Bushido Online: Friends and Foes: A LitRPG Saga

by Nikita Thorn

  “Which is ridiculous,” Seiki said. The leaders of the Shinshioka Nobles were not even that high yet. “Interesting place, isn’t it? The Wilderness,” he said to Fubuki.

  Just as the Rangers had told him, the East Main Road was not too far ahead, and it was a wide dirt-packed road raised about a foot from the forest floor. Seiki breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled up onto it.

  Welcome to the East Main Road. Wilderness combat rules apply. PVP status: enabled.

  The road was as large as Trade Street but, to Seiki’s surprise, it appeared rather empty. Ahead, he could see the back of a horse carriage going further away, leaving a faint trail of dust in its wake. And behind him, in the distance, he could discern a ninja girl in purple running across the road as if chasing after something.

  From the sound of it, he had imagined it to be full of travelers and patrolled by Rangers. But since Rangers turned out to be an unofficial player-led organization, it seemed that this was going to be a rather lonely journey after all.

  He was trying to decide on a direction to take, when a dark cloud passed over the sun. Almost immediately, Seiki recognized that the light had not actually changed.

  You are now slightly Fatigued. 239 minutes to Moderate Fatigue.

  It felt like a mild drop in health, but apart from that everything felt normal. Should he get worried?

  “Guess we’ll need to ask a Ranger station,” he said to Fubuki. “If we can find one.” Supposedly, there would be regular ones along the road, and hopefully they would be able to give him basic survival advice.

  Judging from the sun in the sky, Seiki looked eastward and spotted a clearing not too far away. The road seemed to slope up a gentle hill, on the top of which was another patch of trees, where a giant red pine could be seen towering up in a shape that seemed very climbable. Seiki reasoned his best bet would be to get a view from above to orient himself and, perhaps, see what the journey ahead would look like.

  After breaking into a short gallop, he soon noticed that with Slight Fatigue, energy recharged at a rather sluggish pace. He wished Fuyu had bothered to explain this to him and not make it sound like it was a breezy ride down a country road.

  The red pine turned out to be much taller than he had predicted, and he stopped to appreciate its shade for a few moments before starting the ascent. Level 18 Woodcutting only took him up halfway its height before the footholds in the barks became too brittle for him to continue. However, even from the middle, and helped by the tree’s perfect location right at the top of a hill, the view was still rather impressive.

  Around him, the Wilderness stretched out in every direction in a patchwork of grassland, rice fields with tiny villages, as well as clusters of trees of varying density and hue. The sun was high now, and the sky bright blue. As Seiki squinted into the west, he could make out Shinshioka, which seemed now like a tiny toy house, and somehow that sight comforted him. Toward the east was endless Wilderness, and tried as he did, Seiki could not make out Mannaka Village or anything that could have been his supposed destination.

  Rubbing his chin, he wondered if he might have miscalculated the distance.

  “Well, maybe that’s why she gave me seven days,” he said. Now that he was alone again, the dilemma was creeping back, and Seiki was not sure if he wanted company or solitude. One thing he could quickly decide on, however, was that since the Wilderness was full of unknown dangers, from now on he would only log out from treetops. He dismissed Fubuki who was standing below, so she would not have to stand there waiting for him.

  …

  What he came back to was a slightly different scene: the afternoon sun, midway down the western sky, was hiding the capital city behind its direct blaze. Right then, the thought of the approaching sunset—which had not crossed his mind before now—horrified him. The Wilderness would be pitch black, and Seiki quickly decided he could not wait to go back to the lively ever-lit streets of Shinshioka.

  He whistled to Fubuki and was preparing to make his way down the tree, when a female voice cried from below, “Hey, you up there! See any pine forests around?” She paused. “Like, not scattered trees, but a whole patch.”

  Seiki peered down and saw a girl in a peach-colored kimono sitting beside a small fire by the tree trunk, next to her a creamy brown horse was grazing peacefully. Momoe of the Kensoku Guards [Level 14] shouted again, “Should be a darker green”, before turning to look at the approaching Fubuki. “Oh, nice stepper.”

  Seiki searched for the alleged patch of dark green, not entirely sure what she meant, and he reported what he saw, which did not seem like what she was looking for.

  “Never mind,” said Momoe, sounding disappointed. “Thanks anyway.”

  Momoe invites you to a group.

  At Seiki’s hesitation, she said, “You wanna use this fire or what?”

  You are now in a group with Momoe [Level 14].

  Seiki dropped down to the ground from the lowest branch, not entirely sure how it worked. Immediately, he could feel the gentle warmth of the fire on his skin, like a very subtle and constant version of Heal.

  You are now within range of a fire. Stay within range for another 9 minutes to lessen the effect of Fatigue.

  “Sorry, very stupid question: do you need to be in a group to, uh, share a fire?” asked Seiki.

  Momoe did not seem to hear him as she was concentrating on something else. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Slide?” she asked, as she looked at him. “Ronin? Definitely not a lot of you guys around.”

  That was when Seiki figured that she had been checking out his abilities, and was perhaps surprised to find Slide instead of the expected samurai Brace.

  “What are you doing here at Level 10?” Momoe asked.

  “I’m trying to get to Mannaka Village.”

  Momoe laughed. “Long way. Another few hours.”

  With the capital that far away, Seiki had thought he must have been at least halfway there. “I thought it was only an hour from Shinshioka.” Maybe the Onihitokuchi instance had put him in a different location?

  “If you have a mythical-quality horse, with max-level Riding and are at around Level 20, then, yes, it would be slightly less than an hour,” Momoe said. “With my Kurumi here, it still takes an hour and a half.” She gazed fondly at the horse, and Seiki could see that it had its mane and tail braided with strips of colorful cloth. Now that she had named it, he could not read what the original label was, but it was taller than his slender Fubuki and appeared very muscular.

  “For you on that horse, maybe two or three hours, I think,” said Momoe. “Steppers tend to give good mileage, not speed.”

  Seiki again could not help wondering how many more things Fuyu had failed to clue him in about.

  “Oh, houshi, by the way,” Momoe said. Seeing his confusion, she chuckled. “Not going to check? We’re not as harmless as we seem, and our Reprimand could be real scary.”

  Seiki looked at her a bit blankly.

  “Ah, new around here?” said Momoe, seemingly amused. “It’s a precaution,” she explained.

  Since the Wilderness was a PVP hot zone, it was etiquette to hail each other from afar, group, and check each other’s abilities for the Backstab modification, before approaching. There was a five-second period before people could will an attack on each other after ungrouping, which would mean no one would be caught off-guard should the other party turn out to be hostile.

  “Not that I’ve actually ever met anyone with Backstab.” Momoe shrugged. “But I guess it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”

  So, you did not really need to be in a group to benefit from a fire, but it seemed to be etiquette to show the lack of ill intentions by initiating and accepting group invitations.

  “Doesn’t protect you from pickpockets, and you’d better not try that, because I’ve just been to Shinshioka and I’ve got charms,” she warned him.

  Seiki could not help wondering in amusement if the charms were
made by Kentaro or if he had sold them to her himself. Kentaro always made sure his friends carried two triple-charge charms at all time, so Seiki thought he was at least well-prepared for this bit.

  It was apparently also etiquette to share food if you had any, and to disperse dead bodies without looting. There was no penalty for looting, and generally people could get away with it a few times, but if you accumulated complaints, the Rangers might come after you to give you a warning. Ignore that, and they killed you on sight the next time they saw you.

  “It’s a completely different game out here, isn’t it?” Seiki said. Rules seemed to be entirely made by players themselves.

  “Yeah, that’s why it’s not for everyone. You’re very brave to come here at Level 10,” she said. “These parts are a bit too high for me even at Level 14 and the beasts are a real pain to Pacify.” She shrugged casually. “But you gotta take risks if you want the rewards.”

  Momoe smiled as she showed him an item from her pouch, a mushroom marked Supreme-Quality Matsutake. Ingredient.

  “This baby’s worth fifteen to twenty gold,” she said. “It’s used in high-level Medicine and Cooking, you know. So, if you’re willing to deal with idiots and robbers and all sorts of weird people, the Wilderness can be rather… lucrative. Lots of Rares as well, if you’re lucky to come across them.”

  She pointed toward the main road, which was empty at the moment except for a girl in purple riding past on a gray horse. “Rumor has it that, once in a while, on the main road, there will be a rare marked Wealthy Merchants’ Carriage, and if you manage to catch up with it, you can rob it.” She laughed. “Gives you a decent amount of gold. It’s unconfirmed whether it’s true or not, and there’s no official report from the Society yet whether it exists. Rangers claim to see it all the time, though.”

  “I thought there would be more people out,” said Seiki. If the Wilderness was indeed as lucrative as she had said, he wondered why no one took advantage of it.

  “Well, not everyone takes the road,” said Momoe. “Clans sometimes do Rare hunts, but there’s no guarantee you’re going to find any.” She rubbed her hands over the fire. “And rares take on at least four levels above you, to give them the possibility of one-shotting. So, most of the time, by the time you spot them, half your group members will already be dead. Then, it’s hopeless at that point and, after the rare is done with you, someone else comes along and loots all your potions and stuff. Or if you have a rare-summoning scroll, and your territory has a training ground and you don’t mind the possibility of the rare thrashing your buildings a bit, it’s much safer to do it in your territory. So, yeah, not a lot of people are out.”

  “I see,” said Seiki. “Do you sometimes get an event kind of thing? Like, with a storyline?” He was thinking about the Onihitokuchi village.

  “Not that I’ve heard of. There are wandering NPCs who give you quests and stuff, if that’s what you mean.”

  It had not been a quest, Seiki was sure of it. Maybe a glitch then, because he was not of the appropriate level?

  “Well, most of my clan mates just do a clan carriage straight to the cities from our territory and avoid the Wilderness altogether.” Momoe shrugged. “Which is a good thing, by the way. Keeps down the competition, you know. Anyway, I need to keep looking for pine patches for mushrooms before it gets dark, since more nasty things come out after dark. The fire should burn for a while, so just use it.”

  She hopped on her creamy brown horse, before remembering something else. “Oh, and our temple is not far ahead. Take a right down this small lane and it will lead you to us. We lodge travelers for a very reasonable fee and we offer reliable storage services in case you’re out here a while and want a temporary box. Ten gold a day. Saves you from having to make stupid decisions to throw stuff like your tinderbox away just to make room to carry more loot.”

  With that, she rode off, leaving Seiki to ponder how convenient it would be to have access to a storage box right now and chuckle at how he was not even close to being able to afford it. If a single mushroom was worth twenty gold, though, he could see why you would be happy to pay.

  As he waited for the fire benefit to kick in, Seiki sat and observed the road, counting only two riders and one carriage. He knew he needed ten minutes, and he glanced again at the sun that was starting to sink and was now casting slanted rays through the trees. Beside him, Fubuki was tasting the grass by the red pine’s massive trunk. A bird passed high above, giving a shrill cry. Seiki once again thought the Wilderness was indeed a lonely place, and he was glad when the notification finally flashed.

  Energized by the fire, you are now no longer Fatigued! 212 minutes to Moderate Fatigue.

  All of a sudden, the world seemed a tiny bit brighter, and that felt strangely pleasant—like the time Sumiko had given him her healing tonic to drink on his very first day.

  “Shouldn’t that be whatever minutes to Slight Fatigue and not Moderate Fatigue?” Seiki said aloud, leaping to his feet.

  The Wilderness was trickier than he thought, and Seiki decided he had better have this Fatigue thing figured out before he got himself into unexpected trouble. At least, there would be Ranger stations along the way, and he would hopefully be able to ask them to explain.

  Deciding to make the most out of the daylight, he started making his way down the East Main Road, which offered a rather enjoyable ride if you were in the mood for it.

  Despite how it seemed at first glance, it soon became evident that there was an abundance of life in the Wilderness if you knew where to look. Working diligently in the rice fields were level-less farmers, who occasionally glanced up at passing travelers as they stretched their weary backs. Villages appeared to be located slightly further away from the main roads, and flew flags of different colors that Seiki guessed were to indicate which clan they belonged to. The two he spotted were green and brown, with a white character in the middle that was too far away to make out. Lurking behind the trees were the occasional Tanuki [Level 15] and Black Bear [Level 16], which kept away from the road enough not to be a threat to travelers.

  The few riders that he encountered were speeding through the journey as quickly as possible, and only a few bothered to give a nod or a smile as they passed. Seiki noticed one Hiroaki of the Wilderness Wanderers [Level 19] guzzling an energy potion just so he could keep up galloping. Seiki tried to peek into carriages, but they had blinds drawn and they burst by at a very high speed, making him wonder how anyone would ever be able to catch up with a Wealthy Merchant’s Carriage, if it really existed.

  The road was rather straight for most parts, and the tree shadows slowly grew longer as the sun sank behind him. Seiki started to contemplate finding a climbable tree before coming back at the in-game daybreak.

  He was riding through a cluster of rather dense pine trees—the kind which the mushroom hunter, Momoe, must have been looking for—when a small explosion sounded from somewhere to the right, scaring a flock of birds into the sky.

  “Signal flare,” Seiki said, pulling Fubuki to a stop. The trees were hiding it from view, but he was pretty sure that was it. He paused, wondering if this would mean Rangers would soon be coming this way.

  From the middle of the thicket on the left, a female voice cried out. “Help!”

  Even before Seiki could turn to look, the bushes on the opposite side of the road rustled, as Renshiro [Level 19], a sturdily-built and rather rugged man in faded blue and dark gray, burst out of nowhere. He was running at top speed, his unsheathed broad sword in his hand.

  An arrow whisked past the man and, in the face of random danger, Seiki leapt off and dismissed Fubuki. It was a bit too late, and a second arrow hit the poor horse on the side and she fled in terror. Seiki’s skin felt strangely cool just as a third arrow grazed him on his shoulder, instantly taking a fifth of his health.

  Renshiro was in front of him, peering into the thicket. “Are you hurt, lady?” the man shouted to the woman, who had col
lapsed on the ground, leaving only her purple sleeves hidden from view. Her gray horse was running away into the forest.

  Another arrow flew, which the man blocked with his sword. Renshiro turned to Seiki. “Take cover. There’s a loose shooter. I fired the signal, so the Rangers should be here soon.”

  Seiki was about to follow the man into the forest beside the road, when something tugged at his mind and he stopped short. He had seen that purple before, and that horse.

  Renshiro’s expression changed as he saw Seiki hesitate. “What’s wrong?”

  Seiki studied him. “I don’t fall for these things anymore,” he said, slowly.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Seiki remembered now. “That woman has been following me since I hit the main road.” He paused as he tried to decipher what this could mean. “Three arrows, but they were too far apart to be Rapid Shots. And ryoushi don’t miss with their singles, unless they intend to.”

  Then, there was this man Renshiro, who was just pushing to get him off the main road, which was something the Rangers had specifically told him not to do.

  “If this is a robbery, just give it to me straight,” Seiki said. “I know I can’t fight four of you, but I won’t make it easy.”

  Renshiro raised an eyebrow in interest. “Four?”

  “There’s a houshi,” said Seiki. “That was a Soothe, so I wouldn’t die from the arrow.” It would have been much easier to kill him and loot, but they wanted him alive, most likely because they were after something specific.

  Seiki could see now that in Renshiro’s hand was the thin, wide and almost transparent broad sword Tamakiri. +95 attack. -19 defense. Effect: 5% chance on each attack to stun the target for 1 second. It did not take extra explanation for him to know this was not a common named blade, which meant that these people were unlikely common robbers.