by Nikita Thorn
Seiki nodded and retrieved all his other invitations for a look.
Formal Invitation Letter [Fuyu of the Ichikeya] – [Seiki]: allows access to the host’s private reception room during the Night of the White Dragon at the end of the Pacchi Festival: Second Floor Tsubaki Reception Room. Crafted by Fuyu of Ichikeya.
Formal Invitation Letter [Kentaro of the Crafters’ Guild] – [Seiki]: allows access to the host’s private reception room during the Night of the White Dragon at the end of the Pacchi Festival: Third Floor Sumire Reception Room. Crafted by Kentaro of the Crafters’ Guild.
Formal Invitation Letter [Shinshioka Scientific Society] – [Seiki]: allows access to the clan’s private reception room during the Night of the White Dragon at the end of the Pacchi Festival: Fourth Floor Shobu Reception Room. Crafted by Kazuki of the Shinshioka Scientific Society.
Formal Invitation Letter [ ] – [Seiki]: allows access to the host’s private reception room during the Night of the White Dragon at the end of the Pacchi Festival: Fifth Floor Himawari Reception Room.
“Seems like I have one of each,” Seiki noted, somehow grimly amused.
“Then it works out perfectly,” said the Banquet Guide.
“Do you have any idea why this last one doesn’t have the sender’s name?” Seiki showed the NPC the invitation.
“That is the Himawari Reception Room on the fifth floor,” said the Banquet Guide as he gestured behind him. “You may take the stairs over there.”
Seiki tried a different question. “Is there a way to send a message to your host without going to their room?”
“You may use the invitation box in each of the rooms to send and receive invitations,” the man replied. “There is an ink set in the box for you to use.”
“Uh… is there a way to see who wrote the invitation?”
“The name of your host should be on your invitation. If they belong to a clan, they can either invite you to their personal Reception Room or their clan’s Reception Room.”
Seiki pointed to the blank spot where the sender name should be. “What about this?”
“That is the Himawari Reception Room on the fifth floor,” said the man.
“Okay, so there’s no script for this. I’m stuck in a FAQ loop now.” Seiki gave up.
The Banquet Guide led Seiki through the front door and stepped into a corner before the staircase. “I’ll be here if you need any assistance. There will be extra written instructions in the Reception Rooms themselves, but you can always come out to find me if you need company.”
Seiki blinked. “You mean… oh, I see… if you don’t have friends online and you need someone to talk to.” He had never considered that point before, but he supposed being alone in a tiny room for a couple hours would be a little depressing. “That’s... thoughtful of you.”
“You can also leave open invitations with me that I can offer to other guests looking for company.”
Seiki smiled. “I have way more invitations than I need.” For that, he was genuinely grateful.
Raising his hand to thank the NPC, Seiki turned his attention to the interior of the Banquet Tower. The design was straightforward. Beyond the small lobby was a staircase to the left and a shoji wall to the right, separated by a wide corridor. The flooring was reddish polished wood, which looked brand new, with numerous floor lamps along the way that managed to illuminate the place much more than their gentle glow should be able to. Technically, there should be additional space to the left beyond the stairs, but that part was a solid wall and did not seem accessible.
There was a sliding door panel in the middle of the right-hand shoji wall, and a tiny vertical sign next to it said, ‘Asagao Reception Room’.
The ground floor was allegedly available to all players if they chose to log in during this time, regardless of whether they had participated in Festival activities or not. Seiki was not expecting much as he slid the door open.
The room was not at all shabby. It was at least bigger than the Yanagi Alley starter territory. The only items in it were three boxes in the corner: a large chest that gave him access to his whole storage, a smaller box with the word ‘invitation’ engraved on it, and, finally, a medium-sized polished wooden chest with a strangely familiar design. It took Seiki a second to recognize that it was exactly the same as the Mission reward boxes that Chamberlain Giichi sometimes handed out.
He decided to finish his exploring before getting to the rewards. The far end of the room was more sliding shoji panels, and beyond it was a small wooden deck enclosed by a tall bamboo fence, which Seiki was sure was unscalable. He stepped out and found the open sky above him.
A rush of wind howled high in the sky, as a silvery white stream of glittering scales shot across the dark canopy of midnight blue.
Seiki held his breath at his first glimpse of the White Dragon. The guardian deity of Shinshioka looked exactly like dragons in paintings, with a whiskered snout and serpentine body, clawed feet and sharp flame-shaped spikes along its back. Given how high up it was, the dragon was gigantic, perhaps even bigger than a standard passenger train. The ground floor only offered the underside view of the mythical beast, but it was still a magnificent sight. The relative silence of its flight added to its ethereal quality.
Seiki continued to stare as the White Dragon twisted in the air, swooping low and rising back up, before making another pass by the Banquet Tower. It then turned right and disappeared from view. In less than a minute, the dragon returned, following the same three-dimensional path through Shinshioka’s night sky.
Seiki thought he would be happy just to lie on the deck and watch it go by for the next three hours, but he knew higher floors offered even better views.
He turned his attention back to the room and crouched down beside the Mission reward box. The first items in the container were a dozen of the best shop-standard Healing Potions. Seiki could now purchase better player-crafted ones, so it was unlikely he would ever use them at his current level, but considering that the potions were worth eight gold each and the shops bought them back at the same price, the total value would easily cover two months’ rent.
Besides the potions, there were two wooden items tagged with the word [Toy]. The first was a bamboo copter that could be spun with your hands and which would then lift into the air with nearly unrealistic efficiency. Seiki could not resist trying it out three times in a row and watching its erratic flight across the room, before finally reminding himself that he had other things to do. The other toy came in a dyed hemp bag and was labeled a Festival Daruma Otoshi Set. The contents appeared to be several wooden blocks, which he decided not to test out at the moment.
In the reward box was also a flat piece of polished wood, the Asagao Room Kaiseki Tray [Instance Item], which would summon a Banquet Attendant to come serve a five-course meal when it was placed on the floor.
At the bottom of the loot pile was a pair of Black Festival Tabi socks, which offered him an extra upgrade of +2 defense from what he was wearing.
“Wouldn’t say no to this,” said Seiki. The upgrade was rather minor, but extra defense was always welcome. He grabbed the items, wondering if he should put them on immediately, before realizing that underneath were eleven more pairs of socks with the exact same stats, all in different colors, some with rather extravagant patterns.
Seiki burst out laughing at the sight. “I see. Thanks, Lord Shogun. Of course, someone’s gotta give you socks.”
These were all the rewards. The only other item was a piece of fine paper, whose shape and size Seiki was now very familiar with.
Formal Invitation Letter [Lord Shogun] – [Seiki]: allows access to the official private reception room during the Night of the White Dragon at the end of the Pacchi Festival: Second Floor Tsubaki Reception Room. Crafted by the Palace Scribes.
Seiki could see now how the different tiers of rewards unlocked. Everyone was entitled to the ground floor box, and if they had done enough during
the Festival, they were given additional invitations to subsequent floors. With Festival Tokens or Favors, you could get the Shogun’s invitations in advance, like Kentaro did, which would allow you to send out personal invitations to friends beforehand.
Putting everything but the dinner tray in his inventory box, Seiki proceeded toward the second floor. The Banquet Guide gave him a slight bow as Seiki passed him on the way up the stairs.
The corridor of the second floor had the exact same layout as the ground floor, except that the wood frames on the shoji panels looked a little more expensive and the sign that said ‘Tsubaki Reception Room’ showed a gracefully-drawn flower motif in the bottom corner.
Seiki made sure he had his own invitation from the Shogun at the top of his inventory before sliding the door open. If he had been pleasantly surprised by the ground floor room, he was blown away by this one. The Tsubaki Room was twice the size of Seiki’s newest territory in Furuhashi South, and would easily host twenty people. Along the walls were decorative painted panels, simple but classy.
Like the ground floor room, a set of sliding panels led to an outdoor area. The deck was twice the size of the one on the ground floor. It had no visible railings, but instead a string tied about six inches above the floor with multiple strips of seal paper that said ‘Spirit Confinement’ to keep players on the platform. Seiki went to the edge and found it was impossible to will himself to go within a foot of the boundary or to attempt to jump off.
If higher floors had similar designs, Seiki suspected this was yet another instancing trick. Only about a third of the deck was under the slanting roof, and Seiki could step out far enough to look back at the building. Unsurprisingly, no higher decks were visible from the second floor, and he could only see closed shoji windows on the third to fifth floor, behind which were bright lamp lights.
There was actually a sixth floor, which remained unlit, and he looked at it for a moment, wondering what kind of content it was saved for.
The deck offered a fuller view of the sky and the passing White Dragon. Again, since it was an instancing trick, the mythical beast was not following the same path as the version visible from the ground floor, but was now lower and further away in the sky, so that people watching it would not need to lie flat on the deck to see it.
Seiki was suddenly very glad Kentaro had managed to unlock the third floor, with allegedly even a better view. He tore his eyes away from the glittering dragon and turned his attention back to the room.
Again, there were three boxes along the left wall: an inventory storage box, an ‘invitation’ box, and a reward box, the last of which was now a little bigger than a Mission box, and had an inlaid pink flower motif on its lid.
The state of the room was already giving Seiki heightened expectations of the rewards as he opened the box.
The first thing was a cloth pouch with heavy metal bits in it. Seiki at first thought it was straight gold, until he opened it and let out a delighted cry. The pouch was filled to the brim with a mixture of War Tokens and War Coins. He poured it all out onto his hand and watched them disappear into his currency menu. There was a total of 30 Tokens and 72 Coins, and he wondered if it was a reward for having participated in the Hitsu Temple during the Festival Week.
He would have been more than happy with just that, as it meant generous upgrades for all his troops.
That was, however, just the beginning. The next item came in a polished wooden sheath.
You have received: Side Blade of the Sacred Beast Byakko. +29 attack. +9 speed. Damage 3.1. Speed 1.7. Range 0.4. Effect: every time, within 2 seconds after the blade is unsheathed, the user gains the ability to jump twice as far as they normally would be able to.
The dagger was about eight inches long and was double-edged, with an ornately carved hilt in the shape of a tiger. Like all the daggers he had received so far, the stats were not completely on par with his current Kohagane, but the effect was indeed interesting. Seiki did not fail to notice, however, that the dagger drops were at least getting close to the range of his Kohagane, meaning that in a few levels he would need to start looking for a real replacement for his Secondary Weapon.
Next were two folded pieces of clothes, dark gray in color, made from the same fabric that was soft and silky to the touch. One was a thin robe and the other a pair of loose pants.
You have received: Court-Grade Nagagi. +28 defense. +2% health regeneration. +2% maximum health. Inner Body Slot.
You have received: Court-Grade Hakama. +22 defense. +2% health regeneration. +2% maximum health. Inner Legs Slot.
Seiki laughed. “And now the Shogun gives you underwear.”
These were a set, and a decently significant upgrade, as not a lot of Inner Slot items often dropped. The extra maximum health was also rare for these pieces.
Apart from that, there were two more jade [treasure] carvings that would probably get him about twenty to thirty Favors when he turned them in at the Palace.
At the bottom of the box were several single-use items: two potions that restored durability on a particular piece of gear, two that cleared one level of Fatigue, and two that added 50% resistance to all poisons. Very interestingly, there was also a Shinshioka Teleport Scroll, which returned the user to their main private territory from anywhere within the City. While it was not that rare, it was extremely expensive to craft.
There was also a Golden Pear [Level 17 Mount Food], which he could feed to Fubuki to make her gain 20% speed while out of combat for one hour, plus a mysterious Metal Part [Quest Item] that promised a quest if he gave it to someone called Nakabe who resided in South City.
Again, there was a Tsubaki Room Kaiseki Tray [Instance Item] that could be used to summon a Banquet Attendant to start serving a luxurious meal.
Seiki had to get rid of a few duplicate monster parts he had no use for from his storage to make room for the extra items. Impressed with the rewards, he could not wait to see what Kentaro had managed to unlock in the third-floor room.
Before that, however, there was something else he had to do.
Seiki grimaced as he looked at the fifth floor invitation in his possession. He had to do it now. After seeing his friends it would be harder to leave, and he was quite certain Mairin would voice her opinion against it.
At the very least, he could just open the door and see what was inside. That would provide some clues as to what they were dealing with. If something was amiss, he could just leave.
Seiki left the Tsubaki Room and made his way up the stairs. As expected, the corridors of the higher floors became more elaborated. The third floor had painted shoji panels. The fourth floor’s panels were not only painted, but filled with motifs of lily-like purple and white flowers.
The fifth floor was bright yellow in hue. The door panels, unsurprisingly, featured painted sunflowers with petals inlaid with gold. The sign in front of the door was metal, and had the words ‘Himawari Reception Room’ engraved on it in calligraphic script.
Seiki stopped in front of the room. The stairway and the corridors were accessible to anyone, and he could imagine people coming up just to explore this door they could not open. Seiki almost wished he was in the same situation.
Despite the display of opulence, there was something bizarre about the floor. At first, he wondered if the sense of dread was purely psychological, but then he realized what the issue was. The third and fourth floor corridors had automated background noises coming from within the reception rooms to suggest the presence of lively gatherings, kept muffled enough not to indicate the number of guests or the content of the conversation, but loud enough to effectively sell the feeling that there were indeed banquets going on.
The fifth floor, however, was deathly quiet. Behind the gilded sunflower doors, nothing moved.
Seiki took an uneasy glance at the invitation from the nameless sender again. It offered no further clues.
He held his breath as he reached for the recessed golden handle on
the door, a part of him wishing it would not budge.
It slid open.
In the doorway, just inches away from his face, was a figure with a white-painted wooden mask in a blood-red kimono.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Seiki almost slammed the door shut. Among the possible scenarios he had imagined regarding the invitation from the masked invaders, none involved him staring into their empty eye slits in the very first second.
Despite feeling his heart missing a beat, Seiki held his ground as he fought the overwhelming urge to draw back. The Society had concluded that these were likely players, and he had no desire to give them the reaction they wanted.
Soundlessly, the figure tilted its head to acknowledge his presence.
Seiki returned its gaze. Within the proximity, his brain now noticed many other details that he had never had time to pay attention to. The blood-red kimono had faint shiny flower patterns throughout, embroidered with glossy silk. The wig consisted of strands of loose black thread, much courser than human hair, and it was clearly not meant to be mistaken for something organic. The sneering mouth on the mask had a thin line of red paint above it, and behind the carved eye slits was nothing but darkness.
The figure was in a formal pose, pale hands clasped together on the side of its waist, mostly hidden within the long kimono sleeves. As tall as Seiki was, it was blocking the interior of the room from view, but the Himawari Room seemed to be radiating a golden light from within that framed the figure in an unworldly aura.
At this point, there should still be a soft boundary separating Seiki and the mysterious host. The moment the door opened, the instances connected, but it was one-way: he could step into the room, but anything within should not be able to reach out. Ippei had claimed this invisible wall was unbreachable, and Seiki believed him, although it hardly made the situation less unnerving.