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Aaaah, my shoulders are so sore. No wonder typing with my laptop in my arms is exhausting. I'll go buy a low table tomorrow...
Five days later.
Nearly five hundred ragged people had gathered outside the dojo. Fear showed on every face. Across from them, Zongcilang and Hijikata Yoshitoyo watched the crowd with icy expressions.
These were the residents of Terminal Gray who had survived the great fire.
Over the past few days, Zongcilang and Hijikata had tracked down all the survivors scattered throughout the area and gathered them here. Anyone who refused to submit had already... died.
Under their iron-fisted methods, these ruffians had been driven here, all the while cursing Zongcilang and Hijikata as a pair of lunatics.
Zongcilang strode forward, his expression colder than ice. There was no trace of his former laziness. "Half of you, come with me!" His voice was cold and hollow, as though his heart had died.
His order immediately threw the crowd into a panic. It took them a long time to gradually split into two groups, and a murderous glint flickered across Zongcilang's face at their sluggishness. But he suppressed it in an instant.
"You're coming with me. From now on, you'll be my subordinates, and I'll train you to prepare for overthrowing the nobles of the Goa Kingdom. Your first training objective is to wipe out the bandits..." As he spoke, Zongcilang abruptly headed toward Mt. Colubo.
The more than two hundred people left behind exchanged glances, uncertainty written all over their faces. Mt. Colubo wasn't home to just one or two bands of bandits. The whole mountain was crawling with them.
How could the two hundred of them possibly stand up to all those bandits?
"The last ten to arrive will die!"
Zongcilang's icy voice reached their ears. Their faces changed at once. The crowd, which had been united against him just moments ago, suddenly seethed with murderous intent. Everyone bolted, sprinting as if their lives depended on it.
Watching them, Hijikata sighed inwardly. Even he thought Zongcilang's methods were too extreme, but he was powerless to stop him. Both he and Zongcilang needed to vent—to let their fury run wild.
And the Goa Kingdom, whose actions had brought Cipher Pol 9 down on them, was the target of their shared rage.
"The more than two hundred of you remaining here will be my subordinates. Our unit will be called the Guard Unit. Zongcilang already explained our objective, so I won't repeat it."
Hijikata Yoshitoyo slowly swept his gaze over the remaining crowd. His physical strength surged around him, making all two hundred of them shudder.
"I know none of you stayed willingly, but I hope you won't try any tricks. I don't much like Zongcilang's brutal methods, but that doesn't mean I won't use them myself. So don't push me to that point."
Then Hijikata changed his tone and said persuasively, "Besides, the nobles behind those high walls are the reason you've ended up like this. Now you have a chance to get revenge—and a chance to make money. Once the Goa Kingdom falls, you'll be free to leave whenever you want, and you'll have a hefty sum in your pockets."
His words immediately whetted everyone's appetite. Greed and bloodlust gleamed in their eyes. Hijikata's speech had given them all the same goal.
Revenge and plunder...
Seeing their reaction, Hijikata nodded with satisfaction.
"For the next few days, I'll train you here. You'll camp outside the dojo for now. Once the first shipment of supplies arrives from Revolutionary Army Headquarters, we'll have tents for you to use."
"Next, I'm going to lay down some rules. After all, we're a unit."
Hijikata then read aloud the regulations he had written overnight. The repeated mention of death chilled everyone to the bone. They listened intently to every word, afraid that missing even one might send them to their deaths...
After announcing the training arrangements, Hijikata finally let out a long breath. He had never been good with words, and saying so much at once had left him mentally exhausted.
When he turned to head back into the dojo, he saw Bai Ina watching him from inside, supported by Loxi.
"Bai... Ina..."
Hijikata slowly walked forward, unsure what to say. When he saw Bai Ina's snow-white hair, a pang of pain stabbed through his heart. Over the past few days, neither he nor Zongcilang had returned to the dojo often.
And whenever they did, they had avoided Bai Ina's room.
Whenever they remembered waking up more than ten days ago to find Bai Ina on the brink of death, they were overcome with guilt. If they hadn't stubbornly gone their own way, Bai Ina would never have been so badly injured.
"Your body hasn't recovered yet. Don't go wandering around," Hijikata said after a long silence.
"I'm fine now," Bai Ina replied softly. Then he looked up at Hijikata and shook his head. "You don't have to avoid me anymore. I ended up like this because I was too weak. It had nothing to do with you or Zongcilang!"
"But if we hadn't stubbornly gone our own way, you wouldn't have nearly died!" Hijikata said with a bitter smile. Turning toward Mt. Colubo, he continued, "And Zongcilang is the one who finds it hardest to face you. He believes this all happened because he used Loxi to hold you back, so he left. I don't think he'll ever come back here."
Bai Ina fell silent. How could he not know what Zongcilang was thinking? Zongcilang claimed he was going to use the bandits on Mt. Colubo to train his men, but perhaps even he hadn't realized that he was simply... leaving because he didn't know how to face Bai Ina.
"He'll come back. This is his home."
Bai Ina gently shook his head, then asked, "How are you planning to train these people? With their current numbers, they can't possibly stand up to nearly a hundred thousand soldiers from the Kingdom Army. Do you have a plan?"
"Heh. Honestly, I don't know the first thing about commanding an army," Hijikata Yoshitoyo said, his bitter smile deepening. "Training them is one thing, but I'm completely out of my depth when it comes to leading them."
"That's true. Zongcilang is much better than you at that," Bai Ina said without mercy.
Hijikata Yoshitoyo immediately bristled. "How is he better than me? He's just a brute who thinks killing people is the only way to train them."
"You don't think he went to Mt. Colubo just to wipe out bandits, do you?" Bai Ina shook his head in disappointment, then sighed at Hijikata. "There are nearly ten thousand bandits on Mt. Colubo. If he can bring them under his command, he'll have a formidable force."
"So his purpose in going there is not only to give his men combat experience, but also to recruit the bandits. That's why I said you're nowhere near as capable as Zongcilang."
Hearing Bai Ina's explanation, Hijikata drew in a sharp breath, and his expression immediately fell.
"As for you, you've done a good job winning people over and setting rules for the unit. But this pointless training won't accomplish much. And do you really plan to take these two hundred people and fight tens of thousands of soldiers from the Kingdom Army?"
With every sentence Bai Ina spoke, Hijikata Yoshitoyo's head sank a little lower. His face was flushed with embarrassment. He hadn't even considered any of this.
"Forget it," Bai Ina said with a heavy sigh. "I'll help you. Zongcilang will be fine on his own; it might even be good for him to go out and make his way in the world. But you..." Bai Ina trailed off, and Hijikata's face reddened.
But when Hijikata realized what he had just heard, his expression changed. "You'll help me?" He knew Bai Ina was clever, but a battle between armies took more than intelligence.
Bai Ina smiled confidently. "Don't worry. I'm confident I can handle this."
After all, he had once had an IQ of 200. Though he had done little thinking in recent years because he had gained the power to control other people's lives and deaths, that didn't mean his brain had deteriorated!
With that, Bai Ina ignored Hijikata, who stood there in a daze, and motioned for Loxi to help him back to his room. But after taking a couple of steps, he stopped and looked back. "Remember to send word to Zongcilang. Tell him to avoid provoking the Dadan Family bandits on Mt. Colubo, and not to cause trouble in Windmill Village. He shouldn't act unless he's certain he can wipe everyone out without letting a single word get out."
"The powerful people behind those two places are far beyond what we can handle right now. If they wanted to, either one could wipe out all of us without bringing in anyone else." With that, Bai Ina left without looking back.
Hijikata Yoshitoyo's expression changed at Bai Ina's words. He knew Bai Ina wasn't one to exaggerate. If he had spoken so gravely, then provoking that unknown powerhouse would be far more dangerous than he'd made it sound.
Thinking of this, Hijikata hurried out of the dojo and raced after Zongcilang.
He had every reason to hurry. If Zongcilang foolishly provoked those bandits from the Dadan Family, the consequences would be disastrous...
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