Adventure of Miyamoto Mifune 1

The room holds its breath. The wax-sealed bundle lies by Miyamoto Mifune's feet, and every mercenary eye keeps slipping back to it instead of his blade.

The Tavern Owner backs toward the rear with his daughter, one arm out as a shield. He keeps his body between her and the men by the door.

One mercenary shifts first, a half step toward the floorboards, then stops when Mifune's sword angle follows him.

The owner pulls her through the back passage, but the movement breaks the mercenaries' nerve. One reaches for the bundle, another for the door, and the smallest gap in their line opens toward Mifune.

Steel starts to come free of scabbards as the hunt turns, at last, back onto Mifune.

Miyamoto Mifune cuts in low, and the nearest mercenary jerks back as steel flashes across his front.

One blade knocks aside a half-drawn sword, and the man behind it stumbles into a stool with a hard crash.

Mifune follows through without pause, driving the second mercenary off his line and opening the doorway wider.

The wax-sealed bundle skids under the table edge as boots scramble around it, no one daring to stoop for long.

For a breath, the mercenaries are broken into separate targets, and Mifune stands between them and the back passage.

Steel answers the opening. Mifune steps through the gap he has made, and the first man folds at the waist, dropping hard to the floorboards.

The second mercenary surges in, but Mifune turns the blade in a tight arc, and that charge ends in a spill of boots and breath.

A third blade rises too late. Mifune cuts it from the man’s hand, then drives him back into the overturned bench.

The fourth mercenary hesitates over the wax-sealed bundle, and that half-second is fatal.

Mifune closes the distance before the man can stoop, and the man drops beside the table without another strike.

Silence breaks open around the tavern. Three bodies lie still or stunned, and the last sword slips from a shaking hand.

The wax-sealed bundle remains under the table edge, untouched, while the back passage stands clear and waiting.

Mifune lowers into the gap beneath the table and hooks two fingers under the wax-sealed bundle.

The packet scrapes free of the floorboards and comes into his hand, sealed and intact.

Behind him, one mercenary pushes up on an elbow, blinking hard at the sudden quiet.

The tavern owner holds back near the passage, one arm around his daughter, both of them staring at the bundle now in Mifune's grasp.

The fallen swordsman’s shout snaps the room back into motion, with the back passage still open behind Mifune.

Mifune rises from the crouch and turns the blade in one clean line.

The wounded mercenary lunges up too late, and Mifune’s cut drops him flat across the boards.

The room goes still except for the rattle of a settling sword and the tavern owner’s sharp breath.

The back passage stands open behind the family, dark and waiting, while the wax-sealed bundle stays clenched in Mifune’s hand.

From the floor, the mercenary’s eyes track to the bundle as he spits blood and forces one last warning through his teeth.

Mifune hooks a thumb under the wax seam and breaks it open. The seal splits with a soft crack, and folded cloth spills into his palm.

Inside lies a strip of parchment, thin as skin, marked with tight lines and a temple seal pressed at the corner.

The tavern owner takes one step from the passage, then stops short when he sees the writing. The wounded mercenary twists on the boards, trying to reach for the fallen sword, but his arm slips uselessly.

A bead of hot wax drops onto Mifune’s knuckles, stinging him as the room leans in around the opened bundle.