Since That's What Axiu Says...

"Such extravagance..."

After the lavish yet somewhat agonizing dinner, there was not much left to say about the night. Led respectfully by the servants, Gu Mo arrived at the guest room prepared for him. Under the faint, flickering candlelight, the dim room still exuded luxury.

The tatami mats were smooth and level, warm and comfortable beneath his feet. The folding screens separating the inner and outer sections were exquisitely crafted, while the calligraphy, paintings, and porcelain adorning the walls all looked immensely valuable. Everything was refined to the utmost degree, possessing a splendor and preciousness beyond the reach of common folk...

After looking around, even Gu Mo, who came from a later era and had seen much of the world, could find little fault with it. Aside from lacking the convenient technologies that improved quality of life, this guest room was not much inferior to modern living conditions... In some ways, modern people might not even have access to such conditions.

Still, that was only natural. No matter the era, ancient or modern, East or West, the conditions enjoyed by the ruling class had always far surpassed the average standards of the time. The masses represented the overall level of an era's development, while the ruling class was forever sustained by the strength of that entire era.

Having realized this, Gu Mo fell silent for a moment.

Just now, he had thought that the old bastard merely had a sharp tongue—that despite his foul attitude, he had still arranged things thoughtfully for him. But now it seemed... perhaps all the guest rooms here were of this standard. After all, guests received at the Tenshu were generally highly respected, so they probably would not be ranked into different classes.

So... it was not that old bastard Saito Dosan had been thoughtful. It was simply that there were no worse accommodations available to receive him with?

Hmm, now that he thought about it, that seemed quite possible...

He tugged at the corner of his mouth, recalling the strange atmosphere at dinner just now. Though there had only been four people, Saito Dosan had ordered every good wine and dish available to be brought out. If Hidechiyo had not become genuinely resistant by the end, he might have intended to keep the feast going until dawn.

Never mind the endless serving of fish and meat—whole cattle and sheep had been carried in one after another, without the slightest consideration for whether just a few people could finish them. He gave off the pure impression of an old father desperately wanting to give his daughter the very best.

If that had been all, Gu Mo would actually have admired that Viper quite a bit. They said royalty was the most heartless of all, yet as the ruler of Mino Province, feared by the Daimyo, Saito Dosan did not view everything solely through the lens of preserving his own power and status.

—Driven by the wish he had once shared with Suzuka, he decisively changed from a demon slayer into a Sengoku Daimyo, not to seek fame, profit, or dominion over the land, but to create a peaceful age where humans and spirits could coexist harmoniously.

—The reason he had secretly instructed Tokichiro and the others to gather large quantities of spirit stones was not to fulfill his ambitions, but to prevent others from abusing them.

—After deciding that Oda Nobunaga possessed the ability to unite this chaotic age, he wrote the Document of Abdication without the slightest reluctance and handed all of Mino over to him.

He was a complicated yet not contradictory man. He pursued power not because he had any interest in power itself, but because he regarded it from beginning to end as a means to realize his ambitions. He knew exactly what he wanted and was never lost, and the drive behind all of it came from his love and promises to those closest to him.

That was why Gu Mo had initially admired him, feeling that this was what it meant to live a life of true freedom, with clear loves and hates...

Of course, that was only initially.

The moment that old bastard started finding him displeasing no matter how he looked at him—smiling warmly at Axiu one second, with the gentlest tone and most kindly expression, then turning around the next second to glare at him with vicious eyes...

Smack! Gone.JPG

"What the hell is wrong with him..."

Sitting on the floor with his arms folded, Gu Mo was not the only one annoyed by that old bastard Saito Dosan. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

He admitted that he had selfish motives, but no matter what, he had still done a good thing. He had let the father and daughter, separated for years, recognize each other early, rather than allowing things to follow their original fate, where they would only discover the truth at the very end—and the moment they reunited would be the moment they were separated by life and death.

But now, he had originally wanted to borrow some influence and lower the difficulty of the upcoming scenario. How had it somehow produced the exact opposite effect...

Thinking of how that old bastard treated him so differently, Gu Mo's teeth itched. He was not that slow-witted. He could more or less understand what was happening and why the old bastard had suddenly developed such hostility toward him, but this sort of thing was difficult to explain clearly.

Especially when the other party had already formed a preconceived opinion and was looking at him through tinted glasses. Even if he tried to clarify things proactively, it might only deepen the suspicion, giving off the feeling of protesting too much.

He had far too much experience with that. Once someone became convinced of something, especially when they cared deeply about it, a few simple explanations could not clear up the misunderstanding. After all, if the world were that wonderful and people were that simple, there would be no conflicts.

With his arms folded and brows furrowed, Gu Mo pondered for a while before letting out a long sigh. For now, he could only leave things as they were.

Anyway, that old man could only glare at him when Axiu was not looking. In front of her, he did not dare say anything too harsh. Gu Mo could just pretend not to see it. After some time passed and the old bastard realized things were not what he thought, he would naturally understand.

In situations like this, only when the other party observed it themselves, discovered it themselves, and came up with the explanation themselves would they truly be convinced... At the very least, it was far better than Gu Mo rushing up to explain and making things worse.

At the same time, a malicious thought rose in his heart. If that old bastard really remained so blind and stubbornly obsessed with his own assumptions, then he would... he would...

He had no idea what he would do. Shaking his head hard to drive away the distracting thoughts, he stretched and looked around, preparing to get some proper rest. Ever since leaving Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village the day before yesterday, his schedule had gone from extremely regular to completely irregular.

But that was mainly because, while experimenting with his system during the past two days of travel, he had not only discovered why he could never get enough sleep, but had also figured out a temporary way to alleviate the problem—a method of adjusting his online hours.

That was to sleep voluntarily. He had discovered that as long as he slept enough on his own, he could allocate his active online time to other periods instead of having it forcibly fixed between midnight and eight in the morning... The only difficulty was that he had to actually fall asleep for it to count.

During the past two days on the road, whenever he had nothing to do, Gu Mo would close his eyes and rest, forcing himself to sleep whenever he could.

That was why he was somehow still able to remain active at this hour today.

Pulling the clean quilt over himself, he lay down in the bedding and closed his eyes. For now, this would do. There was no need to think too much. Even if that old bastard was targeting him, it was enough to understand why. That old fellow could only glare helplessly anyway.

The Viper of Mino? Lord of a castle and province? So what?

Not only did Gu Mo know him inside and out, he also had sufficient confidence in himself. Moreover, his understanding of this world was somewhat inclined toward viewing it as a Dungeon because of his impressions from the game. Even if he did not consciously feel superior, he could not help but unconsciously hold a psychological advantage over the natives.

Just an NPC. As long as she was not his wife, he was no different from any other NPC...

That was all there was to it.

"So nice..."

In the guest room on the other side, Tokichiro stared at the lavishly refined room and felt dazzled. He took a deep breath, feeling as though even the air carried an intoxicating faint fragrance. It was not an illusion. An incense burner in one corner of the room had already been lit, with thin smoke curling upward and a rich aroma filling the air.

The fragrance was sweet, pure, elegant, and refreshing. It could soothe the mind and calm the spirit.

So this was the daily life of the upper class. He had only heard about it in the past and could only imagine it, never having been able to afford anything like it. Only today had he been able to enjoy it thanks to Miss Axiu...

Feeling the gap between classes so directly did not discourage Tokichiro. Instead, he secretly made up his mind, becoming even more determined to seize this opportunity and rise in the world.

But just as he clenched his fists to encourage himself, the door to the room was suddenly pulled open. The scrawny, monkey-like man instinctively turned around, and in the next moment, he was so frightened that he began stammering, his voice trembling. "Lo, Lo-Lo-Lord Dosan!!"

His face instantly turned pale, and even his lips lost their color. Why had Lord Dosan suddenly come to his room at this time, wearing such a displeased and gloomy expression? Had he finally remembered what happened before and come to kill him to silence him?

"Monkey! I have some questions for you. Where did you meet Axiu? Tell me everything honestly."

Saito Dosan strode straight into the room, getting directly to the point.

It was not because he doubted anything important and needed confirmation. He simply could not ask in front of Axiu earlier. Now that everyone had returned to their rooms to sleep, he could no longer resist coming to find Tokichiro. He wanted to learn more clearly what kind of life his daughter had lived over the years.

"Huh?"

Tokichiro's legs had gone weak, and he had nearly fallen to his knees to beg for mercy. Hearing this, he opened his mouth wide, unable to react for a moment.

He had not come to silence him?

"What do you mean, 'huh'? Speak!" Saito Dosan barked in dissatisfaction, glaring as he repeated the command with imposing force.

"Oh, oh, oh, all right, all right, all right. Y-yes, it was like this, Lord Dosan..." Tokichiro's emotions that night had been like riding a roller coaster. Speaking with lingering fear, he forced himself to calm down and quickly gathered his thoughts while organizing his words.

"Following your orders, I have been traveling through various places collecting spirit stones during this time. About half a month ago, I went to a rather remote area..."

As he spoke, Saito Dosan listened in silence, finally learning how his daughter had lived all these years. If the information Monkey had gathered was correct, stories of a demon slayer had spread among those villages long ago. That meant Axiu had likely been earning a living alone and hunting demons from a very early age.

Then Miyoshino... that woman must have met with misfortune only a few years after leaving him. Only the still-innocent Axiu had survived by herself.

Alongside his immense grief, his guilt grew even heavier.

Saito Dosan let out a long sigh, seeming somewhat dispirited. But that state did not last long before he remembered something else, his face immediately turning displeased again. "Right, and that brat! What's his situation? Tell me!"

"Brother Gu Mo?" Monkey thought for a moment before cautiously replying, "He seems to be from Ming, and perhaps he came from a family of considerable wealth and status. I just don't know why he ended up stranded in a place like this..."

Saito Dosan's eyes flickered slightly. Monkey had a sharp eye; naturally, he had noticed that as well. That detestable brat clearly did not look like someone born to toil. He was absolutely accustomed to a pampered life—one might even say he possessed an indescribably noble air.

—Even he found it difficult to imagine what sort of background could raise someone with such... well, such "nobility."

Leaving everything else aside, the evening feast alone had been extravagant enough. If Saito Dosan had not been trying to please his precious daughter, he ordinarily would not have been willing to eat like that every meal. But that brat had looked completely uninterested in the food, even as though he found it tasteless and difficult to swallow.

Commoners rarely tasted even a hint of meat all year round. Taking a bite of meat was enough to count as a holiday. Even feudal lords, Daimyo, and rulers of nations could hardly afford to eat whole cattle and sheep at every meal. Yet that brat had eaten as though he were suffering. Had he grown up eating dragon liver and phoenix marrow? Was his palate really that demanding?

And then there was the feeling in his every word, gesture, and manner of speaking. Calling it neither servile nor overbearing was somewhat inaccurate. It would be more accurate to say that he treated everyone equally... Yes, it was not merely that the brat was neither servile nor overbearing before him. In the brat's eyes, even he received only the same treatment as everyone else.

It was as though the ruler of Mino was no different from anyone else in that person's eyes.

That was fucking strange.

It was not that he wanted to boast about his status or reputation, but Saito Dosan knew that ordinary people could never act like that in front of him. It was already quite good if they could speak clearly.

Taking all that into account, even though the brat wore commoner's clothing and had nothing valuable on him, every detail, his temperament, and even the habits hidden in his words and actions exposed the sort of environment he had lived in before.

So... his nobility was beyond description.

Having reached that conclusion, Saito Dosan nodded secretly to himself. What was most rare was that despite developing such noble bearing because of his background, that brat did not have the slightest arrogant or domineering manner. Leaving aside those habitual details that could not be changed in a short time, at least subjectively, he had conducted himself very well.

No matter why he had fallen into this land, he seemed to have calmly accepted reality and was trying hard to adapt to his new identity and surroundings...

If not for Axiu, Saito Dosan might even have praised the man as extraordinary.

"I didn't ask you about that. I'm asking how his relationship with Axiu is," Saito Dosan asked in a low voice, reining in his thoughts.

"His relationship with Miss Axiu..."

Faced with that question, Tokichiro answered without hesitation, "It's very good! Lord Dosan, in this humble one's view, they were together long ago. When I returned to Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village, what I saw was them..."

He embellished the scene from that time with artistic flair, recounting it at length before finally concluding:

"This humble one asked him about it then. He said Miss Axiu was the most special and important person to him. And Miss Axiu tacitly accepted it—she did not object at all..."

"..."

"..."

"I see..." Saito Dosan's expression shifted. After a long while, he muttered to himself with what seemed like relief, disappointment, and perhaps even gritted teeth.

So that really was how it was. Since that was what Axiu said, there was nothing he could do.

"Achoo!"

In her own room, the black-haired girl, unable to sleep in the unfamiliar environment, sneezed. Then she casually rubbed her small nose, her gaze still fixed blankly on the ceiling.

Everything that had happened today had been far too shocking for her as well.