Lamp, Woulnut, Yuen, Inke, and Cabbo: five warriors serving as combat instructors to various nobles under the House of Sepaeda. They were men who had trained in swordsmanship under Sansui and received noble treasures from Suiboku himself. In short, a band of five proud heroes.
Now, the five of them were gathered in the mansion granted to them by their respective lords, all leaning in toward a single letter laid out on the table.
“Hey, you guys. If you can’t read, don’t crowd up behind me,” grumbled Woulnut—the only one among them with enough education to decipher the text.
The other four, however, pressed in close anyway, peering uselessly over his shoulder, forming an annoyingly tight cluster around his chair as he read.
“You say that, Woulnut, but you’re not reading it aloud! We’re dying to know what it says here!”
“Reading it out loud? You can’t just do that—it’s written in formal style, not something you can recite word for word. I’m still figuring it out, so wait a second.”
If this had been an ordinary work notice, they would’ve just said, Woulnut, you handle it, and left it at that. But since the sender was Sansui—their former master—that was out of the question.
They couldn’t help but feel impatient, desperate to hear what their old teacher had written.
“Huh,” murmured Woulnut.
“What do you mean, huh? Tell us already!”
“All right, all right... Basically, it’s a formal wedding invitation.”
“Oh, seriously?”
As they’d surmised, it was an invitation to Sansui and Blois’s wedding. However, there was also something written inside that none of them expected.
“Thing is,” Woulnut continued, scanning the page, “the wedding’s supposed to be a small one. The only guests will be people like us—Sansui’s students—plus Suiboku and a few of Blois’s relatives.”
“Sounds like a rough-looking crowd from Sansui’s side. Won’t that be a bother for her family?”
“Well, maybe. But honestly, who else could he invite? Sansui doesn’t really know anyone except us and some big shots.”
“Yeah, and it’s not like he can invite Tahlan or the lady herself...”
“Ah, whatever. If we’re invited, that’s good enough for me. Just getting to see everyone again will be great.”
The joy of a wedding wasn’t only in celebrating the bride and groom; it was also in reuniting with friends.
Their old comrades were now scattered across the country—some employed under different lords, others serving Tahlan as guards for Lady Douve. Because they could rarely meet these days, the chance to gather again made this invitation all the more exciting.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Woulnut said, tapping the letter. “Before the ceremony, Sansui’s supposed to pay a visit to our employer, the lord of this domain. Since the lord won’t be attending the wedding, Sansui’s coming here to greet him instead.”
“Huh... Wait, you mean he’s coming here? Sansui himself? We’re screwed!”
“We’re not screwed,” Woulnut replied calmly. “We’re doing our jobs properly, and the lord’s pleased with us. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Well, yeah, but still... If you asked whether we’ve gotten any stronger since then...probably not much, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s true...”
The five of them fell silent, lost in thought. The truth was, they’d grown comfortable, satisfied with their current lives. They worked diligently, trained regularly, but hadn’t achieved anything remarkable. They weren’t a disappointment—but neither were they impressive. And realizing that left a faint sting of shame.
“All right, then! We’ve got to train before Sansui gets here!”
“Yeah!”
Because they had someone they looked up to, they could keep walking their path with purpose. To meet—and keep up with—someone worthy of respect... That was a rare kind of happiness in life.
The five, who were by nature never truly serious, nevertheless vowed to buckle down and train properly for Sansui’s sake.
“Hey, Lamp!”
Their burst of resolve was snuffed out in an instant.
Even these rough-and-ready men felt their morale drain away by the force of what came next.
“I heard that! Why didn’t you call me down?”
Descending from the second floor was Lamp’s grandmother. She was Lamp’s only living relative, and that was precisely why she’d been welcomed into the household along with him.
She was quite old but still vigorous—and perhaps the most ambitious person in the room.
“You’ve got the kingdom’s finest swordsman coming here? And you weren’t even going to introduce me, I bet!” she demanded.
“What are you planning to do if you meet him?” Woulnut asked.
“You know exactly what! Get close to him and reap the sweet, sweet benefits!” she crowed.
“What benefits? You’ve already got a pretty good life.”
“Of course I do! I’ll get him to go back to my hometown and smash those bastards! That should be easy enough!”
“No, it won’t.”
If Sansui wanted to, he could have crushed a small farming village or two without breaking a sweat, but avenging a grievance from generations past merely to satisfy one woman’s vendetta made no sense. Sansui was strong, yes, but he was still a public official—he did not act outside the law.
“Lamp’s granny is on fire today...” Yuen murmured.
‘Reaping the sweet benefits’ turning into ‘beat up the hometown people’—how does that follow? That’s not sweet at all, Woulnut thought.
“Whatever. Let’s train. If it’s for improving our skill, the lord won’t complain. He might even encourage it,” Inke said.
Lamp’s grandmother was just talking nonsense. Even if she meant it seriously, she lacked the power to carry it out, and if nobody else acted on it, it would remain nothing more than idle posturing.
Yes, that was how it was meant to be.
“Excuse me, gentlemen. May I have a moment of your time?”
Stepping into the great hall of the house where the five men lived was their employer, a local lord serving under the Sepaeda family.