My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 387 - 146: Yet Another Instant Kill! The Final Opponent: Niitsuma Kan [8100]

Edo, somewhere, the residence of Niitsuma Kan—

Niitsuma Kan, who had already laid out the bedding and slipped into the quilt early in the bedroom, tossed and turned restlessly.

As soon as he closed his eyes, scenes from the swordsmanship competition today flashed rapidly before his eyes.

He originally thought Tachibana Aoto was at most on par with him, yet he displayed sword skills far surpassing his own. Adachi, Morioka, and Tsuzaki, who were all known as equals to him, were no match for Aoto; they were all defeated by him in a single strike...

The most dazzling performer of the day, Aoto, would evoke waves of excitement and agitation from the spectators each time he stepped onto the stage...

Even Chiba Shigetarou, who was usually cold towards him, and Chiba Eijiro, whom he had never had the chance to meet before, showed an unprecedented warmth towards Aoto...

Each time Niitsuma Kan recalled these scenes, his jaw involuntarily clenched, and the heavy stone pressing on his chest felt even heavier.

As much as he hated to admit it...he had confirmed that he was overwhelmingly jealous of Aoto.

Since he began learning swordsmanship, people around him had always evaluated him as a "genius," "exceptionally gifted"...

With his exceptional talent, he had never been negligent in his swordsmanship training.

He practiced diligently every day, confident that no one had put in more effort than him on the path of swordsmanship.

With both talent and diligence, Niitsuma Kan’s abilities had always been the most outstanding among the swordsmen who trained in Edo at the same time, even surpassing Morioka and Tsuzaki, who were known as the "Three Heroes" alongside him.

Among his peers, he had never met anyone stronger than him—until today...

The three swords Aoto used to defeat Adachi, Morioka, and Tsuzaki today...Every time Niitsuma Kan recalled those, a chill crept into his heart.

He couldn’t help but think—if it had been him facing Aoto’s three swords, what would have happened?

No matter how much he deceived himself, Niitsuma Kan could only painfully admit: the gap between his and Aoto’s abilities was too vast. Even if he managed to withstand the first sword, he probably couldn’t handle Aoto’s second or third sword...

—Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Niitsuma Kan irritably turned over in the quilt again, then kicked the quilt covering him away, his mind swimming with every curse word in the Japanese language to vent his frustration.

He absolutely did not want to lose in this swordsmanship competition!

With the Chiba family and so many Daimyos of the Vassal States attending such a grand competition...it was already a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity given the current national situation!

Since the country’s gates were forced open under the threat of foreign warships, the entire political situation of Japan has been constantly changing.

To focus resources and finances to prepare for a series of possible challenges and political upheavals, many of the great domains have stopped funding large-scale martial arts tournaments.

In other words, missing this swordsmanship competition hosted by the Marquis of Aizu might mean never encountering another competition of this scale anytime soon.

Niitsuma Kan participated in this competition with the goal of "showing his strength to the Chiba family and the world."

Before the competition formally began today, seeing so many Daimyos of the Vassal States seated on the "VIP Platform" further solidified his goal.

He did not want to miss this extremely rare stage to showcase his strength to the Chiba family and everyone under any circumstances.

However...with the appearance of Tachibana Aoto, his goal seemed extraordinarily far away now.

Other than Aoto, Niitsuma Kan feared none of the remaining competitors, so as long as nothing unexpected happened, he was sure to face Aoto tomorrow.

Niitsuma Kan could already imagine what tomorrow’s competition would be like.

Surely, many spectators would eagerly discuss, "How many swords will Aoto need to defeat him?" Surely, many people watched not for the competition but to see how he, Niitsuma Kan, would be defeated by Aoto.

Even beyond the very real and self-serving reasons of "wanting to show his strength to the Chiba family," Niitsuma Kan’s strong self-respect, nurtured from never having met a stronger opponent among his peers, made it impossible for him to accept being humiliated by Aoto in front of everyone.

In his mind, uncontrollable images of himself being defeated by Aoto with a single sword strike, just like Morioka and Tsuzaki, added significantly to the frustration weighing on his chest.

As his frustration intensified, another emotion emerged in Niitsuma Kan’s mind—hatred.

Hatred towards Aoto.

—Damn it... If only Tachibana Aoto hadn’t participated in this competition!

—As long as he didn’t participate, the victory in this competition would have certainly been his!

—Damn it! Damn it!

Niitsuma Kan irritably turned over in bed again, then kicked the already foot-bound quilt even further away.

—Isn’t there anything...any way to defeat Tachibana Aoto...?

He doesn’t want to lose.

Whether for self-serving reasons or for his own pride, Niitsuma Kan couldn’t bear to lose to someone coming from an unknown dojo who only rose to fame in the past two months!

Kraa...

At that moment, Niitsuma Kan suddenly heard the sound of a window being pushed open—"kraa."