STORY
English is below
1巻
桃太郎の役から10年。島は備前国大名・宇喜多直家の弟宇喜多忠家の領地となっていた。武士どもは島南部に総構えの城、城下町の「直宮」を建造し、南蛮人を住まわせて商業の町として栄えていた。
鬼丸、夜死鬼、牙蔵らは文字の読み書きを修得し、直宮に出入り出来る「人形（ひとかた）」の身分を得、人間らと共学の学校へ通っていた。そこでは鬼の恐ろしさ、非道さをたたき込む教育がなされていた。彼らは直宮で人間相手の商売をし現金を稼いでいたため村鬼には蔑む者もいた。独立急進派の鬼助らなどはあからさまな敵意を向けてくる。
そんな中学校の師匠時実（通称麻呂）と夜死鬼が一悶着を起こし、師匠をクビになる。切腹もあり得る時実を救ったのは忠家の娘薺（なずな）姫の助命嘆願であった。
島中央の一角山頂上に位置する一角神社を参拝した鬼丸ら。当代宮司の白鬼魔沙悪魅とその娘で巫女の魔悪と歓談し、踏鞴（たたら）場へと向かう。そこでつくられた私鋳銭を手にして夜死鬼は直宮の賭場で一世一代の大勝負に出るが…？
狩鬼である血亡は一角山での狩でイノシシを得て村に帰る途中、見知らぬ武士から因縁をつけられ、イノシシを奪われようとしていた。その時鎧をまとった騎馬武者が駆けつけ、武士どもを成敗する。その騎馬武者は鬼が島領主宇喜多忠家その人で、殺された武士は毛利家の手の者であった。
一方、備前、備中、美作を治める大名宇喜多直家は毛利家と手を切り、播磨国に進出していた織田家と手を組む算段を立てていた。かつては戦で刃を向け合った相手への和睦の使者に名乗りを上げたのは、直家の養子となっていた桃太郎であった。三木城攻めをしていた秀吉の元に小西弥九郎とともに参じる桃太郎。和睦の条件として秀吉が提示したのは、毛利水軍を抑えることであった。桃太郎は画期的な戦法で毛利軍を叩きのめす。
しかし桃太郎の水軍に水主として参加していた鬼がある行動に──。
それが元で村鬼たちの間にも亀裂が生じ始める。
東村の共有の畑がイノシシに荒らされ、血亡と鬼丸が見張り小屋に詰めることとなった。すると何故か忠家家臣の高級武士が興味を示し、共に小屋に詰めるという。そのことを訝しがりながらも見張っていると、畑向こうの森に動く影を発見し、鬼丸は飛び出して行く。果たしてそこで見たものは──。
Oni is Japanise demon or orge.
The stage is the Sengoku period of the 16th century.
It's been 10 years since the Momotarō's war. The island was the territory of Ukita Tadaie, the younger brother of Ukita Naoie, the daimyo of Bizen Province. The samurai built a castle in the southern part of the island, a castle town called "Naonomiya", where Nanban people lived and prospered as a commercial town.
Onimaru, Yoshiki, and Kibazō learned how to read and write, acquired the status of "hitokata" who could go in and out of Naonomiya, and went to a co-educational school with humans. There, an education was given to instill in them the horror and cruelty of oni. Some village oni despised them because they earned cash by doing business with humans at Naonomiya. Kisuke and others, who are independent radicals, are openly hostile.
Meanwhile, teacher Tokizane (commonly known as Maro) and Yoshiki cause a quarrel, and the teacher is fired. It was Tadaie's daughter Nazuna-hime's petition for her life that saved Tokizane from committing seppuku.
Onimaru and others visit Hitotsuno Shrine, which is located on the summit of Hitotsuno in the center of the island. After having a pleasant talk with the current chief priest, SHIRAKI Masaomi, and his daughter, Mao, the shrine maiden, they head to the tataraba. With the privately minted coins made there, Yoshiki will go to the gambling hall of the direct shrine for a once-in-a-lifetime big game, but...?
On the way back to the village after hunting a wild boar on Mt. Hitotsuno, the hunter Chi-na was about to be robbed of the boar by an unknown samurai. At that time, a mounted warrior in armor rushes in and defeats the samurai. The mounted warrior was Tadaie Ukita, the feudal lord of Onigashima, and the samurai killed belonged to the MŌRI family.
On the other hand, UKITA Naoie, a feudal lord who ruled over Bizen, Bitchu, and Mimasaka, broke off with the MŌRI family and made plans to join forces with the ODA family, who had advanced into Harima Province. It was Momotarō, the adopted son of Naoie, who offered himself as a messenger of reconciliation to the opponents who had once turned their blades against each other in battle. Momotarō joins Hideyoshi with KONISHI Yakurō, who is attacking Miki Castle. What Hideyoshi proposed as a condition for reconciliation was to suppress the MŌRI navy. Momotarō defeats the MŌRI navy with an epoch-making tactic.
However, a demon who was participating in Momotarō's navy as a sailor took action...
As a result, rifts begin to form among the village onis.
A wild boar ransacked a shared field in East Village, and Chi-na and Onimaru were forced to pack up in a lookout hut. Then, for some reason, a high-ranking samurai who is a vassal of Chuke shows interest, and they say they will stay in the hut together. Onimaru finds a moving shadow in the forest beyond the field, and Onimaru rushes out. What did he see there?