Because there's a hill, so it's a hill!
Even if there's a river, don't pay it any mind!
Hey, don't sing that weird song so loudly. It's embarrassing.
Because there's a hill, so it's...
What are you saying, Aisha?
When you're walking up a hill, you should sing to keep the bears away.
That's what Grandpa told me.
That's right. If a bear suddenly ran into Aisha on a hill like this, it would be scared.
Yeah. It'd be a pity for the bear to come across me here...
Eh, why?!
Ah, what? Is there something on my face?
Nope. I just think you're more interesting than Kousonsan-dono, after all.
How mean, deceiving me like that.
We didn't really deceive you.
But even though you said you'd show me the shortcut to the village,
you brought me to this place.
I'll show you the shortcut. Not to the village though, but to heaven.
Heaven? Does that mean you're going to kill me?
Wrong. We're gonna make you feel so good that you'll be in seventh heaven.
The heaven you're going to take her to seems like a very nice place.
Of course it... Eh?
Who are you?!
Fear this proclamation.
Maybe you didn't notice, since this girl isn't a rare beauty like the rumors say.
Hey!
But she's the black-haired bandit hunter!
Bullies are unforgivable!
I hate people like you, who say inelegant things.
I'm sorry to say that I can't take you to heaven, but I'll send you to hell with this Seiryuuengetsutou!
Do it if you can!
We are...
...going to...
...hell!
Serves you right!
Thank you very much for saving me.
You must all be really strong, to defeat those scary-looking people so quickly.
No, no, you're exaggerating.
Ah, I haven't introduced myself yet.
My name is... Tou... Tou... Toutou!
Your name is similar to mine. It's a good name.
R-Really?
My name is Kan'u.
My name is Chouhi.
Your name is?
Chouun.
What do you say, Toutou-dono?
If you're heading to the village, would you like to come along with us?
Can I?
It's no big deal. There's a saying:
"Just as it's reassuring to have traveling companions, it's... it's..."
The second half of the phrase should be "yo wa nasake" (世は情け); instead, Chouun says "yowasete nani wo suru tsumori?" (酔わせて何をする積もり？).
"What're you trying to do by getting me drunk?"
That's right. That's it.
Wrong!
Besides, it doesn't even make sense.
Yue, Yue, where are you?
That girl just keeps on sneaking out.
Geez, she had to do it when we're so busy.
Ah, General Kayuu.
Kayuu (華雄) is also known as Hua Xiong in Chinese. Ka (華) is the surname, Yuu (雄) the given name.
Oh, Kaku, eh?
Why the gloomy face?
Yue... no, Toutaku-sama, is gone again.
Which means she's doing that again, eh?
Traveling incognito to see the lives of the common people...
Yeah.
My, my. What a bothersome governor-general, neglecting her work to take a stroll.
It's not really a bad thing to get in touch with the citizens directly and hear them out!
Then it's all right, isn't it?
It's not!
Lately, we've used all our manpower to defeat the bandits in rural areas, so public order around here has deteriorated.
Besides, people aren't happy, since the price of everything has gone up.
And somehow, a man-eating bear has appeared on the hill!
Kaku, you'll die young if you worry so much.
General Kayuu, you'll live a long time since you don't seem to have any worries.
Well, that's because I've been training my body!
Eh, a monster?
Yes. One day, a white-feathered arrow was shot into the door of the village chief's house.
Tied to the arrow was a letter that said,
"Have food ready in the temple outside the village tonight.
If not, disasters will befall the village."
At first, they thought it was a bad joke and just ignored it.
But when morning came, a huge rock that might have been carried down from the hill suddenly appeared in front of the door.
Oh?
A human could not possibly have lifted that rock.
A monster must have done it.
Because of that, the villagers hurried and got food ready in the temple that night.
After that, an arrow with a demanding letter arrived roughly every seven days.
How strange.
However, that's just a rumor I heard in the city.
I want to confirm whether or not it's true.
But Toutou-dono, why are you doing that?
I don't think it's something an ordinary girl would do on a whim.
Eh, that's because... u-um...
What's that?
This is definitely the rock that the monster left.
Honorable Village Chief, the rumor about a monster appearing is true after all?
Yes. We were at our wit's end and tried appealing to the government officials.
But they said it's unlikely that a monster would appear, and told us not to bother them.
We ended up getting scolded instead.
What a terrible thing to do...
Therefore, we asked the young villagers, who are confident in their strength,
as well as traveling swordsmen, to exterminate the monster.
But all of them ran back with their tails between their legs.
W-Was the monster that scary?
Even though no one saw it clearly, someone said it was ten meters tall, with red, glowing eyes.
Someone else said it had sharp fangs and horns.
Another person said that its whole body was covered in thick hair, and that it had a scary roar.
What on earth will happen to this village?
Now is the time for us to make an appearance.
Eh?!
Hm? What's wrong?
I thought you girls would be the ones to suggest it.
Can we ask this favor of you?
But the enemy is an unidentified monster!
These women warriors are so strong that they defeated the scary bandits instantly.
I'm sure they'll be confident too, even if they're facing a monster.
Oh. Please do, then.
N-No, you can't just decide for us like that...
Th-That's right. It's inconvenient for me, too.
You can't?
I'm not saying I can't.
Please. The villagers are worried.
Please.
I-If that's the case...
I'm glad to hear it! You're willing to accept, right?
Ah, no, that...
Thank you very much.
Both of you seem to be trembling a bit. Are you scared?
I-I'm not scared!
Yeah. I-I'm trembling... with excitement!
Oh, really?
What? Have you got a problem with that?
Nope, not really.
What's wrong? Did something appear?
Nope.
I'm thinking that even though the moon is quite beautiful, there are too many clouds.
What, so that's what it's about!
Wh-What is it this time?
When we were having dumplings at the tea house yesterday, did you eat one more than I did?
Well, I probably did, but you don't need to remember that now...
You did that on purpose, didn't you?
Everything is here.
We'll leave it to you, then.
O-Okay.
Good luck exterminating the monster.
J-Just leave it to me!
It does seem like something is going to appear.
Well then, we'll wait here until the monster appears.
Y-Yeah.
Now that I think about it, it happened on a moonless night, just like tonight.
I started walking, trying to cross the hill before it got dark,
but perhaps I took a wrong turn, because I couldn't find any houses, anywhere.
Just when I started thinking I had no choice but to camp out,
a lukewarm wind, out of place on a spring night, blew in from somewhere.
After sleeping for an undetermined amount of time, I heard a crunching sound, as though something was being scratched.
I woke up with a start.
At first, I thought the sound was mice in the ceiling, but after listening to it very carefully,
it seemed that the sound came from inside a brand-new coffin.
Even though I had a bad feeling about it, somehow I felt attracted to it, and I put my hand on the coffin's lid.
When I nervously tried to open it...
Oops, did I overdo it a bit?
Hey, Aisha, Lin Lin.
Wake up...
I-It's...
...a monster.
You finally appeared.
You showed your true self, eh?
Unlike the two who passed out over there, I won't be scared by that kind of thing.
Wh-What's with that heavy hit?
This guy is strong, but...
What? It wasn't a monster?
Yeah. That was certainly a human.
Damn it for taking me in.
But since we know that now, there's nothing to be scared of anymore.
So before you knew that, you really were scared.
Ah, no, that's...
A-Anyway, since it's not a monster, I will definitely punish her next time I see her.
I'll beat her to a pulp!
It's true that she's not a monster, but she's as strong as a monster.
As strong as a monster?
You didn't need to come with us all the way out here.
You could've waited for us in the village.
Since the enemy isn't a monster, there might be a reason for her actions.
If that's the case, I want to hear her out—
Found it.
Those are probably her footprints.
They continue in that direction.
Let's go take a look!
Yeah.
Hey, look at that.
Yeah. That place is probably her home.
Step back!
Okay!
Be careful. It's her.
You're the two who passed out so woefully yesterday.
W-We failed last night, but we won't this time.
I'll make you realize my strength!
Since you're not a monster, tell us your name.
Ryofu. Housen.
Ryofu (呂布) is also known as Lu Bu in Chinese. Ryo (呂) is the surname, Fu (布) the given name, Housen (奉先) the courtesy name.
This is the first time I've faced an opponent like this.
Wh-What's with her?
That's why I said she's as strong as a monster.
Watch out!
No, that tickles.
You're good people.
I don't fight good people.
The food you made the villagers prepare was to feed the dog?
I tried to earn money for food, but...
E-Excuse me...
Welcome... back, goshujin-sama.
Um, I'll have fried rice and dumplings.
The same for me, but for the fried rice, I want a large serving.
I want Szechuan-style noodles and a spring roll.
I want twice-cooked pork with white rice, and egg drop soup.
Four orders of ramen.
You're totally hopeless.
You're not one to judge.
But you don't need that much food to feed one puppy, do you?
There's not just one.
Y-You do need it, after all.
They're all friends.
All of them were either abandoned or injured.
I felt sorry for them and couldn't just leave them alone.
Ah, Yue!
Oh, Ei-chan.
"Oh, Ei-chan," my foot!
Do you know how worried I was before I found out where you were?
I'm sorry.
Listening directly to the common people is a noble thing to do, but if you'd run into danger...
If that's the case, I'm fine.
These women warriors saved me this time.
That means you did run into danger?
Yeah, just a little.
Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt, but who on earth are you?
My name is Kaku. My courtesy name is Bunwa.
Kaku (賈駆) is also known as Jia Yi in Chinese. Ka (賈) is the surname, Ku (駆) the given name, Bunwa (文和) the courtesy name, Ei (詠) the mana.
I serve under Toutaku-sama, the governor-general here.
Toutaku (董卓) is also known as Dong Zhuo in Chinese. Tou (董) is the surname, Taku (卓) the given name, Yue (月) the mana.
Eh?!
So, what about the monster incident?
It's already resolved.
Ah, I see.
Everyone, sorry to have kept you waiting.
I see. So that's what this was about.
What Ryofu-san did was indeed a bad thing.
But it was all for the sake of injured and abandoned dogs.
She didn't do it for malicious reasons.
She removed the rock from the door right away, and she'll make amends as best she can.
Right, Ryofu-san?
No, I understand. She's already apologized about it in person, too.
I'll try to explain things to the villagers myself.
It would be a great help if you would do that.
By the way, Ei-chan,
the government office ignored the complaint about the monster's appearance.
Um, that...
Toutaku-sama, that's already in the past.
No, it's not.
No matter how trivial a matter is, it's the responsibility of government to treat the citizens' complaints seriously.
Yes, Ma'am.
I'll issue stern orders to the government officials in order to prevent an incident like this from happening again.
That's good.
And... can I keep those dogs at my place?
You mean... all those dogs?
Ei-chan, the other day you said that of late, the city's public order had deteriorated
because there aren't enough soldiers to keep guard, right?
So let's train these dogs to help guard the city.
How's that? Isn't it a good idea?
Well, they might be able to keep thieves away if they're trained properly.
That's not a problem.
Ryofu-san, can we ask you to train the dogs?
Wait, Yue. I didn't say it was okay to keep the dogs!
I can't?
Please?
Er, nah, that...
Fine, we'll keep them.
Ei-chan, I love you.
Wait, Yue, what's with that "I love you"?
I-I'm telling you, though, this is the only time I'll agree to such an unreasonable request.
I won't really ever...
Wait... what?
She must be trying to show her appreciation.
You can just say it in words!
Actually, don't cling to me!
First up, Toutaku. I'm going to be a human candle.
I'm going to stick a wick into my navel, and then I'll light it on fire—
Wait, Yue, you can't perform such a dangerous parlor trick!
Next up, Ryofu. I'm going to stay quiet for thirty seconds.
That will cause a broadcasting issue!
Next episode, Koihime Musou, Sixth Feast:
Chouhi, Koumei Compete With Each Other.
General Kayuu, why are you doing the preview without permission?!
I'm really going to die young, so at least let me do the preview!
Uh, you're right.