Heeding the red-haired young man's words, the rescued girl found a corner in the hills to curl up in. While she waited, a clap of thunder suddenly echoed from the direction of the village, making her poke her head out from the earthen hole she'd found, worried.
She clutched the long mantle draped over her shoulders. Her concern for the man who had saved her overcame her fear.
She crawled out of the small cave and cautiously made her way back toward the village.
"Huh?"
Peering down from a mound of earth outside the village, she saw that the ronin were gone. The red-haired young man was moving their bodies out of the village, performing some basic cleanup.
"Is it… really over?"
Looking at the once-peaceful village, now in this state, a torrent of conflicting emotions churned within her. The pain of her home and life being destroyed, the relief of survival, the joy of fear's departure… and a certain guilt unique to those who remain.
"Hm? You're back sooner than I expected…"
Muramasa looked up in the girl's direction, waiting for her to approach.
"Mr. Muramasa… did you do all of this…?"
The girl slowly pulled the mantle from her shoulders and held it out to him, then glanced around once more, the question in her heart finally spoken.
"I suppose you could say I took care of it. None of them should have escaped."
Muramasa accepted the mantle without much ceremony.
"Ahem… You should probably go change your clothes," he said, coughing lightly and averting his gaze after it was momentarily drawn to the two mounds of white. "Then, if you could, it would be a great help if you could call the other villagers back."
"Ah—Right! I'll go right now!"
His words snapped her back to reality. She nodded firmly and ran toward her house.
"Hah… I wonder if there's an empty house around here I could use as a forge," Muramasa mused to himself. "If not, this body of mine won't last much longer…"
With that thought, he began to consider how to replenish his magical energy.
To replenish mana, he needed either the bodily fluids of living beings or to absorb it from the external environment.
As for bodily fluids, there were plenty available, but Muramasa was a hundred times unwilling to use anything from human remains.
As for absorbing mana from the outside, in his original world, this would require a territory or a similar setup. But this world was different. Muramasa could feel an abnormally abundant "magical energy" everywhere. Or, as the locals might call it—elemental power.
But he could only sense it. It was like smelling a delicious meal from a neighbor's house but being unable to find the source, let alone take a bite.
"Am I really going to have to resort to that? Or maybe… I can borrow a house for now…"
He scratched his head in frustration, unable to think of a perfect solution. His gaze fell to the ground. As his eyes swept past Onishark's body, they were drawn to a purple pendant.
"Hm? This is… the thing that guy was talking about, right?"
He recalled the man's final, cryptic words about the Fatui and power. While he hadn't paid much attention, the memory of the energy the man had unleashed made him pick it up.
"This is…"
As he felt the magical energy contained within, a numbing sensation coursed through his entire body. Unlike the magical energy he was used to, which was merely "fuel," the elemental power here brought about a deeper change upon entering his body.
"Everything around me has become so clear. Is this some kind of enhancement?"
The Karmic Eyes that Senji Muramasa possessed were already a variant of Clairvoyance, granting him exceptionally sharp vision and dynamic perception, to the point of being able to see through cause and effect. The Electro elemental energy here temporarily enhanced the power of his eyes and even granted his body the speed to match this heightened perception.
"Setting aside the effects for a moment, I still can't actually control this so-called elemental power…"
Holding the pendant, he could absorb the residual power within it, but he couldn't use the surrounding elemental energy like Onishark had.
Since it belonged to that guy, it's not village property.
With that thought, Muramasa logically decided to hold onto it for the time being.
"With this, at least I won't have to worry about disappearing for a while…"
…
By the time the villagers returned, it was nearly nightfall.
Judging by the number of houses, the village was home to several dozen families, over a hundred people. After this tragedy, only forty or fifty remained.
"Uncle Goko, is there no one else?" the girl Muramasa had saved asked a tall, middle-aged man, her voice tinged with a desperate hope. He could only shake his head, his dim gaze sweeping over the houses that would now be half-empty.
"No one. We thought a few were just missing, but… they were found in the well behind the village just now…"
He looked at the young girl before him and sighed softly before continuing, "Hailing, your parents were also…"
Hearing this, Hailing froze. For a moment, she seemed at a loss for words, then simply nodded heavily. "Thank you… for telling me."
She showed no other emotion, merely turning and walking toward the back of the village.
After Hailing left, a heavy silence fell over the group. Everyone worked quietly, cleaning houses, clearing the scene, preparing to notify the authorities… There was little time or space for grief.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
Having not been assigned any task, Muramasa approached the man who seemed to be the village elder, Goko, and offered his help.
"How could we trouble you any further? We are already incredibly grateful that you dealt with those bandits for us!"
Seeing Muramasa approach, Goko immediately straightened up, his expression serious. "You've done us such a great service. It's just that, in our current state, we can't properly thank you yet."
The service he spoke of wasn't just defeating the ronin, but also recovering their property and food supplies. No matter how many had died, the living still had to go on.
"No, it's just a bit awkward for me to stand around doing nothing…"
"In that case, how about I show you to a house? I heard from Hailing that you were hoping to stay here for a while, is that right?"
See? I feel restless if I'm not doing something…
Ah well, since he put it that way, I can't really refuse.
"That's right. In that case, I'll graciously accept."
The two men walked toward one side of the village, chatting as they went.
"Hailing mentioned you came from quite a long way away?"
"Hm, you could say that," Muramasa answered vaguely. "It was a pretty small place. I guess you could say I was fleeing a disaster."
"Eh? Someone as strong as you had to…?"
"If the heavens themselves turn against you, it doesn't matter how strong a person is, does it? If you can't eat, you have to find a new place. It's as simple as that."
"That's true…"
Goko led him to a quieter part of the village. The well he had mentioned was nearby, and the seemingly fragile Hailing was performing last rites for her family.
"This is our village's blacksmith shop. Though I say that, it's been empty for a long time."
Muramasa glanced at Hailing, who was kneeling before her family in final prayer, before turning his attention to the building Goko was indicating. The house itself wasn't large, but it had a forge and a warehouse behind it, fully equipped. The warehouse looked like it was occasionally used, but the other areas were clearly in disuse.
"That's surprising. A village like this has its own forge?"
"Ahaha, well, the tools in the village need maintenance, you see. The original blacksmith made a living here for a while, but then he left for Inazuma City."
"Inazuma City…"
Knowing nothing about this place, Muramasa could only repeat the name. Fortunately, the other man didn't seem to mind.
"That's right! The location of the Tenshukaku, where the legendary Raiden Shogun resides. The castle town is under her direct protection. For a craftsman—especially a bladesmith—it's a land of dreams!"
"Hm? Why is that?" Muramasa asked the obvious question.
"You're a bladesmith and you don't know?"
Goko was taken aback, surprised that he was ignorant of such a thing.
"The Shogun herself is the founder of the Inazuman style of swordsmithing. From her, the great treasures of our nation, the 'Raiden Gokaden,' branched out."
-------
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