XXX years ago.

A young woman with shoulder length light blue hair was sitting inside of an abandoned bear cave, accompanied by a seven year old child.

She was in her late twenties. She wore a kimono with wave pattern and had a single sword strapped to her belt. Overall, it was obvious she was a warrior.

Her companion was a silent child she found among the corpses of a destroyed village.

From what she could tell, the entire clan that populated this area had been massacred; she only managed to find a single survivor who was cradling one of the corpses.

It was this boy.

His hair was naturally grey colored and his eyes were rather strange, having black sclera instead of white.

But he was still a child, a child who had lost everything.

Leaving him like this would only lead to his untimely demise.

Which was why she decided to take him under her wing.

They have been together for a few days now, but the child barely spoke.

From what little he did whisper, she found out that he was a member of now extinct Ryoma clan, possibly the last living member.

As for his own name, he apparently had none.

‘What kind of parent doesn’t even give a name to their child?’

She could only wonder.

Since it was a hassle to keep calling him ‘You’ or ‘Kiddo’ all the time, she decided to play a game with him with the intent of giving him a proper name.

She pulled out her set of Shogi pieces and wrote a single name on the back of each one.

Afterwards, she turned each one of the pieces face down.

Then, she would randomly pick a piece and pronounce the name on it.

Observing his reaction, she would determine a name he would like the best.

“Momoku!”

The child’s expression seemed to say ‘You are kidding, right?’

“Santoru!”

Child: ‘No way’, his eyes were looking more and more sullen.

“Renga!”

Child: ‘Not thanks’

“Merakus!”

Child: ‘Does she have a thing for weird names?’

“Pouponko!”

Child: ‘I give up…’

His gaze drifted downwards in depression.

He sulked a little but then he found his hand touching one of the pieces.

“Go ahead” she told him it was ok to flip the piece over.

Naturally, he could not read it.

“Shoyo” After she read the name out loud, she saw a satisfied expression on his face.

Unlike the other times, his reaction to this name was rather adorable.

“I see, you like that name, don’t you? Then henceforth, your name shall be Shoyo Ryoma!”

* * *

Present.

Watching the Master Hiromasa and Nagare arguing, Shoyo lightly chuckled.

Master Hiromasa chose to close down their branch of Protectors, for good.

Hiromasa: “A branch cannot keep existing with just one member. Get this through your thick skull, will you, idiot student!”

Nagare: “Then what are you going to do, you stubborn geezer!”

Hiromasa: “Even without being a head of a branch, I am still a Protector and a cultivator. I will find and train other students in the art of slaying demons”

Nagare: “At your age? Do really think you still have what it takes?!”

Hiromasa: “What did you say, you brat!?”

Shoyo: ‘Wow, these two sure get along nicely’

Despite their harsh words, it was obvious both of them cared deeply for one another. Hiromasa wanted Nagare to have a better future while Nagare wanted to aid his master.

Shoyo: ‘Unfortunately, both of them are tsundere’

Eventually, after a long tirade, Nagare was given a letter of recommendation and a map to their new base, the Golden Dragon Branch.

Shoyo: ‘I have lived for so long that I have all but forgot how to care about anything…but maybe if I stick with him, I might gain some meaning for this existence of mine….’