Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue

their  shoulders. In addition, the ruler's conduct in government carries upon it the fate of the kirin.
    As soon as the ruler strays from the proper path, the kirin must bear the consequences. At that time, he  will suffer a sickness called Shitsudou. This is a serious illness that is not easy to cure. Thus, it could be said  that the ruler holds the life of the kirin in his hands.
    To entrust one's own fate to another person is naturally a very frightening prospect.
    "The real ruler won't climb the mountain this early..." It was very obvious that Taiki had said this for  his own ears. Thus, Sanshi didn't say anything.
    Taiki didn't have any shirei, nor could he transform, and he still only understood a small amount about  being a kirin. In this situation, it was normal to feel apprehensive. No one callously blamed him for it.
    "Kei Taiho, he..." Taiki looked from the southwest to Sanshi. "He said it, right? That the Heavens  would help me out?"
    Taiki looked up into the sky again, and even though his face carried the innocence of a child, it  revealed a resolve.
    "Yes."
    The wind on top of the rock blew by swiftly.

Afterword

    Hello, everybody.
    I don't know when it started, but there's been a Romance of the Three Kingdoms boom recently, and as  a result, Chinese-style fantasy stories are getting popular. It startled me because I was afraid that the readers  would immediately see through my superficial knowledge of China.
    This story is a sequel to the previous work that I did for White Heart, Shadow of the Moon, Sea of the  Shadow . They contain two separate stories, and this one happens at an earlier time than the other one, but it  is still basically a sequel.
    The following is something I want to say to the readers of the previous work.
    It seems like everything Taiki says goes through, but actually the people on Mt. Hou can't understand  him. That's right, it's just like in the last book where everything needed to be translated. Because the story  this time is more complicated (there are a ton of kanji that Taiki doesn't know), and also whether or not I  mentioned the translators wasn't important, so I didn't write out that portion. However, in my head, I have  established that all their words go through an interpreter, so fellow readers, please keep this in mind as well.  (To think that I had to ask the readers to accommodate me like this...) *pekori* [note: this is the sound of  ono-sensei bowing her head quickly]
    The previous book received a good response from readers, so it's because of you that there is a sequel.  Thank you very much! I hope that I can write yet another sequel. However...I need to get rid of this habit of  needing to separate books into two volumes... Tohoho.
    I hope everyone can continue on and read the next volume.

    Fuyumi Ono