"Eido pays... pays his respects to his adoptive father!..."
"...? Haaha! Rise, rise! Good! What a fine eldest son!..."
At the port in Ezo Land, under the witness of the Tendai envoy and the people of the kingdom, Shiba Eido performed the Wajin's solemn "seiza bow." Then, in the name of his ancestors, he swore an oath, formally establishing his "adoptive father-and-son" relationship with Zuwaro and sharing in the family's honor. After accepting the rite, Zuwaro followed the Nahua custom and gripped Shiba Eido's topknot. Then he rummaged in his bosom and took out a golden Hummingbird Amulet as a return gift for his "adoptive son."
"Come! A-Dong, put this Gold Talisman on! Your father didn't prepare any other gift, so all I can give you is gold... Later, I'll personally preside over your conversion ceremony, and you'll believe in the Main God!..."
Shiba Eido pressed his lips together and accepted the one-jin Gold Talisman, wearing it heavily around his neck. At that moment, the emotions in his heart were as heavy as the Gold Talisman, bending his neck beneath their weight. A youth's unease and imaginings surged together in his unseasoned heart, and in the end, they turned only into his deeply lowered head.
"Ancestors witness this! Adoptive father, Eido... will obey everything you say!"
"Young lord!! You must not, you must not! What a glorious household the Shiba Clan is—how can it fall so low as to keep company with Sanda people and acknowledge a barbarian chieftain as father?! If Lord Yoshikado knew of this beneath the springs, he would surely die with his eyes unclosed!..."
Seeing this formal rite of greeting, among the dozen or so Shiba Clan retainers in the rear, several more unwilling cries burst out. One elderly retainer was especially agitated, struggling nonstop under