Book excerpt: A tale of high adventure and survival! In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi Sugimoto searches the wilderness of Hokkaido for a hoard of hidden gold. With only a cryptic map and a native Ainu girl to help him, Saichi must also deal with every murderous cutthroat, bandit and rogue who knows about the treasure! Asirpa and Sugimoto are back in Hokkaido at last and determined to find the Ainu gold for themselves. Lieutenant Tsurumi and Hijikata are also hot on their trail. While Sugimoto and Shiraishi work on a plan to find a strange tattooed prisoner named Botaro the Pirate, a series of horrific murders in Sapporo draws Hijikata’s attention. Lieutenant Tsurumi sends Tanigaki to kill Sugimoto, but the loyal Matagi has only one true goal—finding Inkarmat!