by Nikita Thorn
“Indeed, this is Yajima’s hand and seal.” The Shogun nodded grimly. “It is very unfortunate. I had high hopes for Captain Tsukuda.” He shook his head. “Such a shame. Why did he do this? Is this true, Kato?”
Lieutenant Kato clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Lieutenant Kato,” said Chamberlain Giichi, gently, but firmly. “Lord Shogun asked you a question.”
Lieutenant Kato drew a shaky breath, and when he spoke again it was in the voice of a man pronouncing his own death sentence. “Yes, my lord.”
“Shame,” said the Shogun with a sad sigh.
Mazutomo’s eyes narrowed and he kept his eyes fixed on the young lieutenant still sitting on the floor. “Shame, indeed, my lord. Our laws mandate severe punishment for those who fail in their duties. Those who die a dishonorable death receive no official burial and no place in the Hall of Fallen Heroes.” He paused for a little as he pretended to ponder. “But this goes even beyond that. For his misguided conduct causing great damage to Lord Shogun’s Oath Ceremony, this traitor will be stripped of all his rank and commendations, his body burnt out the West Gate with dead demons.”
Seiki felt his world going dark with rage. Before he could think, he had leapt to his feet. “No, this is—”
“Unit Chief!” cried Lieutenant Kato.
The anguish in the man’s voice stopped him, and Seiki realized then that this was all meant to provoke the young lieutenant. A smile twisted on Chamberlain Mazutomo’s lips. “Do you have something to say, Unit Chief?”
Seiki stared at Lieutenant Kato’s bloodshot eyes, at Chamberlain’s Giichi’s warning look, at the Shogun’s tired grimace, and at the room full of schemes against which he could barely contain rising anger. “No,” he finally said.
“Very well.” Chamberlain Mazutomo bowed to the Shogun again. “And, my lord, I would recommend that Lieutenant Kato personally sees to the task of disposing of the body. I’ll provide my men to assist.”
“Oh, for God’s sake!” cried Ippei.
Something snapped inside Seiki. The next thing he knew, his fist had connected to the side of the Chamberlain’s face, sending the man tumbling onto the mat with a surprised yelp.
The Elite Palace Guards immediately sprung on him, pinning him to the floor, but Seiki barely noticed. “You don’t do this to people.”
“I will take on this responsibility, my lord,” Chamberlain Giichi smoothly interjected.
The Shogun simply nodded in relief, looking a little uncomfortable.
Mazutomo was still on the floor, his hand on his swollen cheek, his face twisted in rage as he snarled at Seiki. “And you will be spending some time in isolation rethinking your actions, Unit Chief.”
Ippei suddenly rose to his feet. “You know, what, Lord Shogun?” he said casually. “How about you stop being a bloody coward and start being the leader these people deserve?”
The Shogun turned pale. Mazutomo, however, smiled. “You can join him, then.”
Ippei’s eyes were cold. “That would be my pleasure, Lord Chamberlain.”
As Seiki felt the effect of the Arrest teleport closing around him, he finally noticed an update:
Objective completed: Of Flowers, the Cherry Blossom; Of Men, the Warrior. Foremost among men, a warrior lives a transient existence of honor and sacrifice. You have completed at least 3 objectives, including a final objective. The quest is now complete. Speak to the clan officer to receive your reward.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The Palace Prison was like everything else in the Palace District: clean, formal and lifeless. The dark iron bars, cast perfectly straight to run from the floor to the low ceiling, separated the holding cells from the narrow windowless corridor. As usual, the guard’s Arrest teleported them straight to the building, and on the way in Seiki noticed that the prison was completely empty. There were altogether four cells in the wing they were led into, each about ten by twelve feet across. The front had a swinging metal door, secured with a chain and padlock, while the remaining three sides of the cells were fitted with enchanted dark wood panels, making the place several shades darker than it would otherwise be. The only source of light was a floor lamp opposite the cell door, which was casting long shadows of the bars onto the floor and onto all the prisoners held within. For some reason, Seiki felt it perfectly matched his mood at the moment.
Seiki sat on the cold bare stone floor with his back to the wall, his arms resting on his raised knees. Opposite him was Ippei, sitting crossed-legged, apparently lost in thought as he checked something in his mental menu. Outside the cell was the white fox, who had not been arrested but who had silently found her way into the Palace Prison, and who was now sitting with her back to them, as if guarding their cell. After locking them in, the guards had left them on their own, and there was no danger for Mairin to turn back to her human form, but Seiki had a feeling that, like him, she was not particularly in the mood to talk.
Ippei finally broke the silence. “You know, I hate this,” he said as he passed his hand over his forehead, wiping away nonexistent sweat. “I hate it when they get to you.”
Seiki nodded. “Yeah, I know. This thing about it all being… scripted.” Now that he had time to think about it, the fact was obvious. Somehow it still did not make him any less angry. “It was… I don’t know. We didn’t even have our weapons, and we couldn’t have done anything.”
“It was a Rank Three demon,” said Ippei. “No chance there to start with.”
“We couldn’t even really kill the… uh, blood slug things.” It simply felt bad. Seiki was not quite sure how to explain. They had spent a lot of time simply as observers, in situations where they were entirely powerless to act, and even when there was a chance to make a decision, he still felt as if he had been forced to do exactly what was expected of him, which was actually not much, and that was an upsetting thought.
“It’s just not fair, you know. It’s like… the whole thing was… Okay, I know the world’s not fair and whatever, but this…” Seiki let out a sigh as he gave up trying to articulate what he meant. “I’m just mad.”
“It’s the worst quest ever.” Mairin suddenly popped back into a human girl to agree. “When you think about it, we should just have let the demon possess the Precious Lord Rogami guy and his stupid clan so we could keep Captain Tsukuda.”
Without waiting for a reply, she was in fox form again, turning back to watch the door, as Seiki and Ippei let out solemn chuckles.
“I wouldn’t mind that,” said Seiki. “At least we got to completely wreck the Banquet Hall. Although... that doesn’t matter either.” He let out a sigh as he once again felt that whatever they had done had had absolutely no consequences at all. “Okay, should I have not hit the guy? I mean, since it’s all scripted anyway, but not that I’m sorry.”
“Me neither,” said Ippei with a little smile. “I’m glad you did it.”
“Yeah, that was awesome.” Mairin did a rapid transformation once more to add to the conversation.
“Or maybe I could have done worse,” Seiki pondered. “He definitely deserved worse, so I didn’t need to hold back. He knew about the demons, and what he did… I mean, he’s obviously a traitor and… what, he walks away from all this?”
Mairin popped into her human form again. “Wait, you held back on that punch?”
“The guy was… old.” Seiki sighed. “I guess it was unconscious.” Now in retrospect, he doubted he could have done anything to seriously harm the Chamberlain. Even if he had gone up to the man with a dagger, the guards would have stopped him.
A brief moment of silence followed, and Seiki looked up to see the kitsune girl staring at him, her eyes wide with an emotion he could not decipher. “Oh, Seiki.” That was all she said before she retreated back into her fox form.
Ippei shook his head in amusement. “You know what? I’m starting to think that they wanted you to do that just from how it’s all constructed. And,
to be honest, an hour is pretty lenient.”
They had already sat out more than half of their time, and to Seiki it did seem a long time to be wasting precious play and Festival hours on. “What do you mean?”
“Plus, we didn’t lose Honor Points. It’s almost like they wanted you to get really mad.”
Seiki blinked. “Why?”
“So you’ll have to spend God knows how many levels doing the Inner Palace quest line just to see Mazutomo get his comeuppance.” Ippei let out a groan. “If you guys ever do that, just tell me about it in detail, all right? No way I’m setting foot in this place ever again.”
Seiki thought his friend did not sound that confident in his conviction.
“Still... we’re getting punished for this,” said Seiki.
Ippei looked at him. “There’s always a price to pay to do the right thing,” he said seriously. “Honor and sacrifice, Unit Chief.”
Seiki let out a laugh and shook his head. “Okay, so, apparently that last objective was a quest-ending objective, so… it’s not simply just pick any three. Some of them just, well, end the quest? Like, I don’t get it. I don’t understand how it’s supposed to work. Is getting arrested part of the quest, too?”
Ippei thought for a moment. “Probably not. An hour is way too long to be by design, but…” He stopped and looked toward the cell door. “I guess, it allows for this upcoming conversation.”
Seiki followed his friend’s gaze. In front of the cell, the white fox had stood up, ears perked on high alert. Indeed, muffled footsteps were coming down the corridor. Seiki kept close watch on the kitsune’s body language, but after a moment of anticipation, she obviously relaxed and sat back down. Seiki remembered then that kitsune could sense danger, and he wondered if that worked reliably to clue them in on the presence of hostile or friendly NPCs.
What appeared was the kindly face of Chamberlain Giichi, who gave them a polite smile as he peered into their cell. “How are you doing in here?”
“I see. This is a… debrief,” said Ippei, chuckling at his own choice of word before looking up at their visitor. “Fine, Lord Chamberlain. We’ve got… twenty-two minutes to go.”
In a familiar burst of white smoke, Mairin turned back into her human form. “What’s going to happen to Captain Tsukuda? You’ll take care of that, right?”
The Chamberlain did not appear surprised by her sudden transformation. “Yes, I have fortunately been able to make some arrangements. Captain Tsukuda’s body will be transported back to his hometown for a proper burial, in secret, of course.”
“Does Lieutenant Kato know?” asked Mairin.
“Not for certain,” said Chamberlain Giichi. “I couldn’t risk that. But, yes, he knows that Captain Tsukuda will not be left to burn with enemy soldiers.”
“But he’ll still die a traitor?” said Seiki, more darkly than he had intended.
“Until we clear his name a zillion Inner Palace quests from now,” said Mairin confidently. “Okay, let’s get to it. When can we kill the evil chamberlain guy?”
Ippei let out a sigh, and Chamberlain Giichi shook his head. “I’m afraid things are not that easy, ojo-san.”
Seiki thought for a moment. “Why did we have to keep the Demonic Clan involvement a secret? If the demons are in the Palace, wouldn’t we want… well, everyone… to be aware of the fact?”
The Chamberlain looked at him. “The Demonic Clan has always been here in some form or another, exerting their influence to try to win this war,” he said simply, as if it was common knowledge.
“Of course,” said Ippei. “Or there would be no plot.”
“Oh, no,” said Chamberlain Giichi. “There’s enough plotting already around here. Trust me.”
Ippei let out a chuckle. “True.”
“And that’s exactly the unfortunate reason,” said Chamberlain Giichi. “Taking advantage of the nature of this place, the Demonic Clan agents have involved an alarming number of noblemen and ladies in this plot with the sake shipment. Can you imagine what will happen if the Shogun finds out that it has led to a Demonic Clan plot?”
“Oh,” said Mairin. “Heads will roll.”
The Chamberlain nodded. “You know how suspicious Lord Shogun is with anything that has to do with the Demonic Clan. A plot of this scale will empty half the court.”
“Which might not be a bad thing,” said Mairin. “Because if your city’s at war with the Demonic Clan and you’re still busy with petty political scheming, you kinda deserve it.”
Chamberlain Giichi laughed. “Not all of them were willingly involved. But, yes, that’s true. I would love to have more men like Lieutenant Kato in the noble court.”
“Except men like that don’t survive in the noble court,” said Ippei.
“No. But we can’t choose. Sometimes we have to make do with the kinds of people we have. It’s about using power to balance power. Like I said, it’s quite a complicated game.”
Seiki was still trying to recall the details of the incident. “That letter from Commander… uh…”
“Commander Yajima?” said Chamberlain Giichi. “Yes. Captain Tsukuda had it on him.”
Seiki blinked. “I thought you, uh… pulled something.”
“Me, too, Chamberlain Giichi,” said Mairin. “You seem like the kind of person who would be able to pull that off.”
Seiki wondered if Mairin knew something he was not aware of, since she seemed to have done more Civil Missions than he did.
“But you mean the letter was real?”
Chamberlain Giichi nodded. “That was foresight on Commander Yajima’s part. The letter was addressed to me, and worded vaguely enough to be used in any situation to deny any connection to whatever Captain Tsukuda might do. If he had been apprehended, it could have also been used as proof that he had intercepted the message to keep it from reaching me.”
“Why?” said Seiki.
“To keep the rest of the network safe.”
Mairin perked up. “Network?”
“You can fight this demon war on many fronts.” Chamberlain Giichi sounded a little mysterious, like when Ippei was trying to hint at something but did not want to give too much away. “An overt one, or a covert one.”
“Oh, okay, I see!” The kitsune’s eyes widened. “So you do a feudal Japan secret agent thing, sneaking around the Palace, pulling off secret plots, tilting the balance of power, hiding bodies in the alleyways, figuring out who is working with the Demonic Clan?”
Seiki blinked. “Now that you put it like that, I guess I understand.” He was not sure he would ever be good enough at it to actually enjoy it, but at least he could see the attraction.
The Chamberlain heaved a sigh. “What I’m concerned about is now Lieutenant Kato will become a target. Captain Tsukuda was determined to keep him out of it.”
“To be honest,” said Mairin. “If they don’t stop messing with Lieutenant Kato, I swear he’s gonna turn to the dark side soon. So first you kill his father, then you kill his men, and now you have to kill his best friend?”
“And you made him do paperwork,” added Ippei. “What’s wrong with you people?”
Chamberlain Giichi gave him a look, but made no comment. “Anyway, I’m here to let you know that you’re not yet out of danger. Mazutomo has his men waiting just outside. When the Palace Guards come to free you, light this on fire, then make your way to the end of the corridor. Take the second small door on the left. There’s a horse cart waiting.”
He produced a bundle of items wrapped in cloth from behind his long sleeves and placed it in front of the prison cell. “Good luck. I hope to see you again at some point.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Ippei, somehow sounding a little resigned.
“Thanks, Chamberlain Giichi. You’re awesome.” Mairin was already taking apart what they had been given. In the bundle appeared to be a small pile of weapons, and Seiki was relieved to recognize two of them as his Hikari an
d Kohagane dagger. There were also three Charms they had earlier left with the registration desk.
“Nice!” said Mairin as she picked up her pearl and her slim dagger, before passing the rest of them one by one through the bars into the cell.
“Quality of life,” said Ippei in appreciation as he reequipped his weapon. “This saves us the trouble of having to go back through the crowd. He mentioned a cart, so hopefully it drops us off right in front of the Society.”
Seiki was somewhat relieved. “So we’re coming to the end of the quest.”
“Unless there’s yet another twist and Giichi turns out to be the mastermind behind it all, the Demon Lord himself in disguise,” said Ippei.
Seiki had trouble telling how much of it was a joke. “Seriously, no way, right? I like the guy.”
“No way Chamberlain Giichi is a bad guy,” said Mairin, her eyes lighting up as she noticed two more [instance items] at the bottom of the pile. “And apparently he’s got a bit of a sense of humor.”
The first was a paper-wrapped package about the shape and size of a tennis ball, which was much heavier than it looked. The second was a simple bronze key.
Kurochie Smoke Bomb [instance item] Use fire to activate, then run.
Skeleton Key [instance item] Which door was that for again?
“Second small door on the left,” said Seiki as he saw that Mairin was about to ask. “At the end of the corridor.”
The kitsune smiled. “Thanks. I knew you would remember. So now we just wait?”
“Sixteen minutes,” said Ippei.
Seiki reequipped his weapons, feeling a strange kind of relief at somehow being whole again. He spent a few seconds looking at the familiar Master’s Army Plate before tying it back on his belt and tucking it under his armor—only to find the intended Charm Slot already occupied.
“Oh, thanks for this,” he said, returning Ippei’s charm that had been given to him in an emergency earlier, a tiny bag of embroidered black cloth labeled Genbu Charm of Longevity, +8% maximum health. He felt slightly surprised as he could sense his health pool dropping as if he had taken damage. “I think it helped with…Wait.”