[The person who can make a person who has sinned and become an evil ghost return to human life at the last moment is not a ghost who beheads a person, nor a god of death who kills many souls, only the one who cuts off the soul and saves that soul. No matter how many heads of sinners are beheaded, the heart of redemption cannot be lost—this is the teaching of Ikeda Yeemon, the predecessor of Gongyi executioner.
The technique of "washing the soul" that we use during execution is the embodiment of this spirit. In order not to make people's heads fall and get dirty, we just take their lives and carefully send their souls to the sky... After being adopted by my master, as a public servant, I have always followed the teachings and punished countless people with the sword in my hand. sinner.
But that day, when I had to execute a master who was found to have released a death row prisoner without permission, I... suddenly didn't understand. What is sin? What are sanctions? Because that sinner to me is a "law" general existence. If you can't forget everything and turn into an evil spirit, you can't cut it down, and you can't make the most important person return to being a human when he dies.
I gave up my life not for the Ikeda family, but because I knew that I was the devil who deserved to be punished. Please tell me... My master, is he really a sinner who committed a heinous crime and deserved death?]
The day after the meeting with General Tokugawa Shigeru, Hiimura Kenshin started the general's escort work as promised, while Liz left Kamiya Dojo early and returned to the "God of Fortune". Ikeda Chaoemon, who was taken in for one night, finally told her past and explained why she would find a stranger to help her.
Liz, who was sitting on the sofa, said with a listless look similar to Afu Rabbit: "In short, she is an executioner girl who has been instilled in eccentric beliefs and has no idea of the nature of her work. During the execution, because of the father-daughter relationship, he did not show the strength he should have, which caused the adoptive father's head to fall to the ground, so he began to question his own beliefs, and finally felt that he was guilty rather than die?"
"Why did it become like that!?" shouted towards Ememon.
"Huh? Where did I make a mistake?" Liz asked without answering.
"All!... Big, probably..." When Chaoemon wanted to enumerate the explanation, he suddenly found that he couldn't say anything, and he couldn't even say a little bit, and his fair face turned red.
"The teachings of your Ikeda family~" Liz began to try to solve the psychological problems of the death girl who was looking for him to make mistakes. Of course, he started with a mental blow as always, "I'm sorry, you can ask so many people present. , who can accept that set of rhetoric that is very cool, but the content is comparable to religious teachings~"
"Murdering is killing, how does it turn into saving souls?" Zhang Jing said bluntly.
"It's boring, it doesn't matter if your head falls or not." Murong Jiu said this a little rudely.
"... It is not the soul of the sinner that is truly redeemed, but the soul of the executioner." Wang Yuanji shook his head.
"Can this really be called 'redemption'..." Liu Mengli sighed.
"The soul is not purified by death." Sakuya's answer was much more professional.
"The knife cuts fast, and people suffer less when they die. Toemon, your work is great..." Nightshade, who was burned to death in the sword-casting furnace, tried to encourage him.
Chaoemon didn't say a word, just lowered her head and clenched her fists. Growing up in Ikeda, her values were destined to be somewhat different from ordinary people. Zhang Jing and others represented ordinary people's viewpoints, but she could not accept them.
Liz didn't care, and continued: "Besides, the executioner is the executioner, just the person who executes it. Why do you want to take the blame of the legislators and other law enforcement officers on your back? Have you figured out the content of your work?"
"The content of the work?" Chaoemon asked in confusion.
"Take your adoptive father as an example," this example is really not a random choice, it is clearly aimed at the psychological shadow of Kaoemon, "Assume that his crime was 'insulting the shogun behind his back', and the law at that time was 'insulting the shogun' If the man dies', then he has to die; but assuming the law at the time was 'fines for insulting generals', then he didn't have to die - yes, 'laws' were made by people, including your adoptive father In addition to their own actions, their deaths are also affected by the laws made by the legislators of the shogunate. Whether the crime is heinous or not sometimes depends on whether you look at it from the shogunate's point of view or from an individual's point of view."
"...!" Chaoemon finally remembered the last question he asked when he was thinking about it, and also understood what point Liz was conveying.
Liz clapped his hands and woke up facing Eemon with a loud noise, "Also, the police who arrested the criminals and interrogated the criminals, compared to you executioners, they are the culprits who brought the criminals to death. It's just the surface, the dirtiest part of the job. Even if the criminals turn into serious revenge, they won't give priority to your troubles."
"Then, what exactly are our Ikeda family standing by!? What did my father die for!" Under Liz's "Flying Swordsman Ryuzushin", the faith towards Eemon began to crack.
"Glory, wealth, status, and clansmen? Don't the three words 'Ikeda family' explain everything? And the teaching you said at the beginning." Besides material things, there are spiritual beliefs.
"!!!" Chaoemon easily accepted this point of view. Isn't she wandering outside on the charge of killing her adoptive father just for the sake of her family? It is normal for people who grew up in a big family to have a strong family concept in their hearts.
"Okay, that's it for the immature executioner's psychotherapy," Liz felt that he had already said what he had to say, and there was nothing he could do when he was thinking of committing suicide, "I have other things I want to talk to you now. inquire about."
"...What, what...?" It was obvious that Toemon had not completely escaped from the previous topic.
"Cut off other people's heads, take other people's lives, but still keep the head from falling off and heal the skin back. That's the 'soul wash' of your Ikeda family, right?" Liz also took a look at the fun, it was really divine Regardless of the technology, the key is that this is pure swordsmanship, not mixed with any abilities.
"Now there are people all over Edo who were killed by the method of 'soul washing'. After investigation, they were all those who fought against foreigners who participated in the Battle of Sister Guhara, which defeated the fierce general Ichihashi Qi Donggong. People, but now suddenly found that they have been assassinated in the street - then, who else in the Ikeda family will 'wash their souls'?"