Saburou, Herald of the Kitsune Clan

The goblin attack took Captain Saburou’s party by surprise. Despite reinforced patrols, watchtowers, and the jungle carefully cut around the camp, the green savages managed to get close even to seasoned soldiers unnoticed. The earth itself seemed to take their side, allowing them to emerge from under the cover of rotting leaves in the most unexpected places. And this time, the afternoon calm exploded with the wild cries of the attackers. The goblins sneaked up silently, but they entered into battle very loudly, which often unbalanced the young kitsune. With an inarticulate screech, they jumped out of early inconspicuous holes in the ground, pounced on foxes, cut and stabbed in the back, chopped off heads and tore out hearts. Without honor, without dignity. The damned savages slaughtered a dozen kitsune warriors until the last of them were able to overcome surprise with skill and discipline. Captain Saburou wiped his katana on the grass and started counting casualties when…

A spear flew out of the forest and slashed across the side plates of Saburou’s armour. Following the spear, a war-painted goblin flew out with a wild chirp. Where there is one goblin, there are hundreds. Second attack wave. The underbrush spewed out more and more new inhabitants of the continent, they crowded out the kitsune exhausted in the recent battle, they strayed into a kind of battle formation, defended the backs of their comrades, fought off spears and darts with katanas, yari and nodachi. But this time, all the training and experience of Saburo’s squad were powerless against the number of goblins.

And then the captain decided to break through.

– Follow me, fox children! For the glory of Princess Fumiko!!! – With this cry, the captain intercepted the sword in an offensive position and rushed to the enemy. On the run, he summoned a spirit helper, and the goblins, obviously not expecting such a turn, hesitated. This allowed the foxes to break through the encirclement. Like a kamikaze – the divine wind – they swept through the crowds of goblins, not paying attention to the wounds, not looking back at the falling comrades. Saburou fell into a frenzy akin to monastic meditation. Parry, strike, parry, strike, parry, strike… The goblin blood made him look like the evil oni from nightmares. Something streaked across his face, one eye stopped seeing. But Saburou was not up to it. He was killing and did not been letting himself and his comrades be killed.

They broke through. Losing only half a dozen warriors. They made their way through the hordes of enemies, ran through the forest and broke out to the sea, where a ship was waiting, ready to sail to the Sunrise Isles. Saburou collapsed onto the deck like a cut bamboo and closed his eyes. More precisely, already one eye.

– General! Get up, general! – The scream penetrated directly into the brain, irritated the ears, already exhausted by the explosion and battle cries. Why General? – thought Saburou, – I’m the captain. And why is the deck so soft?

– General Saburou! Reconnaissance has returned, General, Princess Fumiko urgently needs you to her place! – the sailor did not let up.

The dream was in no hurry to let go, leaving a tart taste of goblin blood in his mouth, and the cries of the wounded and dying in his ears. But the princess demanded… she didn’t ask, she demanded…

Saburou to herself, which means that reconnaissance brought something really important. The old fox opened his eye, sent the messenger away with a gesture, and began to prepare for the palace. The cleanest, albeit worn at the bottom, kimono. Clean eye patch. Leather armor shell. A faithful sword in a simple scabbard. The long hair on the nape is braided into neat braids, the tails are carefully combed out. In this form, General Saburou appeared before Princess Fumiko, the head of the Scarlet Forest clan, who had recently enlisted the support of the goddess Inari herself.

At the throne of the princess, a small fox with a huge blade danced on the spot. Shun. Saburou had heard a lot about this frisky scoundrel, able to run through the enemy camp in a minute. Fumiko herself was clearly out of sorts.
– General Saburou-san, you are long.
– I beg your pardon, Fumiko-hime. Old fox, old bones.
– Your old bones, General, will soon find a use. Shun!

The little fox ran up to Saburou and handed him a tube of papers. Upon closer examination, the papers turned out to be maps that showed the location of the gaijin bases on the coast of the Continent.

– The islands are weakened, general. Foreigners are infiltrating our forests, plundering coastal villages, and now, apparently, they are preparing for a large-scale offensive. And who, if not us – the Scarlet Forest clan – to come to the defense of the Sunrise Isles? Get ready for new battles, Saburou-san.

General Saburou bowed silently, turned around, and walked towards the exit of the palace. Well, new battles are usually not much different from the old ones, and the old kitsune liked to fight in reality much more than in dreams.