La fumée sucrée s'est déplacée de la caravane d'approvisionnement. Le tuyau d'Hidari était une longue aiguille de laque rouge coiffée d'un bol en laiton, dans laquelle a bouilli et brûlé un petit tas de résine fine. Le sien non plus, bien sûr, n'était pas à l'origine. Mais il serait honnêtement difficile de se rappeler quel raid l'avait touché exactement la pipe, l'approvisionnement en résine, ou la moitié des bibelots qui attendaient dans sa cabine de retour dans son navire. Un navire marchand a beaucoup commencé à ressembler à un autre après un certain temps. Alors qu'il fumait, il prenait à la campagne, dont il avait rarement une bonne vue de la mer. La route vallonnée courbée doucement autour des contours de la province, leur caravane traçant le long de son flanc comme le doigt oisif d'un amoureux. - Oui. Probablement à quelques jours de la maison de chat la plus proche. Il a sucé un peu plus farouchement sur la pipe.
Le simple fait était que le voyage était ennuyeux, de longues périodes de très peu d'événements. Cela semblait être quelque chose d'une vérité universelle, aussi applicable aux caravanes intérieures qu'aux voyages en mer. Mais ce qui a empiré, c'est à quel point les autres membres de Hakumeii étaient coincés et morbides. Bien sûr, la mission était importante, mais ils semblaient utiliser cela comme excuse pour ne pas se parler plus qu'ils ne le devaient. Hidari a parcouru la longue liste de tueurs de temps qu'il avait récupéré de ses camarades d'équipage; chansons bâclées, jeux de couteaux, défis de comptage. L'elfe semblait avoir un bâton dans son fond de teint, donc peut-être quelques versets de The Maiden's Grove l'incitaient à faire quelque chose de divertissant. Les elfes étaient si vieux, peut-être même à propos d'elle. Il s'est un peu rapproché du conducteur de la caravane d'approvisionnement pour s'assurer que sa voix porterait. "Oi, ji-san, laisse-moi te chanter une chanson." Il a dit au conducteur plus âgé avec un sourire.
"Dans l'ancienne forêt de Cobweb / Tellement sombre et si froide / Il y a une jeune fille, je vous le dis / Son bosquet est d'or" Sa voix portait bien comme il racontait occasionnellement le vieux bidon qui était exactement ce que chaque bidon était à propos. L'histoire de la chanson était au sujet d'une jeune fille elfique charitable qui, naturellement, était heureuse d'offrir un repos de nuit aux nombreux hommes itinérants qui passaient par la forêt de Cobweb, les amenant à son bosquet d'or. Et tout à fait coïncidant, ses cheveux étaient aussi dorés. Le genre de chanson que les marins aimaient chanter pendant de longues nuits sans femme, et trouver de nouveaux vers plus rugueux. Il s'approchait de l'homme de lance, avec son « arbre de piercing » quand il put voir le cheval de la femme elfe. Des oreilles comme ça, bien sûr qu'elle pouvait entendre la chanson.
Name: Susano Hidari, "White Bolt Mikaboshi"
Age: 28
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Appearance:

Weapon(s): Daisho, Daikyu longbow, throwing knives
Class: Archer
Bio:
Send a thief to catch a thief.
Hidari was born out of wedlock, his father an impetuous and impulsive member of the wealthy Susano line and his mother a simple serving maid. His father denied the child and his mother was rejected from service in the castle when it was found she was with child. Thus the young Hidari grew up in the port city of Hofuna. His mother supported the two of them through seamstressing and "entertaining" sailors, but never let her son forget his heritage, his Susano blood. Hidari grew to resent the absent, useless bushi who ruled in their castles and collected taxes but did little in return for all they took. This bitterness soon grew to become hatred at the world as a whole and turned the youth down a dark path.
He went from getting into fights with other street youths to running with gangs. From there it was a short hop to larger crime organisations and before long Hidari had signed up with a pirate crew that terrified the local merchants. The crew - called the Sons of Mikaboshi - stalked the trade routes between Susano and Raiden, making their money either from raiding cargo or taking protection money instead. (And sometimes they raided merchants who paid them protection money anyway, just to keep the fear up.) Young, nimble Hidari was first assigned as a lookout, high up away from the fighting on the raids, to call if Imperial ships were coming to hunt pirates. But he found lookout duty boring and one lucky raid put a bow and arrow in his hands. From then on he was happy up in the crow's nest, raining arrows down on the hapless merchants and bushi overwhelmed by his savage crewmates.
Over the years, his skill with the bow and the reputation of the Sons of Mikaboshi grew. As he learned to adjust for the motion of the sea, Hidari soon mastered marksmanship and almost immediately was taking the first kill of any raid by sniping the lookout, or the merchant captain. He got the name "White Bolt" for his reputation of suddenly striking out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning, raining down death. It didn't matter if the skies were clear or if they lashed the seas with rain; it didn't matter if the waters were placid or boiling with waves. White Bolt always found his mark. Of course, such success and reputation soon brought rivals and contenders, bounty hunters and bushi eager for glory. The Sons welcomed this competition, but of course it is a different matter to fight trained soldiers than it is flabby merchants and civilian seamen.
The campaign against the Sons was long and gruelling, lasting well past the death of the captain Mikaboshi, and Hidari taking the name as captain of the Sons, becoming the next Mikaboshi. What brought the bloodshed to an end was when the Sons captured a Susano flagship, the Emperor's Grace. Hidari ordered his men to take the bushi prisoners, to command a ransom and humiliate the bushi but also to ease hostilities; the Sons had suffered too many casualties to risk a full-blown war with the Susano family. When inventorying the hostages, Hidari realised he recognised the face of one of the older bushi - his father, Susano Tenjin. Hidari made Tenjin an offer. In order for the Sons to cease their piratical raiding of the traders, all Tenjin had to do was formally acknowledge Hidari as his legitimate son and heir. Then the Sons would stop being raiders and become a feared party of the Susano navy.
It was meant as a mockery, at least in part. A token gesture, just twisting the knife some. Hidari didn't really expect his father to do it. For all his other heirs had died and Hidari was all the family Tenjin had left to carry on his branch of the Susano family. Hidari was presented with a name, with a formal daisho and with a mission to protect the seas - no longer a pirate but a corsair, a privateer. But, of course, the high-minded Susano elders resent being known as the clan that employs pirates and has volunteered Hidari's services towards any dirty, dangerous job they hope will cleanse the stain he represents on the clan's reputation; either he succeeds, bringing glory on the clan, or he dies and they are rid of him.
Special Ability: Hidari is merely human and so lacks any magical ability, but has excellent balance, accuracy and agility born from a life at sea. He can jump, leap, flip and climb like a trained acrobat and has excellent physical strength and stamina. He maintains his astonishing accuracy despite any adverse conditions in weather or environment, able to target his opponent despite wind or rain, or unsure ground. He also has command of a small pirate fleet of about half a dozen frigates, with a crew of around one hundred and fifty men.
Misc: Despite nominally being the heir to a branch of the vaunted and extremely high-ranked Susano family, Hidari has lived most of his entire life among criminals and ronin. As such he lacks much of the honour and philosophy of other bushi, as well as much of their classical education in the arts and classics. He is considered a bushi for legal, social and political purposes and has all the rights and responsibilities of a bushi. However, he has a plethora of skills and experience bushi typically lack from his time among the commoners and the criminals; sleight of hand, deception, the use of poisons...