Hokuro

Hokuro (ホクロ) is a guardsman of the Bosse Kingdom and one of the few at court who is fluent in sign language. He is very loyal to Prince Bojji.

Appearance
Hokuro is a young man of average height with black eyes, thick eyebrows, and curly blond hair that he wears in a messy pompadour. He has a small mole on his left cheek.

While on duty Hokuro wears the Bosse Kingdom's standard guardsman uniform (a red & gold tabard over chain mail), and while traveling he wears a short-sleeved brown tunic, dark grey undershirt, light gray pants, and black boots.

Personality
Hokuro is a deeply loyal, responsible person, unwilling to shirk his duties even when they directly endanger his life. He also appears to be a very level-headed, reasonable person, which gives him unique insight into some of the bigger, more ostentatious personalities of the Bosse Kingdom.

Hokuro's beloved mother appears to have been deaf, making him one of the few guardsmen in the Bosse Kingdom who knows sign language. A chance encounter with Bojji while visiting his mother's grave seems to have given Hokuro a deep respect and admiration for the young prince.

Hokuro has a fundamentally different view of service to Swordmaster Dormas. While Dormas believed following a King meant accepting every order without question, Hokuro believes unjust orders cannot be followed. At the time Dormas said this was evidence of Hokuro's lack of resolve.

Plot
Selected to accompany Bojji on his journey to his grandparents' house, Hokuro served as the personal caretaker to the young prince. His duties were keeping Bojji fed and comfortable, while their other traveling companion, Dormas, acted as security. Unbeknownst to Hokuro, Dormas had received orders to kill Bojji from the newly-crowned King Daida, and attempted to do so at the entrance of the Underworld kingdom.

Hokuro was deeply distraught when he learned what Dormas had done, and immediately began fighting the swordmaster. A grieving Dormas allowed Hokuro to attack him several times without retaliating, and ultimately sacrificed his own dominant hand as penance for what he had done.

After this brief altercation Hokuro resolved to return to the Bosse Kingdom and report what had happened, knowing he too would be punished for failing to protect Bojji. Feeling some obligation to the young man, Dormas secretly followed, rescuing Hokuro from his own execution. During the chaos of their escape, the two encountered Bosse, newly reincarnated in the body of his son Daida. Bosse gave the two a secret mission: Destroy Miranjo's portal to the Underworld.

Since then Dormas has been training Hokuro in swordsmanship, attempting to prepare him for their mission. It was during this training that Hokuro realized Dormas is actually a terrible teacher, and that it was a minor miracle Bojji learned anything from him at all.

Sign Language
Hokuro is one of the few in the Bosse Kingdom who is fully fluent in sign language. Besides himself the other known speakers are Queen Hilling and Swordmaster Dormas. Hokuro learned this skill as a child in order to communicate with his deaf mother.

Adept Swordsman
Hokuro is a serviceable swordsman. Though nowhere near the level of masters like Dormas or Ouken, he has received studious training and has made significant improvements as a warrior.