It had been a long time since Kamisato Ayato left Higi Village. During this time, Ember, Washizu, and the villagers who had raised the banner of resistance had not been idle.
In addition to daily training, Washizu and the others also had to familiarize themselves with the structural features of Inazuma City using the map provided by Kamisato Ayato.
Among the villagers of Higi Village, only a handful had ever been to Inazuma City. While this approach had limited effectiveness, it could at least prevent anyone from getting lost and falling behind.
At dusk, Washizu led a large group of people down from the back mountain of Higi Village. Each of them carried a full basket of crystal marrow on their backs.
Since the excuse given to the other villagers was to go up the mountain to dig new mines, they naturally had to make the act convincing.
Higi Village was large, and Washizu could not guarantee that there were no spies or people loyal to the Shogunate among them.
If their plans were exposed, the Shogunate Army's target would likely shift from the resistance to Higi Village.
"You're back?" Ember, who was on the Golden Tree at the village entrance, saw them descend and immediately jumped down from the branch.
"Little brats, hurry home, your mothers are calling you for dinner!" Jumping down from the Golden Tree, Ember waved a stick, shooing the children at the base of the tree back home.
"Ah? Is that so?"
"I think I heard someone call me."
"I'm going home, or my butt will be in trouble."
...The children at the base of the tree looked around a few times, but ultimately couldn't bring themselves to gamble on whether Ember's words were true or false.
The reason was simple: stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork were a bit hard to swallow, and these little brats couldn't eat them.
"How is it, are there any with good Talents?" Washizu watched the children at the village entrance drop their sticks and run off, then turned to Ember and asked.
These past few days, they had been busy running between training, familiarizing themselves with Inazuma City's structure, and mining.
Ember, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned, spending his days sitting at the village entrance, instructing the little brats at the base of the tree, appearing not to worry about the success or failure of the plan at all.
"None, ordinary Talents." Ember stuck the stick he held into the ground, saying carelessly.
"Is that so? Well, alright." A trace of disappointment flashed across Washizu's face, but he quickly concealed it.
He had just asked casually; if geniuses were that easy to find, they wouldn't be called geniuses.
"Someone came while you were on the mountain." Ember didn't pay attention to the disappointment that flashed across Washizu's face, because there was a more urgent matter at hand now.
"Someone from the Kamisato Clan Head?" As soon as Washizu heard this, let alone disappointment, even the fatigue from a whole day's labor vanished from his face.
He stared intently at Ember, his breathing involuntarily growing heavy.
"That's right, he was sneaking around, I almost thought he was a thief." Ember nodded and then pointed behind the Golden Tree.
"Come out, Mr. Thoma, the suspected thief!"
"Hey, hey, hey! What do you mean 'thief'? I call this being vigilant, alright." A rather helpless voice came from behind the Golden Tree.
Then, a blond man walked out from behind the thick trunk of the Golden Tree.
"Thoma, the Kamisato Clan's Housekeeper." Thoma turned to look at the group of people in front of him, smiling and waving.
"Washizu, the village chief here." Washizu nodded, then he recalled what Kamisato Ayato had told him earlier.
"When the plan is about to begin, someone will come to inform you."
"Mr. Thoma, your visit to Higi Village this time shouldn't be to fulfill your duties as a Housekeeper, should it?"
Washizu scrutinized Thoma. Although his smile was bright and sunny, the specks of mud on his sleeve guards silently told everyone of the urgency of his journey.
"Haha, just call me Thoma. As for my purpose in coming to Higi Village... this probably isn't the place to talk, is it?"
Thoma nodded. He looked at the many villagers gathered to watch in the distance, then spoke to Washizu as if reminding him.
"Oh! I was careless." Washizu nodded belatedly, then deliberately shouted loudly:
"Sir, please come in, our crystal marrow here is top-grade, you won't find it anywhere else!"
"You must give us a good price!" Washizu said, winking at Thoma.
The latter understood and nodded, "Alright, alright, take me to your storeroom. If the goods are all good, I'll buy them all!"
Washizu and Thoma, like true seller and buyer, chatted and laughed as they passed through the crowd and entered Higi Village... Night fell, and the storeroom in a corner of Higi Village, unlike usual, was not dark but brightly lit.
"Is everyone here?"
Washizu looked up and roughly counted. Besides Ember and his group of 'iron cans', all he saw were moving heads.
"Village Chief, everyone is here!" A villager beside Washizu replied.
"That's good. Next, please welcome the envoy of the Kamisato Clan Head to speak on stage!" Washizu jumped down from the pile of ore, extending a hand to Thoma in invitation.
Seeing all eyes on him, Thoma didn't decline and immediately climbed to the top of the ore pile.
"Cough, cough, cough! Fellow comrades, my name is Thoma. Many of you may not know me, but that doesn't matter. You only need to know that I am the Housekeeper of the Kamisato Clan!"
"Good!"
Ember saw Thoma's passionate speech. As Thoma's friend, he naturally had to help him out, even though they had just met.
So, as soon as Thoma's words fell, a series of "clank, clank, clank" sounds, like metal plates colliding, came from below.
Following the sound, Thoma saw Ember clapping vigorously, along with the Crucible Knights behind him, who were also clapping.
"Quiet down! I was just taking a breath, no need for applause!" Thoma was startled. He quickly looked at the closed storeroom door, fearing someone might notice something unusual.
"Oh." Seeing that no atmosphere-building was needed, Ember stopped clapping. The Crucible Knights behind him also quieted down.
"Don't worry, I've already told the villagers in advance that you're going to open the ore and inspect the goods tonight, and the storeroom might be a bit noisy. They won't suspect anything."
Washizu saw Thoma's startled look and spoke to reassure him.
"That's excellent then." Thoma nodded, retracting his attention. Then he looked at the crowd before him again and continued:
"In two days, the festival will begin. By then, the residents of Inazuma City will all be drawn to the festival, which will be a great opportunity for us to enter the city."
"And I will be your contact. Tomorrow, you just need to follow me closely, and I guarantee you'll arrive in Inazuma City safely without anyone noticing!"
Thoma stated the purpose of his trip. The villagers below, upon hearing this, couldn't help but breathe heavily.
All the preparations they had made over these days were for that moment tomorrow. How could they not be nervous?
"I have a question!" Just as everyone was taking deep breaths to adjust their mindset, Ember raised his hand.
"What is it?" Thoma stood proudly on the ore pile, having made thorough preparations, confident he could handle any changes.
"How are we going to Inazuma City? Walking would take several days. What if we miss the time?" Ember asked Thoma.
These people were not him or Kamisato Ayato. Although their current strength was much greater than ordinary people, it would still take several days to travel from Higi Village to Narukami Island, let alone Inazuma City.
They shouldn't have half of their own people exhausted before the plan even started.
"Don't worry about that. Actually, I've been here for several days already and have arranged transportation for you."
"We'll go by boat! The boat will be waiting by the sea first thing tomorrow morning!"
Thoma waved his hand, saying with immense confidence.
"Boat?" Ember put down his hand. He found it quite coincidental, as he had also planned to put this group of people on a boat earlier.
And he had even found the person—that was Gui Long!
Now that his grain transportation business was stalled, there must be many idle boats.
Looking at Thoma, who was confidently speaking on the pile of ore, Ember wondered if Gui Long had taken on some private work.
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