There were eight people in the room - Shuntaro, Shintaro, and six jonin who were in leadership positions in Shiranui.
When proposing to select a new Flame Demon, Shintaro and four of the six jonin turned their eyes to Shuntaro - it was self-evident what they meant.
Shintaro even said that he wanted Shuntaro to be the 13th Enma.
Only two jonin didn't look at Shuntaro.
After Shintaro finished speaking, one of the two jonin who had not looked at Shuntaro just now said in a deep voice:
"Although it is true that someone should be chosen to succeed the Fire Demon."
"But isn't it too hasty to elect the successor to the Flame Demon now?"
"Not in a hurry." A jonin replied, "We in Shiranui are not the shogunate. The 'inheritance' of the Flame Demon does not have so many troublesome rules."
"The previous Enma passed away on the same day, and then a suitable ninja was brought in to take the title of Enma on the same day. This has happened countless times in the history of our Shiranui."
"...Well, if you want to elect a new Flame Demon right away, then I don't mind." The ninja who had questioned the haste to elect a new Flame Demon glanced at Shuntaro, "But forgive me for being frank, I do not agree with letting Shuntaro-sama succeed the Flame Demon."
"I believe that Master Shintaro is the most suitable person to succeed the Flame Demon."
"...I also don't agree with letting Lord Shuntaro take over the position of the Flame Demon." The other one of the two jonin who had not looked at Shuntaro just now finally expressed his opinion, "But I think the most suitable person to take over the position of the Flame Demon is none other than Lord Gokutaro."
"Speaking of Lord Gokutaro..." A jonin looked around, "Why hasn't Lord Gokutaro come back yet?"
"We have sent someone to look for Lord Gokutaro." Another jonin said, "Maybe Lord Gokutaro will be back in a while."
In order to avoid causing Shuntaro's dissatisfaction, few people knew that Gokutaro's mission tonight was to go to Yoshiwara to kill people.
Many people, including Shuntaro, only know that Gokutaro has a mission tonight, but they don't know the specific details of the mission.
"I am the least suitable person to succeed the Flame Demon." Shintaro shook his head, "I am not good at commanding others, and my popularity and strength are not enough to convince others."
"Shuntaro is the one with the highest popularity and the most suitable person to succeed the Flame Demon."
The jonin who had just nominated Shintaro to take on the title of Flame Demon did not buy into what Shintaro had just said.
"Shintaro-sama, please don't be modest!"
"Your wisdom is unmatched in the entire Shiranui world."
"We need your wisdom."
"Even if I don't take on the name of Flame Demon, I can still continue to contribute my wisdom to Shiranui," Shintaro said calmly.
"I think that Gikutaro-sama is the most suitable person to succeed the Flame Demon." The jonin who supported Gikutaro just now spoke again, "Gokutaro-sama is a rough but meticulous person, and he is also highly respected among the middle and lower ninjas."
…
Shintaro and others engaged in a fierce verbal battle over the issue of "who will succeed the 13th generation Flame Demon".
Everyone put forward their own proposition.
The two jonin who supported Shintaro and Gokutaro respectively were quite eloquent.
Even though they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, they never gave up and argued their case.
Listening to these people's discussions, Shuntaro felt his head getting more and more swollen.
The series of abnormal changes that happened tonight had already caused Shintaro's brain to ache and swell due to "overload".
Now, listening to Shintaro and the others' endless discussion about the attack on the Enma, Shuntaro felt his head hurt more and more, and he couldn't even think carefully...
"Stop arguing."
Shuntaro said in a tone that was neither light nor heavy.
Obviously, the volume of this sentence was not loud, and the tone was not very powerful.
But after Shuntaro said this, Shintaro and others immediately shut up.
Then he turned to look at Shuntaro .
"There's no need to rush to select a new Fire Demon."
Shuntaro said calmly.
"A lot of things happened tonight. I think many people here must be as confused as I am now."
"In this messy state of mind, nothing can be thought of or discussed."
"Everyone please disperse now."
"Go down and rest first."
"It's not too late to discuss the suitable candidate for the new Fire Demon later."
Shuntaro's words caused many people present to ponder.
"...Shuntaro-sama is right." Shintaro said softly, "My mind is really confused right now... I can't think properly at all. Let's just do as Shuntaro-sama said and disperse and take a rest."
"Yeah...I agree."
"agree……"
After this jonin expressed his opinion, the others also expressed their agreement with Shuntaro's proposal of 'adjournment'.
…
…
Edo, Yoshiwara——
"Master Shirobei." Keiemon, whose face and clothes were covered in black and white spots from the thick smoke, reported to Shirobei, "We have successfully isolated the flames."
"Hmm..." Shirobei's tired face finally showed a faint smile, "Very good. But don't be careless. Don't let your guard down until the flames are completely extinguished."
Keiemon: “Yes!”
"Keiemon, now that the flames have been isolated, you don't need to tear down the house anymore, right?"
"Yes! It's no longer necessary!"
"Then come and help me. There are still a lot of newly dismantled wood waiting to be sorted out. Let's move these woods out together."
"yes!"
Shirobei is now at the forefront of the firefighting.
Coincidentally, Shirobei was very busy tonight and had been working in the Shirobei Club until late at night.
Considering that it was late at night, Shirobei decided to stay overnight in the club.
Because it was too late or he was too lazy to walk home, he would just rest for a night in his office - Shirobei often did this.
Before the sudden fire, Shirobei was sleeping soundly in the clubhouse.
Upon learning that a fire had broken out in the western part of Yoshiwara and that the fire was showing signs of getting out of control, Shirobei was so frightened that he lost all desire to sleep.
He quickly ordered the club officials who were still on duty to rush to the fire site as quickly as possible, and he himself rushed to the front line of the fire fighting.
Shirobei didn't even have time to put on his clothes, and rushed to the fire scene wearing only a yukata for sleeping.
After Shirobei led all the officials on duty at the club to the fire site, the first batch of town firefighters also arrived in Yoshiwara.
The officers of the town fire department were professional firefighters. They determined at a glance that the fire had spread and could no longer be extinguished by manpower. They had to move all the flammable materials nearby and wait for the fire to go out naturally.
This is the most commonly used and only effective fire-fighting method in this era when facing large-scale fires.
Due to the limited level of technology, people of this era did not have any very powerful fire-fighting equipment.
If the fire is small, you can use buckets and some simple watering devices to put out the fire.
But if the fire gets bigger, there is no other way except to remove the flammable materials around the fire scene, create an isolation zone, and let the flames go out naturally.
The most flammable objects are naturally the houses made of wood and paper.
Therefore, once a larger fire occurs, the scene you see at the fire scene is not the town fire and fire officials using buckets of water and other equipment to put out the fire.
Instead, the town firefighters came with sledgehammers and wheelbarrows, and destroyed and demolished all the houses that had not been burned by the flames.
After determining that the fire could no longer be extinguished by human power, the town firefighters who rushed to Yoshiwara immediately took out sledgehammers and ran towards the houses around the fire scene with great momentum.
The club officials, led by Shirobei, naturally followed this group of professional "house demolishers" to demolish the house.
Some strong and brave civilians also spontaneously joined the ranks of extinguishing the fire and demolishing houses.
Shirobei is not young anymore, but he can't even swing such a big hammer three times.
So after Shirobei arrived at the front line of the firefighting, he only did the relatively simple task of moving the smashed wood onto a cart.
In fact, it doesn't matter if Shirobei does nothing.
As the highest superior of the Shirobei Club, as long as he stands at the forefront of the firefighting, he can greatly boost the morale of the club's officials.
Although the houses around the fire scene had been successfully demolished and the flames had been isolated, there were still many newly demolished house fragments on the ground that needed to be dealt with urgently.
So some of the people who were in charge of demolishing the house and still had some strength left became "cleaners".
Others who were exhausted found a place to rest and recover their strength.
Just as Shirobei and Keiemon were working together to move a huge wooden pillar onto the small cart next to them, a middle-aged man with a big belly ran towards Shirobei with a grunt.
"Master Shirobei! I finally found you!"
Shirobei knew this middle-aged man with a big belly.
He is the owner of Jianmeiwu.
"What's wrong?" Shirobei asked, "Why are you so flustered?"
"Lord Shirobei! Something bad has happened!"
After seeing the Umeya boss looking around, he put his lips close to Shirobei's ear and whispered in a low voice with an anxious look on his face:
"Fuu Ling Taifu is missing...!"
"Gone?" Shirobei's eyes widened. "What happened? What happened? Tell me quickly."
The disappearance of any prostitute is an extremely serious matter for the Shirobei Society, which is responsible for managing Yoshiwara.
This is the case for ordinary prostitutes, let alone a missing oiran.
When Shirobei heard the words "Furin-tayu is missing" from Miumeya's mouth, his heartbeat immediately quickened due to nervousness and shock.
"After learning of the fire, we immediately woke up all the girls in the Meiwu House and asked them to leave the house as soon as possible."
The owner of Meiwu had a sad face and looked like he might cry at any time.
"I personally brought people to the outside of the Taifu's room to wake her up, but no matter how I called her, she didn't respond."
"After realizing something was wrong, I led people into the Taifu's room."
"After entering the room, I found that no one was in the room and the wife was nowhere to be seen."
"I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find the wife."
"No matter who you ask, everyone says they haven't seen the lady."
"I asked the bald lady of the house to check the room and found that the clothes that the lady used to receive guests and several head ornaments were missing."
The more Shirobei listened, the darker his face became.
Tonight, first there was a fire in Yoshiwara, and then Furin-tayu disappeared.
Even Shirobei, a "battle-hardened" man, couldn't help but feel a strong sense of fatigue.
"...Tonight is really not peaceful..." Shirobei frowned and let out a long and tired sigh.
"Master Shirobei." Seeing the anxious sweat on the face of the owner of the Umeya, "I suspect that the wife may have been kidnapped. Let's quickly organize people to find the wife."
"...Yes. Keiemon." Shirobei turned to look at Keiemon beside him, "You go to the magistrate's office to report to the authorities. I'll take people to Umeya to check out the situation."
"Yes!" After nodding vigorously, Keiichiro dropped the broken wooden pillar in his hand and ran towards the direction of the Yoshiwara Gate.
…
…
Edo, Shiranui, Shuntaro's residence——
After striding back to his residence, Shuntaro did not light a lamp, change his clothes, or take off the sword on his back.
After returning to the residence, I lay down directly on the tatami, facing the ceiling.
There was only the faint sound of insects around, which made Shuntaro feel very comfortable.
Just now, Shintaro and the others were having such a chaotic and heated discussion that Shuntaro couldn't even calm down and think.
Now that he was in a quiet environment, Shuntaro felt his brain gradually relax.
The tangled ball of wool in my mind was straightened out one by one, forming clear parallel lines.
Shuntaro prioritized the series of events that happened tonight.
The most urgent and pressing thing to do is naturally to find out who killed the Flame Demon.
The biggest suspect at the moment is undoubtedly the Iga ninja who suddenly disappeared.
But Shuntaro did not foolishly conclude that it was the Iga ninjas who killed Enma.
There are simply too many people who have sufficient motivation to kill the Fire Demon.
It is possible that he is an ordinary ninja in the village who has always been resentful of Enma for some reason.
It is possible that a shogunate official who was displeased with Shiranui hired someone to kill.
At the same time...it could also be someone from the "Four Heavenly Kings".
Once the Flame Demon dies, the next Flame Demon will definitely be chosen from among the "Four Heavenly Kings".
So from the perspective of motivation, Shuntaro, Gokutaro, and Shintaro are the three people who are most motivated to poison and kill Enma - especially Shuntaro, who has the greatest hope of succeeding Enma.
However, no one in the village would dare to say openly that "the 'Four Heavenly Kings' might also be the murderer who poisoned the Flame Demon."
The "Four Heavenly Kings" are the highest leadership in the village after the Flame Demon. Anyone with a bit of common sense would not dare to openly suspect that the "Four Heavenly Kings" killed the Flame Demon.
Shuntaro guessed: There must be many people in the village who suspect that Enma's death is related to one of their "Four Heavenly Kings", but they dare not say it openly and can only discuss it in private.
If we rank the people who have sufficient motivation to kill Enma, we can find that the Iga ninjas led by Hannosuke have the least motivation to kill Enma.
"This is such a hassle..." Shuntaro muttered as he slowly sat up from the tatami.
Shuntaro felt for the first time in a long time that the night could be so long...
…
…
Edo, somewhere——
Fuujiya felt a sound coming from far away.
"As expected of the oiran of Yoshiwara, she is so beautiful."
A voice came from far away.
"This is the first time I've seen such a beautiful woman."
The sound is getting closer.
"Tsk tsk tsk... your skin is so delicate."
I felt consciousness and strength gradually welling up.
"Sir Sennosuke, please let us touch this oiran. We will just touch her hand, and nothing else."
The dark world was filled with white light.
“…Hmm?” Fuu Ling Taifu slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Fuu Ling Taifu saw four young men standing in front of her.
The four young men were all wearing strange black clothes.
After taking a glance at the four young men in black standing in front of her, Fuu Ling Taifu began to look around.
It was a small room without any furniture.
There was only tatami on the floor and a single window on the wall that was too narrow for anyone to pass through.
There was only one candle in the room emitting candlelight, making the view inside the room rather dim.
The lady looked down and saw that her hands were tied behind her back and her ankles were tied tightly together with hemp rope.
She was tied tightly with hemp ropes and laid horizontally on the tatami, unable to move.
After Taifu woke up, the four young men in black standing in front of him also noticed that he had awakened.
"Taifu." One of the four men in black, a young man with three teardrop moles under his left eye, walked slowly to the front of Fengling Taifu, then knelt on one knee, trying to make his vision level with Taifu, "You are awake."
"Who are you?" The lady took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and then questioned the "young man with tear mole" in a deep voice.
When questioning this "tear mole youth", the memories before the coma gradually emerged in Taifu's mind...
…
…
When the gates of Yoshiwara were just closed——
Edo, Yoshiwara, Miumeya, Furin-tayu's room.
When no customers called her, Furin Taifu usually fell asleep when the gates of Yoshiwara were closed.
After falling asleep for an unknown period of time, the lady suddenly heard a faint noise.
Fuujitatei is the kind of person who is easily woken up.
If it were someone else, they might not even be able to hear the noise, but not Fuujiya.
Awakened by the noise, the lady opened her eyes, got up from the quilt, walked to the window, opened it and looked out.
On the Nakanomachi Avenue outside the Ume-ya, many people were seen running hurriedly towards the Yoshiwara Gate, with their families and holding large cloth bags.
Some people just run.
But some people did not forget to shout loudly to the people around them while running:
"It's on fire! It's on fire! Everybody wake up!"
—On fire?!
A look of surprise appeared on the lady's face.
As if it was a conditioned reflex, the lady hurriedly closed the window, prepared to change into convenient clothes, and then escape like the people outside the house.
However, just as the lady closed the window, she heard a low, strange sound coming from the ceiling not far away.
Before the lady even had time to look up at the ceiling above her head, the ceiling not far away suddenly fell down.
Two figures jumped down from the ceiling through the hole created by the falling ceiling.
As soon as the two figures landed on the tatami, they rushed towards the Taifu.
One person quickly controlled the woman.
The other one struck the Taifu's neck with a special technique.
Not to mention seeing the faces of the two figures clearly, Fuujiya didn't even have the chance to scream before she was knocked unconscious...
…
…
The lady didn't know that after she was knocked unconscious by the two men, they worked together to carry her to the top of the ceiling.
Before leaving, one of them took the clothes of the lady of the house hanging on the wall next to him.
This dress is a formal attire that a lady-in-waiting would only wear when entertaining guests.
Because it was made of the highest-quality fabrics and was tailor-made for a tayu, it was extremely expensive, and there was only one such set of clothes in all of Edo.
After carrying the lady and her clothes to the top of the ceiling, the two of them did not forget to put back the ceiling that they had kicked off in order to jump down from the ceiling.
They had just left when they saw the owner of the Umeya hurriedly coming to the outside of the tyrant's room, telling the tyrant that there was a fire and asking him to escape quickly.
After not hearing the response from the lady for a long time, the host opened the door and saw an empty room...
…
…
Time goes back to the present——
After the Taifu cast a vigilant gaze at the "tear mole youth" with three tear moles under the left corner of his eye, the "tear mole youth" hurriedly said:
"Taifu, please be patient. Our purpose is not to take your life. We will never do anything to you, please rest assured. I hope you can cooperate with us."
As soon as the "tear-mole youth" finished speaking, another youth standing behind him said in a slightly dissatisfied tone:
"Sennosuke, please let us touch the Taifu's hand. It's a rare opportunity to meet such a beautiful woman. If we do nothing, wouldn't it be a pity?"
As soon as this person finished speaking, he was immediately echoed by the other two people.
"Yes, yes, Sennosuke, please let us touch Taifu's hand."
"We will just touch the Taifu's hand and not do anything else."
The "young man with tear mole" - the young man called "Sennosuke" by these three people, turned his head and glared at the three people behind him.
"Shut up!"
"Do you still have any dignity as a man?"
"As a man, kidnapping a woman is shameless enough."
"If you still touch me, you will have no dignity left!"
Sennosuke's status seems to be above these three people.
After being scolded by Sennosuke, the three of them all shut their mouths and stopped talking.
After the young man named Sennosuke severely reprimanded the three people behind him, Taifu stared at Sennosuke and asked again the question that had not been answered directly before:
"Who are you?"
"…Taifu, I'm sorry." Sennosuke turned his gaze back to Taifu with a hint of apology in his eyes, "It's not convenient for us to tell you who we are."
"We had to bring you here for some reason."
"But as I just said - our purpose is not to take your life. We will never do anything to you, please rest assured."
As soon as Sennosuke finished speaking, the only paper sliding door in this narrow room was slowly opened from the outside.
The lady looked over and saw that the person who opened the door was a white-haired old man who must be around 50 or 60 years old.
After the old man opened the door and came in, Sennosuke and the others immediately knelt on one knee, saluted the old man, and said respectfully:
"Hannosuke-sama!"
"Sennosuke, you did a great job." The old man, who was called "Hannosuke" by Sennosuke and the others, nodded with appreciation, "You brought the oiran here very beautifully."
Being praised by Hannosuke, the young men present all showed joy on their faces - except Sennosuke.
Sennosuke knelt on one knee and lowered his head slightly.
Even when Hannosuke praised him, there was no expression on his face.
Hannosuke slowly walked up to the Taifu, looked at him for a few seconds, then pulled the corner of his mouth and smiled:
"I originally thought that Yoshiwara's oiran would be a weak and frail woman."
"But I didn't expect that she was a female hero."
"You were kidnapped and brought to a strange place, but you didn't show any panic at all. You're amazing! There aren't many of my subordinates who have a character like yours."
Furin Taifu ignored Hannosuke's compliments.
Staying calm and composed, he asked Hannosuke:
"Are you trying to rob me of my money or my body?"
"If you want to rob someone, I think you've kidnapped the wrong person."
"I don't have that much money."
"The Miumeya I belong to isn't very rich."
"Taifu, you are wrong." Hannosuke interrupted Taifu, "We don't want to rob him of his money, nor do we want to rape him."
"We have brought you here for some more interesting purposes."
"As for the purpose...you will know later."
After saying that, Hannosuke turned and walked out of the room.
Before leaving the room, Hannosuke turned his head and said to Sennosuke:
"Keep an eye on her."
"Yes." Sennosuke responded in a tone without any emotion.
Bang.
Hannosuke left the room and the door closed with a soft "bang".
After Hannosuke left, Sennosuke and the other three finally stood up.
After getting up, Sennosuke took out a sword from his bosom, unsheathed it, and turned to look at the tayu who was lying horizontally on the tatami...
"Sennosuke, what are you doing?" A young man in black who was closest to Sennosuke asked in surprise.
"Nothing." Sennosuke said calmly, "I just wanted to help the lady untie the ropes."
After saying that, Sennosuke squatted down again, trying to make his eyes level with the Taifu.
"Taifu, I can help you untie it now. But you have to promise me that after I untie you, you will behave yourself and not cause any trouble."
"Otherwise, I'll tie your hands and feet back up."
After hearing what Sennosuke said, Taifu hesitated for a moment and then nodded slightly.
Seeing that the "deal was done", Sennosuke turned around and walked behind the Taifu, and used his sword to cut the hemp ropes that tightly bound the Taifu's hands and feet.
After his hands and feet were freed, the woman quickly massaged his wrists and ankles that were sore from being rubbed by the hemp rope to get the blood circulating again.
After Sennosuke cut the hemp ropes that bound the Taifu's hands and feet, another young man in black asked Sennosuke hesitantly:
"Sennosuke, you cut all her ropes. Isn't that a bad idea? What if she escapes?"
"I don't think the oiran from Yoshiwara can escape alone from under the noses of four strictly trained men." Sennosuke whispered.
The lady continued to rub her aching wrist and said calmly:
“…I won’t say ‘thank you’ to you.”
"It's okay." Sennosuke smiled bitterly, "I also think kidnapping women is despicable. You don't have to thank despicable people like us."