Technically, the mansion belonged to him; he was the one who provided for them in every way. His sudden appearance made the five men straighten up at once.
The lord, however, gestured for them to relax.
“Please, be at ease. I’m not here for a surprise inspection of your living habits. I’ve simply come to speak with you about your instructor.”
“Ah—y-yes, my lord! Hey, Grandma! Go upstairs for a bit! If you do anything weird, we’ll get kicked out of this house!”
“All right, all right! Work hard, kids!”
Quick on the uptake, Lamp’s grandmother retreated immediately. Even she understood that while her grandson and his companions might be forgiven a bit of rudeness, causing trouble in front of a feudal lord was no laughing matter.
The lord, watching this exchange, merely chuckled good-naturedly and let it pass.
“Ahem. It seems you’ve received an invitation to Master Sansui’s wedding ceremony. I’ve received one as well, though not to the wedding itself. Instead, I’m to be visited here in person for a formal greeting. I must admit, I would have liked to attend the ceremony in person...”
“Ah, w-we’re terribly sorry, my lord...”
From Sansui’s perspective, it was understandable—he likely didn’t want to invite too many unfamiliar people, preferring a small ceremony surrounded only by those close to him.
Even so, the five of them couldn’t help but feel awkward. They would be attending the wedding, while their employer—their superior—would not. Hearing him directly say that he’d have liked to attend put them in a very uncomfortable position.
“No, no, it’s quite all right,” the lord said quickly. “I can understand your teacher’s feelings. After all, my connection to him is rather distant, and even if I were invited, it would be difficult for me to attend personally.”
After all, at the end of the day, a sword instructor was simply a kind of teacher. For the local lord of a distant province to personally attend their wedding would have been, in truth, a stretch.
Sansui might have been strong, and even recognized personally by the heads of the four great houses, but in terms of social rank, the local lord was far above him.
The importance of his duties and the wealth he controlled were incomparable to Sansui’s.
That very disparity in status became a restraint on his being invited to the wedding.
“Still, I have no complaints if he comes to pay his respects here. More importantly...there is something that must be dealt with,” the lord said. His face grew serious, showing the five that what he was about to say was weighty.
“I know I don’t have to tell you this, but the name of Sansui Shirokuro is great. Moreover, his students are highly regarded, and have even received Lord Sepaeda’s own endorsement.”
Few actually knew how powerful Sansui was, but Sepaeda actively advertised him as the family’s ace—and the fact that studying under him led to great advancement.
“And riding on that fame, many fraudulent sword schools have sprung up in my domain. Until now I have let reports go by, but if your teacher is coming into the territory, that will be a problem.”
“Y-Yes...”
Fake or fraudulent combat schools existed in every age. Among the many petty crimes in the world, they caused relatively little harm. Local lords were not idle men; they did not crack down on every small thing. They preferred to spend time and effort on other matters.
But when an opportunity like this arose, they crushed such places without mercy. Even a minor fraud is still fraud, and considering Sansui’s reputation, it was important to act.
“With that in mind, I want you, who are the genuine disciples of Sansui Shirokuro, to go and beat them down with your own hands. Right there—in front of me, my soldiers, and the villagers!” the lord said.
The five of them found themselves trembling. They had heard rumors of these fraudulent schools, but they had never thought that destroying them would be the duty of combat instructors—and in truth they had no time to travel the countryside doing that.
We can’t say no... Woulnut thought anxiously. If we refuse, what would Sansui think?
They were frightened, but the request was unmistakable: to act, publicly and decisively, against the charlatans exploiting Sansui’s name.
They themselves were not entirely innocent—some of them were even aware of the shady dealings—so they could not exactly say they wanted to root those places out on their own.
But once ordered, the matter changed. As genuine students trained by Sansui Shirokuro and Suiboku, they would smash those cheap impostors—and do it in front of an audience.
“If you plan to have the soldiers watch, that means you will lead them yourself to the site...and then we will fight by ourselves, right?” Woulnut asked the lord.
“That’s how it will be. Do you object?” the lord replied.
“No, no... We welcome this opportunity,” Lamp said.
They felt a pang of reservation—this was hardly a noble task. Yet even so, vanity and the hunger for honor were hard to suppress.
They had once aspired to be the strongest, until they’d met true strength and been humbled. Even so, they still longed to show their strength. They wanted, as their master Sansui Shirokuro would, to utterly trounce the charlatans—overwhelmingly, cleanly, without drama—and walk away victorious.
And they wanted to do it in front of their lord, and before the soldiers who might look down on them.
We can’t pass this up, Woulnut thought. This will prove we’re the real deal.
“I’m glad you five are eager. Then we must purge the domain before your teacher arrives,” the lord said, smiling in a way that was almost wicked.