"There is no need to feel ashamed about this. I guarantee this is absolutely your most correct choice."
Although Mifune had not said it explicitly, the meaning in his words was already very clear. Today, he would temporarily ignore the matter of the daimyo.
And with Mifune, the strongest samurai in the Land of Iron, having no intention of fighting, the rest naturally posed no threat. With their strength, leaving would be easy.
"Do not be too arrogant, you two masked cowards. This time, it was indeed the daimyo who acted against Fujita Kazu, and you happened to avenge him. That is why I am letting you go this once.
The next time we meet, you will still be the murderers who killed the daimyo. And I will fulfill my duty as a samurai of the Land of Iron and capture you."
"Heh, then we shall see."
Although Mifune's words did not sound pleasant, Furina could understand. After all, having the murderer who killed the daimyo right in front of him, yet being unable to act because of certain reasons and even having to cover their escape,
No one would feel good in that situation, let alone someone as straightforward as Mifune. Venting a few words verbally was perfectly normal.
Since he had already vented verbally, then he could not act now. If a fight could be avoided, Furina would still try to avoid it as much as possible.
After all, she had the system. She did not need to improve her strength through life-and-death battles. Adding points through the system and then steamrolling everything was also a pretty good option.
"Mm..."
While the two were talking, one of the samurai lying on the ground seemed to have just woken up. Feeling the pain on his body, he instinctively let out a sound.
Although the voice was very small, all three present had strength far beyond ordinary people. Such a faint sound was naturally noticed. After withdrawing his gaze from the other party, Mifune straightened his expression and said,
"Alright. If there is nothing else, you can leave now. I will pretend that after clashing with you, I was unable to keep you here. When you get out, you can break through toward the southwest.
The people I brought are mostly over there. They also look very unfavorably on the daimyo killing Fujita Kazu. If they encounter you, they probably will not try their hardest to stop you."
After noticing signs that these unconscious samurai were about to wake up, Mifune quickly explained the situation and then signaled the two to leave quickly.
After all, even if his reason for letting Furina and the other leave was acceptable, the one who died was still the daimyo, the most noble person in the country. It would not be good if their conversation was overheard.
"Then farewell. I wonder if your iaijutsu will be as legendary as rumored the next time we meet."
Hearing Furina's sigh, Mifune could not help but furrow his brows tightly. The other side clearly did not take his earlier threat seriously. He did not know if it was arrogance or genuine confidence in handling it easily.
After exchanging a few deliberately loud clashes with Mifune for show, Furina and Uchiha Hikari, who had been watching from the side, withdrew into the distance.
But after heading southwest for only a short distance, the two changed direction and broke through from another path.
Although she was not afraid that Mifune would set some trap for her, such as heavy ambushes or some kind of setup waiting for them to step into, all of which could be dealt with by strength,
it was still troublesome after all. So to avoid such meaningless trouble, it was better to take a detour.
In any case, for the two of them, aside from Mifune, the other samurai posed no threat. Whether they held back or not made little difference.
...
On the other side, after Furina and the other left, the samurai lying on the ground gradually woke up one by one. At the same time, they also saw Mifune standing in place, gazing into the distance, lost in thought about something.
However, the samurai did not pay attention to these details. The overwhelming pressure from the two masked people earlier had already left them somewhat intimidated, and Mifune's appearance undoubtedly became their pillar of support.
"Mifune-sama, you came too. By the way, what about the assassins who attacked the daimyo earlier? Did you already capture them?"
Looking at the slightly excited expression on the opposite samurai's face, Mifune only sighed and gently shook his head. The meaning was self-evident.
"Unfortunately, I was unable to keep them. One of them has Sharingan, and her genjutsu is too strong. Even I could not break free immediately. They took the opportunity to escape. For this, I feel deeply ashamed."
"There is no need to say that, Mifune-sama. We also faced those two attackers directly. We saw with our own eyes how strong they are. The fact that you were able to repel them and save us is already unimaginably powerful."
"That's right, exactly. Mifune-sama."
"To be honest, when facing that masked person's attack earlier, I could only barely react. My body completely could not keep up."
"You could at least react. I just met eyes with the one with Sharingan and instantly fell into genjutsu. I only recovered now. In a different situation, I would have died countless times already."
Facing Mifune's self-criticism, the gradually awakening samurai all began to console him one after another. Perhaps Mifune himself felt that letting the attackers go without drawing his sword was a shame for a samurai.
But from the perspective of those awakening samurai, it was completely different. What level of strength did those attackers have? They must be incredibly powerful. Otherwise, how could they defeat them so easily?
And for Mifune to repel those two attackers was undoubtedly proof of immense strength. It was no exaggeration to call it the pride of the samurai.
Previously, they might have had some doubts about Mifune's title as the strongest samurai. But after this battle, they no longer had any such thoughts. The strongest samurai—aside from Mifune, they would acknowledge no one else.
Looking at the group of samurai who were still injured yet turning around to encourage him, Mifune—who had been in a bad mood—finally showed a smile for the first time.
The reason he had let Furina and the other leave so easily earlier was not just because they had avenged Fujita Kazu. There was also something he had noticed upon arriving here.
Aside from the daimyo father and son, the two masked people had not killed any of the other samurai. Though the injuries varied in severity, at least they were still alive.
This showed to some extent what kind of people they were—not the type who enjoyed indiscriminate killing. For someone as old as Mifune, this was a big plus in his heart.
With all these reasons combined, Mifune had allowed Furina and the other to leave easily this time. Any grudges could be settled later.
Otherwise, if Furina and the other had been truly heinous criminals who killed the daimyo purely for amusement, then even if their strength was considerable, Mifune would have had only one option: fight to the death.
"No need to say more. Many of you are seriously injured. Go down first and tend to your wounds."