The evening sunlight began to fade, and when it shone on the mountain, it turned into a scarlet tone. We arrived at the highest point of the area, and enjoyed the amazing view of the surrounding scenery. The sun was setting and its soft light was covering all the areas; the sky looked as if it was painted in gradual tones of red and orange and the evening breeze gently caressed our skin. Embracing the warmth of this young woman, I felt as if I was in heaven.

“This’s so beautiful,” I said in a low voice, while taking her hand, and we stopped to admire such a natural piece of artistic painting in front of us.

“Yes, it really is,” Koharu said as she looked in the distance.

I took a deep breath and held her in my arms. We were so captivated by the beautiful scenery that we quietly stood still and cherished the moment. Love filled everything with happiness in an unexplainable way, and I wished I could stop time.

“It’s such a wonderful moment,” I told her, breaking that silence.

“I will keep this moment in my mind forever,” Koharu said.

“So will I,” I agreed with her.

We stood there till sunset.

“Let’s go,” she finally said with a tinge of regret.

“Alright.”

The sky was getting dark, but we could still see the path clearly. After a short walk, we arrived at a long row of houses next to a small stream with part of the terrace protruding above the water. Light shone through the windows of the house.

“Grandpa, we’re here!” Koharu called out with a high girl’s voice.

Immediately the door opened, and a man came out to welcome us. He was tall, muscular, and handsome. Judging from his appearance, he was probably as young as Koharu.

“Hello, Grandpa,” Koharu exclaimed, darting inside to hug the man.

“How are you two? Why did you arrive so late?” he asked.

“We had a very relaxing walk,” she replied.

“Tim, this is Kyran, my Grandpa,” Koharu introduced him.

“And this is Masada, my Grandma,” she pointed to a lady coming to join us.

“Hello,” I greeted them. When I looked at Masada closely, I thought she looked more like Koharu’s friend than her grandma.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Kyran greeted me back.

“Thank you, nice to meet you, too,” I replied.

“Hello everyone, please come in,” said Masada.

When I stepped into the house, I noticed that every wall was covered with knives and wooden sheaths. They were well organised on shelves with bases like those of the samurai swords. All the knives were about one foot long, and they filled the walls leaving no empty space. The shelves occupied the space from floor to ceiling, each shelf containing at least fifteen knives. When I went to take a closer look, I saw that the shapes of the knives and the designs of the wood were all different.

“Wow! This place is like an armory,” I said jokingly.

“It seems like it. After all, I am the bladesmith of this city,” said Kyran with a smile.

He led us to a big table in the middle of the room which was big enough to seat 10 people. We sat down, except Masada, who preferred to stand, and started talking.

“I’ve imagined Koharu’s grandparents to be much older than you actually are. Both of you look even younger than me,” I said, starting the conversation.

“It’s only our external appearance, in fact, we’re 400,000 years old,” explained Kyran.

“On the way to your house, it seemed that most people look more or less the same age. So how can we know who is old or young?” I asked.

“Yes, it may seem like that there is no physical difference between people at the ages of 16 or 700,000 years. Our body will always remain in the same condition, but after 700,000 years, we do look a little bit more mature. A small and only sign that shows that one has reached an advanced age is one’s eyebrows which would be longer than normal. Our appearance remains the same until the end of our life, and it won’t change,” explained Kyran.