The day started as any other. I woke up with the expectation that I’d spend the day training.
“Ah...did you feel it, Sansui?”
“Yes, Master. I believe we have guests.”
It may have just been practice swings, but I’d spent five hundred years training in these woods. I couldn’t help but feel the sudden arrival of new people. Master Suiboku, of course, felt it as well, and we both experienced a tingle of unease. These were the first people to enter this area in five centuries. They were impossible to ignore.
“Perhaps they’ve lost their way. I doubt we would sleep well at night if we abandoned them. We lose nothing by saying hello.”
“Agreed, Master. No harm in checking.”
Master Suiboku and I bound through the woods, heading toward the presence.
Partway in, we detected the presence of wild beasts, only to have them scatter as they felt our approach. Unfortunately, we found what we had expected.
“Hunted by wolves, I see.”
“Seems the wolves fled before they were done.”
Peering down from the canopy of a tall tree, we caught sight of a woman’s mangled corpse. This was only the second person I’d run into since I arrived in this world.
“I’m afraid we interrupted their meal.”
“Yes, that pack has a few young pups.”
Treating man-eating wolves with the same consideration due to people... I admit that, as far as worldviews go, it’s more than a little messed up. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel some guilt for denying the wolves their hard-earned meal.
“One is beyond saving...looks like the other still draws breath.”
“Still a babe, it seems.”
The woman who had entered the woods had died lying on her stomach. The wolves had torn into her several times, and there was nothing we could do for her. However, the baby that the woman had shielded with her body was still alive. We had no way of ascertaining the relationship between the deceased and the baby; all that we knew was that the baby had survived.
“It would be disrespectful to this woman to leave her to be eaten by the wolves. The least we can do is return her to the soil.”
“What shall we do with this baby, Master?”
Having lightly stepped from the canopy to the ground, we needed to decide what to do with the body and the child.
“This babe has no potential in the Immortal Arts, so it should be raised back in civilization. All things have a purpose, Apprentice. Sansui, as both a swordsman and an Immortal, taking time to experience the ordinary mortal world holds great potential value for you.”
“You mean... You wish for me to raise this child?”
“Quite so. With five hundred years of training behind you, your skills are sufficiently advanced so as to be considered unparalleled by ordinary people. Take this child as your own and raise it. Consider it the next step in your training.”
I took Master Suiboku’s words to mean that I had reached a certain level of achievement in his eyes.
After burying the woman’s body with care, Master Suiboku handed the cloth-swaddled baby to me.
“Worry not. You are my prized pupil. With proper use of your blade, you will find no challenge in raising a child.”
“Of course, Master! I will make sure to raise this child properly.”
“Good. In our conception of the scale of time, the life of a mortal is little more than an eyeblink, Apprentice. Return only once you’ve finished your task.”
And so I became a father. But, as Immortals eat no food, I had no idea how to feed my new child.
This left me no choice but to find other people. Leaving the woods behind, I carried the child and began running.
On and on I ran, following a road I found, and eventually coming to settled land. Traffic along the road grew busier, and eventually I came to a densely packed section of the road, where a number of horse-drawn carriages had come together and caused a traffic jam. I can’t deny that, when I caught a glimpse of a walled city in the distance, I found myself picking up the pace. In my haste, I leapt over a carriage without a second thought.
“You there, halt! Do you not see whose carriage you just leapt over? Having a child in your arms is no defense!”
Having cleared the carriage, I resumed my run, but a young woman escorting the carriage began to chase after me with flight magic.
She sped along through the air, driven by gusts of wind that she projected outward from her body. I didn’t know exactly how that was done, only that it wasn’t an Immortal Art. That, and that she was moving much more quickly than I was.
“From your appearance, I can see that you’re not from around here. However, you must understand that your ignorance does not absolve you of treating my liege with such disrespect!”
I’d just left the woods and I was already in the middle of an altercation. Worse, it was entirely my fault. It’s not exactly respectful to just leap over someone’s carriage.
“Ordinarily, that would cost you a limb...but you’re carrying a baby, so I suspect you had your reasons. So long as you make your apologies to my liege, she will certainly have mercy on you. Otherwise, if you choose to resist, it will cost you more than a limb.”
“No, no. I will happily apologize, ma’am.”
The young woman had instructed me in a noticeably clipped tone. While she looked younger than even I do, given that I was fully at fault, I followed her without resistance. Returning to the carriage, which was parked a short distance back up the road, I sat humbly on the ground.
“Very well, plead your case.”
Inside the carriage was a girl who was the very epitome of what a noblewoman should look like.
She didn’t seem angry, instead regarding me with curiosity.