THE ARCHAIC SKY

THE HIRAI'S LOYAL FORCES

The Takamaru clan

The Takamaru clan has always been loyal to the royal family of Kitarai. They would adopt children adept in the arts needed to help the Hirai. So desperate to help the now mere heads of the tenryou commission as they are no longer noble nor royal as they were before, the Takamaru had increased their adoption rates to a point that the next generation of the Takamaru would not even have the Takamaru blood.

Ryota was born with no name other than his first. He had never seen the faces of his parents, never felt the love they were supposed to give him and he didn't even know where he came from. All he knew was that he was left in the ruins of an ancient war ground in the kingdom of Minamiyo. With nothing but a single sentence from his parents. "you are a phaethon, even if Byakuyamitsu kingdom becomes bleached, you must continue our legacy"

Byakuyamitsu is not a kingdom that exists in the Minamiyo region, nor is it a kingdom in the empire of Jinsei.

As no one who was born to do anything significant in his life, entering the Takamaru clan was something he prided in. he was borne by nameless parents, his gift barely anything of note. The only time he felt to be any speck of importance was when the travelling Hirai saved him from ronin samurai who had fallen into banditry.

From there he vowed loyalty to the Hirai. Promising them he and the rest of the Takamaru clan would help in restoring the rai clan to it's former glory.

Ryota devoted all of himself into ascending the ranks, even from a young age. Thankfully, those who had adopted him supported him greatly. But even then he could tell, that none of the Takamaru truly regarded him as family. instead treating him differently from the biological. It only made him strive harder for a face. even if jealous bitter gazes followed him.

Finding himself in the lone moonlight, practicing the art of the blade in a secluded part of the army's estate, he finally met that who he called a sworn brother. Standing side by side, basking under the bright glory of the former royal family.

That is until Ruyizi started overshadowing him, even becoming friends with the third prince. So close to the third son that the two took up a mission together. it was in that same secluded part that ruyi finally spoke his mind. "they don't value us" Ruyi said, the night before his departure. "we're only important to the Takamaru clan if we're useful. If you weren't, they'd say that they did not take you in just to have you be a pointless extra mouth"

"what are you saying? That everything I've done for this clan was pointless?" ryota held back his fist. The two wore the same uniform and shared the same name. but had they not been friends, had they not met, they would have been nothing closer than strangers. Sun coloured shitagi shirts and kobama pants now covered in dirt from their previous fight.

A fight fueled only by ryota's envy. "this clan was the first to made me feel significant, I'm not going to turn my back on them, they-"

"I don't need your explanations and don't require any mutual understanding between us. You can do whatever you want, I won't stand in your way, but I won't stand by your side"

Ryota thought that was the last he'd see of ruyi and he was fine with it. Deserters are not well received by the clan, and he was no exception. But, to his amazement, ryota was dispatched with a marching army to retrieve Ruyi, who claimed to have the Araceli in his possession.

Not far from the hanareko island with its Hikaiyo harbor, with a fort stuck between two tall hills is Higana. A city so big, it had its own defenses, a council of elders and quite a large Yamabuki bank. But that only meant it became infested with the filthy seikatsu... just like that rat of an emperor's capital city.