Karuta village was in ecstasy. The defeat of the serpent demon their evil feudal lord. According to them, they had been tortured for years. There was no food, no water, high taxes, forced labor and the likes. There was high poverty and high death toll in the fiefdom.
Nevertheless, they didn't lose hope and they believed that one day the Usuki warriors will save them.
Anyway, the people praised Hatashi, Tiatsuri, Kaitara and Hashiro. They gave them a lot of gifts ranging from food, which they managed to get after the feudal lord's death to houses where they could live for the mean time while they figured out the sun king's location.
The next day, they decided to ask the villagers about the serpent demon's whereabouts but none of them had any information pertaining to his whereabouts. Even his most trusted task collectors who worked under him forcefully didn't know his where he always went to.
And so, they had to go back to the little house provided to them by the villagers. While they rested in the house Hatashi and Hashiro tried to think of the possible location of the sun king while, Tiatsuri and Hatashi bickered over food and other trivial matters.
The reason why they needed this information was due to the fact that the sun king owned three separate fiefdoms by the names of Shima maki, Ishikari and Akira. Another problem they faced was that all three of these fiefdoms seemed very deserted when they arrived. It was like as if everyone either abandoned the place or died on a large scale. Moreover, the latter, which was Akira, was much more believable due to the extreme heat they experienced when entering the village. According to their discovery, it was so hot that any non Usuki warrior wouldn't be able to survive the heat.
So, the question still remained. Where was the sun king hiding?
After multiple fruitless attempts, they decided to stop and take a break from all the adventuring. They decided to rest in the house for a while till they managed to figured things out.
In the house, Kaitara, Hatashi and Tiatsuri all sat down in a circle to discuss their dilemma while their sensei, Hashiro went to bed.
"I really wonder what we're gonna do about this mission" Tiatsuri said looking very anxious.
"We could ask the king for help" Kaitara said with a small grin then Hatashi looked at her, straight faced as ever then sighed.
"Sorry to shun the smartest thing you've said all day but how do we know that the king's informants know his location" Hatashi said slowly and in a low voice. When Tiatsuri heard this, he chuckled laughed and this made them start bickering for a while until the stopped.
"first of all, what the heck and second of all, you do have a point their" Kaitara said with a sad look then his answer somehow, made her remember a question she always wanted to ask.
"Who rules the vassals after we kill the evil feudal lord ruling over them" Kaitara said with a smile then turned to Tiatsuri if he knew the answer to her question.
"that's a good question, what does happen?" Tiatsuri asked himself.
"These are the reasons why you guys should read more" Hatashi said which made Kaitara laugh at Tiatsuri until she figured out Hatashi's insult was targeted at both of them.
"In the event of a feudal lord dying, especially if he has no heir the fiefdom or vassals should rule themselves without a government or king" Hatashi answered again with a straight face.
"Meaning that they rule themselves in a very decentralized way, right?" Tiatsuri answered, feeling smart as he smiled.
"What's your first clue?" Hatashi asked rudely and rhetorically then went to bed.
"Well, someone's in a bad mood" Tiatsuri said then sighed but Kaitara didn't agree with him.
"I believe he's just stressed from all the running around we've been doing" Kaitara said while looking at Hatashi sleep peacefully.
"Ok whatever you say sis" Tiatsuri said sounding defeated then he went to bed. Nevertheless, Kaitara kept on watching Hatashi.
"I believe that someday, when all this is over, I'll get to understand you Hatashi" she said with a smile then kissed his forehead then went to bed.
Deep into the night, there was a knocking sound on the window. It was purposely made so soft that no normal person could hear it although it was targeted at one person only. Sensei Hashiro.
When Hashiro heard the knocking coming from outside he stood up from his bed and went outside with only his dagger.
The person, responsible for the knocking wore a black hoodie making it hard for Hashiro to see his face. He could have lit a torch, but he didn't want to wake the rest of the team up.