Uesugi Tetsu: This Blade Will Shake the Five Provinces and Seven Circuits! Slash Test Maru's Advancement Method, Hundred-Eyed Demon's Quality Upgrade!

Uesugi Tetsu swept his eyes around the area at incredible speed, but found nothing.

It was as though what had just happened had merely been an illusion.

Strange. How did he suddenly disappear?

—Having just barely retreated behind Shibata Katsuie, Fujiyoshiro raised a hand and patted his chest in lingering fear.

"I was only observing from within the crowd... and I almost got discovered."

Looking at the completely oblivious Shibata Katsuie, Fujiyoshiro said no more. Instead, he continued thinking about the previous topic:

Tetsu is over fifty?

That was obviously impossible.

Judging from the vigorous vitality radiating from Tetsu, he felt that the man could be twenty at most.

According to Lord Shibata, Tetsu's attainments in breathing techniques were about equal to his own, meaning he could only cut around a thousand kan.

But... if Tetsu could only cut that much, there was no reason he could have caused such a commotion in Sunpu Castle.

So Fujiyoshiro clenched his fist and said quietly,

"Lord Shibata, I still stand by my view."

"Hmph."

Shibata Katsuie could not help but let out a cold laugh. He patted the short Fujiyoshiro on the shoulder, making the latter's body tremble twice. "That monkey, how about we make a bet?"

"If this Onmyoji Tetsu is more or less as I described, then you'll warm my straw sandals for the next month as well."

Fujiyoshiro was stunned when he heard this. He knew that Shibata Katsuie's "drunken man's aim was not the wine," but rather Lord Nobunaga.

His regular duty was to carry Lord Nobunaga's straw sandals. Now that the weather had turned cold, he naturally had to warm them too.

He figured that Lord Shibata had proposed this bet merely as an excuse to spend more time with Lord Nobunaga.

As for why Fujiyoshiro thought