Chapter 1
First-person perspective.
Born from a tiny sprout, die from a speck of dust.
I struggled to move forward, but I was cautious. I didn't know if I was moving forward, or what lay ahead.
I don't know how much time has passed; it feels like a long time, yet it also feels like only a short while.
In my perception, there was only emptiness. As I took a step, I reached out my hand, groping and constantly exploring forward.
"hiss."
The pain made me jerkly pull my hand back.
A faint smell of blood lingered in my nostrils; I was bleeding.
There is something dangerous ahead of me.
But I want to know what it is; it's the only thing I've encountered in the darkness.
Even the seemingly solid ground beneath my feet turned into nothingness when I squatted down and touched it with my hand. I didn't want to experience falling again.
I slowly extended my other good hand, moving it gently and slowly.
This is a long, round object. I felt the unevenness on it. After touching around a raised, flat part, there was a relatively flat part, then a slightly raised part, and then it felt flat again.
The material is hard to feel, but I don't feel any harm. I didn't touch any sharp parts that could make me bleed immediately. Instead, I felt a gentle sensation.
Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat. I stopped trying to probe the objects in front of me, looked up, and saw a dark vortex reflected in my eyes. This was the only sight I had seen since I arrived here.
Centered on the vortex, the "sky" above my head began to turn gray-black, and an ominous premonition arose in my mind, with a hint of danger emanating from the vortex.
A strong gust of wind blew in, and I raised my hand to protect myself. My eyes were so hard to open that I had to squint. In my blurred vision, the darkness around me seemed to be blown away, replaced by a dense forest. But in the real sky, the vortex still existed.
Then a sharp object emerged from the vortex, and as time passed, its true form became clear.
It was a weapon shrouded in black mist, yet it was still clearly visible that it was a short knife, covered with eerie bone spikes, and the entire weapon exuded a disgusting and frightening aura.
My eyes widened, and almost instantly I recognized the character as someone I had played in a game before.
“…The Time Travel Army,” I murmured to myself.
I can't think too much right now.
With the appearance of this short sword, the other short swords that followed it gradually revealed their true forms, all equally eerie.
I quickly took a step, somewhat unsure whether it was a dream or reality; all I knew was—
run!
I couldn't run smoothly on the snow-covered ground. The wind whipped at my face, and after only a few steps, I heard a whooshing sound behind me. Fear filled my heart, and I almost gave up trying to escape.
But I must survive.
The soft snow was not suitable for running. I fell down. I didn't feel much pain when I fell into the snow, but I couldn't get up quickly. My mind was filled with fear for a moment.
I struggled as the short knife with bone spikes drew ever closer, its sharp edge stimulating my nerves.
I wanted to stand up, but the snow beneath me kept stopping me, constantly severing my hope of survival.
Tears broke free of their confinement in an instant, and I felt my face getting wet... I am weak.
I closed my eyes in fear, but death did not come.
"Clang!" The sharp metallic sound of swords clashing rang out, and I suddenly opened my eyes.
A gleaming katana blocked my way. The next instant, the katana was deflected, and a black-haired, red-eyed boy appeared before me. He smiled at me, seemingly trying to reassure me.
Then he moved forward and clashed with the group of Time Travelers wielding short swords. The unrestrained youth brandished his katana, and before long, the short swordsmen were defeated and retreated. They were then beheaded by the youth and turned into dust, dissipating into the air. The vortex in the sky disappeared, revealing the original sky.
The light snowflakes fell gently and gently, landing on me.
The boy sheathed his sword, walked up to me, and squatted down.
"Excuse me, Master." Then he reached out to help me up, patted the snow off me, and took off his coat and draped it over me. The long red scarf around his neck was wrapped half by each of them.
I didn't struggle or resist; I simply accepted it because I felt a strange connection that made me vaguely feel that he wouldn't harm me.
He looked up and stared into my eyes. His red eyes reflected my current immature appearance, and it was then that I realized I had shrunk.
Even if I don't remember much about myself before I died, I certainly wouldn't look like this when I was seven or eight years old.
Before I could think further, the boy before me wore a respectful and gentle smile. He said to me, "I am Kashuu Kiyomitsu. A child of the lower reaches of the river, a son of the river. Difficult to master, but top-notch performance."
Kashuu Kiyomitsu speaks an island language, while I am from China. For some reason, I can understand what he says, but unfortunately, although I can understand, I still can't speak it.
For some reason, I reached out and grasped the hand he had been using to shield his chest, searching through my meager vocabulary of Japanese for a single word: "suki..."
After a pause, I added with a slightly off-key pronunciation, "...Kiyomitsu".
I want to call his name and tell him that I like him very much.
Kiyomitsu smiled, a slight blush rising on his face, clearly showing his delight. He said, "It is my honor, Master."
*
"In 2205 AD, the government of that time was fighting against 'historical revisionists' who intended to interfere with history..."
I sat on the bench, listening attentively to the explanation given by the political affairs staff member in uniform in front of me.
The Time Government found us and learned about my situation and Kiyomitsu's situation. They gave me two choices: give up Kiyomitsu or become a Saniwa.
I was still wearing Kiyomitsu's clothes at the time, and the warmth of the boy lingered in my mind. I simply couldn't go against my conscience and give up.
And so I became a Saniwa (Master).
It was the staff member explaining the work-related content to me.
The Tsukumogami and the Saniwa each have their own duties and work together.
Even though historical revisionists are currently at a disadvantage, people will not become complacent.
As we walked into the lobby, everyone was busy.
I held the corner of a red scarf in my hand, and Kiyomitsu stood behind me. The height and the bench I was on allowed me to hold Kiyomitsu's scarf just right to suppress my nervousness.
I've confirmed it by looking in the mirror in my room last night: I have indeed turned into a child, just like when I was little, with black hair and black eyes.
I am still me.
"Alright, that's all for now. This is the induction handbook, Master Saniwa." The staff member handed me a book, which was a bit thick. I quickly reached out to take it, but before I could touch it, a hand with red nail polish took it first. I looked at the owner of the hand.
Kiyomitsu hugged the book to his arms: "Leave this kind of small thing to me~"
He looked at me with a smile.
I nodded and smiled at him.
The staff member continued, "If there's anything you don't remember, Master, you can refer to the manual. Everything I just mentioned is in the manual."
"Master Saniwa, please choose a code name for yourself."
The staff mentioned that one should not reveal their real name casually, so for the sake of convenience, the Saniwa will be given a code name when they join the company.
But I've also forgotten my own name.
After thinking for a moment, I wrote the words "Winter Tree" on the board handed to me by the staff. It was a flower-planting text.
I can only recognize the characters of Japanese languages, but I can't write them. Fortunately, the tablet recognizes multiple languages, including Chinese.
Winter Tree became my code name.
"Lord Fuyuki, would you like to choose to establish a new Honmaru, or take up a post in an empty Honmaru?"
Both options have their advantages. In the former, the Saniwa and the Tsukumogami are each other's first time, which makes it easier to develop a relationship.
However, this does not mean that the latter is not conducive to cultivating feelings.
However, choosing the latter option results in a random selection of a citadel, and if you accidentally get a problematic citadel, it can be unfriendly to newcomers.
The selection range of Saniwa is very wide, and the existence of such special things as politics will intersect with other dimensions, so there are also people like me who have flowed over from other dimensions.
The variety of choices available to the Saniwa (Master) and the variety of Saniwa personalities also contribute to the diversity of choices.
Some people treat the spirits badly, doing evil things to them, causing the spirits to fall into darkness and change their nature. Of course, the government will severely punish such people.
In the hands of politicians who have the power to sentence death, regulations are very intimidating.
However, there are also advantages. The Tsukumogami usually have an initial level of training and may even have rare five-colored swords.
Simply put, each has its advantages and disadvantages.
I glanced at Kiyomitsu beside me. I only learned last night that Kiyomitsu was a discarded sword.
There were two Kashuu Kiyomitsu swords in the citadel where he used to live. He was picked up by accident. The other Kashuu Kiyomitsu in that citadel was the Saniwa's initial sword. The Saniwa could not give up the initial sword, so he became the one who was discarded.
However, the Saniwa wasn't entirely bad. From the beginning, she explained the facts to Kiyomitsu, making the sword, which needed the Master's love, give up its expectations of the Saniwa. She even arranged for Kiyomitsu to go into battle normally, allowing him to improve his skills before letting him leave.
After leaving, Qingguang was accidentally caught in a time-space turbulence and unexpectedly absorbed the spiritual power in my blood. At that time, we made a contract in a daze.
He became my first sword.
—
I chose to succeed to the citadel. Based on my situation, the system would skip the citadel with Kashuu Kiyomitsu when randomly selecting a citadel, and finally three numbers would be displayed on the screen.
197
Obviously, I succeeded to Honmaru No. 197.
The staff then performed a few actions, signaling me to wait a moment. Soon after, a fox appeared in the teleportation array that the staff had activated.
It has strange red markings on its face, a yellow and white body, and a fluffy tail that sways gently behind it.
I think it's cute.
Kitsune-no-suke walked up to me and lowered his head slightly: "Lord Fuyuki."
It must have received some information from me.
"I am Kitsunenosuke from the 197th Honmaru. I will assist you in your work from now on. Please take good care of me."
After not receiving a reply for a while, it seemed a little uneasy and raised its head. I met its gaze and smiled.
For some reason, its gaze became a little strange. I wondered about it, but didn't pay much attention.
[Author's Note]
*Game Dialogue
The name Fuyuki has appeared; the next chapter will begin in the third person! [Thumbs up]
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