Mysterious Ways!

Yuusha Country Arc Chapter 3: Hiro Tatsumoto to the Rescue!

After Suzuki broke down the gate, he deactivates his Skywalk ability and lands on the floor. Since everyone was scattered about, Suzuki waited for them to catch up, and they would all move together. 

"We've really caused a scene!" commented Erika.

"We needed to strike first though. That was the plan?" said Suzuki.

"You're right, Suzuki. This was something that was bound to happen anyway." agreed Keiichineko. 

"Where to now, Erika-chan?" asked Hikari.

"To get to Kinginia, we need to go through a town called Silverguard. My brother is going to meet us there and will take us down a shortcut to get to the capital," revealed Erika.

After that, Suzuki and the others carried on the main path towards a town called Silverguard.

The path towards Silverguard was just full of fully grown dragon trees and sandy grounds. To top it all off, the sky was clear blue, and the sun was shining so bright. It was highly ironic that the day, in terms of weather, was so great, but the situation was terrible.

In total, it took around one hour to get from the gate to Silvergate. Despite the lack of real scenery, the wait paid off as they entered the vast town.

The town had a resemblance to Edo. The classic atheistic was everywhere with its wooden built houses and the tatami doors. There were stalls every two meters from each other, and in the middle of it all was a large circular ground that had a well too.   

As Suzuki and the others entered Silvergate, everyone's head turned towards them due to their Demon Presence. All the civilians grasped the sheathes of their swords just in case they attacked them unintentionally.  

"They've all got weapons?!" exclaimed Suzuki.

"I thought that would be a given?" replied Keiichineko sarcastically.

"They can't use them to fight though. The rule is, if an enemy strikes you first, you strike them back," explained Erika.

"We won't need to worry about them then." Hebi chimed in.

Just as they were running through the town, a massive amount of pressure came from someone above. Suzuki quickly looked behind him and saw that it was Yusuke.

"Yusuke the Gatekeeper is here! He must be hunting them demons down!" called one of the bystanders.

Yusuke skydived down towards Suzuki, with his blade coated in nothing but Heroria. Suzuki activated his Demonia and swung his blade against his. Lightening like flashes sparked off the blades and caused up a strong storm of wind too.

"You're a persistent guy!" jested Suzuki.

"Your insult sparked something inside of me. I couldn't let myself be compared to some DSA members," answered Yusuke.

"Oh? But I thought that there was a Yuusha Countrymen that works for the DSA?  Aren't you insulted one of your own with that comment?" teased Suzuki.

"Someone who works for a government establishment is nothing but a traitor. They have no place being here anymore. Just like the Tatsumoto family, you seem to be protecting." Yusuke pointed out.

Suzuki swiftly moved his blade away and forced his elbow into Yusuke's stomach. This manoeuvre took Yusuke back and knocked his concentration a bit. In all of this motion, Suzuki flipped the side of his blade to the non-sharp side and whacked him. Yusuke crashed into one of the fruit stalls to the side of him.

"Ah! I'm sorry, miss! It wasn't intentional!" apologized Suzuki as he went to help pick up the fruit.

The lady stepped away from Suzuki as he was picking up the apples and oranges. She couldn't understand the intentions of Suzuki's actions and thought that it was a ploy to lure her in. In all of her fear, she grabbed her unsheathed sword and smacked it on top of his head.

"She's dead!" panicked one of the other stall owners.

Suzuki just ignored the attack and carried on picking up the fruit off the floor and putting it back in the basket. 

The lady was half expecting Suzuki to come and attack her, but to her surprise, he was handing her back the basket of fruit.

"You're...You're not going to kill me?" asked the lady.

"Huh? Why would I do that?" wondered Suzuki.

"I...I just hit you! Any demon would kill someone like me just because of that." the lady fretted.

"Despite what this country thinks, there are good demons out there. We want to help and protect people from evil. Not kill an innocent person over a lapse of judgement." told Suzuki.

This took the lady by surprise as she wasn't expecting this type of response. Tears filled her eyes as she felt horrible for attacking Suzuki with only malice in her mind. She went to give him a helping hand, but Yusuke rose from the attack and was aiming for his neck.

"Watch out!" warned the lady.

Clash!

A tall and broad man stood in the way of Suzuki and Yusuke. He had bright red hair, just like Erika, and was quite muscular.

"Hiro-nii!!" called Erika.

"So, this is the lad that Erika has been banging on about. I like your style! Now let's get out of here!"

He shrugged Yusuke away from him and directed Suzuki and the others to the back alleys. They ran that way and left the temporary battlefield. Yusuke tried to follow them, but the fruit stall lady stood in the way.

"Please, Yusuke-sama! That demon is not a bad person!" begged the lady.

"You know the rules. Us guardians can't allow demons in our country." countered Yusuke.

And so, Yusuke followed the pressure of Suzuki.

Onwards to Kinginia!

*Thanks for reading this chapter of Mysterious Ways! If you enjoyed it, please leave a comment and a vote. Make sure to share this story too as we are trying to hit 1000 reads!

Authors Comment: That was a well-needed break! Unfortunately, I will need to go on an emergency break next week as I've got something really important on. I hope you all understand.