Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Warrior from Joseon (2)
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"Ugh..."
A sharp, tingling pain shot through his arm, making him grimace as he scanned his surroundings. It looked like a quiet alley on the surface, but soon a razor-sharp killing intent pressed in from all directions.
'Roughly dozens.'
Blood trickled down the slanted blade in his hand and dripped to the ground. He couldn't even tell if it was the enemy's blood or his own.
And at that very moment.
Black shadows surged up from all sides, raining down on Il-yeong in unison, and countless blades ended up piercing into his back...
"...as if that would happen."
Il-yeong yawned nonchalantly as he calmly surveyed the chaotic interior of the castle. It was only natural, but ninjas weren't the type capable of killing dozens in a single strike and then escaping.
They had only one life each, so the textbook approach was to infiltrate quietly, kill the target, and slip away. In fact, ninjas wore everyday clothes or servant disguises far more often than their signature outfits.
Il-yeong scratched his shaggy hair and perched on a rock in front of the lodging, gazing at the flickering torches swaying under the pitch-black sky as he pondered.
"...should I head back and crash?"
Low-rank samurai weren't assigned individual houses, so they all bunked together in one lodging. But by the time Il-yeong had woken up, most of them had already scattered urgently throughout the castle.
"The reason? ...They're just desperate to rack up some merits, I guess."
The moment the assassination attempt was detected, it was safe to call the whole plot a failure. That left capturing or killing the ninjas who'd come to carry it out.
With no war underway yet, it was only natural for the low-rank samurai to come charging out for a shot at glory. But Il-yeong didn't even pretend to join them. He just stroked his chin with a relaxed expression and muttered to himself.
"What good would I do going out there? Best case, I'd just handle cleanup."
There were already hundreds of samurai garrisoned inside Nagoya Castle, and adding the ashigaru infantry made of commoners meant Il-yeong had pretty much nothing to do.
Someone might suggest he just go back inside and sleep, but the reason he'd bothered coming out wasn't to catch a ninja assassin.
"Hmph. Guess I'll go check it out."
The low-rank samurai lodging sat on a hill on the outskirts of Nagoya Castle, giving him a decent view of troop movements. Once the soldiers started shifting in the direction he wanted, Il-yeong immediately slipped on his geta and headed down the slope.
"Can't pass up a golden opportunity like this."
He hadn't spent the past two months just goofing off without a care. He'd simply been lying low, waiting for his chance.
"Over there! It jumped the wall!"
"Don't let it escape! It's the vermin that dared target the Daimyo!"
As he descended the hill, shrouded appropriately by dense trees, voices of samurai and infantrymen rang out not far away.
"Hmm. Looks like not everyone's cleared out yet?"
Il-yeong decided to take a slight detour through a back path to avoid any annoying encounters. It was so far on the outskirts that it was more like a mountain trailhead than a proper road, but better that than stirring up needless gossip.
How long had he walked?
"Tch..."
Gravel and dirt had worked into his wooden geta, drawing an involuntary grimace—right as an ominous groan erupted directly behind him.
It was muffled instinctively, so faint that anyone with slightly duller ears might've dismissed it as a trick of the wind. Unfortunately for the source, Il-yeong had exceptionally sharp hearing.
"...hm."
Caught off guard by the utterly unforeseen situation, Il-yeong scratched his head awkwardly before muttering just as awkwardly.
"...this is way outside my calculations."
And at that very moment.
Thud!
With the sound of the ground being kicked, Il-yeong immediately leaped back and twisted his waist. A sharp metallic scrape shing echoed through the air.
"Urk...!"
"......!"
Il-yeong broke out in cold sweat at the icy blade hovering right before his nose and promptly rolled away. As a faint mist cleared, his opponent's form came into view.
"...cough."
"Hm."
He couldn't help but sigh at the sight.
The ninja's arm had a hole in it like it'd been shot through, blood oozing out. Two arrows were lodged in its back, and its thigh bore multiple slashes—its right leg dragged with a limp.
"Just to check—thinking of surrendering?"
Il-yeong held his katana at a slant and asked, but the reply came not in words, but as a dagger hurtling straight for his heart.
"Urk!"
Il-yeong dodged the dagger in that split-second moment, bit his lip, and charged forward. The ninja gripped its sword and rushed to meet him head-on.
However.
"Hup!"
"Eh? What the—?"
The ninja, which had seemed ready to clash blades, evaded Il-yeong's sword with movements defying its injuries and bolted away.
Only then did he realize its goal was escape, but it was already too far ahead. That was when it happened.
"Hup!"
Kaboom!
"Kyak!"
A clear, girlish shout rang out as the wooden fence the ninja was about to vault over shattered to splinters. A samurai dropped a long spear gleaming with a blue light and hurtled forward like a bolt of lightning.
"......!"
The ninja snapped to its senses too late and desperately rolled, fumbling in its robes for something—but it was already too late.
Schwick—!
Short and precise.
Yet a gruesome tearing of flesh that no one could ever get used to reverberated through the air. The ninja's body crumpled, its head tumbling to the ground.
Roll, roll.
The head came to rest at Il-yeong's feet. He swallowed rising bile and squeezed his eyes shut.
"...what the hell. I thought it was too easy. Now I've unintentionally snatched someone's merit?"
At that moment, a boyish voice pierced his ear. Il-yeong unwittingly stepped back from the head at his toes and looked up.
Whirl—thunk!
The massive spear spun through the air before slamming into the ground. The blood clinging to its blade sprayed outward in a fan shape. As the moonlight gradually cleared, the samurai's figure came into view.
"Sorry. It wasn't on purpose, so you'll let it slide, right?"
Her rare gray hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail, exposing a healthy, vibrant neckline. Confidence born of skill shone in her matching gray eyes. Her gracefully curved armor openly proclaimed her a female warrior—not that Il-yeong noticed much, thunderstruck as he was by her overwhelming bust.
"...what kind of breasts are those."
"Huh?"
Fortunately, she hadn't heard and tilted her head questioningly. Il-yeong forced down the saliva pooling at the sight of those watermelon-sized mounds.
Sure, anyone might call it insane to have such thoughts with a corpse at his feet. But what could he do? He was a man.
"Hm? Your face looks familiar."
At that, she stepped closer to peer at Il-yeong's face, shadowed by the trees. Moonlight glinted off her spear, briefly illuminating the characters engraved on it.
『Sekino Kanetsada』
"...that spear."
Only then did Il-yeong realize who she was. There was only one retainer of Oda Nobunaga who carried a spear engraved with those words.
"Mori Yoshinari."
"You... know me? Well, it'd be weirder if you didn't. But..."
Mori Yoshinari.
The loyal retainer who would follow Oda Nobunaga through countless rebellions and battlefields to the end.
"Who are you? I know pretty much every samurai worth knowing."
"I'm... hm."
Gazing at her face, now mere inches away, Il-yeong pondered briefly before answering with a soft smile.
"A ronin from Joseon, currently employed as a low-rank samurai by the Oda Clan. Baek Il-yeong."
"Ah, got it?"
And at that very moment.
Click.
Yoshinari smiled with an innocent expression as she leveled her spear at Il-yeong's throat and spoke.
"So, why was a low-rank samurai heading toward the residences of the clan's senior retainers?"
"......haha."
Il-yeong broke out in cold sweat at the cold, razor-sharp sensation on his neck and glared at the ninja's severed head lying conspicuously between them as he thought.
'I was just passing through—why'd it attack me...!'
He'd been trying to move quietly and discreetly, only to get hilariously tripped up. But he had no more time to think. Because...
Swipe.
"W-wait a second. Isn't this a bit too close?"
"Answer me. Ronin from Joseon. If you don't answer by the count of three..."
She smirked.
"...that instant, your head's gonna feel real light."
A woman who could lop his head off in a heartbeat stood right there, smiling innocently.