On his travels on "the Demon Path in Hell", Lone Wolf and Cub#Characters is contronted by a series of messengers who represent a clan wanting his services. Each assassin in turn administers a specific test of his abilities, and when bested, gives Ogami partial payment for the job and, as per his usual stipulation, discloses some of the "secrets and reasons" for the killing. By the time Ogami has defeated all the messengers, he has been informed of a conspiracy to disguise a ''daimyō''s illegitimate female offspring as a prince, while the clan leader's official offspring, a son, is kept concealed. A letter uncovering the plot is being delivered by a monk to the ''shōgun'', which would mean the dissolution of the clan, leaving retainers, samurai, and vassals without an organization to support them—a disastrous end. Ogami is to intercept the Buddhist monk carrying the letter; the monk will be traveling under the protection of his arch enemy, Lone Wolf and Cub#Characters, further complicating the mission. On a stopover at a town festival, Itto's three-year-old son, Lone Wolf and Cub#Characters, is separated from his father and gets mixed up with a notorious pickpocket being chased by constables. She asks him to promise not to divulge her identity, and when he is confronted he keeps his promise. The law officers publicly flog him in front of the townspeople, until the pickpocket surrenders herself and confesses. Still Daigoro keeps his word. Finally the constables release him, impressed by his stoic courage and honor. En route to intercept the monk, Ogami is contracted to kill the senile old lord, his concubine, and the young daughter. After securing the letter, he confronts the daimyo, and kills him, his concubine, and the young girl, fulfilling his contracts and preserving order.