The Seirei Gensouki Spirit Chronicles
Chapter 3

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That night, just as the villagers were having dinner, Gon and his followers were drinking in the cottage they had lent them. Scattered on the floor in front of them was their dinner, along with various preserved side dishes; all of them were tasteless, with no seasoning at all.

“Very boring here, boss. There is nothing interesting at all, like our village,” a small-bodied man said as he poured Gon drinks for him.

“Yeah, the operation starts tomorrow at midnight. We have to lay low until then, especially since we now have a good reason to stay inside.” Gon downed the poured alcohol with a grin.

“Ha. You're amazing, boss. By causing a commotion at the beginning and demeaning afterwards, those idiots would lower their guard. Absolutely evil,” the little guy sitting next to Gon said.

“Yeah, it's all so I can get on the road with Ruri, after all.”

“Ha ha! Ruri is indeed beautiful, but I think Shin's younger sister also looks very attractive. ”

“Listen listen! I see you guys are pretty hedonic, huh? Well, her face wasn't bad, and the fact that she was the little sister of that bastard made things even better. I guess she'll be second priority after Ruri.” Gon sincerely carved a perverted smile on his face.

(Tln: Hedonist is a view of life that assumes that people will be happy by seeking happiness as much as possible and avoiding painful feelings as much as possible)

“Let me feel it too, boss.”

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“Sure – if you're okay with the rest of my food.”

“Alright!” As soon as Gon gave his permission, his followers cheered vigorously.

All the men present were considered questionable in the village they came from. The group consisted of their second or lower son – who would never inherit their family business – who had banded together to follow the rhythm of their own drums. At the head of the group was their leader, Gon.

Gon is the son of their village chief, but like the others, he is the second son and has been raised as a backup since childhood. However, Gon was unable to sit still and accept his role as a secondary human like the others. Maybe because of his education, or maybe because he was still raised affectionately as the son of the village chief, but his personality developed into a clever and spoiled child when he grew up.

Gon's body was sturdy, he had considerable physical strength, and had a talent for spirit arts. Her skills are spirit arts for physical abilities and physical body enhancement – worst possible combinations. Ever since he was ten years old, no adult villager could oppose him, which led others to treat Gon as an outcast.

Now, he's eighteen. At some point along the way, Gon begins to gather a second son like him by his side, building up his own strength in the village. In recent times, his influence in the village had grown so strong that even the village chief could not touch him. Even when he caused trouble, it was hard to punish him.

Under normal circumstances, it was unlikely that a group of hooligans like Gon would be chosen for the trading forces that went to the capital; however, the villagers were unable to resist the demands of Gon's gang, which ultimately allows them to play a role in escorting goods. They didn't even notice what the gang was secretly planning behind them …

(Tln: Hooligans are disruptive or unlawful behaviors such as rioting, bullying, and vandalism.)

Recently, the villagers had tried to persuade Gon's gang to join the royal army, but Gon knew they were only trying to wisely drive them out of the village. Therefore, Gon devised a plan for them to give up on their own terms.

However, the world was not so easy to inhabit that they could spontaneously leave their village with nothing but their group. They need to secure their relocation goals first, along with food, clothing, and shelter.

It was then that Yuba village caught Gon's attention. If she becomes Ruri's husband, then she will become the legitimate village chief. Yuba Village was adjacent to Gon village, allowing them to interact quite often, so Gon knew that Ruri was the sole heir of Yuba. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that fell into his lap.Most importantly, Ruri's appearance was Gon to T type.

(Tln: I don't know what T is)

After all, it was clear that if he did his plan directly, Ruri would reject him. The fact that Gon decided to try a more subtle approach without hesitation shows just how strange he really is.

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“We went through all the trouble of crushing the train, too. Better take our time to fix it tomorrow.” Gon grinned happily at the thought of tomorrow night.

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The next morning arrived without incident, although the uninvited group had arrived the day before. So far, Gon and his gang have kept their word, avoiding contact with the villagers and focusing on repairing their horse carriages. Since that was the case, the villagers eliminated Gon from the forefront of their minds.

Although they had passed the peak of the harvest season, there was still a lot of work to be done by all the villagers; they had to start preparing a large amount of food to be preserved for the winter, he said, and the products must be prepared to be brought to the capital as well. Because of this, the villagers had been bustling and excited since morning. By noon, they had completely forgotten their vigilance towards Gon's group. As the sun slowly began to set, they closed their work for the day and went home.

Rio finished the work allocated to him rather early today as well, so he returned home in front of everyone else. Yuba was already at home, so the two of them decided to take a short break before making dinner. Then, just as the tea was being poured, someone knocked on the front door.

“Is Madam Yuba around?” they're calling.

“I'll see who it is.”

“Thank you.” Rio hurriedly stood up after urging Yuba to remain seated and move towards the front door. He opened the door to see Ume standing there.

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“Good night, Ume. Can I help you?”

“Rio. Sir Hayate has arrived, so I'm here to tell Mrs Yuba.” Ume must have rushed over, because she was a little out of breath.

“I've heard. I'll go see him soon – has he been in the warehouse?” Yuba asked.

“Ya, along with her subordinates. I already told him to make himself at home in the spare guest cabin.”

“So. Good work, Ume.” Yuba nodded, pleased. He changed into outdoor shoes on the ground floor and moved to leave the house, but stopped and returned to Rio.

“Ah, true too. Rio – sorry to ask this from you, but can you add another five to six servings for dinner tonight? We'll probably get some people to join us for dinner. I can call one of the village girls to help,” Yuba asks.

“I understand .. Leave it to me. Would it be better if the food was a little more luxurious? If so, I can go and hunt something now .. ”

“Ooh, can I hand it to you? That would be amazing – thanks. And you can go alone to the vegetable garden if you run out of material.” Yuba smiled cheerfully, thanking Rio for his willingness to help.

Then, with Rio dropping her off, she left at a quick pace, while Rio quickly cleared the tea set and went to the mountain to hunt. Since he was short on time, he decided to use spirit arts that he usually avoided while hunting.

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Rio kicked the ground at the foot of the mountain and rose into the air with his wind spirit art, arriving at the hunting ground in the blink of an eye. If the villagers witnessed that, their eyes would become as big as a plate, and their jaws would fall to the ground.

After seeing a Lenou bird flying in the air with its better eyesight, Rio approached it from above and decapitated it with a single swing of his sword. Capturing her body with her legs, she went to drain the blood while she floated in the air

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After finishing the initial train repair and dumping the rest on their subordinates and the villagers accompanying them, Gon's gang drinks in the cabin that has been lent to them before the sun even sets.

Suddenly, the cabin door opened. All the gazes in the room shifted to the door to see a boy in his teenage years standing there, gasping for breath.

“Hah huh..”.

“Oh, what's up? Has the carriage been repaired?” A drunkard, Gon asked solemnly.

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The boy is a subordinate to Gon's gang and is often used to run errands for them, as he is the youngest in the group. He had been assigned to watch over the villagers repairing the carriage and helping on behalf of Gon.

“Ah, boss! It's bad! Tax officer is here in the village!” The boy shouted, causing the people around Gon to move around noisily.

Tax officials are special government officials. They are sent by the capital during the harvest season to each village to collect taxes based on the number of crops harvested. It was an official position given only to the most trusted people in the kingdom, and those who took on that role were masters in the literary and military arts .

Calculations are needed to carry out crop inspections, and officers must have the power to protect taxes collected from various hazards on the road. But, most importantly, they should be the ones who will not abuse their privileges.

“...Certain?” Asked Gon in a calm voice. He seemed to be compounded that the atmosphere of their drinking party had been shattered.

“T-No, it's just, won't the tax man be staying at the village chief's place? Even we can't fight a royal official. Maybe we should postpone the boss's plan ..., ” the boy replied in a shrill voice.

“That's no problem,” replied Gon calmly and brought a cup filled with alcohol to his mouth. The other men exchanged looks.

“But, boss. The tax officer is rumored to be very strong, isn't he? There was once a man who suppressed an entire village rebellion by himself,” said one of the men hesitantly.

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“Oh? Do you think I'm weak?” Gon stared intently.

“No, of course not!” The man shook his head nervously.

“Again, we'll go after everyone sleeps. Since this is Old Lady Yuba we are talking about, there will probably be alcohol involved. Even if it was a tax officer, a soldier, or just a farmer, once they got drunk and slept, they would be powerless. ”

“Yeah, that's true .. I guess you're right.” Overpowered by Gon's feisty self-confidence, the men regained their composure.

“Very clear. It makes no difference to what we have done before. After our infiltration attempt made it through the night, Ruri would surrender and accept her fate. If he protests, we will only threaten him. Really, if we want to make sure it goes off without a hitch, we can just kidnap her and take her with us. That might make things easier, right?” Said Gon with a perverted smile. Led by his words, the other people laughed out loud.

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Rio rushed home after his hunt, but no one else had returned yet, so he decided to clear the scent of blood from his body first. The main dish tonight was Lenou; after washing and pondering the various combinations of dishes for the menu, Rio headed for the kitchen and finally began to work on the preparation of the ingredients. Not long after, a seductive aroma wafted in the living room.

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It was then that Yuba came home, accompanied by a group of men, Ruri, and sayo. The front entrance soon became more lively.

“Welcome home,” Rio called Yuba and the others from the kitchen, which is located on the right side of the clay floor.

“We're back. It smells very fragrant today.” Yuba smiled broadly at Rio, returning his greetings.

“Yes, it smells so good! What are you cooking, Rio? ”

“Let me help you, Mr Rio!” Ruri and Sayo rushed to the kitchen to help.

“Indeed, this is the wonderful aroma .. Mrs Yuba, has the boy always been a member of this village?” A young man asked, peering into the kitchen from the clay floor and looking at Rio as he spoke.

“It was Rio, the son of an old acquaintance of mine. He lives in our village now,” Yuba said. Rio left the stove for Ruri and Sayo for now as he ducked down onto the clay floor to greet their guests.

“Goodnight. My name is Rio – happy to meet you.”

“Halo. My name is Saga Hayate, and I'm the tax officer who visited this village. Behind me is my assistant. Nice to meet you.”

“Sama here.”

Rio and that guy named Hayate exchanged greetings. Apart from Hayate's rigid traits, he was a delightful young man with a refreshing aura about him. He had a beautiful one-eyed straight sword at his waist and wore clothes similar to those of a finely designed samurai.

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In terms of age, he seems to be several years more master than Rio. For the record, it is customary in the Yagumo region to name yourself from your family name first, making Saga his surname and Hayate his first name. Rio and Hayate bowed to each other, each examining the young man's center of gravity and posture. They secretly decided that the others were not ordinary people.

“Now, don't stand all day. Everyone, please come to the living room and sit down. Dinner will be ready soon.” Yuba stepped into the living room and urged Hayate's group to follow him.

“Thank you. We will be happy to accept your offer.” Hayate bowed deeply and took off his footwear before stepping into the living room.

“I'll be back in the kitchen for now. Sorry, Yuba. ”

“Ya, please do.” Yuba nodded at Rio as he returned to the kitchen. At the same time, Ruri walked out of the kitchen into the living room.

“This is it, everyone. Thank you for your hard work today.” Ruri smiled kindly as she poured tea for Hayate and the others.

“B-True. Thank you very much, Miss Ruri.” Hayate's stiff attitude from before completely changed as he thanked Ruri; he had a strange awkwardness to his movements. He did not even attempt to make eye contact with Ruri, seemingly feeling embarrassed. Rio watched, the change in Hayate shocked him.

“Ruri, you can stay here and accompany everyone,”

Splice...