"Brother. Our village is safe, right?"
"Hm?"
I flinched at Giyeon’s sudden question and shoved the dumpling in my hand into my mouth.
The searing heat rolled around inside my mouth and set fire to everything it touched.
"Well. I can’t say it’s completely safe."
I lifted my head and looked out over Guili Plains.
After the war between Rex Lapis and the Jiaolong, the war among the gods had fallen into a stalemate.
Which was only natural, perhaps. In a single day, the gods who had flaunted their power in their own territories were all cut down.
From that point on, Rex Lapis’s standing rose even higher, and the other gods must have realized it too.
If they wanted to challenge him, they would have to wager their lives.
And so the village, gifted with peace, naturally began to come alive again.
I turned my head and looked toward the outskirts of the village.
Ten years. It had been ten years.
Today marked exactly ten years since I had sliced the Jiaolong to death and Rex Lapis, with tears in his eyes, had killed the god of the mountain.
During those ten years of peace, Guili Plains had developed to the point that it could no longer really be called a village.
The homes that had once been nothing but tents were now sturdy wooden houses, and unlike in the past, when they had used stone tools, with the help of the adepti they had skipped bronze entirely and leapt straight into the age of iron.
You could tell just by looking at the weapons those soldiers carried.
Guili Plains now had a standing garrison of its own, called the Millelith.
Ah, and surprisingly, most of Huiliya’s people had taken on the role of generals.
Maybe all that training I had been giving them at regular intervals had paid off...
Hm. In any case.
Guili Plains had grown enough to function on human strength alone.
Rex Lapis seemed to understand that as well, and while informing the people of the village’s direction of governance, he had reduced the daily [Qingxin] rites to once every three months.
Probably someday he would only do it once a year.
I lowered my head again and looked at Giyeon.
"There’s probably nowhere safer than here."
"...What about other countries?"
"Hard to say. There are probably places worse than here, and places better too."
"Tch. I thought you’d know in detail, Brother."
As ten years had changed the mountains and rivers, Giyeon too had grown over those ten years.
Ten years ago she had been a little kid, and now she was a proper twenty-year-old adult.
Even the way she addressed me had changed from “uncle” to “brother.”
If it had been the old days, I would have thought “brother” was better than “uncle”...
But now my age, on the surface, was 110, and mentally I was well past 200.
Honestly, “uncle” might be better.
"But Brother, you really don’t age, do you? What’s your secret?"
"Enlightenment. If you’re interested, I can teach you too."
"Ugh. No thanks. And you already taught me for seven years. I can already beat most men, you know?"
"Hm... still not enough."
Giyeon shot me a sideways look as if asking whether I was serious.
"Of course it is. For you, Brother. You’ve even killed a god, remember? To the martial artists in the village, uncle is an object of worship."
...Heh.
Giyeon’s level was only late first-rate at best.
She was just reaching the stage where sword aura began to manifest.
If it was Giyeon, with a little more training she might be able to reach the pinnacle...
I spoke with complete sincerity.
"You could definitely reach the pinnacle. No, I’ll help you. I’ll make sure you reach it."
"...What did you say?"
Giyeon looked at me in shock.
...Ah.
"No. No, that’s not what I meant. I mean your level. Your martial level."
Seeing my flustered expression, Giyeon laughed and stood up from her seat.
Picking up a branch, she ran up onto the grass.
"Still, I’ve trained a lot. Want to see?"
"...Ha. Fine. Show me."
Giyeon smiled and began to dance with the sword.
She thrust.
She swung.
She deflected.
I smiled as I watched my disciple.
The only inheritor of my Three Talent Sword Art.
It was the most basic of the basic, yet the mysteries within it were so profound that ordinary people could not hope to understand them.
That was why, with this Three Talent Sword Art alone, one could easily reach the pinnacle.
Pierce the heavens.
Cut down the earth.
Let the things around you flow away.
Spin the body around.
Thrust into the earth.
Split the sky.
And let yourself flow onto the sword.
Over these ten years, I had done countless things as well.
First, I succeeded in restoring the martial arts that existed in my head and raised the yaksha to the level of transcendent masters.
Now karma could no longer torment my disciples.
Ah, and I had also stripped away the mysteries of the Three Talent Sword Art again and again until I made it something people could actually learn.
That was the result right there.
I watched Giyeon dancing with the sword, looking delighted.
Ten years had been short, and yet long at the same time.
...?
Someone was approaching.
I stood and turned toward the sound of footsteps.
There was a man there wearing the uniform of the Millelith.
"Master."
"...Ah. It’s you."
So it was that fellow. Night Blossom Fragrance.
"What is it?"
"Lord Zhenwang is looking for you. He says he’s calling a meeting."
"A meeting, huh."
"Understood. Tell him I’ll be there soon."
"Yes, sir. Then I’ll take my leave, Master."
The fellow who smelled faintly of night blossoms carefully backed away and withdrew from in front of me.
But he was getting thinner and thinner lately. Why was that?
...Come to think of it, he had been running away from his wife the other day. Was it because of that?
...Your own karma. Accept it.
I smiled and said to Giyeon, "Giyeon. I’m going somewhere for a bit. Rest up. I’ll correct your posture later."
"...Is there a wrong posture?"
"Your stance for the thrust is wrong from the start, you brat. I’ll be back."
I stepped forward.
The mysteries of [Void Treading] sank into my feet, and I ran across the air.
In an instant I left Guili Plains behind and arrived at the council hall of the gods and adepti.
"You’re here, Gumu."
As soon as I arrived, Liu Yun was the first to greet me.
"Long time no see, Liu Yun. But..."
"Ganyu is over there."
That wasn’t what I was about to say.
Well. I’ll say it later.
Ganyu waved both hands to welcome me, and I sat down beside her.
"Feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen your face, Gumu? If you brought me here, you’d better take responsibility, wouldn’t you?"
And just as I sat down, Huiliya, smiling beside me, poked my cheek.
"Ah. Sorry. I’ve been busy raising disciples lately..."
"No, it’s fine. Now that I’ve seen your face, that’s enough."
...Her expression doesn’t look like that at all, though.
I carefully avoided Huiliya’s gaze.
I looked around the round table.
Rex Lapis and Guizhong, as always, were pressed close together, talking about this and that.
"Lord Gumu. Here..."
"Ah. Thanks, Ganyu."
Watching that scene with satisfaction, I took the crepe Ganyu handed me and bit into it.
What was this meeting about today, I wondered.
As I waited for a moment,
"Ah! Sorry, everyone!"
With heavy footsteps, a man came running in.
And seeing him, Rex Lapis spoke.
"No, Yatta. The meeting hasn’t started yet."
"Oh, is that so, Morax? What a relief."
"Azhdaha. Haven’t you gotten a little too fond of mingling with humans lately?"
"Hahaha. What am I supposed to do when it’s fun?"
As Guizhong grinned and spoke, the Dragon King of the Mountain laughed heartily and sat down beside Rex Lapis.
As peace continued for some time, the Dragon King of the Mountain withdrew from the front lines, took on a human form of his own, and began interacting with humans.
...Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?
"Here. Gumu. Why don’t you try this too?"
"Thank you, Huiliya."
I let out a small sigh and lifted my teacup.
I had far too much to do.
But still.
If I could feel this everyday life again, I would do that much work without hesitation.
"All right! Everyone’s here, yes? Then let’s begin the meeting as usual!"
Clapping her hands to draw everyone’s attention, Guizhong began her explanation.
"As everyone knows, Guili Plains has grown to a certain extent. That means humans should be able to survive without our help, right?"
...?
Something felt ominous.
Whenever Guizhong said something like that, she always ended up blowing something huge wide open.
I had learned that over ten years of living.
"And isn’t it strange how quiet the gods have been lately?"
Guizhong looked somewhere.
Then everyone in the room followed her gaze.
There,
Mt. Aocang stood.
"It’s about time the storm started blowing."
...No. Surely not.
"From now on, we won’t just keep waiting...!"
Guizhong slammed the table and let out a yelp, shaking out her hand.
Rex Lapis wordlessly sent elemental power into Guizhong’s hand.
"Ahem. In any case. You know what they say: the best defense is offense?"
"...You mean we should strike first and protect the village."
As I muttered, Guizhong clapped her hands.
"Correct, Gumu!"
"...But Lady Guizhong, that creates a problem. We’re currently surrounded on all sides by gods. If Rex Lapis and Gumu leave their posts, there could be trouble..."
"Then."
Guizhong looked back and forth between Rex Lapis, me, and the Dragon King of the Mountain.
"Wouldn’t it be fine if we took turns going out?"
"...!"
Yisuo, who had been about to object to Guizhong, shut his mouth in surprise.
Right. If there was one thing different from the original history, it was my existence.
Rex Lapis, the Dragon King of the Mountain, and me.
At first glance it might seem inefficient, but we had a lot to lose.
If one of us went out, the other two would defend the village.
Inefficient, yes, but probably the method best suited to us.
"Up until now, we’ve been so busy protecting Guili Plains that we couldn’t launch a full-scale offensive. But now it’s different. Guili Plains has developed to a certain extent, and our forces have increased too."
Guizhong slammed the round table again.
"Now is the time not to be swept up in the storm. It’s time for us to become the storm ourselves."
...I see.
A storm sweeps everything away as it moves, but the center of that storm is calm.
We would stand at the center of the storm, become the storm ourselves, defend Guili Plains, and launch attacks against the other gods.
Not bad.
I smiled and nodded.
"I agree."
At my words, all the adepti thought it over and then nodded reluctantly.
"...An imperfect peace won’t last forever anyway. I agree."
"I agree as well."
In the end, all the adepti began to agree.
"I-I agree too!"
"I agree~."
Ganyu and Huiliya also nodded in agreement.
"Good. Then!"
Guizhong smiled and looked toward Mt. Aocang.
"First, we should stabilize the inland areas."
...Ha.
I tapped the hilt of the Yabak Stone Sword lightly.
"Then the only true windless zone left will be..."
Guizhong’s eyes were shining.
The war among the gods.
"Guili Plains."
Had resumed.
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