Chapter 38

"Sir, I have one more request," Kousuke continued to say.

"What?" Masahiro felt this guy was a bit too much. After all, you are still my prisoner. At worst, I can use torture to make you confess. I don’t believe the ten most cruel tortures of the Qing Dynasty won’t make you talk.

"Sir, if you don’t agree to my conditions, even if I die, I will not reveal the location of the treasure," Kousuke seemed to have seen through Masahiro’s intentions and quickly straightened his chest, his eyes filled with determination, ready to die rather than yield.

"Hmph, I, Masahiro of the Rō family, as the lord of the Rō family, would I be such a person? Alright, tell me your other condition, but remember, this is the last one. If there are any more, hah..." Standing at 1.7 meters tall, Masahiro leaned down to stare at Kousuke, who was less than 1.6 meters tall, his voice stern and severe.

"Phew!" Seeing that Masahiro finally agreed to his conditions, Kousuke let out a deep breath. Just now, he had taken a desperate risk. "Sir, it’s like this, I have a daughter."

Huh! What kind of request is this? Upon hearing Kousuke’s words, Masahiro found it quite amusing. Why is this guy reporting his family members to me? No matter how many daughters you have, as long as we eliminate the bandits, I can help rescue them.

"Sir, actually, she is not my biological daughter, and she is not in the bandit camp right now," Kousuke said softly.

"Hmm?" Masahiro looked strangely at the man at his feet. It seems there’s a twist. "Stand up and speak. I’ve already agreed to save your wife and daughter, no need to cling to my feet," Masahiro said.

"Yes, sir," Kousuke quickly released his hands and knelt in front of Masahiro. "Sir, actually, this daughter is the biological daughter of the former bandit leader." Then Kousuke began to recount the entire story. It turned out that on the day Banishi Daisuke rebelled, the former bandit leader’s youngest daughter was playing at Kousuke’s house with Kousuke’s daughter, thus escaping the massacre. When Kousuke saw the eldest son of the old leader, who had broken through the encirclement and was severely injured, he learned that the old leader had been attacked and killed by Banishi Daisuke and the local tyrants at the foot of the mountain. By then, Banishi Daisuke had already sealed off the entire bandit camp and started to besiege the old leader’s residence. The eldest son of the old leader soon died of his injuries after hiding at Kousuke’s house. Before he died, he asked Kousuke to protect his sister in gratitude for the old leader’s long-term care for his family. He also revealed another secret storage location known only to a few people in the family as a reward.

Kousuke was indeed grateful for the old leader’s care for his family. Otherwise, his wife would have been taken by some bandits when they first joined the mountain. So, he quickly buried the young master in the small forest behind his house and found a secret place to hide the old leader’s daughter. That day, news came that Banishi Daisuke had rebelled, attacked the old leader’s residence, and the old leader’s second son had led his family to commit suicide. Immediately after, Banishi Daisuke began to investigate the bandit camp, and Kousuke was taken to the bandit council hall. After voluntarily revealing one of the old leader’s financial storage rooms (which was actually just the old leader’s public storage room), Banishi Daisuke gained a lot, and Kousuke was allowed to live. Banishi Daisuke believed that the old leader’s family had all died in the fire, and even if anyone had escaped, he was not afraid. What threat could they pose, being left with nothing? So, he only searched the area briefly and stopped the investigation. The old leader’s daughter, hiding in the mountains, thus escaped the massacre.

A month later, after gaining Banishi Daisuke’s initial trust, Kousuke used the opportunity to transport supplies down the mountain to send the old leader’s daughter to an old hunter’s home, asking them to take care of her. The old hunter and his wife had once been saved by Kousuke during a bandit attack, so they were happy to adopt the daughter of their savior. However, the old hunter was very old and could no longer hunt, and the grain they had was barely enough to keep them from starving, so Kousuke would secretly send some grain to them from time to time. Where did Kousuke get the grain? Of course, from the bandit camp’s warehouse, as he was in charge of managing the grain, so taking a little bit was unnoticed. As for the treasure, Kousuke used several opportunities at night to enter the back of the bandit camp and, following the route provided by the deceased young master, indeed found a hidden cave. The cave contained a lot of supplies and over a dozen boxes filled with the old leader’s family’s wealth, with nearly a thousand strings of copper coins. Kousuke initially thought about taking more coins, but after some consideration, he only took a few dozen coins. Why? The copper coins were too scattered, large in volume, and heavy. A string of copper coins had nearly 1,000 coins, weighing 3,000 to 4,000 grams, making it easy to be discovered by other bandits. Besides, there were few opportunities to go down the mountain, and even if there were, the time for independent action was short. In this harsh place with few wandering merchants, it was difficult to use coins, so it was more practical to use grain.

After listening to Kousuke’s story, Masahiro felt quite moved. He never expected such a small bandit camp to have so many twists and turns. He also felt that Kousuke, despite being a bandit, was not entirely bad, at least he still had a conscience deep down.

"Sir, please take care of this old hunter’s family, otherwise they will starve to death," Kousuke said with a sad expression. "This is the last bloodline of the old leader. I am willing to offer the old leader’s treasure to you in exchange for the survival of his bloodline. I believe the old leader would also be willing to see this. This way, I will not have failed the young master’s trust." After saying this, Kousuke prostrated himself on the ground.

"Hmm, taking care of this old hunter’s family and the daughter is not too difficult. Mainly, I need to provide them with some land to settle down," Masahiro thought.

"Alright, Kousuke, in a few days, I will arrange for the old hunter’s family to move to my territory. At least, they can live a stable life and won’t starve to death," Masahiro said, looking down. "Now, tell me more about Daisuke Banishi’s situation."

"Yes, yes, thank you for your great kindness, sir! You are a living bodhisattva!" Kousuke bowed several times, his voice choked with gratitude. Kousuke knew he was very lucky. As long as he could see his wife and daughter rescued safely, he would die content, even if beaten to death by the villagers. However, he also resented Banishi Daisuke’s coldness when he sought help and Daisuke Banishi’s evil in forcibly taking his wife and daughter. Even if he went to hell, he wanted to take as many of these people down with him, so Kousuke decided to do his best to help the terrifying "devil" in front of him.

Thus, after calming his emotions, Kousuke knelt up, bowed to Masahiro again, and said, "Sir, Daisuke Banishi is a hot-tempered and impulsive guy, far less cunning and cruel than Banishi Daisuke, so he has always been suppressed by Banishi Daisuke. I have a plan that can easily deal a heavy blow to Daisuke Banishi." With his concerns resolved, Kousuke seemed to have regained his former demeanor of offering strategies in the bandit camp.

"Hmm?" Masahiro glanced at the suddenly spirited man, gesturing for him to continue.

"Sir, if I am not mistaken, these hell-bound guys planned to attack your territory tonight but were captured by you," Kousuke continued, sensing Masahiro’s encouragement.

"Then, Daisuke Banishi on the mountain will learn of the situation here by tomorrow morning at the latest. At that time, he will surely be enraged and lead his men to attack the territory to rescue his only son," Kousuke continued.

"Can’t they attack us in the middle of the night?" Masahiro asked.

"No, sir, you don’t know the situation on the mountain. There are traps set along the way, so the bandits generally don’t cross the mountain path at night. Even if they can’t return to the camp before nightfall, they usually choose to spend the night at the foot of the mountain and go up the next day," Kousuke said confidently.

"Oh?" Masahiro was worried that the escaped person would rush back to the camp to report and the bandits would immediately attack the territory at night. After all, fighting at night was much more difficult for the poorly equipped and generally night-blind foot soldiers in the territory. The reason for the victory tonight was partly due to the bandits’ carelessness and his own thorough preparation, and partly because the bandits were carrying torches, making them easy targets in the dark. If the bandits were prepared, they would be much harder to deal with. If the bandits attacked during the day, his side could at least make up for the lack of strength with formations.

"Sir, if Daisuke Banishi attacks the territory tomorrow, this damned guy will be a perfect trap," Kousuke pointed to the bandit who had been strangled by him earlier.

"Him?" Masahiro looked at the bandit who had almost met his end at Kousuke’s hands, puzzled.