Chapter Text
“Look at us,” Shin grumbled next to her. “Reduced to taking on ronin as protection.”
Kokoa grimaced. She knew that, as much as he didn’t want to say it, he was worried about traveling without Toma, who’d been too injured in their last battle to come. She hated leaving him behind, but they didn’t have much choice, not if they were to make it to the capital in time. She knew Toma would come after them as soon as he could, but Shin would not rest easy while his brother’s fate was unknown.
She reached over to take comfort from Orion, who was walking beside her in human form, meant to look like her little brother, though she could tell he missed his horns from the way he’d shaped his hat. He gave her a small smile, very used to Shin’s grumbling and strangely not bothered by the ronin who had the position at the rear of their group.
Shin had taken the front, he always did, as he was the better scout, but she didn’t think that it would have been wise to have the ronin in front. As tall as he was, no one would be able to see around him, and they all needed to be on guard.
“Better to be without a master than to serve one who has no knowledge at all,” Kent said, and she bit her lip. Was he talking about Shin? Shin had been the one to hire him, though supposedly it was for her sake, since she preferred to travel without flaunting her onmōyji status and would seem to be nothing more than a boring tradesman’s daughter on her way to an arranged marriage, not the woman who must face the so-called demon king. How he knew to demand her by name she could not be certain, but he seemed to be testing her as well, sending many unfortunate mercenaries against them.
If not for their overwhelming number, Toma would be with her now, not Kent.
Shin shook his head. “He has too good of ears.”
“You’re louder than you think when you complain,” Kokoa told him, and he glared at her, making her want to giggle. Orion did laugh, and Shin glared at him. “And it is his duty to be listening for a threat, after all.”
Shin shook his head. “Damn Toma. If he had just let me fight my own battle, we wouldn’t need some stranger with us now.”
She grimaced. “That man would have killed you and you know it. Toma survived because he took it as a glancing blow, not full force, which you would have.”
Shin looked away, angry, and she knew he felt guilty as well. He would never have wanted anyone to suffer in his place, even if he and Toma argued often.
“How long have you been without a master?” Kokoa asked Kent, who frowned at her and the change of subject. “Some samurai are cast off when their masters die, others when they fail. I am curious.”
“You need not be. I have no intention of remaining in your service for long enough for it to matter. It simply happened that you were headed the same way as I was, and it was expedient to take on work that would help me reach my destination.”
“Unless you die along the way,” Shin said. “Which is still possible. I warned you this was dangerous.”
“In this unsteady political climate ruled by superstition and idiocy, everything is dangerous. Give someone with the ability to see and control what the masses cannot, and they create power for themselves when none should be given.”
Kokoa tensed. “Is that what you think of the onmōyji?”
“You don’t think they have too much power over the nobles? There are those who bend to their will over traveling in certain directions, who will not leave to go home if it is against the advice of an onmōyji or will not leave their home, either, all because of a katatagae. It is ridiculous.”
She knew of some who would advise such behavior, though she never had. She wasn’t much in favor of divination. “You think that is true of all onmōyji?”
“Yes.”
Shin gave her a look, but she shook her head. She couldn’t afford to reveal her status now, not to someone so openly hostile to the whole profession. He’d probably think even less of her for it because she was a woman. She could only hope that her other skills would not be needed and she could rely on basic defenses if they were attacked.
She had heard rumors back before they hired Kent that at least one of the ronin in that tavern had actually killed their former master. What if that was Kent? What would he do if he knew he’d been hired by an onmōyji?