01x02 - Mountain Demon

[bunniefuu]

Musashi!

Musashi…

Musashi…

What the---?

In your current state you are
unable to defeat the Genma.

We, the Oni clan, were ultimately
destroyed by the Genma. The only way you

have any chance of defeating the
Genma, is if we lend you our power.

k*ll the Genma, and seal their souls in
the gauntlet now attached to your arm.

Musashi! Musashi!

Don’t talk to me now!

Just ahead, huh?

Yes. It’s not far, once
we get through the forest.

Going up north is good
luck. Auspicious, right?

What’d you say?

Just clearing my throat.

Well, we’re finally getting close.
You think Iemon might be around?

No way to tell until we enter the village.

Well, if he is, what are we
supposed to do?---Take him on?

I guess we’re not gonna know
until we actually confront him.

Now apart from that…

Musashi …

Musashi!

Could you please pick up the
pace so we can get moving here?

Musashi, let’s go!

I said, don’t talk to me!

Onimusha

Mountain Demon

The place is empty.

Nobody’s here---Not
Iemon or the villagers.

They knew that we were
coming, didn’t they?

Could they all be hiding out of caution?

No.

I don’t smell the scent of a stove or a
hearth. It seems this village has been

abandoned for a long time.

Heikuro has a better sense
of smell than most people.

Regardless…

We can’t get started until after we
investigate the surroundings. Follow me!

He sure is a different person…
from when he was on that bridge.

We were right. This place is deserted.

Could they have all
been taken away by Iemon?

It’s possible.

Look around There are
traces of a conflict.

There must have been a significant
provocation, if peasants were willing to

defy samurai.

What could that have been?

Don’t know. But…

It must have been a matter of life and
death to put up this much resistance.

We’ll split up into two groups…
Kaizen and I…then the rest of you.

Circle around and return here. And
don’t get separated from each other.

As soon as our master is gone he
begins acting like the leader.

Hey, it doesn’t matter to me. He has the
most skill and experience of anyone on the

squad.

Hm?

Heikuro?

I smell …death.

Could everyone be
gathered at the fortress?

The fortress is in the mountains. And
I’ve heard it was hastily constructed.

Besides, why take all the villagers
along? Women, children, the elderly?

They’re burdens during a battle.

There are very few rice or vegetable
fields around here. They must be finding

resources somewhere else.

I presume… …there might be a
copper or iron mine somewhere nearby.

So what? How is that related
to the fact that no-one’s here?

Now Don’t rush to judgement.

If you take a good look,
you’ll begin to understand.

You need to grasp the entire situation.

So…

Explain this mission to me. What do you
think? Why did Matsuki bring us along with

him?

We know that at one point,
he was in cahoots with lemon.

Do you think he was going to eventually
tell us to follow him, and betray our

lord?

It’s possible… No way
to know at this point.

If he did, what would
you have said? The truth.

Would you have gone ahead and
joined up with him? Heikuro…

What about you?

Impossible to say for sure. At that
time, I thought Matsuki had gone mad.

Or that perhaps he had been taken
over by an evil spirit, like Gensai.

However…

…It turned out it was neither of those.
Matsuki had simply made the decision to

stand firm by Iemon’s side.

And that means he must have had
good reasons for bringing us with him.

What kind of reasons?

How in the world am I
supposed to know that?!

This is really awful!---I just can’t
bring myself to believe that Matsuki would

be doing something wrong.

Me neither. Let’s find out
Iemon’s true intentions.

Then we’ll be able to
understand Matsuki’s intentions.

Gunpowder, huh?

To break apart rocky
surfaces. That makes sense.

There must be a mine somewhere nearby.

A mine would be perfect for
fortifying and making a stronghold.

You’ve been here before. You
know anything about a mine?

The mountains here are extremely vast.
It’s not possible to explore it all in

just a few days.

So what you’re saying is Iemon is hiding
in a mine, with all the villagers under

his control. That explains things.

I think we should head toward that mine.

Weren’t you listening, we don’t
know where the thing is… Idiot!

Apart from all that, I was expecting him
to welcome us here. He’s not a very good

host, is he?

Not funny, Musashi.

If even one villager was around, we
could capture them and make them tell us.

Grab that child!

It’s a girl!

Please don’t run from us!

Come out!

Don’t be scared!

Search every house!

You didn’t find her?

Well I wonder if it
was some kind of ghost?

A ghost during broad
daylight? You’re the idiot.

Did you find her?

I found something unpleasant instead]

You’re needed, monk. Over there.

Sahei give him some ointment.

Put some under your
nose. It’ll mask the smell.

I don’t need it.

Saisho doken zojo enma
zengyo kah daiji daihi.

You down there Come here and pray with me.

Namuka tenbaku nosho
jinissai shujoshitsu bussho

Kaijobutsu tensoku zoriki unso guyo…

Your parents?

Mm-mm.

My grandpa and grandma.

I see.

Issai shujyo shuen magyo jobyo metsuzai
gubuku sokusai sangai kengaku zeidan…

It’s not too hot for you?

Nobody’s gonna take it
away. You can slow down.

Her name is Sayo. She told me she’s
the only person left in the village.

Where are the other people?

Won’t say.

‘Only person left’ Huh…

So you’re saying that, rather than
leave, it’s better to catch and eat frogs

and hide alongside the corpses
of your family members, right?

Don’t you think you’re
being a little harsh?

Why did you run away from us before?

Hey!

She must have endured some
unpleasantness from the samurai.

But that hole…Why was such
a big hole in the floor?

It’s there for evading taxes. You’ll
find one in the house of every peasant.

They normally use it to hide rice and
crops from the authorities. I must have

overlooked it when we were searching.

The peasants have been
evading their taxes? Seriously?

Come on Did you really think that
everybody was happily paying their taxes

without question?

Peasants are despicable.

All people are the same in the end.

Hey, kid…

How did your grandpa and grandma die?

Who was it who k*lled them?

A samurai?

If you tell me where they’re
hiding I’ll go and k*ll them for you.

Musashi, stop it!

I promise.

They’re coming…

We’ve got a problem.

Perhaps they’re ghosts.

They’re monsters.

He turned everybody into awful monsters!

Sahei, you and Kaizen stay back and
protect the kid. Goromaru, Heikuro, pair

up.

Aim for their legs. Trip
them and then behead them.

Now don’t worry. They don’t seem
to be as ferocious as Gensai was.

You can easily defeat
them with your skills.

Of course, we can!

We are the disciples of Matsuki Kensuke!

Stay back.

The gauntlet?

Don’t know the
numbers---Let’s save it for later.

Goromaru, Heikuro, follow me!

Goromaru! Aim for their legs!

I said legs! Legs!

I said Le-e-e-gs!

Well, that’s one less
monster we have to worry about.

Yes. But there seems to be
an endless number of them.

Trouble is, Musashi’s body won’t hold
up. We have to prepare in advance while we

can.

Goromaru! Heikuro! This
is getting us nowhere!

I need to come up with
a plan! Buy some time!

-Excuse me?!
-What?!

Heikuro! How ‘bout your special skill?!

Can’t use it in this situation! Why
don’t you put out a call for

reinforcements?

I suppose there’s no other choice.

Taromaru, Jiromaru! Go get them!

Alright!

There’s no need to bring
that! You can keep it!

Nice work. I didn’t
know he was a falconer.

A very skilled one, in fact. The
birds actually love him too much.

Hm.

You want me to get the gauntlet?
They’re gonna keep coming, otherwise.

If you’re right we’ll need
new ways to deal with them.

I have an idea.

You can help, too. We
need you to do something…

Taromaru!

Get back! Leave him alone!

Goromaru! Dammit!

Musashi!

Follow me!

Right!

-Heikuro!
-Yeah!

I’ll handle the rest! You two take
refuge in the forest. And stay hidden!

We owe you one!

Yeah! And the others?

I’ve got a plan! Now run!

-Right!
-Right!

You monsters have chosen to
att*ck in broad daylight…

…But this is as far as you’ll advance!

Taromaru!

Are you okay now?

Where is everybody?

Weren’t they supposed to be hiding here?

What’s stopping you from
attacking me? Alright…

Is this better?

Be at ease…

These creatures will not touch you.

[Effort as he gets up on the platform.

Musashi! Time to go!

Alright!

Ready? Now!

Sahei!

Here it comes!

Alright!

Get moving!

Much more of this and my
body’s gonna reach its limit.

Hm…?

Now I understand.

We used to dig for copper and tin in the
mountain close to the village. But a while

back, the men went further out, to an
area where they hadn’t gone before. And

they found something
else in the hills there.

This, right? They found gold?

Mm-hm.

The village fell into chaos. We didn’t
know whether or not to inform the lord.

Even though we had the gold, we had
no real way to convert it into money.

In the end, we decided
to report everything.

That’s not what we were told. We heard
there was a conflict among the farmers, so

Iemon came here to
address the situation, right?

That’s the official story.

If gold’s been found here
the people need to report it.

At best, the shogunate will claim it for
themselves. At worst, they’ll fault the

residents and abolish the domain.

I suppose your lord was plotting
to keep the whole thing hidden.

That’s why lemon was sent as a scout.

How despicable is that? One of
the reasons I don’t trust samurais.

Obviously, though…

…Iemon betrayed our lord,
once the treasure was revealed.

He took the workers he’d hired and they
barricaded themselves in the gold mine.

But something went wrong. The samurai
unleashed a monster from deep in the

earth.

The monster then possessed the
workers who became minions of the samurai.

That wasn’t enough, though. They turned
everyone in the village into monsters.

Even my folks. My mother
and father They turned, too.

My grandparents protected me
by hiding me under their house.

What’s the point of
living here with no family?

So lemon’s fortress Where is it?

If you go straight up the mountain trail,
you’ll see it. In fact, it’s hard to miss.

They opened up a new pathway.

Thank you for that.

Sahei We’re heading back now…

To confirm the domain’s intention. We’ll
need to bring this child with us, as well.

Yes. She needs protection.

We’re turning back after coming this far?

We’ll all be k*lled if we lose to lemon.
If we win, we’ll bear the burden of

keeping the gold mine hidden.

I don’t mind using folks now and
then, but I don’t like being used myself.

This is tough---What are we gonna do?

We should report this to the shogunate
and raise an army. Then we should go

att*ck the fortress.

That would be the most
straightforward approach.

Whatever your plan is, just be
sure you can meet the deadline.

Don’t worry. It appears I can
return it earlier than planned.

Let’s go!

Oh boy. Does this mean we
have to cross that bridge again?

What’s this about?

I think the message is,
they’re not going to let us go.

Are there no other paths?

They did this while they kept us
distracted in the village. Nice strategy.

Hey. What do they call you?

Huh? Do I have to repeat
myself? It’s Musashi. Mu – sa – shi.

Weird name---Who thought of it?

None of your business!

Musashi. A little while ago you said you
were going to k*ll that samurai, right?

Yeah. But things are more complicated now…

Sounds like you’re changing your mind.

Fine, then. I’ll just go k*ll
him myself. Help if you want.

Hm?

He destroyed my village and took
everything away from me He has to answer

for that!

I need to avenge my grandparents.

I understand. I’ll help, but
we need to come up with a plan.

So where does that leave us at this
point? Are we going back? Or are we

staying here?

Staying here. You’re helping
me, too. What’s your name, monk?

Well, Sayo… My name is Kaizen.

Kai-zen.

Really? Do all of you
guys have weird names?