Chapter 418 The wind chimes are missing! [7400 words]
There were 8 people in the room - Shuntaro, Shintaro, and 6 jounin who were in leadership positions in Shiranui.
When it was proposed to select a new Enma, Shintaro and four of the six jounin set their sights on Shuntaro - it was self-evident what they meant.
Shintaro even bluntly stated that he wanted Shutaro to be the 13th Enma.
Only two jonin did not look at Shuntaro.
After Shintaro finished speaking, one of the two jounin who had not looked at Shutaro just now said in a deep voice:
"Although it is true that someone should be elected to succeed Balrog."
"But would it be too hasty to elect Enma's successor now?"
"There is no rush." A certain Jonin responded, "We in Shiranui are not the shogunate. Enma's 'name-taking' does not have so many troublesome rules."
"The first Enma died on the same day, and then a suitable ninja was launched to take the name of Enma on the same day - in our history in Shiranui, this kind of thing has happened countless times."
"...Well, if you want to elect a new Enma immediately, then that doesn't matter to me." The ninja who just now questioned the matter of choosing a new Enma in such a hurry glanced at Shuntaro, "But I'm sorry.
I can honestly say that I do not agree with Shuntaro-sama succeeding to the throne of Enma."
"I believe that Shintaro-sama is the most suitable candidate to succeed Enma."
"...I don't agree with Shuntaro-sama succeeding Enma either." The other one of the two Jonin who had not looked at Shuntaro just now finally expressed his opinion, "But I think the most suitable person to succeed Enma is
The person who holds the position of demon is none other than Lord Gokutaro."
"Speaking of Gokutaro-sama..." A certain jounin looked around, "Why hasn't Gokutaro-sama come back yet?"
"People have been sent to find Lord Gitarou." Another jounin said, "Maybe after a while, Lord Gitarou will come back."
In order to avoid arousing Shutaro's dissatisfaction, few people knew that Jitaro's mission tonight was to go to Yoshihara to kill people.
Many people, including Shuntaro, only knew that Gokutaro had a mission tonight, but they didn't know the specific details of the mission.
"I am the person least suitable to succeed Enma." Shintaro shook his head, "I am not good at controlling others, and my popularity and strength are not enough to convince others."
"Shuntaro is the one with the highest popularity and the most suitable person to succeed Enma."
The jounin who just recommended Shintaro as the Enma Attacker didn't buy what Shintaro just said.
"Sir Shintaro, please don't be humble!"
"Your wisdom, throughout Shiranui, no one can match you."
"We need your wisdom."
"Even if I don't take the name of Enma, I can still contribute my wisdom to Shiranui." Shintaro said calmly.
"I think Gokutaro-sama is the one most suitable to succeed Enma." The jounin who just supported Gokutaro spoke again, "Gokutaro-sama is both rough and fine, and among the middle and genin, he is the best.
Mr. Taro also has extremely high popularity."
…
Shintaro and others started a fierce war of words over "who will succeed the 13th Enma".
Everyone made their own claims.
The eloquence of the two Jonin who supported Shintaro and Gokutaro respectively was quite good.
Even though they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, they never gave up and fought hard.
Listening to these people's discussions, Shuntaro felt that his head was getting more and more swollen.
The series of changes that occurred tonight made Shuntaro's brain ache and swell due to "overload".
Now listening to Shintaro and others' discussion about the name Enma, Shutaro felt his head hurt even more and became more swollen. He couldn't even think carefully...
"Stop arguing."
Shuntaro said in a neither serious nor serious tone.
Obviously the volume of this sentence was not loud, and the tone was not very sonorous and powerful.
But after Shuntaro said these words, Shintaro and others immediately shut their mouths.
Then he turned to look at Shuntaro.
"There's no need to be in such a hurry to choose a new Balrog."
Shuntaro said calmly.
"Too many things happened tonight. I think many of you here must be as confused as me right now."
"In such a chaotic state of mind, nothing can be thought of or discussed."
"Let's all disperse now."
"Let's go down and rest first."
"It's not too late to discuss the suitable candidate for the new Enma."
Shuntaro's words caused many people present to ponder.
"...Shuntaro-sama is right." Shintaro said softly, "I am indeed very confused right now...I can't think clearly at all, so let's just do what Shintaro-sama said, let's disband and take a rest.
."
"Yeah... Agreed."
"agree……"
After this Jonin expressed his stance, others also expressed their agreement with Shuntaro's proposal to 'adjourn the meeting' just now.
…
…
Edo, Yoshiwara——
"Sir Shirobei." Keemon, whose face was covered in smoke and whose clothes were black and white, reported to Shirobei, "We have successfully isolated the flames."
"Well..." Shirobei's face, which had been full of fatigue since just now, finally showed a faint smile, "Very good. But don't be careless. Do not relax your vigilance until the flames are completely extinguished.
"
Keiemon: "Yes!"
"Keiemon, since the flames have been isolated now, you don't need to demolish the house anymore, right?"
"Yes! It's no longer needed!"
"Then come and help me. There are still a lot of newly dismantled wood that needs to be cleared. Let's move these wood out together."
"yes!"
Shirobei is currently at the forefront of putting out the fire.
Coincidentally, Shirobei happened to be busy with work tonight, so he worked at the Shirobei Club until late at night.
Considering that it was late at night, Shirobei simply stayed overnight in the club.
Because it was too late, or he was too lazy to walk home, he would just rest overnight at his office - this kind of thing Shirobei often did.
Before the fire broke out, Shirobei was sleeping soundly in the club.
After learning that a fire broke out in the western part of Yoshiwara and that the fire was showing signs of getting out of control, Shirobei was so frightened that he lost sleep.
He quickly ordered the club officials who were still on duty to rush to the fire site at full speed, and at the same time, he also rushed to the front line of putting out the fire.
Shirobei didn't even have time to put on his clothes at that time, so he rushed to the fire location wearing a sleeping yukata.
After Shirobei led all the officers who were still on duty at the club to the fire site, the first batch of officers from the town fire also arrived at Yoshiwara.
The town fire department officers are professional fire extinguishers. They can tell at just one glance that the fire has spread and cannot be extinguished by force. They have to move all nearby flammable materials away and wait for it to extinguish naturally.
.
This is the most commonly used and the only effective fire extinguishing method in the face of large-scale fires in this era.
Due to the limited level of science and technology, people in this era did not have very powerful fire-fighting equipment.
If the fire is small, buckets and some simple watering devices can also be used to extinguish the fire.
But if the fire gets bigger, there is no other way but to remove the flammable materials around the fire scene and create an isolation zone to let the flames naturally extinguish.
The biggest flammable objects are naturally the houses made of wood and paper.
Therefore, once a large fire breaks out, what you see at the fire scene is not that of the town fire department officers using buckets and other objects to put out the fire.
Instead, the town fire department officers used sledgehammers and small carts to smash and demolish all the houses that had not been burned by the flames.
After determining that the fire could no longer be extinguished by manpower, the fire department officers who rushed to Yoshiwara immediately took out sledgehammers and rushed toward the houses surrounding the fire scene menacingly.
The club officials headed by Shirobei naturally followed this group of professional "house demolishers" to demolish the house.
Some strong and extremely brave civilians also spontaneously joined the ranks of putting out fires and demolishing houses.
Shirobei was quite young, and he couldn't even swing such a big hammer three times.
So after Shirobei came to the front line of putting out the fire, he only did the relatively simple task of moving the smashed wood to the trolley.
In fact, it doesn't matter if Shirobei doesn't do anything.
As the top boss of the Shirobei Club, as long as he is at the forefront of putting out the fire, he can greatly boost the morale of the club officers.
Although all the houses around the fire scene have been successfully demolished and the flames were successfully isolated, there are still many newly demolished house fragments on the ground that need to be dealt with urgently.
So some of the people who had just been responsible for demolishing the houses and still had some energy left became "clean-up personnel."
Others who had lost their strength found a place to rest and regain their strength.
Just as Shirobei and Keimon worked together to move a huge wooden pillar onto the cart next to them, a middle-aged man with a big belly came running towards Shirobei.
"Lord Shirobei! I finally found you!"
Shirobei knew this middle-aged man with a big belly.
He is the owner of Mimewu.
"What's wrong?" Shirobei asked, "Why are you so panicked?"
"Shirobei-sama! It's not good!"
After seeing the owner of Ume House looking around, he put his lips close to Shirobei's ear, lowered his voice, and whispered anxiously:
"Mr. Wind Chime is missing...!"
"Gone?" Shirobei's eyes widened, "What's going on? What happened? Please tell me clearly."
The disappearance of any wandering girl is an extremely serious matter for the Shirobei club responsible for managing Yoshiwara.
This is true for ordinary wandering girls who have disappeared, let alone an oiran who has disappeared.
When he heard the words "Fubell Taifu is missing" from Mimeiya's mouth, Shirobei's heartbeat accelerated directly due to nervousness and shock.
"After learning that there was a fire, we immediately woke up all the wandering girls in the Meiwu House and asked them to leave the Meiwu House as soon as possible."
I saw the owner of the Plum House crying and looking like he might burst into tears at any time.
"I personally took people outside the Taifu's room to wake him up, but no matter how I called, the Taifu didn't respond."
"After I realized something was wrong, I led people into the Taifu's room."
"After entering the room, I found that no one was in the room and the husband was nowhere to be seen."
"I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find the husband."
"No matter who I asked, everyone said they had not seen the Taifu."
"I asked the Taifu to check the room and found that the Taifu's clothes specially used to receive guests and several headdresses were missing."
The more Shirobei listened, the darker his face became.
Tonight, first there was a fire in Yoshiwara, and then Fuchi Taifu disappeared.
Even the "battle-hardened" Shirobei can't help but feel a strong sense of fatigue now.
"...It's really not peaceful tonight..." Shirobei frowned and let out a long, tired sigh.
"Sir Shirobei." Seeing the anxious sweat on the face of the owner of the Ume House, "I suspect that Taifu may have been kidnapped. Please quickly organize people to find Taifu."
"...Hmm. Keiemon." Shirobei turned to look at Keiemon beside him, "You go to the officer at the execution office. I will take someone to see Umeya to see the situation."
"Yes!" Keemon nodded vigorously, dropped the broken wooden pillar in his hand, and ran towards the direction of the Yoshiwara Gate.
…
…
Edo, Shiranui, Shuntaro's residence——
After striding back to his residence, Shuntaro did not light a lamp, change his clothes, or take off the sword on his back.
After returning to the residence, I lay down directly on the tatami, facing the ceiling.
There was only the faint sound of insects buzzing around him, which made Shuntaro feel very comfortable.
The chaotic and heated discussion between Shintaro and the others just now made Shintaro unable to calm down and think.
Now that he was in a quiet environment, Shuntaro felt that his brain was gradually relaxing.
The jumbled ball of wool in my mind was combed straight one by one and arranged into clear parallel lines.
Shuntaro prioritized the series of things that happened tonight.
The most urgent and urgent thing to do is naturally to find out who killed the Balrog.
The biggest suspect at the moment is undoubtedly the Iga ninja who suddenly disappeared.
But Shuntaro didn't just foolishly believe that it was the Iga ninjas who killed Enma.
There are too many people who have sufficient motivation to kill Balrog.
It could be an ordinary ninja in the village who has been resenting Enma for something.
It's possible that some shogunate official who couldn't stand Shiranui hired the murderer.
At the same time...it could also be someone from the "Four Heavenly Kings".
Once Balrog dies, the next Balrog will definitely be chosen from among the "Four Heavenly Kings".
So from the perspective of motives, Shuntaro, Gokutaro, and Shintaro are the three people who are most motivated to poison Enma - especially Shuntaro, who is most promising to succeed Enma.
It's just that no one in the village would dare to say that "the 'Four Heavenly Kings' might also be the murderers who poisoned Balrog."
The "Four Heavenly Kings" are the highest leadership in the village after the Balrog. No one with any brains would dare to openly doubt that the "Four Heavenly Kings" killed the Balrog.
Shuntaro guessed: There must be many people in the village who suspect that Enma's death is related to someone among their "Four Heavenly Kings", but they dare not say it openly and only dare to discuss it in private.
If we rank the people who had sufficient motives to kill Enma, we can find that the group of Iga ninjas headed by Hannosuke had the least motive to kill Enma.
"It's really troublesome..." Shuntaro slowly sat up from the tatami and muttered.
Shuntaro felt for the first time in a long time that the night could be so long...
…
…
Edo, somewhere——
Mr. Feng Chime felt a sound coming from far away.
"As expected of Yoshiwara's oiran, she is so beautiful."
A voice came from a distance.
"This is the first time I have seen such a beautiful woman."
The sound gradually approaches.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... your skin is so delicate."
Feel consciousness and strength gradually coming out.
"Sennosuke-sama, please let us touch this oiran. We will touch her hand and do nothing else."
White light shines into the dark world.
"...Huh?" Feng Chime Taifu slowly opened his eyes as his consciousness regained consciousness.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Feng Chime Taifu saw four young people standing in front of her.
These four young men were all wearing strange black clothes.
After glancing at the four young men in black standing in front of her, Feng Chime Taifu began to look around.
This is a rather small room without any furniture.
There are only tatami mats on the floor, and there is only one window in the wall that is too narrow for people to pass.
There was only one candle in the room emitting candlelight, which made the view in the room dim.
The Taifu looked down and saw that his hands were tied behind his back and his feet and ankles were tightly tied together with hemp rope.
She was tied tightly with hemp ropes and laid across the tatami, unable to move.
After Taifu woke up, the four young men in black standing in front of Taifu also noticed Taifu's awakening.
"Tafu." One of the four men in black, a "teary mole young man" with three tear moles under his left eye, walked slowly to the wind chime Taifu, then knelt down on one knee, trying to keep his vision in line with the
Taifu Pingqi said, "You're awake."
"Who are you?" The Taifu took a deep breath to calm down, and then asked the "teary mole young man" in a deep voice.
When questioning this "teary mole young man", memories from before the coma emerged in Taifu's mind little by little...
…
…
When Yoshiwara's door just closed——
Edo, Yoshiwara, Mimeya, Fubell Taifu's room.
When there are no customers to order her, Fuchi Taifu usually falls asleep when the gate of Yoshiwara is closed.
After falling asleep for an unknown amount of time, the doctor suddenly heard a faint noise.
Mr. Wind Chime is the kind of person who is easily woken up.
Others might not even be able to hear the noise, but not Mr. Wind Chime.
After being awakened by the noise, the Taifu opened his eyes, got up from the bed, walked to the window, then opened the window and looked out.
I saw many people dragging their families along Nakanomachi Avenue outside the Ume House, holding large cloth bags, and running in a panic towards the direction of the Yoshiwara Gate.
Some people just want to run.
But while some people were running, they did not forget to shout to the surroundings at the top of their lungs:
"It's on fire! It's on fire! Everyone, wake up!"
--on fire?!
Surprise appeared on the Taifu's face.
Just like a conditioned reflex, the husband hurriedly closed the window, prepared to change into clothes that were convenient for movement, and then fled for his life like those people outside the house now.
However - as soon as the Taifu closed the window, he heard a low abnormal sound coming from the ceiling not far away.
Before the husband even had time to raise his head and look at the ceiling above his head, the ceiling not far away suddenly fell down.
Two figures jumped down from the ceiling along the hole created by the ceiling falling.
As soon as these two figures landed on the tatami, they rushed towards the prince.
One person quickly controlled the Taifu.
The other person used a special technique to hit the Taifu on the neck.
Not to mention seeing the faces of these two figures clearly, A-Machi didn't even have a chance to scream before he was knocked unconscious...
…
…
The husband didn't know that after she was knocked unconscious by these two people, they worked together to transport her to the top of the ceiling.
Before one of them left, he took away the Taifu's clothes hanging on the wall next to him.
This dress is a attire that the Taoist would only wear when entertaining guests.
Because it was made of the highest quality fabrics and was tailor-made for the lord, the cost was extremely high, and there was only such a set of clothes in Edo.
After transporting the Taifu and his clothes to the ceiling, the two of them did not forget to put back the ceiling they had just kicked off in order to jump from the ceiling.
They had just left when they saw the owner of the plum house hurriedly came outside Taifu's room, informed Taifu that there was a fire, and asked Taifu to run away together.
After hearing no response from the master, the host opened the door and saw an empty room...
…
…
Time returns to the present——
After the Taifu cast his wary eyes on the "young man with tear moles" who had three moles under his left eye, the "young man with tear moles" quickly said:
"Master, please be patient. Our goal is not to take your life. We will never do anything to you. Please rest assured. We hope you can cooperate with us."
As soon as the "Tears Mole Young Man" finished speaking, another young man standing behind him said with a slightly dissatisfied tone:
"Sennosuke, please let us touch Taifu's hand. It's rare to meet such a beautiful woman. Wouldn't it be a pity if we did nothing?"
As soon as this person finished speaking, the other two people immediately echoed.
"Yes, yes, Sennosuke, just let us touch the master's hand."
"We just touch the doctor's hand and don't do anything else."
"The young man with the mole of tears" - that is, the young man called "Sen Nosuke" by these three people, turned his head and glared at the three people behind him.
"Shut up!"
"Do you still have the dignity of being a man?"
"As a man, kidnapping a woman is shameless enough."
"If you still touch others, you really have no dignity left at all!"
Sennosuke's status seems to be above these three people.
After being scolded by Sennosuke, these three people all shut their mouths and stopped making any sound.
After the young man named Sennosuke severely scolded the three people behind him, Taifu stared at Sennosuke closely, and then asked her again the question that she had not answered directly:
"Who the hell are you?"
"... Taifu, I'm sorry." Sennosuke turned his gaze back to Taifu with a hint of apology, "It's not convenient for us to tell you who we are."
"For some reasons, we had to bring you here."
"But as I just said - our goal is not to take your life. We will never do anything to you, please don't worry."
As soon as Sennosuke finished speaking, the only sliding paper door in this narrow room was slowly opened from the outside.
The Taifu looked around - the person who opened the door was a gray-haired old man who must have been 5 or 60 years old.
After the old man opened the door and came in, Sennosuke and others quickly knelt down on one knee, saluted the old man, and said respectfully:
"Hannosuke-sama!"
"Sennosuke, you did a good job." The old man, who was called "Hannosuke" by Sennosuke and others, nodded with appreciation, "You brought the oiran here very beautifully."
Being praised by Hannosuke, the young people present all looked happy - except Sennosuke.
Sennosuke, who was kneeling on one knee, lowered his head slightly.
Even though Hannosuke was praised, there was no expression on his face.
Hannosuke walked slowly in front of Taifu, looked at Taifu for a few times, twitched the corner of his mouth and said with a smile:
"I originally thought that Yoshiwara's oiran would be some weak woman who couldn't help but be frail."
"But I didn't expect that she would be a heroine."
"I was kidnapped and brought to a strange place, but there was no trace of panic on my face. It's really amazing! There are not many people among my subordinates who have your kind of character."
Fu Chi Taifu ignored Hannosuke's compliments.
Remaining calm and calm, he asked Hannosuke:
"Are you trying to rob wealth or sex?"
"If you want to steal money, I think you kidnapped the wrong person."
"I don't have that much money."
"The Mimewuya I belong to is not very rich either."
"Tafu, you are wrong." Hannosuke interrupted Taifu, "We don't want to rob money, nor do we want to rob sex."
"We tied you here for some more interesting purposes."
"As for what the purpose is...you will know later."
After saying that, Hannosuke turned around and walked out of the room.
Before leaving the room, Hannosuke turned his head and warned Sennosuke:
"Keep an eye on her."
"Yes." Sennosuke responded in a tone without any emotion.
Bang.
Hannosuke left the room, and the door was closed with a soft "bang" sound.
After Hannosuke left, Sennosuke and the other four finally stood up.
After getting up, Sennosuke took out a sword from his arms. After unsheathing the sword, he turned to look at the Taifu who was lying across the tatami...
"Sennosuke, what are you doing?" A young man in black clothes who was closest to Sennosuke asked with a look of astonishment on his face.
"It's nothing." Sennosuke said calmly, "I just want to help Tafu loose his ties."
Having said that, Sennosuke squatted down again, trying to keep his eyes level with the Taifu.
"Taifu, I can help you untie you now. But you have to promise me that after I untie you, you will behave and won't cause any trouble."
"Otherwise, I will tie your hands and feet again."
After hearing Sennosuke's words, Taifu hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly.
Seeing that "the deal was done", Sennosuke turned around and walked behind the Taifu, using his sword to cut off the hemp rope that tied the Taifu's hands and feet tightly.
After his hands and feet were freed, Taifu quickly massaged his wrists and ankles, which were aching from the hemp rope, to re-circulate the blood.
After Sennosuke cut the hemp ropes that bound the Taifu's hands and feet, another young man in black asked Sennosuke in a hesitant tone:
"Sennosuke, you cut all her hemp ropes, isn't that bad? What if she escapes?"
"I don't think Yoshiwara's oiran can escape alone from the eyes of four men who have received strict training." Sennosuke said softly.
The doctor continued to rub his sore wrist and said in a calm tone:
"...I won't say 'thank you' to you."
"It doesn't matter." Sennosuke smiled bitterly, "I personally think this kind of kidnapping of women is despicable. It doesn't matter if you don't need to thank despicable people like us."
The author is now gathering strength.
I plan to finish the climax of Volume 6 in one go like Volume 5 in the future.
Looking back now, I was really brave when I was finishing the fifth volume a few months ago.
With more than 30,000 daily updates for two consecutive days, it really feels like entering the "selfless realm".