When Ryosuke rode his horse back to Warsaw City, the chaos had basically subsided. Things had entered the cleanup stage.
Official samurai, local gangs, and many passionate citizens all came out into the streets to help tidy up the aftermath and tend to the wounded.
Tokugawa Shingen directed his officials to restore the city's power grid and issued a city-wide broadcast, retelling the truth behind the incident, with some extra embellishment, for the citizens of Warsaw City.
As Ryosuke galloped back into the city and walked through the streets, everyone stopped what they were doing.
Even the most arrogant Warsaw natives now moved aside, took off their hats, and lowered their heads slightly, showing their deepest, most sincere respect through action.
As mentioned before, only a portion of the rebel army were members of the Rat Legion. The rest were mostly local students and workers.
If not for Ryosuke, their families would have died because of a conspirator's lies.
Ryosuke nodded slightly to them and continued forward, heading back to the daimyo's mansion.
Kakashi and Amber were guarding the mansion. Their job was to protect Tokugawa Shingen, this fat daimyo couldn't die, at least not before he signed the treaty.
Seeing Ryosuke return, Kakashi let out a long sigh of relief.
His body still hadn't fully recovered and wasn't fit for battle. If he forced himself to fight, he might reopen his injuries and faint again.
"It's over?"
Ryosuke nodded. "The killing's done. But..."
He turned and looked toward Warsaw City.
"There's still more to deal with."
Tens of thousands of rebels and civilians had been turned into half-stone people by the rain. This problem could only be solved by Ryosuke. If left unattended for too long, those people would really die.
It would only take a bit of time to save tens of thousands of lives. Ryosuke couldn't just ignore it.
The other matter was more complicated.
The vast majority of the rebel army had been manipulated by Kurosaki's drugs and deceit, that's why they became bloodthirsty killers. Everyone understood that much.
But the question was, should they still be held responsible for murder?
That night, the rebels had killed plenty of people, samurai, wealthy merchants, and unlucky bystanders who got caught up in the chaos.
Among the dead, there were certainly those who deserved it.
But there were also those who were just ordinary people, living their lives by the rules.
People who might never have done anything truly wrong in their whole lives, training, studying, working, all to make a living. Maybe because of talent or luck, they became samurai or rich merchants.
Did they deserve to die?
Whatever the excuse, slaughtering the innocent couldn't be brushed off with "I was drugged" or "I was deceived."
After thinking for a long time, Ryosuke said to Tokugawa Shingen, "Gather all the petrified people's bodies together. I'll treat them, and extract their memories at the same time."
That was Ryosuke's plan, by reading their memories, he would determine how many people each had killed, whether they were truly deceived, had malicious intent, or were agents secretly planted by the corporations to stir chaos and incite conflict.
"After examining their memories, we'll see what kind of people they killed."
"If the ones they killed were scum beyond redemption, then killing them was no crime."
"If the victims were just unlucky people who got caught up in it…"
Ryosuke sighed softly and fell silent for a moment. Tokugawa Shingen, having fully assumed the role of the surrendering faction, stood silently by his side. If not for his daimyo's robes, he could've been mistaken for some fat butler.
If this scene had happened before tonight, people who saw it would definitely mock the "ninja daimyo," saying he was so desperate to live that he'd endure anything, even throwing away the dignity of the Land of Wind.
But what happened tonight was simply too shocking.
Those who didn't know the truth only saw Ryosuke shining brighter than the moon itself, saving Warsaw City from disaster all by himself.
Those who understood the hidden layers, the deadly trap set by the corporations, were in awe of how Ryosuke managed to make such perfect choices in such a short time.
Tokugawa Shingen quietly waited for Ryosuke's final decision, showing not a trace of impatience.
Tonight's savior was Ryosuke. Even if he had to stand and wait the whole night, Tokugawa Shingen would not complain.
"…If they killed innocent people, I'll have legal experts from the Land of Water coordinate with the Land of Wind. Both sides will discuss and decide the judgment together."
That was Ryosuke's final arrangement.
Tokugawa Shingen smiled and nodded.
"As you wish."
The night breeze brushed against Ryosuke's face. He stood by the window, thought for a moment, and asked, "You seem like you already expected tonight's tragedy to happen?"
Tokugawa Shingen chuckled. "Mr. Ryosuke, with your eyes, you must have seen it too, Warsaw City, no, the entire Land of Wind is like a train charging forward at full speed."
"So sooner or later, it'll derail, either soaring to heaven or crashing into hell. We don't know which. All we know is that for now, it still runs. And it looks like it can keep running for a few hundred more years."
Unlike the corruption and rot of the Land of Water, the Land of Wind… was relatively clean.
But that cleanliness didn't mean it was better.
The Land of Wind's cleanliness came from capital's relentless pursuit of efficiency.
Everyone in this country was like a person thrown into a desert dune, drained of water, even their impurities scrubbed away by the sand.
Each person was stripped bare, dry and thin, throwing themselves into factories and mines, sacrificing their lives for the sake of profit.
When the corporations, driven by greed, kept swallowing all the profits, pushing those already dried-out people into despair, that would be when this train called "the Land of Wind" plunged into the abyss.
Still, from what Ryosuke had seen on his journey, that moment wasn't quite here yet. Especially in Warsaw City, it was still in its consumerist age. The real downfall would begin when the citizens stopped consuming.
If the corporations and daimyos could recognize the risk, take out some funds to build a welfare system and spark a technological revolution, they might just extend the train's running time.
"…Normally, that would be true," Tokugawa Shingen said. "But then you showed up."
"Mr. Ryosuke, you're a smart man, so I'll be frank."
"I did plan to give you Gorin City, to agree to your tax demands, and to accept all your unreasonable conditions, for one reason, to buy time."
Ryosuke said nothing.
Tokugawa Shingen lifted a cup of sake from the table and sipped it slowly.
"Looking through history, whenever a group is on the verge of destruction, a few hard-headed ones always appear."
He pointed at himself.
"You want to wipe out people like us, but fate will always send someone stubborn enough to trouble you."
"Unfortunately, the Land of Wind doesn't have anyone like that. So all I can do is wait, wait for such a hard-headed one to appear."
"I'm willing to wait. The corporations are willing to wait. But they're not willing to wait with their money. So I knew the moment I decided to 'wait,' some people would want to blow up this locomotive, so they could scatter and escape on their own."
Tokugawa Shingen kept smiling. No matter how serious the situation, he showed no sign of being shaken.
Ryosuke watched him quietly. "Aren't you afraid that, in the end, I'll crush that hard-headed one too?"
"You flatter me," Tokugawa Shingen laughed loudly. "I'm a surrendering man, what's there to be afraid of?"
That was the old desert way of thinking.
In the desert, the greatest taboo was stealing another man's last bottle of water, it meant always leaving each other a way to live.
Tokugawa Shingen used endurance to leave both himself and Ryosuke a path forward.
Ryosuke sighed. "You're a fine investor."
Tokugawa Shingen waved his hand. "Compared to you, I'm nothing. I only invest in the present, while you, you're greedier, and far more terrifying."
"You invest in eternity."
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