A few hours later, Genji opened his eyes. He looked around to realize his armor had been removed and he was professionally bandaged.
"You're awake," a medic greeted him.
"Ummm," he didn't speak because his throat was dry.
"Oh. You must be thirsty. Here, drink this," the medic noticed his situation and handed over a cup.
Genji took it and chugged.
"Thanks a lot. I needed that."
"No worries. Now the general wants to see you."
Hearing the mention of this, Genji tried to get up but failed.
"Yes. I have major news. I can't seem to move right now, so I will have to trouble you."
"No need. I'm already here," a tall man wearing armor walked in.
"General Fukaki!" Genji held his fist to his chest.
The general nodded.
"Now can you tell me what happened?"
At this moment, the medic wisely retreated outside. Once he left, the General asked, "How did the entire scout team get wiped out?"
Genji gritted his teeth, portraying anger.
"It's the Fu army. They ambushed us."
"Then how did you survive?"
The general narrowed his eyes at him.
"Forgive me, sir. I was cowardly so I ran as soon as things got bad."
"Tell me. How many were there?"
Genji fell into thought for a few moments.
"I didn't count, but there were at least 30 of them."
"Very well. You may continue resting."
The general left and went to the lord's tent.
"How is it?" the lord asked him.
"It was a big team. But what could they be doing this far away from the town? Shouldn't they have plundered it and left? Why would they attack us?"
"That's not my worry right now. Have you found the spy in our army?"
"No, they have been hiding themselves very well."
*sigh*
"Then let us continue marching."
The Su lord let out a disappointed sigh. Things are getting out of hand, but they can only deal with it as the problems arise. It's a passive situation they are in. The next day, the general obtained more bad news. Out of a squad of 10, 3 people returned heavily injured from their scouting.
"What's going on? Why are you all injured," The general asked them.
"It's the Fu army. They're marching towards us."
"What!"
This report made the general forget all the worries about the oddity of the situation. Right now, he has to pay attention to the conflict that will soon ensue.
As the general was brooding, the soldier appeared hesitant to speak. When the general saw this, he asked, "What is it?"
"There's something I don't know if I should say," the soldier explained.
"Tell me."
"The Fu army. They seem crazy about killing us. A good amount of the soldiers seem to disregard their lives. It is like as long as they can kill one of us, they don't mind sustaining injuries. They were like mindless beasts," the soldier shivered when he recalled the memory.
The general put some thoughts into this, but he chalked this to them being the Fu army. It's an army that's led by a brainless lord after all.
An hour later, the general got reports that the Fu army was in sight. Hearing this news, both the lord and the general had solemn faces.
"What could they want from us?" The lord asked.
"I don't know, but we need to go meet up with them to get that answer."
They quickly put on their armor and mounted their horses. After making all the preparations, they rode out to the clearing between the two armies. The archers of the opposing army didn't attack. There's an unwritten rule between rulers that they should not attack the leaders. Seeing this, the lord of Fu also rode out a horse to them.
"What do you want, Fu?"
The Fu lord snorted. "Cut the bullshit. You know exactly what I want."
"You need to be more specific because I have no idea what you are talking about."
This sentence, though, only made Fu angrier. How dare he play dumb!
"Hand over the rogue! This is your last warning."
Su looked at him in confusion. What rogue? Who is he talking about? Did he ever have such a person?
"I don't know who you are talking about."
"Still playing dumb? Hand over the person that you sent to attack us. If you keep being hypocritical, then I will declare war!"
"I really have no idea who you are talking about, but if you want to settle accounts, then I should be one demanding an explanation. Why did you kill my scouts?"
"After everything, you still ask why?!?!" He growled beastly at the Su lord.
"What the hell are you talking about? Why do you not make any sense?"
Seeing the genuine confusion on his face, Fu hesitated. Did he really have the wrong person? That shouldn't be possible. The attacker clearly had his symbol.
As the lord of Fu was about to think more about the situation, a captain rode over to him.
"Sir. We've been attacked. It's the same person as before."
This made him instantly forget about everything. He turned to glare at Su.
"How dare you! This means war! Prepare yourself!"
Then the lord of Fu rode his horse back to his army without caring to listen to Su anymore. He's had enough of this hypocrite.
"But...."
Su had an ugly expression on his face. Why did Fu suddenly start a war against him? He doesn't even want to fight him. It's a battle without any benefits. No matter who wins, they will suffer devastating losses. Even an idiot knows this, but Fu seems adamant. As he returned to the army, Su noticed a commotion happening in the distance.
"What's going on here!?!" He asked as a tent burst on fire.
"Sir! Terrible news. All our medics have been killed and our tents are being set on fire. We've suffered severe casualties!"
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Su wobbled when he heard this. How could this have happened?
"Also sir, there's this message carved on the ground. I think you should see it."
The soldier led him to a part of the ground where a statement was carved onto the dirt ground.
"In war, one does not wait for his opponent to prepare, -Fu"
"Bastard! That's against the Godeo conventions! I won't let you off for this!" Su was fuming when he read the message. This is cutting off all room for retreat.
"Men! Gather up. We are waging war against Fu! He will pay for this!"
----------------------------------------
Genji sat on a tall tree and watched the carnage below him. The plan had been a huge success. Let me explain how everything led up to this point. It all started when Genji attacked the Su army a few days ago. At the time, he realized that the Su lord was very protective of his life.
Genji capitalized on this mentality by setting up the hanging samurai scene and planting some evidence of a spy in their army. Because of this, the marching speed of the army significantly slowed down, allowing Genji to easily find them.
This allowed him to lead the Fu army to them without much delay. Although he could have done this without slowing the army, he wanted the town kept safe. He still wants to get his daggers after all.
After he caught up to the Su army, he killed all the scouts and acted out the part of an injured soldier that barely managed to escape. Pairing this with medical attention, he was able to return to peak condition in these few hours. He did sustain a lot of wounds trying to goad the Fu army to pursue him.
As mentioned before, his specialty is assassination. His medical skills are somewhat lacking in comparison so he didn't bandage his wounds that well. This can be attributed to the fact that he rarely gets injured during an assassination.
How can he, when he just puts a bullet through people’s heads most of the time? As for the few times he got injured in the melee, he had modern-day professionals patch him up. As a result, he never had many chances to practice his first aid skills, though Genji suspects this will change in the future.
As he was resting, the commander sent some people to scout the massacre scene. Facing this scene, Genji was sure that the general will want to find out what happened. That was why he confidently strolled into the enemy's army to rest.
And sure enough, the general found him when he woke up. Then Genji planted some suspicions of the Fu army in his mind. After that, when the general tried to send another scouting team, they encountered the actual army of Fu.
Since they were quite jumpy from everything, they mercilessly attacked the scouts. After that, they searched around until they came across the Su army. When Genji saw that the two armies have noticed each other, he put on his armor and started preparing. Since everyone's focus was on the Fu army, Genji was easily able to set everything up.
Then, when the Su lord left the camp, he killed the medics to cut off their first aid, forcing them to fight desperately. Without proper care, a single cut in this period could be fatal from infection. Since they are going to die anyways, they might as well die a hero than on a bed. At least in the former, the lord will compensate their families.
Next, using his suffocation technique, he killed many people and carved the message.
As for how the fire started, a simple candle and lots of flammable materials will do the trick. By hiding all the bodies in the tents with these setups, he made it seem like they burned to death rather than anything.
By the time the fire started, he was already sneaking around the Fu army flank. When the two lords started talking, he attacked and killed around 10 people before retreating unscathed. Then the news of this attack angered the Fu lord enough to declare war. As for the Su lord, he left a certain message to ensure the battle starts.
After 30 minutes of preparation, they started killing each other with all their might. The Su army had no medics so they tried to drag as many down with them as possible while the Fu army had been exhausted over the past few days. Factoring everything, the Su army had an advantage but both armies were suffering huge losses.
Now Genji waited for the armies to weaken enough to discuss a truce. When that happens, he will sweep in, kill both of them and escape. By then, his mission should be completed and he doesn't need to worry about the repercussions of his actions.
As Genji was fantasizing about that, he heard a loud deep sound of a horn being blown. Everyone on the field stopped and turned in the direction of the sound. From his tree, Genji saw a horseman galloping over.
The rider blew his horn one more time and stopped between the two armies. Seeing the insignia on the person's shoulder, the two armies separated from each other, followed by both lords coming out to greet the newcomer.
The rider took out a scroll from his bag and shouted in a loud voice, "Hear the emperor's decree!"
"Sir."
"Sir."
Both lords held their fists to their chests. The messenger broke the seal on the scroll and unfurled it.
"Lord of Su. Lord of Fu. Under the orders of this majesty, you are to retreat from this domain. You have overstayed your time. Now it's time to let it recover and designate a new lord."
After reading this, he handed the scroll over. The lords took it and confirmed that the contents have not been modified. They glared at each other but made no further movements. Rather, they ordered their army to return.
Seeing this, Genji frowned. Whoever this emperor was, the lords obeyed his orders. Seems like his plan had failed. Now he has to salvage what he can before it's too late.
After the messenger left, Genji snuck back into the Su army. When he saw the lord enter his camp, he followed.
"What are you-"
Before the lord could finish his sentence, Genji quickly sliced his throat, left the premises of the army, and chased after the Fu lord. But no matter how he stalked the army, the group never separated enough to give him an opening. By the end of the day, Genji had given up on this target.
'Dammit! As I thought. Two lords aren't enough to complete my mission. What do I do? I only have 3 days left. That's not enough to do anything.' Genji was in a very bad mood right now.
'Am I really going to die like this? NO! I refuse. There must be a way. Think, Genji. You've succeeded in many impossible missions. There must be something you can do.' As Genji was starting to panic, he thought of something.
'No. There's one more thing I can do. THE EMPEROR. Yes! Since you like to meddle in my business, you'll be my next target. I'll like to see if your head is enough to replace a lord.' A crazed light had formed in his eyes, one exceeding the gaze he had when he decided to kill the two lords.
'Hahahaha. Sorry emperor, but it's either you or me and I refuse to be the one to die. I have so much revenge I want to enact.'
Having decided on a course of action, Genji headed back to town to make his final preparations. First, he informed Tenjiro of the movements of the two lords and asked for his rewards.
"Since I did my job, I want my daggers and some horses. Right now."
Tenjiro looked at the tangled hair and bloodshot eyes of the man before him. He couldn't even begin to imagine what he had done this past week. To stall enough to tide them over this catastrophe without any damage. What an absurd feat.
"Very well. That's the least we can do for you." Tenjiro ignored the rudeness and brought Genji to Masamume's shop. When they walked in, Masamune greeted them with a wooden box.
"Here. Your weapons are in the box."
Genji opened it to see two daggers lying side by side. The light gleamed off the metal and flashed into his eyes. They were beautiful. He picked one up and gave it a swing.
*Foosh*
It glided through the air with minimal resistance. A few more swings later, he decided to pick up the other dagger and gave it a few swings as well. The same effortless feeling. Then he examined the details of the structures. The notches on the back of the spine, the slight curve of the blade, the thickness of the left dagger, the slightly longer right dagger, the handle that fits his grip snugly, and the hilt that comes up. They were everything he had wanted. Not a single feature was left out.
"They're perfect. Thank you."
Masamune nodded. "I'm glad you like them. Here's the sheath for them." He handed over two leather holders.
Genji took them, strapped them to his waist, and put away his weapons. "I will get going then. I have something else I need to do."
"May fate bring us together again." Tenjiro waved him goodbye.
Genji didn't respond to this. With the way things are going, he hopes they never meet again because if they do, it might be in the afterlife. Genji got a map of the empire and his two horses. He tied the rope of one horse onto the other and hopped on. Then he started traveling in the direction of the capital. On his travel, he would rotate between the two horses every few hours followed by an hour of rest.
Two days. After two days of non-stop travel, he reached the capital. Genji pulled up the mission and looked at the time.
16:46:13
16 hours left. He had to move quickly. Night was falling - it was now or never. He entered the city and looked around for the grandest building. That would be the palace. It's always the grandest building. Rulers never change. He quickly found his target and got something to eat as he observed the layout.
After 30 minutes, the moon rose and people started heading home. Genji snuck over to the walls and started slowly climbing. He got on the roof of the building to look around, using the windows and the lights in the building. Luckily, he found the emperor relatively easily as he was reading with a lamplight. Genji kept an eye on him as he made sure the guards were not alerted.
2 hours later, Genji became familiar with the place. And just in time, the emperor got up and put out the lights. Seems like he was going to sleep. Genji waited another hour just to make sure.
Genji silently dropped down from the roof using the pillars on the side. He tiptoed over to the door and crouched down so his shadow wasn't projected into the door.
Genji reached into his bag and took out a bottle of cooking oil he had brought hours prior. Uncorking the lid, he drizzled a good amount of it on the bottom of the sliding door. Then he swung the open bottle so that some of the oil seeped into the top hinges. A good amount of oil was missed and soaked into the translucent paper. It was a mess, but Genji didn't have time to care.
Genji emptied the bottle and returned it to his bag. Then he reached his arm up to open the door enough so that he could barely slip through. A small creak sounded from the top hinge. The sound was barely noticeable so Genji wasn't worried about it.
He pulled out his dagger and walked over to the bed. A quick swipe to the neck and he's back out. He closed the door behind him and wandered off to hide in another room.
After making sure that no guards spotted him, he relaxed and pulled up his mission log.
12:03:17
Genji was stunned. 'How could that be? He killed the emperor. Then why is the mission still ongoing!?!?!? No! Nothing makes sense anymore. Why?!? What did he do wrong!?!?' Genji was starting to lose his mind.
'Wait! Could it be that I really have to make it known? Make a name for yourself. Make a name. I see. To make a name, I need to tell the world about it. How else could I achieve fame? But that doesn't make sense. I clearly repelled the two armies. Tenjiro knew about that. So what am I missing?'
Genji thought about it for the next hour, but he couldn't think of anything. 'Dammit! I don't have the time for this. Fine. Since I am going to die, I might as well drag everyone down with me. This world can go to hell for all I care!' In this burst of insanity, he took some papers and started writing in the dark.