Bushido Online: Friends and Foes: A LitRPG Saga

by Nikita Thorn

  Acting fast, Seiki dashed out of the spirit shrine, slid past Kojiro, hit the horse with the wooden sword, and ran. He had done this before, and the ryoushi would be able to catch up on his horse very quickly before he could make it much further than the tree line. But Seiki was not trying to run away. He had calculated the old peddler’s path through the forest, and he scurried in that direction, hoping he was right.

  Behind him, he could hear Kojiro curse. Mitsuhiro had called his horse again and was soon galloping after him. Seiki spent the rest of his energy on his second Slide, and eventually spotted the old man beside one of the trees.

  Seiki had finally figured this whole thing out. It was now clear to the bottom of his soul that he could not do this, not alone. And more importantly, that he did not want to do this alone anymore.

  His Slide ended a few paces short and Seiki rushed up to old man. “Post paper,” he said, panting heavily as he thrust his Jade Steel Dagger into the man’s hand.

  The old peddler blinked. They would normally negotiate, but perhaps this was too good of a deal. In half a second, the man had spread out his magical sack and handed a piece of brown paper to Seiki. From behind, the ryoushi let loose an arrow, and Seiki threw himself flat on the ground.

  Further behind, Kojiro was yelling, “Leave him to me!”

  The old peddler crouched down, looking at Seiki with interest.

  “Charcoal?” said Seiki.

  The peddler blinked again. “Ten gold,” he said with a smile.

  Seiki stared at the man. They sensed your desperation, Seiki remembered now in horror. “Come on,” he said. “Please, that dagger is worth—”

  There was no time. He jumped behind the tree as another arrow flew. That was when Seiki remembered something else.

  There was a good reason why objects with descriptions stating that they were to be used in a time of need could not be looted or Pickpocketed. The Bottle of Something from the world quest was one of these, and it promised any liquid. Any liquid Seiki had used before.

  “Ink,” he gasped, as he pulled out the small ceramic bottle and flicked off the cap. Dipping his finger into the precious black liquid, he hastily wrote down an almost incomprehensible message, rolled it up and clapped it onto a pigeon that had magically appeared beside him.

  He then leaned back against the tree as he watched the bird fly off. Still breathing heavily, he discarded the empty ink bottle behind his back, feeling it burst into a puff of gentle smoke.

  Kojiro appeared in front of him, looming like a dark shadow in front of the mid-morning sun. “Peddlers aren’t going to help you,” said the samurai with a chuckle. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  This time, Seiki closed his eyes as the man swung his blade at him.

  Now it was time to wait.

  As soon as he could get up, Seiki dragged himself over to one side and sat leaning against the wall of the spirit shrine. He took a deep breath as he observed the strips of ceremonial paper that were hanging around, noticing the pattern of the sunlight that fell on them as they swayed in the gentle wind, and realizing how exhausted he felt.

  When he failed to appear outside after a while, Kojiro and Mitsuhiro came to ask if he was giving up and wanted to talk to Rieko. Seiki simply told them that he was taking a break, and that they should, too, which made Kojiro laugh hysterically, before going out to sit by his fire again.

  Seiki waited. He did not know exactly what for, but he knew this was all he could do at the moment. He was dead tired; tired of trying to sound cheerful in his text messages to keep people off his case; tired of not letting on that he still woke up in numbing, confusing horror in the middle of every night; tired of hiding the fact that the broken mug that he had tried to clean up the other day and cut his hand on had not been entirely an accident. After everything, he wanted to live, and he knew he could not live like this.

  The sun had moved beyond the zenith and was starting to make its way down the western sky. Seiki sat and watched the sunlight coming through the air slit, high up in the wall, slowly changing directions.

  A young man in Shinshioka armor slowly materialized on the mattress on the floor.

  Ippei [Level 12]. HP 327/654. Energy 191/382. Slightly Fatigued.

  At half health, half energy, and seemingly slightly dazed, Ippei sat up, looked around, spotted Seiki in the corner, and blinked as if questioning whether he had the right person. Never in his entire life had Seiki been gladder to see anyone. He knew Ippei would come. But when it really happened, in the most mundane manner possible, he suddenly did not know how he felt or what to think or what to say, and he stared blankly at his friend.

  “Finally,” muttered Ippei. He reached into his chest pocket and produced a piece of post paper. “You expect people to understand this?” He shook his head in amusement, before starting to read from it, “Help – shrine, missing a few strokes on that, by the way – Mannaka – something unintelligible kiri?” He looked at Seiki. “What the hell?”

  “Uh, two-forked kiri,” said Seiki.

  “What?”

  Seiki nodded toward the entrance of the spirit shrine. “Kiri tree,” he said. “That’s the tallest tree around, and the shape, you know.” It had never occurred to him that not everyone knew what a kiri tree was.

  “Should have written Rogami,” Seiki admitted. It had seemed so blatantly obvious to him, to the point that he would be having horrible dreams of the Oni Cleaver for a long time, that it did not even cross his mind that his friends would have no clue.

  “Oh, yeah. That would have saved us the near encounter earlier. Good thing they didn’t see—” Suddenly, Ippei had a horrified expression as he noticed something. “All right, how did you manage to lose both your sword and your dagger? It’s not like someone can loot those.”

  “I—” Seiki did not know where to begin. It seemed like such a very long time since that night he had left the kakigouri shop, and thinking back to all that had occurred flooded him with exhaustion and a kind of overwhelming emotion that he could not quite identify. He looked helplessly at Ippei. “Trying out the rock bottom strategy, I guess?” he finally managed, with a very faint chuckle.

  Ippei stared at him for a moment, before shrugging. “Well,” he said, grinning again. “I hope you’re done with that.”

  “I am,” said Seiki.

  “I guess ultimately some things are worth dying for.” The samurai made a funny face.

  Pun intended, Seiki realized. Ippei was looking at Seiki’s equipped Sheathed Blade, which he could inspect.

  “I can’t believe the things you get into,” said the samurai. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

  Again, Ippei did not ask, and Seiki was very grateful, as he doubted he felt ready to recount all the details just yet.

  Ippei tried to get up, then grimaced as he figured his five minutes of death nausea was not quite over. “Foxy went for the throat. I swear she enjoyed it,” said the samurai, before proceeding to explain. “First, we went all the way to Mannaka, but you weren’t in the spirit shrine there. We asked for a map from the Rangers to see where the spirit shrines were in Southeast Wilderness, and it turned out there were eight of them.”

  It did not escape Seiki’s notice that Ippei was now at Slight Fatigue, even when it had not been six hours he had left Shinshioka. That meant he had died several times before they could manage to find him. Also, death was the only way he could have gotten into this particular spirit shrine without the Rogami members knowing.

  “Thank you for coming,” Seiki said.

  “Well, I felt it was my responsibility,” said Ippei, before adding, with a chuckle. “Thought you could handle that Ichikeya chick. I mean, what did you ever do to her that she had to set the whole Rogami Clan on you?”

  Seiki was about to laugh with him, when something crossed his mind. “You might be right about that.” Not many people knew about the Sheathed Blade, and Fuyu was one of the few. Renshiro ha
d thought the blade had been part of the payment from Ichikeya and had mentioned it in his post message. Apart from that, there was someone sending all these mysterious Mumei messages that made no sense, and Seiki realized he had no idea how it all fit together.

  “You see why I don’t do PVP?” Ippei shook his head in amusement. “Too much drama. Come on, let’s go home.” He leapt to his feet and handed Seiki two bottles of energy potion. “Drink one now. The other later when we’re running. Didn’t know you’d be at Absolute Fatigue, so food is with Foxy.”

  “Wait,” said Seiki. “I thought you could just call the Rangers and they would take care of it without you having to get directly involved.”

  “To be honest, I don’t trust them. They proclaim themselves the Law of the Wild, but in reality they’re just another clan with a territory and however many villages they own.” The samurai’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “And you’re the one being rescued here, so I don’t think you have a say in how we do it.”

  Seiki was about to protest, but he quickly gave in. “You’ve got a point.” He drank the first energy potion, which filled his energy, but still did nothing to lighten his limbs or clear his head from the dull fog of Absolute Fatigue.

  Ippei invites you to a group.

  You are now in a group with Ippei [Level 12] and Mairin [Level 10].

  “At the signal, ride left and keep riding,” said Ippei. “You’ll know when.”

  They peered out the shrine, and saw that Kojiro was still there, sitting rather sullenly with his back against the two-forked kiri tree. Mitsuhiro had left, and had been replaced by Chise, who seemed incredibly bored.

  Suddenly, multiple white phantom kitsune burst out from the bushes behind them, in what Seiki recognized as Mairin’s Kindred Spirit—her Level 10 ability which Seiki never quite had a chance to fully figure out yet. In the sunlight, they looked as if made of clouds.

  That was a signal, if Seiki had ever seen one. Without having to be prompted, he broke into a dash out the spirit shrine, with Ippei right behind him.

  The Rogami members were crying out in surprise at the harmless assault of the healing phantom foxes. “What the—” yelled Kojiro, before spotting Seiki running from the shrine. “Hey!” he said, as he leapt to his feet.

  Fubuki was always a welcome sight. In a blink, Seiki and Ippei were already on their mounts, speeding as fast as they could.

  “It’s not going to work this time,” said Kojiro, whistling to his mount.

  Seiki looked back and saw Mairin [Level 10] in fox form bursting from the bushes and Dashing at the approaching black horse. The Dash did damage, which immediately spooked the horse. Ideally, both Rogami members would have summoned their mounts at the same time, but Chise had not done so, and she was raising her hand to Life Drain Seiki. Partly disguised within the group of her white phantom foxes, Mairin leapt at the obake’s throat, and Chise let out an alarmed yelp as she fell backward onto the ground. Kojiro swung his blade at Mairin, but there were too many white foxes around.

  “Watch it!” Chise said, as the Oni Cleaver narrowly missed her head. The air misted up around her as she put down her Nether Chills, trying to catch Mairin within it. The kitsune had already disappeared back into the bushes, though, and the ability did nothing to the smoky healing foxes running around.

  While Kojiro was laughing, Chise summoned her shadow horse from within the safety of her Nether Chills. She immediately burst into a gallop after Seiki and Ippei.

  “Keep going!” said Ippei.

  In front of them was nothing more but the same sea of trees. Seiki slowed down slightly to let Ippei take the lead. He had no idea where they were going and how this was going to work, since it was nothing Seiki had not tried before. Even with full energy and a slight head start, he knew they would eventually catch up. At her level, Chise had more energy to spend, and in another twenty seconds or so Seiki would be completely out of his. Chise was slowly closing the distance between them, but the uncanny rustling of her shadow horse could hardly be heard over the thundering hooves from Seiki’s and Ippei’s mounts, and when Seiki glanced back she really looked as if she was tailing them like an angry ghost.

  “Where’s the main road?” asked Seiki.

  “Don’t mind the main road,” said Ippei, still going at full speed on his black horse. “Look for a pregnant woman.”

  “A what?” said Seiki.

  “Drink,” said Ippei, popping his potion, which filled his energy again to sustain the full gallop.

  Seiki drank down his second potion in one go and pushed down his energy onto the stirrups.

  From beside them, Seiki could hear another rider. Mairin, now in human form, joined them in their flight on her brown horse. “Don’t tell me you’ve been stuck in there for days,” she said, her cheeks flushed from excitement, her light pink sleeves flapping in the wind, and something on her—perhaps her golden pair of bracelets—clinking as she rode.

  Seiki glanced back again. Chise was drawing closer and, in moments, she would be within range of Life Drain.

  “Any sign?” Ippei asked Mairin.

  “No,” said Mairin. “Oh, wait, there!”

  Seiki followed Mairin’s gaze and saw a woman in a long green kimono standing primly beside a tree. She was labeled Iyo, and her belly was very large as if in the later months of pregnancy.

  “Lady, we’ll go!” said Ippei, as he leapt off his horse right beside her.

  Quest accepted: The Lady in the Woods [Level 16].

  Not quite sure what was happening, Seiki pulled Fubuki to a stop and hopped off. As for Mairin, she popped into fox form mid-air as she jumped off her horse, and she landed gracefully beside the pregnant woman.

  Chise was still closing in fast. Seiki threw worried glances at Ippei, who was watching the obake approach with an expression that Seiki could not tell was anxious or just curious.

  To Seiki’s surprise, Chise was not looking at them, nor did she seem to recognize them once she drew nearer. As her shadow horse hurried past them, Seiki saw that she was now labeled Wilderness Traveler.

  “Oh,” said Seiki, finally understanding that they had phased into an instance.

  Ippei let out a sigh of relief, and Seiki realized that his friend had had no idea if the plan would work.

  “You think she will figure out what happened?” asked Mairin.

  Since instance transitions worked smoothly, all Chise would see would be three riders galloping away from her. And if she ever caught up, she would find out that they were nothing but NPC clones.

  “Hopefully, she’s already done the quest,” said Ippei.

  If Chise had already finished this particular quest, the quest giver Iyo would presumably no longer be visible to her, making it more difficult to determine what had happened.

  “And if not, let’s hope our mom-to-be wanders.” Ippei nodded toward Iyo, who was standing there patiently.

  If Chise had not done the quest and could see the pregnant woman, it would be better for them if Iyo was one of those quest givers who did not stay in a specific location, as it would make camping the instance entrance more difficult.

  “She does,” said Mairin. “A bit.”

  “We’re not doing this quest, by the way,” Ippei explained to Seiki. “It’s Level 16, and impossible at this point. We’re just going to take a break, get to full energy again and run back to the road.”

  This was a decently good plan. Most people would not notice the exact moment of instancing, unless they had already been concentrating on player labels when it happened. In the best case, Chise would not realize until she was very far away from the quest location. But there was no way to know for sure until they finally exited the instance.

  The pregnant woman, Iyo, was studying Ippei. “I see you’ve brought another friend,” she said, perhaps continuing an earlier conversation. Her long green embroidered kimono was trailing behind her; her messy long thigh-length hair was tied at the
end with a jeweled ribbon; her cheeks were pale and on her lips was a hint of rouge, suggesting that she had not been dressed for travel and had hit the road in a hurry.

  Seiki took a quick look at the quest information, which was, as usual, not very informative. The Lady in the Woods [Level 16 Quest Information]: accompany Iyo to her destination. You will receive: 2380 XP.

  The instanced Wilderness looked exactly like its normal counterpart, with trees in every direction, and Seiki wondered if it would be possible to wander off and get lost.

  Next to him, Mairin had sat down on the ground and was pouring out a pile of firewood from her bag. Understanding what she was trying to do, Seiki knelt down beside her and lit it on fire.

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

  “Oh, that’s nice,” said Iyo, letting out a soft groan as she carefully sat down by the fire.

  It was not until Seiki finally breathed in deeply that he realized how tensed he had been. His whole body was heavy and aching from the endless exertion from earlier. Mairin leaned over and put something in his hands.

  You have received: Plain Rice Ball (x2) Better than nothing!

  “The Rangers give these out for practically free, so we loaded up on plenty.” The kitsune rubbed her hands together. “Since we didn’t have time to get proper food.”

  The rice balls were about the size of his fist and wrapped with a single strip of seaweed.

  “Like what it says, there’s completely nothing in it. Just rice,” said Mairin. “I tried one earlier.” She did not sound very impressed.

  “I wouldn’t mind one of those,” said Iyo.

  Mairin raised an eyebrow. “You want one?”

  Iyo nodded, eyeing the rice balls in Seiki’s hands.