Chapter 420 The sudden appearance of the flame demon [8000 words]
Edo, Shiranui——
Enma's sudden death brought an impact to Shiranui that has not subsided to this day.
The Balrog died from poisoning. It was most likely that he ate food or water adulterated with poison while eating and drinking.
For a time, everyone in Shiranui was in danger.
Whether only the Balrog's food and drinking water were poisoned - no one is sure about this.
Everyone is afraid that what they eat or drink today may be adulterated with poison.
Fortunately - until now, there has been no news of a second person being poisoned and died tonight.
However, an atmosphere of fear and uneasiness still enveloped the entire Shiranui.
In a rather grand mansion, an old man and a young man were sitting opposite each other.
The older man's name is "Mutaro", he is considered a very senior senior in Shiranui, he is 58 years old this year.
When Enma was still alive, he was the second oldest person in Shiranui.
When the 65-year-old Enma suddenly died tonight, he has now become the oldest person in Shiranui.
When he was still a young boy, he was already one of the backbones of Shiranui.
Now that I am older and more senior, I have gained a good status and voice in Shiranui.
His status in Shiranui is probably second only to the "Four Heavenly Kings".
The younger man sitting in front of Wu Tailang is named "Buntaro" and he is Wu Tailang's disciple.
Although he is only a genin now, in terms of talent, he is considered the best among the younger generation in Shiranui.
Enma's body has just been moved to their mourning hall in Shiranui. This mourning hall is specially used to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to Shiranui.
Wu Tairou and Buntaro's master and apprentice just went to this mourning hall to take a look at the deceased Enma, and they just returned home - which is the magnificent mansion where they are currently located.
Both of them were feeling very heavy at the moment, and neither of them spoke during the entire journey from the mourning hall to home.
After lighting the lamp in the living room and the two of them sat down on the tatami, Buntaro asked softly to Taketaro in front of him in a whisper-like tone:
"Master...who is the person who killed Enma-sama...?"
The leader who had been leading them suddenly died - this change happened so quickly that many people have not been able to adapt to this fact in time until now.
"...I don't know." Wutaro sighed, "There are too many people who have the motive to kill Enma-sama."
As a veteran of Shiranui, Taketaro is only 7 years younger than Enma, and is almost of the same generation as Enma.
Although he and Enma are considered contemporaries and have worked together for Shiranui for decades, the two of them cannot be considered friends, and their relationship can only be described as average.
For Taketaro, if other people with whom he had a mediocre relationship died, his emotions would not change much.
But it's different for the Balrog.
Enma, like him, had witnessed decades of history in Shiranui. Even though their relationship was average, Wu Tairou still had a special feeling for Enma.
After suddenly receiving the news of Enma's death tonight, an unspeakable sadness still surged into Wutaro's heart...
Therefore, Wu Tairou's current mood is far more complicated than that of his disciple Buntaro.
"I haven't even seen Enma-sama face to face, and Enma-sama died..." A bitter smile appeared on Buntaro's face.
Buntaro, who had been quietly listening to Taketaro's story about the past, now showed a wry smile and interrupted:
"Master, you seem to have a lot of opinions about Lord Balrog."
"Haha..." Wutaro chuckled in a low voice, "He is still more or less dissatisfied with Itaro."
"After all, under his rule, Shiranui's strength has become worse and worse. It is a fact that he failed to revitalize Shiranui."
"But I still respect him very much."
"His abilities may be somewhat lacking."
"But his determination to revitalize Shiranui is real."
"I have witnessed with my own eyes several times that Ichitaro, who is much older, stayed awake for several nights in order to deal with various urgent matters."
"But his determination is quite terrifying."
The corners of Wutaro's mouth pulled down, showing an expression as if he was recalling some terrible memory.
"I have always felt that 'revitalizing Shiranui' has become a deep obsession of Ichitaro."
"Sometimes... the obsession is too deep, but it is very painful."
"So from another perspective, it would be better if he is dead now..."
"He no longer has to worry about how to revitalize Shiranui."
"Right now he……"
Wutaro took a deep breath and slowly exhaled the air in his lungs:
"I'm relieved..."
…
…
Edo, Shiranui, Shuntaro's residence——
Shuntaro had already planned to go to bed first.
Too many things happened tonight.
First, I spent a long time in Edo trying to catch that traitorous ninja.
Then he suddenly heard Enma's execution, and hurried back to Shiranui, and then struggled for a long time.
Not only does the body feel tired, but the mind also feels very tired.
And besides sleeping first and recuperating his energy and strength, he can't do anything else now.
At present, it has not been found out exactly when and why Balrog was poisoned. There are no clues for tracing. It is impossible to find the person who poisoned Balrog.
Shuntaro himself knew nothing about poisons. He couldn't even deduce what kind of poison caused death based on the appearance of the poisoned person.
Even if you want to help with the investigation, you can't.
There is nothing he can do now, and sleepiness and fatigue are slowly creeping in, so Shuntaro plans to have a good rest tonight.
He had already planned to sleep.
But just when he was about to take off the two sabers on his back, he suddenly heard a "thud" sound coming from outside the room that made Shuntaro have to pay attention.
After hearing this sound, Shuntaro's pupils shrank suddenly.
The reason why this sound made Shuntaro have to pay attention was because this sound was so familiar to Shutaro who had experienced many battles.
This is the sound the arrow makes after it pierces the wood hard.
Almost as a conditioned reflex, almost instinctive in his body, Shuntaro pulled out a sword on his back, and then quickly hid in a blind spot where the archers outside the room could never shoot.
Moving within the shooting blind spot.
After arriving at the door, Shuntaro did not rush out rashly. Instead, he opened the door to a gap and observed the situation outside.
Shuntaro's home is like a lonely cactus in the desert.
Because he likes to live in a quiet place, Shuntaro's home is located in a relatively remote place in Shiranui, with few neighbors around.
At this time, there is nothing but wind, moonlight, and darkness outside Shuntaro's home. Not to mention the archers, there is not even a human figure.
——Have you left already...
There is no trace of human presence outside.
According to Shuntaro's guess, the archer fired an arrow at his house and then left quickly.
Shuntaro opened a gap in the door that allowed him to enter and exit alone, and walked outside the room.
As soon as he stepped out of the room, Shuntaro saw an arrow stuck half an inch into the wood on the wooden pillar next to his door.
A small cloth bag as big as an adult's fist is tied to the arrow shaft.
Since it can be shot directly with arrows, it means that the contents of this small cloth bag are definitely not heavy.
After pulling out the arrow and untying the small cloth bag tied to it, Shuntaro saw that there were only two things inside.
A squarely folded letter and a piece of kimono sleeve.
When he saw these sleeves, Shuntaro's first reaction was that they looked familiar.
After unfolding it and taking a closer look, Shuntaro finally understood why he felt so familiar.
While figuring out why he felt familiar, Shuntaro felt as if his heart had skipped a beat out of fear.
Shuntaro quickly put away his sleeves, then spread out the neatly folded letter and read the words on it.
…
…
Pasha, pasha, pasha...
Without any reason to dodge, Shuntaro, with a sullen face, stepped on the dead branches and rotten leaves on the ground, holding the kimono sleeve in his left hand and the letter in his right hand, and walked straight towards the darkness in front of him.
Shuntaro is currently in a forest in the northwest of Shiranui that has no name and no one usually comes here.
There was only wind, trees, moonlight, and darkness with no light to illuminate it.
After walking all the way to the depths of the woods, I finally saw something that was incompatible with the surrounding wind, grass, trees and other objects - a figure hiding in the shade of the trees.
As soon as Shuntaro saw the figure in front of him, the figure walked straight towards Shuntaro and said softly one step ahead of Shuntaro:
"Lord Shuntaro, you are finally here."
Just as the figure finished speaking, he just walked out of the dark shade of the trees and came under a beam of moonlight.
The bright moonlight hit the figure, illuminating a face that was familiar to Shuntaro.
Looking at this face, Shuntaro's face seemed to have tight skin on every inch, with many deep shadows.
In the shadows, there was a bit of surprise.
"Eitaro...when did you come back? Where is Keitaro? Are you the one who sent me this letter?"
The figure standing in front of Shuntaro is none other than Eitaro.
Carrying a short gun and a large cloth bag containing something unknown, he stood in front of Shuntaro.
Shuntaro knew that Gokutaro and Eitaro were leading a group of ninjas to perform a certain mission tonight - although he didn't know what mission they were performing.
Until now, I haven't received any news about Ji Tairou and the others' return.
Shuntaro originally thought that they were still carrying out their mission, but Eitaro was now standing in front of him alive.
Shuntaro's biggest impression of Eitaro is that he is a follower - Gokutaro's follower.
He and Ji Tairou were inseparable. No matter what Ji Tairou went to do, he would definitely follow him.
Gokutaro went to Yoshiwara to have fun every night, and Eitaro also accompanied Gokutaro to have fun every night.
After seeing Keitaro, Shuntaro subconsciously thought that Keitaro was also nearby, so he looked around and squeezed the letter in his hand.
"Shuntaro-sama." The expressionless Eitaro said in a calm tone, "I am not the one who wrote this letter. It's just that the person who just sent this letter to your door with a bow and arrow is indeed
I."
Just when Shuntaro was about to yell, "Who the hell wrote this letter?", he suddenly heard two unhurried footsteps coming from behind Eitaro.
At the same time, a voice that was also very familiar to Shuntaro sounded along with the two footsteps.
"Good evening, Shuntaro. This seems to be the first time we have met so late at night."
As the words fell, two figures walked out of the dim shadows, their figures and features gradually outlined by the light.
Looking at the two people who appeared behind Eitaro, Shuntaro could no longer control the expression on his face.
The muscles on his face seemed to be out of control, and he began to show doubts and surprises uncontrollably. In a hoarse voice, he called out the names of the two people: "Shintaro...Hannosuke..."
Shintaro is usually taciturn and doesn't express much on his face.
In Shintaro's impression, he had seen "Shintaro with a smile" only a few times.
At this moment, this extremely rare picture appeared before Shuntaro's eyes.
Shintaro, with a gentle smile on his face, walked towards Shuntaro little by little.
Walking next to him was Hannosuke, who was leading the group of Iga ninjas.
Hannosuke was also carrying a cloth bag like Eitaro, but the bag he was carrying was smaller than the one Eitaro was carrying.
After Shintaro and Hannosuke came to Eitaro, Eitaro bowed respectfully to them and then stood behind Shintaro.
After a brief period of confusion and surprise, the expression on Shuntaro's face returned to solemnity.
Before Shintaro could say anything, Shintaro spoke first:
"The letter in your hand was written by me."
"I know you must be very worried about Taifu's safety now."
"But don't worry, Taifu is safe now. There isn't even a scratch on his body."
Shintaro's words made Shuntaro squeeze the sleeve and the letter in his hand tighter.
Just now, after taking a closer look at this kimono sleeve, Shuntaro immediately recognized it - it was the sleeve of the kimono that Fubell Taifu would only wear when receiving guests.
This kimono is expensive. In Edo... no, it should be that she is the only one in the world who has this kimono.
Because Shuntaro made fun of Taifu more than once, saying that wearing this suit of clothes was like wearing a quilt on his body, he was deeply impressed by Taifu's suit.
After recognizing that the sleeve was a fragment of Taifu's kimono, Shuntaro immediately opened the letter.
The content of the letter is very simple.
To briefly summarize, let Shuntaro go to the woods northwest of Shiranui.
At the end of the letter, they also reminded Shuntaro in a very "intimate" manner - Fuzutafu was in their hands. While they asked Shuntaro to go to the woods specified in the letter, they also asked Shuntaro to be alone.
Go and don't announce it to the outside world.
Although the letter did not contain any aggressive words, the words were full of threats.
"In order to make you believe that the Wind Chime Taifu is really in our hands now, we specially brought this thing here."
Shintaro said this in a half-joking tone while winking at Hannosuke beside him.
Hannosuke, who understood the meaning of Shintaro's eyes, nodded, then placed the cloth bag on his back on the ground and opened it.
Inside the cloth bag, there was a set of exquisite kimono without the right sleeve.
It is exactly the kind of clothes that Fu Chime Taifu wears only when receiving guests.
Perhaps it was because from just now, news that could make Shuntaro's brain tremble appeared one after another, making Shuntaro numb, but now he has calmed down.
"...That's it."
Shuntaro said softly.
"Shintaro, Enma...was poisoned to death by you, right?"
This sentence is obviously in the form of a question, but its tone is that of an affirmative sentence.
"That's right." Shintaro admitted without hesitation, "We did kill the Enma."
"We poisoned the wine Balrog drank tonight."
"It took us a lot of effort to find the right time to poison."
"Because I couldn't find the opportunity to poison him, I almost failed to poison the Balrog tonight."
"...When did you get into trouble?" Shuntaro's eyes slid over the faces of Shintaro, Eitaro, and Hannosuke one by one.
"That's been true from the beginning." Shintaro said.
"Before the ninjas from Iga arrive... Shintaro..."
"No." The smile on Shintaro's face became even stronger, "It's even further than that..."
"I don't know how long ago, Eitaro, Hannosuke and the others were my companions!"
"You killed Enma and kidnapped Chang...what exactly are you going to do?" Shuntaro gritted his teeth, "Is it to seize power and become the next generation of Enma?!"
"Seizing power..." Shintaro's expression showed a sense of satisfaction, "It's just to seize power."
"But I have no interest at all in becoming the next generation of Balrog."
Shintaro looked at Eitaro beside him.
"Eitaro, bring that thing over here."
"yes."
Eitaro took off the big cloth bag he was carrying on his back and handed it to Shintaro.
After Shintaro took it, he threw it to Shutaro.
"Shuntaro, please open it and take a look."
The thing Shintaro threw was not heavy.
After Shuntaro untied it, he found that the cloth bag contained a thousand-year-old gourd.
Shuntaro is a rough guy who can't even write Chinese characters.
But even a rough guy like him knows what Qiancheng Gourd represents.
"Shintaro, why did you give me Toyotomi Hideyoshi's horse seal?" Shutaro held the Sensen gourd tightly in his hand.
Even a rough guy like Shuntaro has heard of the legendary stories created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi who held the Thousand Gourd Horse Seal during the Warring States Period 200 years ago.
"Don't be anxious, Shuntaro."
Shintaro turned around and walked towards a big rock next to him.
After sitting down on this big rock, Shintaro continued to put on a comfortable expression:
"Would you like to find a place to sit too?"
"I'm going to tell you a story...you may think I'm lying."
…
…
Edo, Nihonbashi, Shinagawa-juku.
Naito Shinjuku is one of the most famous inns in Edo.
Starting from Edo, there are a total of 5 vital transportation arteries.
These five traffic arteries are Donghai Street, Zhongshan Street, Nikko Street, Oshu Street, and Koshu Street.
These five traffic arteries are collectively called the "Five Streets". Because they connect various important places in Japan, the "Five Streets" are of extremely important significance both politically and militarily.
When the Edo shogunate built the "Five Streets", they built numerous post stations along the "Five Streets".
Take Nikko Street as an example.
Taking Edo as the starting point, there are a total of 21 stations in Nikko Kaido from the starting point to the ending point.
This is also one of the reasons why there are so many ronin in Edo - there are a large number of inns along the "Five Streets", making it convenient for ronin to stay.
Shinagawa Juku—the first hotel in Donghai Street.
Because Tokai Street connects the two major cities of Kyoto and Edo, Tokai Street can be said to be the busiest and most popular street among the "Five Streets".
As the starting point of Tokai Street, "Shinagawa-juku" has always been full of rooms.
While the tenants in the other rooms have fallen asleep, the tenants in one room have not yet fallen asleep.
In this unlit room, a young man leaned against the window, taking advantage of the moonlight outside the window, and carefully looked at a knife in his hand.
This is a very beautiful knife with a purple handle.
The shallow curvature, the cold light, looks majestic and majestic.
Under the illumination of the moonlight, the light reflected from the blade became a little more warm and moist.
Wow...
The door next to the young man was slowly opened.
A very muscular man walked slowly to the young man's side, and then knelt down on one knee.
"Gao Qing." The young man said softly, "What's the matter?"
"Toyotomi-sama, Enma is dead. Shuntaro's relatives and friends have been controlled." The strong man, whom the young man called "Takaharu", summarized the latest information he had just received into a short sentence.
As soon as the strong man finished speaking, a smile appeared on the young man's expressionless face.
"After 200 years, Shiranui has finally returned to the control of our Toyotomi family..."
The young man's words contained a bit of self-deprecation.
"Toyotomi-sama, do you need to convey the next instructions to Shintaro?" the strong man asked.
"... Gao Qing, help me pass the order to Shintaro later." The young man seemed to have had enough of enjoying it, and slowly put the beautiful sword in his hand back into its sheath, "Let him complete the complete mastery of Shiranui as soon as possible.
.”
"yes."
…
…
Edo, outside Yoshiwara, Orikasa Tea House——
There is a teahouse outside Yoshiwara, quite close to the gate of Yoshiwara.
This tea house was originally a shop specializing in selling bamboo hats.
In the past, samurai were more concerned about their appearance. When visiting places like Yoshiwara to have fun, they would cover their faces with a hat to avoid being seen by acquaintances.
This shop specializes in the business of these samurai.
But as time passed, the samurai gradually let themselves go and no longer considered it a shameful thing to go in and out of Yoshiwara. There were fewer and fewer samurai wearing hats in and out of Yoshiwara, and the business of this shop became increasingly difficult.
In order to survive, this shop had to be transformed into a tea house.
While running the ordinary tea house business, he also continued to sell bamboo hats.
Because of this, people now call this shop not far from Yoshiwara Gate "Origa Tea House".
Orikasa Tea House is one of those rare shops in this era that are open 24 hours a day.
Because it is very close to Yoshiwara, from time to time, officials from the Shirobei Club who are working the night shift come to his place to have a few drinks and eat something, and the number of people is not small.
Relying on this unique terrain advantage, Nori Kasa Teahouse still does a pretty good business even late at night.
In order to make more money, the owner of Nori Tea House has always been open 24 hours a day and has been doing so for several years.
Business is particularly good tonight.
Because a fire broke out in Yoshihara.
In order to extinguish the fire, a large number of town fire officials rushed to Yoshiwara and successfully controlled the fire just now, preventing the fire from raging.
After the fire was under control and they could breathe a little relieved, some tired and thirsty town officials, as well as officials from the Shirobei Club, took the opportunity to go to the Orikasa Tea House, which was still open in the middle of the night.
Drink some tea, eat something, and regain your strength.
Having so many government officials coming to visit is a great opportunity to make money - but the owner of the Nori Kasa Tea House does not want to make this money.
My boss has always had great respect for these heroes who dare to face the terrifying flames.
Therefore, I have deliberately lowered the prices of all food and tea tonight to the lowest, basically just making a profit at cost price.
Since there were many guests tonight, it was naturally quite busy.
Even the owner, who usually only stayed behind the scenes, had to personally pick up the tea tray and deliver snacks and tea to each table.
call……
When the owner was placing the two cups of tea on the dinner plate on a table close to the store entrance, he suddenly heard the sound of the curtain being lifted from the store door behind him.
"welcome!"
After placing all the tea on the tray on the table of this guest, the host immediately showed a well-trained polite smile and looked towards the door of the store.
There was only one new customer entering the store.
On his waist was a straight knife slightly shorter than a katana, and he wore a bamboo hat on his head.
Because the brim of the bamboo hat was very wide, and the guest had his head slightly lowered, the host could not clearly see his appearance.
"Are there any free tables?" the man asked his host concisely.
The voice was very old, a voice that only an elderly person could make.
"Yes!" the host said immediately, "Is there only one person?"
"Yeah." The old man nodded.
"plz follow me!"
The host made an "invite" gesture to the old man, and the old man slowly walked towards the host. Under the leadership of the host, he walked towards the table that was still empty.
Because the owner is much shorter than the old man, he can just barely see the old man's face by raising his eyes.
So after the old man got closer, the owner could vaguely see that the old man's hair was almost completely gray.
There are many wrinkles on the face.
The most remarkable thing is that he only has one eye.
There is a vertical scar covering the old man's left eye.