Money

"Please, Hero-sama, stay here with us!" said Hansha, the local samurai chief.

After Jack mentioned that Kampaku's killers were looking for him, Hansha quickly bowed and asked him to stay in the building.

Kampaku was powerful, with his 100,000-strong royal army and many more ordinary soldiers, but he would not recklessly attack samurais. Previous agreements granted samurais immunity from all interventions; it's like a country within a country.

At that time, Kampaku had no choice but to agree to the samurais' demands; if he didn't, the samurais could have overthrown him and returned the rule to the emperor, seeking even more advantages from the emperor in exchange.

Those agreements are still in place; whether it's royal forces, the military, nobles, etc., none can legally arrest Jack when he shelters in a samurai building.

Jack shook his head and said, "I don't want to get you guys in trouble."

Hansha nodded and said, "Hero-sama, I can't prevent you from leaving, but at least take this!" He handed over a bulging pouch, presumably filled with gold coins.

Jack coughed; he obviously didn't want to leave; he didn't expect Hansha to agree to let him go this easily.

"Hansha-dono, we don't need money! I feel disrespected!" Jack looked away from him; his right hand, however, acted unlike his words, snatching the pouch with speed only peak humans could muster.

Hansha wanted to take the pouch away, but before he could, it was gone; cursing secretly, he didn't dare ask it back, "Hero-sama! Then please, visit us again whenever you can!" He gestured with his hand, showing the door.

It must be noted that even though samurais admire the Hero, they aren't like the village chief, who is ready to throw away his life to save Jack. Hansha knows that Kampaku is looking to kill Jack, so he doesn't want to get involved; after all, samurai higher-ups aren't stupid; they know if they push it too much, Kampaku may start taking away their privileges.

With Kampaku's current strength, Samurais wouldn't be able to resist if he goes all out.

Jack looked meaningfully at Hansha and said, "Anyways, thank you for the drink; I'll make sure to let everyone, every samurai know about your kindness today!"

Hearing this, Hansha frowned; even though samurai higher-ups knew about the power of Kampaku, lower-level samurais still lived in the past, believing they could do whatever they wanted. If word gets out that he, Hansha, threw the Hero out, it would severely damage his reputation.

Weighing things, Hansha decided: "Hero-sama, please wait!"

"What?" Jack, who was near the door, stopped and asked.

"At least stay for a few days; let me ask Chief Akarui; maybe he can convince you to stay longer!" Hansha said. He decided to dump responsibility on Akarui.

Jack 'reluctantly' said, "I accept!"

...

Samurais' building in Red Flower City was not big; it was a three-floor building with about 30 rooms and a relatively small yard.

The reason is that samurais don't usually use one big building; they have many smaller buildings. For example, aside from this one, the city has over 20 other samurai buildings, all of which are quite small.

This building was a samurai gathering place, not their home; therefore, it didn't have any bedrooms; it was only offices.

The office employed many non-samurais to do clerical tasks, so ordinary citizens were allowed in. However, for ordinary people to enter, they must have a special permit.

How can one become a samurai?

The answer is not simple; first, anyone working for the royal court or any nobles cannot become a samurai.

Samurai are selective; there is no samurai 'university' from which to 'graduate' to become a samurai.

The easiest way is to have a samurai father. Even though samurai is not hereditary, a samurai father's recommendation would go a long way.

The official way of becoming a samurai is the approval of the local samurai chief; for example, in Red Flower City, anyone Hansha approves can become a samurai after some simple tests. The issue is that the quotas are limited and determined after yearly negotiations with the Ministry of Samurai and the royal court.

So, in effect, very few without at least a samurai friend or parent can become a samurai, as most quotas go to those with samurai friends and fathers.

Once one becomes a samurai, one must follow some code of conduct, but in general, one gets far more than one forfeits. Laws don't apply to them; no matter their crime, the samurai court would punish them leniently.

That's why most criminal gangs are led by samurais; in fact, samurais are one of the richest groups, earning money from many sources. They are a massive issue for local lords and even imperial cities.

Still, they cannot go overboard; the higher-ups of samurais know that if they start attacking government buildings, by misusing their immunity, Kampaku may want to renegotiate their deal. Therefore, they are careful not to offend real big shots, especially those connected to Kampaku.

Kampaku has also been using samurais to his advantage, providing protection from them if local nobles join him, and allowing samurais to attack and loot those who resist him.

Once someone becomes a samurai, they are bound to remain one forever; they forever forfeit the right to become a government official in exchange for their privileges.

...

Samurais, put Jack and his crew in the best room beside Hansha's; after all, placing him in a bad room would offend the hero.

In the last two days, Kuro's ninjas have been secretly looking at the building but didn't dare to really attack it. Even though Kuro would attack samurais if necessary, he would do it only if Kampaku ordered it.

Ninjas are a sword and won't be held responsible when ordered to perform a task; but if Kuro attacks without an explicit order, Kampaku may not shoulder responsibility. That would directly put the village in conflict with samurais, which would be absolutely horrible.

Kuro didn't pressure Akai Hana; after all, even Kampaku has to be careful with samurais, so asking Akai Hana to arrest Jack forcibly would be useless.

He sent letters to Kampaku when he found out Jack hid in a samurai building, and now, everything is in the hands of higher-ups.

...

Kampaku, doing his usual nightly letter-reading job, sighed when he read the letter sent by Kuro.

"Jack hid in the samurai property of Red Flower City? This is a huge issue!" He put the letter away, took a blank paper, and started writing a letter to his Ministry of Truth.

The Ministry of Truth was established by him many years ago; its main responsibility is to suppress any news unfavorable to Kampaku and spread rumors and 'news' that help him. It's basically the Ministry of Propaganda.

"The Emperor has ordered the Ministry to start exposing Jack's horrible acts, especially his crimes against samurais!" the letter ended with this.

Kampaku has no idea whether Jack actually committed any crimes against samurais, but it doesn't matter; he ordered the Ministry of Truth to 'find' and 'expose' crimes about Jack, so even if he were pure and innocent, the ministry would make things up.

In Kampaku's view, talking about 'truth' is ridiculous; the truth is nothing more than what people believe; whether it really happened or not, who cares?

His Minister of Truth is skilled in this stuff; these few words are enough. Kampaku dislikes writing long orders and micromanaging his subordinates; he writes general orders, and as for how they get implemented, it's the job of his subordinates.

He first wants to reduce Jack's popularity among samurais and then moves to arrest him; that way, when he punishes Jack, samurais may even praise him.

...

Akarui, an old man over 80 years old, was quite lively. He used to be very ill, but a few days ago, his illness suddenly got much better, which allowed him to start paying attention to matters beyond his health.

Still, his eyes weren't good; he could barely read words, so his trusted subordinates read letters for him.

"What? Hero is in our building in Red Flower City?" His eyes went wide upon hearing this.

Tomei, the trusted clerk who read letters, said, "Yes, master, this is all written in the letter."

"Throw him out! What are you waiting for?" Akarui said; he treated the jack as a hot potato, which was burning his hand.,

"But master, Hero is popular among samurais; we would provoke protests if we hand him over to Kampaku."

"It doesn't matter! We cannot make trouble for Kampaku-dono! I can handle the protest! Throw him out!" said Akarui.

Just as Tomei wanted to leave to deliver the order, a knock on the door came.

Technically, the doors were made of wood and paper, so it was hard actually to knock, but these doors had special 'knocking' places built in them so that one could knock on the door without any issue.

"Who is it?" Tomei asked.

"Master, it's a letter from Kampaku!" someone from outside said.

"Come in," Tomei said.

A samurai came and delivered the letter.

Akarui asked, "What is it?"

"Kampaku-sama ordered us to not expel Jack for now, until the Ministry of Truth can appropriately 'expose' his crimes against the samurai," said Tomei.

"What crimes?" asked Akarui.

Tomei said, "It's not written here, but as Kampaku-sama said, it must be grave crimes!"

Akarui nodded and said, "I cancel my previous order; for now, send a letter directing the local samurai chief to hold on and keep Jack."

"Yes, master," answered Tomei.

...

After Jack punished that 'scamming' and 'evil' vendor, the news of his arrival spread far and wide; suppressing the news was not at all possible.

Every day, many people came and begged samurais to open the door so they could see Hero's face. Those who were there that day all became famous, with many people jumping over themselves to speak to them so they could know more about Hero-sama.

That vendor also died after physicians refused to treat him, and even his family was thrown out of the city. Local noble Akai Hana didn't punish any of the ones who killed the vendor; anyway, he was just an ordinary person, so in his opinion, it wasn't worth it to inflame the situation only to seek justice for a 'nobody.'

...

"Lucy!" Jack called.

"Yes, Jack-sama!" Lucy responded in high spirits.

"Help Gabriel and Raphael get out of here tonight!" ordered Jack.

Lucy nodded and responded, "Don't worry, Jack-sama; I will get them out of here exactly according to our plan!"

Jack knows his time here is temporary; what's important is to send out his two trusted subordinates so they can start their operation. Gabriel would set out various organizations, while Raphael would make money.

The village chief already brought a lot of money, and with money given by samurais, Gabriel has a lot of starting capital; with his ability, it's likely that he would make a lot of money quickly. With enough money, Jack can defeat Kampaku.