__________ POV Narration __________
"... Cult of Jashin?"
Ken asked as he supported his head on his palm, turning his head over to Tosho.
"Yep! I don't know much about it yet, besides what the letter said." Tosho nodded as he brought Ken's attention back to the fact that it was a 'request' rather than a bounty.
"Personal request from an anonymous sender..." Saburo muttered as he rubbed his chin with a raised eyebrow.
The Dark Brotherhood had not yet grown to the point where it should have received requests from others.
It was rather surprising that they did, but Ken couldn't exactly complain about it. Though it did bring up the possibility of it being a trap set up by an enraged noble...
"Not quite anonymous actually... It wasn't difficult to find out that it came from a few of the nearby villages. Our operations do at least give us some renown in the area." Tosho clapped his hands with a smile on his face.
"Plenty of people have reported losing relatives and friends, odd disappearances all over the place, all linked to sightings of weird masked people.
With the local nobles not bothering to do anything about them, the villagers figured it would be worth it to pool together some money and hire our organization to look into this."
Tosho had already done his research on the situation. He was glad to share his findings with his now-interested teacher/master.
"... So we're talking about an unknown group of people kidnapping others? How did they get their name?" Ken rubbed his chin and tapped on his mask, which still lay on the table in front of him.
"Some of the villagers heard hushed whispers, talking about some religious group looking to convert more people to their belief, they believe they are the ones tied to the kidnappings."
The Blind Swordsman nodded when hearing that, his head tilting slightly as he pondered on whether or not to personally go after the strange religious group, and investigate more about it at the very least.
"... What do their beliefs consist of?" Ken's curiosity stirred, as he figured a cult in such a pragmatic and sadistic world would make religious extremists back in his world blush...
"Well, they weren't able to find out much, just that it had something to do with immortality..." That was unfortunately where Tosho's information seemed to fall apart.
'Them and just about every other cult and religion in existence... It's always immortality, be it in this life or the next...'
Ken wasn't very impressed, but he didn't let his disappointment show in whatever features he had. It just meant that he would have to find out more on his own.
But the little Tosho confirmed did manage to stir the curiosity of someone else in the room.
"... Immortality? That's quite interesting... What else are you able to tell us about this 'Cult of Jashin'?" Saburo spoke out with a diplomatic smile, clearly interested in learning more himself.
Alas, Tosho didn't have any good news for him.
"I don't have much more information than that.
I've not been able to find much besides the fact that their headquarters are somewhere at the border region between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost..."
The First Blade had not managed to learn a lot about the cult, he hadn't been able to go out and investigate himself. So all he had to rely on was what the villagers that had commissioned them could tell.
"Is the location of the headquarters from a believable source? The villagers can't possibly know that..." Ken still wanted to make sure of a few things before proceeding with an investigation, he needed to know exactly what he had to work with.
"It was from a few travelling merchants, they claimed that people wearing similar masks to the one described by the villagers are spotted more often in those regions..." Tosho shrugged, having already vetted out his sources.
"... It's a rather wide area to look into..." Saburo said as he turned and looked at Ken, trying his best to read the child leader's thoughts.
"Wide, but not too difficult for someone like me..." Ken's senses and abilities as a sensor were likely good enough for him to spot the hideout if he was within a certain range.
It wasn't difficult for his ears to pick up on human settlements, as nature was otherwise quiet most of the time.
"I can help with a few clones... But I can't let them get too far from me, the range of my technique isn't endless..."
The Strawman was not unwilling to share some of his weaknesses at that point. At the very least he was willing to share things that he thought Ken had already figured out on his own.
Ken also noticed that Saburo had become awfully interested in that cult after 'Immortality' was mentioned. He made a mental note of that before shaking his head and responding.
"There's no need... I feel like going for a relaxing walk anyway."
Ken slowly stood up, taking his mask and placing it on his face, covering his calm smile.
"What if you need to read their texts or books in order to find information?" Saburo raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused at his leader's approach to the situation.
At the very least he acted confused, inside he was simply displeased that he wouldn't be looking into the matter personally.
Unfortunately for him, there was no changing his leader's decision at that point.
"I'll manage, I've always managed..." Ken shrugged and stretched his arms a bit.
"..." Saburo looked at his leader, before sighing and shrugging. "Suit yourself..."
He was smarter than to go and annoy Ken for too long. He would simply have to learn more after Ken eventually came back.
"I'll be leaving in a day... I'll leave tomorrow at dawn. I'll need Tosho's help to write up a report about what happened during my visit to the capital..."
The Blind Swordsman waved his hand and dismissed Tosho and Saburo, both of them going back to their previous jobs.
The former was to return later in the evening to help Ken write up a report about their deal with Yuichi.
Saburo himself was also busy, as his laboratory was already close to completion, so now he could resume his previous research, at least parts of it.
He hadn't given Ken many details, but he did say that he was looking into the human psyche, the ways Genjutsu affected the mind and the permanent effects that trauma suffered during Genjutsu could have on a human.
It was a rather grim experiment, and it obviously required test subjects, which Saburo was thankfully able to source from some of the bandit camps that he had raided.
Ken had to build a small underground jail in him to hold his prisoners. It was connected directly to Saburo's lab, which made things much easier for the Strawman.
Saburo was actually quite glad to now be working with Ken, as he could now pursue his experiments openly, not needing to hide them from the village he worked for.
Ken himself was not exactly a morally righteous individual, he seemed to not really care about the bandits that were being used as test subjects.
He only made Saburo promise to give them all painless deaths after the experiments were over. The Strawman readily accepted as he didn't really care either way.
'It's extremely nice, having an employer that sees the benefit in your research...'
That was also one of the big reasons why Saburo didn't wish to argue with Ken over the matter with the Cult of Jashin.
Even if he was now interested in finding out more about them, it wasn't in any way worth losing favour with Ken over it.
The very next morning, Ken departed from the small village they had built with a smile on his face.
Passing by and waving at the children that were still training in the courtyard was something he seemingly enjoyed doing.
It did derail the training for a bit, as all of the children seemed very excited whenever they saw him.
But it also did help them build some sort of affection with the recruits, as all of them appreciated the attention they received from their 'father'.
Saburo wasn't really fond of that particular tactic, however. He wanted Ken's presence to retain a bit of 'mysticism' to the children that called him father.
That mysticism would inevitably lead to the children looking up to and revering Ken more over time.
Alas, Saburo didn't really have a say in the way the recruits were being trained, so he didn't ever speak out of turn regarding the matter.
He merely watched through his clones as Ken waved at the children as he passed through the village gates.
As soon as he stepped out of the village, Ken's hand fell to his side, and he immediately disappeared, taking off into the forests, not leaving even a full afterimage behind.
Ken's departure was quick, he headed down beyond the border and into the Land of Hot Water, hiding his presence as he didn't want to bother encountering any Shinobi along the way.
He leapt from tree to tree, his steps not shaking the branches he walked on as his speed made him more akin to a blur.
The Blind Swordsman stalked the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost for the following days, keeping his ears peeled the entire time as he silently advanced with his search.
Rest was not really an issue for the Natural Born Sage, he could keep up his stride for what felt like an eternity.
After all, one that could casually regrow limbs wouldn't have much of an issue with sprinting.
Eventually, Ken could hear it, the sound of a crackling campfire. He had run into a few before, merely travellers and peddlers. But this one felt different, it felt bigger...
It also brought with it an odd smell... Of burning flesh and smouldering bone marrow... Though, it might've been just an animal being cooked up.
Ken didn't want to just jump to conclusions too quickly. Instead, he got closer and closer, until he could clearly feel the situation.
'... There it is...'
Ken crawled on top of a tree, settling his attention on what felt like a large gathering in the middle of the woods.
Dozens upon dozens of what felt like masked men were gathered around a campfire, kneeling with their foreheads on the ground as the large campfire.
On the bonfire was nailed a woman, her guts seemed to be spilling down on the fire, as she was already burnt beyond any recognition.
Ken couldn't see her state, sure, but he could easily tell from the smell after getting close enough. He was quite familiar with it at the end of the day...
'I guess they really are a mad cult, huh? If that woman was one of the people they 'forcefully converted' to their religion, then I can't really expect any one of them to be alive still...'
The Blind Swordsman was left pondering on what to do next.
'Should I try to observe them a bit more? Should I just kill them all and interrogate whoever survives?'
They all seemed to be huddled around the campfire, but behind them was a cave that Ken couldn't really feel into.
Likely some sort of seal. Ken could still feel a few humans inside that cave thanks to his nature energy, but he was completely unable to tell what level of chakra they had.
There were bound to be some Shinobi among them though.
The odd part was that the people down below didn't feel like fighters or shinobi to Ken. They didn't have any Chakra, signalling that all of them were civilians... Well, at least most of them were.
However, one thing was for sure, every single masked person had an aura that Ken was very familiar with... Bloodlust fueled by a sense of crazed determination.
'They're all bloodthirsty maniacs... I should've expected this...'
The bloodlust he could feel from them reminded him of some of the maniacs he had fought in his past life, killers for hire. It was a playground for the mentally diseased.
A playground that Ken ruled for the better part of two decades...
'I guess I'll watch them a bit longer... See if anyone more concerning appears out of that cave...'
Ken simply crossed his arms and sat down, on the tree that was at least 5 kilometres away from the large bonfire that the Cult had created.
'... Whatever this cult is... I'll make sure to burn them to the ground since I'm already here...'
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Hope you liked the chapter!
Feeling a bit better today, even managed to go to the gym :))
Cold's still here, but it's bothering me less
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