Chapter 231: Villagers, Samurai, and Bandits
"Commander, what should we do next?" Tawara Touta asked.
"Well, waiting for the bandits to come is too passive. Forty degraded demons, no, it's thirty-seven now, right? It seems necessary to take out a few more, at least keep the enemy below thirty," Shirou muttered, then looked at the captured prisoner.
The captured bandit, whose hands were tied, woke up and heard the samurai's conversation. He realized he had been pushed into a house, surrounded by a terrifying group of samurai. He slid his feet on the ground, pushing his body to move until he had retreated as far as he could, finally trembling and shrinking in a corner.
"Speak. As long as you tell us everything you know, as a courtesy, we might consider sparing your life," the black-haired, red-eyed girl stepped forward, holding her summoned matchlock gun. She crouched in front of the bandit, stared into his eyes, and spoke word by word.
The captured man watched the girl, shivering, seemingly badly frightened.
After understanding her words, he froze for a moment, then finally reacted, nodding repeatedly. Seeing a glimmer of hope, he honestly agreed: "Yes! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything, please spare my life!"
Shirou asked, "How long does it take to get from here to your bandit stronghold?"
The captive replied, "To get there from here, you have to go around three mountains. It takes about three shichen (six hours) on foot."
Tawara Touta muttered, "Three shichen, huh? Going there and coming back would take half a day. The time is a bit tight."
"No! We have horses, don't we! The three horses the scouts rode!" the black-haired, red-eyed girl said.
"Yes, if we ride, it will take less than two shichen (four hours) to arrive," the captive agreed.
"Eh? Horses...?!" Souji cried out, sounding troubled. She mainly operated in the central districts of Kyoto during her lifetime.
To defeat the anti-shogunate faction, the Sonnō Jōi (Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians) led by Katsura, Takasugi, Sakamoto, and Gintoki, and the Satchō Alliance led by the Chōshū Domain of Mōri and the Satsuma Domain of Shimazu—they were a bunch of ambitious local warlords posing as revolutionaries, mere opportunistic scoundrels.
Her diligently practiced swordsmanship relied on footwork, silently and swiftly rushing in front of the enemy, and then performing assassination techniques.
"Pfft, Souji, you're a Saber? You can't even ride a horse? As expected, just like your stats, you're an Assassin, aren't you?" the black-haired, red-eyed girl covered her mouth, chuckling.
"Shut up, Nobu! I can ride a horse, at least tentatively!" Souji insisted. As a genius swordsman active in the mid-19th century, although she wasn't good at riding, didn't she still have the Mount skill correction at Rank E?
"What is the exact route?" Shirou took out paper and a brush, spread them on a small wooden table, and continued to question the captive.
The captured bandit tried hard to recall and said, "Yes, follow the mountain path behind this mountain all the way up, always keeping to the right until you reach a waterfall. From there, turn left to the next mountain, and then... inside, there is a small valley. That is all our... no! That's the bandits' territory, so there aren't many branching paths. The stronghold is built on top of the mountain."
"When you reach the waterfall, what is a noticeable landmark on the left?" Shirou asked.
"Yes, there is a small lake below the waterfall, which divides into two paths. You take the path to the left," the bandit answered honestly.
Shirou periodically asked questions, adding details with the brush, and recording the route. After confirming it once more with the captured bandit, he stood up.
Seeing Shirou stand up, the captured bandit said nervously, "Uh! I can lead the way! Don't kill me."
"No need. My eyesight is good; I'll be able to find it after scouting. But as agreed, we will find a place to keep you, and we will naturally release you after this battle is over."
The black-haired, red-eyed girl beside him looked at the bandit, met his gaze, and smiled.
"Yes..." the bandit replied in a low voice, daring not to say more.
"Alright. Tonight should be a clear night with moonlight. We'll set off once it's dark. We'll reach the location just before dawn, rest a bit, and it will be the perfect time for a night raid. Who will go with me?" Shirou asked the group.
"Master, I'll go with you," Yukino stood up, raised her hand high, and eagerly said.
"No! The child stays here," Shirou pressed the girl's head down and said.
"That's right, kid. You stay here. Count me in!" the black-haired, red-eyed girl drew her long sword and said with a smile.
"Ugh..." Yukino sat down on the spot, dissatisfied.
"If Nobu is going, I'll go too!" Souji raised her hand and said.
"Then the rest of us will stay here and await your good news, Shirou," Tawara Touta said.
"I wish you success in battle," Hōzōin Inshun said.
As agreed, Shirou and the others prepared to discuss with the village chief about placing the captive somewhere safe, to be released after the battle.
But just as they walked out of the house, they heard the sound of a group of people rushing over.
"Damn bandit!"
"Stop right there! You despicable bandit!"
A group of villagers, who had heard the news, rushed over, the men holding farm tools and bamboo practice spears, their eyes blazing with bloodthirsty hatred.
Seeing this, the bandit was terrified and tried to flee backward. Before he could run to the large tree in the center of the village, he was surrounded by villagers arriving from other directions. Frightened, he tried to run back inside, but after only a few steps, he tripped over the rope binding his hands and fell to the ground.
"Eeeek!! Mercy! Spare me! I won't be a bandit ever again!" The bandit, lying in the mud, frantically kicked the ground but couldn't stand up. Finally, he buried his head in the dirt, kowtowing and begging the villagers for mercy.
"Stop! He is a prisoner of war! Since he has already told us the situation on the mountain, you can't kill him!"
"Step back! He has sworn not to be a bandit anymore. He is no longer your enemy."
Shirou and the others spread their arms to block the agitated farmers. The villagers, who were usually timid and subservient, now pushed back even when shoved, constantly trying to squeeze through.
Even though they were blocked by the samurai now, the anger in the villagers' eyes did not diminish one bit. They stared directly at the bandit, wishing they could burn and tear him apart with their gaze.
"Hahaha." The black-haired, red-eyed girl hugged her matchlock gun, climbed the large tree in the center of the village, lay down on a branch, and laughed heartily.
"Bandit... where is he...! Tell me! Bandit... where is he?"
Just then, a frail, unsteady old woman, who looked like she could be blown over by a gust of wind, walked forward holding a sickle.
The village chief walked up to Shirou, leaning on his cane, and said, "Let her do it. Her son and daughter-in-law were killed by these bandits. It's not like she has no grievance."
Shirou, Tawara Touta, and the others silently lowered their hands.
The villagers cleared a path. The old woman walked forward with stumbling steps. When she raised the sickle to strike, her legs gave out, and she fell directly to the ground.
Even so, she crawled, picked up the sickle, and struck the bandit's body again. The rusty, blunt sickle, wielded by her trembling, wrinkled, powerless hand, couldn't even pierce the bandit's clothes. But the old woman struck the bandit's body again and again.
"Please! Please let me go!" the bandit screamed.
"Someone help her!" the village chief ordered.
The men of the village raised their hoes and sticks...
"Waaah!!!"
"Bastard! How dare you come to our village!"
"How dare you steal our grain!"
The men who had surrounded the bandit all rushed up to hit him once. After dozens of blows landed, the bandit was already silent.
After that, the villagers did not want the enemy's body to remain in the village and transported the bandit's corpse to be buried far outside the village. Strangely, after doing this, the villagers' attitude towards Shirou and the others became closer and more relaxed.
It seemed they had formally prepared themselves mentally for the upcoming battle against the bandits.
The hierarchy of the food chain, the disparity in status, and the gap in wealth create class antagonism, which is unavoidable.
Even in later generations, which have the universal values of "fairness, justice, and equality for all," some people still mockingly say that the tenant renting a house and the landlord holding a keychain are essentially the modern equivalent of the peasant laborer and the landowner of the old days.
The landowner arranges a place for the laborer to live, and the laborer has no choice but to hand over one-sixth or even one-quarter of their monthly income to the landlord.
It's joked that the reason the rich frantically buy houses, leaving the poor with nowhere to buy, is to make them long-term laborers for life.
There will inevitably be conflicts between the weak and the strong, the poor and the rich, and these conflicts often escalate into struggles, even wars—over oil, minerals, status...
However, in the face of life's challenges, people can endure all suffering and pressure, which they call "enduring hardship and working diligently." That being said, human physical and mental strength has its limits, like the people in Japan who are forced to work overtime every day for predatory companies and factories.
They endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, constantly doing extra work unilaterally pushed onto them by management, and still have to endure the pressure from a superior's
unreasonable nitpicking, which eventually leads to their health failing, hospitalization, inability to work, and subsequent dismissal, followed by them becoming recluses.
News constantly features people who jump from buildings due to school bullying, workplace exclusion, malicious framing, losing everything on gambling, or various other reasons that make them temporarily lose hope.
Ultimately, humans are not purely rational beings; there are times when emotions spiral out of control, and people are not truly able to manage themselves well in everyday life, otherwise there would be no lazy people or poor students in the world.
For instance, when the Japanese economy remained sluggish and civilian resentment was hard to quell, there was a period where prime ministers were frequently replaced, and corrupt high-ranking officials were sentenced to punishment as a way to punish corruption and appease public anger.
However, if this place were in Africa, where one side drives gold sports cars, uses gold AK-47s, and sits on a gold toilet, while the other side is dependent on charity just to eat.
Then any person with a bit of credibility who brings a few guns will find plenty of people willing to rise up with him. Since death is inevitable anyway, it's more satisfying to kill the bad guys who have oppressed them and then die, rather than starving to death.
Faced with life's problems, people might choose to endure, but when faced with survival issues, people are given no choice but to resist in this desperate situation. Hence, there are uprisings, riots, and clashes between irrational people and incompetent, selfish upper management, leading to never-ending warfare.
Hostility and prejudice are often rooted in a lack of understanding, but mutual understanding is not impossible. If both sides try to understand each other, when strangers turn into acquaintances, the same things that were once intolerable and unacceptable may become understandable.
The class difference between samurai and peasants, and between Shirou's group and Hajime's group, is no longer completely adversarial after these days of interaction.
To Shirou and the others, the villagers here are no longer just ignorant and weak peasants, but Hajime, the old village chief, the old woman who lost her family—they are flesh-and-blood humans who can be greedy and angry.
The same is true for the villagers.
From today onward, the samurai are no longer just rough and violent warriors, but Shirou, and Yukino.
Among the seven foreign samurai, there is the kind and reliable Shirou; the kind-hearted Yukino; Souji, who plays with the children; the mischievous Nobu; Hōzōin Inshun, who, despite being a monk, is skilled at training militia; Tawara Touta, who is always smiling and
friendly; and Kojiro, who chews on a blade of grass, doesn't talk much, but is very dutiful in his watch.
Most cases of prejudice exist precisely because of a lack of understanding.
Clean city dwellers who see construction workers covered in dirt, paint, and cement dust, sitting on the roadside eating their lunch boxes, or lying down and taking a nap in public, naturally think they are sloppy and unclean.
However, if you meet them elsewhere, you'll find a different scene; they are no different from other office workers when they go out to eat.
After all, construction workers do hard labor, but anyone with a bit of skill can earn seven to eight thousand Yen a month, or even over ten thousand with good skills, just by being willing to work overtime. Reputable companies even provide meal allowances.
When they become foremen, if they have some connections and can take on a small project themselves, the money they earn can multiply several times over.
As long as they take a shower and put on some nice clothes, they can also live a respectable and carefree life. Furthermore, because they constantly travel around with construction companies for work, they are very worldly and knowledgeable.
People may be content with their current situation, but they will never be content being inferior to others. In many cases, all people need is a chance to communicate.
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