To become a king and a magician

"Knock knock~~~~"

There was a knock on the door of Natsukawa Torato's room, and then a woman dressed in flamboyant attire walked in: "Did I disturb your rest, Mr. Natsukawa?"

"No, no, I woke up recently—did I have work?"

"Yes, as usual, it's that princess from the rustic city. Please treat her well, our top courtesan."

"Ok."

To put it bluntly, Natsukawa Tora's job in Shimosa was that of a "host"—of course, this concept didn't exist in that era, as Japan at that time was far from being open-minded. So, all Natsukawa Tora did was drink with female customers who paid for his services and listen to their complaints.

Half a month has passed since he joined the company. With his good looks and the sweet talk that Mei Li has taught him, Natsukawa Tiger has quickly become the most popular person in the castle town. Not long ago, even the princess of the general who lives in the earthen castle came out of the castle and spent a lot of money to talk to him for a whole day.

Since then, he has become the top courtesan here, even more successful than the geishas, ​​and he's making a fortune.

Similarly, after talking with Natsukawa Tora, the princess seemed to become addicted, coming here every one or two days to talk with him in the room for a whole day.

Just like now—

"Lord Tiger!"

Accompanied by the sound of running in the corridor and a longing exclamation, a beautiful young girl in a light blue dress rushed into the room from outside and came to Natsukawa Tiger with great joy.

"I miss you so much, Lord Tiger! I've been thinking about you every single moment these past two days!"

"You flatter me, Princess Kiyohime."

As if he had practiced it hundreds or thousands of times, Xia Chuanhu revealed a smile that could instantly charm most naive young girls like a prince on a white horse: "I have been looking forward to meeting you at all times, and I sincerely hope to see Your Highness's enchanting smile today. That would be the most precious treasure in the world."

(Ugh, I have to say these kinds of lines again. I'm sick of them myself...)

With a slight inner resistance, as usual, Xia Chuanhu began to receive his most important source of income.

7. You think this is a shoujo manga?

evening.

Inside the temporary residence of Natsukawa Torara and Miyamoto Musashi, located in a corner of the castle town.

"I'm so tired!"

With a drawn-out, exhausted look on his face, Natsukawa Tora walked in from outside.

Miyamoto Musashi, who was sitting inside maintaining his sword, was stunned by what he saw.

It wasn't because of Natsukawa Tora's listless appearance, but rather because of the overwhelmingly strong perfume he was wearing.

"Tiger, what...what happened to you at your workplace?"

"Oh? It's nothing, just chatting with a young girl, listening to her complain, and then being bribed by her to do some things for her."

"Natsukawa Tiger said casually."

Basically, his profession only involves performing, and it would never escalate to the point of trading one's body, especially in ancient times. So Princess Qingji really didn't do anything to him; she just hoped he could hug her, hold her hand, and say some nice things to him.

But just that alone exhausted him. It was almost killing his brain cells to rack his brains to come up with those sweet words. And more importantly, there were the aftereffects of saying those words—Xia Chuanhu himself felt incredibly nauseous!

"I think I should find some time to run away from that store."

"Tiger, what exactly were you asked to say?"

Seeing that Natsukawa Torato was considering running away, Miyamoto Musashi was also curious about what he had experienced during the day.

Xia Chuanhu frowned deeply, looking troubled: "You really want to hear this?"

"Huh? Is that not allowed? By the way, why do you look like you have a stomachache and are really conflicted?"

"It's nothing... Well, if you want to hear it, I can say a word to you."

Anyway, it was just a demonstration. After clearing his throat, Natsukawa Tora closed his eyes. In that instant, the swordsman's intuition made Miyamoto Musashi immediately alert. The feeling she had for Natsukawa Tora had completely changed.

It's no longer that boyish feeling, but a... quite mature and masculine feeling.

It's a pity that Miyamoto Musashi didn't know what shoujo manga was, otherwise she would definitely have had a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Musashi".

Opening his eyes, using magic to disguise them as deep, diamond-like eyes, Natsukawa Torato approached Miyamoto Musashi and gently lifted her chin with his fingers.

"I love you."

"Huh?"

"From the moment we first met, I have been hopelessly in love with you."

As if forcing Miyamoto Musashi, Natsukawa Tora grabbed her wrist, leaned forward and pressed her down onto the tatami mat. Whether it was Miyamoto Musashi's imagination or not, she felt that bright red rose petals began to float around Natsukawa Tora, and his whole appearance became more refined.

And in her ears came the ambiguous moans and groans of a man, full of allure in various ways.

(W-what? This development...)

Miyamoto Musashi's face turned completely red. She was an incredibly innocent girl with zero experience in love and with the opposite sex—a simple girl whose mind was only focused on swords! And now she was being subjected to this direct, overtly affectionate advances from a blond, handsome young man...

What does "double penetration protection" mean?

At that moment, Natsukawa Torato's fingers touched her lips: "Such soft lips, may I taste them?"

"Um...this...this..."

"I want to possess your lips, Musashi. Will you let me be the only man to possess them, mylover?"

"Ugh... I can't take it anymore!"

Having reached his limit of shame, Miyamoto Musashi, his face completely flushed, quickly shouted and shoved Natsukawa Toramaru away. He shrank to the side, straightened his collar, and said with a red face, "I...I understand! Toramaru, you say these indecent things to women at your part-time job, right!"

Rubbing the back of his head, Xia Chuanhu threw away the meaningless filters and special effects he had imagined, and nodded wearily: "That princess of Tuqi City seems to really like this kind of thing. She keeps pestering me to treat her like this, and I'm exhausted. She has dug out all the sweet words I have in my head."

In return, they made a lot of money.

Hearing Natsukawa Tora's words, Miyamoto Musashi frowned slightly: "So... you kissed him?"

"Huh? What are you kissing?"

"Your Highness, did you kiss him?"

"How could that be? I'm not interested in that kind of girl. I can just joke around with her and that's it," Xia Chuanhu explained, shrugging. "More importantly, what about dinner?"

"I'm here, but my cooking skills aren't as good as yours. I can only make some mediocre rice balls."

Miyamoto Musashi somewhat embarrassedly picked up a plate of rice balls that was placed to the side. Indeed, just as she had said, the rice balls were not very well shaped. After all, Miyamoto Musashi did not look like someone who could cook.

Fortunately, for Natsukawa Tiger, appearance is not important, as long as it is edible.

After taking a bite of a rice ball, Natsukawa Tora continued, "By the way, while I was with that princess, I also gathered some information that some black demons have recently appeared."

A black ghost.

On the night of the blood moon, black demons will arrive riding on dark clouds and, led by the Demon General, carry out divine punishment—Princess Kiyohime revealed this information while she was completely infatuated with Natsukawa Torato.

"Based on what I know, that should be the situation when the Heroic Swordsman appeared. The Ghost General is the Heroic Swordsman, and those black ghosts should be the resentment of the humans they killed... or perhaps ghosts formed from their own power."

“Heroic swordsmen and demons—speaking of which, I’ve also heard something.” Miyamoto Musashi said solemnly, “Hitachi Province has become a wasteland. It happened just yesterday. There isn’t a single living person left; they were all burned to ashes in the flames.”

Hitachi Province, a neighboring province separated from Shimousa Province only by the Tone River, was completely wiped out in a sea of ​​fire last night.

This was undoubtedly the work of the heroic swordsman.

"Shall we go check that out tonight, Tiger?"

"Hmm, maybe we can find traces of the Heroic Swordsman over there. It might be a bit late to talk about this now, but we really can't leave the Heroic Swordsman unattended. Also, Musashi, give me your two swords."

"Huh? What do you want my knife for?"

“Enhancement,” Natsukawa Tora explained. “Last night you said you were having trouble cutting intangible things, right? I’ve added a few spells to your sword to deal with similar situations, so that when you encounter those kinds of situations again, you can just go around killing them.”

Upon hearing that he would no longer be bothered by those indestructible monsters, Miyamoto Musashi immediately placed his sword in front of Natsukawa Torama and said with a fawning smile, "Hehehe~~~ Then it's up to you, Torama. Make my sword super powerful!"

"Yes, yes, yes~~~"

8. Farewell, Tomoe Gozen

Night fell completely very quickly.

In this peaceful era, there is actually no nighttime entertainment. Once night falls, the entire castle town quickly quiets down, with most residents resting in the darkness. Only one or two squads of samurai patrol the castle town on horseback, carrying torches.

Therefore, it was surprisingly easy for Natsukawa Torato and Miyamoto Musashi to leave the city.

After confirming that they would not be seen, the two took to the wind and flew into the sky, heading towards Hitachi Province.

"It really is flying."

Although he had already experienced it once last night, being lifted up by the wind and flying into the air like this was still a very new experience for Miyamoto Musashi: "In this way, we can reach Hitachi Province soon, right?"

"Well, it would normally take a whole day to walk there, but this will only take a few minutes."

Sitting in front, Natsukawa Tora asked, "Have you tried the knife?"

"Not yet." Miyamoto Musashi touched the two swords at his waist.

After Natsukawa Tiger finished his dinner, he began to strengthen the two swords.

Magic that targets spirits, magic that mimics immortality, magic that hinders magic power... Natsukawa Torato tried to install any magic that could help Miyamoto Musashi close the hardware gap with the Heroic Spirit Swordsman in battle.

In addition to magic, Natsukawa Torama also imbued the two swords with the "Blessing of the Spirits." Whenever Miyamoto Musashi grasps the swords, he will receive the blessing from him—the actual effect is roughly equivalent to granting Miyamoto Musashi an A-rank magical release.

Miyamoto Musashi was naturally unaware of these enhancements. All she could understand was that the two swords at her waist were now accumulating incredibly strong [sword energy] and [sword intent], which would probably erupt the moment they were drawn.

Treat this situation as a quick draw attack, and give the Heroic Swordsman a big surprise when you encounter him!

Miyamoto Musashi had this idea in mind.

Soon, after flying in the air for a while and passing over the Tone River below, the two officially entered the territory of Hitachi Province.

After landing in Hitachi Province on the wind—

"..."

"..."

Natsukawa Torato and Miyamoto Musashi both fell silent.

The two learned in the castle town that Hitachi Province had been burned to ashes by the flames summoned by the heroic swordsman, and the entire country had become a wasteland.

But now it seems...