“….really, where did you come up from?”
Shuuei and Jin were being yelled at once more by the young Riou, who was half taking his anger over something else on them. The two of them indulged him and took it. Actually, had Riou not protected her, if things had gone badly, Shuurei, who was on the bottom, might have been crushed to death.
Shuurei was lying on the bed passed out. She had been protected, but it seemed the shock of having two large adult men dressed in light armor drop down had been passed on to her.
Once he had finished being angry, Riou calmed down.
“It’s not ‘from where’….how did you come here?”
It would be impossible for people to force themselves in from “outside” once the place where they were was completely sealed, if they were not a magician on the level of Uu Uu. However, the exit of the ‘passage’ to the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals was not there. There was no magic circle marking the end of a ‘passage’ in the room in the first place. Furthermore, they couldn’t have appeared in the air above the bed. That meant they had come here without using the ‘passages’ of the Hyou clan….. That was impossible.
While Shuuei was worrying about Shuurei, who was sleeping on the bed, he answered Riou.
“You ask us how we got here…. We had asked Uu Uu-sama, but my brother Ryuuren came in from the side, and when we realized it, we had been thrown over here. Sorry.”
Riou was a bit surprised to hear this unexpected name. Ran Ryuuren…. If that was so, it was not impossible that they had flown directly into the Hyou house without the use of a circle. Rather, he was more surprised that Ran Ryuuren had done such a thing. He did not come out much, and ought to have been an observer. Though Riou had become calm, he now violently ruffled his jet-black hair.
“…..No, rather, maybe we’ve been helped by you.”
“Eh?”
The room was completely enwrapped in tranquility. It was not only that it had become quiet. The power that was leaking from within Shuurei and had shattered all of the bells, had completely disappeared. Riou looked at the swords the two invaders held.
—”Kanshou” and “Bakuya.” The twin demon-destroying swords. It must have been because of the shock and the twin swords that Shuurei had become calm. Although they were empty, they were not to be trifled with. They made an enormous difference simply by being there. They had splendidly exorcised whatever had been in Shuurei.
“That helped….”
Feeling something in that deep whisper, Shuurei’s expression changed.
“….What was happening? Did it have something to do with Shuurei-dono?”
Riou looked at the twin swords. Those swords should have been in possession of the king and Shi Seiran.
Yes, the king’s swords.
“….Before that, I’ll ask you this. For what purpose did you come here? You must have at least heard about this woman’s condition on the journey to Kou Province, and why I brought her to the Hyou clan. If you say something stupid like you came to take her back on the king’s orders, I’ll beat you and throw you into the palace jail. Be careful with your answer. Our Hyou clan is the last refuge of the weak and wounded. No matter who they are, we won’t forgive those who invade our territory. One I brought her, it became my duty as a member of the Hyou clan, to at least protect her.”
Jin stared at Riou, as if he were very surprised at something. It was as if he knew someone who resembled him well.
Shuuei quietly closed his eyes, and nodded, pulling at his jaw. Answer carefully. That was right.
“…I understand. I didn’t come here on the king’s orders. It was my decision alone. I was not told at all to bring Shuurei-dono back.”
“Then, why did you come here?”
He had a feeling that there was a sole answer which would make Riou not throw him into their jail. Shuuei needed to give an answer which was honest and stripped of all ornament. One which was the truth and the whole truth. Although there was some difficulty about that, Shuuei would probably be able to do it. The sole reason that Shuuei had needed to go to the Hyou clan, which was not because of Jyuusan-hime’s words, or Jin, or any others. That would be probably also the only reason Riou would accept.
It was what Shuuei thought, and probably also what the king would say.
“I heard that Shuurei-dono had, up till the last, completed her duty, and had collapsed on the brink of death. And also that she might be helped if she was brought to the Hyou clan…. We cannot say ‘bring her back’ or ‘when will she return?’ The king realizes well, although he does not speak of it, that Shuurei-dono got into this condition for his sake. He cannot say this. However, the king now cannot do anything for Shuurei’s sake, nor can he move. But that is not a reason to forget about her, having given her to the Hyou clan, without sending a word. That’s why I came. As the king’s earnest heart.
In place of the king who could do nothing, he had come to deliver the king’s heart. Only his heart.
What was showing on Shuuei’s face was that the king was behind Shuurei. He had thought that this was far better than not doing anything.
“The king didn’t tell me anything. He didn’t give me a letter or any message. That is why I have no duty to bring back any reply or any report, and do not need to request anything of Shuurei-dono. Only, I’d lik to know her condition, and if I can help her with anything, tell me. Whether Shuurei-dono stays at the Hyou clan, or whether she leaves, when, or for how long, all of it is up to her. I won’t say a thing. Because I, Ran Shuuei, came here by myself.”
After three beats of silence, Riou nodded, after considering all of his words. He was relieved.
That was the king’s heart.
Riou had said to answer carefully, but this was a unimpeachable response. That was like Ran Shuuei.
“I understand. Then, that’s alright. And you? Who are you and what did you come for?”
Jin grinned amusedly while looking at Riou.
“….what a resemblance, really. That way of asking, to the point and clear, exactly.”
“Wha?”
“Shiba Jin—would it be better to go by that? Although I’ve thrown away that name. I’ve come on a separate matter from Shuuei. I was asked to do something by someone. I can promise that I am not your enemy at this point. I may act on my own sometimes, but on everything else, like Shuuei, if I can be of use, make use of me.”
Riou made his eyes into points. It was like he was saying something proper, if Riou were to ruminate on it for awhile.
“….what, aren’t you king of messing around, saying that?”
“Well. That’s why I didn’t say ‘I’m your ally, trust me.’ Riou, the only thing I can promise you is that I’m not your enemy now. I’m prepared to go to jail if that can’t be avoided, but it’ll be pretty difficult for you to throw me in there. Don’t you think that it would be better for me to loiter around where you can watch me, and to be useful to you sometimes and sometimes do what I please, rather than me running off to somewhere you don’t know and doing what I want there? ”
He was saying this incredibly ridiculous reasoning while laying it out in an orderly manner.
“….Hey, Ran Shuuei, if he’s from the Shiba clan, he’s one of yours. Translate for me.”
Shuuei averted his eyes. He didn’t need to try to remember to know that Jin had always been that way.
“….No, I don’t think it’s necessary to translate. The meaning is probably literal.”
“Um, so even though he’s come to the Hyou clan because he was asked to do something by someone, and he’ll do as he pleases sometimes, he’s not my enemy, and so if he can be of help, make use of him. I don’t get what that means.”
“Looks like you got it?”
“You!!”
“Sorry, Riou-kun…..He’s this kind of guy.”
While glaring at the calm Jin, Shuuei reflected on Jin’s earlier words. Although Shuuei did not know why Jin had come to the Hyou clan, thanks to Riou, he had gotten new information.
(…Right now he’s not Riou’s enemy?”
However, he was a bit surprised that he had said to make use of him if he could help, the same as Shuuei. If he could cooperate them, he would cooperate. And that included regarding Shuurei.
Although he would do things on his own sometimes, it was rather a significant thing that they could count on Jin’s help, somewhat.
“Riou-kun, you should believe that Jin is not lying when he speaks that way. You would not be capable of throwing Jin into jail, even though you think he will, as he says, do what he wants. However, I guarantee that he’s a man who keeps his word. Well, I think it would be better for him to do as he pleases sometimes and help us sometimes rather than him hiding himself and plotting something unknown someplace. That’s better than nothing.”
“Wha? You’re really carefree. There are times when saying nothing would be better too.”
“…… ……Come to think of, there are.”
Jin was looking somewhere on the edge of his field of vision while desperately trying not to burst out laughing. This guy.
After Riou had circulated several plans within himself, he turned again to Jin.
“I know. I’ll take Ran Shuuei’s words. You’re right that I can’t be your opponent. ….To be honest, this is much better than when I was alone. It’s a help just to have ‘Kanshou’ and ‘Bakuya’ near.”
Riou glanced at Shuurei behind him.
Ran Shuuei had said that they would be of assistance, and that was so.
“….I can’t be sure. However, it’s possible that my aunt has entered Kou Shuurei.”

*****

Seated on her throne, Ruka opened her eyes.

—One of the parts of her that had flown off had now been forcibly shot back to her. The priestess who was watching her widened her eyes a bit. She was one of the few people serving Ruka now. All of the other priestesses and magicians, everyone who could even slightly use magic, had been sent out. This girl had been left behind because she was ‘powerless.’
“Ruka-sama, now was….”
“Something bothersome has entered.”
“Kanshou” and “Bakuya.” Although they were empty, just by existing, they were could operate more powerfully than a half-hearted magic user. That was to be expected of something forged by a person of the Hyou clan. One could say it was ironic.
“Well then…. This is because I had not thought that the girl would come now. For the time being, I will do with having confirmed her face and condition. It’s irritating, but right now I do not have much time to bother with that girl. ….My hands are full with other things. If I get distracted by other things, that will be the end.”
Ruka let out an elderly sigh. Even one blink left her terribly exhausted. However, the fingers running through her bangs, her body, were those of a young woman, the body of a priestess of their clan. That body’s period of use would soon end.
“…..Shusui….how is she?”
For a second, the eyes of the priestess were dyed in the color of jealousy. Although she should have been a ‘powerless’ “Assassin Doll, Shusui had run away and then magical powers had appeared within her. After having escaped for twenty years, she had come back, and then escaped from jail several times, and did not obey Ruka. That alone was hard to forgive, but what was even more hateful was that Ruka, whom the priestess revered, had not yet killed Shusui. Despite how much she rebelled against her, Ruka-sama overlooked this—the reality of even reporting sometimes like this, made her more jealous than anything.
“….I have heard that she is as ever. She is quieter than before, but at this time, the brain-washing probably hasn’t completely taken hold.”
For awhile, Ruka was silent. It was a strange silence.
“She hasn’t fallen yet? … That was the ‘prison of time.’ How much time has passed in ‘outside’ time?”
The prison of time was a special jail upon which a spell which would cause the prisoner’s sense of time to go wrong had been cast. It was hardly every used.
“She sometimes plots to escape, so now she is on the bottom-most level. The levels move around, so it is difficult to calculate, but it’s around…. in all, around a thousand hours.”
“….a thousand.”
Converting it, that had meant that she had continued to resist for about a year.
“Really, so it will be around a year?”
Ruka repeated this again. There wasn’t especially much emotion in it, but one could also interpret it in that manner. The priestess felt anguish well up in her throat, as the matter of Shusui had caused too much of Ruka’s precious time to be taken up. What value did a girl who showed not an ounce of reverence to Ruka have? Although, as Ruka had long wished, Riou-sama had brought Bara-hime’s daughter, she had said that she had not time to spare for that, and since in that mutter was the unmistakable truth, it was too much.
“It seems there are some unexpected trespassers, what shall we do?”
“Let them be. Both are normal people. There is no time to deal with them.”
“But, what if like the time the “Black Wolf”–”
“The twin swords are empty. They cannot pull off a move like destroying spells or barriers. As for martial arts, now in the Hyou clan there is no one left who can cross blades with them. Those two are among the greatest in the nation. As long as they don’t start killing members of the Hyou clan, leave them be. Also, one of them is an acquaintance….”
The priestess finally relaxed her brows. If that person was someone who Ruka sometimes aided, then he wasn’t an enemy.
In contrast to the priestess, Ruka took a bit of time to consider the “intruders.” Never mind about Ran Shuuei.
(…Shiba Jin….in Nine Colors Cove, he lent a hand, but….now, this time, why did he come?)
Actually, rather than Shiba Jin, it was his ‘lord’s’ goal. Although at times this person collaborated with Ruka on matters of mutual benefit, they weren’t really allies. Ruka had her goals, and the person over there had their goals. Both of them acknowledged this. There were times when they didn’t agree as well.
Anyway, now there were only two reasons why one would come to the Hyou clan. A matter having to do with Kou Shuurei—-or a matter having to do with Hyou Ruka. Which one was it? Whichever one it was, certainly, Ruka was currently not free enough to come out for them. If they came, they could come themselves.
Her temple hurt. Perhaps it was because she was continuing to use multiple spells, and come to think of it, she realized that actually, it had been a long time since she had used not only magic, but the entirety of her brain. She could even find it nostalgic. There were now few people who could oppose Ruka to that extent. Yes, Senka had died. After that, there would only be a bit more.
“It won’t matter if I leave Shusui as she is. Are there other reports for me?”
“…there are not.”
Although it wasn’t true that there were none, the priestess answered that. If Ruka regularly used her ‘eye,’ she could have grasped the conditions ‘outside’ by herself, but now she did not have enough power left over. She had something she had to concentrate on with all of her nerves, and that was why she had sent nearly all of the magicians of the Hyou clan away. Although all of the passages had been completely sealed, point by point reports had been coming in from the temples and the magicians. Right now it was her duty to relay the information from the ‘outside,’ so if she did not pass this on, it was not something which should be passed on to Ruka.
That should be good enough, the priestess nodded. Yes, she should only pass on what was important. For a long time, Ruka’s burden had only be increasing, and she didn’t want to bother her by reporting any more unnecessary things. She couldn’t even make a part of her soul fly off to Bara-hime’s daughter in one of the few moments of free time she had. Although Ruka could use multiple spells at one time, now she was that exhausted using such a small spell. Seeing that was hard.
She did not think now that it was necessary to tell Ruka anything which as not related to the work of the Hyou clan.
The priestess was courteously bowing her head, but she took some time to steal a glance at Ruka. Now, her external appearance was of an average looking priestess, hardly comparable to her figure when she separated her soul. However, even that had an attractiveness which one could not help looking at countless times, and even being at her side caused her heart to leap slightly.
It was only very recently that she had gotten close enough to see her face. Since Ruka had sent away all of the high level magicians and priestesses, even someone ‘powerless’ like her was allowed to come near, and to report matters to her. That brought about some small joy to her heart. Although she knew that Ruka was involved in something serious, she even thought that she wouldn’t mind if this were to be prolonged a bit more.
“I see. You may leave.”
At Ruka’s voice, the priestess, who had come back to herself, was flustered and then politely made a bow, and left. For awhile, Ruka, tiredly resting her face on her hand, watched the back of the young priestess leaving.
(It’s been awhile.)
That priestess had looked at her with such a gaze.
Awe and longing. Absolute admiration and reverence, like adoration.
For a long, long time, she had forgotten it. It had been decades. Since when had she no longer felt it? And with that, had she stopped looking properly at the faces of her clan, at their hearts?
…since when?
“My princess”
Suddenly, a familiar, twilight-colored voice echoed within her. Ruka’s heart leaped.
Even though she had come to no longer think of that voice, those words. Her temple hurt. She shook her head, not because of the pain, but to clear that voice from her head.
“Hmph…..those who betray me, are unnecessary….”
Everyone had thrown away the Hyou clan, and had left Ruka. Her insane house, her twisted clan. Uu Uu, Eiki, whom she had raised as her successor, Shusui……her brother, everyone had cast off the Hyou clan and Ruka, and chosen other things.
Ruka was the only one left.
If everyone had run away, what would become of the Hyou clan? There were people who could only live within the clan. Whatever anyone said, by no matter what twisted methods, Ruka had to protect them.
Yes, that was–
Her temple hurt again. That was—-what?
(This body….can no longer be preserved)
Suddenly, she remembered how Kou Shuurei had looked up at her, tears running down her cheeks. … Kou Shuurei. Since she had become aware of her existence at the time of the Sa clan disturbance, when she saw a chance, she had tried to get her hands on her. At first, she had only seen her as “Bara-hime’s daughter,” but sometime she had become “Kou Shuurei.”
She had seen that girl much better than her younger brother, who was only interested in “Bara-hime.” What she had said to the “Black Wolf” and Nine Colors Cove had not been a lie. It was true that she had wanted that girl’s body, but the truth was that the other half of her had thought that perhaps she should do something to help her. Which she chose to do would be up to Ruka’s whims when she was brought to the Hyou clan, and in the end, perhaps as the “Black Wolf” had feared, she would take her body. Certainly, this girl had become one of the few people who could slightly move Ruka’s heart.
Her way of living only for something more important than herself, protecting it though her own life was worn away, the way she didn’t show weakness to anyone, and however much she persevered, in the end, she was always alone.
She resembled her far too much.
However, that too, had already come to an end.
“….foolish girl.” The part of that girl which was the most shining, the most dignified, her most noble part–which up till now, no matter who had denied her, she had protected, that girl had ceded it without a fight. For that foolish king. What she had ceded was her pride. What made her herself. All that she had strenuously amassed, the source of the light which had made Kou Shuurei shine, until it had been enough to catch Ruka’s eye. The king should of loved her especially for that, but he had foolishly crushed that with his own hands. Perhaps it was more happy that Kou Shuurei’s life would run out before she understood the truth about “what” she had lost for ever. For both the king, and for that girl. She had even thought that when Riou had brought her here now, that that was heaven’s will. There was a possibility that she might die, “Bara-hime” would appear, and Riou would become foolish again, but if she lived, she would become a precious ‘body’ for Ruka.
But her hands were full with other matters. So much so that it was only today that some slight time had opened up. However, she could not directly move her body, she had unexpectedly been able to see the eyes of the girl when awake up close—it could be said. She had heard her words, even if only a few.
Seeing Ruka, who had appeared before her, that girl had whispered, squeezing out tears, a single wish.
“……..li”
Asking her this, of all things. She had not thought that she would wish for that.
(…however.)
She had returned and reflected, and she had changed her mind, just slightly.
Perhaps it would be best to try one or two things.
Ruka’s intention to possess that girl’s body had not changed. When she had entered it only a little, she understood. That body was the most ‘suitable.’ In all meanings of the word. By whatever means, it could not be preserved.
However, there was only one means by which that girl could “extend her life.”
(Should I give her a chance to choose?…)
No matter how much Riou searched, in the end there would be only one way of extending that girl’s life.
The choice Ruka herself had chosen in the past.
—–Maybe Ruka also wanted to see whether that girl would choose it or not.
And, there was another thing.
“….Really, at this time, she came to the Hyou clan. Is this simply coincidence, or an fate?”
Ruka’s lips relaxed in amusement. She had reaching out her hands for her. She had forcibly entered her and woken her up. Soon it would be time for her to awaken.
“So, Kou Shuurei. Present yourself for an audience with me. How much have you realized? And what do you still not yet realize? Whichever it is, when you come to me, you will be most useful to me.”

Notes: Yes, it was directly stated in the text that Riou has black hair. Yes, I know he certainly doesn’t look that way in the illustrations. The novels also claim that Shuurei is not a beautiful girl, but really, looking at the illustrations I see pretty much no diff between her and the rest of the female cast. :P This is why I tell people you really can’t really take the illustrations too seriously.

Commentary: Well, I guess score one for Shuuei this round, after almost smooshing Shuurei and Riou, though. BTW, we still have no idea what Ruka is up to.

Hmm, parallels between Ruka and Shuurei. Although, I think Ruka is doing a lot of projecting there. I’ll talk about Ruka later more at the end of the book, but I got to say, Ruka really misinterprets Uu Uu (and Shusui, though I don’t know what she thinks of Riou Jr.)