The children from Kuri spread baseless rumors without a care, laughing heartily. Only the boy called A-Zheng looked a bit downcast.
"Hey, I heard that on the final night of the Fire Festival, there's going to be a huge fireworks show."
"A fireworks show? What's that?" one of the children asked. He was a native of Kuri and had never even heard of fireworks before. The other children also turned to look at the speaker.
This boy was the child of a merchant who had come to Kuri from the Flower Capital. He was also the one who had claimed to have seen Oden, Izou, and Kikunosuke before.
"Fireworks are... well, flames. Very pretty ones."
"What's that? I don't get it at all," A-Zheng grumbled, still annoyed by the earlier conversation.
"It's just really cool, okay? It goes BOOM and explodes in the sky, like glowing flowers." The boy couldn't really explain what fireworks were, so he just waved his arms around in a very exaggerated manner.
Even so, it was enough to make the unsophisticated children of Kuri incredibly excited.
"It sounds like something amazing! So our daimyo is truly great, just like Dad said!"
"I think our daimyo is even greater than Lord Kozuki Oden!" the other children chimed in.
But the boy from the Flower Capital didn't agree. Having lived in the Flower Capital before, he felt a stronger connection to Kozuki Oden, so he quickly and loudly denied them, as if trying to one-up the others.
"I don't think so. Lord Kozuki Oden is the shogun's son. Isn't he greater?"
"No, he's not! My dad said our daimyo is greater!" the other children quickly retorted.
"That's right, the shogun's son isn't great at all, is he?" another child said. "Only our daimyo could make Kuri this wonderful."
No matter how you looked at it, it was Ren who had changed Kuri. Whether it was the shogun or his son, they were busy enjoying themselves while the people of Kuri were suffering.
So they began to list Ren's accomplishments one by one.
"Our daimyo defeated the bandits. That's something no one in all of Wano could do."
"He made sure that every single one of us can have enough to eat!"
"..."
"You tell me, what has the shogun's son ever done?"
These words left the boy from the Flower Capital speechless. He really couldn't think of anything praiseworthy about Kozuki Oden. It seemed that when he lived in the Flower Capital, all he'd ever heard from the adults about Oden was negative news.
Could you even bring up things like causing trouble everywhere, forcibly taking women, or making oden from the bones of the dead and be praised for it?
But then he remembered something incredible.
"Lord Kozuki Oden once defeated the mountain god! A wild boar bigger than a mountain, and he sliced it in two with a single swing!" he said quickly.
"You're kidding?" Even A Zheng was taken aback. If that were true, then that general's son was truly formidable.
Seeing the shocked expressions on his friends, the boy grew smug and began to embellish the story he'd heard.
"See? Lord Oden is still the greatest, right?"
Just as he was preening, a smaller, slight boy piped up, "What's so great about that? Lord Ren has also slain a snake god larger than a mountain."
Then, wordlessly, he pulled out a picture book.
"What's this?"
"It's a comic that came out in a shop a while back. It depicts some of Lord Ren's deeds." The boy opened the book, which showed illustrations of Ren fighting a hundred Kuri samurai single-handedly and the story of him slaying the giant snake god with a single stroke.
Yukiko had somehow published Ren's exploits in both text and illustrations, though she had omitted certain sensitive details. Whether it was the battle with the samurai or the instant kill of the giant serpent, it all looked like events that had taken place within Wano.
In Wano,leaving the country without permission was against the law, so much of the content couldn't be published yet. But even just this much was enough to be shocking.
"Amazing, is this real? Or is it just a comic?" A Zheng asked, his eyes wide.
"Of course it's real! Don't you guys know? The giant snake's corpse was transported out of town. Though by now, I imagine there's only a skeleton left," the boy said.
"Incredible!" A Zheng's eyes lit up, and he desperately wanted to rush over to see it for himself. But it was getting late, so if he went, it would have to wait until tomorrow.
...
Within the Daimyo's residence, Matsuri was sitting nearby with a sullen expression, reading the comic. Although Yukiko had already explained to her beforehand why the part about her battle with the Sky Rider couldn't be included, she was still in a bad mood.
After looking over the illustrations of Ren in the comic several times, Matsuri finally set it down.
Then, she looked at Ren.
"Lord Ren, would you like to go watch the fireworks with me tomorrow night?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
It wasn't just her. Because the Fire Festival's night was coming to an end, everyone had gathered together today. For a while, Yukiko, Keiko, and Yuriko had been too busy running around to have any free time, but now they were all available.
"Watch the fireworks? I can, but the best spot to actually see them is right here at the residence," Ren said, looking at her. The Daimyo's residence was the highest and most open building in all of Kuri, making it the best place to view the fireworks.
However, Matsuri clearly didn't like being in such an elevated setting. Watching fireworks wasn't just about the fireworks for her; she also wanted to take the opportunity to wander through the town of Kageyo with Ren.
"In that case, let's go for a walk then. What do you all think?" Ren asked the other women. Satsuki and Saya, who had only been mentioned in others' conversations until now, were just as interested as Matsuri.
Yukiko, Keiko, and Yuriko weren't really keen on going to crowded places, but the fireworks on the Fire Festival's night only happened once a year. They felt like they'd be missing out if they didn't watch them with Ren, so they nodded in agreement.
"By the way, Satsuki, how are the Den Den Mushi and the snails doing?" Ren suddenly remembered and asked.
"It's not a problem, really..." Satsuki began reluctantly. "But Lord Ren, in the future, could you please not make me do this kind of work? I may like small animals, but I don't like these slimy, soft-bodied creatures!"
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