandit leader, Banishi Dairo. Banishi Dairo is still unconscious." Seeing Masahiro's dissatisfaction, Kousuke broke out in a cold sweat and quickly said.

"Oh? Tell me in detail about your situation." Masahiro's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked.

"Yes, sir." Kousuke quickly began to describe the situation of the bandit camp in detail.

Half an hour later, Masahiro had a general understanding of the latest situation of the bandits. Komuramura, as the village with the largest population in the area, often refused to provide tribute to the bandits and gradually began to unite with other villages to resist them. Discovering Komuramura's intentions, the bandits adopted a harassment tactic, constantly attacking the village. After several attacks, the village suffered significant losses among its male population. Some of the villagers, seeing the village's weakening, had no choice but to move away, further weakening the village's defenses. About a month and a half ago, the bandit leader believed that the village was at its weakest point, so he led the bandit elite to raid the village that night, intending to permanently eliminate this thorn in their side. That night, the village was caught off guard by the sudden attack and suffered heavy casualties. Just as the bandits were about to massacre the village, Masahiro arrived, ultimately saving the village and severely injuring the bandit leader.

That night, although the bandit leader was rescued, he remained unconscious. After a month and a half, seeing that the leader had not awakened, some people began to have other ideas, planning to replace the leader's position. After a conflict, the bandits split into three factions. The largest faction was led by a man named Daishi Noji, who had always been suppressed by Banishi Dairo and finally had a chance to rise. Daishi Noji immediately encouraged everyone to establish a new leader, and ultimately 23 people joined his faction; the second-largest faction was led by Banishi Dairo's son, Banishi Sazaburo, with 15 people; the remaining 9 were neutral. In addition to these bandits, the bandit camp also had over a hundred family members of the bandits and people they had captured.

To establish his authority and further undermine Banishi Sazaburo's influence, Daishi Noji was actively preparing to attack the village. Since Kousuke was originally Banishi Dairo's strategist and had always been at odds with Daishi Noji, this time, to both take revenge on Kousuke and weaken Banishi Sazaburo's power, Daishi Noji secretly controlled Kousuke's family and forced Kousuke to gather intelligence in the village, essentially using him as cannon fodder. Banishi Sazaburo, to preserve his strength, abandoned Kousuke.

Kousuke had to come to the foot of the mountain with resentment. Until he met Masahiro, he had not felt that this task was particularly difficult. In fact, none of the other bandits believed the description of the few bandits who carried the leader back that night. Could the leader, who was usually at their mercy, have been severely injured by a small village? Who would believe that? It must have been a trap during an attack on a wealthy landowner, as the leader often led his elite on raids alone. For a while, some bandits were worried (not knowing when the leader would wake up), some were gleeful (finally having a chance to stand tall), but none believed that a demon who killed without mercy had appeared in the village. Kousuke was the most supportive of this view, knowing the bandit leader's greed, cruelty, and ferocity. Although he was often careless, it was difficult to severely injure him without a large number of people. So he didn't take the village seriously, and upon reaching the edge of the village, he walked in boldly, looking around. When he found himself surrounded by the patrol team and had nowhere to run, Kousuke drew his sword, ready to fight his way out. After all, they were just some kids, and a few swings of his sword would scare them into running away. But soon he realized he was wrong. The patrol team, after a month and a half of training, had developed some semblance of formation and discipline. Under the command of Masahiro's two attendants, Saba Saburo and Kizaburo, 20 people formed a spear formation and surrounded Kousuke. Kousuke, who only had the appearance of a threat, was no match. After breaking a few bamboo spears, his sword was knocked away, and he was captured. Kousuke was quite pragmatic, thinking that as long as he was alive, he could still fight another day, so he did not resist much and allowed the children to tie him up. Of course, Kousuke still believed he was not in danger. As long as he revealed his identity as a bandit, the parents of these children would worry about retaliation and let him go. He had seen this happen many times before, so even though he was captured, he still shouted arrogantly, afraid that others wouldn't know he was a bandit.

After listening to Kousuke's account, Masahiro was very skeptical. How could this guy just walk into the village so boldly and look around, as if writing "I am a spy" on his forehead? Even if he didn't believe the village had the ability to attack the bandit leader, he shouldn't treat the place like his backyard. Of course, this was Kousuke's bad luck, or the village's good fortune. Kousuke's bad luck was that when he entered the village, the foot soldiers on the side facing the wild high mountains were all called away to carry wild boars. Otherwise, if he had seen the foot soldiers training, he would never have entered the village. The village's good fortune was that in a situation where the village's military strength was weak, only one bandit came instead of a group. Otherwise, relying only on the elderly, children, and the patrol team, they would have been no match for the bandits. Sigh, they were still short of people, Masahiro couldn't help but frown.

"Kousuke, are you sure you have told me everything you know? I clearly remember that the last time we met, you said you were just a common farmer," Masahiro decided to press the man in front of him again to ensure the information was accurate. He approached Kousuke, smiled, and looked directly into his eyes.

"Ah!" Kousuke felt that the smile was like the devil's, and immediately screamed, "Sir, I've told you everything, everything I know, wailing and crying while desperately trying to move backward. A foul-smelling liquid flowed down his thigh.

"Damn," Masahiro quickly pinched his nose and walked away. This guy was really a coward, no wonder even his attendants didn't believe he was a bandit.

"Leave six people to watch him, starve him for two days to prevent him from causing trouble due to excess energy," Masahiro instructed.

"Yes, sir," the two attendants behind him saluted in response.

"Saba Saburo, you did well this time. This sword is a reward for you," Masahiro, satisfied with Saba Saburo's discovery of the spy and his clever organization of the patrol team to capture the spy, rewarded him with Kousuke's sword.

"Thank you, sir," Saba Saburo knelt on both knees, respectfully accepted the sword, and bowed. The surrounding children looked at the sword with envious eyes. Masahiro smiled inwardly, this was exactly the result he wanted. Rewards and punishments would create healthy competition and gratitude towards him as their lord.

Finally, Masahiro had someone notify Togo Heiji, Oishi Kuni'haru, and Tsuda Masahide to come to his residence for a meeting, and then he walked to his small house.

As he walked, Masahiro looked up at the depths of the forest on the wild high mountains. They were finally coming, the bandits.