The distant BGM echoed in his dream all night. The next day, Logan was awakened by a Samurai. The morning light filtered through the branches, and Logan raised his hand, peering through his fingers at the sun. In his groggy state of waking, he felt as if he would hastily get up and go to school with a piece of bread in his mouth the next second.
Getting up and rubbing his eyes, he saw the group of dozens of people had already prepared to set off. Logan shook his head at this, 'I seemed to have unusually slept well. But being too defenseless is a big no-no.'
After washing up, he caught up with the large group. Logan ran over from the rear and saw several people wearing scholar robes and two escorting Samurai, who seemed to have hurried from somewhere.
Logan quickly overtook them. As he brushed past, he saw the sketch boards held by the man and woman in scholar robes.
At a casual glance, it seemed to depict the sunrise over rolling hills. The black and white sketch with messy lines was only half completed.
When Logan thought of taking a closer look, he had already jumped onto a large tree, moving through the crowd in a Ninja-like manner.
'Not only music, there are also paintings and other things...' Logan leaped in the air about ten meters high. From time to time, people in the group of carriages below would look at him enviously. Logan was used to these looks, but he rarely lowered his head to scrutinize them, 'It turns out that singing and painting are all existed here.'
At noon, the group only rested for a while before the team continued on their journey. Compared to the past, today's efficiency was actually very high. Logan was a little surprised by this. Later, he found that at this speed, they could reach the nearest city before nightfall.
Not having to stay in the wild is definitely exciting news for this group of officials and Samurai who came out of the Land of Fire's capital.
It was evident that everyone was in high spirits. When the Samurai captain, Hanjiro handed out lunch boxes at noon, he didn't throw them away but handed them over instead. In the afternoon, as the sun slanted westward, the short-term motivation had passed and the unmotivated envoy group gave up the idea of charging into the city in one go and rested on the spot.
Compared to the exhaustion of those pampered people, Logan didn't even break a sweat. People sat in circles on the grass, and as usual, he ran to the outermost circle.
The sunlight gradually turned orange. Presumably, there was enough time left for everyone to go into the city and have a good meal if they rushed there. The Samurai were chatting enthusiastically, and two young people even started sparring with smiles. Their shouts and the clashing of their sword sheaths attracting most people's attention. Leaving aside real combat, the two of them elegantly exchanged moves with each other.
Some older Samurai, feeling the itch to show off their skills, waved their arms and joined in. The atmosphere heated up. When Hanjiro, the strongest among them, also came out and dusted his hands, the crowd's enthusiasm reached its peak.
Swish, swish, Hanjiro swiftly dealt with another Samurai with two or three strikes. The crowd cheered, applauding, making Hanjiro feel good. Some of the maids were already blushing, especially when the envoy also got off her carriage, smiling as she watched, Hanjiro swung his sword vigorously, feeling that maybe this is what it means to be a winner in life.
But at this moment, someone shouted, "Where's that Konoha's Ninja? Ask him to come and spar with Sanada-sama!"
Hanjiro was stunned for a moment after hearing this. In his invincible mood, his eyes lit up, 'What a great suggestion!'
After winking to signal his subordinates, he pretended to be reserved and said a few words. However, the crowd's cheers were so high that a Samurai immediately ran to find ran to find Logan, who was sitting on a high grassy slope.
The young and beautiful envoy's eyes curved as she lightly covered her mouth, curiously watching everything.
'Ninja Raiden Tori!" A samurai ran up the slope, panting heavily, "Damn it. Why are you sitting so high when you have nothing to do?"
"My name is Hattori..." Logan said helplessly, "Is something wrong?"
"We're sparring down there, and as a Ninja, you must have strong skills. Do you want to come down and spar with Sanada-sama? Everyone is watching." The young Samurai raised the katana in his hand, with an eager look on his face.
"Oh, that…" Logan glanced down lazily. He was actually thinking about what song the envoy was singing last night.
Below, Hanjiro, who was sitting in the middle of the crowd, was tall and handsome, standing out among the crowd. When he saw Logan's gaze coming through, his face showed confidence. He raised his sword and waved his hand, indicating, 'Brother, come and have some fun...'
'Damn, I've never seen you so polite before.'
"It seems like I'm not interested." Logan said regretfully to the young Samurai in front of him. The other party was immediately surprised after hearing this, 'You are a Ninja of Konoha. How can you refuse such a friendly sparring invitation at this time... With all due respect, it is really disrespectful."
"Ninjas don't talk about etiquette..." Logan murmured softly, which the young Samurai didn't catch, then ultimately declined the invitation.
The young Samurai returned disappointed and lethargically went to deliver the message. He originally wanted to witness those gorgeous Ninjutsu with his own eyes.
As the evening breeze gently blew, Logan held an animal mask in his left hand and flicked a coin in his right hand. The metal piece was flicked into the air repeatedly before falling back down.
The news that the Konoha's Ninja refused to spar caused murmurs among the envoy group, but everyone quickly forgot about it because the envoy suddenly said that she wanted to dance.
This time, it wasn't just singing; there was also music. Some instruments were also brought out.
After spending a week together, Logan only just found out that these people actually carried wooden or metal instruments with them.
With simple rhythms beating, the song this time was different from last night, but perhaps due to the vastness of the hilly sunset, it still felt distant.
The lyrics were very simple, like a haiku, repetitive and melodious. Logan felt a sense of tranquility after listening to it, realizing that he had never heard the music theory passed down in this world.
Turning his head, he easily spotted the figure in the red and white kimono. The dance was slow and simple, with the envoy gracefully spinning. Her loose clothes enveloping her like blooming flowers, and when her beautiful face faced his, Logan paused, as the other party also have a mask on her head.
Logan couldn't help but look down at the mask in his hand, 'One was for killing and the other was for dancing.'
The Samurai and officials sitting around did not make any noise, and looked at the only dancing girl with a serious expression. The nostalgic style of the slow dance, with a hint of sacrificial aura, was incredibly infectious.
As the faint red light climbed across the green ground, unknowingly, the sunlight on the horizon gradually dimmed. When the last trace of crimson sunlight passed over the envoy's body, the dance ended perfectly.
At this moment, Logan suddenly noticed that the envoy, who had been watching him all this time, smiled warmly.
In her crescent-shaped eyes, there was the color of red agate.
As the last ray of light faded, the sunset sank behind the mountains. Torchlights were lit.
Hanjiro began to organize people to rush into the city, then Logan glanced over and put on his mask.