"Mr. Kotarou, are you saying someone is planning to assassinate Miss Kiyohime?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka felt that this news was rather unusual.
"Kiyohime? I remember, she was Matsudaira Shimousa-no-kami's daughter, right? The one they call a princess?"
Miyamoto Musashi blinked—within her range of judgment, the princess had not left much of an impression on her, so she could only recall her vaguely.
"So, Ritsuka, should we do something?"
Sakumura Anno seemed to have caught onto Fujimaru Ritsuka's thoughts and spoke up first.
". . . Mr. Kotarou, first find a way to verify whether this information is true."
After thinking it over, Fujimaru Ritsuka chose to be cautious.
"Understood."
Fuuma Kotarou nodded and vanished from the room once more.
"The timing of this is a little too strange. I suspect... the Heroic Spirit Swordmasters are behind it."
"Even if they are not, they must be connected to them somehow."
Fujimaru Ritsuka's instincts were fairly sharp, though he did not know whether his guess was accurate.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Right now, the Heroic Spirit Swordmasters' activities are all centered around Shimousa. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that someone is trying to mislead us."
After speaking, Fujimaru Ritsuka lowered his head and began to think.
Neither Sakumura nor Musashi spoke to interrupt Fujimaru Ritsuka's thoughts. They simply waited quietly for him to reach a conclusion.
"Once Mr. Kotarou returns, let's go ask old man Tajima about the situation."
"We need to enter the city and investigate."
The information Kotarou brought back confirmed the rumor's authenticity. Without wasting any time, Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately led the group to find Yagyu Tajima-no-kami.
"The warning of Matsudaira's assassination has been delivered as planned, yes."
Within the sorcerer's base, a black shadow knelt on the ground and reported to the sorcerer.
"I