"So this is your new home, Hailing?"
After some downtime, Muramasa finally had a moment to visit Hailing's new residence, accompanied by two others.
"Yes, Yoimiya helped me find it." Hailing smiled and took out a tea set, intending to serve her guests as the host.
"Ah..." However, whether from nervousness or unfamiliarity with the tea ceremony, her movements were a bit clumsy. The reason for her anxiety was the two other girls sitting in the room. One was Yoimiya, and the other was...
"Shall I help?" Ayaka, noticing her predicament, offered to complete the remaining steps for her.
"Thank you, Miss Kamisato..." Realizing she might have caused trouble, Hailing's face grew warm.
"She's a daughter of a family born by the sea. It's only natural that her skills differ from those of a noble lady. Don't worry about it," Muramasa said with a chuckle. He had originally just planned to visit Hailing, but since it coincided with his day to teach swordsmanship at the Kamisato Estate, he had extended an invitation to the young lady as well.
"I didn't expect you to come, Miss Kamisato. I rarely see you out and about," Yoimiya, the fireworks shop owner, was not as shy as the fisherman's daughter and struck up a conversation with Ayaka easily.
"There hasn't been anything urgent at home recently, and since I received a rare invitation from Mr. Muramasa, I decided to pay a visit." She maintained a serene smile, subtly expressing her desire to be there, without mentioning that Muramasa's status was the reason she could make an exception to her usual routine. Her long fingers gently brushed the rim of the warm teacup as she spoke of recent interesting events in Inazuma City and inquired about Hailing's studies.
But Yoimiya's attention frequently drifted to Muramasa. She noticed that the smith, who was usually very interested in these everyday matters, seemed to have lost his enthusiasm. Strange, he's usually very curious about these things… Yoimiya, the city's know-it-all, mentally sifted through recent events that might have caught his interest.
Her perpetually cheerful smile faded slightly, and her bright eyes took on a probing look. "By the way, news from the front lines has come back."
As expected, his bronze-colored eyes turned towards her a little faster than before.
"Yes..." As the topic was raised, Ayaka naturally took over. "The Tenryou Commission has achieved a phased victory and has successfully suppressed Nazuchi Beach... that is the official statement from the Tenryou Commission. However, I've heard from an informed source that they suffered a major defeat when trying to land on Watatsumi Island."
The Tenryou Commission's forces were, after all, a regular army. A victory on the main battlefield was not a great achievement, but a failure in a landing operation was a disgrace.
"So that's why they call it a 'phased victory'?" Muramasa thought. By phrasing it that way, even if the failed landing was pointed out, they could just say it was a probing attack.
"But, why?" Hailing was confused. She had a deep understanding of how powerless the weak were in the face of a large power disparity. In her worldview, there was no force stronger than the Shogun's elite troops.
Her words were met with a sudden silence. After a long moment, Yoimiya broke it. "Even if we were to guess, we have too little information right now, don't we?" She then turned to Ayaka. "Ayaka, do you have any other inside information?"
The question caught Ayaka off guard. She was stunned for a good while before shaking her head. "My brother usually handles these matters. I only occasionally hear some news from the household servants. But I am also very curious. This is a rare opportunity... perhaps we can ask someone?"
She didn't explain what this opportunity was, but her eyes sparkled with a rare anticipation. At least her curiosity was genuine.
At that moment, almost everyone in the room turned their gaze to Muramasa.
"I don't have any..." he started to say, intending to claim he didn't know anyone relevant, but then he caught a faint presence. "Hm? Actually, there might be someone we can ask."
He stood up, walked over to the closet, and pulled out a certain tanuki. "Tanuki girl, you should know something, right?"
"I'm not a tanuki, I'm a mujina!" The little girl, who had been groggily pulled out, rubbed her eyes and grumbled, "And besides, other than my regular contacts... I haven't heard any news lately!"
There's a girl here, and I didn't even notice… Ayaka was slightly startled, but seeing that everyone else seemed unfazed, she observed more closely.
"Then could I trouble you to find out? You're a ninja, aren't you~" Muramasa asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world, taking a rare opportunity to take advantage of someone else.
"Eh~ But I'm an amateur when it comes to gathering information," Sayu said. She had been sleeping and getting free meals here every day, so she couldn't just refuse a small favor.
"Then I'm counting on you, amateur."
…
Not long after, the little ninja of the Shuumatsuban came "rolling" back, a list clutched in her hand. "It's all here... haah~ so sleepy…" It seemed she had written it down to avoid forgetting. "If there's nothing else, I'm going back to sleep..."
Before they could reply, Sayu disappeared with a whoosh, probably rolling a little further away this time to avoid being caught again.
"That girl just now, could she be..." Hearing him say 'ninja', Ayaka knew where she was from and was aware of her name and identity. But she didn't know all the details of her family's affairs and was surprised to learn that her brother had arranged for a ninja to be by his side.
"Yes." He didn't say the name of Sayu's organization, and Ayaka tacitly didn't ask. The four of them began to read the document she had brought.
First was the Tenryou Commission's damage report. A total of four three-masted sailing ships were deployed in the landing operation. The number of Tenryou Commission combatants was eight hundred; the number of ship crew was not recorded. Among them, seventy-two were killed in action, one hundred and eight were wounded, and one ship was destroyed.
Judging from the casualties, it was far from a major defeat, not even reaching the point of needing to retreat. Then there was some other information, such as from some of the remaining Tenryou Commission soldiers, that the Kujou clan had intended to suppress the rebellion with lightning speed. For this, they had sent all their most elite vanguards in the first wave, and even had the general on the front lines to boost morale.
The information is really scarce. Is it still too difficult to get to the truth… Muramasa thought to himself. He was about to suggest ending the topic when he saw the girls were all excited, each with their own theories.
"Looks like it's time for story-telling king…"
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