"Lin, Master Linto... hello."
The fear in Mirage's voice couldn't be hidden.
There was a loose "circle" among summoned beasts. Mirage had naturally heard of Linto's bad reputation. It had lived for many years, from the time of the Second Mizukage until now, and if it could...
Mirage hoped to continue living peacefully in its shell.
Linto asked, "Why did you become Masashi Hori's summoned beast?"
Terumi Mei, who was next to him, heard the suspicion in Linto's tone and immediately understood, "You think... there's something wrong here?"
Linto nodded slightly.
Masashi Hori was over forty years old and still only a Chunin.
It wasn't that being a Chunin was bad, but with his skills, he simply wasn't capable of subduing Mirage.
It was just like that.
He happened to get Mirage, happened to be Linto's student, and happened to appear on their necessary route to Kyoto... Too many coincidences likely meant someone was planning this.
Linto wanted to know, who was behind it and what was their purpose?
To block their way?
But anyone who wasn't an idiot would know that the combination of Masashi Hori and Mirage couldn't achieve that.
If Phantom Hozuki himself had come, he might have caused Linto some trouble.
To stir up Linto's emotions?
Terumi Mei put her hands on her hips, looking confident, "That would be underestimating you!"
Linto was speechless.
At that moment, Mirage explained the situation.
It had been living happily by a river when it was attacked by a strange enemy. Unable to defeat them, it fled, the enemy chasing closely behind. It finally shook them off, but was so badly injured that it couldn't move.
Then, it happened to meet Masashi Hori, who helped heal its wounds.
Out of gratitude, Mirage signed a summoning contract with Masashi Hori and became his summoned beast.
"Oh..."
Terumi Mei mumbled quietly, "It's just like the story of the apple snail girl."
Mirage wanted to argue that it was a "pond snail," but considering that the infamous Linto was standing next to it...
It didn't dare make a sound.
"The strangers who attacked you, could you tell which village's ninja they were?" Linto asked.
"I... couldn't tell."
Mirage didn't hesitate at all with its answer.
After it was safe, it kept wondering who it had offended, but the other party wasn't wearing a forehead protector, and the ninjutsu they used was all basic, so it couldn't figure out who was behind the enemy.
Linto nodded.
If it didn't know, then so be it. As long as the other party was still planning to attack him, they would eventually be found out.
Mirage was the Second Mizukage's summoned beast. After Linto asked for its and Terumi Mei's opinions, the two signed a summoning contract.
Mirage officially became Terumi Mei's partner, returning to the ranks of Kirigakure after many years.
The mist cleared, and Linto led the people who had been captured back to Yuma County. The townspeople on both sides of the county road welcomed them, cheering loudly.
Of course, this wasn't spontaneous.
Samurai stood behind the crowd, and at the end of the road, the county magistrate, Shirokawa, bowed deeply with a smile.
Linto walked up to County Magistrate Shirokawa and nodded towards the crowd that had been forced to gather, "Is this interesting?"
"Of course it is interesting."
County Magistrate Shirokawa said with a smile, "It expresses my respect for you, Master Linto.
Don't worry, I know your rules. Everyone who came here today will be paid—not from public funds, I'll pay it myself."
Linto nodded.
The problem was solved quickly, taking only an hour for the round trip. The day was still early.
Now that the mist had cleared, Terumi Mei was calling people to prepare to leave Yuma County and continue on their way.
Local samurai and attendants were moving food from the county magistrate's warehouse and replacing the materials for the carriages.
Taking advantage of the busy preparations before departure, Linto waved to County Magistrate Shirokawa, who nodded obsequiously and walked over, holding two slices of watermelon.
"County Magistrate Shirokawa, I want to ask you a question before we leave."
"Please ask."
"How did these mountain bandits appear?"
County Magistrate Shirokawa handed over a watermelon, "I don't know how they appeared, but from the first second I saw you, I was certain how they would die. They were destined to die in your hands."
"Destined?"
"Yes."
Linto thought for a long time, then slowly breathed out.
Who could determine everything that happened?
All the answers pointed to one person.
The Daimyo of the Land of Water: Oda Ieyasu.
"I understand, thank you."
"No, don't thank me. I didn't say anything, and you didn't hear anything."
"Okay."
Linto got up and left.
County Magistrate Shirokawa sat in his chair, silently eating watermelon.
His middle-aged, overweight wife came over, wiped the watermelon juice from his mouth, and asked in a low voice:
"Aren't we people of the Daimyo? Why..."
County Magistrate Shirokawa focused on eating the watermelon, his muddled voice coming from his mouth, "Who do you think will win, him or the Daimyo?"
"I don't know."
"Right, I don't know either, so I have to bet on both sides. Besides, Lord Oda doesn't value the lives of my men for the sake of the 'big picture,' and me, this county magistrate—"
He threw away the leftover watermelon rind and spat out the watermelon seeds.
"Should have a little bit of a temper, right?"
...
The rest of the journey was uneventful.
Linto rode on horseback the whole way, practicing the Golden Spin.
However, as talented as he was in Ripple (energy) training, he was just as bad at the Golden Spin.
It had been almost four months since he acquired the Golden Spin technique, and Linto was still stuck at lesson-1, which was only being able to shoot iron balls with spin, nothing more.
"Lesson-2: Don't let the muscles notice" was still a long way off.
Clang—
After another practice, the iron ball hit the target due to the spin and flew back into Linto's hand.
"The Golden Spin and Ripple energy techniques have some degree of conflict."
Linto looked at the iron ball in his hand:
"Lesson-2: Don't let the muscles notice. Requires the power of the spin to stay on the surface of the skin, letting the muscles 'forget.'"
"Lesson-3: Believe in the spin, just believe. Focus more on the faith in the spin than on throwing skills or physical strength."
As for lessons 4 and 5, they were still far away, so let's not mention them. Just the above two levels require forgetting the physical body and throwing the iron ball with the will of the spirit.
The throwing power might be very weak, like Johnny in the original story, but under the belief in the "Golden Spin," it would burst out with unimaginable magical powers.
But...
Linto's body was too strong.
Not to mention forgetting the muscles, he could control his body at the level of cells and genes, and he could easily sense even the slightest movement.
Linto also tried to cut off the perception of his muscles to simulate the effect of lesson-2: Don't let the muscles notice, but this kind of "cheating" behavior clearly did not conform to the Golden Spin's training system and did not bring any actual improvement.
He put away the iron ball.
"Although I know that 'the shortest shortcut is to take the long way around,' but... how far will this long way have to go before it reaches the end?"
"We're here!"
Terumi Mei's voice rang out from beside him, with a hint of anticipation in her voice. Following the direction she was pointing, he saw—
A tall cyan-gray city wall stood in front of them. The sunset glowed diagonally on the traffic at the foot of the wall, like batches of pilgrims.
These people, like Linto, were travelers and merchants coming to attend the Water Garden Festival.
And at the top of the city wall, hung a black plaque with gold letters, writing two big characters:
Capital City.
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