Yashiro the Blind

As they spoke, Yashiro tossed the empty cup away. Mai was taken aback at first, but her eyes darted around and she quickly realized what was happening. She immediately agreed, turned around, and went downstairs. A moment later, the innkeeper himself came up with a sake jug.

"I'm so sorry, the others were ignorant and neglected our distinguished guest. This pot of wine is on my behalf... Come, come, please enjoy!" He smiled ingratiatingly, took a new cup, and filled it for Yashiro.

"That's more like it..." Yashiro finally suppressed his dissatisfaction, nodded, picked up his wine glass, took a small sip, and suddenly, his handsome eyebrows furrowed again: "What kind of good wine is this? It's awful! Didn't you hear me tell you to bring the good wine?"

As he spoke, he smashed the cup on the ground.

The shopkeeper's expression stiffened slightly, but he didn't react. He glanced at the corridor behind him, then forced a smile and rubbed his hands together, saying, "I suppose this rustic mountain wine isn't to your liking, but sir, this is already the best wine in the shop. I usually don't even bring it out, but seeing your distinguished demeanor and refined speech, I gritted my teeth and brought it out to make a good connection..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yashiro interrupted him abruptly: "Nonsense! I clearly heard your maid say that you have a priceless wine, a small cup of which is worth the price of a piece of gold from Kaishu. I imagine even the Grand Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Yoshimoto, has never tasted such a precious brew. The taste must be exquisite. I would sell everything I own to have a taste—or are you looking down on me, a blind man, and thinking I'm not worthy of drinking your wine, which is why you're hiding it from me?"

Her tone was unfriendly, and she became increasingly aggressive. The boss's smile grew stiffer. Just then, two more footsteps approached from downstairs, and in the blink of an eye, two men with knives at their waists entered the room one after the other.

The two men were tall and imposing; just standing by the door made the entire room seem much shorter. Their eyes were arrogant, and they exuded a menacing aura. Clearly, they were not ordinary innkeepers, but professional thugs responsible for keeping order.

Seeing that his two henchmen had arrived, the boss's forced smile vanished, his hunched back straightened, and he coldly stared at Yashiro: "This guest, I don't know what you've heard from others, or what you're planning, but I don't have any priceless wine here. I advise you not to meddle, otherwise..."

"It's noisy."

"—What?" The boss was abruptly interrupted halfway through his harsh words. More than annoyance, he felt disbelief. He turned to look at the two burly men on his left and right. Didn't they see the knives at their waists? Why weren't they afraid at all?

Oh, she's blind.

It makes sense now.

What a fool... Since someone has stepped on his face like that, this matter can't be left like this. He licked his lips and looked at the blind girl with a malicious gaze. It would have been better if he hadn't looked at her. As soon as he did, his eyes lit up.

But at that moment, Yashiro smiled and said, "Oh, sorry, I wasn't saying you were noisy, but this fly—" He pointed casually to a fly buzzing around nearby, which would fly back immediately even if chased away.

"Sigh, it's one thing for people to talk, but now even a fly dares to look down on me. I can't get rid of it no matter what I do. It's really annoying..." She sighed, and just as the innkeeper was about to continue his harsh words, he suddenly picked up his chopsticks and gently picked up a fly.

The buzzing sound in the air suddenly disappeared.

Instead, a tiny black dot appeared on the tip of the chopsticks. This dot caught the innkeeper's small eyes, causing him to freeze in shock. The words that were already on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down. He even coughed a few times because he swallowed them so quickly.

This move was both swift and precise, causing the two swordsmen leaning against the wall by the door to narrow their eyes and become slightly more serious.

However, the next moment, he saw Yashiro shake his head: "Alright, although it is just a fly, Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. If you know your mistake and correct it, I will spare your life."

With that, she opened her chopsticks, and the fly that had been caught suddenly flew out again, buzzing its wings, and disappeared out the window.

The layman sees the spectacle, the expert sees the skill. The skill of catching flies with chopsticks just surprised the two swordsmen. After all, as long as you are quick-witted and nimble-fingered, there are quite a few people who can do this. Although it is undoubtedly more impressive for a blind man to have this skill, it is not enough to make the proud and arrogant swordsmen submit.

But the move the other party has just revealed has caused their expressions to change drastically. They felt their scalps tingle and a chill run down their spines.

After all, trying to catch a fly with chopsticks is like dropping a mountain on a person; generally, the bones would be shattered, the flesh mangled, and the person would be dead on the spot.

But after she put down her chopsticks, the fly was not only still alive, but also seemed to be completely unharmed, still buzzing around energetically. This seemingly unassuming move, with its effortless ease, was enough to make an expert tremble with fear.

This blind man... is definitely not someone to mess with!

The atmosphere inside the room suddenly became heavy. As if sensing the change in the two people's mood, the innkeeper rolled his eyes, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

Under the watchful eyes of the three of them, Yashiro calmly blew on the tips of her chopsticks and handed them out, saying, "Excuse me, I got these chopsticks dirty. Could you please take them to be washed? Oh, and also, that fly was really noisy just now. I didn't quite catch what you were saying, boss. It seemed like you were telling me not to meddle, otherwise..."

She tilted her head and asked seriously, "'Otherwise,' what do you and the two experts behind you plan to do?"

……

Chapter Ninety-Two: Dancing Costumes

"Fortunately, this boss is a smart man."

After leaving the inn and walking for a while, Yashiro stopped, turned her head and listened quietly for a while. When she did not hear any footsteps chasing from behind, she breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled softly.

Mai, walking beside him, also turned around and glanced back, her gaze passing through the empty mountain path and landing on the distant azure sky. Suddenly, the bushes rustled, and a small animal darted out, disappearing into the other end of the forest in the blink of an eye, vanishing without a trace.

"What on earth did you do...? That guy looks pretty scared." Mai wasn't there when it happened; she was downstairs busy greeting guests while keeping an eye on her surroundings, thinking that if Yashiro's plan failed, she could lend a hand—

After all, although she knew that Yashiro had extraordinary skills in swordsmanship and could kill Mishima Madman one-on-one four years ago, she was sure that he had made even greater progress now. However, fighting head-on was one thing, but how to subdue the enemy without fighting was another. The former was martial arts, while the latter belonged to the category of military strategy.

An outstanding martial artist is not necessarily a brilliant strategist. After all, she didn't know much about Yashiro before, so she couldn't put all her eggs in one basket. Especially after witnessing the innkeeper's two most trusted bodyguards strut upstairs, she was filled with apprehension and doubt.

Not long after, the innkeeper, with a fawning expression and rubbing his hands together, accompanied by two bodyguards with equally strange expressions, respectfully escorted the blind girl out of the inn in front of everyone, and handed a small bag of copper coins to Wu Yi.

"This is your wages for this period of time..."

He said with a pained expression, then glanced at Hachiro out of the corner of his eye and added, "The cost of the drinks and all the clumsy things you've messed up and broken these past few days have already been deducted from this. From now on, we're even. You should hurry up and take this...this friend of yours home!"

His words were trembling with fear, as if he were walking on thin ice.

This only made Wu Yi more curious: "What exactly did you do upstairs? The boss is one thing, just an ordinary person with a little bit of cleverness. But the two bodyguards he hired are quite capable and not so easy to fool... But I think those two were also scared by you just now, looking like they didn't dare to breathe... Haha, it's really funny."

It's likely that Mai usually dislikes the two arrogant bodyguards. After all, she's not incapable of defeating them in terms of strength, but she can't take action because she has to conceal her identity. She can only watch the two of them show off every day, which inevitably makes her feel a bit resentful. So, when she talks about it now, there's a hint of schadenfreude in her voice.

"It was just bullying a fly," Yashiro laughed.

"Fly...?" Wu Yi was taken aback.

"That's right, it's a fly."

"Do you think I believe you?" Thinking she was joking, Wuyi couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Sigh, you were the one who asked, and then you didn't believe me after I told you the truth. What can I do? I'm helpless too." Yashiro sighed deliberately.

"...Hmph, pretentious."

Mai snorted irritably, but then her expression softened. "Fine, anyway, thank you for your help this time. Without your help, I don't know how long I would have been able to get away... I have to catch up with those savage samurai as soon as possible. Tsk, I've wasted so much time, I wonder where they are now..."

Finding a few specific individuals from a vast sea of ​​people is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack, and thinking about it made her head ache again.

Just as she was fretting, she saw Yashiro smile slightly: "She probably went to Hitachi Province."

"Hitachi... they've already reached the easternmost point! Are these people rabbits? How can they run so fast—wait, how did you know?" Mai suddenly realized, her mind racing, her expression turning strange. "Could it be..."

"It's Mo Fei. Actually, I wanted to bring this up with you yesterday..."

So, and so forth, Yashiro recounted the events that had occurred in Hitachi Province earlier. However, to ensure the details were appropriate, she omitted the parts related to Tsukahara Takehira and only said that she had unexpectedly met and traveled with two interesting ronin, and by chance, they encountered a group of bandits who claimed to be being chased by Ryugu Doji. A conflict ensued, and the outcome was obvious.

"So...you killed those beasts?"

“Yes. To make it easier to verify later, I even cut off their hair buns. I didn’t keep them with me because I thought they were dirty, but asked my companion to keep them safe.” Yashiro suggested, “The two of them are currently receiving medical treatment at the manor. If you are in a hurry to confirm, I can take you back there.”

"No need." Mai shook her head. She believed that Yashiro had no reason to lie about such a thing. But if that were the case... since the criminal had already been brought to justice, wouldn't her trip be equivalent to only working as a maid and washing dishes for a few days on the border between Tōtōmi and Suruga?

What's this, experiencing life?

But I wash dishes and wash plates all the time at home!

Her feelings were quite complicated, but in any case, it was a good thing that those wicked samurai died early. If these villains were left to live one more day, one more person or even one more family might suffer misfortune. Compared to that, this little bit of awkwardness was not worth mentioning.

"Thank you." Several words were on the tip of her tongue, but in the end, Mai only sincerely said thank you.

Yashiro understood that this thank you was different from the previous one; Mai was thanking those who died at the hands of those villains, those who could no longer speak.

So she didn't try to be modest or say anything else, she just nodded slightly, accepting the belated thanks.

Mai then clapped her hands, stretched, and the heavy aura that had been emanating from her suddenly disappeared, making her feel much lighter: "Alright, now that things are over, let's hurry back to Totomi... By the way, you're probably going to Ryutaiji Temple to say hello to Big Sister and Hatsume, right? Why don't we go back together? Having someone to talk to on the way will keep us company and prevent us from getting too bored."

"Feel the same."

"Then it's settled. Oh, and one more thing!" Suddenly remembering something crucial, Mai hurriedly reminded her, "You absolutely mustn't tell anyone else about my part-time job here, especially Hatsume and my older sister, the monks at Ryutaiji Temple, Zen Master Nankei, and Hikogoro and Daizo..."

“That’s natural.” Yashiro nodded. Whether in her past life or this one, she never had the bad habit of gossiping or talking behind people’s backs.

Wu Yi finally felt relieved: "Then let's set off."

She started walking forward, but hearing the clattering of her cane behind her, she slowed down and came back to Yashiro's side. Seeing that he tilted his head and was about to ask a question, she quickly said, "That's how it feels to be traveling together."

"Oh."

Yashiro was a little puzzled, but didn't think much of it. So, they went from walking one in front of the other to walking side by side. However, she could occasionally feel the other person's gaze, which was pretending to glance at her unintentionally, which made her even more confused.

"Miss Dancer..."

"Hmm? By the way, isn't the weather nice today?"

"The weather... never mind, it's fine."

After hesitating for a moment, she decided to ignore it, echoing the other person's obviously hastily thrown-out topic to divert attention, while tapping her cane and walking slowly forward. Seeing that she no longer asked questions, Mai finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She couldn't exactly say she was worried the other person might accidentally fall, could she?

Logically speaking, given the other person's strength, there's no need for her to worry; in fact, it would be the other way around. However, the other person's appearance is so deceptive that it always reminds her of her younger sister, and she feels she can't just leave her alone. She wants to offer to help her, but she's afraid that Yashiro will be unhappy and think she's looking down on her.

After thinking it over, I decided to slow down and stay by her side, so that if anything happened, I would have enough time to help her.

Even Mai herself felt that this idea was really unnecessary. However, it is probably a common problem for older sisters to be troubled and conflicted by these unnecessary things. They have been used to it for a long time, and even if they want to change, they really can't change it in a short time.

Ugh.

What an annoying guy.

She didn't know how many times she had secretly glanced at the smiling blind girl beside her, nor how many times she had secretly grumbled to herself.

……

Enough of the small talk, let's get to the long and dusty journey.

The two hurriedly returned to Tōtōmi from Suruga, which people called "Little Kyoto". Along the way, Mai took her on a detour to retrieve the clothes she had left behind from a secluded cabin in the woods. Then she tied up her hair, wrapped a breast cloth around her neck, and disguised herself as a man again.

With a folding fan gently tapping her palm, she was virtually flawless except for the lack of an Adam's apple and a slightly slender figure—a picture of an elegant and refined young gentleman. At the same time, perhaps to match her attire, her tone of voice changed drastically, or rather, it reverted to the Tenchi Takeru style that Yashiro had previously encountered: "Miss Yashiro, I am…"

"Pfft."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Yashiro burst out laughing without giving him any face.

"...Is it that funny?" Mai tried hard to maintain her smile, but the corners of her mouth twitched involuntarily.

"No, it's not funny... Hehe, it's not funny at all..."

"You've been laughing at me the whole time, you haven't stopped!"

"I just...sigh...suddenly thought of something happy..."

"Humph!"

The elegant demeanor of the young master Zhuoshi lasted for less than ten seconds before he reverted to his familiar Mai. However, after traveling together for so long, their relationship had become somewhat closer. For example, back at the Suruga Inn, Mai would have mostly just snorted angrily like that and moved on. But now, a simple snort was no longer enough for her.

"Hey!"

He insisted on swinging his fan and gently tapping Yashiro on the head, only stopping when he saw the deliberately aggrieved expression on her face.

However, Yashiro herself was indeed quite aggrieved. After all, for someone who couldn't see, it made no difference what the other person was dressed in. It was as if the other person had suddenly changed their tone of voice, and it was completely different from what she was used to say. It was really hard for her to bear it...

Leaving aside this little incident, several more days passed, and they arrived near Ryūtai-ji Temple. It was midday, and the spring sun wasn't too intense, its warmth comforting them and instantly relaxing their spirits. Mai looked at the temple in the distance, a relieved smile spreading across her tired face from the journey: "Finally home... Huh, what's that sound?"

Although they were still some distance apart, they could already faintly hear the noise coming from inside the temple, a stark contrast to its usual quiet and peaceful atmosphere. Mai frowned, a bad feeling flashing through her mind, and turned her head: "Yashiro, can you hear what they're arguing about inside?"

Ever since she was laughed at for calling people "Yashiro-chan" at the beginning, even when she was dressed as a man, Mai stopped using those titles and called them by their full names as before. However, perhaps because they had become more familiar with each other, calling them simply "Yashiro" sounded much more intimate than calling them by their full names at the beginning.

Of course, if you were to ask Mai herself what she thinks about this, she would definitely deny it outright.

"...It seems like someone has come to challenge us."

Tilting her head to listen, what sounded only faint to Mai was crystal clear to Yashiro, as if it were right beside her: "I just wanted to witness the spear skills of Zen Master Nanxi Ruiwen, and had no intention of opposing you all..."

The voice that was speaking sounded vaguely familiar to the blind girl, but she couldn't quite place where she had heard it before. In any case, since something had happened at the temple, they naturally couldn't stay outside any longer. Wuyi, in particular, was extremely anxious upon hearing that someone had come to cause trouble, and she rushed in first.

"Hey, wait for me..."

The blind girl, who had been left behind, shook her head, gave a bitter smile, and slowly followed behind.

……

at the same time.

Inside the Longtai Temple's meditation hall, a loose circle of people, mostly monks, stood in the center, facing off against each other. One was dressed in a monk's robe, with a shaved head, holding a wooden spear in his hand. His eyes were sharp, and his aura was imposing. Although he was dressed as a monk, he gave the impression of a majestic military general.

The other man appeared much more dull. He was in his early twenties, not very tall, with dark skin and an honest and kind face. He was wearing only a sleeveless short-sleeved shirt with the hem worn off, revealing his bare legs. If it weren't for the wooden stick he was carrying, he would look like any old farmer you would see anywhere in the fields.

His eyes were dull, lacking the sharpness of the monk opposite him, like a stone, inconspicuously lying across the plain.

"please."

"please!"

One voice was calm, the other impassioned. Almost the instant the two voices overlapped, the monk leaped out, his wooden spear tracing a straight line through the air. The lover, spear in hand, pounced like a strange bird towards the dull-witted youth—

Snapped!

But the young man didn't move, he just swung the wooden stick in his hand, and surprisingly, he struck first, knocking the monk out of the air and sending him crashing to the ground. It was unclear whether he had broken any bones, but he lay there groaning.

Several more people rushed forward with bandages and ointments, frantically trying to treat the monks. Around the temple, there were several other monks in similar situations. Although no one had died, they were all injured, some even with broken limbs and covered in blood.

The young man's wooden staff was also stained with blood. He sheathed his weapon, still with a blank expression, and shook his head: "This won't do either... Is there anyone else willing to help?"

The words were plain and simple, but to the monks around, they were undoubtedly a deliberate mockery and ridicule.