Chapter 7 : He is strong !

"Yare, Yare, how can we find thieves in such a sparsely populated area?" Says a tall young man of about sixteen with short black hair, a calm gaze, dressed in a blue yuktata with a white cloud pattern and a katana at his waist.

He was Ibuki.

"The trader who gave me this task was really angry, the thieves not only killed all his men but also took all his goods, the commission he gave me is at least worthy of the difficulty of the task..."

It had been three years since he had killed the Shadow Demon, after that he continued wandering for a few months before deciding to accept the job of bounty hunter, although it was a difficult and risky job, he still managed to make a reputation for himself, so he performed several tasks for civil servants and rich men in exchange for money.

Because of his efficiency, he was more and more solicited during the last few years, during the tasks he performed, he fought thieves, murderers, corrupt samurai and even from time to time demons.

He also trained strictly almost every day, strengthening his body to an almost superhuman level.

About a week ago, he was solicited by a rich merchant whose employees and merchandise disappeared in the western hills of the Chugoku region, he paid him to find the location of the thieves and to arrest them if possible.

He had been looking for the thieves' hideout for several days, but he couldn't find any clues.

He thus walked on the roads marked by traders on the lookout for the slightest clue allowing him to find the thieves, perhaps it was his lucky day after about ten hours of searching, he found a small village of about ten houses which was not listed on any map of the region.

As he approached the village the first thing he noticed was that there were no fields, but he didn't linger too long on details as rare villages preferred to cultivate on more fertile land away from their villages.

But what really surprised him was when he arrived in the village, because all the people living there were women and girls, there were no men or boys.

Seeing Ibuki walking through the village, all the inhabitants looked at him in a strange way.

Ibuki pretending not to notice them came smiling towards one of the women, but before he could ask a single question, the woman ran away.

"Sorry for her reaction, foreign, but we Obanai villagers aren't used to stranger."

Ibuki turning around saw a short old woman walking with a stick and coming towards him.

"She slightly smells of demon..." Ibuki thought before he smiled at the old woman.

"No, it's me who apologizes for my abrupt manners, hello ma'am, my name is Ibuki."

"Oh a polite young man, how rare it is these days, my name is Misune Obanai, how can I help you?" Asked the old woman with a smile

"I'm just a modest traveller passing by, but I don't mean to pry, may I ask where are the men of this village?"

The old woman hearing this question didn't look surprised, elle thought for a moment before saying:

"All our men went to sell our local produce at the Okayama city Weekly Market, they'll surely come back in a few days, if you want you can stay in our village for a while, you're surely tired from your trip."

"Thank you for your offer, but I must decline. I have a long way to go and I can't stop for anything."

"Oh! I understand, so I wish you a safe journey."

Ibuki also greeted the old woman before leaving the village but on the road he came across a man in his late twenties with unruly orange hair, fair skin, bushy black eyebrows and angry, orange eyes that redden near the pupils, he weared a traditional kimono robe and has a katana with a flame guard , with what appears to be a flame pattern on the sheath, a white belt, hakama pants and a white long-sleeved collared shirt under his traditional kimono robe.

"He's strong!" they thought at the same time, each going in different directions.