To my daughter, Kyoko.

It is normal for parents to dismiss their own personal happiness for the sake of their child.

And if I'm going to speak about it, this man is someone who definitely overdid it.

"Y-you… What did you just say…?"

But instead of the usual annoyance or pity that a doctor can feel for such a troublesome patient…

What I felt about him was nothing but respect and reverence.

"Lord Kenji's state of deterioration is far too advanced. I can only relieve his pain, but I cannot promise that he has long to live anymore."

As a doctor, the hardest part of diagnosing a person with an incurable or severe disease is breaking it to them or those dear to them. I once remembered a doctor suffering from a concussion after he announced that a professional boxer's child can no longer be cured, and he received a punch from its father.

"So even you… even you can't do anything…"

"His kidneys were the main reason for the weakening of his body as diseases slowly ate away his strength and immunity piece-by-piece. The infection in his body started from his urinary tract… I can't believe he lasted this long with that pain…"

"Then why… why did he didn't tell anyone else that he's suffering already…"

Kyoko asked me, but I knew that it wasn't me who should hear it or answer it.

"…Come here. I'll disinfect you."

"Huh? What?"

"I kept Lord Kenji inside a sterile room. No one can go there without cleaning theirselves or else they bring the potential to carrying another disease that will make him suffer."

I'm just here to cure him. Even if I feel bad about you and him, I cannot be involved too much, or it may affect my treatment and cause more harm later.

I made her wear a coat that I sprayed with alcohol and a mask that can cover his nose and mouth. Before she went in, I called her name out.

"Kusanagi-dono."

"W-what?"

"Don't be so harsh to him after you hear everything."

She seems confused with what I just said, but I nodded and told her to go before closing the door behind her.

"Oh… Lord Kusanagi. Who could've known that such a wild princess would've come from a gentle father like you?"

I mumbled under my breath and sighed before going to the place where the things I need for later is placed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"F-Father?"

"Oh, Darling… Come on in."

The room was quite cool with a single open window that faces the eastern wind, softly ventilating it. At the center of it, my father was laying in a bed with the usual expression that he has when he is hiding his pain. Smiling yet grimacing constantly.

"Father… the doctor said that-"

"I already know of it… don't worry too much about it."

"B-but-"

"I already said that don't worry about it, right?"

Hearing his wish, I didn't push the issue anymore and simply hung my head in surrender.

"How are you doing nowadays? You may try to keep me in the dark regarding the impending attack of the Yukogahara clan… but I can always hear the guards and servants gossiping outside."

"That… I… No. We are all preparing to hold them off."

"And who is this "We" that you are talking about?"

He leaned in with a forced smile as even the simplest movements causes unbearable pain to him.

"Me, the merchant guilds, the Ayanami clan, the Itsuki clan and the people of Shinka."

"Is that so? Being able to tell everything like that reminds me of the first time you joined me to a battle… You were such a lively little girl back then that you can't even sit at the back of a horse without falling off the saddle."

"That time, huh? Ehehe… Spare me the embarrassing memories, father. I'm only 9 back then. But now that you say that… Ahahaha!!!"

"Gahahaha!!!"

It is an embarrassing memory for me, but I can't deny that it really is something that we both cherished as a fun part of the past.

"Gah-! Gah-! Gyak!"

"Father!"

While we were laughing, he suddenly coughed and at its end, he spat blood over his blanket.

"Father! Oh, good heavens! This is bad!"

"Calm down Daughter, it's natural."

"What do you mean natural?! You're already coughing up blood! I'll go call-"

Before I can stand up to call Iwasawa, father pulled me by the wrist and pulled me back to my seat.

"It's natural, I say. I am not well, Child. It's normal to have these kinds of things to when you push yourself too much."

"But…"

I'm conflicted… Father wants me to not worry, but I know that every second I am spending here causes him more pain than he take. And what Iwasawa said earlier makes me worry more…

"Father… the doctor told me to not get angry at you after I hear everything… what does he mean?"

"That, huh? That guy, really… I told him to not tell anyone and he just goes out and bend the instruction I made without breaking it…"

"Please, father. I want you to answer it."

Father looked at me from the edge of his eyes and sighed deeply as he began to speak.

"I love you, Darling. I love you far too much to just let you bear the burden of being the Daimyo of this tinderbox named Shinka."

"W-what…?"

"It's been 15 years since Kaori gave birth to you… I was praying all night in the temple when she is giving birth, wishing the safety of you and her. When the head servant ran to me to tell if you're a boy or a girl, I didn't even wait for the word… I ran to the room and immediately embraced you two."

I kept quiet as he seemed to have drifted to the past and narrated everything he can see.

"You've always been the sparkling gem of our family. I've heard the servants complaining constantly about how you kept them up all-night when you're just a toddler. And when you began to run around the castle, the guards would spend more time trying to find you than actually standing at their posts… you used to be such a twerp, but we cannot come to not love you because we know that you are also looking out for us by being such a bubbly kid."

"Father… are you-"

"Your mother and I loved you far too much that we didn't want you to inherit this place at its current state… Your mother didn't want you to carry the sword, so I took out every bandit group and enemy clan in Shinka. Your mother didn't want you to take on the hatred that is running in our family regarding the Akizuki clan, so I dealt the final blow and even planted a decay inside that province in order to destroy it from the inside by siphoning money using brothels and bandits… A thing that is shameful for a samurai."

"That was your doing…?"

"But the greatest thing that I wanted to do for your sake is to not let you be afraid of surpassing me… So even if I knew that I might die from it… I wanted to go down in history as the weak king of the south… the man who cannot protect nor preserve… an upstart who can't even pass down his land to his own daughter who will make it flourish."

"Father… Hik-! Father!"

For the first time in a while… tears flowed down my face as I finally learned the truth.

Father wanted to protect me. He wanted me to inherit a Shinka that I can lead. He wanted me to fight battles that I chose and not forced to fight on.

And to think that he even went to such a length of purposefully harming himself just to not let me feel afraid of surpassing him…

"Oh, Daughter… For you to cry for such a stupid and selfish old man… I don't know if I should die from shame or die happily, knowing that I have fulfilled my goal."

"Don't say that… Don't speak like that! You will live! I will not let you die until you can see the prosperous Shinka that you envisioned!"

"Ahaha… That is… not something that I can hear everyday… I don't know how many years it has been since I was able to do this for you… But even if it will hurt…"

Slowly, father sat up and inched to my face as I was frozen there in shock of his painful act.

*Chu.*

"Father…"

"Congratulations, Kyoko. You have done well."

With a smile that showed me the face of my father that I saw in my youth, he kissed my forehead and finally greeted me with real name.

"Why…? Why now of all times…? Father… tell me, why are you finally calling me by my name?!"

"…"

I was shouting at him with a mixed feeling of sorrow, pain and happiness in my heart. It was a very conflicting feeling that churned me inside as tears that I no longer know if it was shed by sadness or happiness flowed out while I was leaning my head on his sunken chest.

"Why?! Why are you suddenly calling me like that in a time like this?! Tell me!"

"…"

He kept his silence as he gently embraced me, listening to my questions even though he won't even answer.

"Why now…? Mother did the same after I became the interim lord… Why of all times do you have to call me by my name when you're about to go on… Didn't I tell you already that I'm not letting you die?!"

"…"

"Oh, come on! Answer me for heaven's sake!"

"…Kusanagi-dono."

Unbeknownst to me, the door of the room was opened and Iwasawa entered to call me.

"Iwasawa…"

"I apologize for interrupting… but it's time for the operation."

"It's alright, doctor. I do not see this as an unnecessary interruption…"

Father replied and laid down again on the bed.

"Kusanagi-dono… If I may humbly ask you to leave for now."

"I… I'll get going now…"

I tried to hide my face by turning away from him, but I sensed that he knew everything that happened here.

"But he…"

He stayed silent and neutral. He didn't say anything and simply waited there…

He isn't like those opportunistic people…

"Kusanagi-sama…"

"Lady Kyoko."

From the hallway, a few of my personal retainers are sitting on chairs with formal clothing. Even the usually armored sisters of the Ayanami clan are wearing the kimonos that they usually abhor to wear. And even though we are aware of his true identity, Ishigawa was also wearing feminine clothes as usual.

"Come in now, I have to disinfect everyone before you can go in."

The group of servants, nurses and local doctors that he personally hand-picked came to a separate room to wash before finally entering the bedroom where father is.

"Kusanagi-sama… let me take it off for you."

"Thank you."

Ishigawa stood up to help me take off the coat and mask that I wore while I was inside the room.

"Lady Kyoko… Is Lord Kenji-?"

"He will be alright."

"…"

Mitsuha asked me and I answered back without missing a beat.

"That man… I do not trust him… but if Lady Kyoko allowed him to cure Lord Kenji… I don't believe that he is an enemy."

As usual, the ever wary and outspoken manhater Mitsuhide spoke out her opinions.

"Namu Amida Butsu… Namu Amida Butsu…"

From a corner, I took out some prayer beads and began reciting the only buddhist prayer that I can clearly remember.

"Lady Kyoko… I don't think that's-"

"I'm willing to say any prayers to any gods if it will help save father… I… I can't even imagine losing him now."

It is not the right time for me to lose someone that I dearly love. Especially now that what my mother did may happen again…

I have a war to prepare.

I have people to lead.

I have a land to protect.

So please…

"Iwasawa… Please save my father."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I have a quiz for you who are reading this.

If you are in my situation right now, what would you want to take from the modern world?

A. State of the art surgery equipment and machines.

B. A professional team of surgeons and specialists.

C. A single x-ray shot.

If you answered C, congratulations, you are right.

"Hold it firmly. If his ribs get in the way of the knife and I stab something here or his flesh gets ripped and becomes a secondary injury, we're not getting our candies after this."

"Y-yes, Ishi-sama!"

If I remember correctly, I haven't performed a lot of invasive surgeries in my past life.

"I think I found it. Don't let go of the tube now. Steadily pull the syringe until all the stones are drained."

The reason why I wanted to have at least even a single x-ray shot before this operation is because I don't know how many and how large the stones that are inside his kidney.

For this procedure, I used laparoscopic pyelolithotomy as the method of surgery. The one thing that I don't have though is the endoscope. The one thing that can be my eyes inside his body isn't here and I am running on the world's hardest tightrope game by choosing the least invasive method I can use.

"I can see the stones bulging in the tube and getting to the balloon filter. It's getting drained."

"Finally…"

The others heaved a sigh of relief after hearing my statement. But that is anything but good news.

"What "finally"? We're not even halfway there. These are just the ones who are small enough to pass in the ureter. With the patient's deteriorated state, it's impossible that he doesn't have larger ones inside."

"T-then that means…"

"Wash up again. We're opening him from the side. Come on! Stat!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

After they changed their coats, gloves and masks and cleaned the tools again, I used a fine brush to draw a thin line on his left side abdomen so I know where I should be poking on and not.

"The heck… I was right."

"I-Ishi-sama?"

"Bring the light here. I need more visibility."

Once they pointed the reflected candlelight to my position, I finally saw just how wrecked his kidney was.

"2 centimeters… 1.6 centimeters… these stones are wild…"

They are large stones that I was trying to find. Made from calcium and the particles in it.

"How is his anesthesia? Is he still under?"

"…Yes, Ishi-sama. It's still working."

"How about the acupuncture to stop bleeding?"

"Still holding, Ishi-sama."

"Good. This will take a while. Take turns in watching over him."

The entire procedure took an entire nighttime.

There was a lot of things that happened there that I am not comfortable of talking about, but once the operating room's door opened, I brought actual good news.

"I-Iwasawa!"

"P-please… Kusanagi-dono. Ishi-sama… cannot respond for now."

Or at least, I wanted to be the one to tell it. But after I stitched him up, I fell down on the floor from exhaustion and had to be lifted back to a room where my clothes can be changed, and I can be allowed to rest.

By the afternoon, I finally woke up and seeing no one in the villa, I dressed up, washed my limbs and went back to the room of my patient.

"Heartrate… Blood pressure… Pulse… State of the stitch…"

I looked into everything and they all seemed something that can be found from a recovering patient.

"Iwasawa? I didn't expect you to go here just after you woke up."

"Well, he is my patient. I have to check out if he is well after I wasn't able to do it earlier."

I placed back the old man's blanket over him and faced his daughter that was watching me by the doorway.

"Is father-?"

"He'll live. Don't worry."

"…"

I may have told her that it won't be like that for long due to how much the secondary infections have spread and weakened her father's body, but at least he is here, alive and well for his daughter to see.

"You're actually incredible, you know? Doing something like that even though my father's court was against it."

"You tamed them with your tone and authority. I have no part in pacifying them."

I spoke and opened the window of the room to let the gentle breeze cool down the humid and warm room after I knew that the patient is well now.

"…I know you're not the kind who goes well with banquets considering how you turned Ishigawa-nii last time… but traditions compel me to throw one for you as a sign of thanks and hospitality."

"You have my thanks. I'll go later after I washed off the scent of antiseptic and blood off of my body."

"I'll ask the servants to warm up a bath for you then."

Closing the door behind her, I finally saw a face from that girl that doesn't belong to a lord governing her people or a warrior princess who will fight for her lands.

It's the face of a normal girl living a normal life.

"Hey, Lord Kusanagi. You can stop pretending to be asleep now."

"Oh my… I've been caught again."

I spoke out and I was happy to be proven right after the old man spoke and chuckled to himself.

"I have something to ask you, Lord Kusanagi."

"What is it?"

I turned around and stated my question.

"How did you last this long after eating those super salty foods that the head chef is cooking?"

"Ahaha! I get it, I get it. It's just how food is cooked in here. With no other choice on how to preserve them, we salt them, dry them, and when we cook, we mix salt in again just so we went get sick if ever they did rot."

"I see… I know you are still recovering, but I guess just one will suffice."

I spoke and opened the jar on my pocket and extended it to the old man.

"What are these? They are… so squishy."

"Marshmallows. They are sweets from Naka harbor."

"Mm! They do are sweet! But… I don't think I am young enough to have another one. Too sweet!"

"Yeah. They are best eaten toasted."

I spoke while continuing on watching the setting sun from the window.

"It's my turn to ask a question then, Ishi-kun."

"What would it be, Lord Kusanagi?"

"…Will you take Kyoko as your-"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, your grace. But I follow the traditions of Kiko and as such, I am already betrothed to the one and only one woman that I truly love."

"Then… that's kind of a shame…"

He spoke and smiled on his bed.

"But if ever you change your mind and look into making your very own harem, you have my permission to ask for Kyoko's hand. But anything beyond that, you have to walk for yourself."

"I've already said "no", my lord. Please don't tease me."

I spoke my farewell to the old man and went to take a bath before the party starts.

"Kampai!"

"""Kampai!!!"""

The party was quite simple. It was mostly for Lord Kenji's recovery rather than an actual appreciation to me, so I didn't really get bothered with being asked by nobles. Rather, it was the nurses and doctors who came to me to ask where I learned that kind of skills and where to get the tools and medicines I used.

For a moment, I thought about making a branch school here for them. But I knew that I should hold for a while since the 4-way alliance is still hanging in the air for now.

"Everyone, I know that this gathering is meant for my father's recovery. But it's also an assembly for a declaration that I will make today."

Kyoko spoke and looked at me from her position. With that, I knew what she is about to do.

"I would like to finally clear the true identity of the delegate and doctor from Kiko. The Ishi that has performed the surgical operation that saved my father is no other than the lord of Kiko himself, Iwasawa Hiroshi."

"He-?!"

"Right here?!"

"How did this been kept secret?!"

The surprised expressions of everybody told me that they were shocked with the announcement. With that, I asked Kyoko to let me speak.

"I know that Lady Kusanagi has broken the rule of informing her court about the arrival of a foreign daimyo, but please understand the circumstance she was in for her to choose this kind of action. After all, I am the only one she knew who can cure her father's illness."

The guests were talking amongst themselves, but they seem placid enough to listen to our explanation. It could have been a pretty good and mild explanation where everyone can peacefully listen to us as they seem willing to do so.

Except of course, for one person.

"Preposterous! You waste our time!"

A strong shout came from within the attendants and that girl named Ayanami Mitsuhide emerged with her hand on her sword's hilt.

"…"

I thought about it for a while, but I decided that I can still handle it with words.

"With all honesty, I am not here for any harm or ill will. I came here under the arrangement that Lady Kusanagi and I agreed upon."

"Liar! You were trying to kill Lord Kusanagi and tricking Lady Kyoko all this time, aren't you?!"

"No, I didn't!"

She accused me and I responded back strongly.

"Mitsuhide! I order you to back down, now!"

"I apologize, Lady Kyoko for the disobedience... But let me save you from the trickery of this charlatan!"

"Mitsuhide! Stop now while I'm still being understanding!"

Her lord was ordering her already to stop, but she continued on forcing me to fight back.

"Draw your sword and fight!"

"I refuse!"

"Well then, prepare to die!"

"You idiot! Mitsuha, Ishigawa! Stop her!"

"On it-!"

With her standing a few feet away from me, Kyoko's two retainers will definitely not get here in time to save my neck from the katana she is wielding.

"Tch-! I didn't want it to end like this!"

So, with no other choice in mind, I drew my pistol from my sleeve pocket and fired thrice on her direction, wishing that she will be scared of the gunshots.

"Kh-!"

She jumped back after seeing my weapon and that is when everyone became wide-eyed with what we saw.

*Ka-clank!*

Her katana was hit by a bullet on its soft metal spine, and it caused a fracture that shattered the blade into pieces.

"You… you broke it…"

"Stand down, Mitsuhide!"

Her elder sister and the man-dressed-as-a-woman pushed her down to the ground and tied her hands on her back.

"Urgh-! Let go! Sister!"

"You shut it!"

Her sister hit the back of her head which made her fall unconscious.

"Iwasawa… Are you alright?"

"Yeah… That girl just suddenly…"

"I apologize…"

For now, this place is still relatively unsafe for me. But I at least, knew that this will be over soon. Because as I gazed earlier to the afternoon sky, I knew it was the direction of my new home.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In the town on Tohou, General Shimura Nobisuke is leading the army of Kiko through a river bridge to Shinka.

"General Shimura! A letter from Them!"

Nobisuke took the letter that came from a pigeon and furrowed his eyebrows with what he read.

"Men, we have to hurry! The enemy forces are speeding up their movement!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Send a word to every battalion! We will march through the night!"

"Yes, sir!"

As he turned his horse to a quick trot, Nobisuke whispered a few words.

"Please stay safe, my lord… The information of the Kusanagi clan is flawed… It's not in a week. It's in 4 days."