Angry Hyogoro; Looking for the Miko’s Body

He couldn't accept that the Tsukuyomi family had caused such chaos in all of Wano over this matter. Even when Hibi was deserted before, there were definitely not as few people on the streets as there are now. There were just a few people rushing around like thieves.

Considering himself a knight-errant, his actions naturally had to live up to the word "knight." However, he had previously been suppressed by the Tsukuyomi family's name because they wanted loyalty to the Shogun. Wano was the Tsukuyomi family's Wano, and they should be in charge of this country. Even the underworld was allowed to exist within the Tsukuyomi family's rule.

This was the culture that the people of Wano had accepted for generations, and even now, they believed in it themselves.

But at this moment, his anger gave birth to a terrible idea.

Back home, Maitabe still hadn't woken up. He sat outside the corridor with a grim face.

"What's wrong? You look like you're deep in thought," An walked over at this time, noticing his strange expression, and asked curiously.

Heigoro knew An wasn't from Wano, so telling her his thoughts shouldn't be considered 'treasonous.' So he expressed what he was thinking.

After listening, Heigoro looked hopefully at An, wanting to hear her response. But An burst into laughter, a hearty laugh, so happy that tears even came out!

"What are you laughing at?" Heigoro asked indignantly.

"I'm laughing because you finally look like someone!" An laughed as she spoke. "This is the mentality that warriors of the sea should have. If you're dissatisfied, you should let it out. Being bound by rules all the time is just stupid. With that said, I approve of you now!"

"If it were up to you, what would you choose?"

"The Shimotsuki family." Heigoro thought for a moment before saying, "The Shimotsuki family has a lot of prestige in Wano. If they mobilize troops now, it must be because of the Shogun's orders. If we can make the Shimotsuki family become the Shogun, then everything should improve, right?"

However, his answer greatly displeased An. She put away her previous smile and scolded, "Idiot."

"How can you let your reputation overthrow the Shogun? That's the old order. Are you dissatisfied with the Tsukuyomi family or is it the Shimotsuki family that's dissatisfied with the Tsukuyomi family? If it's your own dissatisfaction, why don't you do something about it yourself?"

"How can that be?!" Heigoro couldn't help but say, but before he could continue, An interrupted him coldly. "How can it not be?"

Heigoro sat in place, unable to speak, and said nothing more.

His mind was a bit confused now.

In the history of Wano, there had been unrest, but all the unrest had been caused by the daimyos. They had never thought of rebelling against the daimyos or the Shogun themselves.

Even the previous uprising against the Shogun was only because the Tsukuyomi family had no heir, so they had to choose a successor from among the other daimyos.

When the Tsukuyomi family finally had an heir, Shimotsuki Sukiyaki, all the unrest disappeared.

In their minds, loyalty to the daimyos and the Shogun was a matter of course, and the daimyos' loyalty to the Shogun was also a matter of course.

His previous dissatisfaction with the Tsukuyomi family, and even the idea of wanting to drag them down, was only because he was in the underworld. Even the thought of that made the underworld boss break out in a cold sweat and reprimand himself for treason.

So when An scolded him just now, his brain crashed, but soon Maitabe woke up, finally pulling him out of this chaotic thinking.

He and An quickly returned to the room and looked at the awakened Maitabe.

"If you have something to discuss, I'll go outside and make medicine," Heigoro's wife, who had been taking care of Maitabe before, said as she saw them come in and then left.

An sat aside, watching Heigoro kneel beside Maitabe.

"Boss..."

Maitabe was excited to see Heigoro, and Heigoro was the same. He held Maitabe's hand and said, "Sorry, I've caused trouble for you!"

"Don't say that, Boss Heigoro." Maitabe lay there, looking at Heigoro. "I am deeply impressed by your chivalry and will never betray you."

"Sigh, what does the Tsukuyomi family want to do in the end?! To cause all this chaos in Wano for one swordsman, for one person?" Heigoro said angrily again.

An watched the two of them on the side, listening to them recount recent events. Heigoro first talked about what happened on his side, and then Maitabe talked about what happened to him.

At first, they only received news asking them to help find the missing Heigoro and another person. Upon hearing that Boss Heigoro was missing, of course, they urgently mobilized the power of the underworld to find him. However, there were no clues for a long time.

Until half a month ago, after the Tsukuyomi family searched for a long time and still had no information about them, they believed that someone was deliberately sheltering them, and the most likely candidates were them, the underworld, who admired Boss Heigoro.

So the samurai and ninjas came to Maitabe's home. After finding that Heigoro was not at Maitabe's home, they lurked in his house because they believed that when Heigoro had nowhere else to go, he would think of these people.

"It's not just me. Suzuha's Adachi, Shirayuki's Kojiro, and Usagi's Taisho are all the same." Maitabe said weakly.

"This is outrageous!" Heigoro punched the ground. He never thought things would come to this point.

He thought that even if Mita wanted revenge on Kenshin, it wouldn't lead to this. But the result was completely unexpected to him.

"You said the Shogun asked you to find Heigoro. Besides Heigoro, was there anything else?" At this point, An spoke up.

Maitabe glanced at An, somewhat puzzled.

Heigoro quickly said, "This is An. She's the one who saved you."

Maitabe hurriedly expressed his gratitude, and An waved her hand. "There's no need to thank me. Let's talk about business now."

Maitabe thought for a moment and then answered An's previous question.

"If you want to say it, indeed, they asked us to find something else." His expression was somewhat puzzled, as if what they were asked to find was very strange.

"It's a corpse."

"A corpse?" Both An and Heigoro were surprised.

"Yes, a corpse, a shrine maiden's corpse." Maitabe said. "Even after I was imprisoned, they kept asking me to send the underworld to find the corpse of that shrine maiden."

A shrine maiden...

An slowly closed her eyes.

In the era of demons, weren't those who hunted demons and shrine maidens enemies of demons?

No, in fact, they were one and the same.

In some areas, demons were called yokai, and some groups of demon hunters were called shrine maidens...

The Tsukuyomi family...

What were they looking for the shrine maiden's corpse for?