“See?! We knew he would only cause trouble!”

“Where are the guards?! Throw him out already!”

“If they won’t do it, we will!”

“...”

As the villagers glared at him from all directions, Lawkey made sure to keep a strong grip on his black Bokken, making sure to stay alert.

He pushed his perception, expanding it as wide as possible around him.

The crowd began to close in on him, almost surrounding the boy completely.

Seeing that, Lawkey donned his usual grin.

“Bring it on, you miserable cowards!” He issued his challenge without hesitation, pointing his practice sword forward.

“See? He’s a monster through and through!”

“We need to get rid of him!”

His new friends were shocked, standing between him and some of the villagers shouting at him.

“Huh?! What is going on?” Emi questioned, “Why is everyone yelling at Lulu? He didn’t do anything?!”

“They think he’s a Hyking, remember?” Mai reminded her.

“As his friends, we can’t let this happen!” Yasuto took a step forward, “Get up Zenga, forget the Mochi!”

Zenga got up from gathering the scattered Mochi, grimacing all the way.

Jun beside them was looking around, trying to find someone who could help in this situation.

She knew she couldn’t do anything herself, why would anyone listen to what she had to say?

Nevertheless, she had to try.

She couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

“STOP IT!”

She shouted as loudly as she could, alerting everyone and stopping the crowd for a split second.

“Why are you doing this?! Why are you blaming him?! He didn’t do anything! The stand just collapsed while we were all here!”

“...”

Lawkey stood in place, holding his stance. Hearing her defend him, he narrowed his brows, and tightened his grip on his wooden sword.

“You just don’t understand, kid!”

“That’s right! You are too young to understand what danger the Hykings pose to our lives!”

“Just ask your father! He can tell you the measures the world takes to get rid of them completely!”

“He should know, and yet, he’s taking him in and putting us all in danger!”

The villagers were not fazed and continued to charge forward toward the boy standing alone.

Lawkey wasn’t about to wait for them, he widened his stance, planting his feet into the ground.

This was something he had been practicing in secret. He had told his teacher about this, but Munisai wasn’t having it. He said it was too early and too dangerous for him to attempt creating a sword technique by himself.

Lawkey didn’t care about such limitations, he never did.

As if crossing his arms in front of his face, he held them opposite to each other above his shoulders, still holding a tight grip on the sword with his right hand.

“You want to get rid of me that badly for no reason.” He said, his shadows beginning to erupt from his feet, “Let’s do this then!”

“Wait! What is he doing?!”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“He’s using his Sign unauthorized?!”

As his friends stood in shock, the villagers began to hesitate slightly.

But it was too late for that now.

Lawkey swung his sword with all his might, almost making a full circle around him.

And with that swing, a vortex of shadows burst from under him, engulfing him completely.

“What?!”

“W-what is that?!”

Everyone stood stunned, they had never seen anything like it, that kind of shadow output bursting out to form a vortex around the person summoning them.

Especially not from a kid.

“This kid… He’s completely mad!!”

While everyone looked in shock, one person’s eyes were wide in excitement.

You hold some promise after all!!

However, as if in a split second, the entire vortex of shadows exploded, quickly extinguishing in the air to reveal Lawkey falling back toward the ground.

THUD

Everyone watched him land on his feet, immediately taking a knee as he panted.

“Hah… hah… dammit…”

He realized Munisai was right, he hadn’t been ready.

He didn’t even have his actual sword.

“Tsk.”

“Now! Get him!”

Wasting no time, the villagers rushed to quickly take hold of him before he could try anything else.

“No! Wait!”

“Listen to us!”

Jun and Yasuto tried to call out to them, but they were completely ignored.

The first person to make it to Lawkey seemed like a middle-aged man in his late fifties, but he didn’t care.

He punched him in the face, sending him tumbling back where someone had to catch him.

“Overwhelm this mad demon!”

“Come and get it!”

As they all screamed at each other, a sharp wind quickly zapped through the crowd and revealed someone standing between the two parties.

THUD!

“Enough!” He said, the stomp of his long glaive announcing his arrival.

“Hachi…”

“Why is the Commander of the Royal Guard here…?”

The villagers quickly came to a halt, scowling at the man.

“Her Majesty requested some Mochi…” Hachi said, turning towards the stand, “But it seems that won’t be possible anymore. Who is responsible for this?”

“Who do you think?! It’s that kid right behind you!”

Hachi glanced behind him at the boy, the very source of the many headaches he had been having for the last month.

“Is that true, kid?”

“...”

“You won’t answer-?”

“No! It’s not!”

As Lawkey rested on one knee, someone else answered the question for him.

She sauntered forward as her friends followed behind her.

“Jun… are you saying he didn’t do it?”

“Sir, if I may!” Yasuto cut in, “The stand collapsed on its own. Lawkey had nothing to do with it.”

“You are… Kenzo’s little brother?” Hachi asked.

“That’s right, sir. My brother loyally serves as the Castle Guard, I hope to one day join him under your leadership, sir!” Yasuto quickly corrected his posture as he addressed the Commander of the Royal Guard.

“You know how to flatter, at the very least.” Hachi said, then turned to Mayumi, the female vendor who had lost her stand, “Did he directly cause you or your property any harm?”

“...” Mayumi grimaced, holding tightly onto the bottom of her apron, “No…”

“Then the matter has been settled.” Hachi announced, “You will be offered support to get back on your feet, don’t let this linger on your mind.”

“Thank you…”

“Why are you thanking him?! We are not accepting this, Commander!”

While Mayumi herself retreated, some of the other vendors and villagers were not content.

“You must as well stop now.” Hachi declared, “We have heard your complaints, and we are working towards a solution. Until then, we follow Her Majesty’s will!”

“We can’t wait for that! It’s been a month already!”

“His curse is affecting the clan already! Do you know how many have gotten sick and bedridden in the last month?!”

“...”

Hearing their complaints, Lawkey couldn’t help but clench his teeth.

All this trouble just so I can train here… I’m over it!

Just as he was about to say something, he was pulled away suddenly.

“!”

“Let’s go!”

Jun had grabbed him by the arm and was walking away.

“Jun, hold on.” Hachi called out to her.

“No! We are done here!” She shouted back, not bothering to stop or turn back.

Hachi squinted his eyes as he watched her go.

Stubborn… just like you, Terumi…

He thought of the similarity between the aunt and her niece, before quickly getting pulled back into reality.

“Are you just going to stand there and let them go?!” A villager bellowed.

“Haaah….” Hachi let out a long sigh. He had to deal with them now, and then deliver bad news to the Shadow Queen again.

Maybe she’ll accept some Dango instead…?

He wasn’t too optimistic.

It’s going to be a long week again…

**👑**

“Hey! Stop!” Lawkey called out, “You can let go of me now, we’re far enough.”

“...”

Jun suddenly stopped, her back still to the boy she pulled all the way here.

Her friends were still in the process of catching up behind them.

Before that happened, she needed to make sure of something important.

“Promise me…” she muttered, her face looking down.

“Huh?”

“Promise me you won’t leave!”

“...”

Lawkey was taken aback, he hadn’t expected her to guess his thoughts, much less be that emotional about it.

“What’s it to you?” He said, shaking his arm free, “Can’t you see how they all are? It’s better for me to leave. I have things to do, and you can have your peaceful life back, you should be glad.”

“I can’t be glad! I…” Jun turned around, “I can’t do anything! I couldn’t help my dad, my mother died because of me, and even you almost died to save me…”

“What are you-?”

“I got mad when you said I was weak, but the truth is, I am!” Her tears began to fall as she held onto the hem of her outfit.

“...”

“You can’t leave…” She mumbled, “If you do, my father will just go back to being sad… And I can’t do anything to help him…”

“You… this entire time…”

“Hey!! Junjun, lulu!” Emi cried out from behind, interrupting them, “Are you okay?”

As they all quickly caught up, Jun turned her back to them, drying her eyes with her arm sleeves.

“You made Jun cry, now die!” Mai stepped forward, poison needles out.

“Stop it!” Yasuto brought her to a halt, “This isn’t the time for that. Besides…”

“We shouldn’t be here.” Kojiro suddenly stepped in, “This place contains bad memories…”

Everyone finally looked around, realizing where they were.

A wide dark tunnel that was closed off completely.

“No wonder she was crying…” Kojiro continued.

“This is where Tori Kage died protecting her family, her only daughter.”

----------------------------------------

image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]