Chapter 42

"Your Highness, ahead is Eagle's Beak, the entrance to the bandit stronghold," Kousuke whispered, crouching beside Masahiro and pointing ahead with his right hand. After over an hour of trekking, with Kousuke leading the way, Masahiro and his men had managed to avoid the traps set by the bandits and finally arrived near the bandit stronghold. They were now hiding at the edge of a forest, carefully observing an open area outside the trees.

Following the direction of Kousuke's right hand, Masahiro saw that at the end of the open area, there was a small hill that gradually sloped upwards, about 7 or 8 meters high. The hill was covered with vines, but there were few tall trees. On the left side of the hill, there was a crack about 5 or 6 meters wide. Above the crack, a small cliff jutted out, which from a distance did indeed look a bit like an eagle's beak.

"Your Highness, there are usually people guarding that area. If anyone invades, they will notify the people inside. Beyond this crack is a village where the bandits' families and ordinary villagers live. The stronghold is behind the village," Kousuke continued.

"How many people usually guard the entrance?" Masahiro asked.

"Usually two people. Since they have never been attacked, there are usually very few guards. If it weren't for the fear of the recently captured people escaping, there wouldn't even be a need for guards," Kousuke continued.

"Captured people?" Masahiro turned to look at Kousuke. While it was not surprising that bandits would plunder food and wealth, it was strange that they would capture people, as an increase in population would mean an increase in food pressure.

"Your Highness, the people who originally followed the old leader came here with their families, but their numbers were too few. So, the old leader would occasionally bring back poor farmers or vagrants to the stronghold, or bring back some willing vagrants. Daishi Noji and Itakawa Dairo were originally vagrants who later voluntarily followed the old leader up the mountain. After Itakawa Dairo became the leader, he often did the same, but they mainly captured young women or people with skills that the stronghold needed. At first, these people would try to escape, but over time, they would settle down. For example, young women who had children would stay and become the wives or concubines of the bandits," Kousuke cautiously observed Masahiro's expression, saw no abnormal reaction, and continued, "Of course, the ones who do these things are Daishi Noji and Itakawa Dairo's subordinates. The old leader's subordinates did not do these things. We were originally poor farmers and couldn't bring ourselves to do such things."

After saying this, Kousuke found his palms were sweating. He was afraid that Masahiro would be angry and blame him, even though he had not done these things and had been forced into the stronghold. Now, he was still a bandit and wore the bandit's mark. Moreover, he knew that there were several women in the village outside the stronghold who had been captured from Masahiro's territory. Of course, Kousuke would not tell Masahiro this now. He would wait until the stronghold was captured and then tell him, so that the guilty ones would suffer and he wouldn't be the scapegoat.

However, Kousuke's worries seemed unnecessary. After listening to Kousuke's explanation, Masahiro continued to look at the entrance to the bandit stronghold, his brows furrowed in deep thought. Kousuke did not notice that not far behind him, Kizaburo, a young retainer, was staring at the crack ahead with red eyes, his body trembling with excitement.

"Alright, let's proceed as we originally planned," Masahiro finally came out of his thoughts and waved his hand. Seven or eight people immediately began to slowly retreat. "Kousuke, are you ready?" Masahiro turned to Kousuke and continued.

"Yes, Your Highness, I am ready," Kousuke straightened his chest and replied softly. Then he followed Masahiro to the back of the ambush team, picked up the still unconscious Daishi Taro, and walked out of the forest with the seven or eight people who had retreated, returning to the path leading to the stronghold.

According to Masahiro's plan, Kousuke would carry the unconscious Daishi Taro and lead himself and his eight foot soldiers, disguised as bandits eager to return to the stronghold to save the injured Daishi Taro, and then trick the bandits into opening the entrance.

Thus, Kousuke carried Daishi Taro and walked in front, while Masahiro and the other eight foot soldiers followed behind, wearing the bandits' original clothes. To avoid being recognized, they had smeared their faces with black ash and hurriedly approached the entrance to the bandit stronghold. 500 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters... As the team got closer to the wooden gate at the entrance, Masahiro felt a strange sensation. The bandits were being too careless; the team was making so much noise, but no one had noticed them yet.

"Wh... Who is it? Stop!" Finally, from a few dozen meters away, a loud shout came from inside the wooden gate, but it was clearly tinged with panic.

"It's me, Kousuke," Kousuke immediately responded according to the plan.

"Ah! Master Kousuke?" Another voice exclaimed from inside the gate. Then someone climbed up a simple watchtower next to the gate and looked out at Masahiro's team. Masahiro quickly lowered his head, though everyone's faces were smeared with black ash, he still tried to avoid direct eye contact with the bandits.

"It's me, open the gate quickly," Kousuke did not stop, leading the team forward while shouting.

"Ah, it's really Master Kousuke, quick, open the gate," the bandit on the watchtower, recognizing Kousuke, immediately shouted to the people below and clumsily climbed down.

Soon, the team reached the wooden gate, which was about 4 meters high and made of thick wooden planks. If they tried to force it, it would be difficult to break through quickly.

"Creak," with the sound of wooden planks falling to the ground, the gate opened a crack. Masahiro made a gesture, signaling the people behind him not to act rashly. After all, this was just the entrance gate; the key was to trick the bandits into opening the main gate of the stronghold, so it was best to take the entrance without being noticed.

"Master," the gate finally opened halfway, and two bandits, who looked to be about 13 or 14 years old and very thin, stepped out from behind the wooden gate. Masahiro was surprised; the bandits had child soldiers too! Kousuke was also surprised and even stood there for nearly a minute before asking, "Why are you here?"

"Master, it's good that you're back. There's a fight inside, and everyone has gone in. Lord Tadatsuro asked us to guard here temporarily," one of the child bandits said.

"A fight? Who is fighting?" Kousuke was taken aback and quickly asked.

"Master, it's like this... they?" The child bandit was about to answer Kousuke's question but suddenly noticed that the people behind Kousuke were unfamiliar. He pointed to one of the foot soldiers of the Rokkaku family, wanting to ask. But it was too late; the foot soldiers behind Masahiro immediately rushed over and restrained the two child bandits.

(PS: This is the third week of the new book's release. I need clicks, favorites, and recommendations. Please don't leave quietly; please click, favorite, and recommend. I, the old fish, am kneeling and begging for clicks, favorites, and recommendations. Enjoy writing, enjoy solitude.)

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