Enemy Attack

"My Lady, why do you only have one maid accompanying you on this journey? With so many treasures, why not hire more samurai?"

Senju Kyogawa couldn't suppress his curiosity; as a child, having a bit of curiosity should seem perfectly normal, right?

The noble lady froze, clearly not expecting a child like him to spot this loophole, especially since so many Senju ninjas outside hadn't noticed anything amiss.

She thought for a moment, then explained:

"It is precisely because I am uneasy that I hired so many ninja lords. I trust that the Senju ninjas will surely escort us safely to the Land of Lightning."

"Then why display the treasures? Wouldn't that easily attract mountain bandits?" Senju Kyogawa continued to ask.

The noble lady's smile stiffened, and this time, she did not answer.

She handed Senju Kyogawa an exquisite pastry and said, "Kyogawa-kun, take a guess as to why."

The noble lady's guilty reaction only made Kyogawa more certain that there was something wrong with this escort mission.

As Senju Kyogawa stared at the pastry in his hand, deep in thought, the noble lady suddenly asked:

"Kyogawa-kun, won't you have a taste?"

As if I'd dare eat food given by you, Senju Kyogawa thought.

Just as Senju Kyogawa was about to say that he had never seen such an exquisite pastry before and intended to take it home to share with his brothers, Xiao Xi, who had been quietly playing with a grasshopper, suddenly dropped it and glared at Senju Kyogawa with a vicious look in his eyes.

Then, Xiao Xi snatched the pastry from Kyogawa's hand and shoved it into his mouth.

The movement was so violent that Senju Kyogawa didn't even have time to react.

Xiao Xi chewed the pastry and swallowed it, his expression a mix of laughter and tears, as he shouted:

"Mother, I love this pastry the most! Don't give it to him!"

He cried out, crumbs spraying from his mouth and landing on the carriage floor.

Watching Xiao Xi, who looked as if he had gone mad, Senju Kyogawa couldn't help but shiver.

What on earth is wrong with this child?

Seeing that Xiao Xi was about to start wailing again, the noble lady immediately took another pastry to plug his mouth, coaxing him:

"Don't cry, don't cry. There, the pastries are all yours."

But this time, Xiao Xi was clearly not as easy to soothe as before. The word "pastry" acted like a sharp blade piercing a balloon, causing Xiao Xi's dissatisfaction to burst forth all at once.

Xiao Xi was restrained in the noble lady's arms, yet he continued to flail his arms and kick his legs, leaving marks all over the noble lady's pristine twelve-layered kimono.

He kicked wildly while crying and screaming. His tears flowed as if they were free, mixing with snot to smear his entire face.

In his wailing, he didn't forget to rub his face against the noble lady's sleeve.

The noble lady's expression stiffened instantly, but she couldn't lash out with Senju Kyogawa present.

She took a deep breath and continued to comfort Xiao Xi in a firm tone:

"Xiao Xi, stop crying and making a scene. If your father knew you were being naughty again, he would be displeased."

Hearing this, Xiao Xi stopped crying for a split second, but the next moment, he began pushing the noble lady away:

"No, no! I don't want him here! I hate him!"

Senju Kyogawa had seen enough of this farce and knew that if he stayed any longer, things would become difficult to manage, so he stepped out of the carriage with the noble lady's consent.

Not long after Senju Kyogawa stepped down, Xiao Xi's voice gradually lowered, sounding as if he had compromised.

The maid who had been walking beside the carriage climbed inside, presumably to help the noble lady tidy her clothes.

Senju Kyogawa deliberately walked a bit slower, gradually falling back from the front of the procession to the middle-rear, where the carts carrying the chests of jewelry were located.

As he drew closer, Senju Kyogawa noticed that the jewelry chests were imprinted with a strange pattern.

It looked like a "manji" symbol with a sickle pattern extending from the bottom.

Senju Kyogawa looked up.

It was just past noon, the sun was scorching, and the sunlight hitting the exposed jewelry refracted a dazzling glare.

It's too blinding, Kyogawa thought. Wouldn't this just attract bandits to come and rob us?

Seeing a Senju ninja nearby, Kyogawa asked:

"Do nobles always like to display their jewelry? Aren't they afraid of it being stolen?"

The dark-skinned Senju ninja smiled and said:

"Some nobles would rather wrap their jewelry up tightly, terrified that the escorting ninjas might find out. But there are also some who like to display it, which often attracts bandits and thieves."

He thought for a moment and added, "However, since they hired us for protection, no matter what, the ninjas who accept the mission must protect these treasures well."

Senju Kyogawa nodded thoughtfully; it sounded like these nobles were simply acting with reckless impunity.

Yet, Kyogawa still felt there was something fishy about this.

He leaned closer to the jewelry chest and discovered that it wasn't actually black, but a deep, blood-like color, and upon closer inspection, it emitted a strange, faint fragrance.

After sniffing it a few times, Senju Kyogawa felt dizzy and lightheaded, so he quickly moved away from the chest.

The scent faded slightly as he moved further away, yet it still lingered in Kyogawa's nose, making him feel rather uncomfortable.

"You've been by this crate for so long, have you smelled anything?" Kyogawa looked up and asked the dark-skinned Senju ninja.

The Senju ninja leaned close to the crate and took a few deep breaths, then replied with a puzzled look:

"No, why do you ask?"

Senju Kyogawa shook his head, feeling even more bewildered; why was he the only one who could smell it?

Following this, Kyogawa did the same with several other crates, but he did not detect that scent on any of them.

Could it be a coincidence?

However, Senju Kyogawa asked a few other Senju ninjas to smell the first crate, and they all claimed they smelled nothing.

When Senju Kyogawa returned to the first crate, he could still smell that strange fragrance, though it had already faded significantly.

Senju Kyogawa found Senju Chenghe and told him about the oddities he had encountered along the way. Senju Chenghe merely blinked, then asked him in confusion if he was overthinking things.

Senju Chenghe was a sensory-type ninja; logically, he should have been able to detect anything unusual, yet he truly had not discovered anything out of the ordinary.

Seeing Senju Chenghe's reaction, Kyogawa knew that seeking out other ninjas would yield no results, so he had no choice but to drop the matter and return to the first crate.

As they walked, they reached a winding, spiraling mountain path covered in pebbles of all sizes. Perhaps because the road was too bumpy and the jewelry crates were packed too full, a jade pendant fell from the top of one of the crates.

Senju Kyogawa picked up the white jade pendant. The front was carved with beautiful auspicious clouds, but the back was engraved with a blood-red pattern—the same one found on the jewelry crates.

He calmly gripped the pendant in his palm and quietly tucked it into his system storage.

[System, System, what does this pattern mean? And what is this strange fragrance?]

[Host, this is something you need to investigate; do not rely on the system. This matter may involve a hidden quest, please explore it yourself.]

The corners of Senju Kyogawa's mouth twitched. Great, so this even involved a hidden quest.

This damn system—he really didn't know what the point of having it was after transmigrating. Was it just to rationalize his cheat? But weren't his current cheats all half-baked anyway?

Forget it, I'll have to rely on myself for all of this.

Upon reaching the middle of the mountain, Senju Chenghe suddenly ordered the team to stop and shouted urgently: "Enemy attack!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than several large boulders came rolling down from the mountain. The lead Senju ninja hurriedly used Earth Style to block the rocks, sending them tumbling off the cliff.

Immediately following this, countless flaming arrows were fired toward the convoy.

The Senju ninjas dodged while protecting the convoy.

Two arrows broke through the barrage and shot toward Senju Kyogawa.

"Clang! Clang!" With two sounds, a pair of kunai knocked the arrows aside.

Senju Kyogawa looked up to see Senju Chenghe, who had run to his side and told him to stay hidden.

Since Senju Kyogawa only knew taijutsu, he naturally intended to stay low.

Next, the enemies, having exhausted their hidden arrows, charged forward to engage the Senju ninjas in combat.

Senju Kyogawa gripped his kunai and fought against several bandits.

Those bandits were so skilled they seemed like ninjas themselves, and Kyogawa found it somewhat difficult, though fortunately, Senju Chenghe was there to help him shoulder the burden.

"Ah—" A scream rang out from the carriage where the noblewoman was staying.