噂 (The Rumor)

The rumor about the man who had seen a monster spread far and wide across the land.
From village to village and on to the next. In time, it made it's way to the Lord of the castle, and the man was summoned there by the Lord himself.

And a hurried and flustered man he was.
It couldn't have possibly been a mere tale fabricated out of annoyance with being sent to a neighboring village for an errand

“Is it you who spoke of witnessing a monster?”
“Y...yes, m'lord!”

In the back of the town mayor's home, which appeared to be the size of a small stable , a man berobed in a grand kimono sat in the place of honor. He was glaring down intensely at the grimy man before him. “Come now, speak true. Of what shape did this beast present itself?”

Of course, there was no way to possibly put it into words.
“It was umm.... well, you see it was.... that is to say, m'lord....”
“And what of the amount of legs? Eyes? Mouths? Perchance the beast had three or four heads?!”

“Well, I....! As for the legs, it appeared to have two, I suppose... eyes, two.... nose and mouth one each, as well as a single head and.....”

“Baaaah! Speak clearly! What part of what you saw was beast-like!? Surely you mustn't have truly witnessed it eating a person?!”

Being peppered with questions in such a severe manner, the man's mind suddenly met it's limit.

“For.... Forgiveness, m'lord!!”
“What- What did you say?!”

“I ain't... I mean, I did not witness any such monster!!! I was simply upset at being sent far away on errand, so I uttered falsities. I had not the slightest of intentions of deceiving you, m'lord. I ask for your.... I humbly beg for your forgiveness!”

After a short moment of stunned silence, the Lord erupted in merry laughter, as if transformed into a different person altogether.

“Hahaha! Very well then, I grant it to you. Truth be told, I never believed any of this talk of beasts and the like. It was just such an amusing rumor that I simply thought I would make jest about what it could possibly be like.”

HA! HA! HA!
The man remained prostate, his head pressed firmly against the tatami in gratitude as the Lord continued his raucous laughter.

“It is forgiven. You are quite the honest man. You may return to your village and speak the truth, so that you may set the villager's minds at ease.”

After the man was escorted out of the room with the Lords attendants, the man berobed in a grand kimono whispered to himself in the slightest of voices.

“....quite the perceptive man.”

Dusk. Two men in kimonos with katanas fastened to their sides chat idly in the passageways beneath the castle.

“But still though 'eh? Quite the story, that one! That there could still be a bloke who'd say he's laid eyes on a monster.”
“Aye, I was shocked the same. I thought the last of them in this country had been replaced long ago.”
“To think there were some leftovers still mixed in.... it's almost laughable.”
“Indeed. I nearly lost my very feet beneath me when I first heard of it.”

When I first heard of the rumor that he wasn't a monster.