by Nikita Thorn
[18 days 7 hours ago]: took lethal damage from Tama of the Honor Warrior [Level 17]’s Sweeping Blade (693).
[18 days 7 hours ago]: hit Tama of the Honor Warrior [Level 17] with Focused Shot (194).
[18 days 7 hours ago]: took damage from Kuni [Level 5]’s Nether Chills (12).
[18 days 7 hours ago]: took damage from [unknown]’s Spinning Blade (43).
[18 days 7 hours ago]: killed Yumiko [Level 11] with Focused Shot (194).
[18 days 7 hours ago]: killed Omi [Level 6] with Focused Shot (194).
There was only one line that mattered. The houshi smiled. “I didn’t have a lot of time, but I’m sure if we trace all these names tangled in this brawl, we will find more people hit by this unknown player’s abilities, all of which would conform to what you could expect from a Level 13 ninja.”
Akihisa drew a long breath. “Again, that still doesn’t prove anything.”
“No,” agreed Kentaro. “But it seems to imply that, eighteen days ago, there was a Level 13 ninja who managed to get Pottery up to at least Level 27, something which would only be possible if he had extremely rich friends. After all this effort, this ninja happened to decide not to play the game anymore and went to great lengths not to leave any evidence of his existence.”
Akihisa and Sana exchanged uneasy glances, perhaps unable to decide what to think. Before they could arrive at any conclusion, Kentaro offered them one. “I think both of you have a bigger problem to worry about. Apparently, someone really wanted this siege to happen.” The houshi raised an eyebrow. “And, do you really want to give them the satisfaction?”
Akihisa frowned, and Kentaro took this opportunity to continue, “I’m sure if you ask these White Crane Order people over here to provide their combat logs, you will find that one of them would have killed an unknown player at the time of the alleged invasion, what, three, four days ago?”
“Two unknown players,” said Seiki. “They also killed Akari that day, almost at the same time.” He closed his eyes as he tried to remember the events. “These unknowns will also be in my combat log. Both of them. I fought Teruo, and Akari healed me several times.”
“You are welcome to come in and check our combat logs,” said Sayahime with a little smile.
“I will,” said Akihisa.
A hum, made of low voices of speculation, had broken out in both armies. It slowly rose into a buzz of chatter as more and more people raised their voices for their opinions to be heard over the crowd.
“Anyone who wants to see the logs can come and get them,” Kentaro shouted, and a few eager members of the Fuoka Army rode forward.
Once the houshi had gotten the masses involved in the conspiracy, the mood for war was quickly evaporating, giving way instead to wild theories. None of the items Kentaro had brought were actually hard proof, but they had raised enough questions that the siege no longer seemed justified, and Seiki could not help but suspect that perhaps being shown specific numbers and how it all worked under the hood had taken a bit of realism out of the whole event.
“All right,” Kentaro said, happily. “So maybe we can end the siege event for now and let all the poor Level 7s get back to their Nanamura quest hub?”
The night was perhaps going to end peacefully after all, and after a while Seiki found himself riding beside Kentaro, following Sayahime back into the clan territory.
“Well,” shouted Ippei from the battlement to Kentaro, as he and Seiki passed through the gate. “That was impressive. Now they will have to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.” He laughed.
Seiki still had no idea how Kentaro had managed to pull this off. All he knew was that he was extremely grateful. “My next two weeks is yours,” he said. “You want me to sell charms full-time, I’m your man.” A period of downtime guzzling sugary ice desserts and talking to chirpy Shinshioka citizens sounded absolutely wonderful right now.
Ippei cleared his throat.
“Oh,” Seiki chuckled and corrected himself. “Except Tuesdays.”
It was perhaps true that the White Crane Order and the Fuoka Army were once allies, as many members seemed to know one another. After the siege challenge had been withdrawn, Seiki was soon sitting on the tatami floor of the spacious second story of the White Crane Hall, brightly lit once again. Many of the higher-level Fuoka Army members had accepted the invitation to come into the territory and were scattered around the area, conversing with the remaining White Crane Order clan members. Attendants were quickly called into action, and they were soon running around serving cups of hot First-Grade Hojicha, which felt mildly soothing and also gave unnecessary +1 health with each sip.
“And you got everyone in the Social Guild to look?” Ippei asked the houshi.
Kentaro smiled. “Don’t forget I’m their favorite Tailor.” Having stopped a war, the houshi now seemed in such an incredibly good mood that he had not said anything about the horrifying state Seiki’s armor was now in, even after giving it a long disapproving look.
“How many people was that?” asked Mairin.
“About two thousand,” said Kentaro.
“Crowd-sourcing at its best.” Ippei laughed, before saying something about how the Social Guild turned out to have its use after all.
“And, of course, I promised them a full story,” said Kentaro. “I also pulled some strings with the Society, since they’re great with the record halls.”
“Next time, if we need to stop a war,” said Seiki to his friends. “I’ll let someone else do the talking.”
“There won’t be a next time,” said Ippei.
Mairin giggled. “You wish. Knowing Seiki…” she trailed off, and Seiki wondered if he was such a troublemaker after all.
“Seiki-san!” Kiku called out, as she ran soundlessly across the tatami floor to find them. The obake girl had tidied up her hair and was now filled with renewed buoyancy. “Would you mind coming up to the third floor for a second?” she asked. “Yes, all your friends can come, too.”
Kiku led them toward the stairs, casually explaining the layout of the clan, and making a passing mention of the missing shoji wall on the third floor—which Seiki recalled he had destroyed and jumped through about a week ago.
“Oh, tell me!” said Mairin, her eyes shining with excitement.
“Well, I didn’t see what happened,” said Kiku. “But from what I heard, Seiki-san freaked out and started attacking everybody.”
“That’s not what happened,” Seiki protested.
Kiku and Mairin laughed, and Seiki wondered why they suddenly seemed like best friends; a fact that somehow worried him. He looked at Ippei, who seemed amused but said nothing, and Kentaro was no help, as he was glancing around at the place in appreciation. So, Seiki only sighed and followed them, trying not to listen to Kiku relaying a rather embellished account of what had occurred.
The third floor was as how he remembered it: a maze of shoji walls and sliding doors. Kiku, still chatting with Mairin, led the way to the Reception Hall on the northwest corner, where they found Sayahime, Akihisa, and five or six presumably ranked members from each clan sitting there, socializing.
Seiki marveled at the lack of hostility between these people after the obvious enmity earlier. “Please don’t tell me all that was just RP,” he said to Kiku.
A mysterious smile lit up Kiku’s face. “Sometimes the line becomes very blurry, Seiki-san.”
“No, that was definitely not RP,” Mairin said. “You guys were serious about fighting and dying.”
Kiku laughed, and Sayahime beckoned to them to sit down wherever they wanted. Here, the servants served Ginjo Sake, which was strangely sweet and got people drunk 5% a shot.
“Well, Akihisa checked the records, and, yes, two unknowns were killed here a few nights ago, so everyone’s story checks out, and we’re friends again, at least for now,” Kiku explained. “Both our clans used to be tight, you know. We used to merce for each other all the time, before the… misu
nderstanding.”
“Merce as in mercenary.” Ippei turned to explain before Seiki could ask. “You can borrow players from other clans to fight for you, under the same rule as clan members.”
A happy thought seemed to pass through Kiku’s head as she looked at them, which she apparently did not want to share quite yet. “Well, it all worked out, thanks to Seiki and Kentaro-san,” she said. “Although it’s a real shame we lost the Aoyama scroll. Kame has really been working hard on leveling her Pottery, you see. I don’t think anyone’s heard of a named trade skill scroll that requires max level to learn.”
“Pottery, though,” said Ippei in an ambiguous tone, causing the obake girl to glare at him.
Now that the excitement was over, clan members on both sides were starting to log out, fading out where they sat. After a bit, Kentaro excused himself, saying he had an early day, and he disappeared. And Seiki thought that he had pushed it far enough and that, after getting himself 30% drunk off the sake and enjoying feeling slightly warm and dizzy, they should perhaps call it a night.
His friends agreed.
“At least, for the sake of completion, you’ve gotta show me that empty box,” said Seiki to the group of White Crane Order members sitting at one end of the room. “Or I won’t be able to sleep.”
Ozuru the ninja had logged out, and now only Kiku and the swordsman Tatsui were still present. Other presumably ranked members had gone downstairs to start supervising NPC workmen to clean up the wreckage from the siege.
“That was precisely why we invited you up here,” Sayahime said. “We figured you should be a part of this to the end. And we still need to thank you properly for what you did for us.” She went to the end of the room to fetch the dark red box, which was slightly longer than Kentaro’s True-Lock coin box but not as wide, fitted with a golden metal key hole.
At this moment, only four members of the Fuoka Army still remained: Akihisa, Sana the houshi, a ryoushi girl called Kazuha, and Eisuke, who had looked at Seiki but had made no overt attempt to acknowledge him, perhaps to avoid further suspicion from his clan mates.
They gathered round as Sayahime put the box on the floor, and Akihisa produced the golden key from his pocket. Seiki noticed how everyone seemed to be unconsciously holding their breath as Akihisa slid the key into the hole and unlocked it with a click, as if they were watching a magic trick and were eager to see if the rabbit was really gone from the hat.
The box, however, was not empty.
In the middle of it sat a thick paper tube: a blue and white patterned scroll trimmed with a bit of gold on the edges.
Seiki blinked. He had been so sure that Teruo had taken it and, for a moment, he really could not comprehend why there would be a scroll there. An uneasy hum broke out as everyone glanced at each other in confusion.
“What the hell are you playing at now?” said Akihisa, as he stared at Sayahime. “Is this your plan to get us to open the box?”
The renewed friendship was indeed fragile. Fuoka Army members were instantly on their feet, hands reaching for weapons, as Akihisa grabbed his golden sword with one hand, while his other snatched the Ancient Scroll of Ankoudama from the box and was about to pull it open.
“Don’t!” screamed Ippei. Perhaps there was a hint of authority in his tone and everyone stopped to look at him.
“Does it say Ancient Scroll of Aoyama?” he asked dryly, before heaving a long sigh. “Geez, people don’t read.”
Seiki only then noticed that this was indeed a different scroll.
“Ancient Scroll of Ankoudama?” Kiku turned pale, and Akihisa looked at the scroll again and cursed, before putting the sword on the floor and sitting back down.
“What’s happening?” Seiki whispered to Mairin, who shook her head.
“That scroll right there is most likely a rare-summoning scroll,” said Ippei. “Our friend Teruo not only took the treasure, but also left us a surprise gift.”
“Let me get this straight,” said Akihisa after a pause. “This ninja came in, prepared with Level 30 Pottery, learned that scroll to make it disappear, just to put this rare-summoning scroll in instead, and then deleted his character?”
“Why?” asked Sayahime.
“If you had pulled it open, you would have dropped that rare straight on us, and you know what that does indoors,” said Ippei. “I think I understand their whole plan now. After the siege, whoever wins will get their hands on both the key and the box, and the first thing you do is probably to open the box to look at the treasure that has been at the very heart of the conflict. So shortly after the siege, you will have destroyed your enemy, but you will have lost a lot of troops in the process. And our friend left this nasty prank here for the chance that you’d be careless enough to pull it open, accidentally summoning a rare that would wreck the clan territory and further weaken your clan.”
“Who would do such a thing?” said Kiku.
Ippei looked at the room. “The question is: who actually benefits from this situation?”
The room had fallen silent, and it was only then that they could hear a low hum in the air, which also seemed to vibrate through the ground like an ill-designed machine. It took Seiki a moment to realize it was the sound of a thousand hooves approaching, like thunder rumbling in the distance.
Ippei grimaced. “I think you’re about to have your answer right now.”
After a split second of muted horror, everyone flocked toward the windows as they tried to see out. The Reception Room of the White Crane Hall looked directly north and west, and now, beyond the charred ruins of Nanamura Village, a large army had appeared, moving through the sparse wood like dark fog spreading across the forest floor. The first line of troops had reached where the Fuoka Army had set up their assault line before, right at the edge of arrow range, and numerous torches were being lit. Flag bearers hoisted up their colors: yellow and black.
The Rogami Clan has initiated a siege of the White Crane Hall.
Seiki found himself sobering up almost immediately at the sight. He could not tell how many there were, but the army was much larger than the Fuoka Army before. It all made sense. This was why Itsuki had warned them to stay off the main road: the Rogami Clan had been on the move, and this was their destination.
Sayahime studied the scene out the territory grounds. “Three thousand, at least,” she said.
“Zengoro?” asked Akihisa, gripping his golden swords.
“No,” said Sayahime. “This is only half their army, and Zengoro doesn’t even have to bother to come himself.”
Zengoro—Seiki could only guess—was the leader of the Rogami Clan, and now that Seiki had seen half their army, he became aware that this clan was much bigger than he had imagined. Even with their full army intact, Seiki wondered if the White Crane Order would even stand a chance against them.
“I’ll go get everyone,” Kiku whispered. She had gone deathly pale again.
Apart from the ten people on the third floor, the rest of the White Crane Order members were downstairs, and Kiku rushed out of the reception room. Seiki could hear her shouting when she raced toward the stairwell, “Everyone still here, come up!”
As busy footsteps sounded, a pigeon fluttered through the window, almost hitting Kazuha of the Fuoka Army in the face. The bird was all black and its eyes shone bright purple. Even before Seiki could inspect the curious bird, it exploded in a puff of smoke, and a voice bellowed:
Surrender peacefully and we will let you walk out. If you wait for us to come in, we will execute you all. You have 15 minutes, starting now.
“What the heck is that evil post pigeon?” said Mairin.
“It’s one of those things you can do with War Abilities,” replied Ippei. “Send threatening messages, or send false retreat orders to cause confusion.”
Sayahime took a deep breath and turned toward Seiki. “You three should leave,” she said. “There is nothing we can do against their three thousand.”
“We’ll fight, hime-sama,” said Miki of the White Crane Order [Level 14], her hand still holding a Tailoring item she had been working on. A few clan mates behind her nodded in agreement. Seiki took a quick look around and found that most of them were below Level 20.
“We’ll fight, too,” said Akihisa, before turning to his clan members. “Summon your units. See how many men we’ve got left.”
“I haven’t lost any of mine,” Kazuha reported.
The four Fuoka Army members were all high-leveled officers, and they could contribute almost 400 soldiers from their personal units, minus some losses they had sustained earlier.
“No, we won’t do a mercenary contract,” said Sayahime. If there was no formal mercenary agreement, the Fuoka Army members would be free from any penalty resulting from losing, including being confined to the White Crane spirit shrine after death until the event was over. “There is no reason for you to commit to a lost battle.”
“But you stand no chance,” said Akihisa.
“No,” said Sayahime. “We stand no chance even with your units, so there’s no point.”
Akihisa thought for a moment and nodded. “We’ll do as much as we can.”
Those not formally involved in a war event had no access to their personal NPC troops, and could only fight as individuals. And without the Fuoka Army’s troops, this only left the White Crane Order’s six hundred or so, only half of which were under the direct command of players, while the other half belonged to offline members and were only Level 10 support troops.
“I wish Hiro was here,” said Kiku. “He would do a better job than me.”
She then raised her voice and addressed the clan members, “We have a lot of new members here who have never been to war before. Here’s what you do. Once you’re outside, summon your unit. If you’ve unlocked abilities for them and have never practiced, go and try them out a few times in the practice hall west of the moat. Listen for instructions from the nearest ranked member. That will be people like Tatsui or me, and if you activate the Find function, they will be highlighted out for you. Once it starts, if there are no ranked members around, do whatever you have to and deal as much damage as possible and try to stay alive. If your clan mate next to you is dead, their unit is released from their command, and if there is no one else more qualified around, you can claim the troops by calling ‘To me!’ or ‘Here!’. They will then join your unit, but will be downgraded back to their base level. If you die, you’ll wake up in our spirit shrine, but you won’t be able to leave. Don’t panic. If you don’t want to have to deal with the execution, you can log out then. The enemy can choose to execute all offline players if they kill all of us, so you will probably be locked out for an hour. This is normal, so again don’t panic. Once the penalty expires, you can log back in. We have a city territory on Anjo Street in West City. Come find us there.”