Bonus Short Story

True Nature

Sansui Shirokuro, the newly hired bodyguard of Douve, daughter of the main House of Sepaeda... A young swordsman with training in a heretofore unknown Rare Art called the Immortal Arts and incredible swordsmanship... A skilled warrior who secured his place by showing his ability to the Lord Sepaeda and his heir...

“My dear. Just what are you thinking, assigning that child to protect Douve?”

However, there’s no reason that Douve’s mother, Arte Sepaeda, wouldn’t be suspicious of the blatantly odd Sansui. When her husband, Lord Sepaeda, returned to their lands, she wasted no time in confronting him about it.

“It’s her wish, and I can hardly contradict her. Furthermore, I believe you already tested him. To suspect him without cause invites questions into your own character.”

Arte Sepaeda had already administered a test for Sansui, and Sansui had passed that test. To suspect him in spite of that shows far too little consideration for him.

“That’s not the issue. There is something odd about that child.”

Sansui has the skill to be a bodyguard. That’s certainly without question, but it’s also beyond reason. He’s simply too strong. There’s a limit to being extraordinary, after all. Combined with the fact that his origins are murky, putting him close by still seems to be a risk. While not dismissing her sense of danger, Lord Sepaeda sincerely answers his wife’s concern.

“You’re right, I agree with that. But what is it you want to do? Kill him, perhaps? How do we kill a swordsman of that caliber? And it would be one thing to succeed, but if we fail, do you have any idea what would happen then?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to kill him...”

“Then fire him? No doubt he’ll take it calmly, but that means we can’t do anything if he falls into the employ of one of our political rivals.”

He’s too powerful and too suspicious, but his strength makes him too dangerous to let go. Arte had no counterarguments for her husband’s logic.

“Still, your concerns are perfectly understandable. I’ll leave investigating him to you. But whatever you do, avoid making rash decisions and making an enemy of him. In particular, don’t do anything to the baby, Lain. Don’t take her hostage or use her for leverage. That is one point I won’t forgive, even from you.”

No matter how suspicious, to punish a retainer for no justifiable reason or to involve their family was a line no noble should cross. As for involving a baby, that’s the sort of thing that would cost them the trust of everyone around them.

“Focus on investigating. You can do whatever you need to for that. Employ as many as you need to.”

“Very well. I will find out all there is to know about that child.”

Armed with permission from her husband, Arte Sepaeda first tried to discover where Sansui had come from. An unknown rare art called the Immortal Arts, and an unparalleled skill in swordsmanship... She sought to find the country where he had learned those things.

But it produced little in the way of results. The servants tasked by Arte sent out investigators in every direction, but none of them could find any specific information.

“My Lady, my sincere apologies. Given how much he stands out, we thought we could trace his steps. However, we haven’t been able to find anything.”

Putting Lain aside, Sansui is clearly from outside the kingdom, and he met Douve near the royal capital. As such it meant he must have come to the capital, which is near the center of the Arcana Kingdom, by traveling through one of the territories of the Four Great Houses.

However, the reality is that this assumption was wrong. Sansui had been living in the deep woods near the capital since before the founding of the Arcana Kingdom. Since all he did was live in those woods, there was no path of his to trace.

“It is of no consequence. No doubt he must have concealed himself on the way to the capital. His Rare Art, after all, is well suited for travel, which must have let him approach the capital without being seen.”

Douve’s mother wasn’t particularly concerned by this. This was well within her expected parameters. The fact that he was traveling in secret makes her suspect he has something to hide. However, this just raised more questions without providing any answers. It’s not any basis for taking action against Sansui.

“Then how is Sansui spending his time at the estate?”

“Well...”

Since Sansui is living within Sepaeda Manor, it should be easy enough to figure this out. After all, the wife of the lord of the manor is directly issuing the orders, so there’s no way for him to hide.

“It need not be suspicious activity. If we can grasp his preferences in his food or his daily routine, that will give us hints as to his weaknesses and interests.”

“M-My Lady... How do I phrase this... In the course of our investigations we discovered something quite remarkable.”

“And that is?”

The steward tasked with summarizing the findings read out its contents.

“He wakes with the dawn and practices his sword swings outside with his wooden sword.”

“Quite studious.”

“At Lady Douve’s rise, he returns to the estate and begins guarding her.”

“I see. That is to be commended.”

“After which he follows Lady Douve around, accompanying her wherever she goes.”

“As Douve is doing as she ought to do, I have no complaints there, either.”

“He goes to meet the baby, Lain, when Lady Douve is dining or bathing.”

“I see he has some recognition of his duties as a father.”

“He appears to become very sleepy at sunset, and immediately goes to sleep once Lady Douve is abed.”

“...And?”

Based on the report, all he’s doing is working. He evidently has no hobbies and is very dedicated, but so what?

“We’ve had Shirokuro Sansui under constant surveillance for the last week...”

“Stop holding back and get to the point.”

“He hasn’t eaten a single bite, nor has he excreted anything.”

“Of course that’s not the case!”

Perhaps if it had been a day or two, but he’d surely he’d have fallen ill if he had been fasting for an entire week. The most reasonable explanation is that he’s hiding his meals and his excretions.

However, there’s no way that House Sepaeda’s steward wouldn’t have checked for such a thing. Having several observers keeping a constant eye on him in shifts, they would have been watching him like a hawk. That means that the only conclusion is that he does not, in fact, eat, drink, or excrete.

“Perhaps he’s hiding his eating and does it when he’s supposed to be sleeping?”

“We checked for any crumbs or the like, but we could not find any, and there’s not exactly any room to hide food in those clothes. Further, there’d be no way for him to hide his excretions...”

The more they look into him, the more they find that he’s simply inexplicable. They don’t know where he came from, and they don’t know why he doesn’t need to eat, drink, or excrete anything. But that’s still not a reason to get rid of him.

“Shirokuro Sansui...Just who is he...”

While the investigations continued after this, the situation didn’t change. Sansui continued his life without eating, drinking, or excreting for the next several years.

Several years after Sansui’s hiring by House Sepaeda...

Having read the letter that her husband, now retired, sent from the capital, Arte felt the strength drain from her limbs and a shudder run up her spine.

“To my dearest wife. We recently learned of Sansui’s true nature, so I am writing to put the questions that have plagued you for the last few years at rest.”

“It appears that the Immortal Arts that Sansui practices, once acquired, make their wielder literally immortal, in that they stop aging completely.”

“This is information from the Legendary Sword Eckesachs, the Sacred Treasure that House Batterabbe acquired, making it extremely credible. It appears the previous owner of Eckesachs was Sansui’s master, Suiboku.”

“The man Sansui who has continually noted is his superior, Suiboku, is evidently a swordsman with several thousand years of training under his belt, and Sansui himself spent five hundred years learning under Suiboku.”

“The notion that he has been alive longer than the Arcana Kingdom has been in existence would ordinarily be so absurd as to not even provoke derisive laughter, but those who have seen Sansui’s skill will surely find this explanation to be convincing.”

“I have heard that Immortals do not burn when set on fire and do not drown when submerged in water, but considering that they do not require any food or drink and have been freed from aging, they are evidently an even more ludicrous existence than I imagined.”

“Just...What does this even mean?”

Even once his true nature is revealed, the life of an Immortal is hardly simpler than it appears. For the studiously serious Arte, Sansui remained an inexplicable monster.