Bankaku Nisei, Gensei Jirou, Kagei Banma, and Arakawa Jirou, each with their ragtag crews, gathered at Araumi's shrine. Barren ley lines kept Araumi free of youkai, making the shrine a rest stop for exorcising shrine maidens. Bankaku and Gensei ran together, with Bankaku leading. Kagei and Arakawa each headed their own ronin bands. They eyed each other warily, only Bankaku and Gensei familiar from past dealings.
"Hey, Banma, you and Arakawa got dragged here too?" Gensei called out.
"You lot got summoned as well?" Arakawa replied, rubbing his bald head.
"Me and the boss both got invites," Gensei nodded. Ronin had their own grapevine, especially among notorious names like these.
"Time's almost up. Where's this guy?" Arakawa growled, impatient.
"If he's playing us, the Bankaku crew will—" Bankaku started, cut off by a violet bolt splitting the sky. Thunder cracked as a figure landed in the shrine's clearing. Purple hair, brown-yellow robe over high-ranking Inazuma garb—Reisen Riou.
"Good evening, all," he said. "I'm Reisen Riou, your summoner."
"Your promises—do they hold?" Bankaku Nisei challenged.
"Absolutely," Reisen Riou nodded. "Frankly, you're the standout here. The rest need work."
Bankaku glanced around. Most of their men had collapsed, dazed by Reisen's Electro aura. Only Gensei, Kagei, and Arakawa held firm, barely. The pressure lifted; Gensei checked their crew, nodding—they were fine.
"Here's the contract," Reisen Riou said, presenting a prepared scroll. "Sworn before Lord Geo Archon and Lady Narukami." It bound them to thirty years' service. Rewards: samurai status in five years, land grants in ten, gentry rank in twenty, freedom with a hefty payout in thirty, and no suicide or relentless high-risk missions. In return, they'd serve diligently. It also covered death or disability compensation.
They read, then signed, one by one. "Good," Reisen Riou said. "Under the Geo Archon's and Raiden Shogun's gaze, oathbreakers face the Wrath of the Rock."
A male voice boomed from the void: "Contract approved." A female voice followed: "Hereby witnessed."
The ronin froze, awestruck. Reisen Riou left an address. "Prepare and meet me there. Don't worry—you'll get used to Ei." He smirked, knowing the "Raiden Shogun" was his wife.
Weeks later, Reisen Riou watched his recruits train in tracking and counter-tracking. "My gems from the sand," he said to Ei. "What do you think?"
"You never fail to surprise," Ei nodded, impressed by their potential. "I was shocked when I saw their data. Who'd guess Narukami's backwaters hid such talent? So many Vision-wielders, too."
"With a big enough population, Vision-holders pop up," Ei said. "Most are in the Shogunate's system anyway."
Ronin were samurai-born, after all. "Makes me bullish on Inazuma," Reisen Riou grinned. "I'll train them personally. Maybe they'll outshine the Okuzumeshu."
"Then I'll pick an elite samurai squad to train," Ei laughed, eyeing promising recruits for her own regimen.
Beyond the four Vision-wielding ronin—his high-tier muscle—Reisen Riou pulled from Ritou: a dozen LV30+ hatamoto-level combat samurai, master smiths at LV5 to craft custom weapons, and shrine maidens for basic spells and healing. His training goals were brutal: unmatched prowess in small-unit and solo combat, mastery of sword, polearm, and bow, plus minor Hydro and Pyro spells. They'd excel in scouting, counter-scouting, tracking, stealth, silence, trace erasure, killing, and survival, with self-healing and independent decision-making for swift mission success.
Ei, catching his sly grin without mind-reading, sensed mischief. She conjured a Longevity Thunder Elixir phantom, then snuffed it. "With this, they'll grow fast," she thought. "Maybe too fast—hope it's not bullying." Her trainees would hit at least LV50+.