Mm, he was right in the end. The Kuchinawa brought stability to the mountain, securing the future of all things living within it--including the villagers.

[It's the fate of all living things to eventually die. Most of them will not be remembered...even among humans, such memory lasted barely a generation or two before it was lost to time. It's natural, too, for humans to fear such an outcome; Mujika held the wisdom to see past that fear.

Or perhaps it was mostly guilt, that drove his actions. Ginko looks out into the field behind them, distant for a bare moment before he sets to answering that question--]

Guardians are typically chosen by nature, in order to watch over those places where life would, left unchecked, overwhelm and destroy itself. They're typically born with grass growing somewhere on their bodies. Mujika-san was different, though. He wasn't born a guardian, but rather become one out of necessity when the original guardian was killed.

[Saki had killed the guardian out of love, love for Mujika, and the old man had carried the guilt of it in his heart for years. Combined with the weight of watching over the mountain -- when Ginko thinks about it, it's incredible he didn't call for the Kuchinawa sooner.]

...Aa, I've been carrying on like this, and haven't even asked your name.