The Era of Heroes

The Chronicles of Jukai and the Heroes of the Divine War.

Preface

It is here that I, Uesato Hinata of Shikoku, give you the collective stories and writings during my travels and work in the Divine War. The purpose of which is preserving the memories and honoring those unknown heroes who sacrifice everything to save not just all of Japan, but the world of the Shinju. Among these stories of which we'll explore will be of the state of affairs across the lands after centuries of conflict, the actions of the daughter of a line of samurai, the rise and fall of The Flower Alliance and memoirs that remind us these vanquished heroes often were no older than fifteen years of age.

- Hinata Uesata, The Chronicles, completed in 1700

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Volume I

Chapter 1: Long Long Ago, in a certain place...

The waving of the gentle green treeline far above showed today's weather to be calm and serene, the rising sun in the distance indicated the beginning of the day was here, she didn't mind the early waking if it brought such a view like this every day. She heard the birds sing above, watching as the sun fully revealed itself, with a sigh she hiked up the small hill of trees and over it ran to the large village up ahead. The place her family and many others called home for decades.

Sneaking through a small, hardly noticeable pathway that conveniently brought her close to the main square of the village, she energetically snuck herself through a thin treeline just large enough for her to fit through. The sunlight sneaking past the branches above till finally, she got herself back to civilization with groups from other families already walking up and down the path. Not wanting to bother she runs her way quickly towards home as those who her family frequently works with going about their morning carrying tools, wagons, and baskets filled with rice or whatever other material to help cultivate their own fields. Her village was an older one, beginning at the bottom of the mountain, her grandfather told stories of how it's been that way even for his father but since she was born has spread outward to the fields, something to do with the Suwa Daimyo Tadatsune making new rice fields by moving a nearby water stream.

As she approached her family's farm she saw a bit further ahead new plots of family homes with their own farms, they were new, but unlike some others in the village, she was happy to see new people arrive, maybe even find someone to share the view with.

"Utano! Are you out there!?"

"Coming mother!" the young girl responded as she ran and slide open the entrance of their well-sized home.

Carrying her sandals as she approached her mother, Utano respectfully stood by as she looked at the back of her mother's green hair as she organizes their belongings. "Utano, you shouldn't keep leaving here so early," her mother told her in a firm but fair kind of approach, "Your father is already outside working and we need you fully awake and ready to take the shipment. "

"Yeah, okay," Utano said at the ready as she readied herself and walked out to the paddies field that was the source of their livelihood. As she trudged her way through, she saw the seeds at this portion was growing quite nicely, she knew they could and saw it as perhaps a sign thing going better this season. The sudden groan up ahead caught Utano's attention as she ran faster to her father rubbing his back, yet still patting his daughter in the head as a chuckle escaped him.

"I'm sorry for being late, I was caught up by-" Utano tried to explain but was stopped when her father pointed over to the horned beast standing by.

"It's alright, argh, get the buffalo and start plowing the paddies over there. The bag of seeds are right at the home, got that Utano?"

"Absolutely! But you gonna be alright? I haven't heard you make a sound like that before."

"Hopefully by tomorrow, we'll get the means to stop it from getting any worse, now go she's waiting for ya!" her father said as he got back to cleaning this paddie, taking a deep breath as he bent his back again.

Utano meanwhile jogged her way to Ota, a name her mother told her not to give but looking at its adorable eyes made it too late for her to get attached to Ota. Grazing her hand over Ota's fur, she readied the plow and slings over the bag over her shoulder, "Another busy day for us again, do you know what father means by making things suddenly easier?"

As expected, the buffalo simply huffed which Utano returned by grabbing some of her food and feeding Ota, "Yeah, he's been talking about just about everybody but me, his own daughter no less! Oh, you think maybe we'll get new food to plant!? Man what a prospect, not gonna happen though if we don't start, now let go!" Utano had her supplies ready as she began walking, but Ota was still at her stand, the girl raised an eyebrow as she pulled out a small wipe, "Now Ota, we gotta get these new seeds ready, please?"

The buffalo huffed again with Utano rolling her eyes, smiling back, "Okay, another fist full of food, how about that?" With that Ota immediately began following her as she laughed at her friend's antics, the whip was always for show when her parents are around, and something Utano uses mostly to do neat tricks with. As Ota began doing her work, Utano was right behind her finishing the job with each seed she planted before moving on to the weeding.

This was Utano's and her families routine long before she was born, over the years of doing this her carefree desire at this moment like many others only wished they get to experiment with more exotic vegetables out there to make their meals, even more, filling and delicious than they already are. If what her father is saying really is a good as he says then that only eases the burden on them, she personally believes that if she had the ability too, she instead take on the whole responsibility by herself.

She'll do anything to keep this village productive, safe, and most of all, happy in this new era of peace.