Chapter 8: The chest

The Ronin's motives become curious.

Homashi opened the small wood and lacquer chest and his eyes widened as he saw the pile of gold coins, the magistrate stood behind him looking sour. The old warrior counted the coins, twenty five pieces of gold marked by the mint of the Rensho clan. The twenty five flat oval coins were worth a fortune, indeed they were enough to feed a small village well for an entire year. His words faltered in disbelief “What was a ronin doing with this much money?”

Katsukana Yomine nodded “Surely I do not know master Homashi, but he had travel papers written to travel to the capital. I was told a merchant named Besho traveled through the town this week and met with several ronin. All those ronin immediately began traveling to the west towards Hikyo. I have dispatched messages to our lord and have sent men to capture the merchant for questioning. Sadly however, I am a bit shorthanded at the moment so he continues to elude me.”

“Someone is buying up ronin, this is not uncommon to the south but within our peaceful lands it is exceedingly strange. I would say a minor house is looking to bolster its strength, or a merchant is looking for bodyguards, but neither would have the money to use this casually.” Homashi, rubbed a calloused hand upon his forehead. “Perhaps the Ameji are trying for another offensive?”

The magistrate smiled lightly “I confess I do not know how to lead men to war, but I would say sending messengers to gather men in my enemy's own territory might give one away. This may be a red herring, the Rensho clan wants to drive enemies from its shores and the conflicts upon Yasama are still aflame. Perhaps they are simply building forces in our own lands. Though any of the great southern clans would have the money to hire capable men at such rates.”

Homashi nodded at the words, though they did not ring true, enough ronin flocked of their own accord to the south in hopes of gaining position in one of the warring houses. He nodded to the magistrate “I will trust you to handle things appropriately here, but it would be in our lord's best interest if you took this Besho and questioned him personally. There are greater matters to attend to, but I will tell the Taeshimo daimyo personally of your report.”

Yomine bowed his head low “of course Homashi-sama, thank you for your counsel in these matters.”