by Nikita Thorn
Kage pointed to the house. “Go inside, talk to Sumiko and she’ll somehow get a horse cart to come. You can ride that all the way to Shinshioka. The quest will drop you off in the middle of the city. Remember, Ichikeya Inn by the West Gate. Talk to Mimura. They’re going to kill me now, so you should go before they see you.” He then added in an ominous voice, “You don’t want to offend the Shadow Manor.”
The box was in Seiki’s hand and, from the looks of it, there was no way the ninja was going to change his mind and take it back. “Okay,” he sighed. “But you’d better explain all this later so I’ll understand what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“Thanks man, I owe you.” said Kage. Then, he warned him. “But if you give the box to anyone else, I’ll make your life so miserable you’ll have to reroll just to get away from me, understood?”
Seiki didn’t completely understand, but the ninja didn’t seem to care. The man tossed up a handful of black dust, and as it settled around him, his body slowly faded into the background. Now that Seiki knew what to look for, he could almost make out the shape of the man there.
“By the way,” Kage’s almost-disembodied voice whispered hastily. “Do me another huge favor and stay in character when talking to Mimura, okay? They’re very serious over there.”
Seiki was studying the box in his hand. It was made of polished dark brown wood, inlaid with silver and gold patterns. He could not help but notice how pleasantly smooth it felt in his hand. On the side was a keyhole.
“And don’t try to open that,” came the whisper again. “It’s blood-locked. You can’t pick it.” It was followed by another soft curse. “They’re here. Go!”
Just then, faint gallops could be heard from afar. Seiki quickly slipped into the house. The sun had set low enough that it would not be possible for anyone from outside to see in. He watched as three black horses drew up. The riders, two male, one female, all wore tight black tunics and trousers, in the same style as Kage.
“He couldn’t have gone far,” said Nichi of the Shadow Manor [Level 25].
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19] got off his horse. He was a tall man with short-cropped hair and he held something that looked like a crescent silver glaive in his hand.
Seiki was so absorbed in observing the newcomers that it was not until someone was right behind him that he finally took notice. He jumped and realized it was Manji.
“Ah, Seiki!” said Manji, much more loudly than what Seiki remembered to be his habit. “Don’t forget to deliver my letter!” The old man had been repeating that ever since he had entrusted Seiki with the task.
The three newcomers outside seemed startled.
“What’s that?” asked Hibi of the Shadow Manor [Level 19], a small, nimble girl with half her face hidden behind black cloth. She, too, got off her horse and was looking around carefully.
Taka was staring straight at the window, but apparently could not make out what was inside. He snorted. “It’s probably just Old Manji talking to one of those younglings of his.”
“Oh, him,” said Hibi, slight annoyance in her voice.
Nichi, who seemed older than the two and appeared to be the leader of the group, paid them no attention. “Find him.”
“Sure, Chief.” Hibi closed her eyes as if focusing on something. Two seconds later, she opened them and pointed toward the back of the house. “That way!”
Nichi dismounted. The three ran past the window, out of Seiki’s sight.
In the house behind him, Manji’s wife Sumiko had also appeared. Seiki cringed as she exclaimed loudly. “Ah, Seiki! If you need to go to Shinshioka, I’m sure I can get you a ride from Farmer Taro who goes into the city several times a week. Should I let him know?”
The three people outside did not react to Sumiko’s speech, either because they had thought it unimportant or because they had not heard her.
“Uh, yes, please,” said Seiki, as quietly as possible. He was still straining his ears to hear what was going on outside.
From the back of the house came Kage’s yelp as he was discovered.
“Give us the box.” It was the girl Hibi’s voice.
“Traitor,” yelled Taka. There was a thud and Kage grunted. Presumably, someone had hit him.
Seiki felt uneasy, for a lot of reasons, one being how realistic it all seemed.
Nichi’s voice was stern. “We can always take it from his dead body.”
“You’ll never find it,” cried Kage.
“This is a waste of time,” said Nichi.
Seiki heard a noise like something whishing through the air, and Kage’s curse ended abruptly in the middle of the word.
At that moment, Sumiko, who was appropriately unaware of what was going on behind her house, announced happily. “I hear Farmer Taro’s horse cart!”
Seiki was still listening intently. His best guess was that they would now search for the box, which Seiki was still holding in his hand. He gave the box a little shake to try and figure out its content, but there was nothing loose inside. After a few seconds, Taka’s voice could be heard, full of frustration. “It’s not on him!”
“Did he drop it somewhere?” asked Hibi. “Or did he manage to post it?”
“There aren’t any postage houses in Kakura, so he couldn’t have,” Nichi said.
There was some more ruckus as the three searched the area.
Seiki could now hear the cart coming nearer. He poked his head out and saw a middle-aged man with a straw hat riding in a single-horse open cart. A dim lantern was swinging back and forth on its hook on the left side of the cart.
Farmer Taro slowed when he passed in front of Manji’s house. “I’m going to Shinshioka. You need anything?” he cried.
Manji shouted. “Yes, take this young man with you.”
Farmer Taro beckoned merrily. “Hop on, young man!”
Seiki scrambled onto the cart, and discovered that it was full of hay that served as a cushion for some large earthen jars.
The Shadow Manor people must have heard a little of the scripted conversation between Manji and Farmer Taro. From behind the house, Hibi could be heard yelling. “Who’s there?”
Taka’s voice was full of impatience. “I’ve told you. It’s just Old Manji.”
“No, that’s Farmer Taro,” said Nichi, in a tone of authority. “Go check who it is and if they saw anything.”
Farmer Taro had already urged the horse on and the cart started to move forward. Turning toward Seiki, the farmer announced, “All right, we’re off!” He was a plump man with a friendly demeanor. “Going to the capital for the first time, young man?”
Seiki could see Taka and Hibi emerge from the shadows beside the house. There was no way they would not identify him. Thankfully, by a stroke of luck, Manji spotted the two ninjas and ran toward them, exclaiming happily, “Ah, Hibi, Taka, I have not seen you in a while!”
Hibi let out an exasperated grunt and pushed the old man aside. The cart had now picked up speed and was moving further and further away.
“Who is that?” Taka turned to ask his companion.
Hibi peered hard but then shrugged. Seiki was relieved that it was too dark for her to see him.
“Should we go after it?” Hibi asked.
“Maybe Sense it?” suggested Taka.
Seiki saw the ninja girl standing still as if concentrating on something. A strange sensation swept over him, as if someone had dragged a wet cloth across his body. Seiki shuddered but kept still as he realized that this was probably the same ability that she had used to discover Kage earlier.
“I don’t know. It’s just a Level 5.” Hibi could be heard saying, her voice full of uncertainty. “With very low lifetime experience as well.”
Taka’s reply could hardly be heard anymore over the distance. “It’s probably nobody.”
In the dim light, Seiki could see the two walk back behind the house. Manji was, after all, a patient and kind old man. Seiki
had to laugh as he heard Manji shout after the ninjas that they should come back to visit him and Sumiko sometime.
Seiki just then became aware that his heart had been beating faster than usual, and he shook his head in amusement at himself. For a moment, he had forgotten that it was a game, and he even wondered what could be so bad about offending the Shadow Manor or whatever it was called.
The ride was bumpy and the hay was itchy against his skin, but the night wind was pleasantly cool. The road cut across farmlands and fields into the pine woods he had visited before, and further over more farmlands. Since the sun had set, the roadside was completely dark most of the time, but Seiki thought he could sometimes catch strange movement in the grass. Once, he even thought he saw something that looked like a bluish flame floating above the grass in the distance.
Farmer Taro was talking about the capital city, Shinshioka, with a sense of pride, boasting about its prosperous shops and stalls, and masters of all kinds of skills and trades.
“It is a dangerous world,” said Farmer Taro, after having finished telling him about how sleeping in inns, or at least indoors, helped keep his energy generation at a normal rate. “It’s best to be equipped with skills to defend yourself. There are different kinds of skills. Some choose the way of the sword. Some choose ancient magic. Some choose to help their allies in other ways.”
Seiki realized the man was talking about the classes in a roundabout manner so as not to break the illusion of reality. He remembered reading something about the classes in the manual, but he had not given it much thought.
“What do you think would suit me?” Seiki asked, half to himself. He was not expecting real advice, but was just curious how Farmer Taro would answer.
“There are training dojos throughout the capital. You can go and train there to get a feel of what branches of skills you are interested in.”
Amused by the man’s perfectly safe answer, he kept asking, “No, what do you think, Farmer Taro?”
“I think you should try going to the dojos to train in different kinds of skills and decide.”
Seiki laughed. “All right, fine. What would you choose for yourself?”
Farmer Taro sighed. “All these skills are equally useful and would make my life so much easier against the monsters roaming our lands. I’d really recommend you to try out the dojos.”
Nice avoidance, Seiki thought. He was starting to wonder how far this could go and decided to experiment. “Okay, what’s the point of this game?”
Farmer Taro looked at him. “I am not quite sure what you mean.”
“This… world,” Seiki hesitated on the word. “This… reality.”
A female voice giggled. “Talking to NPCs for fun?”
Seiki looked up and saw that there were two people riding alongside the carriage: Mairin [Level 6] and Kentaro [Level 7], both on identical brown horses.
Mairin was a petite girl in a white dress with a pearl-laden hairpin in her hair. Kentaro, a tall young man with short hair, had a long staff strapped on his back.
“Going to Shinshioka?” asked Mairin.
Seiki nodded.
“It’s a pretty long ride, and Farmer Taro keeps telling you about the dojos,” commented Kentaro.
“Because some people don’t realize they need to go find them,” said Mairin. “Like someone I know.” She giggled.
“Hey, it’s not that obvious,” said Kentaro. “Especially my one, which isn’t even called a dojo!”
Mairin did not answer him, but turned to Seiki.
“So, Seiki,” she said, taking note of his name in a rather business-like manner. Apparently, she had deemed that the initial chit-chat had been established. “We were wondering if you could help us.”
Kentaro chimed in. “It’s a Level 6 elite group quest that we’re having problems with.”
“Will take about ten minutes,” Mairin said quickly.
Seiki thought about it. “I’m not Level 6 yet,” he reminded them.
“Oh, that’s no problem,” said Kentaro. “I think you’re almost there. On the way, there’s plenty of stuff for you to kill, and by the time we get there you should have leveled up.”
Seiki thought for a few more seconds and saw no harm in agreeing. Since they promised it was going to be ten minutes, he decided that it would not hurt if the box delivery would be slightly delayed. After all, Kage did not ask him to deliver it as fast as possible. “Yeah, okay,” he said.
Mairin seemed overly happy. “You’ll need to get off that cart. The quest is over there,” she said, pointing into the darkness somewhere to the left.
Seiki leapt off the cart, and after he confirmed twice with Farmer Taro that he really wanted to get off there before they reached the capital, the man finally drove away—his earthen jars jangling softly in the hay at the back of his cart.
Without the lamp light, the darkness took a bit of time to adjust to. Seeing that Seiki did not have a mount, the two people got off their horses and sent them away, making comments about how slow these cheap horses were anyway.
“I’m a houshi,” said Kentaro, by way of giving a proper introduction. “She’s a kitsune.”
“Right,” said Seiki, wondering if he should know what that meant or implied.
They were already off the path and walking through the open field. It was all quiet except for the rustling of the knee-length grass they were wading through. The moon was bright above their heads and, in the horizon, the black mountain range could still be made out against the gray sky.
“You can visit specific dojos to choose your class,” explained Kentaro. “Or in my case, it was a temple. A houshi is a priest, so I heal. And a kitsune…” He stopped on purpose to look at his companion. “A kitsune is a fox-spirit thing that doesn’t do much.”
“Hey!” Mairin protested.
Kentaro paid her no attention and went on. “And the problem is, once you’ve chosen your class, your abilities are modified. My Focused Strike became a Hinder, which is great—”
“When someone else is taking the beating instead,” interrupted Mairin.
“It sounds bad when you put it that way,” said Kentaro, as he gave Mairin a glare. “Anyway, you’re joining our group, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
You are now in a group with Kentaro [Level 7] and Mairin [Level 6].
“Okay, now concentrate on the word ‘Hinder’,” said Kentaro.
Seiki did as he was told, and knowledge flashed in his mind.
Hinder [Ability Information]: reduces the target’s speed by 30% and the damage from their next attack by 20%. Range: 15.
“Yeah, it does no damage. See what I mean about Hinder being useless?” sighed the houshi.
“Well, it can be useful right now,” said Mairin. “Here comes something.”
She pointed into the darkness. At first, Seiki was not sure what she hinted at, but slowly he noticed something floating in the air, like a piece of cloth. Getting closer, he could detect what it was.
Ittan-Momen [Level 6]. HP 112/112.
Seiki could not help but feel a bit confused. The thing looked like a piece of cloth fluttering innocently in the wind.
“That thing is pretty nasty,” warned Mairin. “It tries to strangle you, so watch out.”
Kentaro held out his hand, and from it a faint bluish spark flew out at the piece of cloth. As soon as it connected, the Ittan-Momen turned and started rushing toward them. Seiki could hear it flapping furiously in the air.
Seiki stepped forward. At Level 5, his Focused Strike was much stronger and dealt around 40 damage, but it required much more energy as well.
Not sure what to expect, he took his stance as the thing made its approach. His first Focused Strike hit the Ittan-Momen squarely in the middle of it length. It was a strange feeling as the cloth yielded. As soon as his blow connected, the Ittan-Momen twisted and wrapped itself around his hand. Its other end curved downward, aiming for his n
eck.
Seiki had never imagined fighting a piece of cloth before, and at that moment he realized there was something deeply disturbing about the idea. Raising his left hand, he caught the cloth before it could wrap around his neck. The fabric writhed in his hand, its loose end suddenly coiled around his fingers. Startled, Seiki pulled it down and kicked at it as hard as possible. In a flash, it unfurled itself, freeing both his hands, and it flew skyward, floating above his head like a kite in the wind.
Ittan-Momen [Level 6]. HP 63/112.
Seiki only had time to catch his breath when the cloth turned in mid-air and shot down at him like an eagle. Seiki swung his left hand and blocked its advance. Its tail end whisked around and slapped at his chest. Seiki grabbed it in the middle of its body and kicked it again.
Suddenly, a numb sensation shot through his hand as he felt the cloth draining his life. With a surprised gasp, Seiki let go, and he ducked out of the way as its tail end once again tried to find his neck. He thought he could hear Mairin yelling something, but his sole focus was on not getting killed by a piece of cloth right now.
Ittan-Momen [Level 6]. HP 52/112.
Seiki leapt up and grabbed it in his left hand before it could fly up once more. His right hand shot forward with his second Focused Strike, and he heard a loud tear. His whole left arm had already gone numb from whatever magic it was using, forcing him to let go again.
Ittan-Momen [Level 6]. HP 11/112.
Now it was trying to flit away, with a long tear almost across its length. Seiki leapt up and hit it in the middle with a right hook. The Ittan-Momen split in two and went completely lifeless. The two halves slowly, and perhaps even gracefully, fell to the ground.
Ittan-Momen slain. 35 XP gained.
Still somewhat uneasy by what just happened and not really knowing what to think, Seiki turned to look at his two group members, and suddenly saw they were fighting another one of these.
Ittan-Momen [Level 6]. HP 47/112.