Chapter 65 - Hashirama
Hashirama or Hash was one of the three spirit realm experts in Mad Saints other than Kuo. He was 27-year-old and was an orphan that grew up on the streets in a small town. But he always had a strong moral character and even when things were bleak and he was starving to death, not once did he lower himself to steal from others or bring harm to anyone. It was not that he wasn't capable of it but he followed a simple philosophy. "Never do something to others that you wouldn't want to be done to you or your loved ones".
At the age of 8, he got a job working as a "guard" at a meat shop run by a very nice couple. They had one daughter and obviously, they didn't need any help guarding anything but they wanted to help this poor boy out so they made up a position just for him since he completely refused to take any handouts or charity.
For four years things were perfect. Hashirama stayed with the couple and had become a part of their family, but alas, all good things must come to an end.
A bigshot merchant form the city moved into their town and with his gang of hooligans he forced all the business owners to pay him a monthly stipend which was called the "Protection Fund".
The only protection this bought them was from the man himself and any other matters were not his problem.
After the town was hit by a mini-beast horde and many of the businesses were damaged but the merchant still wanted his monthly payments and beat up anyone that refused. The couple had had enough and banded together with the others to form a local union to protect themselves.
They sent a representative to the nearby military camp to report the wrongdoings but he was intercepted by the merchant's men and tortured and killed.
To make an example out of them, the merchant locked the family in their own home and burned it to the ground.
The next morning Hashirama went to work as usual but was met with a huge crowd. Confused, he made his way through the crowd and saw the ashes that were left of the couple's home.
"No no no no no please no," Still hoping for a miracle he clawed his way through the rubble and found the remains of the family.
The couple had surrounded their daughter to protect her from the fire. Their bodies were burned to a crisp but by some miracle, their daughter was not hurt by the fire at all. Unfortunately, she died to due asphyxiation.
Everyone the coupled called friends abandoned them in their time of need. They screamed and begged for help, there was no way that their neighbors didn't hear them but still not a single person came forward.
Even now that they had moved on, no one dared to even get close to their corpses out of fear of the same happening to their own families.
The same girl who called him 'brother' yesterday was lying dead in his arms today. Not a single blemish could be seen on her body as if the fire itself was afraid to touch her. As the others watched, he alone buried the couple and their daughter who was a little younger than even himself.
"If I wasn't here, how long would they be left here to rot before someone got the courage to bury them?" he mumbled. For three days and three nights, he stayed in front of their graves.
"I am sorry. I was supposed to protect you and when you needed me the most I let you down. Please, forgive me," he bowed to them one last time and disappeared.
6 months later the merchant's mansion and businesses were attacked. Every single person even remotely associated with him had their arms and legs cut off and then burned alive in front of the place where the couples shop used to be.
The news reached the military camp and they sent a platoon to investigate but to their surprise, a young 12-13-year-old boy met them outside the town.
"Why are you here?" he asked while looking at the sky, almost lost in thought.
"Move! We are here to investigate the crime that took place yesterday," one of the soldiers stepped forward and said authoritatively.
"Six months ago another crime occurred. A family of three was burned aline. Why did you not come to 'investigate' then?"
"What? Is what he speaks the truth?" the captain in charge of the platoon stepped forward and asked with a frown. No such thing was reported.
"N-No sir. The family did die but it was because they were careless and left the stove on. It was an accident," the soldier replied nervously. He used to work for the merchant and handled matters like this for him. The captain looked at him but obviously didn't believe him completely.
"Child, I promise you as a soldier of Mei that everything will be overseen by me personally and if what you say is true then all responsible parties will be taken care of," the captain said with his chest puffed out. He was a Red Legion soldier himself.
"Then there is no need to investigate. I killed everyone in that bastard's family. Anyone that even smiled at him I burned alive. I will surrender if you kill that man over there right now," Hashirama pointed at the soldier who had spoken first.
"Impossible. Lord Fir had more than 40 bodyguards at the elementary realm, how could a little shit stain like you kill them?" the soldier shouted back, not believing a word he said.
Hashirama didn't say anything and looked at the captain in silence.
*sigh*
"Child, even if he was involved in this matter, it has to be investigated properly," captain shook his head and sighed.
"As expected. You are all the same," Hashirama took out two scimitars from a storage ring that no one had noticed before. "Either he dies, or I do," he attacked the soldier with full force who was still in complete disbelief.
The captain's expression changed and he jumped in front of the soldier while taking out his own weapon, barely making it in time but was still pushed back a few feet.
"Impossible, how could someone so small have so much power?" the captain felt like he was dreaming.
"Kid, what's your name?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Hashirama."
"I'm Kuo, nice to meet you," the captain smiled back at him and then turned around and with a single swing killed every single soldier that was standing behind him. Now it was Hashirama's turn to be surprised.
"Why?" he asked looking at their dead bodies.
"Because I knew they were all involved somehow and now your statement proved it. I specifically choose these guys to come here to see their reactions. But it doesn't matter. Tell me, do you have any family here?" Kuo asked putting his sword away.
"No....there's no one left..." Hashirama fell to his knees and finally, tears started to drip down his face.
"Come with me then, there is a place for people like us. People who don't like injustice, people who want to fight for the weak and not for glory. I can't promise you riches, but it will never make you feel empty inside," Kuo bent down and patted his head. He nodded through the tears and started bawling even harder. That was the last time he cried.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
"Hmm?" Hash looked towards the source of the sound.
"Sgt, I think we should check it out. That shout and now the explosion, it could be one of ours," a soldier said from the back.
"Mhm.. Get ready to move out," he stood up and put away the scimitars that were in his lap.