Udanosuke (real name: Joshua Curtis) had seen it.
An army of deformed troops flooded out of Duke Gerald’s castle.
–Oh my god…! What is going on here!?
Udanosuke was a Night Pythons bodyguard.
Or perhaps I should say “used to be a bodyguard”, in the past tense.
Just two days ago, he came back from “work” to find that Night Pythons’ base was empty. The leader, executives, and ordinary members had all vanished.
He did not know what had happened. Although those scattered around the city were safe, confusion still reigned, not knowing what had happened.
It was certain that some kind of crisis had occurred. Udanosuke was hiding in the city to see what was going on.
However, the situation betrayed Udanosuke’s expectations. Wearing a Sandogasa (a type of hat that samurai were taught to wear to hide their faces), Udanosuke walked through the streets to see what was going on, when he saw undead emerge from the city.
The undead were wearing armor with the duke’s coat of arms. At that moment, almost the entire army from the territory was gathering in the town. He did not know what had caused this to happen, but he knew that the knights had been turned into undead.
Soon, screams began to come from everywhere.
Udanosuke, who had been hiding in an alley watching the undead onslaught, stopped counting the undead immediately. Udanosuke knew that the number was not enough for him to defeat, but enough to destroy this city. It was enough.
–Oh my god. This is the Bon Odori Dance my master was talking about!
He had to run away. However, there was a very bad situation for him to escape on his own.
–Before I escape, I must secure at least a month’s worth of “samurai spirit” (note: Udanosuke’s personal slang), or I will go insane and die! Even if I could substitute a pipe, I don’t know where I could buy the stuff itself! It’s expensive!
At any rate, there was a three-day supply and his favorite pipe in the room of the inn where Udanosuke was holed up. The only thing left to do was to go to a familiar dealer and see what he could offer.
Once Udanosuke had made up his mind, he acted quickly. With the speed of a seasoned samurai, he ran through the streets like the wind. He had to hurry because he had to make an extra effort in the midst of all this fuss. According to his master, there must have been a saying in the Far East, something about ‘Hurry is good’ or something like that.
The streets were filled with panic as people who had seen the undead and fled the area mingled with those who had not yet noticed anything unusual. Udanosuke, following the formal etiquette of the Samurai, passed through the crowd with his chopping style.
As he did so, screams of panic erupted everywhere he went.
–The undead had come this way, too!
Looking through the fleeing people, the number of undead was small. Udanosuke could easily defeat them or run away from them. The general public would be in a panic if even a single undead creature appeared in the city.
Udanosuke decided to just keep going.
As he approached, the undead conveniently gathered at the side of the road and surrounded a few civilians by the wall.
“Adventurer, help us! Help!”
A boy shouted at Udanosuke from inside the semi-circular undead siege. He was assumed to be an adventurer because of the weapons he was carrying.
–I can’t deal with them! Let’s get out of here while those guys are being eaten!
Udanosuke completely ignored the voice and tried to pass by the encirclement.
But.
“Hyaeeeeeeee!?”
Udanosuke felt as if he had been pricked in the armpit, and he let out a dumb cry while writhing in agony.
It was withdrawal symptoms!
Hearing his voice, the undead all turned to Udanosuke at once.
“… Damn! It’s not that easy, is it?”
Udanosuke clicked his tongue and drew his beloved sword “Douchou Atsuryoku” (He didn’t understand the meaning of the name because it is Far Eastern, but he thought it sounded cool).
Then, he collected energy in his tanden and breathed a warrior’s breath.
“≪Ki Edge≫!”
The “Douchou Atsuryoku” glowed white.
This was another samurai technique. The katana contained ki to enhance its sharpness. This was not the same as the holy ki of holy magic, but in this state, it could strike effective blows even to the undead, and even slay spiritual bodies.
… Well, it was a rather common non-attribute-granting magic enchantment.
The undead attacked Udanosuke without any warning. Skeletons, zombies, and ghouls were all in abundance.
They were originally soldiers, so they were quite skilled. And they are well equipped.
But… Udanosuke, a katana wielder who could cut through even mithril, had no problem dealing with them!
“Woooooooo! Sushi!!”
Udanosuke slashed at the skeleton with a piercing attack.
He sliced the first skeleton’s head in half. He sliced the zombie’s torso in half, armor and all. At the same time, Udanosuke cleaved the two skeletons that were slashing at him, and then he intercepted the ghouls who were wearing the best equipment.
“Arts release!”
Udanosuke held his katana in a horizontal stance and plunged into a ghoul.
The biological magic power circulated in his body, and it affected his weapon.
A martial art in which a warrior who has mastered his craft can demonstrate magical power without resorting to magic. … Arts.
“Hara!”
The ghoul’s abdomen was ripped open horizontally with its entire armor!
“Kiri!”
Tear the ghoul’s abdomen in a single vertical motion!
“SMAAAAAAAAAASH!!”
He ran through the streets, slashing at them in an exaggerated slashing frenzy!
“…Cut down!”
Bachin! Udanosuke sheathed his katana! Udanosuke’s slashes exploded behind him as soon as he sheathed his katana.
This was the “Harakiri Smash”, an art Udanosuke had developed.
After slashing three times in rapid succession, Udanosuke would trigger his sword to slash once more.
The ghoul, slashed deeply, collapsed, unable to move, even with the strong body of an undead.
“…You are not a samurai if you don’t behead. Even if it is a monster, it is still a foe with a head, that it is.”
Udanosuke hurriedly walked up to the ghoul and grabbed the helmet piece to raise the ghoul’s upper body. And then.
“Neck inspection!”
With a shout, he dropped his head, indicating to the whole world that victory was assured.
When all the undead stopped moving, the people who had been frozen by the wall came up to Udanosuke with a look of relief.
A young girl of about 10 years old and her parents were saved by Udanosuke. The other two were an old woman who seemed to have no relation to the family, and a young boy who also seemed to be another person.
“Oh, thank you very much!”
“We were about to be eaten, but you saved our lives by drawing their attention to you!”
After being thanked, Udanosuke realized his blunder.
–Oops. I have inadvertently behaved like a samurai, as is my usual habit at work!
The reason he dared to act like a samurai on the job was to make his name known in the underworld and to make his enemies tremble by flaunting the sign of the mythical and fierce “samurai”. There was no need for him to do that now.
If it was only his sandogasa, that would be fine, but in addition, there was the katana and his kubi-oke. Even the name of the art, “Harakiri”. It was fortunate that the other party was not knowledgeable.
There were almost no samurai in the Holy Kingdom, where Udanosuke spent his training years, but there were no samurai at all in Ciel-Terra. Udanosuke, the Night Python’s bodyguard, was the only one. If the other party had known Udanosuke, they might have recognized him by now.
“Where are you going, adventurer!? There are undead over there!”
An old woman stopped Udanosuke as he was leaving.
“Yu, my friend! I have come to rescue my friend who is stranded, that I must!”
He quickly made an excuse that sounded good enough, but the dealer was a friend in a way, so it wasn’t a total misunderstanding.
But the boy took the bait.
“Please take me with you! My grandfather lives over there!”
＊ ＊ ＊
The boy followed Udanosuke as he ran through the alleys.
“Sushi!!”
He cut down the undead with enthusiasm!
＊ ＊ ＊
A boy and several men and women followed Udanosuke as he ran down a side street.
“Geisha!!”
He cutsdown the undead with enthusiasm!
＊ ＊ ＊
A boy, a dozen men and women, and two girls followed Udanosuke as he ran through the downtown area.
“Hara! Kiri! SMAAAAAAAAAASH!!”
He cut down the undead with enthusiasm!
＊ ＊ ＊
By the time Udanosuke reached his destination, there were more than 20 people following him. All of them had been attacked by the undead that Udanosuke had cut down along the way.
Those who had failed to escape seemed to have decided that it was better to follow Udanosuke and escape with him than to continue on their way.
–What is this…!? It only makes it easier to be found. Damn it, should I just cut them all down and run away by myself?
Generally speaking, Udanosuke had no intention of helping people. He just wanted to get his hands on the “Soul of the Samurai” (Udanosuke’s personal slang) and escape the city.
“Adventurer, is this where …?”
In a corner of the downtown area, there were stairs leading to a basement. There was no sign or anything, but it was a store.
Udanosuke wordlessly descended, and footsteps followed a little later.
“No, that it is not! Wait there, that you should! There are undead inside, that there are!!”
“Hi!?”
Udanosuke jumped into the door under the stairs and closed it behind him.
It was a small, dark, dirty store with only a counter. And there was no one there anymore.
Usually, a cloth was hung on a shelf behind the counter, in which “Soul of the Samurai” (Udanosuke’s personal slang) was on display.
But now there was nothing there. The money and merchandise were firmly gone.
There was no sign of a fire sale. The seller must have sensed something was wrong, and took his merchandise and left.
–Kuh……Was I too late!?
He had to get the next supply somewhere before the three days’ worth left at the inn ran out.
But what was even more pressing was that his hands were already shaking. Soon he would not be able to fight.
–I thought a smoke here would calm me down! Is there at least a little left somewhere!?
Udanosuke pushed his way behind the counter, rummaged around, and came upon a miracle.
–Used pipe! The embers remain…!
Udanosuke grabbed a pipe lying in one corner, ignited it with a magic lighter that was lying on the ground, and put it in his mouth to suck on it.
“Adventurer, are you all right?
“I am fine, that I am! That’s why you shouldn’t come here, that you shouldn’t!”
A voice called out from outside, perhaps concerned about the situation. Udanosuke hurriedly responded.
It was true that Udanosuke could not live without his ” Samurai Soul”, but he had not lost the Samurai modesty to hide it.
For a samurai, exposing one’s shame was a crime worthy of Harakiri. Considering his future work, he could not afford to spread the stigma of “Samurai Udanosuke” in a place like this.
“Come here…nfuu… that won’t do! Suha…it’s dangerous here… Ah~hh…”
It smelled burnt and was ineffective, but it was still the sensation of being infused with “Samurai Soul”.
–Okay, did this stop the withdrawal symptoms?
After taking a deep breath and enjoying the aftermath, Udanosuke put his pipe in his pocket just in case and left the restaurant.
And when he opened the door, he was surprised to hear the sound of fighting coming from unexpectedly close by.
“What!?”
Udanosuke ran up the stairs and saw citizens wielding iron bars, wooden sticks, and other long objects, using wooden boards and whatever else they could find as shields to form a wall.
While Udanosuke was happy in the store, a squad of undead came this way. The citizens, rescued by Udanosuke, were fighting them.
“Ah, you’re here, Adventurer-san!”
“What’s going on here?”
“We can’t just stand here while you fight!”
“Oh! There’s only so many, we can handle it!”
“We managed to protect you while you were in there!”
Everyone was red-faced and brandishing their weapons. There was a warrior’s exuberance in their eyes. The exaltation of warriors inspired by and following a hero.
In fact, whether it was the advantage of numbers or not, there were no casualties on their side. The undead were reluctant to attack.
“So, adventurer, how’s your friend?”
“Ah, he’s already…”
Udanosuke was shocked as he said this excusively.
The citizens who had only been running away from their undead opponents were now following in his footsteps and fighting for him!
“That’s… a pity.”
“No, that is not important now, that it is not! Anyway, we will cut down these undead, that we will! Wait for a moment, that you will!”
Udanosuke drew his sword and leaped over the barricade of door panels and into the crowd of undead.
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