Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Clash, Favors and Awakened Desires

_________ POV Narration_________

Now, Ken wouldn't have been shocked if he had heard blades clashing in the land of iron of all places.

But the fact that it was coming from a random alleyway instead of a training ground was a bit interesting.

There was also the fact that the smell of blood permeated the area, though it was faint.

'Who would be so bold as to start killing in the middle of the capital?...'

Ken honestly had no clue, but he was about to find out.

When reaching that alleyway, he was faced with a rather intriguing scene. Three people dressed as ninjas and two dressed as Samurai cornering a single Samurai who was doing his best to protect what Ken assumed was a young noblewoman.

She seemed to be dressed in rather expensive clothes, but Ken couldn't really tell much else about her features. She was wearing a rather strange veil, which covered most of her face.

Near them, were the corpses of two other samurai, looking like they had been backstabbed.

'Ah, the usual tomfoolery between murderers. Infiltration and backstabbing, true classics in our line of work.'

Ken could somewhat appreciate decent work when it was in front of him. But they had made a major mistake...

'The samurai they're cornering... He looks a lot stronger than them, but he's likely stuck protecting that girl, so he is unable to go all out.

The 5 assassins should've aimed to finish this as soon as possible, alas, it already attracted unwanted attention after all...'

The assassins and the stronger samurai, who Ken assumed was a Hatamoto, seemed to be stuck in a stalemate for a few seconds.

The assassins knew that getting close to the Hatamoto would definitely lead to one of them being killed.

Ken had ample time to intervene... The true question was if it was even worth his time.

'Nobles being assassinated is not exactly uncommon, though I don't see how a young girl like her deserves such treatment...'

The Blind Swordsman stood there for a second, crouched down on a rooftop and studying the situation a bit more.

Surprisingly, the 'assassins' then started speaking.

"Tsk... Hatamoto! Stop resisting already, you know it's futile! The 5 of us can easily kill you! Hand Lady Harada over and we may even share the ransom with you."

Ken raised an eyebrow when hearing that. 'So, not assassins, kidnappers... Still, they made a rather elaborate plan to catch whoever this 'Lady Harada' is...'

The Hatamoto simply stared at the 5 men with hate in his eyes, the young girl behind him trembled a bit in fear.

"Heh! We'll even let you play with her as well!" One of the other kidnappers also tried to entice the Hatamoto, but he only received an angry shout.

"You dirty animals! She is but a teenager!" The Hatamoto scowled deeply, grasping his blade tighter in his hands.

'... Ok, they may have planned this out well, but not all of them are smart...' Ken shook his head a bit when hearing the exchange.

'I guess I could kill them, it would be as easy as breathing. But I could also track them down for a while, wait for the lady's father to pay the bounty, and steal the money from them afterwards...'

Ken was seriously contemplating that, before a realization hit him.

'Wait a moment... Wasn't the Daimyō's family name Harada?...' Ken smiled deviously under his mask.

'Yes... Yes, it is... I guess getting involved in this suddenly became worthwhile.' The Blind Swordsman stepped along the rooftops without making any sound, he smiled as he walked with carefree steps.

It was extremely worthwhile to get the Daimyō to owe him a favour. A favour like that was worth a lot more than any amount of money...

Ken didn't interfere immediately though. A good farmer always knew to wait for the fruit to be ripe enough for picking.

Instead, Ken 'watched' the righteous Hatamoto fight with honour.

The five kidnappers quickly closed in on the Hatamoto when noticing they couldn't bribe him. The second they stepped forwards, the Hatamoto's blade was already gunning for one of the men's necks.

Even injured, he was more than capable of defending himself. The Hatamoto decapitated one of the kidnappers instantly, while the rest of them all dodged his slash with room to spare.

One of the kidnappers threw a kunai at the noble lady, forcing the Hatamoto to block it with his blade, while another approached him and stabbed at his gut.

'Shit...' The Hatamoto scowled when seeing their dirty moves, but he still managed to kick the blade away, causing it to only graze his side instead of gut him alive.

Unfortunately, he left himself open, as one of the other kidnappers stepped to the side and kicked his other leg, breaking his balance and causing him to fall to the ground.

'Shit! SHIT!' The Hatamoto knew very well that the situation was not good for him at all.

"Die!" The kidnapper quickly stabbed down at the fallen samurai. The Hatamoto managed to roll away in time, slashing one of the kidnappers in two before his blade was blocked by another one of the kidnappers.

Both swordsmen were covering their weapons in sharp chakra. But the tired Hatamoto was, unfortunately, the one to give way first, as his blade broke and the stronger Kidnappers slashed him across the chest.

'I-I'm sorry my lord...' That was all the Hatamoto could think as he fell to the ground.

"Tsk, troublesome samurai. Had to kill two of my grunts before croaking huh?" The strong kidnapper/ring leader said as he then pointed his blade at the fallen samurai, prepared to finish him off.

He looked at the noble lady with a sadistic grin as his sword glinted. His eyes shined with pleasure when seeing her fear.

Lady Harada seemed to turn completely white when seeing her guard on the ground. She knew what fate awaited her.

She simply closed her eyes, not wanting to see the man that had fought to protect her die in such a cruel way.

One thing was for sure... She regretted not convincing Mifune to teach her how to wield a sword...

Just as her hopes were dying down, a voice she didn't recognize spoke out... The strange thing? It seemed to be very close to her.

"Now now... This is a rather strange scene to come across in such a beautiful city..."

The Ring Leader immediately stopped his actions when hearing that voice, his blade also froze in place.

But not because he wanted it, no no. The ring leader looked down, to see a short masked man with spiky long hair crouching down beside the Hatamoto.

It was none other than Ken.

And he was just holding the Kidnapper's katana in place with his bare hand. Gripping it by its dull part without shaking even slightly, regardless of how much strength the Kidnapper tried to apply.

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"Children shouldn't play with weapons..." The masked man stood as still as a statue, seemingly glaring at the strong kidnapper through his mask.

The Blind Swordsman then gripped the blade tightly, causing cracks to appear everywhere on the blade.

Before it crumbled completely, Ken infused it with his own chakra, causing lighting to cover the entire blade including the hilt, which ended up shocking the Kidnapper and forcing him to let go of it and jump back towards his comrades.

"W-what the hell do you want?!"

'Is he some sort of hidden guard or something?! Would the Daimyō of the Land of Iron really hire people this sneaky?' The Kidnapper was confused, but he didn't panic yet.

"Well, I was bored a bit earlier. Seeing how your blood spills might make my day a bit brighter..." Ken nodded before standing up.

He smiled a bit underneath his mask as he turned his head toward what he presumed was the Daimyō's daughter behind him.

She still seemed petrified in fear, but that was likely because she didn't know him either.

At first, the Blind Swordsman wanted to wait for the Hatamoto to die, then swoop in when things looked the worst.

But seeing the man fight with his life on the line like that did manage to make Ken respect him.

Besides, it also felt like an appropriate enough moment to intervene, the fruit was ripe enough...

"Now now, there's no need to go that far! I bet you're just some random mercenary right? We can all split the ransom! Two of my men died here already, so you can get a decent share!"

The Kidnapper was quick to try and entice Ken. After all, he was quite sure Ken wasn't associated with the Daimyō, so he wanted to at least test his luck.

"... Only two of your men died today?" Ken simply tilted his head, not answering the question, instead asking a question of his own.

"Are you sure about that?" The Masked Swordman's voice sent a shiver down the kidnapper's spine, he immediately turned around to look at his underlings...

The two of them were standing still, with their arms raised. It was as if they were petrified, with their heads, twisted so much that they were almost broken off.

Someone had twisted their necks with such ferocity that it went beyond a 360-degree angle... It was almost as if someone had tried to unscrew their heads from their bodies.

The Ring Leader's back was filled with cold sweat when he noticed that their bodies were being held up by metal wire... Strung up for display.

"W-when-" The Kidnapper was instantly filled with dread, and the noble girl's attention was also finally brought to the other kidnappers, and she also almost covered her mouth and almost vomited in disgust.

"People these days really need to learn to pay more attention to their surroundings..." Ken simply shook his head, acting disappointed while crossing his arms.

"I-I'll give you whatever you want! Please spare me!" The Kidnapper was instantly on his knees, knowing that there was no way he was killing or escaping from the man in front of him.

"Ooh? Spare?" Ken immediately turned into a blur and appeared right behind the kneeling kidnapper.

The kidnapper was knocked out cold before he even had the means to react, receiving an axe kick to the head, the street underneath him cracking heavily.

"Don't worry, you won't die... I'm sure the Daimyō will appreciate having someone to torture and interrogate for this matter..." Ken wasn't even thinking of killing the man in the first place.

If he had wanted him dead, then he would've been dead before any words were exchanged, much like his comrades behind him.

"W-who are you? Are you hired by my father?" The Noble Girl finally mustered the courage to stand up, looking at Ken with wary eyes.

"Lady Harada, right? Heh. I am not under your father's employ. But I am an associate of his." Ken walked towards her slowly, approaching her carefully in order to not scare her in any way.

It seemed to work, as the noble girl composed herself and calmed down a lot more now that she knew the man in front of her was related to her father.

"I-I see... Thank you for your help, sir...?"

"Ken. You can call me Ken" The blind swordsman then turned his head up and threw a small piece of paper in the air. The paper proceeded to explode, it was a small explosion, but it was enough to echo throughout the entire city.

"Y-you can call me Yue... Thank you for alerting the guards..." Yue was a bit spooked by the sudden explosion. But she thankfully figured out what it was for rather quickly.

"No problem! I could walk you over to the castle myself, but I just left from there, and I don't want to make things awkward!" Ken nodded at the young girl in front of him.

Yue's smile trembled a bit when she heard that. 'You're worried about awkwardness in this situation?!'

'Well... From how the other kidnappers look, I guess this isn't all that special for him...' Yue sighed a bit internally as she remembered the sight of the two kidnappers standing with their heads twisted.

It was still a chilling scene for her, one that was sure to follow her into her nightmares.

Although, the fact that the person that was capable of doing such a thing saved her was certainly going to help her sleep at night...

"I-I'll gladly invite you back to the castle, I'm sure my father would love to reward you handsomely for your service!" Yue bowed slightly in gratitude when speaking.

"I appreciate the thought young lady, but I'll be fine. Just tell your father that he owes me a solid." Ken just waved his hand dismissively, smiling a bit under his mask as he started walking away.

"B-but-" "You might want to reward the samurai that protected you before I came here. Were it not for him you would've been long gone before I even arrived at the scene."

Ken was apparently not bothered by interrupting what was essentially the princess of the Land of Iron.

Yue was a bit taken aback by that, she was used to people treating her with respect, but seeing the masked assassin's back getting further and further away gave her a strange feeling.

'... I guess some people can go about in the world without any fear...'

Yue's eyes shined, and now she looked at the strung-up corpses of her to-be 'kidnappers' in a different light.

It now looked more like a morbid work of art, rather than the barbaric scene she had seen beforehand.

'I want to be like that someday!'

The young girl clenched her fists and smiled underneath her veil, looking once again in the direction that Ken had left in, wanting to go after him, only to notice that he was already nowhere to be seen.

'I'm sure I'll meet him again... I want him to teach me as well... I need to become stronger!'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Random encounter completed successfully! :)) Anyway, glad I managed to upload today, still have an exam tomorrow(and I had one today as well)

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