Chapter 8 : The meeting of two natural enemies

On a large tree about two kilometres from the village, Ibuki was sitting on a branch eating a ball of rice while his gaze was directed towards the village.

"The women in this village are really suspicious, they have no fields, no men or boys, the location of the village is extremely far from any big city and, add to that the smell of demons."

"I'm 70% sure they have something to do with the thefts that have happened, this region alone has had more than 400 cases of theft over the last few years. "

"It is even said that the Tokugawa family at the time had sent thousands of soldiers to investigate the situation, but to no avail, my client was really stupid to go through such a notorious road."

"Hum?"

Ibuki's attention was suddenly caught by a group of women, carrying their children on their backs, who were leaving the village with full baskets in their hands following the old woman with whom he had spoken a few hours earlier.

The sun was almost down, according to Ibuki's rough estimate, it was around 18:50-19:10, night was about to fall, so why leave the village at this dangerous hour? We are at the end of the Meiji era, going out alone at night outside villages and towns was very risky.

Ibuki jumped from the tree and landed on the branch of a nearby tree, then continued to silently jump from tree to tree while following the group of women.

The women walked through a forest of trees with dense foliage, made a few detours around some steep hills and took detours from time to time without stopping, as if they were used to following this road.

Night fell when they arrived at a large manor house in Japanese castle style, It was a very large building of Neiji architecture covering a large area and hidden by the surrounding landscape.

Ibuki further away, hidden behind the foliage of a tree, looked at the building for a moment before turning his gaze to a tree a hundred metres away.

At the same moment the man with flame-coloured hair also looked towards Ibuki, both of them having the same thought.

"What the hell's he doing here?"

At the same time, they both felt distrustful of each other.

Neither of them moved for about two hours, before finally the man with flame-colored hair moved towards Ibuki.

Seeing this Ibuki put his left hand on his Katana while looking at the man who was coming towards him.

Arriving the man looked at Ibuki for a moment while Ibuki looked at him too.

"Who are you?" They both said at the same time.

"I asked the question first, so answer!"

I asked the question first, so answer!"

"Stop repeating what I say and answer!"

"Stop repeating what I say and answer!"

The two remained silent for a while, but unlike Ibuki, the man with flame-colored hair was angry, so he clenched his teeth while a large vein appeared on his forehead.

"Are you kidding me? You want to die, you bastard!?"

"What if I made fun of you, what can you do about it? If you're going to draw your karana, I wouldn't recommend it. I started practicing before your father was even a sperm." Said Ibuki slowly with a calm look that made the man with flame-colored hair want to strangle him to death before cutting him into a thousand pieces.

"I'll roast you sons of bitches!" The man screams in rage before he draws his sword.

He and Ibuki disappeared at the same time.

*Clang*

The two Katana came to strike each other, creating sparks.

They exchanged a few base shots for a while before putting each one of their Katana back in their sheath.

"Humpf! You've got some skill, for a stoic-faced bastard, my name is Shinjuro Rengoku, Flame Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps."Said Shinjuro with a proud expression, but in response, Ibuki looked at him silently with a flippant look on his face.

But the next sentence from Ibuki made Shinjuro want to tear him to pieces.

"Oh...Basically you're an angry guy who walks around at night in the forest dressed in flashy clothes and a ridiculous haircut, who follows women into the dark forest, while attacking honest citizens like me."

"I'm gonna kill that guy! I'm gonna gut him ...." Shinjuro looked at Ibuki while clenching his teeth angrily as the Katana he was holding trembled in his hands.

"My name is Matsushime Ibuki, mercenary, bounty hunter, investigator. I can solve all your problems as long as you put a fair price on it."

Ibuki then took out a handmade business card, and gave it to Shinjuro who was speechless for a short while before throwing the business card away.

"Basically, you're a scavenger." Shinjuro said with a provocative smile that Ibuki ignored as he picked up the business card and threw it on the floor.

But suddenly both raised their heads and looked in the direction of the castle.