"What a dull martial arts conference... If that kid weren't participating for the first time, I wouldn't need to waste my time here."
"However..." the speaker's gaze was somewhat entranced, "She looks the same, after all these years..."
The old man sitting on the boulder, his appearance unkempt with messy hair, had watched the martial arts conference for several days. Today, finding no interest, he simply found a stone and slept on it.
In a faint whisper, the quiet conversation of two people reached the old man's ears, waking him up.
Right beneath the boulder he was sitting on.
The old man was about to punish the ones who disturbed his sweet dreams, but... before he could speak up, he immediately heard:
"You have done a great service. When we return, I will report your merits to the emperor," a man said, dressed in loose traditional martial arts attire, his hair glistening. Upon seeing this, the old man was taken aback, "A person from the island nation?"