After three rounds of wine, half full of food.

When the old man tried to get the boy to drink a little more but was refused, he finally put down his glass.

"Shu, is Yaemura still satisfied with your hospitality?" The old man asked with a smile.

Xiu thought for a moment and nodded.

"Satisfied, it's already good."

"What do you think of this village?"

Xiu suddenly didn't know how to answer.

Because he has hardly been to other places other than the shrine and the back mountain, what answer can he give back?

He could only nod very vaguely and say the same, "Very beautiful place." ”

"Then, do you have the will, stay, stay in Yae Village."

The old man's voice was not loud, but it passed through the layers of noise of the villagers, and it was small, but clear and unusually clear into their ears.

The hustle and bustle of the dinner party was almost instantaneous, and the birds were silent.

"Village Chief, you... Are you kidding? Some villagers couldn't believe it.

"I'm not kidding, I'm serious." The old man was still smiling, but it was more meaningful.

"Village Chief, this... Not so good. Let outsiders stay in the village..."

"There is no rule in the village that outsiders are not allowed to live in the village. At least not yet, so that's not a problem at all. The old man looked at Xiu, as if he wanted to get a definite answer, "Are you willing to stay, stay in Yae Village?" ”

Xiu didn't seem to react, and he was stunned for a while.

And then he said, "Why should I stay?" ”

"Because we need someone who can protect us." This time, it was not the village chief who spoke, but Hu Che.

He sat upright, his hands on his knees horizontally, facing the little child in a very formal posture in a pleading manner.

"Xiu, we need someone who can protect us, we really need it now." A hint of confused fear flashed in his eyes, "There's something you may not know. But the reason why I left in a hurry the other day, and I couldn't even come to see you more, was because there was a very urgent need for this matter, and I had to make sure—" He paused for a moment. After a while, he finally said bitterly, "Now it's decided... The great generals... War has broken out ... And the Shinano country, where we are located, bore the brunt of the whole war, and it was the place where the whole war was fiercest..."

There was panic in the crowd, but there was a hint of confusion.

War, as terrible and troublesome as it sounds, is a distant thing. It's so remote here, what kind of war will be fought here?

But Hu Che paid no attention to the villagers' reactions. Because he knew that the villagers, who had been at ease for too long, did not understand what such a war meant. They don't even think about what that kind of thing has to do with them.

But the villagers don't know, but he must know!

He was looking at the boy in front of him.

I don't know why, he suddenly felt a trace of funny in his heart, and there was a great irony.

The age of the boy in front of him, if other people were other people, most of them were still pouting and playing in the mud in the fields, and messing around with other children, until some of them were just able to remember. But the child in front of him had to make him treat him with courtesy, take him as an adult, and even speak and ask him as an adult.

He was so much older than him, but he could only ask him like this, hoping that he would not refuse him.

This feeling of being involuntarily, the feeling of being powerless...

In front of this boy, he was simply mentioned to the extreme.

He didn't even realize that his heart was sneering coldly at him.

What a shame...

"War has broken out in Edo, but Shinano Province is bearing the brunt." But he didn't stop talking. He still spoke in a sad tone about everything that was happening in the outside world now, because he couldn't stop, "The capital of Shinano has been invaded under the castle, and the Shinano guardian himself is sitting on the city walls. Almost all the villages around the capital were spared, all of them were reduced to ashes or burning wreckage. By the time I returned, all parts of Shinano had been filled with smoke, and the displaced people who had lost their homes were fleeing in all directions, desperately fleeing their hometowns. Just yesterday... I was fishing in the river, but I found a floating corpse in the river. But the body was not yet decomposed, and there were no signs of being swollen with blisters, which already proves that he had fought in our neighborhood and died in the vicinity. If the war really spreads to us, we will not be able to stop the army of the princes! None of us could stop them" fingers creeping into their thighs, the fabric of which had been scratched deep marks "I knew what would happen if we were found by them. We will lose everything we have, what we have in the first place. Fields, food, homes and loved ones! Men over the age of 14 will be forced to go to war, and women..."He paused suddenly, but skipped the passage "The ancestors of Yae Village hid here hundreds of years ago to escape the war, just to be isolated from the world and escape the scourge of war. But... Now we can't hide! ”

Xiu wanted to open his mouth, but found that he couldn't say anything.

He wanted to go back.

Go back to the cold, unforgiving, desperate land that fills the crumbling land.

Yes, it cannot be denied that this place is much more beautiful than the Black Forest, the weather is much milder and much more comfortable. But he still wants to go back.

Because there were friends he knew, a sister who loved him, an instructor who took good care of him, and...

A responsibility awaited Kaslana.

But he also knows that in such a situation... He couldn't say no.

He looked at Hu Che. There was a hint of anticipation, a hint of uneasiness, a hint of longing on his face.

He looked at the old man. There was only a glimmer of glint in the old man's eyes.

He suddenly laughed.

Pretty cunning, isn't it? These cunning people.

Looking at this very rich, but almost unpalatable meal, he had no desire to eat.

He stood up and looked in the direction of the shrine, stunned.

He didn't look at anything, he just wanted to find a direction that would make his gaze feel clean, quiet, and just look at it and think about what he should do.

He didn't want to say yes because he couldn't stay.

He couldn't say no either, because he was needed more here. If war does break out, then the villagers must be in danger. Because he knows better than anyone else in Yae Village, in fact, the village is now under the sights of danger. As long as he leaves, it's hard to guarantee that those ninjas won't be angry with Yae Village. Whether they are innocent or not.

For the first time, he felt how tired it was to have the choice in his own hands.

He wanted to go back, but he couldn't. He didn't want to stay, but he couldn't leave.

If only he didn't need a choice, someone would help him make it. In any case, as long as he accepts it, he will not be so bothered.

He just stood, and then was silent.

After a while, the village chief also felt that his request did not seem to be reasonable, and he just wanted to say something, but suddenly he was pushed by Xiu Yizhang.

This time it was so sudden that the unprepared old man fell on the ground and fell on his back, his eyes full of stars.

When he struggled to get up and get angry with his old bones, the angry words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't spit out at all.

In the direction of the shrine, several tiny chains were nailed to their dining table. The pitch-black chain passed through Xiu's small figure, who looked like a prey locked in by a demon.

If the old village chief hadn't been pushed away, he would have been pierced by the chains.

At some point, the man in black who had been lurking on the roof of the shrine stood up.

They have stopped hiding their tracks and are beginning to become blatant.

"It's... Who are you! Why attack us! The old man stood up straight and glared at them

"Ninja..."Shu, holding the two chains in his hand, couldn't help but frown as he looked at the other thin chains that had been rubbed from his waist, armpits, neck, and knees.

The old man of the ghost martial arts had already said that they could not act so blatantly.

Unless they have to.

Is it in plain sight...

The old village elder stood strong in front of the ninja and confronted them strongly, but the villagers did not have the courage anymore.

I don't know who started it, but after hearing a frightened cry, the villagers fled in all directions, and fled from the shrine in parts.

After a while, only Shu, the village chief, Hu Che, and two people who were beyond their feelings, but could take it for granted: the god lord, and Yae Sakura.

Xiu's fingers were forced, and he suddenly pulled the chains in his hands. But he didn't feel the strength of the other party to contend with as he imagined. They didn't seem to have the intention of wrestling, and the chains were directly loosened, and the people were taken away.

But the other chains moved.

An extremely slight tremor came from the end of the chain, and the chain suddenly vibrated violently!

Suddenly, the silky chains turned into saws, and with a dangerous tremor they suddenly sawed open in all directions!

Xiu was like a loach when he felt the first vibration, drilling through the gap between the chains, and then watched the small table being torn apart like this!

It was like a dangerous feeling of winter in the Black Forest that froze his soul, and it was obvious that if he hadn't walked away, he would have turned into a table just now!

The seven ninjas jumped off the roof in a grand manner. They are like shadows, undisguised, but still without any life. They are like dead things, without any sound that the living should have, but they are alive in front of you, approaching you step by step. With the danger of winter, and the smell of death as strong as a burial ground.

Without giving him time to prepare, the six ninjas just walked towards him, but little by little they devoured the space where he could retreat until he was completely surrounded.

(End of chapter)