“Is this the place…?”
The village lay there, nestled quietly as if hiding among the mountains.
“Pah… wheeze… gasp… y-yes… th-thath’s right…”
Ayame, whose buttocks were smacked by Liz every time she slowed down along the way, managed to complete the run in exactly two hours.
“M-My butt… wah… it hurts… hahyu… wheeze…”
“Cure…”
“Th-Thank you… so much… phew, hahiee…”
“How pathetic… You won’t be able to protect Master like that.”
“I-I’m terribly… wheeze… s-sorry… haah… I have no excuse.”
Just as she said she had burned it down, houses here and there were charred, with some spots still smoldering.
“Whoa… you really went all out… though I don’t feel any presences.”
“P-Probably… hafuu… near the… wheeze… Great Waterfall… ngh… haah…”
“Then let us head there.”
“Y-Yes…”
Following Ayame toward the waterfall, we found men gathered in a plaza in front of a large… a very large waterfall. There were about twenty of them… and all but one were kneeling.
“Hah… that is my father… Hattori Hanzō.”
Looking where she pointed, a single middle-aged man stood there, saying something.
“There are no women or children.”
“The women and children live in a separate location.”
Ayame, her breathing finally under control, answered.
“Master, how shall we proceed?”
“I’ll go from the right. For now, I’ll try talking to them, so hold off on the killing.”
“Then I shall go from the left…”
“W-What about me?!”
“Ah, Ayame… if anyone tries to run, stop them. Just a moment’s delay will be enough.”
“Eh?! My Lord… half of the people there are Jōnin! S-Surely the two of you alone aren’t enough!”
“Ah, it’ll probably be fine. Liz?”
“Yes… I believe it will be no problem at all.”
“Eh?!”
Ayame looked back and forth between Liz and me repeatedly.
“Well then, shall we go… Hello!”
“Ah, please wait!”
I walked normally toward the group.
Liz separated from me, drew her bastard sword, and walked similarly to block their escape route.
“So you’ve returned, Ayame… You’ve certainly done it now. Is that the man in question?”
“Hi, I’m the man in question. Since Ayame-chan apparently went on a rampage and burned the place down on her own, I came to apologize. Sorry about that.”
“Oh… and you expect me to believe that?”
Hanzō cast a glance toward Liz, who was slowly walking into a pincer position, and then glared at me.
It seemed there was room for talk; I was glad he was a level-headed person.
“F-Father! My Lord has nothing to do with it! Since you said you would become My Lord’s enemy, I did it of my own accord…”
“Hmm… even if she is like that, she is still the daughter of this Hattori Hanzō… I do not know how you broke Ayame in just one night… but she seems to be completely captivated by you…”
I had violated her thoroughly, after all.
“Who knows? I persuaded her and she said she’d serve me. So? I won’t tell you lot to serve me too… but could you just leave me alone?”
“As if that were possible… What is your goal? Bringing in the Kamo family, and next the Iga… Do you intend to rule over Japan?”
“No, I’m really not thinking of anything like that… I just want to live normally. Haven’t you heard from the Kamo family? They said they want my seed. So, in exchange for that, they’re keeping my identity hidden…”
“You claim that is truly all?”
“Have I done anything using the Kamo family? I haven’t, have I?”
“You might just be planning to. Ayame… is this man an exile after all?”
Ayame cast a brief glance at my face and did not answer.
“Yeah… maybe. My demands are that you stop interfering with me and keep information about me secret. If both the Kamo family and your people hide it, surely no one will be able to find out about me anymore?”
“Absurd… and if I refuse?”
“I suppose I’ll have no choice but to have you all die?”
“Oh… and you believe you can do such a thing before us?”
“I don’t think it’ll be as hard as you say. Then how about this? If I defeat you all while leaving everyone alive, you’ll serve me… or even if you don’t go that far, just keep my identity secret and don’t interfere.”
“If you were to easily subdue us, the power map of Japan would change significantly.”
“I already said I have no interest in that… I just want to be able to live happily.”
“Heh heh heh… Boasting that you have such power… and all you want is to live happily?”
“Yeah… in life, the one who has the most fun wins, right?”
“True enough… Very well. Even I do not think well of a Japan ruled by the current Seimei. However… unfortunately, you must die here. Ayame! You too have betrayed the Iga. Die and apologize to your kin.”
Thirst for blood surged all at once.
“Kill them!”
Immediately after, five men took up combat stances in front of both Liz and me.
“Ayame… as I said before, catch anyone who runs. Though I don’t think I’ll be letting them escape so easily.”
“Master, are you ready now?”
“Yes…”
“Yes! B-But even if those men are only Chūnin…”
In the middle of Ayame’s sentence, Liz swept away the five men lined up together with the flat of her bastard sword.
Crunch-crack-snap! Thud!
The five men were blown away horizontally all at once… crashed into a tree, and became a pile.
“Wh-What?! What is that woman?”
Hanzō was speechless.
“Hey now, don’t kill them for the time being.”
“Yes, Master. I have held back to the extent of only crushing every bone in their bodies, so it is fine.”
“How the hell is that fine?!”
Hanzō was screaming something.
In a world based on recovery magic versus this world, the range of “half-killed” is vastly different.
In that world, as long as you don’t end their lives, everything counts as half-killed.
To a person from this world, it might already be considered fully killed…
The men in the pile were twitching, while various fluids leaked from their mouths and lower halves.
Well, judging by that state, they’ll likely still be breathing for about an hour even if left alone. As expected of Liz, it was a wonderful degree of half-killing.
“So? Are those guys over there the next opponents?”
Having easily finished off five people with my bare hands while talking, I tossed them aside to create a pile of bodies.
“A-Amazing. My Lord… and Lady Liz are overwhelming… Ah?! My Lord, Lady Liz, the remaining ones are all Jōnin! Please be careful!”
Hanzō took a step toward me and gave orders to the nine men behind him.
“Six of you take the woman… Since it’s a greatsword, it should be difficult to handle. Overwhelm her with numbers! I will deal with you.”
Four people including Hanzō for me, and six for Liz. I wonder if he’s planning to take down Liz first?
But well…
“Fire Style!”
“Hah!”
Two fireballs and two shuriken flew toward Liz, who was holding her bastard sword loosely at her side.
Following those, men swung their katanas from three directions.
However, Liz intercepted the attacks, which were launched with slight time intervals, in precise order.
She sliced through the two fireballs, struck down the shuriken, and parried the katanas swung from three sides with her bastard sword.
Clang-clatter-clash!
The greatsword and the katanas collided violently, and one katana snapped in half and flew away.
“Kh! So fast.”
In the brief moment while the man with the broken sword retreated and the man who had thrown the shuriken from the rear swapped in, Liz kicked one man away and swept another aside with the flat of her bastard sword.
“Oboberobubeeh!”
Crunch…
The man fell exactly on top of the five who were swept away earlier.
Ahh, his leg is bent in a weird direction.
Seeing that, the men’s movements stopped.
“Is that it? I apologize, but could you please not stop your attacks and just stand there? I feel like I might accidentally slice you in half with too much momentum.”
In fact, during the instant everyone’s eyes were drawn to the man who was blown away, Liz—who had swung her bastard sword to within centimeters of the stomach of the man who had stepped in and drawn his katana—stopped her blade, leaped backward, and created distance.
That’s how it goes.
“A-Amazing… L-Lady Liz… no! Liz Onee-sama!”
Oh, she’s been promoted to Onee-sama.
Wait, aren’t they the same age?
“Wh-What… is that… a monster…?”
“Is it okay to look away?”
I approached right in front of Hanzō, gave him a flick on the forehead, and then distanced myself.
“Akuh! Wh-What…”
Putting a hand to his forehead, he looked at me with eyes that seemed to be seeing something unbelievable.
“Kamo… Kamo Yasunori saw your power and… submitted… Haha… Hahaha… I see… Ayame… you as well?”
“Yes, Father. To oppose My Lord is a foolish thing. This was my first time meeting Liz Onee-sama, but I believe My Lord, who commands her, is even stronger…”
“I see… I see… Very well. If I recall… Kiriake… Kiriake Riku, was it?”
“That’s right, Mr. Hattori Hanzō. Is the name hereditary?”
“No, Onmyōji like the Kamo family seem to be hereditary, but we succeed the name through merit.”
“I see. Well then, Mr. Hanzō. I’ll heal all the injuries later, so feel free to come at me with everything you’ve got.”
Taking out a common mass-produced sword instead of a magic sword, I raised my left hand and beckoned him with my fingers.
Hanzō held his katana in a reverse grip and lowered his center of gravity.
“Hattori Hanzō… challenging you!”
With Hanzō in front, four Jōnin attacked from the left and right with katanas.
Using reactive counter-timing, just before Hanzō swung his katana, I thrust my sword toward his neck even faster.
“Guh!”
Having made Hanzō retreat with that one action, I parried the katanas of the two men coming from the right with my sword and caught the katana of the man coming from the left with my left hand.
“What?!”
Then, I kicked away another man who was just a few moments behind.
“Guhaah!”
Leaving the kicked man as he was, I pulled the caught katana toward me, kneed the man on the left, and threw him toward the men on the right.
The two men on the right caught the thrown man. I followed up with a dropkick on the thrown man from above.
“Ka-boom!”
Three men were blown away together.
“Lightning Style!”
“Whoops…”
Leaving the spot the moment I landed, lightning struck where I had been.
“Hah!”
Extending my right leg back just like that, I kicked and blocked the hilt of Hanzō’s katana, which was aiming for my leg from a blind spot. Turning around as I was, I swung my sword.
“Kh!”
“Ooh, you dodged that well~”
Having gained some distance, Hanzō wiped the wound on his cheek with his thumb.
“That’s my line! Just how much training does it take to reach this… but…”
“I think the amount of real combat experience is different. Liz… don’t interfere.”
At my words, Hanzō cast a look toward Liz and made an expression like he had swallowed a bitter bug.
A total of eleven ninjas, limbs bent in various directions and groaning, were neatly stacked in a single pile.
“Yes, Master. Liz is not so boorish as to interrupt Master’s play.”
“P-Play… you say… But to be brushed off so lightly…”
“Liiiiz… don’t call it play. I’m doing this seriously.”
“My Lord!”
Ayame shouted.
“There we go.”
Avoiding the katana thrusted from directly behind me without looking, I deeply stabbed the thigh of the Jōnin who had launched the attack, also without looking at him.
“Guaaaaah!”
“My apologies, Master. However… it seems these people were under some misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding… you say?”
Hanzō’s face turned toward Liz.
“Yes… You do not understand why Master is playing, do you?”
“It’s to show us his power and make us submit…”
“Show his power…? Make you submit? As I thought… Fufu… Master. Being misunderstood this much, Liz simply cannot bear it… May I?”
“Well, I don’t mind… but keep it moderate.”
Having understood what she was going to do from her gaze, I nodded.
While everyone’s gaze was fixed on her, Liz slowly walked toward the Great Waterfall.
“Haaaaaaah…”
Then she lowered her hips and held her bastard sword behind her back.
“What on earth… is she…?”
Since I was using disguise magic, no one but me could see the flow of mana… but a significant amount of mana was converging on Liz’s bastard sword.
“Hah!”
A single flash…
The Great Waterfall was split in a horizontal line.
Boom!
A roar echoed with a delay. Liz turned around with the reshaped Great Waterfall behind her.
“Hanzō… was it? It is impossible for Master to show his magnificent power to mere people of your level.”
“Ah… uwaah… what… is this…”
Whoa… don’t say “magnificent”… it’s embarrassing. Hanzō-san is speechless.
“Make you submit? What would be the point of making small fry like you submit?”
Whoa… she clearly called them small fry. It’s the Iga! Ninjas! Hattori Hanzō!
Twirling her bastard sword, Liz thrust it into the ground.
“U… uwaah…”
“Master is kind, so you must have misunderstood… but it is you who must show your power. Do you possess even a sliver of the qualification to follow Master? If not, you shall simply return to nothingness. Now…”
“Ah… how could…”
Hanzō turned toward me with bloodshot eyes. The Jōnin who could still move also stood up and looked at me with bloodshot eyes.
“Now, show your power to Master!”
Thump!
Liz pulled the bastard sword from the ground and thrust it in again.
That sound served as the signal, and everyone who could move lunged at me.
Well, I suppose it was for the better since it’ll be quick…
I thought to myself as I parried the men launching desperate attacks at me.
