by Nikita Thorn
The man did not seem to be aware that it had already been sold to an unknown buyer for a tremendous amount of money; a buyer who had gone to great lengths to conceal their identity. At least, that was the case if Fuyu was telling him the truth.
“Tell me whose key it is and what it unlocks, and I’ll tell you what I know,” Seiki said.
Renshiro seemed troubled. “What did Ichikeya do with it?”
Satoru sighed. “We’ll be here all week.” The ryoushi was still quietly working on his net, a task that he did not seem to be enjoying much.
Itsuki giggled. “Knowledge is power.”
Miya had decided she was no longer taking part in the negotiation, and she was now reading through her piece of parchment. “Oh, look at this,” she said. “The East City Rare Nuppeppo is confirmed to have a chance to drop Restoration Crystals, but only when Pacified.”
“That’s the gross, lump of flesh thingy, isn’t it?” asked Itsuki.
“It’s kinda harmless,” said Miya, shrugging.
Renshiro was not giving up. “So you’re saying that Ichikeya trusts you to deliver things for them at Level 10, just like that? Why? Mimura could have done it. Why not make the trade in the city?”
“I don’t know, all right?” said Seiki. “I just agreed to it and I just want to get this over with.”
“And obviously you don’t know anything.” Renshiro rolled his eyes.
“I—” Seiki stopped himself as he realized he was about to make a blunder. Somehow, they were better at this than he was.
Seiki grimaced. “I’m not going to say anything any—” He stopped himself again and turned to Itsuki. “Hey, can you stop doing that please?” Itsuki had started chopping small branches off the tree with his Hikari, perhaps to entertain herself.
Itsuki smiled. “Well, you can hand me that sheath so I can carry it properly.” She had been asking for it for the past ten minutes. Seeing as you could not pocket someone else’s claimed blade, Itsuki was forced to hold it in her hand.
Miya was still reading from her piece of paper. “The Society’s calling for anyone to report pearl drops from fishing in South City canals, since they hypothesize it no longer does.”
Seiki glared at the ninja girl, who giggled. She looked straight at him. “Or I can try to see if it can cut rocks.”
Miya drew a short breath. “Oh, this one’s interesting. The mysterious Silver Carp in the Yamashita Mansion Mission is real, and they now know it only appears during full moon. Credit goes to Naoko of the Honor Warriors for noticing. They’re asking anyone who gets that mission next week to save it and wait for a research team to go in with them. All mission expenses will be covered by the Society.”
“No kidding?” said Satoru. “Anything on Karasu Tengu locations?”
“Nope,” said Miya.
Itsuki had decided to prove that her threat was not an entirely empty one and began to hack away at a slightly larger branch with the Hikari.
Seiki leapt to his feet. “Hey, stop that!”
Renshiro was immediately on his feet as well, and Satoru simply sighed.
Itsuki looked at Seiki, her eyes sparkling. “Or I can pull your Sheathed Blade and try with that,”
“You’re a ninja. You can’t pull a sword,” said Seiki. He knew she was just trying to annoy him with nonsensical talk, but somehow it was working.
“Here, Ren-san. You wanna try?” She grabbed the Sheathed Blade and tossed it back to Renshiro, who seemed amused at Seiki’s expression.
Seiki took a deep breath to calm himself and sat back down.
“Guess I’ll keep this,” said Renshiro, as he slowly pocketed the Sheathed Blade.
Miya seemed to be having an entirely different conversation with Satoru. “Oh, and apparently the unlootable bottle of whatever only goes up to Level 20 potions.”
Seiki was about to say something to the ronin, when that caught his ear and he turned toward Miya. “What’s that?”
“The mysterious bottle of nothing that quite a few people got from the world event,” said Miya. “The one that turns into whatever liquid you need at the moment.”
“Any liquid?” asked Seiki. He wondered if such a thing as an invisibility potion existed, or high-level energy potions that would allow him to gallop forever.
Miya shrugged. “Any liquid you’ve used before, like potions, antidotes, elixirs, ninja’s poison.”
“Even tea and wine and things like that if you’re like, I need a gulp of that right now.” Itsuki laughed. “Apparently, it doesn’t do Level 25 aged yuzu wine then? Too bad, Ren-san.”
Renshiro chuckled.
Seiki thought about it. The most advanced potion he had ever used was the one that filled both health and energy, which would not be of much use right now.
“Well, I’ve got an idea,” said Miya. “Since we don’t want to be here till dawn and waste the rest of the weekend, why don’t we just ask Ichikeya nicely to give us the box?”
“Yeah, as if that’s going to work”, Satoru said. “And why would we want Ichikeya to know that we have their box right now?”
“I’m not afraid of Ichikeya,” Renshiro said. “What is Mimura going to do? Come all the way out here?” He laughed. “Imagine Mimura in the Wilderness. The man wouldn’t last an hour.”
The ronin took out a piece of post paper, which Seiki recognized were his. “Dear Fuyu-chan.” Renshiro started to write with the crude charcoal.
“I don’t like this,” said Satoru.
Renshiro continued, “We’ve got your delivery boy here but he’s proving very difficult, and we figured it’s not his call to unlock the box. If you want no harm to come to him, do tell him to give it to us nicely please.”
Satoru gnashed his teeth. “How many more people do you want coming after us?”
Renshiro ignored him. “Faithfully yours, your friendly outlaws.” He finished and rolled up the piece of paper, and a pigeon fluttered down beside him.
“Outlaw,” said Satoru, stressing on the singular. “Don’t include us. It’s all you.”
Renshiro grinned. “I was never on the Rangers’ kill list.”
Satoru glared at him.
“Ouch,” said the amused Itsuki from the tree.
The pigeon flew off, and Satoru seemed to hesitate for a split second whether to grab his bow and shoot it, before giving up with a sigh.
Seiki studied them. It made perfect sense that these people would be self-proclaimed outlaws. They did not belong to a clan and, judging from the Rangers’ opinion of them, outlaws seemed like the right word. Their clothes and armor, unlike the standard Shinshioka set that you could see everywhere in the capital, were mismatched drops from all over the place, save for Miya’s—which seemed to be matching pieces from a Water Palace set, with rather impressive defensive stats.
Perhaps Yasuki had been right in wondering what the houshi was doing with the rest of them.
Without having to wait for long, they soon saw a pigeon flying back. Even Renshiro could not hide his surprise as he grabbed it.
“Fuyu can be reasonable,” said Miya, without looking up from her reading, which Seiki could guess now was the Shinshioka Scientific Society’s newsletter that you could subscribe to, for three gold a month.
Unfolding the message to read, Renshiro muttered under his breath, “Since when has Ichikeya started caring about human life?” He then crumpled the message into a ball and tossed it to Seiki.
Fuyu of Ichikeya [Level 15]: (48 seconds ago) Please tell Seiki to unlock the box for you and come back to Shinshioka. Do not hurt him!
“What? Ichikeya said okay?” asked Satoru in surprise. “That’s unlike Fuyu.”
Itsuki winked. “Maybe she’s got a soft spot for our Seiki here.”
Renshiro was grinning. “Okay, kid. Your boss has spoken. Unlock the box for us and go back to the city.”
Seiki looked at him. “No.”
“You heard her,�
�� Renshiro said. “Look, these things can’t be forged. Fuyu gave you the go-ahead.”
This was not right. “No,” said Seiki again. “I told her I was going to do it, so I’m going to finish this thing.”
The ronin thought for a moment, before saying, “I see.” He grabbed another piece of paper and started to write again. “Dear Fuyu-chan. Your boy still refuses. Can you reassure him he can still keep the enhance scroll and sheathed blade?”
“It’s not that!” said Seiki, springing to his feet and darting toward the ronin.
Renshiro laughed as he leapt away and sent off the pigeon before Seiki could grab the post paper out of his hand.
“Children,” said Miya under her breath.
The message came back in a minute, which Renshiro took a glance at and tossed it to Seiki again. “See?”
Fuyu of Ichikeya [Level 15]: (31 seconds ago) Tell Seiki the scroll was a gift.
Another pigeon came fluttering down beside Seiki, and he realized it was his.
Fuyu of Ichikeya [Level 15]: (8 seconds ago) Seiki-san, please let these people have what they want and come back to the city.
Seiki looked up at the eager eyes around him. He clenched his fists. “No,” he said. If they wanted it, they were going to have to force him.
Renshiro now seemed at a loss as to how to proceed. “Hey, come on,” he said.
Satoru chuckled. “Ronin are stubborn.”
“Okay, I’ve got a solution for you,” said Miya, matter-of-factly. “Since eventually someone’s gotta give in, we should just settle it on the road. Seiki’s going to Kano Castle, and we’re heading toward Lake Kobara, so everyone’s heading east.”
Seiki looked at her in disbelief at what she was suggesting. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Why are we going to Lake Kobara again?” asked Itsuki. “I thought we were going for the caves.”
“Yeah,” said Satoru. “That’s why I’m straining my eyes on this thing right now. Thought we were going for the Onikuma?”
“We’re doing Lake Kobara first,” said Renshiro. “To try to get Miya her fan thing.”
Itsuki wrinkled her nose. “I vote caves.”
“Me too,” said Satoru.
“Seiki?” said Miya, and it took Seiki a second to figure out what she was asking.
“Remember, I’m not even here out of my own volition,” he said, incredulous at how casually she was giving him group member status.
“We have four people, so you have to cast the deciding vote,” Miya said.
Seiki had no idea how this was even a good method, since: there was no way he would agree to this, not to mention the fact he had absolutely no clue about the places they were referring to. “Lake,” he finally said.
“Caves,” answered a grim voice.
It sounded like a very shrill old man, but whose humanity—judging from the odd hiss in his voice—was perhaps debatable.
A silence immediately fell, and the outlaws exchanged glances over the fire. Even when Seiki was not sure what to make of it, he was quite certain that an unknown voice in the Wilderness was seldom good news.
He took a peek at his Hikari in Itsuki’s hand again, and toward the road. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, as it would give him a chance to flee.
Something rustled in a bush nearby, and an old man’s face appeared, surrounded by a mop of white and messy hair that seemed to have never been washed.
“Caves,” the old man said again. “Caves are dark.” His wrinkled face cracked in a smile. “People get lost in the dark.” He was now labeled Mountain Chimi [Level Unknown]. The grinning mouth revealed two long fangs, and a thin tongue licked his lips. “They’re delicious!”
Mountain Chimi [Level Unknown] leapt out from the bush beside Miya, who let out a surprised gasp. At first, it seemed as if it was a disembodied head. But then, Seiki saw that it was attached to a body, very much like a puma’s, but perhaps twice as big, with a gleaming black coat.
Seiki could soon feel his skin warming up, as Miya put a Ward on him, perhaps just in case the thing decided to attack him.
Satoru was quick with traps, and one of them landed perfectly on the beast as Miya fled out of range. “Naughty ryoushi,” it said, snarling as it waited patiently for the four seconds to expire.
Mountain Chimi [Level 27 Rare]. HP 12810/12810.
Renshiro cursed. “It tapped Miya.”
Now, in face of real danger, Renshiro was no longer shy to use his specials. With a sliding Focused Strike, he attacked the creature on its trapped hind leg. “Keep up the Traps,” he shouted to the ryoushi.
Satoru had landed another Trap on its other leg, before refreshing the first one that was already expiring. A poison arrow flew and hit it on the side, as well as a Hinder from Miya.
“What’s this thing?” said Itsuki.
“Evil mountain spirit that eats wayward travelers,” said Miya.
Itsuki shrieked. “But we’re not wayward. We’re basically on the freakin’ East Road!”
Mountain Chimi [Level 27 Rare]. HP 11397/12810. Energy 6877/7050. Poisoned.
The fact that it had taken on 4 levels above their highest group member, Miya, at level 23, was bad, since everyone else was much lower. Seiki had no idea how these people were planning to fight the beast. Their coordinated effort was hardly doing a dent in its health, and everyone was already low on energy.
Faster than the wind, the Chimi swept around its tail like a lash, forcing Renshiro to Parry, and dropping his energy down to zero. The ronin cursed and leapt back as the beast quickly spun around with its claw. Renshiro Parried again in self-defense with his dagger, which flew out of his hand now that he had no energy left.
Without his Hikari, Seiki could only stare in a strange kind of fascination, as it was usually him desperately trying to fight content that was way too high for him. He had never actually witnessed someone else try to do it before.
“Pesky little blades,” said the Chimi, sounding unimpressed.
Two arrows shot toward the beast, one of which it managed to knock away with its paw.
“Save your energy for Traps,” said Renshiro.
“You think so?” asked the Chimi with a cackle, when it burst forward through the Traps, sending the metal jaws flying off into the sides.
“It has an Escape,” Satoru said.
Miya was suddenly up in a nearby tree, climbing on her feet, and Itsuki had scaled higher up on her tree. Renshiro rushed in with his sword, which he had now recovered, and, even with very little energy to spare, he hit it on the flank with Upslash. Rapid Shots flew, with three arrows piercing the beast’s side in quick succession.
Seiki did not remember seeing Renshiro taking any damage, but the man’s health was now at half, as he pierced his sword through the beast’s right foot, causing it to hiss in anger. The ronin, with both hands holding down his sword through the foot, kept to the Chimi’s right side at a safe distance away from its free left claw, while shurikens and more arrows from Itsuki and Satoru rained down on the beast. He was in fact attempting to tank it without directly facing it.
Once again, the Chimi burst through with its Escape, and the force threw Renshiro backward. Its left paw swept at Renshiro, and the ronin slid out of the way in time to avoid the direct impact. Yet, even with the houshi’s Ward on him, it left long claw marks across his chest that cut through his armor, and the man collapsed, saved from the brink of death by Miya’s timely Heal.
Satoru, standing about fifteen feet away, was letting loose rapid normal arrows at the beast, and the Chimi turned toward him.
Mountain Chimi [Level 27 Rare]. HP 8389/12810. Energy 5142/7050. Poisoned.
“I haven’t eaten a ryoushi in a while,” said the beast.
The ryoushi tossed out another Trap and scrambled toward a nearby tree, while the beast exploded through the metal jaws again. If Renshiro had barely survived a grazing swipe, there was no way Satoru—bein
g a ryoushi and two levels lower—could take anything from the beast.
With the Chimi on the loose, this was really impossible, and Seiki whistled to his Fubuki. Without his sword, he did not know what he was going to do, but at least this would give him a bit of speed should the thing decide to come after him.
“Hey, Seiki, kite it over here,” Itsuki said from her tree.
Seiki could run, or he could try to die. And again, he figured that he could do both at the same time.
“This way!” Seiki shouted. At the sound of his voice, the Chimi turned toward him, and Seiki leapt onto his horse and galloped toward Itsuki’s tree.
He could hear the monster’s soft paws on the ground closing in, and then a moment of silence as it leapt off the ground for a pounce. Seiki dismissed Fubuki and dashed into a curved Slide, putting the thick trunk of the tree between him and the pursuing Chimi. The beast twisted its body, as it changed its trajectory to chase him around the tree. Suddenly, Itsuki leapt down on its back and plunged her Assassin’s Stab deep into its spine.
The Chimi roared, flipped around, and with that Itsuki sacrificed the rest of her energy in successive Shadow Strikes—disappearing rapidly in puffs of smoke and reappearing behind it, until she was out of energy and the claw finally caught her.
One swipe from its claw, and she was dead.
Mountain Chimi [Level 27 Rare]. HP 5686/12810. Energy 4387/7050. Poisoned.
Renshiro, his health filled by Miya, had charged again, and the beast turned toward him. But even with Ward, no one was nearly high enough to be able to tank the monster. He managed to plunge his sword into its chest with a sliding Focused Strike, while his other hand drew his dagger that left a slash on the Chimi’s neck, spilling dark blood all over his hand. Then, the Chimi spun around.
Perhaps it was a version of an area ability, but the monster’s claws slashed him across the chest, and he was soon dead, too.
“Shame,” said the Chimi, flipping over Renshiro’s dead body with its paw. “I prefer them when they’re still alive.” It then looked up and set its eyes on Miya, who was halfway up a nearby tree.
“Houshi,” said the beast in delight.