While Kagaribi and the other three were dealing with the lime powder on their faces, Cyan used the one Silver and two Bronze cards in her hand.
[Using Silver Card, obtained 1000 Survival Points, Assorted Seafood Sashimi, Sankuro's Mighty Hammer.]
[Assorted Seafood Sashimi]
[Type: Recovery Item]
[Function: Restores 100 HP. Over 10 minutes, restores 2 HP and 2 MP every 5 seconds.]
[Note: Lobster, salmon, tuna, oysters, red shrimp... a luxurious assorted seafood sashimi!]
Cyan looked at the Assorted Seafood Sashimi stored in her inventory, and her mouth nearly watered. Clearly, this recovery item from Sankuro's Silver Card should be kept as a life-saving tool rather than used to satisfy her appetite.
[Sankuro's Mighty Hammer]
[Type: Plot Character Weapon]
[Attribute: Attack Power 73~87, Attack Speed reduced by 50%.]
[Skill: Charge: Consumes 10 Mental Energy. Charging for 1 second increases the next attack's damage by 20%, 2 seconds by 40%, 3 seconds by 60%, 4 seconds by 80%, and 5 seconds by 100%. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]
[Requirement: Strength 25, Constitution 18. Note: Once equipped, this item is soulbound to the user and cannot be traded. If the user dies, the equipment disappears!]
[Note: Please do not use fire on it~!]
[Using Bronze Card, obtained 500 Survival Points, Power Bandage.]
[Power Bandage]
[Type: Gauntlets]
[Attribute: Strength +1.]
[Special: When equipped, the healing speed of hand wounds is increased.]
[Requirement: None]
[Note: Gofichi suffered much unfair treatment due to his abnormal arms. Only Sankuro treated him with sincerity, for which he was willing to give everything to Sankuro, even his life.]
After equipping the Power Bandage, white bandages wrapped around Cyan's hands and forearms, leaving her five fingers exposed. Cyan clenched her fists and found that the Power Bandage didn't hinder her movements at all; instead, it felt quite comfortable.
[Using Bronze Card, obtained 500 Survival Points, Ippa's Secret Smoke Bomb.]
[Ippa's Secret Smoke Bomb]
[Type: Consumable Item]
[Function: When smashed on the ground, it produces foul-smelling smoke. Affects both allies and enemies, dealing 5 continuous damage per second to those within the smoke for 20 seconds.]
[Note: No one knows what strange things Ippa put into his secret smoke bomb. The stench makes ghosts wail and gods howl; it can be called the most malicious substance in the world.]
Looking at the note for Ippa's Secret Smoke Bomb, Cyan's hand shook, and she almost threw it away. She hurriedly steadied it in her hand. Her inventory slots were full, so she threw the worn-out katana from her inventory onto the ground.
Money, Bundle, Zankuro's Amulet, Assorted Seafood Sashimi, Sankuro's Mighty Hammer, Ippa's Secret Smoke Bomb.
These alone occupied six inventory slots. The remaining three had to be kept for other things. Naturally, she discarded the worn-out katana she had previously treasured for exchange in the Survival Space.
After finally cleaning the lime powder from her face, Erni saw the bandits' corpses and then noticed the worn-out katana Cyan had thrown on the ground.
"Cyan, you don't want these anymore?" Erni asked cautiously, keeping her posture humble for fear of angering Cyan.
"Mm..." Cyan nodded.
"Then it's okay if I take them?" Erni asked again.
"Okay..."
"Thanks~!"
Erni gleefully put the five worn-out katanas into her inventory.
"For... you..."
Cyan tossed the flintlock pistol to Erni.
"This... this is!"
Erni's eyes widened. Her trembling hand stroked the barrel of the flintlock as if it were a lover.
"Thank you so much!"
Erni stowed the flintlock and lunged toward Cyan. Detecting Erni's intent, Cyan stepped aside to dodge.
Damn impotent man! Are you made of wood?
Erni watched the ground getting closer and closer, her heart full of resentment. She had clearly thought about how to avoid landing in such an ugly posture, yet her body wouldn't listen, and she landed face-first on the ground with her buttocks slightly raised.
Kagaribi looked at the corpses of Sankuro and Gofichi, then glanced at Erni splayed out on the ground. She looked away, unable to watch, and turned to Cyan. The chains wrapped around Ippa's corpse retracted and gradually shrank back into a bracelet.
"Are you hurt?"
"No..."
"Couldn't you give me a hand?"
Erni stood up and complained in a low voice. Suppressing her disgust, she searched Sankuro's body and found a small pouch of gunpowder and lead balls.
"What... what should we do with these people's bodies? Should we bury them?"
Kind-hearted Ai Asama felt a bit uneasy at the thought of leaving these mountain bandits' bodies exposed in the wilderness after they left.
"Hey! They weren't good people, it's better if the bodies stay like this! That bastard wanted to sell us earlier! Didn't you hear him?"
Hearing Ai Asama's words, Chen Xiaoxue muttered in dissatisfaction. she blinked her eyes forcefully; it felt like something was in them, making her very uncomfortable. It was likely the lime powder wasn't fully cleaned out.
"Get... up..."
Cyan pressed the demonic blade against Nishi's small chin. A drop of bright red blood flowed down the tip of the blade.
"Don't... don't kill me!"
Nishi opened her eyes tremblingly, looking at Cyan with tearful eyes. Her gaze drifted to the corpses of Sankuro, Ippa, and Gofichi. She could never have imagined that a robbery done out of interest would cause them to fall at the hands of this fledgling swordsman.
"Did... you... wait... for... us... on... purpose?" Cyan looked at Nishi with a cold gaze. Once she sensed malice, she would hesitate for not even a second to pierce her throat with the demonic blade.
"We were going to join Lord Gaoh, the lord of Hinowa... While passing through here, we saw that except for a young novice swordsman, you were just four not-very-strong women, so we wanted to rob you..."
Nishi's voice grew smaller and smaller. Feeling the murderous glares from the "four not-very-strong women" behind Cyan, she lowered her head even further.
"You... chose... the... wrong... opponent..." Cyan retracted the demonic blade and turned to look at Kagaribi, who was walking over.
"Gaoh? That Lord Gaoh of Hinowa Castle? Why would he agree to let bandits like you become his subordinates?"
Kagaribi's brow furrowed. She didn't quite believe Nishi's words. She had heard villagers speak of Lord Gaoh of Hinowa Castle before; he was a good lord loved by his people.
"Actually... Lord Gaoh wants to overthrow the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. 'The Tokugawa traitors only know pleasure and completely disregard the safety of the people. Endless wars and increasingly harsh taxes! We can no longer let the wealthy Shogun live a life of leisure!' I heard Lord Gaoh say this with my own ears."
Nishi mimicked Gaoh's tone as she spoke. Sitting on the ground, she placed her hands between her legs and rubbed them gently to ease her inner anxiety.
The terrible weather combined with volcanic eruptions had led to famines everywhere. In recent years, people had eaten almost everything edible, and food prices had soared beyond what ordinary citizens could afford.
The Tokugawa Shogunate not only failed to find ways to solve the famine but instead increased taxes, making the lives of the people increasingly unbearable.
That was why Gaoh was leading his army to declare war on the Shogunate.
After Nishi said everything she knew, she looked at Cyan with tearful eyes and whispered, "L... Lord, how... how do you plan to handle me?"
Feeling Cyan's cold gaze, Nishi felt she would soon be going to the other world to accompany her boss and comrades.
"Go... now..."
Looking at Nishi and sensing no malice, Cyan naturally had no intention of killing her.