The Hayato village is located in a ravine with a lot of gentle terrain, so it is not difficult to find a suitable place to camp nearby.

It's just that after running around all day in the hot summer, most people are actually so tired that they don't want to care about the sticky sweat, and they plan to just fall asleep. When they heard that they were going to the village, they were relieved, and even among the high-ranking samurai, there were many people who were expecting to finally be able to sleep in a serious house.

The cold gap between imagination and reality aggravates the irritability of fatigue but not being able to rest, and the samurai, who are usually harsh, spill their anger on Ashigaru, who has made mistakes due to fatigue, and sarcastically mock them with a mean attitude of picking bones in eggs. The heavy class was pressed on their shoulders, and the ashigaru still had to camp despite even more serious exhaustion, and their stomachs were also full of stuffiness, but they could only nod and smile yes, for fear of exacerbating the dissatisfaction of the samurai in exchange for death.

One of the few younger ashigaru couldn't help it, and the moment he stiffened his neck and was about to turn around, he was slapped by the head of the group next to him, grabbing the hair on the back of his head and forcibly pressing him back.

The loud noise of the loud quarrel and the dissatisfaction of the one side spread from the entrance of the village to the village, causing the Hayabusa people to close the door even further. People who didn't know about it before also knew the fact that there were more uninvited guests at their doorstep after experiencing this movement. The deliberately muffled sound of discussion could be heard far away from the village in the silent woods in the evening, and then turned into silence, as if a child cowering in fear of a monster outside the quilt did not squeak in the hope that the other party would leave.

"......." the sage stood quietly at the entrance to the pocket-shaped village, looking in, while Narumi, who was a head shorter, stood beside him and took in all the happening.

"It's as if we're the same, nay, even more terrifying beings than the demons. There wasn't much fluctuation in the blue-haired senior samurai's tone, as it wasn't necessarily a surprise to him.

It's just that even if you expect it, when you experience it yourself, it still causes ripples in your heart.

The samurai on horseback behind him were still arguing, and Yajiro was angry and went in after his tent was erected, and shut himself up and didn't talk to anyone. The great god and old Joe were directing the structure of the camp and the placement of supplies, and Narumi shook his head and walked back.

"What a system!" said the usually calm samurai captain in a rare shout to the high-ranking samurai who were venting their frustration by blaming others. The sage didn't look back, shrugged his shoulders imperceptibly, and continued to observe the village.

The pocket-shaped Hayato village is located at the bottom of a ravine, backed by a rolling mountain range. Surrounded on all sides by high ground and steep terrain, the woods are so dense and inaccessible that even when a group of people comes, the road actually takes one bend after another rather than a direct one.

If you don't go directly to the ravine, you won't be able to detect the existence of this village. Because of the surrounding mountains, the smoke from the cooking stove they make here for cooking and heating will not be noticed by the outside world.

The price of such seclusion was the relative lack of resources, and his excellent eyesight, which remained unobstructed even in the dim light of the evening, allowed Henry to easily capture the neat orchard at the back of the village. The low herbs next to it looked like some kind of medicinal herb, and combined with the use of requiem incense by Archie and others, it seems that these are probably the main crops of this village.

There are at least a dozen small stone piles at the entrance of every house, and the sticks stuck on them, the vines and the wide leaves on them can be judged to be potato root plants. There is no farmland in the mountains, so this is their staple food. Coupled with the chickens raised in the fence, perhaps the streams in the nearby mountains can occasionally catch some rock trout, and the men go out to hunt. In the case of not having regular contact with the mainstream society of the people under the mountain, this land has no problem supporting the dozen or so families in this village as far as the naked eye can see, but most of them are not too wealthy.

The land of Crescent Island lacks high-quality iron ore, but without iron tools, many things can become very difficult. Hayato may be mostly good at making ironware, but it is difficult for the clever women to cook without rice, so even if they don't want to, they will definitely need to make some deals with someone.

The clothes worn by the children were obviously made of cloth and cotton thread had to be bought, the chickens kept in the hedges were not to be caught in the mountains, and iron ore—the village must have been in regular communication with the other villages or towns that could provide for them.

Items sold can be herbs from the mountains, animal skins, or your own iron-crafting skills.

- Why did the sage do such a thing?

In the case where it is obvious that there is a gap between Hayato and them, and it is difficult to obtain information through verbal communication, it is natural to observe and reason on their own. Based on these factors visible to the naked eye, combined with the fact that only women and children appear, it can be speculated that what happened to them can also be speculated.

Midsummer is the most active period for animals, and even if the fur and grass of the wild animals in the mountains are not as abundant as in autumn and winter, the young animals born last year will almost follow their mothers at this point in time. Combined with the fact that the young beasts were the favorite playthings of the wealthy bureaucrats and merchants everywhere, and the fact that the cattle and horses were uneasy when they came to the vicinity of the only exit road, it was evident that the young men of the village had been attacked by evil spirits on their way out to a rally in exchange for the necessary supplies.

- So, what can be inferred from these messages?

The first is that this attacking demon is strong enough to stand up to at least a dozen young hunters who often walk in the mountains, and is physically and skillfully bowed, and is fast enough and cunning enough to catch these keen hunters by surprise.

Swift, powerful, and brutal. He didn't flinch in the face of a dozen opponents, and at the same time he had enough intelligence to wait until the hunters knew it was too late.

These traits are clearly contrary to the previous mountain ghosts that were only large in size, but in fact empty with brute strength and low intelligence, clumsy and clumsy - no, this is something new.

Secondly, and even more closely related to their current situation, is that the direction of the demon attack is very close to their current camp.

In a way, the samurai fulfilled their unspoken promise, and they did stand guard at the gate of the village. As the only way, if the demons attacked, they would inevitably alarm the samurai who were camping outside, even if they were just as good as humans.

The Oni Clan's physique and physical abilities allow them to rampage directly through the dense forests that are difficult for humans to walk, and they can also rush directly through the steep slopes that are difficult for humans to walk.

Even the samurai are still at a disadvantage against such beings.

Tonight's set-up needs to be well thought out, especially when most people are exhausted and impetuous.

The faint and familiar sound of conversation came from the nearby forest, and the moment Henry turned his head, Mira, Aya, and Kaleva "swooped" out of the woods. Archie followed them, his head hanging in a muffled voice, not resisting as Mira thought.

"He's going to follow us for a while?" said the girl in a questioning tone, and with a nod from the Sage, she led Archie to the tent where Rigal and his party were staying, which had been built by the missionaries who had stayed behind, Sakura, and Lulu.

A series of chaotic episodes followed, and the samurai's previous tantrums over Ashigaru shrank back under Narumi's suppression, not making things any more chaotic.

After all, the last thing they need now is infighting.

This is something that outsiders are more likely to notice, and the samurai in the class society of the Moon Country will always forget unconsciously. Ashigaru is also human, and even if they don't dare to refute the samurai openly, their private grievances will only be more detrimental to the team in the long run.

Although from the very beginning, the whole team was vaguely divided into three groups: Ashigaru, Rigal, and the samurai group, and the samurai have always treated Ashigaru in this way. But now after all, it's a home, and the people at the bottom are angry and have a home to return to, and the samurai get along with Ashigaru every day when they train, and they don't have much experience of fatigue and hardship in addition to training, patrolling and maintaining weapons in Qingzhi Town.

Now it is thousands of miles away from Qingzhi, and most of the work along the way is done by ashigaru. Not to mention these low-level soldiers day and night, even Rigal and his party saw more samurai riding horses, cross-waisted, talking, criticizing, and pointing instead of rolling up their sleeves to work, and this experience naturally increased the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the ashigaru.

But the embarrassing part is that Rigal and his party, even the sages who are now very respected by the samurai, are only guests, and this kind of thing should not be transgressed.

The timing of the mention is very important, if you mention it early, people may be disgusted with you, and if you finish mentioning it, it may be too late.

Fortunately, Narumi is a clear man after all, and his anger at the samurai means that he has realized that the words and actions of the samurai will affect the motivation of the samurai and the coordination of the team.

So he took the opportunity to tell what he had observed, and Henry also told the three samurai leaders and the young master Yajiro in the rear to point out some things about this.

The samurai leader was never unenterprising, and after a brief silence, he learned his lesson and ordered the senior samurai to take care of their armor, guns, bows and arrows from today onwards in order to ease the work of the ashigaru.

Boiling the frog in warm water, he didn't push it directly to the end, and rushing it would always make things slippery.

There are two flowers, one on each branch.

As the leaders discussed and made plans to correct some of the practices, the Ashigaru people at the bottom also took care of all the camps.

Taking advantage of the long summer days, when the sunshine was not yet completely over, they lit a fire and began to prepare dinner. Many of the physically exhausted sat sweating on the ground around the camp, ashigaru's armor and hat lying haphazardly on the ground, and their weapons leaning against nearby trees.

This kind of behavior would have attracted accusations and insults from the high-ranking samurai, but now that Narumi strictly ordered them not to speak ill of each other, these people had a stomach full of "hatred of iron is not steel", so they could only endure it, and continued to sit in their tents and sip wine and check their equipment.

The samurai on horseback were exhausted by the heat, and they recovered much faster than the ashigaru, who walked on their own feet and worked harder. Therefore, at Henry's suggestion, the main force of tonight's vigil will naturally be the high-ranking samurai.

When the gang began to cook, Sage and Luo'an Maiden took Lulu, Sakura, and Aya, and took some items to the nearby mountains and forests, using the elasticity of the small tree combined with the rope to make some simple interfering triplines. Due to the activities of Hayato villagers nearby, they deliberately adjusted the weight required to trigger based on the sage himself.

The 195-centimeter-tall Henry is still quite inferior to the ghost clan, but it is enough to throw ordinary people behind.

Using him as a standard, you can guarantee that the trap will not be touched by mistake.

These things were precautionary measures at best, and one of the chain traps was tied to arrows carved from the horns of a chirping arrow. Tied to the end of a bouncy treetop, once another trap is triggered, the speed of the branch that rebounds at high speed when the tenon is lifted is comparable to that of an arrow, so it can also meet the need to make the sound of the arrow.

On a sunny night without rain, cows, horses, and baggage can be placed outside the tent. Disturbed by Henry's words, Narumi thought about it and ordered the various wooden boxes to be placed according to the rules, and the ox carts were pulled to the periphery, forming a wall to protect the camp to a certain extent.

But although such a cover can withstand the attacks of human enemies, in the face of the two-hundred-kilogram ghost clan, I am afraid it still looks a little thin.

Either way, it's better to have than nothing.

But when all of this was taken care of and Henry and his party returned, as night officially fell, a row of torches suddenly lit up in Hayato's village.

"Be prepared. Narumi, who didn't know what the other party meant, asked the unarmed samurai to take their weapons, although it was reasonable to think that the Hayabusa people would do no harm in raising their weapons against them, but if Henry's guess was correct, these people had lost a chance to rush to the market in the summer to exchange for necessities, and there were a large number of young and middle-aged laborers who were at least disabled.

Although they are heavily armed samurai, they are also gold mountains with baggage.

The more desperate we are, the less we should expect too much from the goodwill of mankind.

"Samurai, Samurai-sama—" With this stiff old voice, the face of the group was revealed to the group was a trembling old man with a long white beard. Judging by the crowd of people around, it is obvious that he is the leader of this village.

Next to him were two young men on crutches with bandages on their heads, frail but still with sturdy physiques, apparently the most healthy young men in the village at the moment.

All but three of them were women, all of whom were carrying containers such as wooden basins or clay pots.

You don't need to be a sage to guess the general development, the news of their uninvited arrival is a given. The women of the village may have thought that it would be enough to close the door, but the more experienced village chief must have known all kinds of reasons, and after comparing the combat strength of the two sides, it was obvious that he had come here to curry favor with the samurai.

"Please, please enjoy. The things he ordered the women of the village to bring were scented by the light of the fire, apparently washed and steamed chickens.

The smell and color of the fresh chicken lifted the spirits of many of the samurai in the rear, and the fact that the village chief could speak the language made communication much easier.

Narumi nodded and let his men take the tub, the women's expressions were a little gloomy, but they didn't say anything.

"Beware of poisoning, check first. The samurai leader remembered Archie's use of soothing incense vividly, and he didn't let his guard down, even though it was a flattering gesture.

The samurai used silver and other tests to confirm that the chicken was okay and brought it into the camp, while the Hayabusa, who had watched all this, knelt down in front of them under the leadership of the village chief.

"I, our sins, deserve death, but please still ask the big and adults to be clear, it is really forced by life. The village chief kowtowed a few times in fear: "Attached, the evil spirits in the vicinity have done evil, and the young man is seriously injured, and I really can't give the samurai adults better hospitality, please forgive me." ”

With such a low posture and overtures, even the samurai, who had been full of resentment before, became harmonious. On top of this, the village chief said a series of good things, praising their bravery and generosity, thanking them for coming to fight against evil spirits, and so on.

Whether or not it was true or not is unknown, but at least most of the samurai were very useful.

"Well, then we'll take our leave. The Hayabusa people turned their heads and tried to go back to the village after serving ten steamed chickens, but at this time, Yajiro, who had been silent and closed up until now, suddenly opened his mouth.

"Wait. After saying this, he whispered to his samurai to bring some things out.

"It's a return gift. ”

"Your Excellency?"

"If you don't take it, it's disrespectful to me. "The little young master who has gradually matured has also become very good at using his identity.

"Thank you very much. The women of the Hayato clan took what Yajiro had given them from the samurai, and the rice and other rations that had been distributed from the ranks were heavy—their expressions softened, and the gratitude in their tones became sincere, despite the incomprehension of words.

"Huh. Oiran glanced at the young master.

"I've read in books that common people raise chickens in order to get their eggs every day. Like this, it was slaughtered and sent up. Anyway—" He turned his head awkwardly.

"We will not forget this grace of food, and the evil spirits will be defeated. Throwing off these words, Yajiro ran back to his camp without looking back.

"Thank you very much. The village chief bowed deeply again, and walked with the others towards the village with a richer return gift than they had sent.

"Archie. Archie's mother, who was among them, waved and called a few more times, and the boy finally walked out.

"Go ahead. Miss Doctor nodded at him, and Archie trotted up to take her mother's hand and help her get some gifts from Yajiro.

"It's all right. The girl watched the figures of the Hayabusa gradually fade away, rubbed her hands and turned her head.

Onigiri Exploration Book

"Can you start eating? ”