CHAPTER 306: THE OPPOSITE OF JUSTICE IS

 

「Now then, intruder… what is your name?」

「Aun. Aun Dodomeki.」

「…Aun. I was defeated in battle by you. Which means justice lay on your side, and I was the evil one. I ask that you pass proper judgment.」

「Mmm… but honestly, who’s to say which side’s justice? From the tengu tribe’s point of view, we’re the ones who barged into their territory out of nowhere. That makes us the bad guys.」

「That is true. But in Bukyo, the strong are justice.」

「Maybe that’s how it works here. But I don’t think the opposite of justice is evil. Sure, I get what people mean when they say, ‘The winner is justice!’ It’s simple. Easy to understand. …But if you ask me, the opposite of justice is just… another kind of justice, right?」

「I understand what you are trying to say, but…」

「I told you before, didn’t I? I said it pissed me off. I didn’t come here to carry out justice, and I wasn’t trying to judge you either. I just forced my own selfishness through.」

「Heh… You truly are a difficult man to grasp, Aun. I cannot even tell whether your vessel is great or small. In that sense, perhaps you are the sort of man whose depths cannot be measured at all.」

「You’re all overthinking this way too much.」

I shrugged and let out a light breath.

「Justice, evil… all that stuff’s just names people slapped on things afterward, right? Whatever suits them best.」

「…」

「So really, isn’t it enough to just ask whether you can accept what you did at that moment? That’s all you need… if you don’t want regrets later.」

Silence fell.

A single gust swept through the valley.

「…I see.」

Tenkei gave a small nod, then turned toward the tengu tribe.

「Hear me, all of you. As of this day, I add one new article to our code. To think of the future, and to voice one’s opinion… shall not be forbidden.」

The words Tenkei spoke were awkward, unpolished, not even fully formed.

Which was exactly why they were words drawn straight from his core.

At those words, the tengu who had watched in silence until now began to stir.

Then Tenkei fixed his gaze on Magarasu.

「Magarasu, you who continued to raise objections… you were not wrong. If you choose to remain, then bear this tribe in my place.」

For Magarasu, it was the first choice he had ever been given.

At those words, the one-winged tengu lifted his eyes to the sky once, then looked at me, and finally turned back to Tenkei.

「As I am now, even if I have ideals, I still lack the power to make them real. I lack the strength to choose the future with my own hands. …That is why I ask your permission to leave this place and learn.」

That choice isn’t running away.

If I read between the lines of everything Tenkei’s said so far, the tengu tribe has always had two major problems hanging over them.

The first is that Tengu Valley, the land they claim as their territory, contains veins of Bukō. For the warriors of Bukyo, that’s the kind of ore they’d kill to get their hands on.

The second is that the tengu tribe has been classified as monsters. Watching Tenkei and Magarasu up close, they feel less like ‘monsters’ and more like a demi-human tribe. And yet they’ve still been labeled monsters. It’s not hard to imagine the first problem plays into that too.

If they were human, anyone wanting to mine ore from their village or settlement would need the chief’s permission. But Tenkei won’t hand that over so easily.

In that case, if someone simply exterminates them as monsters, they can dig up as much of the ore vein as they want. But Tenkei’s strength, along with the barrier covering Tengu Valley, has probably protected the settlement from countless intruders up until now. Still, if they keep relying on force alone, then the moment someone stronger than Tenkei appears, that protection will collapse all at once.

To solve those problems, they’ll have to search for another way. One thing is obvious, though. Either way, the tengu tribe needs enough strength and wisdom to keep being acknowledged within Bukyo.

Understanding that, what Magarasu choose is a challenge.

A challenge to seize both his tribe’s future and his own.

After hearing Magarasu’s answer, Tenkei closed his eyes and murmured softly.

「…Go. Make that choice one you can be proud of.」

「Thank you very much.」

Magarasu didn’t hate Tenkei.

If anything, he probably even trusted that absolute strength.

And on Tenkei’s side as well, there had to be something on his mind when it came to Magarasu, who kept opposing the code even after losing one of his wings. That’s why, instead of chaining him down with imprisonment or something similar, he gave him a relatively free role like guarding the valley.

And now that the directions of Magarasu’s and Tenkei’s thinking have finally begun to align, Magarasu seems to have decided to prioritize his own feelings.

While I was thinking that over, Magarasu turned to me and bowed his head.

「Aun, I know this is shameless of me, but I have one request.」

「Hm? What is it?」

「We have only just met… but in your bearing, and in the words you speak, I saw the ideal I have been seeking. And it made me wish, with all my heart, that one day I might surpass your back.」

For a moment, his words caught in his throat.

Even so, he continued straight on.

「So… would you allow me to follow you?」

…Yeah, this guy really can’t hide what he feels, can he? That’s not the kind of thing you say on the spot to the man who just smashed apart the valley’s code.

See? Even Tenkei’s glare is starting to sting a little…

Still, I don’t dislike guys that straightforward. Honestly, I kind of like them.

「Mmm… yeah, sure, why not? You’ve got conviction, Magarasu. But fair warning, the road ahead’s gonna be dangerous.」

「I am prepared for that. I will do anything I can. I may still be lacking, but I humbly ask for your guidance.」

「Yeah! We won’t be heading back for a while yet, but once we return to base, there’ll be a whole lot of comrades there too. Honestly, I think you’ll probably have even more to learn from them than from me. I’ll introduce you around when the time comes.」

Then something occurred to me.

「Oh, right. We actually came here to gather Bukō in the first place… is it okay if we take some?」

At that, Magarasu glanced toward Tenkei. Tenkei let out a breath, then spoke.

「…If it is you, Aun, who defeated me, then I do not mind. However, take only what you need. That ore is not something that should circulate too widely. …Though I suppose there are very few who could process it, and fewer still who could wield it properly.」

With that, Tenkei drew a lump of ore from his robes.

「This is the highest-purity Bukō of all. You may take it.」

The piece he offered had part of its outer shell chipped away.

The crystal visible through the gap shone gold in the sunlight, and the contrast between that radiance and the black outer crust gave it an almost unnatural presence.

Tilt it another way, and the color shifted into a bloodlike crimson. The glimmer wavering between gold and red even calls to mind a raging blaze.

The moment I took it in hand, I could tell.

The amount of magical power contained inside it was on a completely different level.

No words were needed.

That alone told me its very rank was different.

…Might as well appraise it, just in case.

• Bukō (Highest Purity): Also known as Hihiirokane. An anomalous specimen that appears only on the rarest of occasions among Bukō. The magical power contained within it is beyond compare with ordinary examples, and in the hands of the unworthy, it will burn away the wielder’s very body.

In myth, it is said to be the material used for weapons that sweep the sky, split the sea, and shake the earth.

‘Will it be salvation that changes the world… or a calamity that destroys it?’

「This thing’s incredible… even to an amateur like me, you can tell it’s dangerous.」

「Even among all the chiefs before me, I imagine I alone have ever given away Bukō of such purity. What you make of it… that, Aun, depends entirely on you.」

There was real weight in Tenkei’s quiet words.

So if something happens, that’s on me…

Either way, our objective’s been accomplished now.

I lightly tightened my grip around the Bukō in my hand.

「…Shiranuemaru.」

I murmured the name softly.

Will Shiranuemaru be able to answer this power?

And how far will Kunimitsu be able to draw out the performance of both this Bukō and Shiranuemaru?

「This is gonna be fun.」

The corners of my mouth lifted on their own.