Volume 8 Chapter 4 Part 2 (2/2)
Even if the 7-tails appeared and the Kujou domain ravaged, every house's bloodline would still survive. For the Yaejima, Tos.h.i.+ro would stay.
”All of you, to your duties!! Give it your all!”
”Yes sir!!”
After Tadahisa's order, all reinforcements headed to the domains they had been a.s.signed to.
The ones who remained made preparations to attack the approaching Ichinose Army, composed of soldiers and monsters.
”Lady Karin. Could that katana be”
”It is as you imagine, sir.”
”I see, there is one more thing I must thank him for then.”
He did not say the name outright, but Kankurou had realized who had given Hakuramaru to Karin.
”Karin. I am going to send people too, but if you see sir s.h.i.+n on the way, please ask them to lend us a hand. If they helped us, we could even take down a 7-tails.”
”Understood.”
Karin nodded to Kuyou, then ran off.
Tsuguho and Tsugumasa followed after her, taking replacements for their broken katana from the Kujou armory.
”Lady Karin, who is this Sir s.h.i.+n that Sir Kuyou spoke about?”
Tsuguho asked about the name she heard in Kuyou and Karin's conversation, completely new to her.
”He helped us during our search for the medicine to cure lady Haruna. He's someone Sir Kankurou says to be stronger than himself. His companions are very skilled warriors as well. If we could obtain their a.s.sistance, as father said, even a 7-tails would not be a threat.”
”Such a person is in the city now!? Please do tell me what he looks like. I will go look for him too. If he helped us, the casualties would surely decrease.”
Tsugumasa's expression lightened up after hearing Karin's confident words. In the west, only s.h.i.+den knew of s.h.i.+n at this point.
”We cannot spend too much time looking for him though.”
”Father said that he would send people from the Saegusa house to look for him. Our first priority is the reinforcements to the Futaba domain. Let's just look around us carefully as we go.”
After these words of caution to Tsuguho, Karin raised her running speed.
Running on the rooftops, they cross the main avenue in a huge leap.
Karin said to look for s.h.i.+n only if they could, but her eyes darted everywhere to find him.
While the inheritance ceremony was being held, s.h.i.+n and Schnee were looking at the results posted in the main avenue.
”The higher ranked seats won in the first two matches, I see. In the thirdIchinose won, hmm.”
Looking at the results, s.h.i.+n thought that something might have happened. The results for the 4th match, posted shortly later, reinforced his suspicions.
Because Juugo had defeated two superior Brave Ten members in a row, s.h.i.+den and Akitaka.
”Unexpected results?”
”Yeah, as far as I've been told, the two that lost to that Ichinose Juugo are both ranked higher than him. His opponents should have been stronger.”
s.h.i.+n answered Filma's question about Juugo, who he had seen in town before.
”I see, that's intriguing for sure.”
”Maybe he took some kind of boosting device? Here you go.”
”Thanks. I think Kankurou would notice something like that though. But seeing that the matches are continuing, I suppose they didn't find any trace of foul play.”
s.h.i.+n took the dango offered by Schnee and waited for the results of the next match.
Most matches until now had been brief, so he expected the next results to come soon too.
s.h.i.+baid and Tiera were also looking at the result postings, while munching on dango.
”I expected it all to last longer, but it's been surprisingly quick.”
”It depends, but Ichinose's movements were probably different than what his opponents expected. Kuyou also said that there's a clear difference in level between them, so I guess they got caught by surprise?”
s.h.i.+n tried to put together a plausible explanation. If the cause was Juugo's real ability, then the items he had entrusted would not be needed.
”It's taking longer this time.”
”.that's true. It's already been a while, though.”
s.h.i.+baid talked while looking in the direction of the arena, as the results from the 4th match onwards did not arrive.
20 minutes had pa.s.sed already. The other people around them seemed to be thinking the same thing: voices of expectation and curiosity about the results reached s.h.i.+n's ears.
s.h.i.+n checked the map and saw two light dots repeatedly getting closer and farther from each other. The battle seemed to be still going on.
s.h.i.+n looked away from the map after confirming just that.
”Oh, the results are out!? Ichinose won, huh.”
Many in the surrounding crowd expressed their disappointment at the result. As they lived in Kujou territory, they probably wished for Karin's victory.
”That doesn't look like a good sign.”
”I agr.bingo. Something's coming.”
”Something iscoming?”
”It'll reach your perception field in a minute or so, Schnee. It's monsters and a large crowd of people. Seems like we can't take it easy anymore, folks.”
s.h.i.+n talked while looking towards the opposite direction of the results' postings board.
As he had predicted, after about 1 minute an army-like group entered Schnee's perception field.
At the same time, they heard the sounds of something crumbling and a cloud of dust arose from the arena.
”Kuu! Kuu kuu!!”
”Yuzuha? What's wrong?”
As to sound the alarm to the already alert group, Yuzuha started barking all of a sudden.
After they calmed her down, Yuzuha said that a powerful force was drawing closer to Mt. Fuji.
”(Something bad!! There!!)”
”(Something bad? A demon?)”
”(No. But the presence is nasty!!)”
Yuzuha talked frantically while beating on s.h.i.+n's shoulders.
Yuzuha's unusual behavior made s.h.i.+n think that she had perceived a special opponent, so he looked towards the direction she mentioned. He could not detect anything in his range, but Yuzuha seemed absolutely sure that there was something.
”The Kujou soldiers are on the move. Perfect, someone that should know what's going on is coming. I'll be right back.”
Karin was not by herself, so s.h.i.+n told Schnee and the others to wait and jumped on a roof. He was looking towards Karin, hastily moving on the rooftops like him.
Two other people were following her.
”Sir s.h.i.+n!!”
”You seem in a rush, did something happen?”
Karin was relieved at seeing s.h.i.+n.
He already had an idea of what could have happened from the sounds and clouds of dust coming from the arena, but seeing that Hakuramaru was dangling at Karin's waist, his suspicion became certain.
”I am really glad I could meet you. There is something I must ask you.”
Karin talked about the reports she had heard in the arena.
”I see, the Ichinose. Tamamo was not there, right?”
”Yes, if possible I would like to request you and your companions' a.s.sistance”
”No problem for me, but let me talk about it with my companions first. There's something that concerns me. I will catch up with you later.”
The Futaba domain Karin mentioned was close to Mt. Fuji. s.h.i.+n was concerned about the monster forces drawing closer to it, but he could not put Yuzuha's words aside.
The direction was the same, so s.h.i.+n decided to solve Yuzuha's concern, then join Karin's reinforcements.
”I heard what happened. Listen up, everyone.”
s.h.i.+n reported what he heard to Schnee and the others. He used Silent Domain to soundproof the area around them, so the surrounding crowd did not hear anything.
”Monsters, is it. Could the ”bad thing” Yuzuha talked about be the now disappeared Tamamo?”
”Could be. I'm going there. I would like to ask you all to go to each domain as reinforcements.”
”I will go to the Futaba domain. Once things have been taken care of, I will come to Mt. Fuji.”
Schnee chose the location close to s.h.i.+n's, without hesitation. As she boasted the highest speed in the group, she could act faster than anyone else regarding the matter of Yuzuha's worry, the most unpredictable element.
”I shall stay here. It is shameful to say, but I am the slowest among us.”
As s.h.i.+baid expressed his intention of staying, Filma made her decision.
”Okay, I'm going to the s.h.i.+jou territory with Tiera then. If we physically reinforce Kagerou's legs, we'll arrive there quickly.”
”Un-understood!”
s.h.i.+baid also had concerns. He mentioned the reason for staying behind is his slow movement speed. However, with Filma's cooperation they avoid getting Tiera involved in a war between humans.
s.h.i.+baid mentioned his reason for staying as his slow movement speed, but -with Filma's cooperation- he meant to avoid involving Tiera in a war between humans.
If the Ichinose soldiers had started their march on their own free will, a different kind of battle than the simple survival against monsters would take place.
It was also different than fighting thieves or bandits. It would be true war, a bloodbath, mult.i.tudes of people killing each other.
s.h.i.+baid and Filma thought that Tiera, who had only experience fighting monsters, should not be exposed to a war between thousands of people just yet.
”Things might turn harsh here, but will you be alright, s.h.i.+baid?”
”I have experienced this type of battle plenty of times. I do not know if they come of their own will or are being manipulated, but if it's the latter I will save as many as possible. I despise this way of doing things, after all. If they come at me with intent to do battle, however, I will have to react accordingly.”
s.h.i.+baid's statement implied that he would not hesitate to cut his opponents down, would their actions demand it.
”That is perfectly fine. Everybody, we're off!”
With s.h.i.+n's words as a signal, the party of four (plus one fox) set on their respective tracks.