Chapter 512 - 512: The Big Yōkai

Kian asked again and again until he was sure.

They didn't know about the Emperor. They didn't know about the Angels. They didn't know about the cities flying in the sky.

This was a feudal world through and through. It was as if someone had lifted it straight out of Old Terra around the year 1000. It was as if they had never been touched by the space age at all!

Kian's head was full of questions. Seeing this, Minamoto no Hei said:

"It seems you are uncertain of your path, sir. If you don't find my humble home beneath you, you may stay here as long as you like, until you find your way."

There were two reasons Minamoto no Hei was being so gracious to Kian. First, he could tell Kian was a man of rare bearing whose origins were surely no simple matter. Making friends with him might prove useful someday.

Second, Kian was built just as massively as he was.

In his whole life, Hei had met very few men bigger than himself, and he felt the kind of kinship one great man feels for another. That was why he welcomed Kian so readily.

Kian wanted to look into what was going on with this planet, so he said he'd impose on them, and chose to stay with the Minamoto family.

There were three people in the Minamoto household: Hei, the head of the house; his wife, Lady Minamoto; and their eldest son, Tarō.

The Minamoto home was in a place called Bamboo Grove County, home to some eight hundred farmers.

The Minamotos were a well-off family in Bamboo Grove County. Theirs was the largest house, and they had an acre and a half of paddy fields.

Built the way they were, Hei and Tarō could work like oxen. Two strong labourers could handle all their fields on their own, and the fragrant rice they produced was enough to keep the family of three living comfortably.

Perhaps because they were well-off, Hei took his son's education very seriously.

In the few days Kian stayed with them, he heard Hei lecture his son with the same lines almost every day.

"A gentleman keeps his robes in order and sits upright in his hall.

In the farming season, he bends to tend his fields. In idle hours, he cultivates his character.

Through cold and heat, through snow and the fall of the peach blossom, he forges the heart of a sage and masters the arts of war, and so he enters the hall of the Son of Heaven."

Once, as Hei was practising swordplay with Tarō in the courtyard with wooden swords, he brought out these lines yet again.

Kian sat cross-legged under the eaves with a stalk of grass between his teeth, watching them spar.

When they'd finished a round and stopped to rest, Kian suddenly asked:

"Hei, you want to be an official?"

Hei came over and knelt formally beside Kian under the eaves, looking a little embarrassed.

"You've caught me out, sir. I do in fact aspire to hold office.

"One of my ancestors rose to the rank of great general. He fought on the field of battle and achieved great deeds.

"Later our family fell on hard times, and I was reduced to a farmer.

"But I have never dared to grow idle. I read the classics of the sages and practise the martial arts, waiting for the day the Son of Heaven might look my way, so that I may serve the realm with whatever use I have."

The realm he spoke of wasn't the Imperium of Man. It was the unified state ruling this planet: the Eastrise Dynasty. The supreme ruler of the Eastrise Dynasty was called the Son of Heaven.

Kian asked, "How does the Son of Heaven recruit talent? Is there an exam or something?"

Hei answered:

"The talented men and fine generals who serve the Son of Heaven all inherit their positions. But on occasion, the Son of Heaven deigns to look down and discover worthy men among the common folk."

Kian said, "Ah," and thought that the Eastrise Dynasty's system for picking talent was pretty backward. They didn't even have imperial exams. They were still doing the whole hereditary-office thing.

By now Hei had decided Kian was a righteous man from some foreign land, and he answered all his questions.

He pointed to a tall mountain covered in peach trees in the distance.

"Cross over that peach-blossom mountain, and at the summit there's a peach-blossom pavilion. Stand in the pavilion and look ahead, and you can see Kyoto.

"On a clear day, you can even see the Son of Heaven's towering castle keep."

Kian glanced at the distant peach-blossom mountain. It was summer, and the mountain was a sheet of green. The blossoms were a long way off.

Then Kian remembered how, when he'd first arrived on this planet, the kids chasing him had called him a Big Yōkai.

"Lord Minamoto, what exactly is a Big Yōkai?"

Hei's face turned grave at once.

"A Big Yōkai is a monster. It is unusually massive, can speak with a human tongue, and is utterly savage. It delights in eating people.

"Every autumn and winter, the Big Yōkai crawl out of their caves and hunt humans far and wide.

"So, sir, please go out as little as you can in autumn and winter. If you run into a Big Yōkai, your life may be in danger."

From his description, Kian pieced together a rough picture of the Big Yōkai.

They were most likely some kind of Warp creature, or something spawned by Warp energy.

Humanoid, with two horns on the head and sharp claws on the hands, and tall, anywhere from two to six metres.

They often came out in autumn and winter to hunt humans who were on their own.

Kian suspected the Big Yōkai came out in those seasons because of some seasonal Warp fluctuation.

He looked up at the sky. This unknown planet, veiled by the Warp, was getting stranger and stranger.

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