Bushido Online: Pacchi Festival: A LitRPG Saga

by Nikita Thorn

  “At least now we know that these clues are really clues, so anything that matches any of the phrases,” said Mairin, looking around gingerly. “Like… like… that!”

  She let out an excited yell and dashed forward, transforming into a white fox midair. Seiki ran after her, glancing at Ippei to see if his friend noticed what Mairin had seen.

  Ippei shook his head. “This quest is apparently made for… kitsune senses.”

  There was no keeping up with the kitsune girl in fox form, who could easily weave her way through a busy crowd, so Seiki instead scanned the surroundings for what they were supposed to be chasing. At the edge of the courtyard, a girl in a dark blue kimono, perhaps a bit older than Clouds-Over-the-Moon Tsukie, was hurrying away.

  She glanced back, and her face twisted into an annoyed scowl as she saw the group. She paused for a moment, then suddenly ran toward one of the nearest guards.

  “Please help! I work for Lady Saori. These clan volunteers were… were getting a little too friendly with me.” She pointed to them, then dashed off around the building.

  The kitsune halted as the guards looked their way and started heading over. White smoke burst out and Mairin turned back into a human girl for a second, just to say, “Okay, we’ll cut her off. This way!”

  Back in fox form, she dashed off into a side alley between two storage houses. Seiki and Ippei quickly followed. The guards did not seem too keen on giving chase, and after they turned the corner at the end of the small alley, Seiki no longer heard their pursuing footsteps.

  Mairin turned out to the right. They could now see the figure of the girl in dark blue running ahead. She turned a corner again, and was gone from sight, and Mairin hesitated before picking a different route through the cluster of lodging houses to try for a shortcut again.

  “Why that girl?” Seiki shouted. He was somewhat amused that no one batted an eye upon seeing a kitsune switching back and forth between two forms, or when a group of strangers came running through the area, obviously up to some dubious business.

  “The Clever Hawk objective! Her hairpin is a golden hawk,” said Mairin, turning human again just to answer. “And… well, she’s definitely a clever one. Because she’s escaped my extra senses as well.” Mairin slowed to a halt in the middle of another group of houses.

  “A hairpin?” said Seiki in disbelief as he caught up with her. “This is… impossible.”

  “Apparently this quest is all about noticing fashion,” said Ippei. “It’s a… 3D pixel-hunting game.” The realization seemed to amuse him.

  “What’s that?” Seiki asked.

  “You know, games where they tell you to ‘find a spade’ and you look at a very detailed illustration and try to see where it is.”

  Seiki blinked. “There are games like that?”

  “Exactly. And this one with bureaucracy on top.”

  “They’re called hidden object games.” Mairin sounded a little absent as she looked around, before shaking her head in frustration. “I think we’ve lost her.”

  They were now in the middle of a tiny courtyard surrounded by identical single-storied houses, all of which faced inward. Several servants were going in and out of the lodgings. Their interiors were completely bare, and Seiki guessed that this was where the servants slept, and at night the whole floor would be covered with sleeping futons.

  Even when they could not catch the Clever Hawk girl, it was perhaps as the Society leader had said. Once could be anything. Twice, a pattern emerged. “Okay, if we’re supposed to be noticing what people are wearing... uh… Can I have a look at the phrases again?” said Seiki.

  Mairin handed him the piece of paper.

  Of flowers, the cherry blossom

  The stake that sticks out

  A clever hawk

  What has happened twice

  The bamboo that bends

  Doing is a mistake

  When in a hurry

  Three years for peach and chestnut

  Clouds over the moon

  Lapis and quartz

  Catching sea-bream

  Fall seven times

  “What’s lapis?” asked Seiki.

  “A precious stone,” said Ippei.

  “Oh, so… uh, jewelry?” Seiki shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Yeah.” Ippei sounded almost in pain.

  Seiki continued to look at the list. “How we’re ever going to spot ‘doing is a mistake’?”

  “Oh, that one’s easy.” Ippei laughed. “Just look for bad fashion.”

  Seiki chuckled and shook his head. “And… ‘when in a hurry’?”

  “Someone half-naked.”

  Seiki laughed. “It can’t be that.”

  He studied the list again, before making a decision. “Sea-bream. Okay, I’ll go with fish. At least I know what that looks like.” He scanned the scene for anything with a relevant motif. “Like, if someone’s wearing a fish shirt, I should be able to see it.”

  Ippei succumbed to a laughing fit, and Seiki tried not to do the same. Several servants paused to look at them, but no one approached to question their presence.

  “Okay… fish…” Seiki looked around. At one of the houses, the servants were sliding open the shoji panels, perhaps to air out the interior. Another young servant boy, perhaps no more than twelve, was sweeping the courtyard. “No fish over there.”

  “Not just any fish. Bream,” said Ippei. “You’re looking for a bream shirt.”

  Seiki’s laughter suddenly caught as his eyes fell on something. “Please tell me bream looks like that.”

  Slightly beyond the small courtyard were a few smaller buildings in the same style, perhaps for higher-ranked servants who had earned their rights to personal accommodation. On one of the raised front porches, someone had left fishing equipment. There was a wooden bucket, which held two bamboo fishing poles. On the side of the bucket was a decorative metal fish with a long spiny dorsal fin.

  “That’s… definitely fish.” Seiki wasn’t sure why he was feeling a little excited by the inane discovery.

  “Looks promising.” Mairin dashed off in fox form toward the building.

  The building was only about six by eight feet, with the front sliding panels firmly shut. The white fox leapt up onto the front porch next to the fishing bucket, paused, and then turned to look at her friends as they approached, cocking her head to one side as if indicating that they should be quiet.

  Seiki slowed his pace and drew closer in a tiptoe until he was next to the kitsune on the raised wooden platform.

  “… not the best of locations, my lord,” said a rather high-pitched voice within the house.

  “Not at all, not at all,” said the other man with a good-natured laugh. He sounded older, perhaps in his late middle ages. “The more discreet, the better. There are too many eyes and ears in the Palace.”

  There were sounds of shuffling, as if the men were moving about. Seiki and Ippei slowly stepped into the darker shadows at the side of the house to be a little less obvious about their intention to eavesdrop.

  “So, what is it again that you suggest we do?” said the nobleman.

  “Nothing at all, my lord. Simply ensure to make the right suggestion when it is discovered that the Kichigawa shipment was a terrible choice by Lady Shiharu.”

  Seiki stifled a cry of triumph at the mention of familiar names.

  The nobleman scoffed. “I’m sure my suggested brew is superior to whatever countryside curiosity the woman happens to be enamored with this time, as Lord Shogun would come to realize.”

  “There is no doubt of that, my lord.”

  “Maybe it’s time Lord Shogun sees Shiharu for what she truly is, a slightly polished up commoner, as her taste will show. You are sure the Head Kitchen Master would reject her selection?”

  “I’ve seen the product, my lord. It’s vile. Common, as you said
.”

  “Good,” said the nobleman with a satisfied chuckle. “Let me be blunt. What does your master want for all this? At least reveal his name so I will know to whom I owe this gratitude.”

  “My Master is unable to make his name known at the moment, due to circumstances, but he wishes you to know that you have a friend in the Inner Court. You see, my lord, my Master wishes for a certain kind of climate in court, and Lady Shiharu stands in the way.”

  “True, true. That woman has overstepped her line.”

  “So, as I have mentioned, my lord. There are many other nobles with quite excellent selections in their cellars. To make sure yours is the one on Lord Shogun’s mind, my Master would like to bring a sample of your finest when he joins Lord Shogun for dinner this evening.”

  “Of course, of course,” said the nobleman. “My Kotani Junmai is exceptional. I’ll give you a personal note.” The man paused for a moment, and there were noises of rustling paper and clinks of what must be ink dish on wood. “Here you go. The letter bears my seal. Kobayashi my Store Master should give you no trouble.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” said the younger man.

  “Not at all. This costs me nothing. Kindly thank your master on my behalf, for pointing out to me how to catch a bream with a shrimp.” The noble man laughed heartily.

  Objective completed: Catching Sea-Bream with Shrimps as Bait. As sea-bream may be caught with small shrimps, great prizes may be obtained at small costs. Complete 1 more objective to complete the quest.

  They had no time to celebrate the progress, as the younger man said, “I humbly take my leave now to carry out the task. Even with my lord in disguise, I believe we should leave separately.”

  Without warning, footsteps sounded toward the front door. Seiki and Ippei instinctively dropped to a crouch to take advantage of the deepest shadows beside the building. Mairin leapt off the front porch toward them and Seiki caught the white fox in his arms as the shoji panel slid open.

  Not daring to move, Seiki could not see the younger man emerge, but he heard footsteps going along the front porch, then over the ground, before fading away.

  Seiki thought they should wait until the nobleman left, perhaps to catch a glimpse of him, but Mairin squirmed out of his arms, landed noiselessly and dashed toward the back of the house, before pausing again, with one paw up in the air to indicate they should follow her.

  The moment Seiki and Ippei got up, the kitsune dashed off, and continued for a few seconds past the house before turning back into her human form. “We couldn’t have hidden there any longer,” she explained as she continued to run. “There was a servant coming our way. So at least we should try to see who that guy is working for, right? The whole thing is… very fishy.”

  “Indeed.” Ippei chuckled. “The plot thickens, and we’re two-thirds done.” The samurai sounded rather relieved.

  “So, they’re planning to sabotage the sake?” said Seiki.

  “Just a normal day in the Inner Palace.”

  They wove their way past the sleep houses, toward the back of the Servants’ Quarters, when Mairin stopped and let out another frustrated cry. “I think he just despawned!”

  Whatever her kitsune senses could pick up, Seiki had no clue of, and could therefore not offer any opinion.

  “That’s not surprising,” said Ippei. “I think the point of this is just to listen to the people and figure out what’s going on.”

  “Aren’t we supposed to find Tsukie’s brother, though?” said Mairin.

  “I don’t think the objectives are related,” said Ippei. “Since… well, when you pixel-hunt you don’t have to do anything in order,” he added with an amused smile.

  “But every objective gives a bit more info on the whole story?” said Seiki. He could not help wondering what elaborate plot concerning sake could be made out of the twelve objectives.

  Ippei nodded. “The quest details say three or more. So it’s probably any three you happen to find. I mean, if you walk around this place long enough, you’re bound to stumble upon three out of twelve clues.”

  Seiki pointed ahead. “Like, there’s another clue behind Building Number Seven right there?”

  Built close to the back wall of the Servants’ Quarters was a long storage house that looked as if they had been converted from an old stable. The place did not seem to see regular use, and cobwebs hung from the edge of the roof. The front was undusted. Next to the building were broken wooden planks, cracked carriage wheels and other pieces of scrap wood stacked in haphazardly, partially covered by a bamboo mat that did not do much to keep the elements off the materials.

  On the side was a faded sign with the words ‘Storage Seven’.

  The clue Seiki was going for was ‘fall seven times’, and while the connection seemed a bit of a stretch, he thought if a motif on a fishing bucket could lead to an objective, the number seven on the sign was as good as anything, especially when he could not recall seeing anything else numbered in the whole area.

  “Doesn’t hurt to try,” said Ippei.

  The storage house had a single door, which turned out to be locked. Mairin ran around the building to investigate but found no other way in.

  Seiki tried the door. The handle was missing, and someone had tied a crude rope on it instead.

  “I’d say they want you to break in,” said Ippei. “Or they would have put guards around.”

  The samurai was right. The area was completely deserted. The nearest buildings faced the opposite direction, and all the windows were shuttered. Through the space between the houses, Seiki could see several servants hurrying about, but all were too busy with their tasks to spare their surroundings any attention.

  Mairin in fox form ran at the door, using what Seiki recognized as her Dash, which should break whatever his Focused Strike could. The white fox slammed into the wood, and a burst of invisible force threw her back as if it had been a vertical trampoline.

  “Whoa,” said the kitsune, looking slightly disheveled as she sat up on the ground. “What was that?”

  Koueki-Sealed Door. The door has been sealed with a powerful enchantment.

  There was no additional information beyond that. Seiki grabbed from his pool of energy. “Let me try.”

  The power of his Focused Strike shot through his arm into the wooden door, and at once something pushed back, like a splash of cold water. A deafening thunderclap filled his mind, and a shiver ran through his whole body as he flew backward and landed on the ground. Mairin hastily scooted to the side to avoid the crash.

  His health was still pretty much full. Slightly puzzled, Seiki leapt to his feet. “That… didn’t hurt. Let me try again.”

  Mairin had beaten him to it, this time using her Fox Dust as well as her Dash to add the damage. The result, was, however, still the same, and she ended up on the ground, dazed but unharmed.

  “Let me try something, too,” said Seiki as he looked around. Eventually, he found a broken piece of wood that was not too awkward to hold, and he chuckled as he equipped its nil stats in his main weapon slot.

  Drawing a deep breath, he faced away from the door and concentrated on the energy source. He kept his focus on all the required contact points and split his energy flow into two: one strand activating Upslash, while the other pushed out to his right arm and extended to the makeshift weapon. The combination went through, and the clean, clear feedback traveled back through his body. It was a little like getting cured from Slight Fatigue, barely noticeable but pleasant nonetheless, and for a brief second the world seemed even more in focus. Seiki let the wooden piece drop, spun around then unleashed a bare-handed Focused Strike at the door.

  It turned out that the harder you hit it, the harder the mysterious enchantment hit back, and Seiki once again found himself thrown to the ground with a freezing shiver running through him. He was, however, tossed back a foot further than last time, and his eyes widened in delight. “There’s really extra damage!�
�� He leapt back to his feet and picked his makeshift sword back up. “This is great!”

  Mairin turned toward Ippei. “Uh, what is Seiki doing?”

  “I told him how true combos compensate with a brief moment of extra damage on the next move.” Ippei laughed. “So he’s… apparently using the door as a training dummy to test it out.”

  “Why can’t you just use the wooden stick on the door?” Mairin wondered.

  “I don’t think it will work, but I can try,” said Seiki. “I think they disarmed us on purpose.”

  True enough, Focused Strike with the wooden stick directly on the door did nothing but shatter the makeshift weapon into smithereens. As Seiki went to find another piece of wood that was not too awkward to hold, Mairin kept trying the door with other abilities, including her flock of Kindred Spirit phantom foxes, which, naturally, did nothing, as they were meant to heal and had not been modified to also do damage.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” said Seiki once his Upslash had come off lockout. “I’m gonna add a Slide this time.”

  Ippei seemed amused as Seiki once again gathered his energy. With the Slide, he needed to be facing the door, and that would leave him a very small window to time it perfectly. The combination must finish with enough time for him to do another Focused Strike. With Slide being a continuous move, he was not sure how it was going to link, but doing it was the best way to find out.

  The level of ambition was perhaps too much for his inexperience. The different energy flows slipped out of control, and he missed a contact point in Upslash. He was, however, already pushing the same flow of energy down to activate a Slide, and the result was him crashing into the door with a half-formed Focused Strike. The enchantment threw him once more to the ground, although, with the move being so imperfect, he did not even clear the shade of the roof.

  Seiki shook off the cold shivers and got back to his feet.

  “Try again with just anything,” said Ippei. “You’ll get it this time.”

  “Yeah, just a normal Slide and Focused Strike,” said Seiki.