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On a certain morning, more than forty years after Yoriichi's death, in an unremarkable little town, Master Mitsuba of a certain dojo was taking advantage of the pre-dawn hours to help out her neighbors on the street.
"Wah! Mitsuba, quick, help me steady the ladder!"
"Uwaa~ fixing the roof again so early in the morning... Uncle Kudo, did that crow drop stones on your roof again last night?"
"Don't laugh at such misfortune, Mitsuba..."
"Little Mitsuba! Take this bag of flour to old man Shirakawa's place on your way! Your delivery fee is already inside!"
"Okay~ got it~ I'll be right there~"
"Oh right, Mitsuba, about that matter I asked you to inquire about regarding Mihoko who lives on the next street over..."
"Ah, I asked her last night. Miss Mihoko said if it's to express your feelings, she'd prefer if Uncle Kudo went over himself."
"Th-that means! Mihoko, she agreed?!"
"Who knows~ but if you try, perhaps you might succeed... hmm, looks like the roof is almost fixed, so I'll be going now."
"Mitsuba! Come quick and help me feed Little Bao!"
"Auntie, I've told you I can't help with things like this..."
"Knowing you can't do it and still not hurrying to find a husband! Look at you, how old are you now and still living alone?
Let me tell you, little Mitsuba, my nephew..."
"Ahaha... well Auntie, I still need to hurry to the dojo, so I'll be going now..."
"Huh? You girl! I haven't finished speaking yet!"
Finally escaping from the chatterbox auntie, Mitsuba—dressed in her kendo uniform with her hair in a high ponytail—trotted toward the direction of the dojo.
This was a very ordinary town. Whether in terms of size, population, or commerce, everything was perfectly average, with nothing particularly eye-catching.
Time flowed slowly in this town. The neighbors mostly knew each other, and travelers or merchants rarely visited.
The reason Mitsuba appeared here could be traced back to five years ago.
At that time, she had just finished with her previous identity and was worrying about what identity to use and where to go next, when she unexpectedly encountered an old man.
The old man seemed to perceive Mitsuba's confusion at the time and proactively invited her to this town.
Only then did Mitsuba learn that the old man was not only a famous "centenarian" in this town, but also held control over a rather substantial dojo.
And so, Mitsuba became a female instructor at the old man's dojo.
From that day forward, Mitsuba began using the identity of "a patient with albinism who knows a bit of swordsmanship" to officially start her life in this town.
Yes, an albinism patient.
Nowadays, Mitsuba's appearance included crimson pupils, snow-white long hair, and even skin that was completely bloodless in its paleness.
Obviously, this was a necessary disguise Mitsuba made to avoid going out during daylight hours.
At first, the townspeople would subconsciously feel fear due to her unique appearance.
But merely a few months later, everyone was quickly drawn closer by her displayed warmth and kindness, and even her unusual appearance gradually became something they grew accustomed to.
Now, five years had passed, and Mitsuba had smoothly integrated into this town, becoming the "kind and enthusiastic Master Mitsuba" in the mouths of her neighbors.
Of course, she wasn't the only outsider in this town.
"Give me some money, I haven't eaten in days..."
"Mr. Tengu, are you lying here pretending to be blind to scam money again?"
Turning a corner and looking at the handsome man dressed in ragged clothes, lying on the street pretending to be a blind beggar, Mitsuba couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
This man called himself "Tengu"—of course, this wasn't his real name, but rather a title he had casually given himself.
As for his true name...
Although Mitsuba could trace it through the threads of causality by activating her Blood Demon Art, she didn't want to do something so boring and meaningless.
Like Mitsuba, this man who called himself Tengu had also wandered into this town approximately five years ago, already dressed as a blind beggar at that time.
The townspeople took pity on him and took him in, and because of his handsome and attractive appearance, he soon successfully married a local woman and even had children.
But what no one could have expected was that apart from his good looks, this man was completely useless.
Not only did he idle about all day, living off his wife's support, but he particularly enjoyed dressing in rags and continuing to pretend to be a "beggar" to scam money from visiting merchants on the days when they regularly came to town, then squandering it all...
Even more speechless was that Mitsuba had personally caught this beggar gentleman sneaking into the dojo to steal things one night not long ago.
Watching the agile and desperately fleeing Tengu, Mitsuba finally discovered after activating the Transparent World that this lying swindler's eyes were not blind at all!
This guy had been pretending to be blind all along!
Connecting this to the occasional theft cases that had occurred in the town over the past few years, Mitsuba suddenly felt that she might have discovered the truth.
"Eek!"
The moment he heard Mitsuba's voice, Tengu—who had originally been lying limply on the ground as if half-dead—immediately leaped three feet high and turned to run without hesitation.
Looking at those legs of his, how vigorous they were—nothing like someone who had been starving for days!
"Help! Master Mitsuba is bullying this blind man again! So scary!"
Watching from afar as this swindler ran and shouted until he disappeared at the end of the street, Mitsuba simply stood in place, shaking her head with a sigh.
"I really don't know how someone like this managed to get married. Is it really just because he's handsome?"
Mitsuba expressed her incomprehension, and she was too lazy to try to understand.
After all, dawn was approaching, and she needed to hurry to the dojo.
Just then, a cheerful uncle's voice sounded from behind Mitsuba.
"Oh! It's little Mitsuba! What, were you out helping the neighbors again this morning?"
Hearing this voice, Mitsuba—who had been preparing to leave—immediately stopped and turned around to respond warmly:
"Yes, Mr. Keizo, could it be that you just finished work?"
Behind her stood an always cheerful and enthusiastic uncle.
The uncle wore white training clothes with the characters for "Soryu" printed on the back.
His name was Keizo.
Like Mitsuba, Keizo was also an outsider to this town.
A few years ago, while traveling about, Keizo had coincidentally saved the old man who owned the largest dojo in this town from bandits, and inherited this dojo after the old man's death.
It was a dojo much larger than the one where Mitsuba worked, yet since Keizo took over, it still hadn't acquired a single disciple to this day.
The reason was simple—it wasn't that Keizo's skills were inadequate, but rather that the swordsmanship dojo next door had been scheming behind his back.
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