The roads of the Land of Valleys weren't too bad; they were cut from hard stone and made for shipments of food and other goods. A few of the roads were even impressive, as they were cut into the sides of the countless valleys that made up the country, giving us impressive views of the great drops down into the valleys—especially when rivers or streams cut through them.
Maybe this was the reason Hagoromo didn't reshape this place, but left it like this. I knew he had used his powers to reshape much of the ruined lands caused by our fights, the Land of Fire being among those.
It wasn't by accident that certain countries had certain features.
Though he clearly didn't consider that having some places rich in different resources and others poor in them would cause conflict.
It was the very cause of war.
Then again, he grew up in a world without war, a world where I had long since enforced peace. So he didn't understand what caused war; to him, his ninshū could overcome everything.
Yet reality had proved him wrong.
Understanding one another didn't overcome desire and greed.
"Here is your food. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to let me know," the waiter said as she placed our food on the table, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Thank you," Kanna thanked her before she started to feed little Karin.
"She is growing so quickly," I noted. "Won't be long before we need new clothes for her."
"That's why I said you didn't need to buy something so expensive; we already have more than two entire sets she has outgrown," Kanna said as she fed her daughter—not thinking about what she was saying, and being honest for once.
I appreciated that. "An Uzumaki is noble, so even as a child, she deserves the best." But just because I appreciated her honesty didn't mean I agreed with her.
Karin was one of the rare few Uzumaki left in the world, and she was a rather talented one at that. I wouldn't allow her to end up as she would have without my intervention. She would live a good life.
One of wealth and love, of pride—one where she wouldn't let some heartless guy abuse her just because he saved her once.
Karin would grow up knowing her own worth. That was my promise to her.
And in turn, I would train her and get a powerful helper in the future.
"Eat while it is hot; it wouldn't do to let their hard work go to waste," I told Kanna, as she hadn't touched her own food even once.
"Oh—yes, of course." She hurriedly took a bite, cheeks warming. "Sorry, Kaguya-hime. I didn't mean to—"
"You meant nothing wrong," I assured her. "Your focus is simply elsewhere."
Kanna relaxed slightly, though her eyes still wandered toward Karin as if checking every few seconds to ensure she hadn't vanished.
The inn around us was warm and surprisingly well-kept. The walls were carved stone reinforced with wooden beams, and despite the country's poverty, the establishment was clean. Lanterns flickered gently from shaped clay housings mounted along the walls.
A few locals glanced at us occasionally, and who could blame them? All three of us dressed in clearly expensive clothing, and with our bright red hair, and my blindfold, we gathered a lot of attention.
But most of them were too tired from their days to really bother us too much. They looked, they whispered, but none could summon the courage to do more.
Outside, darkness had long since claimed the deep valleys and gorges, the mountains casting their shadows deep over this land.
Kanna finally dared to take another bite of her food. After a moment, she spoke softly:
"Kaguya-hime… what do you think we'll find here? In the Land of Valleys?"
Many things. Most of them are irritating.
"Nothing dangerous, but as we get near our target, we will likely run out of places to rest and eat," I said simply.
Kanna blinked. "So we will have to camp?"
"That we do, but fear not, there will be no dangers," I repeated, not wanting to worry her.
There was, after all, just something slightly scary about sleeping outside rather than inside a real building.
And despite everything, Kanna still had no real idea of just how powerful I was, nor how safe she would be beside me. So it was only natural that she would feel scared when faced with what she perceived as a dangerous situation.
"And… what about…" Kanna swallowed. "Your target?"
"With the intel we have, he stays in his base of operations, so we won't run into him before we are ready for him, so don't worry about him. It's more likely we will run into other bandits along the way, or bounty hunters." Despite my calm and casual tone, my words still ended up worrying her.
I started to understand why the Nara family often called women troublesome.
I set down my chopsticks. "As I said, don't worry about such things. You merely have to take care of Karin. Everything else, leave that to me."
Kanna nodded slowly, a mix of worry and trust flickering across her features.
…
Travel through the Land of Valleys only grew more rugged the deeper we ventured. Villages became sparse, then rare, then nothing more than distant smoke pillars swallowed by the twisting geography. The roads that began as stone-carved trade paths slowly gave way to narrow trails clinging to cliff faces, half-eaten by erosion.
It wasn't that there were no roads left, merely that they too became few and far between, and often we found ourselves off the large ones. Oftentimes, due to them being shortcuts that a small party could use, but too small and steep for merchants and their caravans.
Though sometimes it was just because I only knew the rough direction and got us somewhat lost.
I might be a goddess who had watched the world for a thousand years, but I hadn't bothered to remember every road and what they connected to.
By the afternoon on one such day, clouds gathered above us in the narrow slice of sky visible between the cliffs. A cold wind swept along the valley floor—sharp, thin, carrying the promise of rain.
Kanna shivered. "Kaguya-hime… is it really safe to keep going today? There's no village nearby…"
"No," I agreed, glancing upward. "We will stop here."
We stood within one of the deeper valleys—walls rising hundreds of meters on either side, the floor wide enough for a river that had long since dried, leaving behind smooth stone and scattered gravel. A few stubborn bushes clung to life near the walls, but otherwise, it was barren and quiet.
"A-are we really… camping?" Kanna asked, clutching Karin protectively.
I couldn't help but let out a soft breath—half amusement, half exasperation.
"Kanna," I said gently, "you have to remember: for the strong, for the noble, things are different."
She blinked. "…Oh."
I stepped forward and placed my palm against the valley floor.
The ground trembled.
Stone rippled outward like liquid, lifting and folding into itself. Walls rose from nothing—smooth, polished, perfectly aligned blocks. A foundation shaped itself beneath my feet, settling with a satisfying finality. Watching it was like seeing a master craftsman build a house in mere seconds.
Or close enough to a master craftsman. It had walls and a roof; there was only so much I could do with stone. Windows became rather pointless without glass or paper.
Still, it was a shelter, and it had plenty of room for us all.
Kanna froze, eyes round, mouth open.
Within less than a minute, a small stone house stood before us.
Far better than the simple things I normally did when we stopped to rest for a meal. This wasn't a rest stop; this was a real house.
"Kaguya-hime…" Kanna whispered from behind me, Karin clutching her shoulder as if equally stunned. "This is… this is… a house."
"A temporary shelter," I corrected. "Nothing special."
I walked inside as the doorway finished forming. There wasn't a lot of light inside, so I brushed a finger across the wall, causing it to morph, and small platforms formed. "Come on inside," I called as I pulled a scroll from my sleeve.
One by one, I started to unseal items. First, it was candles and lanterns. A flicker of fire chakra lit them and filled our little house with warm light.
I unsealed some firewood for the fireplace, and soon we didn't just have light, but also warmth.
A little bare-bones all around, but even I hadn't brought anything to decorate the walls with.
I did, however, have plenty of other things.
From a special sealing scroll, I unsealed two beds—finely carved wooden frames, soft mattresses, and silk bedding.
Even some screens to block them off for a bit of privacy.
Next, a table for eating: a high dining one rather than a low one.
Which meant I also needed chairs, and those too I had prepared.
Behind me, Kanna just stood there gaping as she suddenly found herself in what really looked like a house—one even better than what she had lived in back in Grass.
I even made a kitchen: a counter with another fireplace for boiling water and a basin I filled with some water using Water Release.
It wouldn't work for drinking water, but for boiling and washing dishes, it was fine.
I also placed some carpets and pillows down for Karin to crawl around, and formed some bone spikes in front of the fire to keep Karin from getting too close.
"Now this seems better, doesn't it?" I said as I took in the finished work.
"It feels a little too good… it's better than the inn we stayed at last night," Kanna said, looking almost ashamed as her eyes swept across the room.
"It is only natural," I replied. "We are not common travelers. Nobility should not suffer discomfort simply because the world is inconvenient."
Kanna's shoulders hunched slightly, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward in helpless amusement. "I… I suppose that makes sense."
Karin babbled happily from her place on the carpet, patting the soft fabric with both hands as if testing whether it was real. Her laughter bounced off the stone walls—warm, bright, and entirely unaware of how absurd this "campsite" truly was.
"Since you have Karin settled," I said, "why don't you prepare dinner? Water for tea, and rice. I believe the dry meats we purchased will suffice for tonight."
I knew Kanna always struggled with not feeling worthy of all this, always looking for a way to repay me, so I figured she could do a little tonight. Even a noble should be able to make tea and boil some rice, and honestly, Kanna could cook—she just rarely had a chance since we ate out all the time.
(End of chapter)
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