Chapter 200
"You have returned safely. I am truly glad that I was able to see you once more while I am still alive."
In the room where the family of the head of Yosogi-ryu had gathered—Kaeha's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as far as I was concerned—the first to speak was Shizuki, who was already the former head.
The others present were Touki, the current head, and his older sister Souha, who was also my blacksmithing apprentice.
In addition, there were Touki's partner and two children, as well as Souha's partner and three children.
I had never seen Touki's partner before, while Souha's partner was one of the people I had taught blacksmithing.
The children's ages were thirteen and ten for Touki's children, and seventeen, fifteen, and thirteen for Souha's children.
In age order, they were presumably a boy, a girl, a boy, a boy, and a girl.
Kaeha's other child, Mizuha, was not here, but had apparently put down roots in the town of Vistcoat, where Mizuha's children had established a new Yosogi-ryu dojo.
Ah, they had grown into quite a large family.
But Kaeha's great-grandchildren, whom I was meeting for the first time, were looking at me somewhat suspiciously.
Well, that was only natural.
After all, my position was actually rather complicated for Yosogi-ryu.
Technically, I was a disciple of Yosogi-ryu, but I had learned swordsmanship before the current head, and even before the former head, while I was Yosogi-ryu's teacher when it came to blacksmithing.
Besides, I was a High Elf, an elf whose appearance showed no sign of aging, so it was only natural that they would be confused.
The children of Souha in particular must have been unsure how to accept someone their mother called her teacher.
But Shizuki looked around at everyone in the family, then said,
"Many of you have only heard about Eisa-san through stories. To me, he is like a father."
He began talking about me in that way.
Of course, there was no blood relation between Shizuki and me, and I knew his actual father in the first place.
But there was no way I could hear Shizuki say that and not be happy.
As I desperately held back a grin from breaking across my face,
"But I won't tell you to mind your manners. If you don't like something, challenge him in whatever way you choose and find out for yourself. He isn't a guest, but family. I intend to challenge him to a bout later myself."
Shizuki said something astonishing.
No, no—that was normally when you warned them not to be disrespectful.
Still, I suppose I'd be happier if Kaeha's great-grandchildren came at me that way.
But Shizuki intended to challenge me?
His face, fixed on me, was deeply wrinkled now that he was over sixty, but he still seemed full of vitality.
I felt relieved, but my curiosity was piqued.
Just how skilled was Shizuki now?
Shizuki's physical prime had ended long ago, of course.
But knowing that, Shizuki still said he would spar with me.
Then he must have honed his technique far more than before.
Just as Kaeha had continued improving her skills until the moment her life ended.
Sparring with Shizuki would be a good opportunity to find out how close I had come to Kaeha.
Naturally, I would be happy to accept.
Ah, and it wasn't just Shizuki.
I would be happy to have a bout with Touki, the current head, too, and it would be fun to compare my blacksmithing skills with Souha's.
Still, they had their positions to consider, so they might not be able to act so freely.
And I would be happy if the children who would lead the next generation challenged me as well.
Kairi, Souha's eldest son and the oldest of the children, was already staring intently at me, as if he were eager to challenge me.
He looked wonderfully headstrong.
Perhaps that came from his awareness of being older than the others.
Come to think of it, Souha, now a mother herself, had been a girl with a strong sense of responsibility as Touki's older sister.
She had even taken up blacksmithing because she wanted to support Touki, who would become the head.
The nostalgic atmosphere made a smile slip out despite myself.
Though sparring and comparing our skills lifted my spirits, there was one thing I wanted to discuss first.
Before they came to know me as I was now through swordsmanship and blacksmithing, there was someone they ought to know about.
It was someone whose existence I had learned about in the island nation of Fuso, far to the east... Not their direct ancestor, but someone very closely connected to them.
That's right—Yuzuriha Yosogi.
The people of present-day Yosogi-ryu knew nothing of her.
Perhaps her story had been lost during the journey from Fuso to here, or amid the hardships of putting down roots in the Kingdom of Rudoria.
Or perhaps it had been lost over the long years after they settled here.
In any case, for Yuzuriha Yosogi's younger brother, the ancestor of the present Yosogi-ryu, that surely could not have been what he wanted.
That was why I wanted the people carrying on Yosogi-ryu today to hear this story first.
"Yes. I'd be happy if you challenged me. I'll take you on anytime. ...But before that, there's something I want you to hear. It's quite a long story, though."
Ah, I had talked about nothing but myself at Kaeha's grave, so I would have to tell Kaeha this story there later, too.
With everyone's eyes on me, I began to tell the story.
The story of Yuzuriha Yosogi, the swordswoman who fought demons on an island far to the east where the Fuso Tree grew, and drove them back at the cost of her life.