Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: I Will Gladly Become a Yaksha to Protect My Precious Ones
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"…Understood."
Takigawa hesitated for a moment but soon accepted Il-yeong's order without resistance. Naturally, Niwa Nagahide tried to interject something.
"Then, I'll leave Niwa-dono in your hands."
"Pardon?"
Instead, Il-yeong assigned Niwa Nagahide to Takigawa and said he would personally drag the captives to the prison. Because of that, she had no choice but to shoot Takigawa a look that said, What should we do with the ninjas?
Her black eyes flickered with conflict.
But since she already knew this man was Nobunaga's lover, she nodded.
"Understood."
Ninjas simply carried out orders from their superiors. After binding the subdued ninjas, they surrounded Il-yeong protectively and headed toward the prison.
"…Hmm. What just happened?"
Everything had resolved itself before she could even voice an opinion. So Niwa Nagahide awkwardly scratched her cheek as she watched Il-yeong's retreating back.
Hmm.
It was strange. His exceptional martial prowess was one thing, but the aura around Il-yeong just now had definitely been odd. What was it...?
His expression was clearly gentle.
Yet an inexplicably chilling presence had emanated from him.
Because of that, Niwa Nagahide silently stared at his back until it completely vanished from sight.
She considered following him but shook her head. His authority and status had long surpassed her own. There was a difference between someone she believed would become a key retainer in the future and herself, already serving at the daimyo's side as one.
Well, I'll find out eventually.
She couldn't completely silence the rumors.
No, even if she tried, there were plenty of ways to uncover the truth.
"That said, my clothes are a total mess now."
At Niwa Nagahide's words, Takigawa glanced down at her own attire. The tear in her side was secondary; her knees and clothes were caked in mud from the fall.
In this state, she couldn't exactly return to the banquet hall.
So she met Takigawa's eyes, flashed a slight smile, and said,
"I'm going to wash up. Care to join me?"
Perhaps because night had fallen and darkness blanketed everything.
A faint breeze accompanied her enigmatic smile, gently rustling the bangs that veiled Takigawa's eyes.
Then, her lips parted.
"…I'm fine."
*
At Il-yeong's command, the ninjas shoved all their captives into the cells. As he changed out of his damp clothes, Il-yeong said impassively,
"Leave one with a tight lip. The rest of you, out."
This was a flat, commanding tone utterly unlike the one he'd used when facing Takigawa before. Sensing his abruptly shifted demeanor, the ninjas left one—the most tight-lipped among them—behind and dispersed from the prison.
Of course, they didn't vanish entirely.
A minimal guard remained in case of attacks or escape attempts.
Crackle—
Torchlight flickered in the dim prison.
Shadows danced on the cold stone walls. Now dressed in the simple samurai uniform the ninjas had brought, Il-yeong looked down at the ninjas locked in their cells, staring up at him.
"I've thought about this before."
A chill hung over Il-yeong's face.
An air of indifference prevailed, and his lips moved.
"Why did I come to this place?"
They might think it was because he came from Joseon to Japan, but Il-yeong saw it differently. He had endlessly questioned why he had come here from the modern world.
"No answer ever came."
The gods offered no reply, and he couldn't even guess at the reason. In the end, he had no choice but to accept it.
"I changed my name."
With purposeful strides, he approached a male ninja lying in one of the cells. Though bound head to toe in ropes, the man's eyes still burned with life.
"And went to war."
He yanked off the ninja's mask with a smooth motion.
A rough-faced youth about his age appeared. Il-yeong grabbed his hair, forcing their eyes to meet.
"I killed people. A great many."
He had collapsed into Yoshinari's arms, entranced by the confusion. He had forced smiles and hidden his turmoil as best he could.
But on the day he saved Yoshinari, he realized it.
At some point, he had changed.
Dragged out by Il-yeong's grip, the ninja slumped into a chair. Il-yeong spoke to the one who had stiffened rigidly.
"Do you have a tanto?"
"…Yes."
The ninja carefully drew a small dagger from his robes and placed it in Il-yeong's hand. Il-yeong took it indifferently and held the blade over the fire.
The silver steel glowed red-hot.
At the same time, Il-yeong tightened the gag muffling the trembling youth's terrified pleas and said,
"I intend to make Daimyo-dono—Oda Nobunaga—the king of these islands."
To survive.
And now, for the woman he had come to love.
His precious ones had multiplied.
And so had his enemies.
Il-yeong's piercing gaze fixed on the ninja.
At the same moment, the red-hot blade hissed—sssss—as it met the cool air drawn from the fire.
"To that end, I will gladly kill."
This was no age of reason or intellect.
In this Warring States era, where all discourse was settled by force alone, he was prepared to shed his modern sensibilities.
Silence enveloped the interrogation chamber.
Or rather, something closer to terror.
—Mmph! Mmmph!
Desperate muffled cries leaked through the gag. But Il-yeong did not remove it.
"I'm going to ruin both your knees. Even if they heal, you won't walk again."
He gripped the dagger.
His face transformed once more into that of the yasha from before.
"And I'll let you live. So you can spend your life in regret."
Without someone's aid, he wouldn't even be able to earn a living. Yet Il-yeong intended to spare him.
—Mmph! Mmmph!
A guttural wail begging for mercy—or death.
A sob promising to betray his lord if only spared.
But Il-yeong shook his head.
This man was an example.
A warning of what happened to those who touched him or his people.
Stab.
—Grrgh! Grraaagh!
A beastly scream erupted beyond the gag.
The blade pierced the knee joint precisely, crippling the leg uselessly. Foam bubbled from the ninja's mouth amid unimaginable agony.
—Krrgh! Mmmph!
Sizzle.
The chamber filled with pained shrieks and the ninja's convulsing form. The faces of the bound ninjas in their cells paled, and fear mingled in the eyes of the Kouka-ryu ninja standing silently behind Il-yeong.
What was that face he had shown before?
His broad back and gentle features now seemed utterly alien. Terrifying. Frightening.
Unbidden, a thought arose.
If I endured that torture, could I hold out without betraying my lord?
His conflicted gaze finally settled on Il-yeong.
...It might be better not to betray him.
Fear gripped him already.
Fear of how this man would deal with traitors.
Thus, the nameless ninja resolved himself. If captured, he would take his own life on the spot.
*
Il-yeong wiped the blood from his hands.
Before him, the ninja trembled with blood-soaked knees, staring blankly into space with half-lidded eyes.
He looked down.
The knees were utterly ruined.
He probably wouldn't walk again. Il-yeong stared at the half-unconscious man for a moment before addressing the ninja at his side.
"Bind his knees and drag him to the corner."
"…Yes."
The ninja carefully moved the fainted man. The bandages tied to staunch the bleeding soaked through instantly, but there was no helping it.
"Next."
Il-yeong's gaze shifted.
It swept the cells and settled on a long-haired female ninja.
—Mmph! Mmmph!
Gagged to prevent suicide, she pleaded desperately from behind it. Kill me instead. Please.
Il-yeong opened the cell door with impassive eyes.
With a creak, he sat her down and removed the gag.
Her eyes quivered with anxiety.
Her face twisted in dilemma—should she bite her tongue now?
Clink. The dagger in his hand was placed over the fire. Blood dripped, and the blackened blade heated red again.
Il-yeong stared at it for a moment, then murmured in a low voice stripped of all emotion.
"Your name."
"…H-Hi."
A split-second hesitation.
Without mercy, Il-yeong seized the dagger and brought it to her knee. Just as the searing blade neared her skin...
"Hi-Hinako! Hinako!"
Il-yeong's dagger halted.
Relief washed over her plain but potentially beautiful face. But in that instant...
"Too late."
His hand slashed swiftly, and the dagger pierced her throat without hesitation.
Gurgle—
A long red line opened across her neck, her skin blistering late from the hot blade.
Bleeding out, Hinako looked up at Il-yeong with a Why? expression, but he had already turned to the trembling Kouka-ryu ninja with an emotionless face.
"Next."