My Gang of Swordsmen-Chapter 77 - 59: Kill Anthony and Elodie at Fujisawa Inn!
Gray-white lips of the dwarf... trembled even more violently after Shinno’s words fell.
Once again, he cast a pleading look at his companions sitting on both sides of the cave.
But a scene extremely similar to the previous one happened again.
Facing the dwarf’s pleading gaze once more, these people either turned a blind eye or remained indifferent.
The dwarf seemed to feel despair.
With the momentum as if he wanted to crush his teeth, he tried to straighten his upper body, exerted his arms, and pulled the short sword from the left side of his abdomen to the right side bit by bit.
At first, the dwarf managed to maintain composure, not letting out any screams.
But when the blade reached the position of his navel, he could no longer bear it, and let out a howl between human and ghost, with his upper body leaning forward again.
The rock ground beneath him was already stained with an eerie dark red from the blood flowing from his belly.
His body leaned forward again, his entire face plunged into the pool of blood gathered from his own body.
Sitting on both sides of the cave, some of the dwarf’s companions couldn’t bear to watch the misery any longer, hanging their heads and closing their eyes.
Some had indifferent expressions, silent.
Others... eagerly watched the now extremely painful dwarf, muttering, "Hmm... well cut... It would be perfect if no sound was made."
The dwarf, feeling unable to wield the sword anymore, had to turn his head once again, casting a pleading gaze at Shinno standing behind him.
He could no longer speak.
The intense pain and blurry consciousness allowed him to only produce meaningless howls and groans like "heh" and "ah" as soon as he opened his mouth.
The dwarf’s pleading gaze was like a moth flying into a raging fire.
Seeing Shinno’s unwavering indifferent gaze, the dwarf could only withdraw his eyes slowly, as if he had lost his soul.
"Heh... heh...! Heh heh...!"
The knife in the dwarf’s belly moved again.
And so... amid extreme pain, he finally succeeded in pulling the short sword to his right side abdomen...
Seeing the complete "one-cut" on the dwarf’s belly, Shinno nodded lightly, then drew the tachi from his waist.
The white blade flashed.
The dwarf’s head was chopped off by Shinno in one stroke.
What Shinno used was the most standard execution method: Hugging the Head.
There are regulations for executing someone too; you can’t chop off the seppuku performer’s entire head but must enter the knife from the back of the neck, only severing the throat’s skin so that the head is left connected.
This beheading method will make the seppuku performer’s head, only connected by a piece of skin, fall into their arms, hence the name: Hugging the Head.
One chop shouldn’t take the seppuku performer’s entire head off cleanly—just leaving a piece of skin connecting it requires superb swordsmanship to perfectly achieve "Hugging the Head."
Therefore, not just anyone can be the executioner.
The cave completely quieted down with Shinno’s hand raising the knife falling.
Shinno took out the pocket paper, wiped the blood beads on the sword’s blade, then looked up and said loudly to everyone present:
"I hope you all take Mr. Daqian as a warning!"
"Did we join the anti-foreigner cause just for fun?"
"We built this Anti-foreigner Group to kill all barbarians who set foot on this land and all traitors who helped them, resurrecting the spirit of the Samurai! Isn’t that so?!"
"I hope from now on, no one will appear who doesn’t follow Bushido."
Having said that, Shinno put the sword back into its sheath.
"...Mr. Kamino." At this moment, a hideous-looking middle-aged man sitting beside Shinno asked in a deep voice, "The third assassination attempt on Tachibana Aoto failed... What should we do next?"
Shinno pondered for a moment:
"...For now, let’s not concern ourselves with that Tachibana Aoto."
"Let this shameless traitor serving the Americans be free for a while longer."
"For now... let’s continue with the original plan."
A burst of cold gleams erupted from Shinno’s eyes.
"The main troops continue towards Fujisawa Inn to intercept Anthony de Angoulême and his granddaughter Elodie de Angoulême!"
Shinno turned his head to look at a heavily built man sitting not far from him, though only 1.5 meters tall.
"Mr. Mogami, I entrust this battle to you."
"We have encountered a rare opportunity where barbarians are isolated; we must take the heads of these two!"
"Yes!" Mogami’s loud voice shook dust from the cave ceiling, "Mr. Kamino, please count on me for this battle!"
At this moment, a weak voice emerged from behind Shinno:
"Um... Mr. Kamino, are we really... going to kill Anthony de Angoulême and Elodie de Angoulême?"
Upon hearing this question, Shinno paused a bit, then frowned and looked back at the voice.
The questioner was a young man who didn’t seem even 20 years old.
Shinno’s gaze weighed heavily on the young man’s head like a giant rock, causing him to bow even lower involuntarily.
But the young man still summoned the courage to continue:
"Mr. Kamino... That Anthony... hasn’t done anything heinous in our country..."
"He buys Japanese specialties and resells them to Europe, just normally doing business with us..."
"As for Elodie... she’s just a 12-year-old child..."
"Are we really... going to kill this grandfather and granddaughter?"
"...Mr. Hirota, when did you start having such absurd thoughts?"
Phew...
A breeze blew into the cave at this moment, causing the oil lamp on the rock wall to sway slightly.
Shinno’s shadow also swayed and drifted due to the oil lamp flickering.
Shinno’s drifting and swaying shadow pressed like a mountain on Hirota.
Hirota, now sweating on his forehead, cheeks, and back, curled his body even tighter.
"They entered the country, set foot on the land—just this point alone is enough to tear them to pieces."
"Mr. Hirota, I don’t want to hear similar words again."
"Y-yes..."
Cutting Hirota a few more deep looks, Shinno finally withdrew his gaze.
"Mr. Mogami, how’s the deployment of the firearms?"
"Mr. Kamino, they’ve been sent to Fujisawa Inn in advance!"
"Mm, very good." Shinno’s mouth curved into a satisfied arc, "These firearms must be handled with care; they are precious goods I painstakingly bought from Rakshasa."
"Yes!"
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