16 A Hope for Tomorrow.

"Farewell, my lord. As you ordered, we will march towards Tohou next week and cross the river to Shinka after 3 days. I know that you're supposed to be the one to lead us to war, but due to the circumstances…"

"Yeah. I'm sorry for the bother, Shimura-kun."

"No, Kou-sama. It's never a shame to serve one's master."

"Well then, I'll see all of you next week. Take care on the march, I don't think everyone will be well in the train ride, but it's better to take it than be late for the battle."

"As you wish, my lord. May your travels be safe and peaceful."

Today is the day for the visitors we had to return home. The Daigo Princess requested for another day just to shop around in the luxury stores of Naka, but I think she gave up (for now, at least) after seeing just how large Naka harbor is and how many stores she had to go to.

Earlier today, the treaty I made with the warrior princess and interim lord of Shinka named Kusanagi Kyoko, was revoked and was rephrased into a formal alliance agreement. With it, I can now act independently and not be placed under her, but rather, at the same level as her.

Also, she requested my medical abilities to treat her bedridden father whose disease I found out to be kidney stones. Dressing differently to hide my identity, I rode the train with her to the town of Tohou and rode the horse across the river bridge and finally entered her province.

"This is Shinka, my province. I hope you're not so underwhelmed seeing something different from your bright and bustling harbor city."

"No, I can say that this place isn't so different."

Even though we are now lords of similar stature, I trotted behind her horse to not cause a confusion among the onlooking villagers that came to the streets at the villages we passed by to pay respects to her. After all, I am "officially" not in Shinka right now.

"Huh… I can't say that I have seen one like this…"

We passed by a Buddhist temple at a nearby hill and I saw a giant bronze Buddha at the yard which amazed me. The monks was doing their morning meditation and it distracted me for a moment.

"Hey! Hurry up, will you?!"

"Ah, yeah."

As usual, with me not being a "lord" right now, her female general regained her bravado and began to shout at every little thing I did. But knowing well about the reason for her misandrist personality from the stories told to me by Chiyo, I wasn't really minding it now unlike before.

"Let me just tell you this for now, Iwasawa. Most of the people in my court are pro-war retainers from my father's time. If they learn about the things that you showed us at Naka, they will surely try to curry you up with favors like money, wine and…um… women."

I heard that slight pause before she turned her face away and I knew for sure what she meant.

"I understand. It's not like I'm the kind of man who is easily tempted by those things."

I knew what she meant by the word "currying up". Right now, Kiko has weapons whose destructiveness are beyond the imagination of this feudal nation or even the world. If I, the lord of Kiko, would visit Shinka, there are surely people here who would want my favors to get those weapons.

I cannot let that happen. Those arms are our only advantage against everyone else.

"This is Fumikage castle. The seat of power in Shinka. Come in, I already requested the servants to prepare the best guest room for you."

"Mm."

If I'm going to explain it, Fumikage castle is a bit different from Naka castle.

It's a castle situated in a mountain where the battlements scale the entire road to the Keep. Unlike most castles in the Japanese Sengoku era, it is made from stone, albeit one that is kept together by gravity rather than a cement or mortar mix. But the greatest advantage of it is the use of the steep slopes in the road as a deterrent for climbing attackers or sharp corners where ambushes can be easily mounted in defense.

In short, the road up to the castle is like an obstacle course in Wipe Out. Except the obstacles here and the ones guarding it is doing their all to kill you.

But now that there are no active attackers, what stood out to me the most is the number of patches found in the castle's defenses. There are stones that look younger than those around it and there are wood parts whose paint look too new against the others.

"Rest here for now. I'll send a servant later to fetch you for lunch."

"Understood. Umm…Can you send one maid here? I may need some help in preparing."

"…Okay. I didn't expect you to ask for one this early in the day…"

"Huh?"

Before I can say anything else, she turned around and left which made me… Oh… I get it now.

"Haha… That could've been worded more appropriately."

I sat on the tatami mat flooring of the room to inspect the tools and supplies I brought with me. On a small leather mat with pockets inside of it, I looked at the new surgical tools I custom-made from the steel factory. They are just like the ones that I trained with at the school I came from in my past world. From the scalpels to forceps, everything was on point from my specifications.

"Now… I wish I had more safer ones, but I just have to make do with what I have…"

I took out some jars inside my bag. One contains liquid chloroform which is an anesthetic. One has medical alcohol, 70% solution for peak effectivity without causing harm. One has saline solution for cleaning my surgical tools mid-operation and the last one is just some sweets I brought if ever I don't like the food here.

"Now… the ones in the chest I brought."

The more sensitive equipment that I brought with me are inside a case. There are paddings here and there to keep it safe from the shock of horse travel.

"My candlestick lenses… my microscope… and the petri dishes and test tubes…"

These are made with glass, so I didn't want any of them getting damaged in the journey.

After checking everything, someone called me out from the door.

"Esteemed guest. I have arrived."

"Oh, come in. Don't be afraid."

Once the door was opened, a young woman of about 16 years old entered the room.

"My name is Ayako. A servant in Fumetsu castle."

"Well then, my name Iwasawa Hiroshi. A doctor from Kiko hired by Lady Kusanagi. Ishi-san would suffice for calling me."

"As you wish, Ishi-san."

Ishi is a title for a doctor. I think that's enough to cover my real name.

"Umm…"

I took a moment to scan her looks. She has long, black hair and similarly colored irises. I think it's the look of a usual Japanese girl in the feudal era. One thing I noticed above everything else though… is that she seems to look at me…

"Why are you looking at my face, Iwasawa-dono?"

…quite fiercely.

"No, no. I thought I saw your face before. But I think I am just mistaken."

I asked her to do something that I need for the examination I will do later.

"I have a lot of fragile items here that need some disinfection before I check up on Kusanagi-sama. Can you boil some water in the kitchen before I go down there?"

"As you wish, Ishi-san."

"Mm. Now, go on. I'll just be doing some arrangements here and I'll go down a bit later."

She exited my room and closed the door behind. I then took out my stethoscope to check if it is working by placing it over my chest to listen to my heart.

"Mm… I think it's satisfactory. I can hear everything clearly, but it can certainly have a bit more improvements…"

I took out a special instrument I brought whose parts I precision-made from a jeweler. Unlike the other items here that can just be created in a few days. This one took me weeks just to finally build.

"Sphygmomanometer… that was a mouthful…"

It's just a manual blood pressure measurer. The thing that your grandfather or grandmother would ask your nurse or doctor family member to use after they scolded some kids or ate something that made them feel lightheaded.

"Hmm… 110/70… pretty normal."

I tested it and it works perfectly. The precision-made parts really paid off since the mercury didn't seem to read wrong in the measuring pipe.

"Hmm… Now then. I'll take the petri dish, the test tubes and… Oh! I almost forgot the syringes and needles. I shouldn't forget about those…"

I took all of those items that needed to be sterilized into the box and took it down a flight of stairs until I eventually reached the busy kitchen area.

"Oi! You slacker! Get those ingredients down if you don't wanna be beaten up!"

An old woman who seems to be the head chef shouted at me which made me jump up in shock.

"A-ah… I'm not a servant. I am the visiting doctor for Kusanagi-sama. I'm here to-"

"Do I look like I care?! Get out of here if you don't have anything to help with!"

"A-ah! Y-yeah!"

I scurried off from the kitchen and exited through the back door. The servant chased me and spoke.

"Ishi-san. The pot that I warmed is there."

"Umm… I'll help you, so can we move the pot here? The head chef scares me…"

I built a small campfire at the courtyard of the castle and we placed the partially boiling pot of water there.

"Now… just have to wait before placing them in…"

We waited for the water to boil and feeling awkward of not doing anything in the meantime, I initiated a conversation.

"Can I ask how work goes on in here?"

"Uh… I'm not sure why you asked that, but I can say that it's just like any kind of job. It's hard, tiring and it feels unfair with just how much we get in the end of the day… But such is my fate as a lowborn person… a woman, nonetheless…"

"Is that so?"

In the world where I came from, most women possess more stature than men already. Many of them took pride in this and went as far as going on streets, flaunting it in the opposite gender's faces.

I quite remember in some of the western countries back there, an entire legal system can back them up in a case of a divorce case. They can own half of their husband's property, half their husband's salary, the guardianship of their children and even if the man will have to starve, his former wife must live in luxury, or else he will be imprisoned for suffering in unjust poverty…

With this being apparent to most men after a while, many of them turned away from the idea of marriage or even being in contact with a woman in fear that even walking past them can be used as a precedent for a crime, where woman's side will most definitely be taken in light.

How did I know about this? That's an easy question. Because I am a victim of it.

My memories about it are foggy, but I quite remember a woman accusing me of molesting her when I don't even know who she is. My best friend whose name is… Rai? I can't remember it clearly… but he protected me from them and was eventually beaten up in an alleyway and shunned by his classmates…

I don't know much other than that, but I quite remember that I died for a woman as well… but that, is something that I willingly did because… I loved her and she also loved me.

Well… enough digging up of past life's memories… Right now, I am Iwasawa Hiroshi, the lord of Kiko who is here as a doctor.

"You know, one thing that I learned from treating all kinds of people is that everyone is just trudging on with life…"

"Huh?"

"A peasant works every day for only one fish for one mouth while a king may feast daily. But the peasant isn't dealing with warlike neighbors, rebelling people and debts from other nobles."

"Are you saying that… everyone is suffering in one way or another?"

"Exactly. That's quick-witted of you to notice already!" I replied and smiled at her.

The previously fierce look she gives me softened up a little and she nodded at me.

"Well then, I'll begin sterilizing these already. We can't have these coming late at the check-up."

I stood up and took the tools out of the box slowly and carefully.

"Hmm… I wish it's strong even if we didn't used Lead in it…"

As a medical apparatus, I especially told the glassmaker to not use Lead on it unlike the recipe that he learned from the training center.

"W-wait… is that… jewelry, Doctor?"

"Oh? This? It's called glass. You can say that it's pottery using molten silica."

"Wow… it looks like crystals…"

Huh? Why does she look so amazed? Is this her first-time seeing glass? If I remember correctly, the workers in Kiko that was taught about this already knew about what glass is, but not how it was made.

"Umm… please get back a little, you might burn yourself with it."

"Ah! S-sorry…"

She was nearing her face on it while I am using a huge pair of wooden pincers to dip it into the boiling water, so I called her to back off a little.

We waited for a while and when I knew that it was enough, I slowly took out the glass utensils and asked her to wrap them in the alcohol-treated cloth that I brought after they cooled down.

"Whew! That was quite the job."

"Yeah… They looked gorgeous too."

This girl… she seems to admire glass a little bit too fondly…

"Hey, your name is Ayako, right?"

"Um. Yeah."

After she answered, I took out something from my sleeve pocket and placed it on her hand.

"You can have it. Just take care not to break it."

"Huh? What is this medallion?"

"Open it. I think you'll like it."

She opened the flat circular object that is just as large as her palm and was surprised with what she saw.

"That's a glass mirror. It's something we make in Kiko. I saw how fondly you reacted with your reflection in the glasses, so I thought a mirror would be better for what you want to do."

"Is this… is this really my face?"

If I remember correctly, the east only has still water or polished bronze sheets as mirrors in the ancient days, so something like this that clearly reflects light is something unheard off.

"You keep it. It's my sign of thanks for your help here."

"B-but-!"

"No buts! Just take it and do your best to not break it. It's pretty fragile, you know. Even a flick in the wrong place can break it."

"Y-yes! Understood, sir!"

She stood up, bowed low repeatedly and looked at the mirror again after I took my box inside the castle.

I just returned everything to my room when the familiar loud voice of a woman echoed in my ears.

"Iwasawa! Where are you?!"

"Um. Here, I'm here."

I called out and she approached me quickly before dropping a smack on my head.

"We've been trying to find you for a while. Kusanagi-sama is calling everyone to the dining hall now. Get going or I'll drag you there!"

"Alright, alright… geez, is it so hard to at least be amicable in speaking with others?"

The dining hall is located in the Kusanagi family's villa next to the castle. There, ornate objects and artifacts of Shinka can be found. Paintings, pottery, swords and books, everything was here in this building.

"Iwasawa… We've been waiting."

Instead of her usually dusty and unkempt look, Kyoko was wearing a formal junihitoe (12-layered kimono) and her hair was styled into a pair of buns with golden pins.

If not for this, I would almost forget again that she is indeed a princess. After all, my first look at her was on her battle form that never looked remotely noble or anything.

"I beg your pardon. I've been pre-occupied with my preparations for later that I forgot the time."

I bowed slightly to her and the other people here who shares her table before I sat down on the only empty floor pillow at the end of the table.

"Before we talk, I want everyone to eat first. It's a disgrace to the food to talk alone while it's on the table."

We took our chopsticks and spoke in slight unison.

"Itadakimasu!"

There were light conversations over the lunch, but no single subject was discussed across the table and with what I can hear, I knew that a few subjects are purposely not being talked about.

I was quietly eating when a feminine person's voice spoke from beside of me.

"Hey there. You seem to be too quiet in such a gathering. Are you the outsider that was invited over by Kyoko-chan?"

"Yes. The name's Iwasawa Hiroshi. A specialist doctor from Kiko."

I plainly introduced myself as I wasn't interested about talking while eating the food served to me. Something in the food just… feels so off…"

"Mm? Hiroshi? That's a beautiful name… Ehehe~"

"Yeah. I thank my parents for giving me such a name."

"Oh yeah? Do you know if they passed on something other than a name to you?"

As the food continued to make me uncomfortable, this person too, was kind-of pushing me off the edge as well.

"Say… like a lot of stamina… or a large-"

"No."

With a deep tone and an annoyed expression on my face, I turned to that person and looked at them in the eye.

"A-ah… sorry about that… I was just-"

"Please mind your own business. For a man, you seem to be awfully touchy with another guy."

This was the thing that made me feel so uncomfortable with him. From outside, one would definitely mistake him as a woman with his petite figure and hairless, clear complexion. Even his mannerisms and tone of voice is exactly that of a woman.

However, a guy like me who read his anatomy book hundreds of times for a single exam question that made him pass by a hairbreadth cannot be fooled with it.

"Your collarbone and earlobes belong to a man. You cannot change that."

"Y-you-!"

"Stop it."

This person was about to raise his voice when Kyoko spoke softly at the same time as the others fell quiet which made them direct their attention to us.

"Ishigawa… stop it already. He is not someone who needs your test."

"…As you wish… Kusanagi-sama…"

He bowed low and stood up to leave, allowing me to return to peacefully eating again.

"Now then, let us start the meeting."

Kyoko spoke after the last of the servants took the bowls and utensils from the table and the door to the hall was locked.

From beside her, the same person who became flirty with me earlier was going through some papers before speaking.

"Our first subject is the famine at Southern Shinka. For this, we turn to merchant guild leader Nagomo."

"That would be me…"

An old man with a haughty tone spoke up and began explaining.

"As everyone would already know, the southern part of our province is mostly comprised of mining villages, and due to the amount of minerals and metals in the soil, it cannot be considered as an arable land. Because of this, the southern villages cannot produce their own food and thus, are always the ones that suffer from famine."

The room was abuzz after his report with some of the 20 out of the 30 people in here talking amongst themselves. Kyoko raised her hand and spoke to silence the others.

"Alright. I think we know about that already. So, what do you propose as a solution?"

"I propose that we redirect the budget set aside for the Shinka hospitals to the budget for buying rice and other foodstuffs."

With that proposal, many of the people here was nodding and mumbling words of approval.

"I see… I'll take that into consideration and make an official statement later. Alright, next one."

"Our next subject is the upcoming war with the Yukogahara clan. For this, we turn to General Ayanami Mitsuha."

"I comply."

She spoke and snapped her fingers as two young boys hastily brought a board onto the table. It looks like a battlefield diorama that details the lands near their border with the Yukonami province.

"The reports from our spies inside the Yukogahara clan told us that by next week, their armies would've already rallied under the youngest clan leader's banner and would move downwards to our border."

Oh, so that's what she meant with 4 families sharing the same province.

"We believe that if he begins losing to our defense, his 3 other brothers would also march on to the border to attack us."

"With that in mind, is anyone willing to voice out some suggestions regarding this issue?"

Kyoko spoke and there was some mumbling from her retainers, but no one raised their hand for the issue since anyone who knows the side of these people would already know what they would suggest.

"Haah… as I expected… all of you will just tell me to fight them off until they give up or they run out of men…"

"It's the only way, Kyoko-sama. I don't think anything else can settle it."

She sighed deeply before raising her face again.

"I think it's the right time to say it now. I have gained a lot of things after my trip to the land of the lord of Kiko."

"Ohh!"

An expression of amazement filled the room after her announcement, and she continued with her speech.

"The Kiko lord is willing to join us in the war. He presented his new army during his visit, and let's just say that it has more than met my standards."

She crossed my gaze when she said that and because of it, I can't help but smile slightly.

"I object, Kyoko-sama!"

"…"

From the other side of the table, a young woman who wears a lighter version of the general's armor spoke up and slammed her hand on the table.

"Mitsuhide! How dare you speak against-!"

"Let it go, Mitsuha. I want to hear her side if she's going to be this obstinate."

"As you wish…"

The female samurai stood up and spoke.

"This war is the Kusanagi clan's battle. Even with the number of enemies that we will face, we cannot let anyone to take a piece of the glory it would bring to us later. How about you, men of Shinka? Aren't you forgetting that this Yukogahara scum are just former bandits who took advantage of a rebellion to usurp the province and piece it up to theirselves?!"

Wow… what a strong-willed girl.

Strong-willed, yes. But practical? No.

"If that is your opinion in it, I believe it's sufficient to hear the part of the other side. Iwasawa, speak up, now."

"H-huh?"

"Quit dawdling and staying silent there. Aren't you the one that the Kiko lord sent as the representative of his court?"

"A-ah… yes."

Representative? I'm gonna be honest, but I should commend her ability to improvise these things on the fly.

"Ahem… our lord has presented his forces to Kusanagi-dono during her visit. I believe that this promise of help during the upcoming war is of the same reasoning behind the caravan he sent last autumn season."

"Kh-! And what does that mean? Is he saying that he's so rich and lucky that he can send food and even his soldiers to die here just because he can? Tch-! The nerve of you men…"

"…"

I understand now… It seems like she's of the same misandrist attitude as the general. I just noticed now, but their armor has the same clan crest and their faces look a bit similar to each other.

"I believe it's just a return of favor. The Yukogahara clan is only neighbors with the Kusanagi clan, and if the Kusanagi clan will be defeated and Shinka will be seized, then Kiko will be next to suffer the same fate."

"Preposterous! Are you suggesting that we are too weak to protect ourselves?!"

She was about to reach for her sword when Kyoko threw her folding fan to her hand to stop her.

"Mitsuhide. What did I tell you last time regarding the drawing of swords inside a meeting?"

"A-apologies… Kyoko-sama…"

She bowed to her in apology and Kyoko's face eased up before turning to me and letting me explain.

"I think our lord just wanted to point out that you can never be so careful at our times. In that note, I would like to quote a passage in The Art of War written by Sun Tzu that speaks: "To know is half the battle." We can underestimate the Yukogahara clan as simple bandit brutes with no brain to speak of, but as you already said, this bandit clan took advantage of a rebellion, placed their people in important positions and ultimately governed an entire province. That kind of coordination and planning is something that even I, a person who is not well-versed in war, can give them credit with."

"T-that-"

"In my personal opinion, our lord is both serving the contents of the alliance that he and Kusanagi-dono has agreed on and also covering his losses by doing what must be done to maintain the safety of his own people and interests."

"Hmm… I am satisfied with that explanation… You may sit now, delegate of Kiko."

"As you wish."

I sat back down and saw the young woman staring daggers at me. I think proving her wrong poked her ego a bit too much. But honestly… that's immature of her for such an age.

"As he already said, we cannot underestimate our enemies. I will take the help that the Kiko lord is sending and that decision is final. They are, after all, our allies now."

With that concluded, the next and last subject was brought up.

"Regarding the recovery of Master Kenji, we will turn to the representative of the Kiko province who was sent here as a doctor."

"I'm here."

I raised my hand and spoke up.

"From the symptoms that Kusanagi-dono gave me, I deduced that Lord Kusanagi is suffering from kidney stones and urinary tract infection. But that is something subject to change once I actually checked the state of Lord Kusanagi."

"Kidney stones?"

"What is that?"

"What is he talking about?"

While her retainers are speaking, Kyoko nodded and spoke.

"What treatment would you give if this… kidney stones as you speak of it, really is the disease that my father is suffering?"

"It would largely depend on the severity of the case. If Lord Kusanagi's kidney stones are only mild, I can create a medicine that can melt it down slowly but surely. If not, I may need to perform surgery on him."

"S-surgery?!"

"You butcher! How dare you speak of Lord Kusanagi like he's a mere animal!"

"Die!"

Every armed retainer in the room shot up from their seats, drew their swords and shouted at me.

At this point, I'm not even scared anymore of the sound of a katana being drawn to my face.

"Everyone… sheathe your swords. This is a meeting. I don't want to see blades in here and I want to hear what he has to say."

"But Kusanagi-sama! This cur must pay for his disrespect!"

"Are you disobeying me?!"

"Kh-!"

She shouted and everyone slowly went to their seats with their blades hidden in their scabbards.

"The explanation would be simple. If Lord Kusanagi's kidney stones will be too large to pass by using natural means, I will have to create an incision in his body to reach for it in order to remove it."

"This is the same thing you did to my men at Iso river, I believe? The reason why I detained you after I thought you were just butchering them."

"Exactly."

We stared at each other's eyes and both sighed after remembering that time again.

"I accept your proposal. Do your all to treat my father and you will be compensated beyond your expectations."

"Kusanagi-sama! This is ridiculous! Why are you giving the safety of Kenji-sama to this outsider?!"

"Mitsuhide! That is enough from you! He might be an outsider, but he is renown in his field. None of us know much about medicine other than covering wounds with bandages or rubbing ointment on scars… So I implore everyone to trust this man for I know that he will do everything that he can to save my father."

"Tch-! Why does it have to be like this…?"

"…"

Everyone was silenced with her decision and even I was lost for words.

The meeting was adjourned later, and I was told that I can go to the bedroom of the Kusanagi lord as soon as I can get prepared.

"Hey, you're the delegate from Kiko, right?"

"Yes. That would be me."

An old man called me out while I was walking back to the castle to take all of my tools. It was the merchant alliance leader earlier. The one with the family name of Nagomo.

"Come here, I have something to ask from you."

He beckoned me to come closer and since I can't see any reason for this to be a trap, I came closer while keeping my hand inside my haori's sleeve which has my gun just in case things get dicey.

"You said earlier that your lord sends food to Shinka, right? You see, I have a proposal to your lord regarding that."

"Oh, speak. I'm all ears."

I went with the flow as I knew where this would be going.

"You see, we merchants can do all kinds of things about our products and one of those is something called price hoarding."

"What does that mean?"

I spoke as if I didn't know about it. But it is clearer than day to me. What he is doing is buying large amount of products, keeping it under wraps for a while until the price rises and he sells so much of it for that heightened price.

What a greedy scum.

"Got it. I will put a word to him after I return. I think he will be thrilled with it."

"Good, good. I'll trust you with this then."

He spoke and slid a pouch to me that was full of gold coins. It must've been hush money to convince me to keep my silence.

Too bad, he was already talking to the lord of Kiko and I am not about to jeopardize the safety of my ally.

I continued to my room, took my tools and went back to the villa where a pair of servants led me to the room where the bedridden lord is staying.

"My name is Iwasawa Hiroshi, Lord Kusanagi! I am your new physician!"

"You may go in now."

I introduced myself in front of the door and a female voice spoke from the other side.

"Pardon the intrusion…"

I opened the door and there, an elderly woman is sitting next to the futon of the ailing man.

"I am Lord Kusanagi's caregiver. I am looking out for him and is instructed by Princess Kyoko to watch over your examination of him."

"Mm. Please help me too. I don't know what limbs may cause him pain while I'm moving him around."

I first sprayed the alcohol-water solution in the room to disinfect it and wore my gloves to begin the examination.

"Hmm… his heart rate is not normal… his blood pressure is low and his temperature is really high."

"These tools."

"It helps in knowing their disease. Simple things like the rate of heartbeats and their temperature can often tell a lot of things about the patient."

He isn't stable. That is for sure. For now, I should administer some Aspirin for the fever and the muscle pain and Furosemide to make him urinate more along with constant drinking of water.

"Can I look at his chamber pot, I need some samples to see how severe his condition is."

"Oh, right here."

Once she opened the pot for me, what I saw was something that made me change my diagnosis.

"Blood and pus on his urine… this is a UTI for sure."

I dipped a test tube in the pot and took a few milliliters of his urine before I turned to the table in the room where my microscope is placed.

In the scope, I saw the usual bacteria and microbes, but one thing stood out from them.

"…Calcium stones. This really is severe kidney stones."

"W-what does that mean?"

The shaky voice of the caregiver leaked out and I knew what I should report to his daughter after I grabbed a piece of paper from my bag and wrote on it.

"Can you send this to Kusanagi-dono? She must know of this as quickly as possible."

"Y-yes!"

I handed her the letter, and she went out quickly, leaving me and the old man in this place.

"…Say, Lord Kusanagi. Why did you hold out for this long with this kind of disease?"

"Oh… you noticed… didn't you…?"

He slowly spoke and tried to smile off the pain her was suffering with.

"I don't know if you're too greedy for credit on your name or you're too good of a father… but right now, Lord Kusanagi…"

A short pause ensued as our eyes met.

"You might already be stepping into death's door."