by Nikita Thorn
“To answer your question, I really don’t know,” said Kazuki. “My best guess is a duplicate treasure poem, but I don’t know if that’s a glitch or intentional. I mean, if it’s possible for people with similar poems to get into the same instance, that would go with your theory of promoting competition.” He looked at Ippei. “But then again it could be that it’s meant to promote collaboration.”
“How do you even know about the duplicate poems?” said Mairin.
Kazuki did not seem to mind the extra question. “Oh, Kiku asked Ikumi about it, and Ikumi asked my opinion, and so we talked about it for a while.”
Mairin blinked. “Oh.”
The ninja heaved a sigh. “Too bad you didn’t manage to find the treasure. Kiku told me the time ran out because you had to fight off Fumiya. Do you happen to remember how the poem goes? Like, the first line?”
“No,” said Ippei very quickly, as the rest of the group came to the realization that the White Cranes had not chosen to share the full details of their discovery with the Society.
“Something about brushes,” said Mairin.
Kazuki looked at them, not entirely convinced. Before he could press, Yamura piped up. “So what’s up with these unlabeled Level 15 instances? Is that, like, common knowledge or something?”
“Is that your question, Yamura?”
The ryoushi grimaced. “Uh, yeah, I guess.”
Seiki would probably have asked the same thing if his friend had not, and he found himself holding his breath as he anticipated what the ninja was going to say.
“It’s not common knowledge, but we do know about it. We’ve heard about cases with specialized Level 15 quests. If people stumble onto it, they always come running to us to ask, so we have a few records of how these go. We suspect there’s another branching one at Level 25, but there aren’t that many people at that level yet. We never publish it, since it’s unpredictable, and mostly personal, and no one knows for certain what exactly triggers them. Some people got similar quests, some had different variations. Some classes are better documented than others. Some lead to specialized skills or rare items, and some just lead to extra story lines. It seems like there’s a few variables at work and triggering different ones will lead to different outcomes. We’ve only heard of one from a ronin. So, if you’d like to share how your version went in the Shussebora Cave, we would be really interested.”
Seiki supposed that made sense.
Yamura’s eyes widened. “You mean I could have gone and unlocked Regeneration differently and it would have given me, like, unlimited energy like Seiki’s OP variation? Hey, that’s totally not fair.”
“How many other ryoushi have the Firerat Fur Armguard, though?” said Kazuki.
“Oh, true.” Yamura sounded a little happier.
“One,” said Mairin as if the fact had just occurred to her. “Reiji’s a ryoushi, isn’t he? The piece is class-specific.”
Kazuki nodded. “And he didn’t have any variations on his Level 15 Regeneration either… although he did find something for his Level 25.”
“What is it?” cried Yamura.
If it had been Fuyu, she would probably have told the ryoushi he had run out of questions, but Kazuki simply laughed. “Didn’t you hear our conversation earlier? I don’t know what yours will be or if you’ll get one at all, since we don’t fully understand what triggers them.”
“Come on, share some knowledge. Isn’t that what your clan is all about? Some pointers, at least. Like, follow some weird NPC like Seiki did?”
Kazuki shook his head. “We had a meeting after we found out about this and then we decided against publishing it. You see, we think the intended experience is that you stumble upon something unknown. It’s a refreshing change from looking up guides and following instructions on how to beat your class quests, which is what everyone does.”
“Not Seiki,” said Mairin. “He doesn’t read up on spoilers.”
“And isn’t that better?” said Kazuki.
Seiki again was not sure how to answer. “It just makes the game feel… more real. And… I like it being real.” The last part was perhaps to himself.
Whether Kazuki could glean what he really meant, the man did not react, but simply turned to Yamura. “So, yes, a small number of people know about this, and when they come to us, we explain to them what it is, and then advise them not to say anything.”
“Was this in Beta?” said Ippei.
“No,” said Kazuki, again with a mysterious smile.
“Ah.” Ippei sounded both concerned and relieved. Then he cast Seiki a glance. “Sorry. I just had to know.”
Kazuki looked at him. “As you approach the middle levels, you’ll start to realize that this isn’t quite the game you know anymore.”
Ippei let out a long breath. “Yeah. I’m starting to see that.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” said Kazuki.
“No,” Ippei agreed, albeit a little reluctantly.
A moment of understanding seemed to pass between them, although Seiki was not quite sure what exactly it was.
Kazuki turned to him. “That’s three questions from three of you. This leaves you now, Seiki.”
Seiki took a deep breath. There were too many things he wanted to know, and he was still trying to process the new onslaught of honest information. He finally made his decision. “What do I have to do to gain access to your library?”
Kazuki smiled, and for some reason Seiki sensed a feeling of, perhaps, triumph.
“Let me answer your question with my question,” said the ninja.
A second later, Seiki found a notification popping up in his consciousness.
Kazuki offers you a clan quest.
Patriotic Spirits III [Shinshioka Scientific Society – Pacchi Festival] The Shogun has requested aid from all clans who can spare it to help prepare for the Ceremony Feast. Suggested players: 1-5. Quest sharing: yes. Completion: automatic. Loot distribution decision: clan quest giver Kazuki of the Shinshioka Scientific Society. You will receive: 30% of the experience and gold from the quest; additional share of quest rewards at the discretion of the clan quest giver. This quest expires in 25 hours and 13 minutes.
Do you wish to accept?
Confused, Seiki looked at the man. “Is this—”
“That’s my question,” said Kazuki. “Do you wish to accept? Answer that with a yes and you can use our library as long as someone’s in the clan hall to let you in.”
“Yes,” said Seiki without having to think. The notification updated for him.
Clan Quest accepted: Patriotic Spirits III [Shinshioka Scientific Society – Pacchi Festival].
“What’s happening?” Mairin asked.
“I subbed him a clan Festival quest,” said Kazuki. “We always need more people to do those. Our freelancers are freelancers, and most of the time they’re doing their own things.”
Ippei stared at their host, part fascinated, part horrified, part amused. “This is basically an audition.”
“Oh, we really need the Clan Tokens.” Kazuki sounded entirely earnest. “How else are you going to write a guide if you don’t complete everything yourself? There’s also a rumor that if your clan completes every Clan Achievement for the Festival, you get a special gift from the Palace during the Shogun’s Banquet event at the end. Now that’s something you have one chance of getting. Which, if we do get it, you’re welcome to come look at it when we open it.”
Seiki was reminded he already had an invitation to the said event, hand-delivered to him by Kazuki himself in a prison cell.
“And in exchange, you can look through our library,” continued Kazuki. “You’ll find we have quite a large collection of, well, basically everything. Old and new. Item sketches and item properties, stat range, the first Pacchi Festival, Beta events, special costumes…”
“Did you just say Beta events?” cried Seiki.
Kazuki looked at him. “Did I?”
Seiki stared at the man, somehow morbidly fascinated, and at that moment he decided that this whole thing had indeed been choreographed perfectly from the very beginning.
Ippei started to laugh. “All right. I’ve seen lots of fancy clan recruit attempts before, but I have to say yours is the best one so far.”
Kazuki now allowed a tiny smile to creep up onto the corner of his lips. “We’re always looking for like-minded people, and you show promise – a certain tendency to stumble upon interesting things, at the very least.”
“So we just need to complete the quest, right?” said Seiki, just to make sure.
The ninja nodded. “It’s a Clan Festival quest, so I would say it’s not that difficult to complete. Although I’ll be interested to see how you go about it.”
Seiki looked at the quest description again, but found no hint as to what it might entail.
“It’s part three, so we and a few freelancers have done a few bits already to unlock this, but it should be possible for you to jump straight in,” said Kazuki.
That was perhaps not surprising, considering it was a clan quest, which could be shared among members and, as in this case, freelancers. Kazuki would not say any more about what they should expect, except that the quest was not included in the Society Festival Guide and they should not waste their time trying to look it up.
“Is there a time limit on this?” Seiki asked.
“According to the story line, it’s part of preparing for the special Rogami Ceremony, so the quest is available until right before that.”
“Which means we have the rest of the day and all day tomorrow before the Ceremony.”
“Enough time for you?” said Kazuki. “Or do you want a different quest that lasts till the Shogun’s Banquet at the end?”
“No, this is perfect,” said Seiki. “Consider it done.”
That, however, meant that their schedule was now quite packed, given what Seiki was planning to do on the actual day of the Rogami Ceremony. After a few more minutes finishing their tea and discussing the Festival in general, they took their leave.
“Help yourselves out. I’ll uninvite you after you exit the territory.” Kazuki called after them as the group made their way toward the stairs.
“Can I get another look at the uniques on the way out?” Mairin asked.
Kazuki gave an amused approval nod, and the kitsune bound off down the stairs, still slipping on the tiny socks in her fox form. Yamura raced after her, saying something about the unique bow and how the Shinshioka Nobles were liars.
Seiki and Ippei turned to follow them.
“Hey, Ichiiro,” said Kazuki from inside the reception room, just loud enough to be heard.
Ippei paused to look back, although he did not seem particularly surprised.
“Have you gotten your Level 15?” said Kazuki.
“No,” said Ippei. “I’m still waiting for the message from Nakatani.”
“Well, when you do, bring your friend,” said Kazuki, a hint of a smile in his voice. “I think he’s good for you.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Patriotic Spirits III [Shinshioka Scientific Society – Pacchi Festival] The Shogun has requested aid from all clans who can spare it to help prepare for the Ceremony Feast.
Seiki checked his quest log again but found nothing that gave them a hint as to how they were supposed to start the quest. He had assumed it would be obvious, and had not taken into account the fact that there were just too many Festival quests all over North City and it was impossible to tell one quest giver from the next. Their guess was that it would be somewhere around the Shogun’s Palace, but they had not expected the place to be completely packed.
“I can’t believe we’re really doing this,” said Ippei with a sigh.
Seiki scanned the surroundings for hints. “It’s just one quest for permanent access to the Society’s library. It’s worth it.” There were festival decorations everywhere, and signs pointing to special shops, but no one that mentioned anything about patriotic spirits. “I mean, if we manage to find the starting point.”
There were crowds going in every direction, and the usually deserted North City was now no longer empty. Seiki supposed it was because Trade Street itself was packed with merchant stalls, so all the quest hubs had been allocated to other areas: South City for lower-level quests, and North City for anyone above Level 10.
“It’s technically an audition, you know,” said Ippei. “The foot in the door strategy. Before you know it, you’ll be one of their freelancers running their experiments.”
“I thought your whole deal was freelancing,” said Mairin. “And the Society pays you for these experiments, right? To be honest, it might not be a bad thing.”
“I guess,” said Ippei.
The kitsune giggled. “Okay. So Unit Chief Ichiiro of the Secret Beta Club only freelances on his own terms. Noted.”
Ippei gave her a look. “Seriously, Foxy. Captain. I made it to Captain.”
“Oh, excuse me,” said Mairin. “Captain Ichiiro.”
“How did you manage to hear that anyway? You were downstairs.”
Mairin grinned, tapping the air where her fox ears should be if she had them in human form. “Kitsune senses.”
Ippei winked. “Well, once you get access to the Society’s Beta Tales, you can look up all my great deeds from my previous life.”
Seiki turned to look at his friend. “Seriously, if I go to the NPC librarian and look up ‘Ichiiro’, you’ll be there?”
Ippei let out a tiny breath. “To be honest, who knows what they write about? And I kept quite a low profile. In Beta… there were many more people worth writing about than a solo war freelancer.”
“Why didn’t you keep your old Beta name?”
“I went for that first. Someone else already took it. So I asked Manji for something close… and something I could potentially write in real life,” Ippei added with a chuckle. “Not to mention that I came back and started a kitsune so I wasn’t too picky on the name. By the time I gave up on that character, the name already stuck.”
“What’s wrong with kitsune?” said Mairin.
Ippei shook his head. “Too many legs and two few arms, and a tail. That’s just too much.”
“But kitsune senses,” said Mairin.
“Yeah, well, can your kitsune senses tell us where to go right now?”
Mairin raised her arm and called out to two players in yellow Festival kimonos, who appeared to be trying to make sense of a map. “Excuse me! Do you know where to get this quest called… uh, Patriotic Spirits?”
Miyuki of the Social Guild [Level 17] looked up from the piece of paper in her hand. “Which one? There are a few of them.”
Seiki checked his quest log. “Three?”
“Oh, we’re still on Two,” said the girl next to her, Misaki of the Social Guild [Level 16], who looked rather impressed by their superior progress. “How do you get the rice sacks transported to the Palace for the end of Part Two?”
Seiki was about to say he had no idea, when someone beside them cleared his throat, a youngish-looking man with a high ponytail, labeled Naoto of the Kensoku Guards [Level 18]. “You have to show the guy Lord Otokubo’s letter and give him the fifty gold you got from the last quest, then he’ll agree to do it. And for Part Three you go sign up at the counter over there.” The man pointed to a large group of people milling around the front of the Servants’ Quarters, beneath a banner that said ‘Clan Volunteers’.
“Oh, thanks,” said all of them nearly at the same time. The man simply nodded and trotted off, leaving the two Social Guild players to look at each other worriedly and ask if they had already spent the fifty gold quest reward on something else.
“See, kitsune senses,” said Mairin with pride, as she started heading toward their destination.
The long registration counter was manned by eight NPCs labeled Pacchi Festival Coordinators [Level Unkno
wn]. Tightly packed in front of them was a crowd of players, most of whom were shouting to be heard over the rest of the people, who unfortunately had the exact same idea.
“Can people please get in line?” yelled Toyotada of the Honor Warriors [Level 10]. “Just one single line, and then go to a counter that opens up. It’s not hard!”
Unfortunately, he was apparently only Level 10, and not carrying any kind of eye-catching weapon, and was therefore ignored.
Seiki could not help laughing as they stopped at the edge of the chaotic scene. Impatient players were glaring at each other as they tried to push their way to the counters, and occasional harsh words burst out in frustration. The area was, however, heavily guarded by Shinshioka Patrols [Level 35], and Festival time was too precious to waste on prison, so no one was willing to break into a brawl just yet.
“This is what I call a happening,” said Seiki, not entirely sure what about it he found so delightful.
Ippei grimaced. “This whole thing could have just been instanced to save everyone the hassle.”
“It is just to show you the sad state of our world,” said Mairin. “Look at how many responsible adults skipped work for this.”
Seiki laughed. “Kentaro’s the only responsible adult around here.”
The houshi had only upped his playing schedule by two hours each day, which he said was already a lot for him. Seiki had no idea how he still managed to get so many things done within the Festival. Seiki himself was glad he had had the foresight to move many of his responsibilities up to the front of the week and had had already completed most of the tasks he had promised to do, as he suspected the Festival would only intensify as it went on, and even so, he was still operating on the bare minimum amount of sleep.
“A truly responsible adult has backup vacation days,” said Ippei. “And I thought Yamura was coming?”
“He still has to finish something else with the guys from his clan,” said Seiki.
“Maybe it’s exactly the same quest we’re doing,” said Mairin as she looked around. “Since there sure are a lot of Honor Warriors.”