Ch.53[Episode 53] Intermission

At the mountain range on the outskirts of Gacha Land, in the village of ninjas, stands the landmark Himetotzsaigo Castle.

Originally, this castle was called Unryu Castle, but the head of the family at that time changed its name on a whim.

In a secret area of Himetotzsaigo Castle, there was a training ground where the finest ninjas honed their skills.

And Unryu Hime, to soothe her complicated feelings, was training her body and mind under a waterfall at her family’s training ground.

“Haah…”

What exactly was this feeling?

Hime’s heart still raced whenever she thought of Sir Dominic.

In truth, this was simply a case of once bitten, twice shy—the sensation of having a fit after seeing Sir Dominic in his pirate skin kept resurfacing whenever she thought of him. But Hime, still naive to the ways of the world, had no way of knowing this.

Above all, Hime was the type who rarely showed her emotions to others and suffered in silence. Due to this personality trait, whatever she kept bottled up inside tended to grow and twist on its own.

Hime tried to focus on her training, but Sir Dominic kept appearing in her thoughts.

“Your mind seems troubled.”

Suddenly, a warrior appeared!

“Father.”

Hime stopped her training and knelt on one knee in respect at the warrior’s appearance.

This warrior’s name was Unryu Musashi.

He was the current head of the family and the greatest warrior of his time, capable of controlling even his wife, the world’s greatest kunoichi.

“That’s enough formality. But to see my daughter so agitated—I’ve never seen you like this before.”

Musashi looked like living armor.

Full-body armor coated with red pigment to ward off evil spirits emitting a subtle, mystical light, a helmet adorned with horn-like decorations, and a magical oni mask carved from peach wood soaked in red pigment.

At his waist hung three swords that must have been at least 2 meters long, yet they looked small compared to his massive frame.

“Can you tell your father what’s troubling you?”

Hime was reluctant to tell her father about Sir Dominic, but she thought it would be better to seek her father’s counsel rather than continue suffering in silence and letting it interfere with her training.

After all, her father was the greatest warrior of his time and a veteran who had experienced far more than she had.

“Well…”

Hime recounted everything in detail.

The story of meeting pirate Sir Dominic, how she kept thinking about him afterward, how her heart raced whenever she saw him…

After listening to Hime’s story, clan head Unryu Musashi spoke as if to admonish her.

“And you call yourself a member of the Unryu family? Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner!”

Hime flinched and shrank her neck.

“When you said you wanted to live alone, do you know how worried I was? And now you come back telling me someone is on your mind?”

She was certain her father would scold her.

“That is love. Love! At last, my daughter has learned about love.”

But what came back was her father’s voice, filled with emotion.

“Yes. It’s time you knew about love. When just thinking about someone makes you tremble, just seeing them makes your heart ache, just hearing their voice makes you flinch. If this isn’t love, then what is?”

In fact, Unryu Musashi was a love enthusiast.

He was one of those who believed that a world filled with love would be a better world.

Surprisingly, this fearsome warrior was a fervent romantic.

“Do you think of his face before falling asleep?”

Hime nodded.

“Do you feel as if he’s beside you even when he’s not there?”

Hime nodded vigorously.

In truth, she had never experienced this, but moved by her father’s words, she convinced herself that she had.

“That is love. The most powerful force in all the world.”

“Love…”

Hime marveled at her father’s wisdom. Indeed, her father was a wise man.

“If this feeling is love, what should I do?”

Hime took the opportunity to ask for a solution.

Unryu Musashi laughed heartily, making his oni mask shake.

“You must pursue it. Love is something to be pursued. Look at me. Am I not proof of that?”

“Ah.”

That was true.

Unryu Musashi had actually been a third-rate warrior, but he fell in love with his wife, the only daughter of the previous clan head, and persistently courted her.

The previous clan head needed someone to continue the family line, so he took him in as a son-in-law.

Everyone in the ninja village knew the romance between Unryu Musashi and the kunoichi Unryu Ichiko.

“Pursue it…”

But Hime lacked confidence.

She didn’t know what to do when standing before Sir Dominic. The best she could do was secretly watch him from a few steps behind.

She had never learned how to handle such situations.

The downside of rote ninja education.

In the end, Hime decided to seek her father’s wisdom once more.

“To pursue him, what attitude should I adopt when approaching him?”

The wise Unryu Musashi said:

“Become a fox.”

“A fox?”

“Yes. A fox. Being a fox is the best approach.”

Unryu Musashi’s words were metaphorical, but Hime took them to heart literally.

She considered it the correct answer since it came from her wise father.

“What are you doing, dear?”

“Ah, Ichiko.”

Another person entered the mystical training ground where mist rose and a rainbow appeared above the waterfall.

It was Hime’s mother, Unryu Ichiko.

“It seems our daughter has discovered love. I was just giving her some advice.”

“My goodness.”

Ichiko, who looked exactly like Hime but with a more mature charm, covered her mouth with her kimono sleeve and laughed.

“Father told me to become a fox,” Hime said.

“A fox?”

“You know, what I did to you.”

“Ah.”

Ichiko smiled happily, remembering what Musashi had done when proposing to her.

“At first I wondered what he was doing, but later I found it quite adorable. If that’s what being a fox means, it certainly would be effective.”

With her mother’s endorsement, Hime took her father’s words even more deeply to heart.

Fox-like behavior. Become a fox.

“By the way, why did you come here? It’s cold. Let’s go inside and have some warm tea while we chat.”

“We received a message. It seems the butler we dispatched is having difficulties.”

Ichiko pulled a pigeon from her kimono sleeve.

A red paper was tied to the pigeon’s leg, which signified an urgent situation in the ninja world.

Musashi untied the paper from the pigeon’s leg and read its contents. His armor clinked as he moved.

After reading the letter filled with secret characters, Musashi crumpled it and said:

“It seems support is needed.”

“What should we do? Everyone’s busy with the farming season, so we’re short-handed…”

Indeed.

In the ninja village, which preserved its traditional ways, rice planting was in full swing.

Especially since they had adopted terraced farming on the mountainside, people were busy going up and down the mountain.

At that moment, Hime stepped forward.

“I’ll go.”

Hime declared confidently.

She too was a kunoichi, a member of the ninja community.

And now that she knew the identity of the emotion troubling her heart and how to deal with it, nothing could stop her.

“Hmm…”

“Hime is a proper ninja too. Besides, from what I saw, it seems more urgent than dangerous.”

“Hmm…”

“One must complete such missions to become a true kunoichi. I don’t know how it looks to you as a warrior, but how about placing your trust in kunoichi Hime, not just our daughter, this time?”

Ichiko persuaded Musashi.

After considering it, Musashi judged that the mission wouldn’t be too dangerous and nodded.

“Kunoichi Hime, listen.”

Musashi’s voice changed.

If his voice when advising Hime had been gentle and firm, now it was full of dignity and power.

“From now on, go down and find the butler. Help him complete the mission and return. ‘Ninja’ means one who survives well, so make sure you return safely.”

Musashi’s words were strong, but his final words were spoken gently, as a father.

“I will definitely complete the mission.”

With those words, Hime vanished from the spot.

Only the small dust that rose from where she had been indicated she had been there at all.

“Hmm…”

“Nothing will happen. Besides, she’s with the butler, so even if there’s danger, she’ll return safely.”

Musashi sighed.

Ichiko comforted and reassured him.

In truth, it wasn’t a particularly dangerous mission, but the heart of a father with a daughter is always the same.

…

After quickly descending from the ninja village to downtown Gacha Land via portal, Hime first sniffed the air.

Following the scent that only ninjas could detect would lead her to the butler.

She detected a faint scent carried by the wind and moved accordingly.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop following the butler’s traces, she finally spotted him parking a ninja scooter in a paid parking lot across the street.

Hime kicked off the edge of a building and landed lightly on the ground.

“Butler, I heard it was urgent and came to help.”

“Lady Hime! I didn’t expect you to come.”

The butler glanced at the fee chart. If they moved quickly from now, they could finish within the 30-minute fee period.

“So, how can I help?”

Hime asked the butler eagerly.

In response, the butler lifted Hime onto his shoulder and said:

“Excuse me, Lady Hime. We needed synergy to move quickly.”

Bewildered, Hime struggled briefly, but the butler ran at high speed carrying both his luggage and Hime.

The synergy of two ninjas resulted in a 15% increase in movement speed.