Read Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue for Free Online

years."
    The woman raised her hand and ran her fingers through his hair.
    "You are a kokki, a black kirin! This really is very rare."
    "Is that weird?" he asked.
    He was not looking at the woman who was standing in front of him, but at the half-woman, half-beast  beside him holding his hand. He didn't know why, but in his heart, he had already recognized this half- woman, half-beast as someone he could rely on.
    She once again shook her head silently.
    "Of course it's not weird. This is a very good thing!" said the woman standing in front of him.
    "Since you were born in another world, you were probably already given a name. However, here we  will call you Taiki."
    "Taiki? Why is that?"
    "Because this is the rule."
    "What is this place? I was just standing in the yard."
    He had already realized that what had happened to him wasn't ordinary, but he had not yet come upon  anything that would inspire fear or panic in him.
    "This is Mt. Hou. This is where you stay."
    "I...don't think I understand."
    "You will understand in the days to come. Oh, that's right. This is Sanshi, called Haku Sanshi, and her  particular responsibility is to take care of you."
    He lifted his head to look at the half-woman, half-beast at his side.
    "Sanshi..."
    Gyokuyou then looked to the side again.
    "This is Ren Taiho."
    A golden-haired woman was standing next to the white tree trunk. When he followed Gyokuyou's line  of sight, he was just able to see the white snake curled around the golden-haired woman's wrist turn into a  silver bracelet. That snake had had two tails, and he thought he saw the second tail turn into a silver ring, but  because he was so astonished, consequently he didn't dare decide if what he had seen was real or not.
    "You should thank her. In order to help Sanshi get you back, she specially lent us her very precious  treasure."
    He look up to see the golden-haired woman smiling and then glanced at Sanshi again. Sanshi nodded at  him, so he then obediently turned toward the golden-haired woman and bowed.
    "Thank you."
    The golden-haired woman just smiled. Gyokuyou, who had been watching the scene satisfyingly,  suddenly straightened up and turned to leave.
    "Ah! Gyokuyou..."
    "Taiki, you must call me Lady Gyokuyou."
    Taiki looked up at Sanshi.
    "You should call her Lady Gyokuyou."
    Taiki nodded. He didn't know why, but he didn't doubt anything Sanshi said. Even though Sanshi  called him Taiki, a name he had never heard before, he felt like he should always have been called by this  name, because it had come out of Sanshi's mouth.
    "Lady Gyokuyou... I feel like all of this is very unimaginable!"
    He didn't quite know how to express his feelings of uncertainty.
    Gyokuyou smiled as she looked at him.
    "You will get used to it very soon. Just ask Sanshi if there is anything you don't understand."
    Once again, he looked up at Sanshi. Sanshi gave him a smile--Sanshi didn't really have any expression
    on her face, but he thought he saw a small trace of a smile.
    "Yes."
    He tightened his hold on Sanshi's hand, and he felt Sanshi reply with an even stronger squeeze.
    "Sanshi, Sanshi! Let us get a good look at this child!"
    "Come here, Taiki. I'll help you change your clothes."
    "Don't change your clothes yet. Have a drink of water. Or did you want eat a peach?"
    "There are still plums and pears."
    After Gyokuyou and the woman wearing the bracelet left, the nyosen swarmed upon him, leaving Taiki  surrounded and not knowing what to do.
    Although the smiling faces of the nyosen let Taiki know that they were welcoming him, this situation  was still a little too unusual. He held onto Sanshi's hand tightly and leaned towards her. The nyosen saw this  and laughed.
    "Ah, he just wants to be with Sanshi!"
    "Sanshi, you can't have him all to yourself!"
    "Taiki, come over here."
    Finally Teiei could not watch this any longer.
    "Taiki won't know what do with all of you like this. Everyone calm down a little bit, and let Sanshi  take care