Rise of the Ronin gives its players a truly distinctive rendition of ancient Japan during the Boshin Wars, standing out in the manner in which its supporting cast plays a key role in the narrative. With varying motivations, agendas, and backstories, these characters are crucial to your own Ronin’s journey and provide much-needed rewards for engaging with them.

With Bond Missions, you get to see the world that Team Ninja has created through their eyes while also gaining access to many rewards like unique gear and special buffs for your ronin. You could also find potential romantic interests among this diverse group of supporting characters, adding another layer of nuance to your quest to shape a nation’s future!

Service With a Smile

The second act of the game’s sprawling narrative introduces players to Ine Kusumoto, a practitioner of Western medicine intent on developing a cure for cholera. Born to a German physician and a Japanese courtesan, she does not allow the disdain she faces from the local populace to get in her stride. She is driven by her selfless desire to ease the suffering of her patients, and her ultimate goal of bridging the gap between Western and Eastern medicine.

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Your initial encounter with the good doctor is during the story mission It Hurts To Be Good in which Kaishu Katsu tasks you with assisting her search for the cure for cholera. After defending her medical school from attacks by expulsionist forces, she then becomes an ally to your cause.

She soon asks for your help again, informing you that she requires lemons in order to improve her treatment of cholera, tasking you with finding the Scottish botanist Mr. Robert Fortune and acquiring lemons from him. While that sounds quite straightforward, things are not as easy as they seem.

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Head on over to the location on your map to find a lot of enemies between your Ronin and Mr. Fortune. There is a guard patrolling near the gate and another two that you can pay with an assassination if you use the broken wall to the left to gain the high ground.

Following the faily linear path up the staircase, and deal with the enemy guarding the bridge. There are two more guards guarding a mini chest in the nearby pond whom you could deal with or ignore.

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The building across the bridge hosts an enemy guarding a Veiled Edge Banner that you can activate. Head east from the banner through the nearby gate, dealing with enemy guards as you encounter them. To the south is another guarded area with a banner that you can activate after dealing with all of the guards. This brings in a merchant if you need to restock supplies.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Head on over to the grappling point towards the west, from here to vault over the wall and begin a fight with a mysterious foreign woman. This boss is no pushover, using poison attacks and her unique oxtail blade to devastating effect. It can be a little tricky to nail down the timing of her attacks.

Watch out for when she slams her blade into the ground and makes a cloud of poison appear at your location! Make deft use of Countersparks and your Blood Gauge to win this battle of attrition. You could also use poison barrels around the arena to turn the tables on her if you need to.

With her out of the way, you can finally talk to Mr. Robert Fortune and complete the mission after a few cutscenes and dialogues.

It can be very beneficial to build a stronger bond with Ine, as she rewards you with better healing capacity and intellect points for your character. Her inability to join you in combat notwithstanding, she proves an invaluable ally in your quest to cure cholera while also serving as a cornerstone to several other Bond Missions later on. You could also choose to build a romance with her and eventually form a Veiled Vow if you’re so inclined!

If you found this guide helpful, we have a lot of Rise of the Ronin guides in our exclusive guides section, and a lot more on the way. Stay tuned, and let’s shape the future of Japan together!