What Is Passed Down (11)

"...All right, this turned out pretty well."

I examined the small blade I'd just forged—or, more precisely, the wakizashi—from every angle, above, below, left, and right, then nodded.

The polishing wasn't finished yet, and I still had to make the scabbard and hilt, so it wouldn't be truly complete for some time. But this was a good place to stop for today.

Six months had passed since Aiha completed the trial of hunting monsters.

She was fourteen now.

The final trial Aiha needed to complete before becoming an adventurer and living the life she wanted had, in fact, yet to be completed.

It wasn't because there was any problem with her; it had simply taken Touki time to make the arrangements.

Obviously, arranging a place where people could fight and kill one another was hardly easy.

But the other day, Touki had been recruiting people at the dojo for a bandit-hunting expedition, so it probably wouldn't be long now.

Once she overcame that trial, Aiha would set out on her own at fifteen and follow the path of an adventurer.

This wakizashi was meant to be an early celebration of that.

If she had had a spare weapon besides her sword during the monster-hunting trial, Aiha's tactics would probably have been somewhat different.

The reason Aiha hadn't waited for her enemy and stabbed it was to avoid having her weapon become stuck and be lost from her hand.

If she had been carrying a spare weapon, I thought there was a fairly good chance she could have gotten through that fight without being wounded.

I wonder if Aiha will be happy with it?

But I probably wouldn't get to see her expression.

Once she went with Touki to hunt down the bandits and I finished the wakizashi, I planned to leave the royal capital before long.

I was headed west.

First, I would stop in Vistcourt and visit the new Yosogi-ryu dojo Mizuha had established.

It would probably be best to greet them as an adviser, too.

More than anything, Mizuha might not have much time left.

Shizuki still seemed full of energy, but apparently Mizuha was gradually reaching the point where she could no longer get out of bed.

But if I went now, I could see her face at least one more time.

After Vistcourt, I planned to enter the depths of the Pluha Great Forest and head for the deep forest, the high elves' sanctuary.

In other words, I would be returning to my homeland.

I couldn't help thinking that meeting one of the high elf elders would earn me an earful, but if I wanted to confirm the existence of the Immortal Bird, I would have to visit the deep forest eventually.

Still, I did have a proper gift for them, so I didn't think they would grumble at me too much.

Eisa.

After tidying up and leaving the forge, I was stopped by Aiha.

I tilted my head at her somewhat serious expression.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

In response, Aiha grabbed the hem of my clothes, tugged me along, and set off.

...What on earth could it be?

She looked a little angry, too.

She led me to the back of the dojo grounds.

It was a cool spot where the trees planted there cast shade.

It was also near the graves where Kaeha's predecessors in the Yosogi-ryu lay.

There, Aiha asked me:

"Eisa, are you going to leave here soon?"

...That was what she asked.

She was right, of course, but how had she learned that?

I had told only Shizuki, Touki—the head of the family—and Souha, who was in charge of the forge.

That caught me off guard.

"Why do you think that?"

It would have been easy to deny it, but if possible, I didn't want to lie to Aiha—or to Shizuki and Mizuha, their children and grandchildren, or any of Kaeha's descendants.

She must have taken my vague answer as an affirmation.

Aiha's face crumpled, and she turned away.

"Kairi-nii told me. He said you've been taking care of everything and putting things in order so everyone will be fine even if you're not here, Eisa."

Even so, she answered my question.

Ah, I see.

Kairi, huh.

He could certainly have guessed it from what I'd been doing in the forge.

I'd also made various arrangements to ensure that the gap left by my departure from the dojo would be filled.

Still, perhaps Shizuki, Touki, or Souha had been the one to make Kairi certain of it.

...This was a little awkward.

I'd experienced farewells countless times and grown accustomed to them, but I still didn't know how to respond when people regretted my departure and grew sad over it.

But as I hesitated over my reply,

"Hey, Eisa, did you love Great-Grandmother?"

she suddenly asked.

She had been looking away until just a moment ago, but now she was staring straight into my eyes.

That was a remarkably sudden change of subject.

Still, this was much easier to answer than what we had been discussing.

I already knew my answer, and it would not waver.

"Not exactly. It's not that I used to love her. I still do."

I could say that with confidence.

Aiha blinked at my answer.

"Even though she died a long time ago, before I was born?"

She looked utterly astonished.

Ah, I see.

To Aiha, it was something from the distant past—from before she was born.

The difference in our perspectives brought a wry smile to my lips.

Perhaps to her, I looked like someone being dragged along by my past.

But that wasn't the case at all.

Because Aiha, too, would eventually become part of my past.

Even so, I had no choice but to carry the past in my heart and keep living while moving forward.

"That's right. But she is here. Here, and here too."

I first pressed a hand to my chest, then tapped the sword hanging at my waist, and finally showed Aiha both my palms.

Yes, I remembered Kaeha, and I'd inherited her swordsmanship. It lived on here.

As a fellow Yosogi-ryu swordswoman, Aiha would understand what I meant.

"Then what are we—what am I—to you, Eisa?"

That was another terribly difficult question.

Just as Shizuki had called me a father-like figure, I thought of her as a child of mine.

But when it came to thinking of her children, Touki and Souha, as my grandchildren, it was a little different.

I still didn't understand what it meant to think of someone as a grandchild or great-grandchild.

So Touki and Souha, and their children as well, were all children descended from Kaeha, as far as I was concerned.

"All of you are precious children to me. Whether you're newly born, grown up, or old, that won't change."

Aiha's eyes wavered at my words.

I couldn't say for certain what feelings she held for me, and I didn't pry.

Admiration, respect, affection—or something deeper?

Whatever she felt, I now thought of her as a child of mine.

"Then wherever you go, if we're family, at least send a letter here. Even after I become an adventurer, I'll come by from time to time to make sure you're safe, Eisa."

The words seemed to be squeezed out of Aiha's mouth.

Ah. She had called us family and was worried about me.

Then I would do that.

Just as Win still sent me letters to let me know he was safe,

I would send letters to Aiha and everyone in the Yosogi-ryu, telling them that I was safe and where I was.

I didn't know whether we would ever meet again.

Of course, I hoped we would, but there was no guarantee that it would happen.

In fact, I had already spent so long outside the forest that there had been many reunions I had failed to have.

Moving from place to place with a sense of time far longer than a human's, I'd let quite a few things slip away before I realized it.

Especially since Aiha was going to become an adventurer, I could never say there was no chance, however small, that something might happen.

But even so, she had chosen her own path, and I would walk mine.

Two entirely different paths, each our own.

Finally, I held out my fist.

Just as I had when parting from my friend Jizou, I bumped fists with Aiha, following the example of the man she had heard about and admired.