Yashiro the Blind

"You mean... everyone who came to Owari is dead, but not all of them?"

"..." He nodded.

"I see." Yashiro suddenly realized. Although she had been guessing most of the time, the communication between the two had been surprisingly smooth so far. The woman didn't seem to have any hostility. In just a few words, her deep vigilance had relaxed a little, and she pointed her twin swords at the ground.

She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

At the same time, it's a bit of a pity. If it were any other time, and he had the chance to meet such a skilled opponent, given Yashiro's personality, he would definitely be eager to learn and would insist on exchanging a few moves with her within the bounds of a friendly exchange before he would give up.

Especially since this character wields dual swords—dual-wielding was quite common in the various creative works she had seen in her previous life. However, that was because this style looked fashionable and cool. In addition, fictional stories didn't need to consider practicality too much, so they went for whatever was fashionable, focusing on artistic embellishment.

In reality, very few people wield two weapons.

The reason is simple: there are not many people in this world who are born with two hands. Some people are left-handed, and some are right-handed. There are obvious differences in strength, reaction and other aspects between the dominant hand and the non-dominant hand. Most of the popular dual-wielding techniques in the world are also routines with one long and one short hand, with the dominant hand attacking and the non-dominant hand responsible for defense.

Those who wield two swords, one in each hand, like the woman before him, are either exceptionally talented or possess unique skills that are difficult for ordinary people to imitate. Yashiro dislikes killing but enjoys sparring with others; this is a habit she's had since childhood and hasn't changed. Especially when encountering those who use unusual weapons, she's like a cat seeing a ball of yarn, always trying to scratch it.

Unfortunately, the woman was severely injured; the wound on her abdomen was still bleeding profusely. Although she tried her best to suppress it, her weakness and exhaustion were impossible to hide. Yashiro could tell from her voice that she was at her last gasp, barely holding on by sheer willpower. Yashiro and the woman were complete strangers, with no deep-seated grudges between them; why should Yashiro make things difficult for her?

Moreover, while she claimed to be neutral on this matter, she had actually taken a stance long ago. She might have been neutral initially, but when she heard the sounds of weapons in the distance and learned that her disciple had been indiscriminately attacked and nearly lost his life, she was already furious.

If it weren't for wanting to maintain his image in front of his apprentice and adopted daughter, and also to allow Minjimaru to accumulate more practical experience, Yashiro would have personally taken action long ago, making these blind fools experience firsthand why the flowers are so red.

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend, but this woman, despite being severely wounded, did not hide and wait to die. Instead, she seized the opportunity, outnumbered and outgunned the overwhelmingly superior enemy, slaughtering them in droves. The skill, courage, and calm judgment she displayed in this act are truly admirable.

However, when this is applied to a blind woman, it would be more appropriate to say that she is all ears.

In any case, the meaning is roughly the same.

Smelling the acrid smell of blood in the wind, Yashiro continued, "Since that's the case, I won't ask any more questions. For example, who you are, what your relationship is with these people, and why you became enemies, etc... Asking these questions would be a bit of a mood killer. Besides, I originally had no intention of meddling in other people's business. It was only because these people took the initiative to ask for a beating that I thought it was a gentlemanly thing to do, so I came here to beat them up, considering it an act of kindness. But now that you've killed them all, it's no longer my turn to be the 'gentleman'."

"..." Upon hearing this, the woman's expression became somewhat strange.

“However, this is a matter of life and death, and not something to be taken lightly. If you have any difficulties and need any help, I would be happy to lend a hand if you don’t mind… What do you think?” Yashiro paused, then added.

Regardless of the circumstances, even if it was initially just a misunderstanding, these people genuinely wanted to kill Minjimaru and showed no mercy. However, they were outmatched and were ultimately killed by Minjimaru. The others who survived were knocked unconscious and handed over to Fujikichiro. This grudge was definitely not going to go unpunished.

That's how helpless life is. One careless move and you can easily get caught up in trouble. It's only because Minjimaru was more skilled that he's safe and sound. Otherwise, if the girl had been killed by them, or even if she had only been slightly injured, Yashiro would never have let it go so easily. He would have demanded an explanation from those guys.

Therefore, at this point, for Yashiro and his group, this was no longer a trivial matter, and they could no longer remain uninvolved.

That's why she offered to help. On one hand, it was purely out of compassion—if someone is teetering on the brink of death in front of you, as long as you're not heartless or have a deep-seated grudge, you'd want to lend a hand to some extent. On the other hand, she also wanted to find out about the origins of those men in black through this woman, so that she wouldn't end up in the dark, making enemies without even knowing who they were.

Yashiro has experienced this kind of complete darkness far enough before, so there's really no need for her to experience it again.

“…Ah!” The woman was shaking her head, but suddenly let out a muffled groan. Perhaps her wound was hurting again. Her face turned pale, and she staggered back a few steps, leaning against a tree behind her.

Hearing the disordered breathing and weak heartbeat, Yashiro sighed, ignored the other person's reaction, tapped his cane, and walked straight over.

"..." The woman was still shaking her head, but she saw the person approaching without stopping. He let out an "Ah," and his grip on the knife tightened and loosened repeatedly, as if he was hesitating whether to raise the blade at the person in front of him. Before she could make up her mind, the person was already in front of her.

"Alright, you're already injured like this, why are you still trying to be brave? Behave yourself, I'll take you back to get bandaged up..."

The words have not yet fallen.

Yashiro suddenly stopped. She frowned slightly and tilted her head. Less than a foot away from her, half of a bloodstained blade was suspended in mid-air—the woman had finally raised her weapon, making a clear response in silence.

"what……"

She shook her head again.

Strangely enough, despite the lack of verbal communication, Yashiro seemed to suddenly understand what the other person was trying to express:

"No, I can't go back with you. I'll only cause you trouble..."

"That's it."

She stopped moving forward, placed her hand on her cane, and nodded. "I understand. If you insist, then so be it—"

Upon hearing this, the woman felt a slight sense of relief, but then couldn't help feeling a little guilty. The other person had meant well, and she had...

"...?"

In the blink of an eye, before even the slightest feeling of remorse in her heart could take hold, she was stunned to see the person in front of her wave his hand. The cane easily dodged the katana she was holding in mid-air, and like a swallow, it passed through the gap of another sword, striking her neck with a light but not heavy blow!

In the dull pain, the woman had no time to react before her consciousness sank into a bottomless darkness.

"When I said 'never mind,' I meant I wouldn't ask for your opinion anymore," Yashiro said seriously, while opening her arms to hold the unconscious figure in her embrace. "Ouch, so heavy..."

……

Life and death, wine and blood, food and knife.

People's joys and sorrows are not shared. On one side, some fought bloody battles, while others were brutally beheaded. Meanwhile, at Fujikichiro's mansion, the gathered neighbors sang, danced, and drank with great merriment, not even noticing when the host had disappeared. One by one, everyone passed out drunk, sprawled out in the living room, with drinking vessels and leftover food scattered everywhere. Only a few sober women busied themselves cleaning up.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry! These things should have been done by me!" Fujikichiro suddenly reappeared, as if he had never left his house, and bowed his head to apologize to the wives and daughters of his colleagues with a smile on his face.

"Kinoshita-kun, you should just rest. It was my husband who came over and made a mess of your house, and then he just slept soundly... That's really outrageous!"

"Oh dear, Madam, please don't say that. It's only when everyone is gathered together in a lively atmosphere that we're truly happy. Otherwise, if it's just Quan Zang and me here, and we have friends who haven't seen us for years, it would be truly unacceptable if we couldn't even offer them a good drink or a decent meal!"

"Hehehe, you still know how to talk. Hmm, where are your two friends? Did they go back inside?"

"That's right, my friend can't hold his liquor. He gets drunk after just a few drinks and is probably asleep by now."

"So that's how it is..." the woman, who was a bit talkative, said with a sudden realization. Then she continued to busy herself, putting all the messy things back in their original places.

Fujikichiro also wandered around the area, chatting casually with everyone to distract them, while occasionally glancing towards the inner room with a worried look in his eyes, though it was unclear what exactly he was worried about.

Meanwhile, deep inside the house, a pungent smell of blood permeated the air.

The woman in the black cloak had been brought back; she was still unconscious and lying quietly on the floor. Minjimaru and another girl were busy removing the bandages from her waist, cleaning her wounds, and applying medicine, working tirelessly. Yashiro sat to the side, holding the dozing Mio, listening to the nearby sounds with one ear and the noise from the living room with the other.

"Well, actually I can help too..." After a moment, she tentatively tried to speak.

Before he could finish speaking, Minji Maru glared at him and said, "Master, please stay there. We're busy saving people, so please don't cause any trouble!"

"Hmm..." Yashiro shrank back, then lowered her head to rub against the little girl. "Minji is so fierce, my daughter is still the cutest..."

With a soft smack, Mio groggily slapped her across the face, then pushed her cheek away forcefully: "Mio's sleepy, I want to sleep... Mom, you're so annoying..."

"..."

Yashiro silently put the girl down, picked up his cane, and moved backward on his knees, shrinking into a corner, curling himself into a small ball, as if fixed to the space, motionless.

After knocking the woman unconscious outside the city, she half-carried and half-lifted her back, carrying her like a sack of rice. She briefly described what had happened to Minji Maru and Fujikichiro, who had been waiting for her. After that, they divided the work among themselves. Fujikichiro asked his servant, Gonzo, to fetch some external wound medicine—this kind of medicine was basically stocked in every samurai household, and there was plenty of it. He then went to deal with the guests in the hall so that they would not notice the commotion in the inner room.

Minji Maru rolled up his sleeves and began tending to the woman's injuries. Yashiro wanted to help, but her apprentice quickly chased her away, saying that her touching and groping in front of Mio could have a bad influence...

Listen to what you're saying!

What does it mean to touch someone? She's blind, how can she know where to apply medicine or perform acupuncture without touching them? However, Minjimaru's words only made things worse. After she said that, Yashiro, who was originally very open, suddenly became a little embarrassed when she reached out her hands again.

For some reason, as soon as I stretched out my hand, I inexplicably heard Hatsume's huffy voice: "—This house is almost overflowing!"

So in the end, she could only obediently step aside, wanting to comfort her daughter with a hug, only to be rejected again. Now, huddled in the corner, speechless and choked with emotion, she thought of the distant, misty waters, the twilight deepening...

Okay, Liu Qi's poem shouldn't be used in this kind of context.

While she was lost in thought, Mio drifted off to sleep again. Meanwhile, Minjimaru and the girl, after a flurry of activity and working up a sweat, finally finished treating the wound, bandaging it with clean bandages. Wiping away their sweat, they looked at each other and laughed.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," the girl said with a sweet smile.

She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, extremely beautiful, with rosy cheeks like apples. Just now, she was helping Yashiro peel fish bones in the living room, and then, for some reason, she supposedly smelled blood and ran in to check, just in time to bump into Minji Maru carrying a basin of bloody water out.

After learning what had happened, the girl didn't hesitate. She took off her outer garment, leaving only her inner shirt, and enthusiastically joined in. Her clothes looked quite expensive, but now they were stained with blood, and her face and hands were also covered in blood. When she smiled, under the light, she looked rather frightening.

However, Minji Maru thought about it again and realized that he was probably in the same situation now, so there was nothing wrong with him talking about others. He then grinned and started to laugh foolishly.

"Oh, by the way, this person..."

"My name is A-Quan."

“Oh, Miss A-Quan, although I am very grateful for your help, please don’t tell anyone else about this…” Minji Maru pointed to the unconscious woman, about to remind her, when he saw the girl who called herself A-Quan purse her red lips and smile sweetly.

"Don't worry, I understand."

"That's good……"

"I can keep it from the others, but I have to tell my brother and sister-in-law, otherwise it will be troublesome if they get angry," A-Quan said with a smile.

"This..." Minji Maru was taken aback by the unexpected answer. "Who are your older brother and sister-in-law?"

"Huh, didn't Monkey tell you?"

A-Quan was also stunned for a moment, then his eyes rolled around twice before he looked at someone in the corner. "I thought you all knew all along. Wait, so, Miss Yashiro, you didn't even recognize me?"

"Master?"

Minji Maru also looked over.

Two gazes fell upon her, and Yashiro paused slightly. For a moment, she felt that the girl's voice did sound somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite place who it was. While she certainly wouldn't forget things, memories don't have a dedicated search engine; some things tucked away in the corners of memory are hard to recall without prompting.

But speaking of Owari, Owari...

"You really forgot..." Ah Quan said, somewhat dumbfounded, stamping his foot. "I wouldn't serve someone like this so casually. I just heard from Monkey that you were coming, and I wanted to apologize for what happened back then, so I picked out the fish bones for you while we were eating. But you completely forgot about me..."

"—I remember now!"

Using the keyword "Owari" as a search term, Yashiro finally unearthed a small episode from a few years ago in the river of her memory, and finally reconnected the girl named A-in with a certain figure from the past, realizing with a sudden realization, "You're the brat who used to pester me to play the piano for you!"

……

Chapter 124 Anyway, I Can't See It

Owari, Owari. Not counting this time, Yashiro has only been to Owari once, and that was a full seven or eight years ago.

When she had just completed her apprenticeship, her master, Kashin, grabbed her by the collar and threw her off the summit of Mount Kumano. Before she left, that old man... that respected master said in a serious tone, "No matter what era it is, if you keep studying books and practicing swordsmanship to death, you will eventually die. If it were someone else, I would make them read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles. But since you, Yashiro, have poor eyesight and can't read ten thousand books, then go out and travel more. If you manage to travel twenty thousand miles, you should make some progress."

Afterwards, he sighed to himself, "I'm such a considerate teacher, Yashiro, you must feel the same way, right?"

"..."

"kindness?"

"Master is indeed considerate..."

"It's not thoughtfulness, it's the opposite of what's considered thoughtfulness. Here, I'll give you a chance to say it again."

"...Master is so so considerate!"

"That's right, that's right, oh dear, my little apprentice has finally come to understand my good intentions. Waaah, waaah, I'm so touched." As Guoxin Jushi spoke, he pretended to wipe the corner of his eye, and his crying was so fake that it was almost admirable.

Although she couldn't see whether there were tears in her master's eyes, Yashiro could clearly hear that there was no sadness in his voice. Even as parting was imminent, he remained unchanged—which slightly lessened her reluctance. A fledgling bird must eventually leave the nest and fly; now it was simply her turn.

With this thought in mind, she bowed one last time in the direction of the mountain, turned around, and embarked on her journey alone.

An unknown journey is always full of anticipation and unease. At first, I was truly aimless, going wherever fate led me and staying wherever fate led me. Later, I lingered in Yagyu Valley for a while and heard many rumors and anecdotes from the brothers Yagyu Muneyoshi and Hozoin Inei. Thinking that I had nothing else to do, I might as well go and pay homage to the famous martial arts holy land, Kashima Shrine. So I bid farewell to Uncle Yagyu and headed east.

After passing Ise and arriving in Owari, she unfortunately encountered a violent storm. She had neither a raincoat nor an oil-paper umbrella, and her straw hat was clearly not enough to cover her whole body. She had no choice but to hurriedly find a roof to take shelter under, and while waiting for the storm to pass, she slowly ate the dry rations she had with her.

Before the wind and rain outside had even stopped, a sudden burst of rapid hoofbeats approached. It sounded like a large group, some on horseback, some on foot, all surging towards them. To avoid trouble, Yashiro shrank further into the corner. While generally no one would be so idle as to bother a stranger like her, who could say for sure?

You know, the world is a big place, and there's never a shortage of people who are so bored that they'd kick a dog if they saw it. It's better to avoid trouble. Anyway, the rain sounds like it should stop soon.

She had a good plan. At first, no one paid any attention to her. They argued for a long time, and then another person came up and knocked on the door. Because they were speaking the Owari dialect with a heavy accent, Yashiro couldn't understand what they were saying for a moment. She guessed that they wanted the homeowner to open the door so they could take shelter from the rain and rest for a while.

Then the door creaked open, and someone came out to lead the horse. The others surrounded a particularly short figure and walked in with a clatter. Several eyes turned to her, but Yashiro simply held her cane, covered her face with her straw hat, and pretended to be asleep.

However, not long after, after all of them went inside, there was a commotion in the inner room. Then, another person came out and stood in front of her.

"Hey!"

The man had a loud voice, and he was standing very close. His words made Hachihiro's ears ring: "Don't sleep here!"

Slightly annoyed, she simply remained motionless and replied curtly, "I'm not sleeping; I'm just taking shelter from the rain here. If the owners here don't mind me being in the way, just say the word, and I'll leave immediately."

“Then let’s go!” the man replied immediately.

Yashiro frowned, took the straw hat in her hand, stood up, and was about to step into the rain when she heard the person call out behind her again: "Wait, where are you going!"

"Didn't you tell me to leave?"

Just when she thought she was really that unlucky, that she could be provoked and harassed just by taking shelter from the rain, she suddenly heard a "slap" sound. The other person suddenly slapped their forehead hard: "It's my fault for not speaking clearly! My young lady saw that you were hiding under the eaves and looked very cold, so she asked me to call you in to warm up by the fire. That's why I said let's go."

"...Is this how you usually talk?" Yashiro remained silent for a long time after hearing this, but finally couldn't help but ask.

The other party responded with a burst of laughter: "Alright, come on, come on, there's not only fire inside, but also food!"

……

"...That's how it was. I was invited in, and at first we just sat around the fire, chatting idly. Since we were just strangers meeting, I didn't ask her name... Later, the atmosphere became more lively, and a little girl suddenly said she wanted to hear me play the pipa and insisted that I play a piece... Now that I think about it, that girl must have been Miss A-Quan."

Recalling this past event, Yashiro shook her head, a wry smile on her face. "Now, that request would be simple, but unfortunately, back then I hadn't properly started learning the biwa yet. I could only listen to it, not play it. But after refusing several times, that person still wouldn't give up. Perhaps they felt I was deliberately making excuses, and gradually, the atmosphere became tense..."

"And then?" Minji Maru asked curiously.