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In the big reception room of the Murano mansion, a man clad in silk clothes and jade accessories was waiting.

"Has the guest not come yet?" he asked one of his subordinates who was standing at the side.

The man wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, "I have sent the guards and someone to welcome them once they enter the town. Murano-sama, everything is ready. Once the guards get them, they will send someone right away to inform us. So, by the time they come, everything is going to be ready."

"Good, good. I don't need any mistakes today," Murano said.

As noon approached, finally, a maid came hurrying and told them that the daimyo's party was now in town. Hearing this, Murano finally stood up from his chair, and two maids came to straighten his clothes for him.

Then, he hurried to the door of the mansion to welcome them. By the time the daimyo's party carriage came in, they were greeted by a row of people waiting for them with Murano at the forefront.

Unlike his usual arrogance, this time Murano was as meek as a mouse as he greeted the middle-aged man who got down from the carriage.

"Welcome, welcome, Hirabayashi-san. I hope the trip wasn't tiring," he said while waving his hand.

Seeing this, the maids who had been waiting in the back came forward with the cold drinks and snacks they had prepared.

They first tried to serve Hirabayashi, but he just shook his head at them and replied, "Thanks for your concern, Murano-san. The trip wasn't tiring as we already rested before we came. I hope we didn't make you wait."

"No, no. You are just in time. I see that you are still as punctual as ever," Murano said, laughing as he led Hirabayashi inside.

While the two men and the important people went inside, laughing and talking, Murano's subordinate waved at the maids, who gave the food to the guards and the cart driver and such.

both Haru and One, who were observing in secret, finally knew exactly who the guest was, as Murano had kept his identity a secret so far.

Both of them knew who Hirabayashi was. While he wasn't the most famous subordinate of the Daimyo, his role wasn't small. He was like the minister of finance, and most of his job was on the trade side.

'The twelve guardians aren't a thing yet,' Haru thought, but even so, it was the norm for the elite people to have a shinobi as their guard.

As both He and One noticed, one of the people who followed Hirabayashi inside was a ninja, and the other was a samurai.

In the reception room, the atmosphere was very good, as both parties were polite and complimenting each other.

Murano said, concerned, "How is Daimyo-sama doing?"

Hirabayashi smiled and replied, "Daimyo-sama's health is very good, Murano-san. You don't need to worry."

Murano laughed and said, "That's good to hear. With Daimyo-sama in good health, the Land of Fire can thrive under his command."

He then looked at Hirabayashi's small party of no more than six and said, complaining, "Hirabayashi-san, why didn't you bring more people? I prepared a big party?"

Hirabayashi laughed and went along, "Thanks for your generosity, Murano-san. I didn't want the trip to take long, so I decided not to bring a lot of people, but there will be a chance in the future, don't worry."

Hearing his slick talking, Murano's mood improved a lot. After all, what he paid for finally paid off. They talked for a few minutes before Hirabayashi and his party left to rest.

and with that, some calmness finally was back at the mansion. Haru took this chance and went to meet One. They both went to an isolated place before Haru asked, "Are we still going to do the task?"

While they were expecting someone from the Daimyo to come, Hirabayashi's status was higher than they had expected.

One understood Haru's concern, so he replied, "Hirabayashi is well-known for his greed and corruption. With the way he is behaving, the Daimyo won't keep him for long, so we can continue."

Haru nodded in agreement with One's decision. Although he knew the important people in the Land of Fire, his information wasn't as complete as One's.

'This is why he is the commander this time,' he thought. With his knowledge of the elite people in the Land of Fire, he could make his own judgment according to the situation, especially since they started without knowing what to expect.

As he thought of something, One said, "Since it's Hirabayashi, you can be more cruel in your plan. The Daimyo won't care about some rats like him."

'This Hirabayashi sure is something,' Haru thought. Since One said so, it meant that Hirabayashi's hands had been quite long. He even had some animosity with the ninja family.

Haru kept his thoughts in his heart and nodded at One. With One's permission, Haru added some plans and went right away to put them into practice.

While everyone was busy preparing for the party in the evening, Haru took the chance to go around the whole mansion again, using transformation jutsu. With the ninja and samurai mostly focusing on guarding the people inside, his tasks were very easy.

In the corner of the mansion, one of the older maids who was busy looked around and noticed a young maid walking back to the kitchen. She waved at her and said, "You take this and deliver it to the guest guards. They are resting in the guard's house," while shoving a tray filled with sake to her.

Upon seeing the younger maid taking the tray, she finally sighed and smiled as she could have some rest. Another maid who was at the side said, "You really know how to take advantage of those young people."

She laughed and replied, "We all got through it; she will learn eventually."

While the young maid took the tray and walked hurriedly, she added something to the drinks without anyone noticing.

Once she delivered the drinks, she went again and headed back around the corner when no one was noticing her. Her appearance suddenly changed, and now she looked like one of the guards from the Murano mansion.

The young guard looked around before he headed back to the house. There, he found both the guards from Murano and Hirabayashi already drinking, so he played along and started drinking with them.

With the drinks and tiredness from the travel, the guards were drunk pretty fast. Some of them fell asleep at the table while others were sober enough to get to their rooms.

The young guard from previously was from the sober enough party, so he helped the others into their rooms.

Once he was inside, all the drunkenness faded away from his face. He pushed them into their beds and took a small vial from his pocket and poured it into their mouths. It was just a hallucinating drug that could loosen them a little.

Haru then cast some Genjutsu with it, and pretty quickly, he got a lot of information about Hirabayashi from them. Haru continued this with all the guards until he pretty much had all the information.

He then cleaned up all the traces and gave each of them a pill that would help dilute the drug from their bodies in case anyone looked.

Haru looked at the guard and sighed as he finally finished his work. Now he could just sit around and enjoy the show.

Around dinner time, Hibarayashi and his party finally rested enough and returned back, and finally, Murano could show his preparations.

From the start of dinner, everything was luxurious, from the food to the decorations and the tableware that was made from Ebisu.

And his tricks worked. Hibarayashi, seeing all of this, his attitude improved even more, and they talked like they were close friends for years.

Finally, after dinner, it was time for the party, and beautiful women started coming inside, delivering alcohol. Every one of them was a sight to behold, and they served with the most care. Then, it was the dancers' turn, their beautiful bodies swaying to the music, making the atmosphere even better.

Everything was going fine, and everyone was having fun. Even the ninja was starting to let his guard down.

When suddenly, one of the maids delivering the drinks fell down, and the noise of the cups shattering brought everyone's attention.

Murano was frowning as he looked at her and then looked at one of his subordinates, pointing at him with his eyes to take her out.

The ninja who was beside Hibarayashi was the first to move as he shielded him behind his back and said, "Be careful; she should be sick."

Hearing this, everyone was on edge, and the ninja of Murano also appeared as they stood in front of him.

In the current time, there are still some diseases that have no cure that are quite deadly. Those are the ones that the nobles fear the most, as even money cannot buy a cure.

From the woman's face and some signs on her body, it seemed that she was afflicted with one of those deadly, incurable diseases.

Murano looked at his subordinate and said in a harsh voice, "Who brought this woman in? Throw her out quickly. In fact, throw them all out and investigate everyone. How could something like this get inside my house? If you don't find the answer, you will pay for it. Understood?"

Everyone looked at his eyes filled with rage, and their hearts shook. They hadn't seen him like this before. With his voice, everyone started to work again. Two guards took the woman outside, and the maid started cleaning everything that she might have touched.

The room was deadly quiet as no one said anything. It took Murano some time before he calmed down, and he turned to Hibarayashi and said, "I will give you an answer, Hibarayashi-san. Don't worry."

Hibarayashi was already on edge, but he nodded his head. After all the money he took from Murano, he knew that any accident would hurt him more than anyone.

So he cleared his throat and said, "I trust you, Murano-san. Don't worry, this should be just an accident."

Seeing Murano nod, he continued, "I feel tired. I think I will need some more rest. You know we are no longer young, and we can't drink like we used to," he said, laughing.

Murano played along and replied, "That's true. As I grow older, my body needs more time to rest. You should really rest. I will give you those two Shinobi to guard you through the night so you can sleep in peace."

Murano nodded, then he left for his room. Once they separated, both of their faces changed.

Hibarayashi was a smart man. He couldn't have his current position if he weren't. He understood that it wasn't in Murano's interest if anything happened to him, but that didn't change the fact that someone was targeting him, and they succeeded in getting inside.

After Hibarayashi left, Murano's rage was unleashed as he destroyed everything in his way. He could tell that half of his hard work was in vain with just this. That greedy bastard would surely ask for more with this accident.

Haru and One were observing all of this from the darkness. One looked at Haru and asked, "Is the woman really sick?"

Haru shook his head and replied, "No, I just gave her something that will show the same symptoms. She will just have a fever for the next couple of days."

"Hmmm," One replied.

Haru's eyes twitched as he heard the disappointment in his tone. 'He sure doesn't like that Hibarayashi,' he thought.

Haru, with his medical knowledge, knew how much fear those diseases bring to people, especially those with power. They are the ones that fear death the most.

So, once he knew that they were going to have dancers from outside, he realized that he could use them.

'Who told you to bring those dancers, idiot?' he thought.

He chuckled as he watched Murano being angry. 'Your night sure gonna be long today,' he thought.

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I'm late , are you guys awake 😂