God of Knight

Chapter 5 - The Secret in His Blood

“Son, what’s your real name?” asked Enjou after finishing dinner.

“My name is Shinra Kazan, sir!” He kept his voice small and gave his real name.

His master and four fellow disciples were dead; he had had no news of his father since being thrown out at seven.

For fifty-five years, strangers had seen only his mask. No one here would connect a five-year-old’s face with the elderly Demon Mask.

“Shinra Kazan! Do you remember the name of your village?” Enjou asked again.

Kazan just shook his head, pretending to have forgotten his village.

“Do you remember why you were with the old woman who kidnapped you, and how she died?”

Kazan realized Enjou was questioning him about his past. When asked about Aira, he pretended to be afraid.

“You’re scaring him, Enjou!” his wife said, approaching Kazan and hugging him to calm him down.

“Kazan! If you can’t remember where your village is, stay here and be part of our family. Once you remember, I’ll take you back to your parents!” Enjou said.

Kazan just nodded; he simply hadn’t expected that the person he’d once nearly killed was now the one helping him.

He couldn’t imagine how Enjou would react if he learned his true identity.

Enjou’s wife looked at Kazan and then sat down so she was at the same height as Kazan.

“Kazan, would you call me ‘Mom’?” Enjou’s wife asked.

“Mom?” Kazan had never expected to become the child of people young enough to address him as “Father” or “Grandfather.”

“Yes, Mom! From now on, you can call me Mom and him Dad, if you’d like. What do you say? Will you?”

Kazan looked from one expectant face to the other. The words caught in his throat.

He still had his own plans. Yet neither of them withdrew the offer while he hesitated.

He nodded. Enjou smiled at once, and his wife’s arms tightened around him.

“From now on, you’ll be part of our family, and everyone will call you Young Master!” Enjou said.

“Thank you, my son. Now, let us hear you call us Mom and Dad!” Mrs. Haruki and her husband waited eagerly for his answer.

“D-Dad! Mom!” Kazan said timidly.

“Kazane, tomorrow I’ll announce it to everyone—we have a son!” Enjou said. His wife, Sayuri Kazane, nodded before he had finished.

Kazane drew Kazan close again. Enjou knelt beside them, and Kazan blinked against a sudden sting in his eyes.

He rested his small hands on their shoulders. He had never had a family like this; he would not let anyone take it from him.

Protecting them would require more than gratitude. He would have to regain his strength.

***

The next day, Enjou announced that he had adopted Kazan into the Haruki family. The boy’s public name would be Haruki Kazan.

After the announcement, important figures and other residents of Kasen began visiting his home in a steady stream.

Many residents wanted to see Kazan, as rumors said he was very handsome.

Most of those who came to see Kazan were mothers; Kazan’s face, which was already showing signs of his good looks, charmed them even though he looked to be only about five years old.

“Wow, your adopted son is so handsome, Mrs. Haruki!” said the women, and some of them couldn’t wait to touch Kazan’s face, while others were looking for a chance to pinch his cheek.

Kazan could only resign himself to it as the women pinched his cheeks until they turned slightly red. He wanted to scold them all, but he didn’t because he realized it was his physical condition that had prompted them to do so.

“Kenzou Sensei! I thought you weren’t coming!” Enjou greeted the three new arrivals, addressing a man who looked to be in his 50s or 60s.

“Mr. Haruki, how could I miss visiting you on a day like this? Oh, I have gifts from my wife for Mrs. Haruki and your son!” said Kenzou Arata, a teacher at the Golden Lion Sect.

“You really shouldn’t have brought gifts like this for my family; your visit alone is more than enough for me,” said Enjou, then invited Kenzou and his two students inside.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Haruki. I haven’t been able to visit these past few days—my granddaughter has only just recovered!” Kenzou said.

“Why didn’t you tell me that your granddaughter, Aoi Mei, was sick?” Enjou asked.

Mei was his second grandchild, born to his daughter and her husband, a disciple of the Eagle Eye Sect.

She was his only granddaughter; his first grandchild was a boy currently at the Eagle Eye Sect with his father.

Mei was 3 years old. She had spent two days visiting her grandfather before coming down with a fever on the third day.

“You seemed tired after returning from a meeting with Commander Souta, Mr. Haruki. I didn’t want to trouble you,” Kenzou replied.

“You’re really going too far, Kenzou Sensei. I’ve always considered you family, but you treat me like just another stranger!”

“That wasn’t my intention, Mr. Haruki—ah, never mind! Where’s your adopted son? I can’t wait to see him,” said Kenzou.

“He’s inside with Kazane!” replied Enjou, then he led Kenzou to where Kazan was.

There were still a few women there surrounding Kazan; they all immediately turned to look at Enjou, who had arrived with Kenzou.

“Ladies, please let us speak with Kazan for a moment,” Enjou said.

The visitors said goodbye to Kazane. Kenzou’s two disciples waited outside, leaving him alone with the family.

Kazan was surprised to see Kenzou.

“So this is your adopted son? He’s so handsome!” said Kenzou, then he ruffled Kazan’s hair.

A thread of Ki passed from Kenzou’s hand into his body. Kazan held still; the teacher was examining him.

Kenzou’s fingers paused in his hair.

“What’s wrong, Kenzou Sensei?” asked Enjou.

Kenzou paused before answering, then took Enjou to another room to discuss what he had discovered while examining Kazan.

Once they were alone in the other room, Enjou questioned Kenzou again.

“What’s going on, Kenzou Sensei? Is something wrong with Kazan?”

“Mr. Haruki, wasn’t that boy found next to the body of the woman known as The Mad Demon?” asked Kenzou.

“That’s true! What’s the matter?” asked Enjou, growing even more curious.

“At first, I found nothing unusual,” Kenzou said. “Then I sensed something in his blood cells.”

“Blood cells? What do you mean?”

Knights distinguished three kinds of refined blood: Black Blood, Green Blood, and Pure Blood.

Ordinary blood was described as red or dark. The Black, Green, and Pure categories concerned a knight’s trained blood cells, not a separate martial rank.

Black Blood Cells were the first kind Kenzou had sensed in Kazan. A student usually needed five years of training to develop them.

Kenzou had found them in a boy who appeared to be only five and had no detectable Ki.