I guess so: ...... Urashima and the pit viper, what do you think?

　I looked around the dojo and picked out two people.

　Old man Urashima, the Juro-ryu headmaster, had a grim expression on his face, while Tennan-ryu's Mamushi took a step forward with a flippant "yay". Thank goodness, it seems neither of them would refuse.

Okay, then, both of you at the same time. Just in case you use the wooden sword, it will be safe.

　I tell them this while handing them both the wooden sword. Immediately after, the air in the dojo felt tense and tense.

"Wait for ....... Did you say me and pit bull at the same time?　Is that all right with you, Miroku-sama?
'Tchotchkes, that's really a nonsensical question, Dr. Urashima. Didn't you see the battle between the two of you earlier?
What did you say?　When did you start talking like that to me, pitiful?
Excuse me for this. But facts are facts. If Mee and the doctor don't work together, they won't last a minute.
Don't taunt me!

　The two men seem to be doggedly close.
　But while Mamushi seems to be well aware of reality, Urashima seems to be completely unaware of it. A few seconds is all it takes.

"Akaneko, Masamune, Thistle. "Akaneko, Masamune, Thistle. You'll be next in less than a minute.
What do you mean, ...... you don't think it's three against one?
I'm not too sure about that.
What, me too?　Yeah, ......?

　Two against one, then three against one. As far as demonstrations go, it couldn't be better.

　Hopefully this will get you in the mood to get off the island, even if it's just a little bit.
　Well, let's see what happens.

'Bow to each other.'

　He confronted Urashima and Mamushi with Miroku and gave the command.

　After a curtsy, the two men take a small distance and sit back down and take a stance. In contrast, Miroku is meditating with his back straight and upright.

''--Beginning.''

　Now the game is on.



　　* * * *



　A strange scene was spreading in the dojo.

　Miroku, the 20th Iemoto of Miroku-ryu, also known as "Arahitogami" (the feared god of the present day), faces off against the heads of both Juro-ryu and Tennan-ryu.

　The Iemoto is the pinnacle of the historic school and one of the seven samurai who represent the Eighteenth Country of the Sword.

　It is unheard of for that Iemoto to challenge a two-man team ...... (・・・・).

　I have never seen two Iemotos go out in the past to this day. In the long history of the island, there have been many raids by strangers and demons, but one Iemoto or another was all that was needed.


"Hajime.

　At the command by the second, the training begins.



　---- The next moment.

　The next moment, one of them fell down. The next moment, one of them fell down, the wooden sword disappeared from his hand--


　After a beat, the wooden sword drops on the tatami mat with a thump .......



'............'

　A drop of cold sweat ran down Urashima's cheek as he stiffened, still dressed with his wooden sword drawn.


'Until then.'

　...... four seconds.

　That was the time it took to settle the matter.


'Sa, sun, cus .......'

　Mamushi got up and curtsied, holding his stomach.

　Following that, Urashima, his eyes unfocused, rolled his back and trudged out of the dojo.


'...... You see that, now?'
Not in the foreground, at all.
So am I. ......

　The samurai who were watching the game started to talk about their impressions.


　For the first time they realized the "difference" between this one and that one.

　Iemoto, who was unable to hold his own in the face of their united efforts, defeated Miroku, who was helpless even with the help of two men, without a moment's hesitation.


　This is a very easy to understand composition.
　Their strength is on a different level.

　And this is what I think.
　This is what everyone thinks.

　If we traveled to the continent and trained there, would we be able to become like that ourselves ......?


'Next up is Akaneko, Masamune and Thistle. Good luck!

　On top of that.
　The second is a pushover.

　The top-notch battoujutsu master Akaneko, who is the confirmed next Iemoto of the Kabuto Bataata style, the genius Masamune, who became an independent Bensai-ryu Iemoto at only 16 years of age, and the hardest working Iemoto on the island, Kishou-ryu Azami.

　The idea was to have these three men compete with each other at the same time.

　In effect, these three men were better samurai than Urashima and Mamushi. Urashima, who has begun to decline in spite of his age, and Mamushi, who only pursues the unexpected, are better than Urashima and Mamushi. On the other hand, the three are young, honest, resourceful, and eager to learn. They have already perfected their skills as samurai, but are ready to show even greater growth.

　Three such samurai attack Miroku at the same time.

　Normally, there's no way they can win. Until now, the samurai would have thought so.
　But now ...... the exact opposite is true (...). I'm not going to be able to win, even with three people. I've come to think of it this way.

　So. The Second's aim had been quietly successful.

　In this short amount of time, the samurai had naturally become more open-minded. They had learned to think upwards.


'-- beginning.'

　The command echoes mercilessly.

'Ho.'

　Miroku's eyebrows twitched.
　He could sense the spirit of the three of them.

'I will not be embarrassed before the Lord.

　And for the first time - Miroku was ready (...).


　...... Then it was fast.

　The breakup was Masamune and Azami. The awkwardness between the two of them separated them, creating a two-on-one and one-on-one composition as soon as possible.

　The next blow takes down Azami, bounces off the Akaneko, then pounces on the Masamune, knocks the Akaneko down, shoves the Masamune in, and takes him down.


　The three of them couldn't take advantage of their numerical advantage in the slightest, and fell to the tatami as it was.


Until then.

　Twenty seconds.
　Second rates this as a "haves".

　He knew. That Miroku knew the mastery of Kabuto Bashi-ryu and Kissho-ryu. Because Miroku should have absorbed their ancestors. Hence, except for Masamune, the two of them knew their cards.

　There was only one way for them to win. The only way to win is to formulate a strategy around Masamune, whose hand is not yet known, and to take advantage of the advantage in numbers to the maximum extent possible.
　Instead of going into the game from the start, they would carefully and safely see that Kabobashi-ryu and Kissho-ryu would not work, observe Miroku's reaction to Bensai-ryu, and use the Masamune as a decoy or whatever they could to get Masamune out at the moment of need to stab Miroku in the back. If he couldn't do this, there would be no victory.


'Sweet!'

　The game is over, the second says.

　It's not against Akaneko and the three of them. It's to Miroku.

It's just a copious amount of copiousness. Please forgive me.

　Miroku seemed to know what he was talking about and bowed his head quietly.


'Se-Second-kun. What are you talking about?

　What was so sweet? Masamune, wondering, stumbles up and opens her mouth.

'Nah, this guy was a little (...) serious, wasn't he?　He was probing for the coarseness of Bensai-ryu, poking at the weaknesses of Kabobashi-ryu and Kissho-ryu. That's not right.
You want me to go easy on you?

　Akaneko said angrily.

　'Wait, wait, wait,' the Second continued to speak, controlling her with his hand.


'Fool, backwards, backwards. With that fighting style, it's like saying, "I have yet to discover the secret of the Bensai style. That would give you guys a chance to win. That's what's so lax. Instead of trying to be a little serious, try to be serious. Don't give your opponent a chance to win. We did a good job of shutting down their advantage in terms of numbers, but we didn't do it enough.

It is as the Lord says. I made a half-hearted effort. It was disrespectful to them as well. I apologize.


　The three girls were bowed to by Miroku. But the girls still didn't fully understand what the Second and Miroku were talking about.

　So did the samurai in the dojo. They all had their eyes on the ground.


''So you're saying ...... that there was a hole in Miroku-sama's current taijishi, which even he admitted ......?

　Someone muttered somewhere.

　And everyone thinks this in their minds.

　Only the second, here, only the second saw it through: ...... and.

　No one thought it was a lie. In fact, if Second had been fighting on behalf of the three of them, he would have instantly seen through it and treated Miroku like a rag, spilling the word "sweet" as well.

　No good to Miroku, who had defeated the three samurai representing the Sword of the Eight Nations in a mere twenty seconds. The samurai in the dojo suddenly became dizzy with how tremendous it was.


　But no matter how much confusion, they would still end up here in the end.

　I want to be like that, too.
　The world has never been this big.

　Everyone is impressed. I'm struck by the strength that lies far above.


My second theory, "All netgee begins with longing," is about to be proven.

　After all, a samurai is a samurai. They are in love with the art of battoujutsu from the bottom of their hearts, and to aim higher, they risk their lives to train themselves in the art. This is the nature of the Eight Kingdoms and the nature of the people called samurai.

　That's why it's worth inviting them to join us.
　Come to the continent quickly, he says. He solicits with a smile.


'That concludes the demonstration. Anyone who wants to cross the continent, come and tell me later. I'll be at the abandoned house of the Hiruko School.

　Second said only that and left the dojo after repatriating Miroku.


　The starry night sky greeted him after he finished his work.

　The rain had long ago risen.



　　* * * *



So this is that Meriken house: ......

　Returning to the abandoned house of the Hiko School, I look around again at its exterior.
　It was very emotional to think that my mom once lived here.

　The house is blatantly Japanese, or something like that, and the sense of discomfort I couldn't remember when I first saw it, but now it's tremendous.

　It should be called a Japanese style architecture that a foreigner who misunderstood Japanese culture thinks of. It looks like a ninja mansion.

There is some kind of trick or something...

　I huffed and walked in through the front door.

'............'

　No, no way.
　But just in case you're wondering, you can go to .......

...................

　The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

　Akaneko had said this. It's an empty house that no one uses or goes near.

　It's easy to see why. Okan-san, the founder of the Hiyako-ryu, arrived on the island. I am sure that he would have been called a great genius. Everything was smooth sailing, and everyone must have had high hopes for his future. And then one day, he was suddenly killed by someone. And 【absorbed】.

　I know what happens to the [Absorbed] object that was [Absorbed]. It's a shell (...). The production of being sucked out of its contents and becoming like a mummy (...). It's reason enough for the island's samurai to feel that it's "haunted" when they see its transformed form at either a wake or a funeral.

　As a result, no one goes near the Hiko-ryu mansion with .......

.........................

　Maybe.

　I looked everywhere in the abandoned house.

　I turned over the tatami mats, peeked around in the attic, tapped on the walls and toured .......


'Ah.'

　And then I discovered it.


　At first glance, it appeared to be just a wall.

　But it was a sliding door, and once I lifted it up and slid it to the side with all my strength, what a staircase leading to the basement appeared.

'Seriously, it's a ninja house: ......

　The betas among the betas. I walked down the stairs, slightly dumbfounded.

　At the end of it, a small room exists that I have to bend down to enter.

　I open the door of the small room with a pounding heart.


'Wow,'

　What appeared was a silvery tea room.

　If I were to say, it would be the "Silvery White Tea Room".

　It should have been several hundred years ago, but the brilliance of the tea room is magnificent. The light from the cantera in your hand reflects off of it, making it dazzling.

''Hn......?''

　As I looked around the tea room, I noticed a hanging scroll.

　It was a ukiyo-e style portrait. I couldn't help but recognize the man depicted there.

　The shoulder-length silver hair, the stringy nose, the sharp eyes, the long eyelashes. This is ......


...... Me?

　It's not a second, it's a seven.

　My hanging scroll in the silver teahouse. In other words, this is my tea room, prepared for me.


　...... That son of a b*tc*, he can do it. Is he going to go this far?　Normally.

"I've always been a fan of yours" is not the answer to "I've always been a fan of yours". I'm your biggest fan! I'm so glad.


...... I'll take this one. ......

　It's very well drawn. The silvery white tea room even seems to play a supporting role to enhance this painting. It's exactly the kind of expression that embodies the longing he had in his day. Just looking at it reminds me of the days of his life. That hot and fierce era of brilliance. ......

　I took the hanging scroll off the wall, carefully rolled it up and put it away in my inventory.


'Eh,'

　Behind the hanging scroll.

　This was another sticky contraption, but it was slightly recessed there and had a single lever attached to it.


　An orchestra dookie. When I got to this point, I had to pull it.

　I pulled the lever down in one motion.

　I heard something open.

　The mechanism is still working, even after hundreds of years.

"This way.

　I turned my gaze toward the sound.

　There was a furnace there.

　I see it's down here.
　I remove the furnace. And sure enough, there was a space underneath it.

　I slip into the space that can barely fit one person and slide down.


　After descending for a while, we came to a large hollow space.

　Lanterns, a torii gate. A staircase, a small shrine, and a door with a Kannon opening.

　This seems to be a shrine.


............

　Behind the door, on a rock pedestal.

　There was a swing of a sword there.


　Fearfully, he picked it up.

　The endurance of the equipment had been whittled down to its limits. It was one step before it broke. To use it, considerable repairs are needed. But ......


It's amazing. I've never seen a sword like that before.

　Even in my long, long history of Mevion, I have never once seen this equipment. Even if it was battered, it was still a beautiful sword that would take your eyes off of it.

　Yes, perhaps.

'...... original (・・・・・)?'

　This is an "original weapon" made by Okan.

　All of the skills of the blacksmith are on the ninth level, and only a few percent of the time can be made by investing a tremendous amount of experience, materials and time into it.

　Why is such a thing, why is it here?


　I put it away in my inventory for now and then looked at the information on the sword.

　The name of the sword is "Nanayurukakan".

　And the description of the item says--.



"Dear Seven, I hope we can fight together again, from 0k4NN.



　.............

　I couldn't help but feel a little hot-headed.

　I carefully and carefully put the Seventh Zero Ring into my inventory and stood there for a while.


　I remembered his last words.

　It's not how much I regret it, it's how much I can die with my heart.

　To me, it's about the future, much more so, he said.

　Silly me. I can't help but think that every day that I get this stuff.


...... We'll fight together again.


　Like we're making up for lost days.
　Relive our youth.

　Now, indeed, the hot, dazzling, vivid, glorious scenes of those days have come back to my heart.

　I wish that we could do it again in this world.

　Let's go out into the world and fight together again.