KAGE

Ten minutes later...

Tanaka Daichi was lying unconscious on the ground, his arms and legs bent at positions considered impossible for the human body, and his face completely disfigured.

The group stared at me, clearly afraid, but Kirisawa Yuna, the second-in-command, was still trying to maintain his brave composure.

However, his trembling hands holding a kunai as a deterrent against me betrayed him.

— Like I said earlier, I don’t care who you are or who your boss is. I could tell you to forget this matter, but since you are a group and you rely on your reputation, you will have to repay what happened. Otherwise, you will lose the respect of the people.

— But I’ll warn you now. If you try to take revenge, and I know you will, this will be the result.

I pointed at Tanaka Daichi lying unconscious on the ground.

— And as for your boss, it’s better that he is a powerful Shinobi. Because if he tries to attack me and lacks the strength, I won’t hesitate to remove this cancer from the world.

I walked away, and Hikari followed me silently, behaving like a gentle and virtuous wife.

After we had moved away from them...

— Stupid Ren, ugly Ren, who does he think his wife is? — I heard her mutter quietly with her face completely red.

— We aren’t even married yet, you idiot.

— Did you say something? — I asked, even though I had heard everything.

— N-no, I didn’t say anything. Keep walking, stupid Ren.

She answered without daring to look at me.

Looking at her black-dyed hair, beautiful violet eyes, and flushed face, I felt proud.

Childhood love truly is beautiful, especially when the girl is so cute and beautiful.

Something that rarely happened in my previous life.

At the very least, you had to either be rich or extremely handsome, but unfortunately, I possessed neither of those qualities.

When we were on our way back to the inn, we passed by a familiar gate, and what I saw shocked me.

Standing at the entrance was the grumpy old man, Akiyama Kensuke.

That alone wasn’t strange, but what truly shocked me was seeing my dear brother-in-law, Uzumaki Daichi, standing beside him.

How and when did this happen?

That was the question in my mind.

When I wanted to approach them, Hikari grabbed my hand.

— What do you want to do? — she questioned me.

— Go there and talk to them, obviously.

— After what happened yesterday, you actually have the courage to approach that old man? Let’s go home. It’s better to let Daichi handle this...

She grabbed my hand and dragged me back toward the inn.

I groaned in pain as I walked.

— What’s wrong? Does your hand hurt? — she asked worriedly while looking at my hand.

She pulled me away from the old man’s sight while repeatedly scolding me.

At the inn, in the main hall...

— Stupid Ren, stupid Ren, look what you did. You hurt your hands. Who told you to act like a barbarian and go around fighting everyone?

Hikari muttered quietly while performing a healing jutsu on my hands.

— W-who said I was your wife? You keep saying those things to everyone. You deserve a beating.

She continued speaking while crying.

Looking at that scene, once again I felt proud.

The world was better, despite how terrible it was.

But good things never last forever.

My beloved brother-in-law entered.

— Nee-chan and nii-chan, you’re here.

He walked toward us excitedly.

— How did it go with the old man? I saw that you managed to talk to him. Did he agree to make a carriage for us?

I asked with some expectation.

After all, we had already been here for two days and still had not found a solution to our transportation problem.

The plan was to stay here for at least three days, meaning according to our schedule we should leave tomorrow at the latest.

And now that I had problems with the Mukade group, I wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

— No, I couldn’t do it, but I believe that if I have more time, at least two more days, I can convince him to help us.

I didn’t like the answer, but two days was acceptable.

— What did you do to make that old man accept talking to you? Yesterday he was extremely resistant.

He looked confused by my question and seemed to think before answering.

— I don’t know. I was walking around when I saw him, and we talked. Somehow, I reminded him of the age his granddaughter was when she disappeared, so it was easy to talk to him. He may seem like a difficult person, but he has a good heart.

Hearing that, I did everything I could not to let my mouth drop open in shock.

This was obviously a protagonist’s route.

Even just going out to take a piss and finding an opportunity.

I was certain that if we were in an immortal cultivation world, all opportunities would fall into this kid’s hands.

Secret realms, legendary weapons, meeting powerful people like an old man by the roadside who he forms a small friendship with, only for that old man to reveal his true power during a crisis and save him.

And much more.

But thinking about it carefully, I am also a reincarnated person, with a special space and the protagonist position.

I am his brother-in-law and we grew up together. I practically raised him.

The powerful figure in his life is me.

Not to mention that my mother, his aunt, is a Jinchūriki, and he is the prince of a destroyed kingdom.

Damn.

He really is as much of a protagonist as me.

In the following days, the carriage situation was left in Daichi’s hands.

Every day he went to the old man’s house, and according to what we discovered, the old man wanted to pass down his legacy to someone, and Daichi was the perfect candidate.

Apparently, we would be staying here for a little longer.

The day after Daichi said he would accompany the old man, he brought us to him to apologize and formally introduce us.

With Hikari, he was polite and even kind.

But with me, he didn’t even bother hiding the disgust he felt toward me.

What a petty old man.

Obviously lacking the tolerance that elders should have toward the younger generation.

Since then, we agreed that only Hikari and Daichi would accompany him.

Before Hikari left, and every day she went to his house, I advised her to be careful with the old man.

Never drink water he gives you, and never drink his tea.

And when he tries to use kindness to take advantage of you, like hugging you under the excuse of loneliness and missing his children, come back here and tell me everything.

Don’t feel pity and tell me everything, because the path that follows will destroy your dignity.

She was shocked and suspicious, but accepted my warning.

Poor girl.

I’m from Earth, and I have watched far too many Japanese adult films, so I know how some old Japanese men think and how they treat innocent girls like Hikari.

Four days after Daichi started following the old man, both of them returned earlier than usual.

They said the old man wasn’t home and Daichi was worried.

After all, the old man rarely left his house, and he wasn’t even at the market.