What were convictions to a person? And what were ideals? Perhaps to some people, such things were unimportant. After all, in this world, for ordinary civilians, staying alive was the most important thing.
However, for ninja, samurai, or people of status, convictions were the driving force that supported them in living. They were their souls, an essential thing that kept them from becoming walking corpses!
The people before them were acting exactly like that. Kazahana Yuki could be said to be their spiritual pillar, their conviction. Their fanatical, excited expressions made Ueno Kei cast aside some of his earlier prejudices. After all, he had previously thought that those people claiming they wanted to restore Kazahana Yuki to her rightful position might have ulterior motives. No matter what world it was, there could be no love without reason, nor hatred without reason.
Ueno Kei had originally thought these people might simply be using Kazahana Yuki, and he had planned to lend them a little help if necessary. But now, it seemed that nearly all of them, like Sandayu, were subjects loyal to the former daimyo of the Land of Snow, Kazahana Sōsetsu. Of course, he could not rule out the possibility that there were people among them with exceptionally convincing acting skills—people with deep, deep schemes. Those were not the sort one could identify at a glance upon first meeting.
All he could say was that Ueno Kei had a decent first impression of this group. He secretly glanced at Kazahana Yuki's profile. She appeared unaffected, but a ninja's keen senses still allowed him to notice the subtle changes around her face.
The corners of Ueno Kei's lips lifted slightly.
Then, led by the crowd, Kazahana Yuki and the other two entered the depths of the valley.
Although Sandayu had been