Chapter 3: At the Tengu Village — Tradition —

There is a village where tengu live.
A mountain at an elevation of 599 meters. Across the area stretching from its mid-slope to the summit, there has long existed a tengu village.
The tengu who live in the village hold mastery of both letters and arms as their creed, devoting themselves to daily training.

Among them, one large residence stands out at a glance.
On the veranda overlooking its spacious garden, there were two tengu.

One of them was a female tengu with large wings the color of jet-black, rain-darkened feathers—Aiha.
Her imposing build and the confident smile she always wore left a strong impression.

The other was a female tengu with silver hair and white wings—Suzuran.
Compared to Aiha, she was more slender, but the marks of daily training were clearly etched into her body.

The two of them were talking calmly, green tea in hand.
Then, Aiha casually set down her teacup and let a few words fall in an offhand tone.

“Suzu—have you ever heard of something called the ‘Legendary Shu’?”

“The Legendary ‘shu,’ you say?”
Suzuran tilted her head slightly and answered quietly.
“…No, I haven’t. To begin with, what exactly is ‘shu’?”

Aiha gave a sly grin.
“‘Shu,’ you see, is a weapon used in ancient China. It is regarded as one of the Five Weapons—a venerable, time-honored… wooden stick.”

“A stick… something like a staff?”

“Hm, you could say that. Of course, there are those who insist on drawing fine distinctions—but to most, such differences are indistinguishable. Either way, they are both ‘sticks.’”

Suzuran lowered her gaze as if in thought, then followed up with another question.
“If it’s called a legend, then there must be some kind of tale behind it, right?”

“Hmph… there are more than I could ever count.”
Aiha laughed with clear amusement, took a sip of her tea, and continued.
“Those who wielded the Legendary Shu became invincible, brought a nation to heel—or, on the contrary, were devoured by the shu and destroyed… and so on. The details change depending on who tells the story.”

“Then there’s no way to know which one is true.”
“That’s right. But—there is one thing that every legend has in common.”

Aiha set down her teacup and fixed Suzuran with a steady gaze.
“It is said to appear only before a mighty martial artist.”

“…Do you believe it actually exists?”

At the question, Aiha gave a shrug.
“No, I don’t.”
She continued with a fearless grin.
“Because— it has never appeared before me. That, above all else, is the proof.”

At the remark—one that could be taken as sheer bravado—Suzuran blinked.

“…For example.”
After thinking for a moment, she quietly chose her words.
“If that shu possesses a will of its own, and changes hands in search of someone stronger.
If it sets those it deems strong against one another, moving so that it may pass into the hands of an even stronger individual.
Then, under that assumption, the reason it has not shown itself before you, Aiha-sama, could be that no one has yet had ‘the chance to challenge you.’”

Aiha narrowed her eyes and gave a sly grin.
“Hoh… so you’re saying it’s too strong for anyone to even feel like challenging it, then?”

That was slightly off from what Suzuran had meant to say—but faced with Aiha’s usual, confident demeanor, Suzuran smiled and replied quietly, “Perhaps.”