Chapter 28: That Shapeshifter, Doubting

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If the shogun had ulterior motives in assigned this task to her, he would not reveal them to her so easily. Rin would gain nothing from this conversation with Commissioner Inoue.

She ignored him and thought about Yuzuru’s question. It seemed like a strange question to ask, but Yuzuru was no ordinary person.

To most people, he appeared to be a useless samurai who couldn’t wield a katana and spent his time tinkering with mechanical contraptions like a commoner.

However, he had a fighting prowess that could rival Yoka’s strength.

Yuzuru had a unique mind, Rin recognised that from the moment she met him.

Sure enough, he had a reason for asking this. ‘I think the culprit didn’t use a sword to kill his victims. He used a gun instead.’

A stunned silence filled the room.

The idea that a gun was used instead of a sword had not occurred to any of them.

‘How can that be?’ Nobuyuki blurted out. ‘A gun would have made a lot of noise.’

Guns had been widely used in Japan since the Battle of Sekigahara, but because they were cumbersome and difficult to acquire (due to their foreign origins), most samurai preferred their katana.

Furthermore, guns were not silent the way a sword was; a gunshot in the dead of night would have been as loud as a cannon blast.

Who would carry out kataki-uchi with such a noisy, cumbersome weapon?

The Imperial Commissioner smiled patronisingly. ‘The other guards would have heard it go off.’

Yuzuru grinned. ‘Not if they’ve found a way to make it silent!’

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]