We had finally managed to find a way to conceal our regalia. It was an imperfect solution, costly, and inevitably involving sacrifices. No one was happy about it, but no one disputed it either. In a world like this, every choice had a price.
One member of the group finally broke the silence.
"Tell me... do you really think this is still a puzzle?"
He hesitated before adding, more quietly:
"It looks more like a war designed to make us kill each other."
The question hung in the air. Several nodded without daring to speak. I could feel it: doubt was setting in, slowly, dangerously.
I spoke without raising my voice.
"It is one."
Everyone turned to me.
"It has to be a riddle. That's how this world works. It pushes us to believe that the only way out is brute force, when in reality it's waiting for us to understand something else." "
I raised my head slightly.
"And I swear to you... I will solve it."
Some of their expressions changed immediately. Some sighed with relief, others nodded.
"Thank you..." someone whispered.
"We're counting on you. "
Gradually, the tension eased. The atmosphere became less heavy, almost bearable. They needed to believe, and I had just given them that certainty.
But behind my reassuring words lay another truth.
"But if I am to solve this mystery, it necessarily implies one thing..."
I deliberately let the silence linger.
"You will have to be part of the sacrifices."
The group stopped dead in their tracks. No one moved. The effect was immediate, almost brutal. This was clearly not what they had heard before, nor what they had wanted to hear.
"Wait..." someone said, their voice tense.
"That's not what you said earlier. You said you were willing to sacrifice yourself for us. That's why we let you be the marshal."
The looks on their faces became heavier, more suspicious. I could see disappointment, even a sense of betrayal, on some of their faces.
I didn't flinch.
"I did say that, yes."
Then I added calmly:
"I volunteered if there had to be a sacrifice."
I smiled then, a slight smile, almost amused by their incomprehension.
"You should have understood that sooner."
I scanned the group with my eyes.
"If you really want me to solve this mystery... then I can't be one of the sacrifices."
A heavy silence fell upon us once again. This time, it was no longer fear, but realization. They finally understood what it meant to follow me to the end.
Almost immediately, the crowd began to stir.
Whispers turned into shouts, and some of the looks that had been hesitant until then became openly hostile. To them, my words sounded like betrayal. I could feel this dull, almost primitive desire to make me pay for what they considered to be a lie.
Edano immediately stood in front of me, arms outstretched.
"Calm down! Think about it!"
Saé followed suit, trying to hold back those who were moving too quickly, the tension visible in her every gesture.
"Stop!" I finally shouted, loud enough to drown out the hubbub.
The group froze. I took the opportunity to take a step forward, without aggression.
"I'll be clear. I'll give you a choice."
I raised two fingers.
"Option one: you decide that I must be sacrificed. In that case, I'll keep quiet, I'll comply with the decision, and you'll have to solve this puzzle without me."
I lowered my hand slightly before continuing.
"Option two: you let me do what I'm here to do. I'll help you solve this mystery. But in that case, I can no longer be sacrificed."
I looked them straight in the eye.
"It's one or the other."
"Bastard..." one of them finally spat. "You had it all planned out from the beginning, didn't you?" "
I didn't even try to deny it. I just looked at him calmly.
"Maybe. But tell me... why does this choice seem so complicated to you?"
I shrugged slightly.
"It's much more advantageous for me to stay alive to solve the riddle than to be sacrificed without any benefit to you."
A heavy silence followed. Then another voice spoke up, more calmly.
"Okay. But if we choose you to solve the puzzle..."
He paused.
"Your two companions... Will they be sacrificed too? Or are they immune because they're with you?"
The question hit me hard.
I slowly turned my head toward Saé. Her gaze met mine, questioning, almost worried. At that moment, I understood something that had completely escaped me until then. I had never considered this possibility. Not for a single second.
My mind raced.
Was I really ready to go through with it?
To sacrifice not strangers... but my own companions?
"Even though the choice seemed obvious..." I thought, "humans will always seek to give back what they have received. "
I had betrayed them. Not with a blade or an absurd order, but with something much more insidious: hope. I had led them to believe that I was willing to sacrifice myself for them. And now that they realized it was just a ploy, a cold calculation, they wanted to return the favor.
Yet all they had to do was simply say they accepted my help in solving the puzzle. Logically, that was the best choice. But logic no longer really had a place here.
They wanted me to lose something.
Just as they had realized they were likely to die the moment they understood I had tricked them, they wanted to take the equivalent from me. And even more. Because human revenge never seeks equality. It always seeks to exceed the initial pain.
I could see it in their eyes.
It was no longer just a question of strategy or survival.
It had become personal.
Just when I saw no way out of this impasse, against all odds, a voice I never imagined I would hear spoke up.
A person I would have thought of last.
Ryo Kanjo.
He slowly walked toward the crowd. His steps were heavy, almost ponderous, as if he were crushing the ground beneath his feet. His gaze was dark, sharp, devoid of the slightest hesitation. And without even trying to impose himself, he exuded an oppressive charisma that naturally forced silence around him.
He then declared, in a calm but implacable tone, that the best choice was to protect me so that I could solve this mystery.
A murmur ran through the group.
One of them dared to ask him why he was defending me.
Ryo turned his head slightly, as if annoyed that such an obvious explanation was needed.
"I've been with him since the first puzzle, and so far, it's always been him who has enabled us to overcome the trials, time and time again." "
Then his gaze hardened further.
"If you refused this choice, it was simply because you were afraid of dying. And that fear is only a sign of your weakness."
His words fell like a sentence.
"The weak will be the first to be sacrificed. But the strong will be sure to remain until the end."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
Even those who still wanted revenge lowered their eyes slightly.
Gradually, the tension eased.
The murmurs ceased, eyes averted, and the crowd finally accepted the obvious: no one was going to kill me.
I stood still for a moment, still surprised by what had just happened.
Ryo Kanjo...
He wasn't just provocative or destructive. He, too, was capable of wielding words with disturbing precision. Of influencing, of striking where it hurt, just like Kaishō Suzuki.
I approached him.
I expressed my surprise at what he had just done.
"Why did you help me this time?"
Usually, he always tried to mess everything up, to make every puzzle unsolvable, to put obstacles in my way.
He didn't answer me right away.
Ryo just let out a long, weary sigh, full of exasperation. Then he turned his head slightly, avoiding my gaze.
He finally said to me, in a curt, almost annoyed tone.
"You won't make me admit that truth..."
Nothing more.
No justification.
No confession.
I was confused.
What if this war had something to do with Ryo's past?
What if that was the reason he was acting so strangely?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment: maybe he had changed.
But I immediately dismissed that possibility.
Ryo Kanjo had never hesitated to make puzzles unsolvable, even if it meant causing the deaths of several people. He had done so without remorse, without hesitation, as if those losses were mere collateral damage. You don't change after crossing that kind of line.
I then remembered that our reality was no longer what it had been before.
A movie had become embedded in our lives, imposing its rules, its staging, its cruel logic. And in such a precise scenario, nothing was left to chance.
This could only mean one thing:
If he had saved me this time, it was neither out of compassion nor loyalty.
There was a reason.
A logical reason.
That's when I saw a figure watching me from afar.
I didn't have time to dwell on it before it disappeared, blending into the background as if it had never existed.
Saé, Edano, and Shun approached me almost immediately.
"What do we do now, Bun?"
"For now, the best thing to do is to put a strategy in place to defend ourselves."
Edano seemed surprised by my response. He asked me if I really wanted to remain on the defensive, as if this decision went against what he expected of me.
I then explained my theory to them.
"In my opinion, there is a very simple way to solve this puzzle: advocate for peace."
Saé understood almost immediately what I was getting at.
"I see. If no one goes to war, then there will be no deaths. We would simply have to wait for the six days to pass, and the puzzle would be solved without any human casualties." "
But then Saé asked an essential question.
"But what would guarantee that no one would go to war during those six days?"
Indeed, nothing could be certain.
"My goal was not to save everyone, but only to protect my clan.
If the other clans decided to wage war against each other, so be it. For my part, I would continue to protect my own, without entering into unnecessary conflict."
Saé seemed surprised by my answer.
Perhaps she didn't expect me to actually keep my word, or to choose to protect my own without sacrificing others by throwing them to the wolves for no reason.
"You should go talk to them. After all, you are the marshal," Saé said to me.
She was right.
This enigma sought to divide us, and it was precisely because of this flaw that all these horrors had appeared. All we had to do was show these people, the source of it all, that humans could unite and work hand in hand.
As I was about to step forward to talk to my group, reality caught up with me.
A notification window appeared in front of me.
[ Main Quest: The Battle of Okehazama
Role: Oda Nobunaga
✱Background:
Imagawa Yoshimoto's army (2,300 soldiers) aims to advance towards Kyoto. To do so, it must pass through your land, "Owari."
Your clan consists of only 50 soldiers.
✱Main objective:
Eliminate Yoshimoto or break his command by surprise.
✱ Failure:
Elimination of the Oda clan and failure to solve the puzzle ]