Kansei's campfire was located closer to the forest edge, and there was no one sitting beside it, although three more tents stood around.

In response to Stas's silent question, Sly shrugged. Apparently, he wasn't too troubled by the presumed death of his former comrades.

"Sit down, you'll be my guest," Kansei said hospitably, patting the tree trunk opposite him, which served as a bench. "I just set it up to warm up," he nodded towards his stew in a pot coated with a thick layer of soot.

Stas was afraid to imagine eating anything from such a thing, but refusing would have been an even greater folly.

The water was slowly beginning to warm up, and the fire, flaring up, cracked sharply, throwing sparks that continued to burn on the grass for a few seconds.

"I'm grateful," Stas said, his thanks accompanied by a short bow that had become almost habitual.

As Stas had noticed, many actions here were followed by this gesture. Depending on the situation, the angle of the bow and the position of the hands changed. For example, he saw a samurai scolding a couple of spearmen. They bent almost ninety degrees, pressing their hands along their bodies. But in the case of gratitude, to reinforce their words, one could fold their hands in a characteristic prayer pose.

"And what do you plan to do now?" Kansei asked, pulling out an unusually short and wide spoon from his breast and tasted the stew, after which he smacked his lips dissatisfied, took out a small pouch of salt, and generously sprinkled it into the pot.

"My thoughts are confused after that blow to the head. I almost don't remember those I went into battle with. It would probably be better for me to find someone who will accept me. But is it possible, in my case, to switch to another master? For example, become a permanent ashigaru?" Stas tried his best to seem like a very concerned man. However, he hardly needed to pretend.

"You don't want to be the last to return to your home village," Kansei nodded understandingly, fully meeting Stas's expectations. Ordyntsev remembered well the conversation of those peasants discussing funeral rites. "It's possible, but you'd have to take an oath of loyalty. And that, as you understand, changes the stakes quite significantly. Besides, they don't just accept loyalty oaths from anyone. After all, it's not far from there to joining a clan."

"Joining a clan," Stas widened his eyes, expressing surprise at his interlocutor's words, while trying to coax more information out of him.

"So, joining, huh," Kansei rolled his eyes. "You might join a clan, but you'd be an assistant to the assistants of the clan's quarter's latrine cleaners for the rest of your days. And your children can expect the same fate."

"A sad fate," Stas repeated slowly, casting a quick glance at Sly and realizing that he was staring intently at him.

"He-he-he," Kansei chuckled, shaking his finger. "Eh, no. I see that you're not so simple, brother Shiro. I realized that as soon as I saw your attentive gaze in that ditch and only confirmed it when you fed those fools a bunch of lies."

"What lies, brother Kansei?" Stas's eyes widened. "It was the purest truth, as clear as a dragon's tear."

"Dragon's tear, oh, I can't!" Kansei shook with laughter, slapping his knees. "Oh, that's too good, just too good. Suppose you're indeed an amnesiac ashigaru of Hoteka Koshu, but why should Master Taichi take you into his squad? And most importantly, why should I trust you?" The man's laughter cut off abruptly, and serious black eyes were once again fixed on Stas.

"Two reasons," Ordyntsev calmly raised two fingers. "First, I'm excellent at stitching up wounds. Second... I saved your life. How's that for reasons?"

The silence dragged on. Both men froze, hypnotizing each other. When Stas was seriously considering reaching for the spear leaning against the tree, Kansei burst into laughter again.

"That'll do, oh, that'll do, Shiro. But you just have to admit that you're definitely not a peasant. I don't know any peasants who talk as strangely as you. In fact, I don't know anyone with such strange speech. Our enemies, the Otomoto, certainly don't talk like that. By the way, just out of curiosity, show me your hands."

Stas slowly turned his palms up, placing them on his knees.

"And after that, you say you're a peasant?" Kansei's sarcasm could literally be cut with a knife. "I haven't seen such clean hands even on nobles! You know, now I'm definitely sure you're no spy. Who in their right mind would pretend to be an ashigaru when they've never held a weapon in their life?! There should have been at least some calluses left from it!"

"You're right about that," Stas agreed under the attentive gaze of the local. "But I do know how to count and also how to stitch up and treat wounds. Maybe I once lived in a village and healed peasants?"

"Hmm, a wandering healer... That's indeed quite common. If you were bald, I'd take you for a monk, though even monks don't shy away from hard work. Although I still can't figure out how you ended up here."

"I'd tell you if I remembered," Stas parried and immediately went on the offensive. "But you, brother Kansei, you're certainly not a peasant, are you? I'm sure none of them," Ordyntsev gestured around. "Would have noticed even half of what you did."

"You're no pushover, are you, Shiro?" Kansei, chuckling softly, tasted the stew again, and this time, it satisfied him. "Maybe you're right, or maybe not. But our ancestors bequeathed to us that sometimes silence is a wonderful flower that needs to be allowed to bloom. We understand each other?"

"Undoubtedly." Stas expressed his absolute agreement.

"Pour yourself some," Kansei moved toward his tent. "I'll go get a bowl."

"I'm ashamed to admit, but the looters got to it before me," Stas called after him, spreading his hands. "Only this tent and an old mat remain. They took all my belongings."

"Ah, you have to be quicker, be quicker," Kansei chided, yet he went into the neighboring tent, rummaged around, and after some time brought out someone's bowl and spoon. "I saw the owner of these items get killed, so I think he won't mind," Sly chuckled at his own joke.

Stas only gave a cold smile in response. He felt no sympathy for the locals. Moreover, he disliked them.

Everything, from their smiles to their words, spoke of the alienness of the surrounding world. Stas was an extraneous element in it, who, by the will of incomprehensible forces, found himself in a place where he should not have been.

The stew turned out to be passable. It even contained some meat fibers and a large amount of greens with some kind of porridge. Although, more salt could have been added. On the other hand, it might be a luxury in these lands.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Kansei," Stas decided to clarify an important question for him, "Tell me, which spirits should I thank for being able to survive the last battle?"

"A strange question," the man burped contentedly after the first portion and began pouring himself a second. "Come on, pour yourself some more, what am I, a host who won't fill his guest's belly? As for the spirits, unsurprisingly, a good expert on spirits will be of help to you. If you need to appease that side, then it's an onmyoji you want."

"And a snake's spirit, is it a lucky one?" Stas finally voiced the question that had been troubling him.

"Of course, a lucky one," Kansei snorted, licking the bowl after the second portion. Stas hadn't even noticed how he finished it. "Snakes are messengers of the gods, younger kin of dragons. They bring safety and wealth to family."

"Then it all makes sense," Stas nodded seriously and finally decided. Setting aside his bowl, he slowly reached into his kimono, under Kansei's interested gaze.

"Holy gods! May a Nure-onna crawl into my pants!" Kansei exclaimed, nearly spilling his third bowl. Ordyntsev didn't even notice how he poured it for himself. "You're carrying a damn snake on your belly?!"

"She's not just any snake," Stas carefully laid Leviathan along the log. "When I fought with the enemy ashigaru and he almost defeated me, a snake jumped out of the grass and bit his leg," the man looked seriously at Sly, who was listening attentively. "The ashigaru got distracted, and I was able to defeat him. However, the snake that saved me was badly injured. I decided it was nothing other than the help of the spirits. Now tell me, am I right?"

"It's hard to say," Kansei cautiously approached and thoughtfully licked his lips. "If everything happened exactly as you say, then it's definitely the will of the spirits. At what moment did it attack?"

"When I was defenseless on the ground, and the enemy spearman raised his weapon over me. Besides," Stas continued. "You said that snakes also mean wealth. Do you think I could have made it to you in time to help with that... Ashigaru?"

Sly frowned, then looked at the lying snake with completely different eyes.

"There's a lot of strange meaning in your words, brother Shiro. But haven't you thought that... the help of the snake ended there? Why did you take her with you?"

"I owe it to the one who saved my life," Ordyntsev replied firmly.

"And you haven't thought that she might bite you when she wakes up?" Kansei raised his eyebrows. "I've never seen such a snake before, and I've seen many. Who knows if she's poisonous?"

"It will be much worse if, out of my cowardice, the gods and spirits turn away from us," Stas chuckled, causing Sly to reluctantly nod in agreement.

"You did the right thing. Just keep her away from me, so if you misunderstood the will of the spirits and die from poison, it'll be just you. I'm sure the spirits won't be offended by this little wish."

Ignoring his interlocutor's black humor, the earthling bent down and carefully opened Levi's mouth, inspecting her palate and tongue. Next came her nostrils.

Having finished the inspection, the man breathed a sigh of relief. Although there were signs of blood and small skin tears, overall, the snake's head was in much better condition than one might think after those crushing punches.

Stas frowned, trying to remember when he last fed Levi. He used to record this information in a calendar. But now, naturally, he couldn't reach it.

Probably, it was about a week ago. So there was still time before the next feeding.

The further examination led to nothing. Palpation did not reveal any broken bones or other critical injuries. Besides, Stas was not a veterinarian, so he could be mistaken.

The only oddity that did not give Stanislav peace was Leviathan's seemingly increased length. If the transition to this world reduced her length, then in the past half-day, she seemed to have grown back a little, which didn't make sense. Such a growth rate was utterly impossible. What's more, in this case, it would have been truly monstrous.

Ordyntsev dismissed his suspicions, deciding he had initially misremembered Levi's length.

The earthling carefully put the snake back under his kimono under Kansei's respectful gaze. In the eyes of the ashigaru, Ordyntsev was something between a recklessly brave man and an outright madman.

After all, who in their right mind would place a wild snake of an unknown species so close to their body?

"Alright, brother Shiro. You're definitely not going anywhere today. The important folks are a bit too preoccupied for you right now. But tomorrow, with a fresh head, something might work out."

"Agreed." Stas nodded understandingly. He had already been considering something similar, quietly planning his speech.

By nature, Ordyntsev couldn't stand improvisation. In his understanding, improvisation was the natural continuation of the inability to plan and predict one's life.

In Stas's opinion, it was always desirable to have at least an outline of a course of action for any situation so that it could be used if necessary.

Of course, there are always surprises and force majeure. But even for some of them, one can prepare in advance.

*****

The night was tough. Not only was it monstrously uncomfortable to sleep on a mat, causing his whole body to go numb and forcing Ordyntsev to turn almost every half hour, but it was also quite chilly.

The tent provided poor protection against the night's coolness, which made Stas curse the lack of socks on the dead peasant all night – his feet were frozen stiff.

And as if all that wasn't enough, Stas didn't trust his new acquaintance one bit, so he slept with one eye open. Sly could theoretically decide that a dead Shiro was an excellent way to definitively hide the looting of the dead samurai.

Perhaps paranoia was speaking in the earthling, but he would prefer to be a living paranoid than a brave dead man.

Levi lay with Stas in the tent. He placed her on his belly, trying to warm her with his body's heat. Considering how cool it was in the forest, it was not an unnecessary precaution.

The weakened pet could not be exposed to the cold.

Half asleep, Ordyntsev felt a couple of times that Levi was waking up and, poking her head out from under the kimono, carefully explored their new home with her tongue, but then she calmed down again and fell asleep.

The next day, in the morning, Sly pulled Stas to meet Master Taichi, the samurai whom he reported to directly.

"Listen carefully," Kansei was as focused as ever and put aside his usual smile. "We're going to meet Master Taichi now. He's a samurai who managed the village where I lived..."

Stas nodded, noting to himself that Sly didn't say "my village" or "the village where I was born." Perhaps he came to that village from somewhere else? Another reason to be wary of him.

"Nevertheless, Master Taichi was appointed there by esteemed Nobunoro. The latter, Nobunoro-sama, the head of our province, was appointed by," Kansei rolled his eyes towards heaven, "Daimyo Keiji-sama himself. So, be quiet, speak politely if you cherish your life, and don't even think about behaving in a way that's inappropriate for your status."

Stas didn't ask what "inappropriate" meant. Kansei spent a good hour explaining exactly how Stas should bow, what was forbidden to do, and what was allowed. When to speak, and when to be silent as a mouse.

"So, Master Taichi, being a mere serving samurai, can't take you into the serving ashigaru in a prefecture that doesn't belong to him. But Lord Nobunoro can do just that. If there's no problem with joining ordinary ashigaru, then serving ones - that's a different level. That's the personal guard of any noble samurai. And now we have to convince Taichi-san that you'll be useful so that he can convince Nobunoro-sama."

Stas shook his head; while talking about becoming a permanent, "serving" ashigaru, he took a stab in the dark and, surprisingly, he guessed correctly.

Now, it was just a matter of figuring out what exactly.

"So Master Taichi is also a hired warrior?" Stas tried to make sense of all these intricacies.

"Ah, why do you keep nagging me!? Taichi-san is a samurai who was given our village to manage and maintain by esteemed Nobunoro. However, all the warriors from this land belong to Nobunoro-sama, and only he can take serving ashigaru or samurai into his service. This right was personally given to him by his father. Is that clearer now?"

"Don't get hot-headed; you know I don't mean to."

"Even Buddha will get angry if you stroke his face more than three times," Kansei grumbled, but without malice. He flared up quickly but cooled down just as fast.

"Will I owe you something for this?" Stas clarified, a little disturbed by Kansei's generosity. Of course, he had compromising information on him, saved his life, and seemingly, thanks to the spirits, helped collect some money, but Ordyntsev was too cautious to even trust after that.

"Of course you will," Sly snickered. "You'll never be able to repay me in a lifetime."

"Seriously?" Stas snorted.

"Just kidding," Kansei shrugged. "I'm sure we can settle up. The spirits favor you, lad, and who would I be not to take advantage of that? So get rid of all that nonsense you're thinking about right now and focus."

"As you say, Kansei-sama," Stas replied reverently, adding a tone of respect to his voice.

"Cut that crap," Sly grimaced. "From your mouth, I don't know why, but that 'sama' sounds like dregs. Oh, I have a feeling you'll lead us both straight into the jaws of Shinigami."

"Don't worry. I'll do everything right." Stas dropped the cheerful tone and became as focused as ever.

"Much better," Kansei nodded approvingly.