Chapter 50: Head north

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Head north

Returning to the deep underground cave, Kirito immediately summoned his trusted trio: Mimi, Akai, and Haruto. The three quickly arrived, kneeling down flat on the cold stone floor and respectfully awaiting orders.

"Did you call for us, my lord?" Akai asked.

Kirito nodded slightly, leisurely lifting a cup of hot tea to take a sip before stating in a low voice:

"Coming up, I will not leave my room in order to focus on deeply researching supreme martial arts techniques. During this period, absolutely no one is permitted to come and disturb me."

"As for provisions and daily life, I have fully prepared everything myself so you don’t need to bring anything in. The sole task of the three of you is to tighten discipline in my place, manage all the kids properly, and allow no mistakes whatsoever."

Mimi, Akai, and Haruto shouted in unison, with resolute morale: "Understood! We strictly obey your orders!"

With instructions finished, Kirito turned around and walked straight to his private bedroom, locking all doors tightly to ensure absolute privacy. Here, he took out a straw dummy pre-set on the workbench. The dummy’s head was skillfully hollowed out to comfortably fit the colorful parrot crawling inside.

The mischievous parrot hopped energetically onto the top of the straw dummy’s head, tilting its head and chirping: "Hey, after completing this mission can I get a long-term break, huh?"

The corners of Kirito’s eyes twitched repeatedly at this animal’s cunning. Without hesitation, he raised his hand to gently yank one of its wing feathers as a warning:

"Hmph, who allowed you to open your beak and ask for a break, huh? This is only the second time you have to help me. Last time I paid you extremely fairly, and even went out of my way to catch a female parrot to keep you company, didn’t I?"

The parrot squawked in protest a few times but completely dared not talk back to its master.

Afterward, Kirito carefully instructed and communicated a series of hypothetical scenarios for the parrot to grasp how to behave when necessary. He was completely confident in its capability, because during previous free time, he had even taught this parrot English and it picked things up extremely quickly. It’s just that the bird’s foot structure made writing too ugly and its vocal apparatus wasn’t entirely accurate like a human’s, that’s all.

All preparations completed, Kirito quickly packed his luggage and left the cave via the secret passageway.

His next goal was exceedingly clear. Kirito would journey straight North—where the fierce struggle for the legendary martial arts manuals of two legendary Shinobi and Samurai masters was boiling.

Currently, the political situation was dominated by two great generals, Sunny and Yama, engaged in fierce combat, but the true focal point still lay with Queen Mika—an extremely dangerous and scheming character. To plunge into the power struggle among the five major factions, they were forced to eliminate Mika first.

To conceal his whereabouts, Kirito completely changed his dressing style, donning the elegant, luxurious attire of a young intellectual. To wealthy upper classes, the money spent on this attire was nothing, but to the poor it was a great fortune.

Embodying an elegant book-reading scholar, Kirito leisurely rode his horse toward the distant North.

After ten consecutive days of traveling through treacherous mountain paths...

Kirito crossed a large river via an ancient, deserted wooden bridge with few passersby.

The dazzling sunlight shone straight down, causing Kirito to instinctively narrow his eyes to observe the surrounding terrain.

When he looked up at the sky, he was startled to see flocks of large vultures circling high above—clear signs of lands flooded with corpses and death.

The deeper he ventured inside, the more tragic the scene became as human skeletons began to appear scattered along both sides of the road.

"It seems the clashes in this border region are truly brutal and bloody. Just for the sake of fighting over two legendary martial arts styles, are generations willing to slaughter each other to this extent?" Kirito muttered.

He opened the detailed map to inspect. It clearly marked the controlled territory of the four major clans. These were forces located at the edges of the territory, governing remote wasteland areas that the central court found very difficult to control.

"These clans are eyeing the annexation of the martial arts manuals, I’m forced to choose temporarily joining a clan as a stepping stone. Operating completely alone will bring a lot of trouble."

"Even though my strength can handle a group of people, the sophisticated trap system inside the ancient mausoleum definitely requires someone to pioneer and clear the path."

"I have only a single life, absolutely cannot use my own body as cannon fodder for that pile of traps."

Right at that moment, the sound of urgent horse hooves echoed from afar. A group of local clan plunderers wearing primitive armor, gripping large swords aggressively, galloped straight over to block the path.

"Hey you! Which clan do you belong to, daring to walk swaggeringly in this land? Speak up fast!" The leader stared wide-eyed and shouted.

Kirito maintained his calm attitude, leisurely dismounting from his horse, intentionally creating the weak demeanor of a scholar reading many books of wise sages.

"I am merely a curious traveler, having heard of the two ancient martial arts styles so I wanted to come here to broaden my horizons." Kirito answered composedly.

"Intending to find a clan to ask for help, unexpectedly running into you fellows here. I wonder if expressing my desire to join your clan would be accepted?"

Hearing this, the leader let out a sneering laugh, his gaze full of contempt: "Who knows which clan’s spy you were sent by to scout? Beat you up once and squeeze the info out and we’ll know right away!"

The bandits behind cheered with delight, collectively waving their weapons and rushing straight forward to hack and slash.

Kirito sighed softly, extremely annoyed in his heart by the ignorance and arrogance of this group.

For the sake of the mission to conceal his identity, he absolutely could not reveal the signature assassination skills of a true Shinobi. Therefore, Kirito decided to use the Katana following the traditional swordsmanship style of a Samurai or a sword-wielding warrior.

However, a ninja’s transcendent speed and reflex foundation remained intact.

In just a split second, Kirito gracefully dodged all incoming sword slashing attacks, quickly drawing the Katana at his hip and executing fatal strikes.

In less than a minute, over ten bandits had collapsed to the ground, fresh blood spurting torrentially.

The leader who had just been aggressive moments ago now had a face drained of color, panicking as he stepped backward, stammering and pleading: "Spare my life... please spare my life..."

"Now... you can completely join our clan at any time..."

Kirito coldly shrugged, shaking his head in boredom:

"What I despise the most is the type of person who opens their mouth arrogantly while pleading cowardly. Looks like your clan is nothing more than a bunch of trash."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kirito swung a sharp sword slash, lopping the leader’s head off into mid-air.

He sheathed his sword, sighing desolately as he looked around. The surroundings were deserted without a soul; if he continued staying here like this, he would very quickly be targeted by other major clans for elimination.

"Looks like the most logical direction right now is to find the Hasin clan to scout the situation."

Kirito mounted his horse, continuing to move according to the exact coordinates on the map.

Three days later, overcoming treacherous mountain ranges, Kirito finally approached the vicinity of the Hasin clan’s large-scale stronghold.

As he entered the field of view, from the fortified city walls, a barrage of sharp arrows had been drawn and shot, embedding themselves right next to Kirito’s boot tips as a stern warning.

A guard standing high above shouted loudly: "Who dares approach the boundary of the Hasin clan’s city? State your identity!"

Kirito raised his head, shouting to cope: "I am a traveler from afar, carrying in my heart the aspiration to become a truly powerful Samurai. Having heard of the mighty Hasin clan, I want to come here to seek allegiance as a stronghold, hoping you will report this to the clan head!"

After a moment, the heavy city gates finally slowly opened.

Kirito led his horse inside the stronghold. However, along the way, the horse suddenly spotted some young grass patches on the roadside and acted stubbornly, standing still and refusing to move further.

Wanting to conceal his terrifying strength and maintain his muscle strength limit only at the level of a normal healthy person, Kirito encountered endless difficulties trying to drag the horse along.

The guards standing along both sides of the road saw a politely dressed intellectual struggling foolishly in a tug-of-war with a stubborn horse and couldn’t help but laugh derisively.

Growing extremely annoyed, Kirito dropped the reins, coldly ordering the guards: "Come over here, take this horse to the stable properly."

With that, he brushed his hands, striding proudly straight into the center of the stronghold.

Inside the city, all civilians incapable of fighting had been evacuated deep inside for protection, leaving only soldiers ready for the upcoming war. Therefore, walking along the streets revealed only figures in strict battle armor.

Hundreds of scrutinizing, curious gazes converged on Kirito, surprising him. He genuinely didn’t expect a clan in a remote region like Hasin to possess such a large and powerful military force.

"Previously I heard rumors that the four major clans here all have balanced strengths. If the Hasin clan is this strong, the remaining clans are certainly no pushovers either." Kirito assessed inwardly.

Right at that moment, a burly man stepped forward from ahead. Possessing a muscular physique with bulging muscles, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and pointed straight ahead, laughing heartily:

"Hey buddy? Just arrived from afar to join, huh?"

"If you want to stand your ground here, you’d better head out to the training ground over there to show off some actual skill and strength first, otherwise don’t blame people in the clan for looking down on newcomers." The man said nonchalantly.

Kirito smirked slightly, fully understanding the underworld rules of these battlefield strongmen.