The other two men seemed to be awestruck as Arashi had cornered their leader. His sword tip glinted as it pressed on the skin of the man's neck. A small drop of blood came out but the man wasn't even flinching. He stayed there looking at Arashi with his head held high in the air. Pride and Ego sipped out of his skin.
"Are you some sort of ninja who is protecting them?" The man asked, doubt visible in his voice.
"Oh! I am only treating them." He said.
"And how does the treatment have anything to do with a sword?" The man's eyes fell on the sword that held him in his place.
"And how could an elite warrior hunting down an unarmed man?" Arashi added immediately which agitated the man. The muscles on his jaw clenched tightly but he couldn't move. One movement and he would have to lose his throat as well as his life.
"You do know that raising your sword at me means you are raising your sword at your King?" He raised a brow and gave him a challenging gaze.
"Your King is not my King." Arashi said, which made me want to smack his head with a rice bowl. What was he saying? Did he know we were under their empire?
The man mused with Arashi but I could see the deathly smirk on his lips which said, 'Put away the sword and let me kill you'.
Sweat formed on my forehead and on my palms as my eyes frantically moved between Arashi and the man.
"Then which King do you serve?" The man asked.
"I serve no one but myself."
I was really awestruck about how Arashi had no fear and I was really impressed at his replies but reading the situation, I don't think those were the words he should say.
I may have had no clue but maybe the man was some sort of military elite since he had a sword and a crest on his chest armor. Which meant, the man was very powerful and maybe later he would come with his men to get our heads.
The man scoffed. "Then why are you raising your sword for someone who isn't even a part of this village?"
"Because as a physician I can't let you harm my patients. I don't care what you do but do it outside of my house. They are in my care until they are inside this abode and inside this village." Arashi said with a cold voice which could make anyone kneel in front of him.
There was a moment of silence as both of them looked into each other's eyes for a while, contemplating the situation in their minds while my eyes moved between them.
"Then we will wait until they recover..." He said finally.
Arashi put down the sword and put it back to its stealth again. "Be sure not to cause any kind of trouble in this village."
The man laughed and nodded. "You have my word."
"How can I believe in a man's word when he hadn't given me his name?" Arashi raised his chin and it seemed the man was a bit amused by his words.
He nodded. "I am Hayato from the Yamaguchi clan."
Arashi nodded as the man, Hayato, went toward his men but said before leaving, "I assume you know by now, why I have come. I hope words won't leave your mouth, Mr Yuan."
The threat rang in the air as they vanished into the darkness and I looked at Arashi with wide eyes, my heart still hammered against my chest.
I may have no knowledge of clans or any political things but I knew clans served closely to the Emperor and if this village was under Kosaki that meant, he might be serving the Kosaki Emperor. My heart rose. My father served him as well. If anything went wrong, maybe I should go to my father for help?
But, would he even help? He would cut ties immediately if he heard Arashi had raised his sword against our Emperor.
Arashi's eyes fell on me and it seemed he realized that I was still present when all of that happened and he sensed I was pale already.
He pursed his lips and came before me. He knelt down and said, "I apologize for this."
I tried to read his face but he seemed as calm as before. It felt like nothing had happened. "What—who were they? Why did they attack you? And how do you know the sword?"
He opened his mouth and closed again as if he was arranging his words. "Do you know Emperor Yaguchi?"
I shook my head. I had no knowledge of any other Emperor than our Kingdom, The Kosaki Emperor and maybe the enemy Kingdom's emperor. Because my father served as the general of our imperial court I knew their names from the talks of the maids and from the house ladies. My father was under the Inaue clan's extended branch. We weren't directly enforced by the Emperor but the clan head.
Arashi hummed as if he entered into a valley of thoughts. He sat before me, crossing his legs as if he was going to start giving me lessons. "You know about the Wansai emperor?"
I nodded. How could I forget? The war between Wansai and Kosaki that happened not long ago. Around six years or maybe seven? I remembered my father getting wounded in that war between the two great empires. A lot of casualties from our side. Kosaki.
In the end, the Kosaki Empire had to surrender but the prince of Wansai let us go saying he didn't want to rule over Kosaki. That made all the people in Kosaki furious at him. Because he had waged the war upon us and then didn't even take the empire.
My father hated the prince and after getting severely wounded in the battle he wanted nothing more than to curse the Wansai Prince.
Arashi nodded. "The great three empires: Wansai, Kosaki and Yokoto. The Yamaguchi clan is under the Wansai Emperor. They are said to be the most powerful clans in the whole Wansai Empire."
"So, why the most powerful clan are behind two wounded men?" It was insane to think that Arashi just fought with a powerful clan's member. What if they come for his head next time? My hands went cold.
"The wounded men are not ordinary men. One of them is the younger Prince of Yokoto and head of the Yokozawa clan. The other one is his attendee."
My jaw smashed on the floor. "What?!"
He nodded.
"Why did a prince come here to our village? And what a Yokoto Prince is doing here on a different Empire? Aren't we under Kosaki?" I asked.
I knew we only went to different regions but we were still under the Kosaki Empire. After these mountains, the largest and the strongest empire, the Wansai Empire, was situated.
Arashi shook his head. "That is where the problem has occured."
I looked at him with a questioning glance. "What do you mean?"
He answered, "This village is not under any of the three Empires but it is the only village that is in the middle of the three great nations."
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A/n:
A little historical check -
Japan's monarchy system is said to be the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world, so there weren't many kings to fight for the throne or lands. They had clans and branches or extended families but only one Emperor. To this date, the same family has reigned over Japan (for 2600 years).
The clans and princes, they all served under one emperor even if there are some personal clan fights among them. But later, the most powerful clans started to rule Japan even if they served closely to the emperor.
But in this book, I twisted some of the monarchy system and rules although they closely follow the actual ones. And made new things to spice this up. (Heh, I just like making conspiracies and taking thrones, fufufu. Don't mind me and my evil mind.)
Other things to be noted: The era I am writing about is around 1890-1930 where Samurais no longer existed and Japan entered the industrial period and the emperor is only a figurehead with declining powers. In 1876, during Meiji restoration, the emperor banned samurai from wearing their swords, leading to the creation of a drafted standing army.
And before this, around 1603-1800 Tokugawa Leyaso banned the carrying of swords by anyone but samurai. All swords owned by non-samurai were confiscated and melted down to make statues. This marked the samurai as a very distinct and noticeable class, above the common citizen.
But in my book, swords still exist but not only with Samurais, the elite classes could have swords. Yes, people, this is fiction.
Also, you might be confused with the three Empires I have created. Wansai, Kosaki and Yokoto.
You will get the gist of it once we reach the Vol. 2
Until then, sorry for the confusion. Fufufu