Ken travelled quite a while before getting a scent of other humans...
More precisely, he managed to find tracks of quite a few people, leading through the woods in what seemed to be a clearing somewhere.
Ken followed the tracks and the smell for a while, all until he started smelling more and more things in the distance, his other senses were also picking up movements and sounds.
'I must be close to a village of some kind...' Ken jumped from tree to tree without any restriction, before eventually stopping himself.
'... This blade on my back will definitely attract attention to me...'
Ken realized at that point that his crimes would be known if the long blade was recognized by others and if a wanted poster was made of him, the situation would be a bit more annoying.
Ken had thought about taking his revenge on the Land of Iron and its lord, but he wanted first to kill the 7 Swordsmen before that.
So he wanted to lay low for a while, to avoid alerting any of his enemies of his survival and/or whereabouts.
Therefore, Ken quickly decided on a course of action, jumping a bit away from the village and finding a large tree.
Ken managed to climb it quickly, needing only a leap to get on top of it. He unsheathed his large blade, letting the sheet fall to the side on some branches as he directed its tip to the bark of the tree.
His long blade slipped into the bark of the tree with ease, Ken burying it completely, including its hilt.
With one finger touching the hilt of the blade, Ken flowed his chakra into it, widening the hole in the process and slightly burning the inside of the tree.
Ken pulled the blade out with a thread of chakra, sheathing it again and sliding it right into the small hole that he had created.
With his weapon hidden, Ken proceeded to walk towards the village, keeping his katana strapped to his belt for protection.
It wasn't an uncommon thing to do in the Land of Iron, the majority of travellers carried weapons, and it was more uncommon to see one unarmed.
He was still alone though, something that travellers used to avoid due to the constant presence of mountain bandits. Which meant people would still look at him weirdly...
Ken walked by plenty of people, many of them turning their heads and staring at the strange 'ronin' coming alone from the wilderness.
At first, some thought it was a lost child, and wanted to approach it and ask about its parents and whether or not it was safe.
The poor villagers didn't have any means to take care of a child, but they could at least report the appearance of one to the proper authorities, and make sure they are sent to an orphanage.
But their thoughts about it being a child dissipated after seeing him walk a few steps into the village. The katana sheathed on his belt said all that they needed to hear.
The confident gait and the controlled breathing that not one of them could even feel... The person in front of them was most certainly just an extremely short man. A short man that also happened to be a highly trained samurai/ronin.
His physique was hidden by armour and tattered hides, his hair was overgrown and spiky, reaching all the way to his lower back.
His hands were covered in dirt bandages that looked old to anyone that saw them.
One phrase could be used to describe the wondering Ronin... And that would be 'A fine mess'.
Fine as in, his confidence didn't seem to be hindered by the fact that he looked as if he just come out of a war.
But his confidence didn't really change the fact that he needed a new outfit.
If it wasn't for his somewhat clean clothes, people would've actually thought he was fleeing a battlefield. But the rags he was wearing were clean, albeit ripped and torn in many places.
Ken walked more and more, eventually finding what was essentially the only inn/tavern in that small village.
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He walked in without anyone stopping him, many already deciding not to get involved with him at first sight.
Ken's appearance didn't exactly help him get along well with other people, his mask wasn't exactly a friendly sight, he simply had a troubling presence that prevented others from approaching.
The fact that Ken was a wondering samurai meant that he could only bring trouble to a peaceful village, so a lot of the people inside the building went away as soon as they saw him enter, emptying the chairs around him as he took his seat at the bar.
"... Give me some sake..." Ken's voice was raspy, he hadn't used it in a long time, and the last time he had it was to laugh like a madman and/or interrogate a victim.
"Right away...?" The barmaid looked at the ronin with a raised eyebrow. His voice sounded young, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it... Regardless, child soldiers weren't all that uncommon in their lands anyway.
Many families sold away their children to lords in order to get rid of unwanted children. Those children were usually either just used as slaves for labour or turned into child soldiers depending on their talents.
The world wasn't a nice place, everyone knew that, but everyone did their best to live a good within their own bubbles. Which was why getting involved with a suspicious-looking stranger wasn't quite ideal.
"Oy, you brat! Are you even old enough to drink?!" But not everyone was as reserved. Every herd had its black sheep, and drunkards wasting away their health by drowning themselves in alcohol wasn't all that uncommon.
Unfortunately, alcohol had the side effect of dampening one's reasoning and thought process.
Ken didn't bother replying to the drunk man's grumble, the barmaid placed down a cup in front of him and poured him a full glass of Sake.
"Hah! Akeno, didn't think you'd actually give it to him! Why'd you refuse to give me-"
The drunk man's words were more and more disjointed as the conversation went on. His demeanour seemed to weird out the barmaid, as she took two steps back.
The drunk man just laughed, extending his hand to drink Ken's cup of sake.
Before his fingers could even touch the cup, the hilt of Ken's sword was already shoved into his mouth, making some of his teeth creak as the drunk's gums seemed to bleed visibly.
The drunk man's eyes widened as he quickly took two steps back and fell on his ass, grabbing at his mouth and screaming in muffled agony.
Ken didn't do anything else besides that, he hadn't even moved his head during the altercation, making others think he wasn't even looking at the drunk man.
The drunkard was injured and in a lot of pain, but he was also extremely angered by what had just happened. He was going to get up and show that arrogant ronin his place!
Thankfully, his suicide was unsuccessful. As two other men intervened and dragged the drunk man off before more problems rose.
"Sorry for that..." Ken said as he tilted his head a bit. The scared barmaid also bowed a bit and muttered an apology.
The rest of the clientele were also able to sigh in relief when hearing that. At the very least the traveller wasn't all that bloodthirsty.
He also had decided not to deal any serious injury to the drunkard, although many other ronin in his place would've likely cut off a limb or two from the drunkard, merely as a show of power.
At least the young man in front of them was not a violent individual...
Ken then took off his mask, his head was forever facing his sake glass, many patrons were rather curious about the swordman's hidden appearance.
He was clearly powerful, so it only made sense for him to hide his features.
Usually, talented people were also the most beautiful, so some of the female clients present were watching the short man take his mask off with quite a lot of expectation in their gaze...
Ken didn't bother to hide his face, but not many managed to get a glimpse of it, as his head was angled downwards, seemingly 'staring' at his sake cup.
Ken downed the glass instantly, then placed his mask back on just as quickly as he had taken it down.
He released a satisfied sigh, as the familiar taste of alcohol filled his mouth and somewhat numbed his molars.
Drinking was something that Ken had wanted to do for quite a while now. He had always enjoyed a good drink in his past life.
It was a habit that he had given up. But after losing his family, he felt the need for one familiar taste of his past, to remind him once more of what type of person could thrive in that world.
By now, Ken obviously knew it as well.
A family man and a caring person would only be wronged in that world without proper strength. Even if they had strength, they would still be taken advantage of, as that was the way of the world.
No, the ones that truly thrived in that world were the ones that were just like he had once been...
Senseless killers, hunters looking to sate a sadistic kind of hunger.
Be it money, fame or even pleasure, only those that were willing to kill for it would be rewarded. As that was the type of world Ken found himself in.
Ken drank with thoughts of his enemy on his mind, as he reminded himself of something.
'From now on... The men I will be facing will all be just like I used to be... Those who murder must be in turn prepared to die, just like I was. Let's see if they have the same principles as I did...'
With that thought in mind, Ken got up and left, the familiar taste of alcohol still in his mouth as he hummed his way out of the tavern, leaving behind a rather mortified barmaid.
The barmaid had been the only one to see Ken's face... Or what remained of it... It honestly looked like he had been mauled by a wild animal.
She froze up when looking at that face for the few seconds that it had been in view.
'H-how can someone live like that?!'
'No, scratch that! How can someone become a powerful samurai like that?!'
Her thoughts quickly started jumping from theory to theory, as she tried to rationalize what was in front of her.
The man had no eyes to speak of, so how exactly was he accurate enough to not only shove his hilt into the drunkard's moth...
But how exactly was he navigating around so normally, as if nothing was different about him when compared to others?
She was so shocked and entrapped in her own thoughts that she had even forgotten to ask Ken to pay for his drink...