"Tokugawa Iemitsu's reign could not last forever, ahhh."
"But at the very least, this old man knows that one day, little ones like you could still be born into this world. Though in this old man's eyes, you're quite the oddball yourself, but..."
"If the day could come when little ones like you gradually became more numerous, then I see... perhaps this so-called age of peace would not be so bad after all."
Yes—
No one liked war.
It was something that destroyed the world, destroyed the most precious happiness.
"I have seen it before. Seen... the world that came after."
Sakumura recalled something, and an involuntary smile appeared on his face.
"I won't say much, but at least in that era, children could grow up normally. I think that alone was enough."
"Besides, if we are talking about oddballs—wouldn't everyone here count as one?"
"Offering up our lives for complete strangers... but perhaps that was precisely why we were able to make it all the way here together."
Musashi scratched her head with a foolish grin, then gave old man Muramasa a teasing wink.
"By the way, Lord Muramasa, I have a question for you."
Danzo had caught an unusual detail in their earlier conversation.
"What is it?"
Having been dissed by Musashi, Muramasa sounded somewhat impatient.
"You said you no longer remembered what your grandson looked like. Did you mean that literally, rather than as a figure of speech? That there was truly something wrong with your memory?"
She did not finish, but everyone already understood what she meant.
"Yes."
Without hesitation, Muramasa nodded and acknowledged it.
"It is not a lie. This old man truly no longer remembers."
"—Thinking back, there really is nothing much to say about this old man's life. It was no more than