He couldn't accept that the Kozuki family was turning the whole Wano Country into a miserable place just for this kind of thing. Before, even when Kibi was a bit deserted, it was never this bad, where you hardly saw anyone on the streets.
And those few people who were out looked like they were doing something wrong, rushing around nervously.
He saw himself as a hero, and his actions had to match that image. But before, he was held back by the Kozuki family's name, because they had to be loyal to the general. Wano Country was the Kozuki family's Wano Country, and they should rule it. Even the underworld was allowed to exist within the Kozuki family's rule.
This was the culture that the people of Wano Country had accepted for generations, and now even they themselves deeply believed it.
But at this moment, the anger in his heart gave him a terrible idea.
Back at home, Yatabe was still not awake. Hyougoro sat outside the door on the porch, his face pale.
"What's wrong? You look like you're thinking about something?" An said, coming over and noticing that his expression was off. She asked curiously.
Hyougoro knew that An wasn't from Wano Country, so telling her his thoughts wouldn't make her think he was being 'disrespectful'. So he told her what he was thinking.
After listening, Hyougoro looked at An hopefully, wanting to hear her answer. But An burst out laughing. She laughed so happily, she was overjoyed, and even tears came to her eyes!
"What are you laughing at?" Hyougoro said, annoyed.
"I'm laughing because you finally look like yourself!" An said, still laughing. "This is what a warrior on the sea should think. If you're not happy, you should say it. Being tied down by rules all the time is really stupid. Now, I accept you!"
"If you were really going to do it, what would you choose?"
"The Shimotsuki family," Hyougoro said after thinking. "The Shimotsuki family is very respected in Wano Country. If they're sending troops now, it must be because of the general's orders. If we could make Shimotsuki the general, then everything should get better, right?"
However, his answer made An very unhappy. She stopped smiling and cursed, "Idiot."
"You want your daimyo to overthrow the general? That's still the same old order. Are you unhappy with the Kozuki family, or is the Shimotsuki family unhappy with the Kozuki family? Since you're the one who's unhappy, why don't you do it yourself?"
"That's impossible!" Hyougoro couldn't help but say. But before he could finish, An interrupted him, saying coldly, "Why is it impossible?"
Hyougoro sat there without saying anything. He didn't speak again.
His mind was a bit messed up now.
There had been unrest in Wano Country's history before, but all the unrest was caused by the daimyo. They had almost never thought about rebelling against the daimyo or the general themselves.
Even the previous trouble about the general was only because the Kozuki family had no heir, and they had to choose one from the other daimyo to become the next general.
Once the Kozuki family had an heir, Kozuki Sukiyaki, all the unrest disappeared.
In their minds, being loyal to the daimyo and the general was natural, and the daimyo being loyal to the general was also natural.
The moment of dissatisfaction he had felt towards the Kozuki family, even the thought of dragging them down, was only because he was in the underworld. But even the head of the underworld was shocked and horrified at himself for having that idea.
So An's shouting made his mind freeze. But soon Yatabe woke up, finally pulling him out of his confused thoughts.
He and An quickly returned to the room, looking at the awakened Yatabe.
"You guys talk, I'll go outside and make medicine," Hyougoro's wife had been taking care of Yatabe. When she saw them come in, she left.
An sat aside, watching Hyougoro kneel beside Yatabe.
"Boss..."
Yatabe was very excited when he saw Hyougoro. Hyougoro felt the same way. He held Yatabe's hand and said, "I'm sorry, I got you into this!"
"Don't say that, Boss Hyougoro," Yatabe said from his lying position, looking at Hyougoro. "I'm deeply impressed by your chivalry and would never betray you."
"Sigh, what exactly does the Kozuki family want to do?! Just for one Kenshin, just for one me, they're turning Wano Country into this?" Hyougoro said angrily again.
An watched the two of them, listening as they talked about what had happened recently. Hyougoro began by explaining his side of the story, followed by Yatabe explaining what had happened to him.
At first, news came from above telling them to help find the missing Hyougoro and another person. When he heard that Boss Hyougoro was missing, he immediately used the power of the underworld to search for him, but there were no leads.
Until about half a month ago, the Kozuki family had searched for a long time but still had no information about them. So they thought someone was deliberately protecting them, and the most likely people were the underworld figures who admired Hyougoro.
So the samurai and ninja went to Yatabe's house. After finding that Hyougoro wasn't there, they lurked in his house, because they believed that Hyougoro would definitely think of these people when he was desperate.
"It's not just me, it's Ageha from Ring Town, Tsunagoro from White Dance, and Omasa from Rabbit Well," Yatabe said weakly.
"That's too much!" Hyougoro punched the ground. He never thought things would get to this point.
He thought that even if Oden really wanted to get revenge on Kenshin, he wouldn't let things get this far. But the result was completely beyond his expectations.
"You said the general told you to look for Hyougoro, but was there anything else besides Hyougoro?"
At this time, An spoke.
Yatabe glanced at An, looking confused.
Hyougoro quickly said, "This is An, she's the one who saved you."
Yatabe quickly thanked her. An waved her hand, "No need to thank me, let's talk business."
Yatabe thought for a moment and answered An's previous question.
"If you have to say, they did ask us to look for something else." His face looked puzzled, as if the thing he was asked to find was very strange.
"It's a body."
"A body?" Both An and Hyougoro were surprised.
"That's right, it's a body, the body of a witch," Yatabe said. "Even after I was imprisoned, they kept telling me to send the underworld to find the witch's body."
Witch…
An slowly closed her eyes.
In the era of demons, weren't the enemies of those demons demon hunters and witches?
No, actually, they're the same kind of people.
In some areas, demons are called monsters, and some groups of demon hunters are called witches...
The Kozuki family…
What are they doing looking for the witch's body?
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