A week and several days passed, and soon Ginryu was nestled back in his home at Owari along with the twins and the cubs. 

On his way back, he had commissioned some shinobi to find Yoriichi and lead him to his home in Owari. 

The shinobi was given a message to deliver that would entice Yoriichi to come.

He wanted to travel himself and search for Yoriichi without revealing much of his actions, but he had the children with him, which would slow down his journey. 

He couldn’t leave them with anyone as the twins were a bit hard to handle for a normal person. 

Unlike Yoriichi, their father, who was quiet and didn’t express his emotions, the twins were very vocal and hyperactive. 

Their special abilities made them stronger than other people, and Ginryu made sure this was known to them. 

They had a massive amount of energy to play for hours, and Ginryu didn’t make it any better by creating some fun games to keep them busy. 

“Hmm,” Ginryu suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. 

It was his servant who took care of the house he purchased in Owari. 

Ginryu didn’t like keeping many people around him as it made it easier to notice that he was different. 

So he hired servants who worked from morning till evening before leaving. 

It was seen as strange since most people hired servants who lived inside their homes, but the pay was good, so they just viewed him as an eccentric rich lord or something.

“What is it?” Ginryu asked. 

“There are some people at the door wanting to see you,” the servant replied. 

‘Hmm, the only guests I am expecting are people from the Oda clan, or could Yoriichi have arrived?’ Ginryu wondered. 

Guests were a rarity for him as he was barely known by many people.

“Did they state their identities?” Ginryu asked. 

“Uhm, one group is from the Oda clan, and the other, I forgot to ask,” the servant shyly replied. 

‘Sigh, can’t blame them. The Oda clan is quite famous in these parts’ Ginryu thought.

“Bring the Oda clan group to the guest room, and the others should wait in another room,” Ginryu instructed. 

Getting up from his chair, he went to the guest room to wait for his guests. 

While seated, waiting, the guests were led to the room, while some servants prepared some drinks and snacks for them. 

“Welcome, guests from the Oda clan,” Ginryu greeted with a small bow. 

‘Hmm, I didn’t expect this, retainers of the Oda clan and Yoriichi at the same time,’ Ginryu briefly pondered on the odd coincidence. 

“Now what brings the members of the Oda clan from afar?” Ginryu curiously asked with a smile.

The leader of the group appeared to be young and female, but since she didn’t have blonde hair, Ginryu judged that this wasn’t Oda Nobuna.

“3 points, isn’t it polite that you introduce yourself first,” the leader of the group spoke. 

“Ah, where are my manners. I am Ginryu, Leader of the Kemono merchant group,” Ginryu introduced. 

“Niwa Nagahide, retainer of Oda Nobuna,” she replied, returning a bow. 

“Ho, and why is your lord not here with you?” Ginryu asked. 

“She had other matters to attend to. She had seen your proposal and decided to delegate the decision-making to me,” Nagahide replied.

“I see, and what is your decision?” Ginryu asked. 

He had sent a proposal to Oda Nobuna about the possibility of cooperation. 

Everyone had heard of the Kemono merchant group, as they had been a big help to the suffering people since the war began, offering them jobs and provisions. 

Many lords had tried to control the group, but such lords disappeared under mysterious circumstances. 

Ginryu had secretly eliminated such lords immediately, so many people knew not to mess with the Kemono merchant group. 

“We would like to change the terms,” Nagahide replied. 

“Ho, interesting. I was pretty sure that my terms were already quite good for my support. It seems that you are getting quite greedy, but I will hear you out,” Ginryu calmly replied. 

“What right does a mere merchant like you have to even negotiate with our lord?” one of the people accompanying Nagahide interjected. 

“Sit down and hold your tongue,” Ginryu exclaimed with authority, emitting a minuscule amount of bloodlust. 

The man, upon feeling this pressure, fell to his knees and soiled his pants, making the room quiet. 

Ginryu’s feat had sent waves of fear into the Oda clan representatives. 

Some of them wanted to retaliate but were stopped by Nagahide.

“Now go on, Nagahide,” Ginryu said to continue the conversation. 

“0 points, escort him out, I apologize for the unsightly display” Nagahide instructed her men and apologized. Soon the man was escorted out of the room. 

“No worries, I deal with idiots like that from time to time” Ginryu replied.

“We would like to reduce the number of people you can take and exclude my lord along with several people from the pool,” Nagahide replied. 

“Hmm, I see, but I have people in mind that I absolutely won’t allow to be removed from the pool,” Ginryu replied. 

One of the conditions that he proposed was the right to take five people of his choice during his duration of support for the Oda clan. 

It was an odd request, but Ginryu wanted to recruit certain people to his side. 

His target guests were Goemon, followed by Inuchiyo, then Hanbe, and, if possible, Hanzo. 

These were the targets he currently wanted to obtain with his blood. 

He had been experimenting with it ever since the incident with Uta.

“I understand, we want to reduce the number to three people, and here is the list of people we cannot give,” Nagahide replied, handing a list to Ginryu. 

Looking at the list, Ginryu smiled. The people he wanted weren’t currently on Nobuna’s side, so they weren’t on the list.

…………………………………………………………………

While Nagahide and Ginryu were discussing the other terms of their cooperation, Hikaru and Hikari were playing in the yard along with the cubs. 

They soon noticed that the house had guests, which was a rarity for them. 

“Hikaru, do you want to take a look?” Hikari asked her brother. She was curious about the guests. 

“No, Gin might get mad at us,” Hikaru replied. 

“It’s fine, we will just take a peek,” Hikari pleaded, trying to convince her brother. 

“Fine, but if Gin gets mad at us, it’s your fault,” Hikaru hesitantly obliged. 

Yin, who was observing this, decided to follow, while Tora and Yang ignored their antics and lazily layed on the dirt basking in the sunlight. 

Sneakily, the twins made their way to the window of the second guest room to take a peek at who the guests were. 

Upon peering into the room, what greeted their sight was a man who crying and had the same markings on his face as they did. This was Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

Yoriichi, who was seated in the guest room, was vigilant and cautious ever since he entered the manor. 

He could sense an extremely powerful presence similar to a demons yet very different. 

The only reason he was here was because of the message he had received. 

He was aware of Ginryu’s existence as he had been told about it since he was a Hashira, but he never actually met Ginryu. 

He was also curious about the nature of the creature said to be stronger than Muzan. 

While he was lost in thought, his senses picked up three small figures approaching the room in which he was seated. 

Upon peering out the window, he could see two children with markings similar to his own. 

Looking at them, tears suddenly streamed down his face. 

His internal emotions were a mess; he didn’t know who these two children were, or perhaps he knew but couldn’t come to terms with it. 

He felt an inexplicable connection with them.