To the Mountains

.:KENJI:.

I found that my meeting with Chosu-Sama had gone quite well. He had informed me of his views on the nation and he had also entrusted me with a dozen of his best scouts to help me in my search, for the beast men. I myself had no training in the tracking field that I could speak to, so these men would be invaluable in my quest. I had been told that the beast man army was considerable in size being a few thousand strong. I would have to recruit a large number of men to fight for my cause, and my means of recruiting would be to enlist Ronin, and young and eager men into the group. I would also need to train them myself. It was times like these that I wondered what had become of Terra. He would've been an incredible help to me. He was one of the strongest T'somian warriors I knew besides Chosu Nihei.

I and my small band of scouts set out from Fort Sagawa the morning after my meeting with Chosu. I could not take hope nor Kosuga with me as it would be far too dangerous for either of them. Perhaps they could help me later on after they had become more experienced. I would be making my way through the mountains on foot from this point on. Keiga would draw too much attention and I couldn't fit thirteen people on his back

Our small group headed out into the mountains, the winter snows were beginning to melt, though they did so much slower here than in the lowlands. The threat of an unexpected Avalanche were ever present these days, and we had to be cautious as we made our way through the narrow mountain passes. We were heading in the direction of the nearest small mountain village. I would be making my way from settlement to settlement seeking those who would be willing to join me in extinguishing the Sabrian threat from our nation. We had defeated the last influx of Sabrian warriors and forced those that remained into hiding, but I could not rest knowing that an enemy was lurking within my very own country. It would only be a matter of time before they went on the offensive. They had probably already raided a few small villages, there was no way natural resources in these mountains could sustain any sizeable military force, especially during the winter when food was so scarce.

Our small troop of scouts travelled all day at a substantial but comfortable pace, there wasn't an urgent rush to be making our way to the first village. It was wearing on into the evening hours and the sky was turning the bright orange that generally coincided with sunset. We scoured the area we were in and found a cave that would make for suitible shelter. Camp was set up and the men and myself took guard shifts throughout the night in case a wandering bandit troop or a daring land beast made it's way towards our campsite. I had the last shift of guard duty for the evening and sat next to the fire that we had going in the mouth of the cave until the sun made it's way up over the mountains and the golden rays of light started to work their way from the top of the valley downward. After rousing the men that had been put under my charge we cleaned up the camp site, packed up and made our way back out onto the trail towards our first destination.