My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 584: Chapter 187: Aoto Promoted to Arson and Theft Magistrate? [Bonus 10,000 Characters] (Part 4)

But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he gathered his resolve, he simply couldn’t plunge the sword into his own belly.

The excruciating pain of his belly being sliced open; his intestines spilling onto the ground; one must not cry out in pain during seppuku, one must endure the pain, cutting open the belly beautifully without a grimace or a groan; with no executioner by his side, he had to walk the final stretch of his life amid the sharp pains of his belly being cut... These thoughts, these imaginations of what would happen if he performed seppuku, surged through Shinno’s mind incessantly.

The expression of solemnity on Shinno’s face disappeared.

The solemnity turned into fear and shrinking, cold sweat soaking his entire face.

His right hand began to tremble... the wakizashi in his hand trembled along with his right palm.

Finally, after hesitating and struggling for barely about ten seconds, Shinno flung his right hand away with force, directing the sword he held sharply away from his right side belly, keeping the sharp tip of the blade far from his stomach.

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

All of a sudden, Shinno heard the sound of light footsteps coming from the front.

Believing it to be the pursuers arriving, Shinno quickly turned his head forward to look.

The newcomers were neither Aoto, Mukiwa, nor fully armed officials.

Instead, they were two ronin with swords at their waists, disheveled hair, and crooked, shabby clothing.

The faces of these two ronin were flushed red with alcohol, and the stench of wine was strong even from afar.

As Shinno looked at them, the two drunken ronin also noticed Shinno.

Seeing Shinno covered in blood, the two ronin, startled and scared breathless, were half-sobered from the shock.

”Help, help me...”

As if seeing a lifeline, a savior, Shinno immediately displayed a hopeful expression when he realized the arrivals were not officials.

”Help me... take me to... the clinic... afterwards... I will... be so grateful...”

Shinno channeled all the energy he had intended to reserve for seppuku into his vocal cords, pleading humbly with these two ronin.

Beseeching these two ronin to save his life.

However, these two ronin weren’t listening to what he was saying at all.

The two ronin were now staring fixedly at the wakizashi in Shinno’s right hand.

In their eyes, glimmered an undisguised greediness.

Both of Shinno’s swords were not ordinary items; they were treasures that couldn’t be purchased for less than several dozen gold pieces on the market.

Seeing that the wakizashi in Shinno’s hand was no cheap item, the ronin exchanged a very understanding glance.

Then, grinning ferociously, they approached Shinno.

”Hey, you.” One of them spoke to Shinno in an arrogant, rough tone. ” We are the Anti-foreigner Warriors! We’ve come all the way to Edo, now overrun by barbarians, to realize the great undertaking of ’expelling the barbarians from all under heaven’.”

The other ronin picked up the conversation, patting the sword on his left waist:

”If we want to expel barbarians, we need a handy weapon.”

”So, sir, please assist us and contribute a bit of your effort to our Anti-foreigner Cause!”

After saying this, not waiting for Shinno’s response, the two of them pounced like hungry tigers, snatching the wakizashi from Shinno’s hand, and then hurriedly departing.

”Hiss... what a good sword.”

”It should fetch about 20 gold pieces.”

”Let’s take this sword to the pawn shop tomorrow and sell it, hee hee hee, we’ve got our drinking money for the next few months.”

”Forget the drinks, once we sell this sword, let’s go straight to Yoshiwara for fun.”

”Okay, okay.”

...

The figures of the two gradually became distant along with their gleeful words, finally disappearing completely from Shinno’s sight.

Shinno stared blankly in the direction where the two ronin disappeared, and after a few seconds of daze, his features twisted with intense humiliation and resentment.

Instinctively, he wanted to stand up, to chase after those two. While trying to rise, he opened his mouth, wanting to shout loudly.

But as soon as he straightened his waist vigorously, a severe dizziness hit his head like a sledgehammer.

The sudden intense movement... made his already battered body unable to bear the load.

First, black specks appeared at the corners of his eyes; upon noticing these spots, they quickly expanded across his entire field of vision, rendering him sightless.

Immediately following, his hearing, sense of smell, and sense of touch, all of his senses began to fade one by one.

Unable to see anything, Shinno only felt as if his body was sinking into the darkness below.

Continuously sinking... continuously sinking...

Sinking to the deepest layer of darkness, where nothing can be perceived anymore.

The swords of samurais are celebrated as the ”soul of the samurai.”

And this samurai, who always prided himself as a ”true samurai,” using Bushido to demand himself and others, had his swords stolen at the last moment of his life.

After a moment, another set of footsteps approached Shinno’s location.

It was four officials from the Arson and Theft Magistrate holding matchlock guns.

”I found the body!”

”Is it the body of Kamino Tatsugorou?”

”I don’t know.”

”This alley is so dark you can’t see clearly, let’s drag this body out first!”

”Alright. I’ll grab the left leg, you grab the right leg.”

Like dragging some garbage, these four officials from the Arson and Theft Magistrate roughly dragged Shinno’s corpse out of the alley...

...

...

days later——

Man’en 1 (1860), June 1st——

Edo, Ren Medical Hall, Aoto’s hospital room——