They woke up early; according to Kumari’s accounts, one more day of walk and they would arrive at the castle way before dinner was served, if they took off before the sunrise. Indeed, before the sun was at the top of the skies, the road had already reached the river that ran south, a sign that they were close.
When they felt hungry, Kumari asked Ichimaru to wait, and took of his sandals before going into the river. He stood there for a long time, completely still, water hitting his knees. The dog demon just watched, curious, until Kumari’s hand suddenly plunged into the water and came out of it with a big fish, just like a bear would do it. He returned to the shore only to find Ichimaru rolling on the ground, guffawing.
“What’s so funny?”
“You caught it... with your bare hands! Got it? ‘Bear hands’!”, and kept laughing even after Kumari hit his face with the fish.
After sharing the lunch, they returned to the road. A few hours of walk away from the castle, the landscape was already very different from the previous days. There, the presence of the bandits had been eradicated months ago, and the peasants worked in peace, preparing for the harvest. A patrol passed by, coming from the south as them, and their commander confirmed that Oda had finally ended the pursuit against the bandits, but he would stay for one more month in the south, just to be sure. The soldiers offered a ride to the castle, but Kumari insisted they’d walk the rest of the way. There was no need to rush.
“I’ve been thinking”, he said after the patrol was away, “now that everything is in order again, we could travel to your lands. I mean, if I go, I’ll have to come with me. That way, it wouldn’t be a problem for you to show up at home.”
Ichimaru smiled, thrilled.
“Thanks, man. I mean, ‘sir’. It’d be an honor.”
“Stop it. You don’t take this seriously, so it’s worse if you call me like that.”
“Right. Either way, I’m grateful. I miss my home, my family. It’ll be nice to see them again.”
“Well, it seems it’ll be sooner then we thought…”
Kumari pointed with his head to the castle. Ichimaru saw it too, just as surprised as the other demon with who was running toward them.
