Meanwhile, at Ogimoto House, Inosuke had also noticed something amiss.
He was sitting in his room, idly fiddling with his kimono sash. His looks were so outstanding that the proprietress of Ogimoto House had taken an immediate liking to him and given him a room of his own. He was supplied with fine food and drink every day and was not allowed to do even the slightest bit of menial work.
This left the naturally restless Inosuke extremely irritated.
Suddenly, his beastlike instincts picked up an exceedingly faint movement overhead.
It was an extremely soft scraping sound that only someone who had spent years living in the mountains and forests could catch, as though something were slowly crawling through the space above the ceiling.
Inosuke sprang to his feet, his gaze sharpening. Without the slightest hesitation, he punched straight through the ceiling and clambered inside like an agile monkey.
The space was pitch-black and filled with the stale smell of dust. Inosuke felt his way forward through the darkness, and before long, he caught a strange scent.
It was a mixture of blood and some bizarre, sweet fragrance.
He followed the scent until he was above a room. Through a crack in the ceiling, he saw a shocking sight.
Inside the room, a tightly bound woman was struggling in pain. Her mouth was gagged, leaving her unable to make a sound. She could only stare in terror at the empty space before her.
An ornate sash that seemed almost alive was wrapped around her neck. It was slowly tightening in an eerie fashion, as though interrogating her about something.
"That's... Makio." Inosuke recognized the woman. Tengen had shown them portraits of his wives, and this woman was indeed Makio, one of Tengen's missing wives.
Without any hesitation, Inosuke kicked through