Inaki had underestimated how long it would take him to get to Yaroka walking. He walked about half the way—the entirety of the first night after he left—but in the morning, he found a cart that was traveling to Yaroka. With a few of the coins left from the money given to him by Takehito, Inaki got on, and found himself at the gates of Yaroka by sunset.

Yaroka was a lot like before Inaki had arrived, except instead of a sage at the head of it, there was a newly Platinum Boru who ruled over the city in the absence of Taral and his family.

The cart was stopped at the gates of Yaroka. The guard asked the owner of the cart his name, and asked Inaki his name. Afraid of giving his real name to the guard he said, “Yotta-son-Yusuke Trina.” The pseudonym he had given Taral’s eldest son, the last time he was here.

They were let in, but the guard continued to stare at Inaki suspiciously. Yaroka was not as congested of a city as Tomoka was, but it had its few parts which weren’t as open. The cart stopped a few meters away from the gate, and Inaki jumped out. He thanked the driver of the cart and began walking through the streets of Yaroka.

He had spent an entire month here, training to battle the tiger in its own den. In the end the tiger had gotten the best of him, but Inaki still remembered his time in the den fondly. As he walked through the city to get to the port, Inaki passed by the inn he had stayed at, and the front entrance of the monastery.

Maybe I could go see the garden, no, I don’t have that much time.

Inak’s walk through the city ended where the Tryst of Rivers—the place where the three rivers, Yaman, Saran, and Ganan met, from that point following river Saran would get Inaki to Gael.

Near the river there were various stands, where people should’ve been calling out for people to get on their boats. But there was nobody there. Had the last boats already sailed away? Inaki looked up into the sky, and saw that the night had barely just begun. He saw a short younger man sitting at the bank of the river and walked up to him. The man squinted when he saw Inaki.

“Excuse me, when does the next ferry to Gael arrive?” Inaki asked.

“You new here?” The man asked.

“Yes,” Inaki said.

“In the winter, no ferry runs this late, it might not be that cold here, but it sure as hell becomes cold over water,” The man said.

“So I can get a ferry in the morning?” Inaki asked.

“Probably be too crowded in the morning, best time for you will be in the afternoon,” The man said. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but where did you get that scar on your face?”

“I… I was looted by bandits in the forests, I am a Travelling Artist,” Inaki said.

“Oh, you're going to Gael to sell a painting?” The man asked.

“Yes,” Inaki said.

The man continued staring at Inaki as if he was trying to remember where he had seen Inaki.

“Well thank you for the instructions sir, I’ll be leaving now,” Inaki said. He turned away and began walking, but the man sitting by the river got up and said, “Wait.”

“What happened sir,” Inaki said, turning back.

“My wife and I have just had a child, we’ve been wanting to get a painting made of ourselves, would you have the time to do it, you’ll be fairly compensated of course,” The man said.

Inaki checked his pockets and said, “Yes, can I get your name sir.”

“Heri-son-Bayal, what about you,” the man said.

“Yotta-son-Yusuke Trina,” Inaki said.

“You’re here all the way from Trina?” Heri said.

“Yes, I am a traveling artist, ” Inaki said.

“Well anyways, how about this, you come to my house tomorrow in the morning, and make a portrait of my family,” Heri said.

“Okay,” Inaki said.

The man told Inaki where his house was, and when Inaki tried to remember where the address was, he realized that this was where Itto—Taral’s oldest son—used to live.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who is your wife?” Inaki asked.

“You really are new here,” The man said. “My wife’s name is Boru Yaroka. See you in the morning then?”

“Yes,” Inaki said, shivering.

Inaki walked away from the port. He didn’t know where he was going to spend the night, would his money be enough to even get a decent enough room. Inaki went to the inn where he had stayed for a month, and asked them if they had a room available. They did, but Inaki didn’t have enough money.

With no alternative left, Inaki walked to the monastery, exhausted from his day’s travels. When he walked into the monastery, he saw a familiar man. The monk who had always healed Inaki when he was in Yaroka.

The monk’s expression did not change upon seeing Inaki.

“I just need to stay the night, I am leaving for Gael tomorrow,” Inaki told the monk.

“If you want to stay in the monastery, you have to earn your room. Can you cook, clean or anything else?”

Inaki had never stepped foot in a kitchen, but the thought of having to clean the floors repulsed Inaki more than anything so he told the monk, “I can cook.”

The monk showed Inaki his room. The room was a foot taller, and half a foot wider than Inaki was tall, just enough for him to be able to stand in, and lie down in. When Inaki laid down on the bed, on one side was the door, and on the other side was a little closet—more a tiny alcove in the wall with a door—where he kept his belongings.

“No time to rest for you now, lucky for you the food is already ready, you will be on serving duty,” The monk said.

The monk led Inaki into the kitchen, where he was handed a brass pot of rice, and told to go serve the eating monks. He walked into the eating hall, where the monks were all sitting with their leaf plates, ready to eat. There were plenty of others except for the monks, vagrants like Inaki, running errands to get a roof over their head and warm food in their stomach.

Inaki walked row by row, and served them all rice. There must’ve been at least fifty monks in that monastery. No wonder the rooms were so small, if they were to fit so many monks in the relatively small monastery. Once Inaki was done serving rice, he was called back into the kitchen. They handed him a pot of a sweet curry. He walked through, serving it. But he didn’t know what it was, so he put it on top of the rice for the first person he served, but when a monk shouted at him, he realized that it wasn’t eaten on the rice, but after a bite of the spicy curry on the rice.

Inaki didn’t make the mistake again as he served the monks. Once Inaki was done, he served himself, and was allowed to eat. He hadn’t eaten anything in the entire day, so he inhaled his food.

He then stepped into the little room that they had given him and went to sleep, ready to leave for Gael the next morning.

Inaki woke up the next morning, and just as he was about to leave the monk stopped him, “You paid for your room by serving last night, but what about your food for last night.”

Inaki was made to serve food again, just like the previous night. For breakfast, the monks ate a more humble meal. It was just some soup and a bowl of rice on the side. Inaki had to first place the bowls in front of everyone, then rush and serve them all soup and rice.

Inaki was exhausted, and ate a bowl of soup himself. This time the monk allowed him to leave. Inaki wanted to see the garden, so he stepped out to the back, and saw that the flowers they had planted had grown so well. The grass was cut short, and was a deep green. The flowers were all different shades, some pink, some a shade of indigo, and some others red. When Inaki had last come here, the place was nothing like this beautiful paradise.

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Inaki walked out of the garden, and into the narrow alleyways. When he exited the alleys and found himself standing on the wide roads of the city proper, he wondered whether he should actually stop by at Heri and Boru’s house, maybe he could fool them by wearing a hat, tying his hair, giving himself another scar, but the money he was getting from it just wouldn’t be worth it.

He began walking towards the port, but as soon as he took a few steps forward, a few men jumped out of the alley in front of him, with swords in hand. Four of them were Irons, and one of them was a Silver.

Inaki looked behind him and saw that there were four Irons, and a Silver there too. They had surrounded him.

“You thought you could just walk in here and we would let you pass,” The Silver in front of him said. “You killed my brother.”

“You killed my father,” One of the Irons said.

“You killed my father too,” An Iron standing behind Inaki said.

“Do you even remember their names,” The Silver behind him asked.

The Silver in front of him asked, “Was my father a good fight?”

Inaki tried to remember the faces of the men he had killed that night, but for the life of him he couldn’t. In his mind they were all faceless, nameless, and unimportant stepping stones for him to get to the fight that really mattered, Taral.

“I am sorry,” Inaki said. “You all know what happened to me because of that night.”

“When we got to know about your failure at the exam, we knew that you were a fake, you definitely cheated, none of know how, so let us see, maybe when fighting us you will remember.”

Eight Irons and two Silver, a year ago Inaki would’ve been done with the fight while they were still talking, but now Inaki needed a way to keep them talking.

“If it is worth anything, your family and friends fought well,” Inaki said.

“Crowshit,” The Silver said. “Do you know what it is like to die to a boy who hasn’t even gotten a sword yet. My whole family has been disgraced by you.”

“Is the answer for eight people to attack an unarmed man,” Inaki said.

“We know that you have something up your sleeve,” The Silver in front of him said. “So spit it.”

Inaki didn’t know how to stall anymore. He wanted to put his hand under his robe and pull out his knife. He looked at the alleyway to his left that he had just exited, and saw that it was his only path to escape.

Inaki ran into the alleyway, and instantly they all began chasing him. In the alleyway, they were slower because of their numbers. All of the buildings around him were single floored, so maybe Inaki could climb them. But Inaki only had that much dexterity in another life. He ran through the garden gate of the monastery, and all the Yaroka swordsmen followed him.

Inaki stood in the garden, and with no other alternative, he picked up fallen garden shears near the bushes and threw them at the crowd. It didn’t hit anyone, but it distracted them. Inaki ran into the monastery. The meditating monks all began shushing Inaki as he ran through, but then when the swordsmen marched in, they all went silent. Inaki ran out through the front door where he saw the monk who had always healed Inaki when he was in Yaroka was smiling seeing him run.

Inaki jumped out of the door of the monastery, but he slipped on a step and rolled forward onto the street. He quickly threw himself onto his feet and looked back where the crowd of Yaroka swordsmen were still chasing him. He just needed to get to the port, over there he could jump into a ship, and get to Yaroka. Inaki looked behind him and one of the Silvers was catching up. Inaki needed to take advantage of the fact that he didn’t have a sword, which meant that he had access to both of his hands. Inaki ran to a window and with all the force of his body pushed himself up the railing. He then grabbed a tiny ledge, and jumped onto the flat ceiling of the building. Inaki was surprised that he had managed to climb up.

The crowd of them down began sheathing their swords to climb up the building, Inaki stood at the ledge of one building, watching the swordsmen climb up. He didn’t have much time to make the choice. He jumped. He couldn’t jump far enough, but he grabbed the parapet.

With all the might in his body he tried to pull himself up, but he failed, his grip went loose and he fell down. He hit the ground on his back, and screamed in pain. He tried to get up, but found that he was limping.

He ran out of the alley between the two buildings, and began running. He looked behind him and saw that the swordsmen had seen that he had jumped down, and they stopped in the middle of their climb and began climbing down.

Inaki forced his legs to work as hard as they could work. His entire body was in pain, the instincts of when he used to be a swordsman wanted him to stop and fight, but he definitely couldn’t. This wasn’t like a duel, they wouldn’t respect any rules. They would kill him if they caught him.

Inaki looked back, and saw that they were once again catching up to him. Inaki had to stop, his lungs burnt like lead, and his feet were going numb. He couldn’t possibly run anymore, and he couldn’t possibly run any faster.

They brandished their swords, all ready to stab through his heart.

The Silver at the head of the group slashed at Inaki, Inaki stepped back, but he slipped and hit the ground. Inaki forced himself to roll back, and stand on his feet.

He once again began running away, he forced his body with all of the little might he had left, but it was futile. He looked ahead and saw that the port was at least a ten minutes run away. Inaki definitely did not have ten minute’s worth of running left in him. He didn’t know if he had a few minutes worth of running left in him.

He reached into his robes, and felt the cool knife there. He could use it. He could at least die trying to fight back.

He pulled the knife out of his robes and stood still, ready to fight them all.

“Still fancy yourself a swordsman do you?” The old Inaki whispered in his ears. “Disappointment, keep running away, do you want to die?”

Inaki came back to his senses, and began running away once again. He still knew he wouldn’t make it far. He ran into the first building he could see, it was an inn. He didn’t go to the desk and get himself a room, he just ran up the stairs, and banged on a random door. The room was empty, but it had a lock on it. Inaki shoved his knife up the lock and twisted, breaking it. He stepped in and locked it from inside.

Lucky for him, the room had a window, and since it was on the first floor, he could probably try jumping out. He stared out of the window and could see that the swordsmen were walking in, but not all of them, only five of them walked in, other five waited there on the ground, they looked up and saw Inaki looking through the window, Inaki hid moving to the wall near the window, but it was futile they had already seen him. Inaki was completely cornered.

He ran out of the room he was in, and began running. He looked behind and saw that the owner of the inn was chasing him too. He rammed his shoulder into another random room, and opened it. There was a man and a woman in the room having a private moment. This early in the morning?

“Sorry for interrupting,” Inaki said, as he opened the windows and began climbing down the window. The couple inside screamed, alerting the swordsmen below. Inaki tried his best, but he didn’t have his dexterity, which meant that he dropped down from half a story once again. He quickly brought himself to his feet and began running away with a few of the swordsmen still chasing him. The inn had given him the chance to catch his breath for a few minutes, which was a benefit to him, but he still didn’t know if he had enough energy in him. He kept running, and just as he reached the port, he saw someone waiting there for him.

Boru, with her newly Platinum hilted sword, was standing there, waiting for him. Inaki stopped running and hit the ground, as the swordsmen chasing him also stopped upon seeing Boru.

“Hello Inaki,” Boru said.

“Please let me be,” Inaki said.

“I wanted to duel you once I became Platinum,” Boru said. “Shame, it seems like that will never happen.”

“Yes,” Inaki said. “I have given up the sword.”

“Well, then you accepted Taral’s condition for keeping you alive, good, good,” Boru said.

“Why did you come here?” Inaki asked.

“When my husband described a young boy with long hair and a long scar on his cheek, I just had to come and check,” Boru said. “Don’t mind those swordsmen there. Sage Taral commanded you not to attack Inaki.”

They were all silent, except one Iron who stepped forward, “So we’re just supposed to accept the fact that our friends, our brothers, our fathers died, and he gets to continue living. He lost too, why does he get to continue living. And why are we supposed to listen to that coward Taral.”

“Because the Sage deemed it so,” Boru said.

“The Taral who ran away. The Taral whose hissy-fit in Tomoka caused all of this.” That same Iron said.

“Don’t you dare say anything about Lord Taral. He was a grieving father.”

“I don’t know who to hate more, the honorless bastard Taral, or this piece of shit here,” The Iron said.

“Not one word about Lord Taral,” Boru said. “Now run away.”

“Sorry,” Another Iron said on his behalf. “He’s just emotional.”

“My father was about to get a promotion,” The Iron who had spoken up before screamed. “He was about to go from gate guard to in the Lord’s army, but this bastard arrived, and killed him with a wooden sword.”

“And your family has no shame from the Yaroka clan,” Boru said.

“It doesn’t matter what you say officially,” The Iron said.

“Shut up,” One of the two Silvers said. After some arguments among each other, they began stepping away.

“I hope that there will be a day when we will be able to duel again,” Boru said.

“I am sorry, but I think that day will never come,” Inaki said.

“I can hope,” Boru said. “Now, here comes a ferry to Gael, bye Inaki.”

“Thank you for sparing my life,” Inaki said, paying for the ticket, and jumping onto the ferry. Boru waved goodbye, and Inaki looked at the sad swordsmen, walking away.

“That’s one’s fate when they pick up the sword,” The older Inaki said. “You can’t expect to wield a killing weapon and not be killed eventually.”

Inaki desperately wanted to believe that, but in his heart, he couldn’t. In his entire life, Inaki had never felt the results of the deaths he had caused. Someone came to duel him, and because Inaki was the stronger opponent, they all died. Now Inaki didn’t know what to believe. He had cut all of those men’s lives short. Turned children fatherless, wives husbandless, and mothers sonless. Ever since his first kill when he was thirteen, he hadn’t thought much about it, but now nearly ten years of killing caught up to Inaki in his heart.

Soon, as the ferry moved, Yaroka was out of sight. Inaki didn’t know what he would be doing in Gael, so as the ferry moved, he began contemplating, trying not to think about the death he caused.