A Judgement Call

'Boom....'

Distant explosion could be heard from within the shrine.

All the women, children and wounded are tied up and kept on the open courtyard of the shrine right outside of the prayer room.

Inside the prayer room, the statue of the local Goddess sits on the altar looking down and out towards the courtyard.

This is also where the village chief was kept.

"I never would've thought this would go so smoothly... And it is all thanks to you, monk."

The person speaking is none other than the wounded messenger, who is also the head of the bandit squad that attacked the shrine.

At the same time one of the priest of the shrine is here... He is also a betrayer.

"It's my honor. With that said... you didn't have to murder the head priest in front of the goddess's statue."

"My bad, but I can't have him casting any goddess's rituals. It's very difficult to deal with anything magic."

Lying right beneath the Goddess's statue is the head priest of this shrine, dead from having his neck sliced.

"A priest conspiring with the robbers... And you dare call yourself a devote follower of the goddess?"

"This isn't the first time someone told me this, chief."

"And you, lowly bandit... You'll pay for doing all of this."

"Really? We have ransacked about three villages now and the Takeda Clan did nothing about it. All they ever care about is the territory disputes, they won't bother sending any samurais to us when they fear a war with the Uesugi Clan."

"No, they won't send the samurais of course. But they will send a group far stronger than you can imagine."

"Oh? Do enlighten us, Chief."

"The Fangs of the Takeda."

"Hahaha, what nonsense are you saying?"

"I doubt lowly bandits like you have ever heard of them. But once you have gathered enough attention for them to seek you, they will hunt you down sure as night follows day."

"That is very entertaining to hear, Chief. Sadly your delusions aren't going to come to truth.

Anyway, make sure he is kept here in the prayer room. We don't want to have him inspiring anyone to do stupid things when he is near the villagers."

The traitor took a sword in his hand, and stood up. The gunshot in his leg was a lie, he never actually had any wounds in the leg. He would've died from hemorrhage long ago if he was actually shot in the leg.

"Now we will lead an assault to the men gathered at the front of the village, and take them out with a pincer attack before they can react."

However, just as the traitor finishes his order, one of the bandits ran into the prayer room in a panic.

"Boss, it's the farmers! They knew we are here!"

"What, how?!"

"We didn't get spotted on our way here so no one could've knew. And none of the hostages escaped either, so no one could've told them."

"What did you say?!..."

"You underestimated him, fool. He is the strategist who once trapped Kenshin in an ambush, he isn't someone you should take lightly!

You could've captured and even killed him if you were aware of him. But it seems you are too stupid to understand who the real threat were and prioritized me instead."

'Punch!'

"Shut up will you?

Men, shut the gates and wait for the main force to arrive. By the time they break in the main army would've noticed and rushed in to safe us!"

And so all doors and windows to the shrine is shut and barricaded tightly.

From the outside, Old Man Fujimoto ordered the men.

"We have to get inside."

"But how? They have shut everything down!"

"Bring something heavy and break the gate.

Stop standing around people, help out!

And you big guy, you are the strongest around here so get yourself over to the gate and start hitting it."

Even though the farmers were an uncoordinated bunch who lacked any combat experience, Fujimoto still commanded them to the best of his ability.

After 5 minutes of ramming the gate with stones, logs and axes, the gate looked as if it was about to collapse at any moment.

And it is this exact moment a muffled shout could be heard from inside.

"Cease this you fools! Cease! If you break down this door we will kill every single women and children in here you hear me?!"

"That voice... You must be that scumbag messenger that tricked us."

"Hah! I'd like to talk with you more over some drinks but sadly this isn't anytime for chatting.

Like I said, if you try to break in we will kill everyone inside with no hesitation. Your best bet right now would be to either retreat into the woods by yourselves or die to the main forces marching into the village at this very moment!"

"Those are not very favorable deals for us. How about this - if you let the women and children go, we will make sure not to kill anyone inside.

The same goes for the opposite as well. If you dare lay a finger on Shiro or Haruto... I will kill everyone inside myself, sure as night follows day."

"You must have gone senile old man. This isn't a deal, this is a demand!

Either you run away with your lives intact or you die trying to free them! We aren't giving anyone or anything away!"

"Tch..."

It was in this instant.

"Argh-!!!" A scream from a man - presumably from one of the bandits could be heard from inside.

"What the-?! Why does that kid have a scythe?! Guards, go and kill her!"

'It's Shiro!'

"Break the gate, it's an opening!" Fujimoto yelled.

"Hrah!"

The strong man slams a boulder into the gate, finally breaching the shrine.

Immediately, Fujimoto looked inside and saw that the women and children are freed from being tied up.

And amidst the crowd, Shiro is on the ground with one of the bandits raising his sword and aiming down at her.

Simultaneously the traitor messenger held a pistol in his hand and had it aimed at Fujimoto.

It's judgment call.

And Fujimoto understood the gravity of the situation.

Shiro had the scythe in hand, there was a chance that she could still block the attack with her scythe....

Whereas if he doesn't immediately dodge now he will be shot by the bullet.

But even so, even if the odds early favor the latter option... he chooses the first.

"Shiro!"

Fujimoto flings his spear at the bandit attacking Shiro.

"Hmph!"

It impaled right into the chest of the bandit, killing him on impact. At the same time-

'Bang!'

A bullet punched right into the chest of the old man.

"...Cough!... Ark!..."

And he drops immediately to the floor, bleeding out from his lung.

__________

No no no no!

Fujimoto-san!

"Get in! Kill all the bandits inside!"

30 farmers rushed into the building and begun swinging at the 20 bandits.

Amidst all the chaos, Haruto and I ran up to the dying old man.

"Fujimoto-san!" / "Ji-chan!"

"Cough!... I...."

"S-stop speaking, you'll only make the bleeding worse!"

Haruto pressed his arm onto the bullet wound, trying his hardest to prevent any further bleeding.

"I... I am... glad... Cough!... to have..."

Fujimoto with his last breath put both of his hand on our heads. Gently patting us even now.

"Thank.... you..."

And then his hand loses strength, falling to the ground.

"No! Wake up Ji-chan! Ji-chan!"

Tears dripped down my face.

I had lost someone I love once again... stripped from me because of circumstances outside of my control.

Such is the sad truth of my unfair reality. I have no one else to curse other than the divines... and the man who pulled that trigger.

As Haruto cried, I grabbed the scythe besides me and begin walking towards my target.

This is the scythe that Fujimoto gave to me for protection... but now I wield it not for that purpose.

I just wanted that bastard to die.

I walked pass all of the fighting, towards the prayer room where the last of the bandits are fighting at.

I aimed the blade at the person right in the center - the man with the pistol, and sprinted at him.

"Rrah-!!!"

"You again?! What the hell do you-"

'Slash!'

"Argh!!!"

I don't know what happened exactly, but I remembered swinging at his leg and slicing it so that he couldn't escape.

"How dare you.... How dare you take the only thing I have left here in this world!"

Even when he lost his leg, the bastard still aimed his gun at me and pulled the trigger.

"You are a crazy demon, die!"

'Click!'

But nothing came out.

"Wha- what?! Wait wait, stop-"

'Slash!" My next slash took his arm.

"Argh-!!!"

"Fujimoto meant everything to me!... He was the one who gave meaning to my life again..."

"Stop her! Someone help me!"

I don't know why but no one seems to be able to hear him... probably because every bandit is already dead at this point.

And I couldn't care less about anyone else right now. All I know I his scream is so, so annoying.

'Slash!'

Blood spilled all over my body when I sliced his jaw in half. He can't even scream right now.

"Ark!... Grk!..."

'Clank!' I dropped the scythe to the ground... because my hands are too tired and weak to swing around such a heavy pole arm.

I grabbed him by the hair and punched him with my tiny fist.

"How dare you!... How dare you.... How... dare..."

"Stop it, girl. He's dead."

One of the farmer said to me, but I kept hitting the bastard.

"Hey..."

I didn't want to stop. I kept hitting him, even if my hands are too weak to even do any real damage.... Because who am I?

I'm just a weak girl who can't even use a glaive properly. A complete weakling.

"....Shiro."

But... the familiar voice of the young boy snapped me back to reality.

"...Haru...?"

"...He's already dead..."

"..."

The person whose hair I grabbed on stopped moving long ago due to how much blood he's losing. So much that it covered my entire body in red. All I could smell is the metallic odour of blood.

My right hand is full of cuts and are swollen so badly that they look bloated.

"What did I just..."

All of this bloodshed is right underneath the statue of the Goddess in the village. She is now stained with the blood of the bandit, just like me.

"It's alright, little girl. It's all right now, you may rest easy...."

It was the chief of the village who spoke to me this time.

"But... I..."

He crouched down and picked me up in his arms.

"My wife, please help me carry the boy as well."

"Yes, Lord husband..."

"Chief... What about Ji-chan..." Haruto called out from the side, as the Chief's wife tries to lift him.

"He was a good friend but... I'm sorry."

We didn't had a choice. We can't even bury Fujimoto's body properly and had to leave the village through the back door of the shrine immediately.

___________

The forest was full of cursed spirits, and although some folks were attacked by them none were injured.

"Young Shiro, could I trouble you to help with leading the way out of the forest? You are after all the most experienced person here amongst us."

"Uh... Yeah..."

I remembered seeing that lake and knew there was a monster inside, so I had the villagers steer clear from there.

I remembered that there were a lot of spirits some where near the muddy road that leads to Edo. So we searched around for a place with a bunch of cursed spirits.

The shrine maiden paved way out of the forest following the muddy road, and exorcising any spirits that attacked us. Eventually, we reached Edo after hours of walking.

By the time we had arrived at a small town at the outskirts, the sun had started to rise from the horizon.

Haruto and I did not spoke even once on the 4 hour trek through the forest... Partly because I was busy with leading the way, but also because I can't feel anything anymore.

Broken and numb, leading the way out of the forest was all I could do.

"Hey... Shiro...."

"What?..."

"...No... It's nothing."

I'm sure Haruto wanted to tell me that he's sorry. Sorry for bringing up the idea that we should help the people trapped inside the shrine... and sorry for not protecting me when the bandits attacked me.

But I didn't ask why he didn't speak. I didn't ask anything because I can't handle anything anymore... I couldn't feel a thing now.

Not sadness. Not despair. Not anger. I couldn't care less about what Haruto has to say.

It is just this emptiness that is remaining inside me....

(Chapter End)