Chapter 786 The "Controlled" Soldiers



The people decided to bring the soldiers to the nearest shrine. Since the shogun's soldiers don't climb to the shrines, it is fine to bring them there and wait for them to wake up. Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, and Ran came with us to witness what is currently happening.

"Are you sure the method you just mentioned will work? We might even get in trouble because of what we have done," one of the villagers was shaking while still taking some glances at the soldiers on the ground.

"No worries. If these guys still act like they became violent again, then I will personally remove their memories of what happened before."

"You can remove memories?" some of the villagers couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. It might be a rare skill but I know it. Don't worry about it."

"Alright Bladeheart, we needed some explanation now that they are unconscious. What is going on and why did you say they are cured?"

"I opened their status and they were inflicted with a status of [Possession] and [Charmed]. These two status effects can change a person drastically and you can immediately tell that something is wrong with them. These guys have been under those two status effects. If those two are removed, they should be back to normal and their behavior prior to being under the influence of the statuses should have been restored as well."

"I remember that these statuses are pretty uncommon but I am sure that they do manipulate behaviors if someone has been inflicted by it. Depending on how severe it is, recovery can be very hard to be done if not done correctly. So how did you remove the statuses if they are hard to deal with?" Queen Tanya asked.

"It seems the statuses have not been inflicted that much as they are still in mild condition and removing them is still pretty much easily done by normal potions that can remove those specific statuses. However, if it has ascended to a stronger status, then it is no longer something that can be removed by just normal potions. Either you remove and make the one who caused the spell stop using it or kill the one who has been under the spell..."

"K-kill?" the villagers listening to my explanation went pale. To them, killing has never been an option in stopping the guards but in the past timeline when the incident escalated beyond what was currently happening, the guards were immediately treated as monsters, and defeating them is necessary. Also, they didn't recover from their status effects until the Shogun was defeated during the final battle. Only then have they returned to their senses but it's already too late as many of the soldiers have been killed for the sake of saving the innocent populace who are powerless against the rampaging soldiers.

As we continue our discussion about the situation of the soldiers, the said soldiers slowly awakened from their slumber. They clutch the places I smack them with which caused them to collapse. I made sure for it to be painful so it did leave a lasting pain for a bit on their bodies.

"Ugh... where am I? What's happening?" one of the soldiers started speaking and looking around. He then realized that there are a lot of villagers staring at them.

"What? Wait a minute, I was just in a meeting just a few moments ago... what is happening? Where the hell am I?" he was shaken when he realized he wasn't where he was during his last memory.

One of the calmer soldiers rub his eyes first before he assessed the situation.

"This place...isn't this the only shrine of Soyokaze City? How did we reach here? I still remember we should have been called by the shogun to listen to his speech then... urgh..." he started clutching his head when he tried to remember what happened.

There is one thing consistent in their words... the speech of the shogun during their assembly meeting that the shogun personally called. Trying to recall the incident gives them a massive headache. Even remembering the stuff that happened after the incident was a blur to them.

Because of their confusion, Ran decides to tell them the current situation, what happened to them, how long it has been like this, and how they were harassing villagers and causing trouble and riots. At first, they thought Ran was just doing an elaborate prank and conspired with a few people in the village to do so but when they saw that no one is even smiling or laughing at it, they have been into a jumble after the realization of the truth.

"Then all of the stuff we did..." the first guy to awaken finally realized things.

"Yep. It happened before you guys were apprehended and cured. We even have to strip all of you of your armor as the young man here suspects that the armor you people wear might be also part of the incident and you guys might return to your berserking behavior if the armor remains to be in your bodies," one of the people who helped me strip their armor off explained.

That's also when they realized their armor are gone. As for the weapon, same thing as the armor and we confiscated it for now. We don't want them to go on a rampage in case they haven't returned to their normal self.

All of the soldiers still can't believe what happened. After all, no one would believe that the situation they were in was actually what happened.

"Cut these people some slack. They have been under the confusion and bewilderment right now. It should be fine now that they have recovered. Allow them to rest for now."

"But we still don't trust them. What if they suddenly just jump at us while we are asleep? I don't want to die just because of these guys!" one of the people started complaining.

"Don't worry. We will just bring them into my inn. This young man here can keep watch on them as he was the one who apprehended them. I am with them as well so you people don't have to worry about safety. In case they started acting again, this guy here can just do what he did before and call it a day."

I nodded in agreement. I needed to ask them some questions privately later on so this arrangement is good for me. Because some of the questions are pretty sensitive, I needed it to be a private matter as well.

"Then that's fine by us. However, things won't just calm down after apprehending these soldiers. You all know that the other soldiers come in here as well therefore we need to take ourselves some preparation as well. Knowing that they are under the influence of something, then we will do our best to apprehend them as well though we hope that if they started appearing once more, you boy in the wolf mask will help us again."

"No worries. I will be coming to help now that we know something is up. We must make sure though that the situation remains a secret as this will be a big deal and this might also result in some of the soldiers coming here and attacking us due to how we attacked these guys. So please keep your mouths tight-lipped."

Everyone nodded and left. When the people left, all that was left in the shrine is just Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, Ran, the five soldiers, and I. The shrine is empty as well so no one has been there but now that the number of people has been reduced, I finally realized something.

I pulled out my gun and fired it off on the nearest tree. It was one quick fire that no one expected me to do as everyone got shocked by the gunshot sound. But what followed my gunshot sound is something falling from that tree and a few branches falls off.

Queen Tanya and Queen Tori immediately assumed a battle stance as the entity that fell from the tree immediately gives off killing intent.

"Ha!" Queen Tori swiped her finger and one of her shikigamis attacked the source of the noise and we heard her shikigami tearing to pieces.

"Looks like an enemy huh? Ran, stand back. Keep the unarmed men with you and don't stray far off with us," Queen Tanya gets her scythe ready and the men who saw it suddenly felt fear after seeing her wield the giant scythe.

"Show yourself, intruder or you will be dragged out from where you are hiding forcefully," I taunted.

I expected it to be nothing but soon realized that my taunt was effective enough to be able to lure out the one who fell. It was a man wearing the traditional samurai garb. However, he isn't human. He is emitting an inhuman aura for quite a while and his head is all black and the only feature you can recognize on his face is his pure white eyes and nothing else. He holds two katanas on both sides of his hip, which means this guy is a dual wielder.

"Get ready to fight. This f*cker will not go down so easily," as we assumed a battle stance, ready to fend off the mysterious samurai.