"Ha..." Yorimitsu was taken aback for a moment, surprised by Gabimaru's raw honesty. "Well then, Gabimaru, let's see if your gut tells true; you might just be bored around me."
His gaze shifted to Omaru, who was busy brushing dust off his shoulder.
"Well, might as well get it over with," Omaru said, exhaling sharply. "Money. I need lots of taels. I saw that your group only had a few people, and I figured the rewards would be split more evenly that way. Plus... I don't like Mai. He feels shifty."
"Mmmm, he sensed danger from Mai; that's some good intuition." Yorimitsu thought.
"Hahahaha!" Gabimaru's laughter boomed through the rice grass. "You're something else! Risking your life for silver?"
Omaru's face flushed a deep pink. "It's easy for you to fight for your whims because you come from a good family! You don't know what it's like to spend days with nothing to sustain you but maggots"
Gabimaru's laughter died down, replaced by a look of sober understanding. "Mmm... you're right, friend. Forgive me."
The attention of the group shifted to Okotsu, who stood like a statue.
"He won't be saying anything," Watanabe spoke up, his voice low. "It's better we move on to Wabonoske. Okotsu... he can't speak."
"Ha? That's strange," Yorimitsu muttered.
"He used to serve as an in-house guard for a noble in the West," Watanabe explained, his eyes fixed on the path. "I hear they have a culture of cutting off servants' tongues, so they don't spill secrets when they go outside. I imagine they did it when he was about five years old."
A heavy silence fell over the squad. Yorimitsu walked toward the man and took his hand. He placed two fingers against Okotsu's palm.
Okotsu's expression changed almost instantly. A broad, genuine smile stretched over his face.
"What's this? I've never seen him smile before," Gabimaru's voice boomed again, filled with wonder. "What did you do to him, Taisho?"
"Oh, nothing much," Yorimitsu replied, though his eyes remained serious. "Let's just say we understand each other now. Now... tell me, Wabonoske."
Yorimitsu was facing him now. The boy's gaze was shifty, his eyes darting to the side as if looking for an escape route that didn't exist.
"You're the last one," Yorimitsu said, his voice dropping to a calm, encouraging tone. "Why are you here, and what is your goal?"
Wabonoske's hands trembled slightly beneath his oversized sleeves. He looked at the vast greenery of the outskirts, then back at Yorimitsu's shadow.
"I… I have no goal. I just want to experience the world," Wabonoske spoke, his voice cracking under the weight of the collective gaze.
"Haa... so he is just some wimp," Yorimitsu thought, watching the boy's trembling hands. "I thought being a Taira, he was here to spy on me, but it doesn't seem so. Well, whatever..."
Aloud, Yorimitsu offered a small, dismissive nod. "Oh well, it's okay if you don't have a goal. Most people usually don't." He then turned his attention to the two servant boys pulling the palanquins, asking them the same question.
Unsurprisingly, their response was a synchronised, hollow echo: "We have no desire, Taisho. Only to serve."
…
"Yeah... we just met," Yorimitsu mused. "I'm sure as time goes on, they'll relax. Or maybe they're just waiting for me to fail."
"Let's continue," Yorimitsu commanded.
"Wait! Why didn't you ask Watanabe?" Gabimaru interjected, his eyes dancing with mischief.
"Tch. Why does it matter if he didn't ask me?" Watanabe snapped, his tone sharp as a whetted blade. "I don't have a goal anyway."
"Ha... what's with that tone of yours?" Gabimaru's voice rose, his feet shifting into a combat stance as he drifted toward the second-in-command.
"Gabimaru-san, I wouldn't recommend that right now," Yorimitsu's voice cut through the air "I know you're just trying to provoke him into a fight, but you'll get your spar later. Daylight is fading."
The playful but dangerous Reiryoku flaring around Gabimaru suddenly settled. "Ha... you saw through me, eh Tiasho? Well, yeah, I hear your point."
As the squad resumed their march, the greenery grew denser, the shadows of the tall cedars stretching out like grasping fingers.
"Tch... what have I gotten myself into? None of these people are normal," Yorimitsu thought to himself. But his internal complaint was cut short by a cold, familiar vibration in his skull.
"Master... I found an abandoned temple a few paces from here."
"Ohhh... good job, Inoue," Yorimitsu responded mentally.
He raised a hand to signal the squad.
"I have found the place where we will be camping tonight," Yorimitsu announced.
The squad exchanged sharp, confused looks. They were deep in the wilderness now; the rice paddies had vanished, replaced by a towering forest of bamboo.
Thick vines draped from the green stalks like hanging nooses. A narrow, cracked stone path led them deeper into the shadows. Yorimitsu walked at the vanguard, while the palanquins were bracketed in the centre, guarded on the flanks and rear by the rest of the unit.
"What is this place...?" Omaru whispered. His eyes lingered on half-broken stone statues lining the path, monstrous figures of wolf-men wearing prayer beads, their snarling faces eroded by moss and time.
"Taiboshu no Okami Shrine," Yorimitsu replied, his voice flat and unbothered.
As the last sliver of the sun dipped below the horizon, the shrine came into view. It was a skeletal structure, strangled by vines and rotting wood, clearly abandoned for decades.
"Okami... where have I heard that name before?" Omaru muttered, tapping his temple. His eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh! Right! This is the place where the temple master slaughtered all of his disciples. He claimed they had all turned into demons in a single night."
"What... Taisho…?" Wabonoske's voice cracked, his face turning ashen in the twilight. "We should go back. If that's true, then this place is cursed..."
"No," Yorimitsu's voice echoed against the rotted wood of the gate. "There is nowhere else to go. You know as well as I do that it isn't safe to be out in the open at night, not here."
"Stop being a wimp, Taira boy," Gabimaru chimed in, though his hand remained firmly on the hilt of his blade. "We have the talismans the priest gave us. We can use them to ward the perimeter."
THUD.
The palanquins came to a heavy halt as the group reached the main entrance of the shrine. The massive wooden doors stood before them, scarred by deep claw marks that had never been repaired.
"I don't know why, but I am feeling a little uneasy." Yorimitsu thought to himself.