Flower Capital, Shogun's Palace.
Ever since Ashura Doji escaped from prison, Kurozumi Orochi had doubled the forces stationed around the Shogun's Palace. Security was airtight, with guards every five paces and sentries every ten.
This showed just how deeply Kurozumi Orochi feared the remnants of the Kozuki Family!
Led by Fukurokuju, Sephiroth, Camel, and Kumagoro passed through layer after layer of the Shogun's Palace defenses and arrived outside a reception room.
Since Camel and Kumagoro were carrying a heavy wooden chest together, their steps were somewhat slow and labored.
Inside the reception room, Kurozumi Orochi, dressed in a yellow kimono, had long since taken his seat of honor.
The moment he saw Sephiroth arrive, a lecherous smile immediately appeared on his face.
To hide his ugliness, Kurozumi Orochi even raised a fan in his right hand to cover his face.
"Miyamoto, you've been quite impressive lately!"
"Not at all, not at all! It's all thanks to Lord Shogun's favor..."
Though Sephiroth despised Kurozumi Orochi from the bottom of his heart, he maintained a cheerful smile on the surface and exchanged a lengthy round of meaningless pleasantries with him.
After a while, Kurozumi Orochi suddenly fixed Sephiroth with a stare and said in a meaningful tone:
"I heard... your Miyamoto Family has grown to over two thousand people recently?"
"Yes..."
Sephiroth nodded without denying it.
The exact number should have been 2,786!
There was no need for him to hide that, nor could he hide it...
If Kurozumi Orochi wanted to investigate, he only needed to have Fukurokuju's Oniwabanshu spend a little time looking into it, and they would find out the approximate number.
If Sephiroth stubbornly denied it, he would only make Kurozumi Orochi more suspicious and bring himself all sorts of trouble and distrust.
"This Shogun has five thousand