Blade Lineage Mentor: Meursault's Story

I have made my move.

... Oh, so you have.

An old man garbed in a glistening white dopo robe sat opposite the child, who wore a hat woven from horsehair and bamboo.

The furnace was dark and unlit; the room was freezing. The two sat without even lighting a candle, the moonlight their only source of illumination.

Yet the moon was fully waxed and bright...

... bright enough to cast its cold light upon the black and white stones on the board.

The Left State Councilor and his bodyguard were having a silent discussion via the game of baduk.

Apologies, young man. I was absorbed in thought.

It is quite all right. We have not set a time limit for this game.

Ha ha ha.

The old man gently chuckled.

He sat there for a moment, toying with the black stones in the bowl.

Mind me not, Left State Councilor. I am but a student in this match. It would be unbecoming of me to bid you hurry.

Yet you are quite impatient now, no?

Clack.

The sound of smooth pebbles grinding against each other ceased.

Has it been seven winters already?

Yes.

I have been your protector for seven years and four months, Left State Councilor. Time passes fast.

Mmh.

May I ask for your opinion? I am certain that your perspective may vary from mine; I was raised in affluence, yet you have clawed your way up from the bottom.

The child began fiddling with the stones again, briefly absorbed in thought. Then he answers with a gentle voice.

The path you walk is a dark and arduous one.

But I believe that you walk that path with unyielding tenacity for the good of this Nest and its feathers.

The old man knitted his brows. Perhaps the child's answer wasn't what he was looking for.

You have not once shared your opinion with me, ever since you became my protector.

I suppose that is why I am content with you by my side.

I apologize. My response must not have been to your satisfaction.

Ha ha, there is no need for apologies.

... You had the potential to become a <ruby=Cloudblade>Un'geom</ruby> had you served the Right State Councilor instead.

Is that not the title all those who walk the path of the blade in S Corp. seek? To be recognized as one of the very best in the Nest.

Not even you would jest that you have never sought one such privilege.

I am your blade to wield, Left State Councilor. You were the one who chose me.

The child responds immediately and indifferently.

A blade follows the hand that wields it. And you are that hand, Left State Councilor.

Hah. This is not a move one makes without nary a thought, young man.

I saw no reason for hesitation.

......

The old man - the Left State Councilor - smiled, but there was a tinge of woe in his eyes.

... If that is your answer, then... I have something to ask of you. Though I hardly deserve to.

I will do as you command.

Next week... I plan to present this appeal. May I ask you to protect me until then?

I fail to see your purpose in asking me to do the duties that I am already intent on performing.

... Ah, do you seek to dismiss me after this?

Ha ha ha! I see that your talent in jests have grown since we first met.

... Written in this appeal are the hideous conspiracies, heinous deeds, and studies that have been conducted in secret.

Should the contents of my appeal be made public... it will shake S Corp. to its roots.

......

That is the strength this appeal carries. And such revelatory strength begets those that seek to destroy it. Assassins.

... Be my blade so that I may see this path to its end. That is my request.

It shall be done.

The child replied without a moment of hesitation. He had no reason to.

Because he never questioned the fact that it was his purpose to protect the Left State Councilor.

... And that is why the child could not even imagine that he would ever fail.

The old man perished, despite the child's vow.

The child's skills with the blade were unparalleled; yet there was only so much that a single person could manage. The powers that be of S Corp. held resources and ploys that no single human could possibly withstand.

No one in S Corp. quite knew who murdered the old man, or how he was murdered. He was killed in a manner that could never be traced.

But the child knew.

It was the old man's political enemy... the Right State Councilor's doing.

It is before sunbreak; not a soul stirs awake in this hour.

There was another old man, sleeping - yet soon awakened by a noise from outside his window.

What... I-is there anyone out there?

The old man peeked open the sliding paper door to his room...

Huh...?!

And came face-to-face with the child.

It was you.

H-how are you still alive? How did you even get in he -

The child was surrounded by corpses of decapitated men.

He glared at the Right State Councilor with a look of a fiend; there was naught but the silence of dead men who were once his bodyguards.

I-if you cut me down, it shall not end with your neck! Your entire family, your entire bloodline shall be purged!

The Royal Court will send the Ch'unokkun against you!! Y-you must know how terribly tenacious they are; they will not let the borders of a Nest stop them!

S Corp., a Wing that places heavy emphasis on tradition and hierarchies, oft sends the Ch'unokkun after contractors who have fled or violated a Taboo.

Within S Corp., the Fixers might as well be called Ch'unokkun.

And the Ch'unokkun sent by the Royal Court are known to be like the Taboo Hunters of other Wings; they are deadlier and more tenacious than any pursuers.

I will not cut you down. Your death will change nothing.

The child's voice is terrifyingly cold and collected.

Let this be a warning still.

A warning that, if I ever find anyone who is capable of tearing these putrid roots from the ground... I will return.

A warning that I can easily separate your pathetic head from your body as a blade cuts through weed.

What - ?!

With that, the child disappeared into the early morning wind.

Men!!! Find the best Ch'unokkun in the Nest, now! Arrest anyone who ever had ties to that man!

I want them hung before me!!!

The child left the Right State Councilor's echoing bellows behind and resolutely made his way to the borders of S Corp.

His persecuted fellows who were barely maintaining their status as feathers at S Corp.

Those who wielded their blades under the banner of the Blade Lineage. He would one day return to this place with them by his side.