During their time at the 'wedding', Roku had revealed to Sousuke a dire thing of concern. A slave trade being present in Wind Country. It was the one thing that the First Men had worked so hard to put an end to. Slavery was something of the past. It should have been buried there, but no it was still present. The Daimyo had done his best to hide it, but luckily there was ... it wasn't slack. No Sousuke would not describe it as slack, but there were patterns that were there. It took a great deal of time to put two and two together, but Sousuke was able to figure out something.
Sousuke had deployed a contingent of Rangers into the lowlands of Wind Country. They had observed caravans, small ones going into Soragakure. At first the thought was that it was a members of the Farmer's Union sending their goods into Sorgakure, but Sousuke was able to confirm otherwise. He had some connections to the Farmer's Union since he had 'pushed back the Jungle' as it were. Farmer Union caravans had a particular marking to them which was a symbol of a shovel with a tree. These caravans were not marked. There was a guard with them, military in nature. One of the other outlying theories Sousuke had, was that the Daimyo was dealing with Warlords. Allowing them to keep their lands but at a cost of lives, or was it a tribute? It made sense, but the long end game was something he was not quite sure of. The only thing Sousuke could come up with was ... world domination.
Sousuke watched one of the caravans on their way to Sorgakure. He watched from afar, beneath a veil of ebonite scale mail with a hood. Sousuke had learned a lesson from Roku, and from the yellow journalism that was used against him at Soon's. If he was going to fight and play against the Daimyo he would have to do it through different means. Fight the Daimyo head on, and lose on multiple fronts. Sungakure did not need to have its reputation further tarnished. That was something that needed to be restored.
What made this travel so different for this caravan? Well, having studied its routes, Sousuke had something planned. Journeymen were knowing for building weapons and homesteads. This was something else, a different sort of venture. Sousuke would watch as the caravan inched close and closer to it. Sousuke had figured out the weight of these carts. He watched as it took the usual paths, the turns, everything.
Eight metallic legs sprung from the ground and closed around the caravan making it immobile. A giant spider trapping a fly. The guards in question sprang around the caravan looking at what had exactly occurred. The trap that Sousuke had created was buried underneath. It worked based off of a trigger, which Sousuke had on his person. The metallic legs that were now entangling the caravan was perhaps not Sousuke's greatest invention, but it was something that did its job well. He would summon his insect contract. Joou would strike from the sky knocking several guards out and poisoning the others. Nothing leathal but it simply them to sleep. Sousuke too would descend upon the caravan and begin a speed strike taking out the rest of the guards. He left them alive. He was curious whether or not they would be alive later in time, but for the time being he would offer them this small mercy. They would receive none at the hands of the true employer. That was assuming that their true employer was the Daimyo or a member of the Sovereign. Always a possibility and it was neither. Perhaps there was another player in the game that Sousuke was not aware of.
Dispatching the guards were easy, what was harder? The cargo. Children and teenagers of both genders. There was maybe twenty of them? They were in chains and manacles. Crying. There was plenty of that. Most of them were panicked. After all giant metallic spider legs popping out of the ground and locking down your transport? Quite frightening. Sousuke relocated them, but had Ken remove his trap. The giant beetle carried them back to Sungakure. It took quite a bit of effort. "No. I'm not going to hurt you."<i></i> That had been said many times. "Yes I'm wearing black. Black does not equate necessarily to evil or bad intentions."<i></i> That was also said a few times. "Do you need me to carry the lot of you? We need to go."<i></i> That was said loudly. "If crying is going to make you feel better, then okay do so. I suppose that is an appropriate emotional response."<i></i> Sousuke was not very good at making people feel better. "Tell me about your parents. Tell me where you came from. Let's go relocate your home."<i></i> That caused a few odd looks, but generated some good answers. These children, for a lack of a better term, were villagers. The common folk. Unlike the captives from Soon's they had yet to be programmed. They very much wanted to go home, which was a problem now. Home for them was compromised, and so Sousuke would set up a new home for these children and their families.
Judori once took Sand village underground. What was Sousuke doing now? Something of the same, he was relocated people. He was populating Sand, but it was better to move these people from their homes then allowing lightning to strike twice. Not that he thought it would happen again. It could but he was not going to take that risk.
Sousuke had deployed a contingent of Rangers into the lowlands of Wind Country. They had observed caravans, small ones going into Soragakure. At first the thought was that it was a members of the Farmer's Union sending their goods into Sorgakure, but Sousuke was able to confirm otherwise. He had some connections to the Farmer's Union since he had 'pushed back the Jungle' as it were. Farmer Union caravans had a particular marking to them which was a symbol of a shovel with a tree. These caravans were not marked. There was a guard with them, military in nature. One of the other outlying theories Sousuke had, was that the Daimyo was dealing with Warlords. Allowing them to keep their lands but at a cost of lives, or was it a tribute? It made sense, but the long end game was something he was not quite sure of. The only thing Sousuke could come up with was ... world domination.
Sousuke watched one of the caravans on their way to Sorgakure. He watched from afar, beneath a veil of ebonite scale mail with a hood. Sousuke had learned a lesson from Roku, and from the yellow journalism that was used against him at Soon's. If he was going to fight and play against the Daimyo he would have to do it through different means. Fight the Daimyo head on, and lose on multiple fronts. Sungakure did not need to have its reputation further tarnished. That was something that needed to be restored.
What made this travel so different for this caravan? Well, having studied its routes, Sousuke had something planned. Journeymen were knowing for building weapons and homesteads. This was something else, a different sort of venture. Sousuke would watch as the caravan inched close and closer to it. Sousuke had figured out the weight of these carts. He watched as it took the usual paths, the turns, everything.
*CLANK*
Eight metallic legs sprung from the ground and closed around the caravan making it immobile. A giant spider trapping a fly. The guards in question sprang around the caravan looking at what had exactly occurred. The trap that Sousuke had created was buried underneath. It worked based off of a trigger, which Sousuke had on his person. The metallic legs that were now entangling the caravan was perhaps not Sousuke's greatest invention, but it was something that did its job well. He would summon his insect contract. Joou would strike from the sky knocking several guards out and poisoning the others. Nothing leathal but it simply them to sleep. Sousuke too would descend upon the caravan and begin a speed strike taking out the rest of the guards. He left them alive. He was curious whether or not they would be alive later in time, but for the time being he would offer them this small mercy. They would receive none at the hands of the true employer. That was assuming that their true employer was the Daimyo or a member of the Sovereign. Always a possibility and it was neither. Perhaps there was another player in the game that Sousuke was not aware of.
Dispatching the guards were easy, what was harder? The cargo. Children and teenagers of both genders. There was maybe twenty of them? They were in chains and manacles. Crying. There was plenty of that. Most of them were panicked. After all giant metallic spider legs popping out of the ground and locking down your transport? Quite frightening. Sousuke relocated them, but had Ken remove his trap. The giant beetle carried them back to Sungakure. It took quite a bit of effort. "No. I'm not going to hurt you."<i></i> That had been said many times. "Yes I'm wearing black. Black does not equate necessarily to evil or bad intentions."<i></i> That was also said a few times. "Do you need me to carry the lot of you? We need to go."<i></i> That was said loudly. "If crying is going to make you feel better, then okay do so. I suppose that is an appropriate emotional response."<i></i> Sousuke was not very good at making people feel better. "Tell me about your parents. Tell me where you came from. Let's go relocate your home."<i></i> That caused a few odd looks, but generated some good answers. These children, for a lack of a better term, were villagers. The common folk. Unlike the captives from Soon's they had yet to be programmed. They very much wanted to go home, which was a problem now. Home for them was compromised, and so Sousuke would set up a new home for these children and their families.
Judori once took Sand village underground. What was Sousuke doing now? Something of the same, he was relocated people. He was populating Sand, but it was better to move these people from their homes then allowing lightning to strike twice. Not that he thought it would happen again. It could but he was not going to take that risk.