Terumi Mei was very dangerous.
Her ninjutsu was strange, her reactions were quick, absolutely a battle-hardened veteran.
Most importantly, even though Ryosuke used Purple of Restraint to bind her, and one hand gripped Terumi Mei's shoulder to ensure she was within Star Platinum's attack range, the system's "defeat" notification still hadn't appeared.
That meant, despite appearances, although Ryosuke suppressed Terumi Mei, the opponent still had the ability to turn the tables at any moment. Ryosuke did not have absolute advantage.
'In the fight with Kakashi, it was because I defeated the 'holding-back version of Kakashi,' so I got soul fragments. But this woman in front of me, there's no such thing as holding back. If I keep fighting…'
'It'll be a fight to the death.'
The two had no grudge between them. Ryosuke had no intention of fighting Terumi Mei to the death.
Even if a death match had to happen, it would be after figuring out her intentions.
"Name."
"Terumi Mei."
"Gender."
Terumi Mei squinted her eyes, stuck out her chest, "What do you think?"
'Hard to say.'
After all the recent assassination attempts, Ryosuke had PTSD, men could become women, old people turn into children, ninja had endless tricks. Who knew if this was a cross-dresser?
"Please answer properly."
"Female."
Ryosuke nodded.
Terumi Mei glanced at Ryosuke's hand on her shoulder. A subtle tingling warmth spread, as if countless tiny currents were threading through her blood vessels, drilling into her body, gently stroking her heart.
'This feeling… is very strange.'
Ryosuke noticed Terumi Mei's expression becoming odd. He wasn't sure what she was thinking, so he continued using Ripple sensing to monitor her heartbeat and breathing, to determine whether she was lying.
"Why did you come to Snowy Village?"
"To meet you once."
"Did you come to kill me?"
"No."
In her heart, Terumi Mei added, 'Not for now.'
Ryosuke thought for a moment and asked the key question, "How did you know I would come to Snowy Village?"
The intel about Snowy Village was known only to Kamihara Hayato. Based on Ryosuke's understanding of him, Hayato wasn't the type to sell someone out just for money.
Hayato wasn't a "money-first" kind of intel dealer. Otherwise, he wouldn't keep complaining that Ryosuke was interfering with his vacation.
To him, living comfortably was more important than money.
Selling out Ryosuke wouldn't bring him joy. But, if he were captured and tortured, that was a different story.
Kamihara Hayato had helped Ryosuke many times. Some favors could be measured in money, but some could not.
That was "human debt."
If Hayato really suffered unjustly because of Ryosuke, then Ryosuke would have to save him.
Terumi Mei's mind was sharp. She quickly realized why Ryosuke looked so serious. She explained, "Just a guess."
"Based on your trail of killing bounty hunters and assassins, I predicted your general direction of movement."
"You took Samehada, for one of two reasons, to sell it, or to use it yourself. Since you killed Fuguki, quite some time has passed. That's more than enough time to sell it. But I never heard any news of Samehada being sold."
"That means, you want to use it yourself."
Ryosuke slightly lifted his chin, signaling her to continue.
"Samehada is a very special sword. It only submits to someone suitable. Along the way, I didn't see any wounds caused by Samehada on the bounty hunters' bodies. Clearly, it hasn't submitted to you, "
Terumi Mei thought of the terrifying Star Platinum and rephrased, "Or rather, it's not compatible with you. You didn't sell it, and it's not compatible. That leaves only one path."
"Reforge it."
Reshape the tsundere Samehada into something suitable for Ryosuke.
Terumi Mei curved her lips into a faint smile, "Based on that intel, I searched for swordsmiths in this direction, and locked in on Snowy Village… That wasn't difficult."
The logic chain was clear. The deduction was accurate.
Ryosuke had to admit, Terumi Mei was a smart woman.
"What do you intend to do?" Ryosuke asked.
"Like I said, I just came to meet you. I wanted to see what kind of person Ryosuke is, who committed such a 'foolish' crime."
Terumi Mei's gaze was aggressive.
Ryosuke said coldly, "You've seen me now. You can leave."
"No can do. This is just a first impression at best."
Seeing Ryosuke slowly frown, Terumi Mei retracted her smile.
"I won't disturb you. You can treat me like a regular traveler. We just happened to meet in a small village, nothing more. Once you leave Snowy Village, I'll leave too. Or…"
Terumi Mei leaned back, resting against a broken tree trunk, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.
"You can kill me now."
Killing Terumi Mei wasn't an easy thing.
Most importantly, after rescuing people in Mist Village and showing concern for the intel dealer, from these two events, Terumi Mei had roughly gauged Ryosuke's personality.
He wasn't the kind of person who'd kill someone just because they wanted to see him.
As long as Terumi Mei didn't show hostility or violate Ryosuke's principles, she could maintain a suitable distance and openly observe Ryosuke.
'It's practically like watching a tsundere cat.' Terumi Mei thought silently.
Ryosuke raised his hand. The Purple of Restraint wrapped around her hands and feet quietly withdrew.
"You trust me now?" Terumi Mei asked.
Ryosuke said, "The prettier the woman, the more likely she lies."
Terumi Mei dusted herself off and stood up, hands on her hips, boldly flaunting her feminine charm, "Then do you think I'm pretty?"
Ryosuke turned around and walked toward the village. Just as his back was about to disappear, his voice drifted over, "You look like a good liar."
Terumi Mei's lips curled into a smile, which tugged at her wounds. She rubbed her face.
"Damn man… that punch really hurt."
———
Ryosuke and Terumi Mei, whose face still bore injuries, returned to the dinner table.
The atmosphere grew even weirder.
It wasn't until dinner ended, and Ryosuke used Ripple energy to help heal Haku's mother's cold, that smiles finally returned to everyone's faces.
After receiving a basketful of thanks, Ryosuke's group of three stayed at Haku's home.
Ryosuke, Rei, and Sasuke laid out floor mats. The candlelight went out. Moonlight fell in thin layers. Rei, exhausted, soon fell asleep.
Sasuke was still wide-eyed.
"Brother Ryosuke, is Teacher Terumi an assassin?"
Ryosuke instructed, "Not for now. Can't say about later. Just stay cautious around that woman."
Sasuke responded with a hum and turned to look at the room where Haku's family slept.
"Haku's mom… her illness isn't a normal cold, right? I felt a different kind of 'breathing.'"
Ryosuke nodded slightly.
Inside Haku's mother's body, her internal organs were radiating cold. A normal person would have died already.
Her "cold" symptoms likely came from the chill accumulating too long inside her.
Ryosuke tucked Rei's blanket gently and whispered, "Don't think too much. Everyone has their own secrets. If they don't want to say, don't ask. Sleep."
Sasuke replied softly and crawled into bed, leaving only a tiny head poking out.
———
The next morning, Ryosuke was woken by the sound of crying and shouting.
"Sir… this is all the food our family has left. If you take it, we'll all starve to death!"
"Starve? Serves you right! That's what you get for not working harder!"
Then came sobbing and wailing.
Ryosuke and the others exchanged glances and stepped out of the room.
They saw a fat and skinny man, both wearing thick cotton jackets with katana at their waists, kicking and punching a limping man.
The man's wife was lying over him, trying to protect her husband. The samurai ignored her and beat her too.
"Peh!"
One of the samurai spat and yanked a sack of food from the man's arms.
He opened it, it was half animal feed husk, and the rest was unpeeled corn and rice grain.
"Just this?"
The samurai sneered, then slung the man's wife over his shoulder.
"Then sell your wife to pay this month's heating tax."
This was the aftereffect of Yagura's human trafficking policies.
Even though the daimyo had denounced it, he wasn't removed from power, so corruption continued.
Those at the top didn't care, so those at the bottom followed suit. Making some "extra cash"? Why not?
"No! Sir! You can't, "
The limping man hobbled after them. Just two steps in, the tall, skinny official kicked him over again.
Haku's family of three had already come outside. Seeing this, Haku looked uneasy.
Ryosuke asked, "What's the heating tax?"
Haku whispered, "A new county magistrate came recently. Since he took office, many new taxes have been added."
"Heating tax is the tax we pay for burning firewood at home to keep warm. Besides that, there's a fishing tax, autumn harvest tax, marriage tax, childbirth tax…"
Snowy Village, cold as ice, people here were already poor to begin with.
Last night's dishes and chicken were brought by Terumi Mei. Ordinary families couldn't eat like that even once in several years.
If a family had a man who could work himself half to death, he might barely pay the taxes and stay warm.
But someone like the limping man, who couldn't do heavy labor, would slowly be driven to death.
The short, fat samurai carrying the woman walked up to Haku's house.
Haku's parents smiled flatteringly. "Sir, we've already paid this month's heating tax."
"You did."
The short, fat samurai pointed at Ryosuke's group, "What about them?"
"T-They're just travelers."
"Travelers don't keep warm? Or are you trying to defy the magistrate's orders?"
The short, fat samurai shouted and pushed his thumb out, revealing his katana.
"If you have no money…"
The tall, skinny samurai came forward and stared at Rei with squinting eyes, "Just hand her over."
Rei's face instantly turned pale.
The painful memories she'd slowly buried rose again.
She lowered her head, her pink hair falling, her shoulders trembling slightly.
Seeing Rei's fear, the skinny samurai's eyes lit up even more. He approached, licking his lips, reaching out to touch her face,
A hand grabbed his wrist.
He flared up in rage, ready to yell at Ryosuke for disrespect, but then...
Crack!
His forearm bent 90 degrees, broken cleanly by Ryosuke.
In the blinding pain, his curses turned into screams. He instinctively reached for his katana, but when he met Ryosuke's eyes, his hand couldn't pull the blade out.
"If you draw the blade, you die."
Fear exploded inside him. His only thought, Run. Never come back.
Ryosuke let go. The skinny samurai collapsed onto the ground. His gaze toward Rei changed, from looking down to looking up.
"Still scared?" Ryosuke asked.
Rei sniffled, "Not anymore."
"That's good."
The fat samurai saw this was a tough one. He drew his katana and walked over cautiously.
Ryosuke had no intention of getting his hands dirty, "Sasuke. Break one of their legs. Make them leave."
"Yes."
Ryosuke turned and walked away. Under the shocked gazes of the villagers, he headed toward the blacksmith's shop.
The elderly blacksmith was squatting at his door, eating a rice ball while watching Sasuke beat the two samurai.
A fine show with lunch.
Seeing Ryosuke approach, he tossed the last bite of rice ball into his mouth, "You're the guy that pervert mentioned?"
"Pervert…"
Thinking of Kamihara Hayato's hobbies, Ryosuke nodded.
The blacksmith chuckled. "You've got some guts."
He looked at the blade behind Ryosuke.
"Samehada, huh… long time no see. So, how do you want to reforge it?"
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