“Gai-san, the Edou castle is that one over there, right? The large building, I mean.”
“Yes, that is indeed the castle in which Shogun Tokogawa resides. However, that part in particular is not the residential space. It is the castle’s tower, to be used to watch over the surroundings.”
It looked like a spire that towered over the rest of the buildings in the center of the city.
It had many layers of roof, and from the very top, you certainly could look over the rest of this Edou city which didn’t have many tall buildings to begin with.
“Let’s relocate there, shall we?”
I used teleport and brought Masamine-san—who was on the verge of being late but was still busy wrestling with his retainers—to the Edou castle.
“My lord! If we don’t go soon, we would be late!”
“All the more reason to preserve the honor of the Date household!”
“Huh!? But no, now isn’t the time for this! We must hurry…”
“Ahh, don’t worry, we’re already here.”
“““!?!”””
Upon realizing that their surroundings had changed, Masamine-san and his retainers were at a loss for words for a moment.
“T-this is…this is the Edou castle’s gate, isn’t it!? When did we…? Ahh, but this means we should make it in time!”
Despite being puzzled, Masamine-san immediately headed toward the gate.
After telling the guard about us, we were made to wait a while—likely to get permission—but was eventually allowed to enter without issue.
By the way, I had heard that the Edou state had been ruled by a Shogun Tokogawa for generations.
Edou was said to once be part of the nation of Kyou, but by capitalizing on a long period of unrest, the Tokogawa household founded this nation and declared independence.
Of course, there was a time of conflict with Kyou which didn’t recognize the declaration at the beginning, but that time has long since passed and, in fact, the two states were said to be friendly with each other at the present.
“I am Shogun Ieasu. I’ve been told about you, travelers. That you’ve come here by crossing the monster-infested mountain range.”
We were brought to a vast and tatami-matted audience room.
The one to greet us like that in back of the room was none other than the ruler of the Edou state, Shogun Ieasu himself. He was middle-aged and had quite the broad shoulders. Moreover, like Masamine-san, he had a topknot as well. However, for someone holding the title of shogun, he looked quite gentle.
“Indeed. We come from the Celtia kingdom, which lies to the western side of the mountain range. I’m Luke, and I represent our group.”
“Your appearance suggests you’re only 10 or so, yet you’ve traversed that mountain range at that young age. Companions or not, that is an impressive feat.”
“Actually, I’m 14.”
“……O-oh, is that so? That’s still quite young considering the feat.”
Masamine-san was looking at us with anxious eyes, but thankfully, the shogun didn’t seem to mind.
I then took something out.
“This is a western-style sword made by a blacksmith who stood out even in whole of the Celtia kingdom. I hope you’ll accept.”
“Ohh, are you quite sure?”
Rather than a gift, it was more like an offering.
When I was made aware that I was going to have an audience with the shogun, I instructed one of the doubles who was in the village to teleport and bring the offering to me.
“This sword actually has a self-repair ability.”
“Self-repair, you say?”
Yes, it was a sword made using behemoth parts.
“Even if it breaks in two, or even worse than that, it will return to its original state after a while even without doing anything.”
“Frankly, being told that it’s a sword like that all of a sudden…it’s simply so unbelievable…”
“Then, would you like a demonstration?”
Swords made of the behemoth parts was already on sale in the village. The demand for it was quite high though, so our supply still hasn’t caught up.
Our hunters were the first ones it was sold to, so Selen and Selius-kun already had their own swords.
“We should put it to the test, right? Selius, hand yours over.”
“Huh?”
After Selen got Selius-kun’s sword, she then handed it over to Gori-chan.
“Why mine? Why not yours, sister…?”
“Teehee, all I gotta do is smash this sword, right?”
Ignoring Selius-kun’s grumblings, Gori-chan punched the sword at the flat of its blade.
And so, with a loud boom, the sword’s blade broke.
“Gai-san, please use healing magic on it.”
“At once.”
When Gai-san did as I asked, the blade returned to its original form right before our eyes.
“It would have repaired itself even when left alone, but we could make the process go faster by using healing magic on it. Think of it like healing a human body.”