by Nikita Thorn
“Oh, I’m definitely going to watch this,” said Ippei with an excited gleam in his eyes. “If people can get this going on regularly, then I might really give East Gate stuff a chance.”
Seiki sighed. He would have liked to stay and watch, too, but it had been a very long night already. And he feared people would carry out their threat and set a timer on his safety override if he pushed it any further.
Ippei handed him a pile of post paper and a piece of charcoal. “Tomorrow, come in late, after ten, so it would be dark. Rogami’s getting destroyed pretty badly right now, so they should vacate the spot. But if not, I’ll send instructions.”
Seiki spotted a large elm tree he could log out from not too far away. He said goodnight to his friends and climbed as high as he could for a safe spot. Below him, the battle was still raging, with more and more people arriving from all directions. Most of them were Fuoka Army, riding in on armored horses, some with NPC flag-bearers running alongside them.
According to Renshiro, the Fuoka Army was a wandering clan, having lost their home territory in Fuoka to the Rogami Clan, and now they descended on their enemy with a kind of vengeful glee. Seiki glanced around and found that it was very deep into the night. The Wilderness beyond the battlefield was still, quiet and pitch-black. From the elm, he could see Ippei watching the spectacle and laughing and cursing as stray arrows made their way through the thickets. As for Mairin, she seemed to be sending out heals to help the Fuoka Army. It was only now that Seiki realized that the Wilderness was perhaps as populated as Shinshioka itself, and somehow he no longer missed the city.
Seiki cheated and stayed to watch for a bit longer from the spot on the tall elm tree, before forcing himself to exit.
The day after went in a quick blur, and since Ippei had told him to come in late, he took his time to sort out his schedule and reply to messages. He even dropped by to have a brief chat with the floor supervisor on duty, so at least she could report that he had not been isolating himself. Somehow he was surprised the conversation was not as painful as he thought it would be. He was planning for a rather short night, to give himself grounds for defense should people start asking him questions.
The clock read 10.18 when he logged back in, and Seiki found himself once again in the dusky lights of the Wilderness, which was something that used to make him feel very uneasy, but filled him with a strange kind of thrill tonight.
A pigeon was waiting for him on the elm branch.
Ippei [Level 12]: (22 minutes ago) The coast is clear. Rogami got completely annihilated. The main road is southeast from where you are. Foxy and I will be waiting here.
Ippei [Level 12]: (14 minutes ago) And keep the Sheathed Blade equipped just in case. No monsters around so no need for a weapon.
The sun had not completely set and it was not that difficult to work out the directions. Seiki slowly climbed down and whistled to Fubuki. The forest seemed completely empty now, leaving no trace of the battle last night. Before long, Seiki spotted a small fire in the distance. He got off his horse and walked up to his friends.
Ippei was sitting cross-legged by the fire. Beside him, his black horse, which he had not dismissed, was grazing lazily. Mairin was now wearing her newly-acquired green obi she had gotten from the quest, and she had gotten rid of the pink on her sleeves, leaving only white and green. She appeared to be conversing with another girl, also sitting by the fire, who was in a simple gray kimono.
Akari [Level 9] turned to look at him as she heard his footsteps approaching, and her eyes widened slightly in recognition, before a strange smile appeared on her lips.
Seiki stopped short as soon as he noticed her.
“Look, we’re not the craziest people around here,” said Mairin to Seiki, laughing. “Akari’s only Level 9.”
The last time Seiki had seen Akari, she was dead on the tatami floor of the reception room in the White Crane Hall, after she had provoked him to cause havoc in the clan territory.
The houshi girl seemed surprised to meet him here, but not alarmed, and the smile was still on her lips.
“What do you want?” said Seiki.
Ippei and Mairin exchanged a quizzical look, visibly puzzled by his tone.
“Who’s this?” said Akari, sounding perfectly innocent. “Oh, he’s the guy you’re waiting for?”
“What do you want?” asked Seiki again. He looked at his friends. “She’s the one who invaded the White Crane territory.” He was not sure how much detail he had gone into when telling his friends about the event, as it had not appeared entirely relevant. But her presence here surely spelled trouble.
Akari leapt to her feet. “What are you talking about?” she said, and if Seiki had not witnessed her little game before he would probably have believed her. The houshi spoke to Mairin, “I think your friend must have mistaken me for someone else.” She shrugged. “It’s all right. It happens, with all these names, you know.” She laughed before taking a step toward Seiki and holding out her hand. “Hi, uh, Seiki. I’m Akari.”
Now that her back was to the fire, Akari’s lips curled into another unreadable smile as she studied Seiki, who could only stare at her. It was definitely the same girl, but the way she had completely switched her mannerism was admittedly starting to spark doubt in his mind.
Seiki eyed her warily. “Who are you?”
“Oh, you can be so rude,” she said. “Let’s try again. Hello. I’m Akari.”
She reached out her right hand, and Seiki hesitated to take it. Suddenly, she was laughing, and in her hand appeared to be a Jade Steel sword in its black sheath with red trimmings—which she had just Pickpocketed from him.
Immediately, Seiki grabbed her wrist. However, she must have expected this and she dropped the sword off her right hand, caught it in her left waiting right under, and with a flick of her wrist made the sword disappear into her pocket.
That was when Mairin gasped. “She took all my money.”
Ippei patted his pants. “Mine, too.” He was instantly on his feet with his Hikari drawn. “Give it all back. Don’t think that I won’t kill a houshi.”
“You two sure had a lot of charges on your bag charms,” Akari said. “Don’t worry. You can all loot it back in a bit.” She smiled at Seiki. “And it might be better that it’s you.”
Seiki stared at her.
“What?” said Akari with a laugh. “Don’t want to kill a girl?”
“I’ve got no problems killing thieves,” said Ippei in a dangerous tone, taking a step closer, his Hikari gleaming in the firelight.
Akari laughed again. “Fortunately, I think you’ve got another person to do the dirty work. You see, I also stole from someone else. Walked in and lifted something important straight from their clan box, and here they are coming for me right now.” She nodded toward her right, which Seiki only now recognized as being the East Main Road.
Faint sounds of hooves were getting closer and, within seconds, two riders could be seen galloping in full speed down the road: Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21] and Susumu of the White Crane Order [Level 16], who drew their horses to a violent stop and leapt off the moment they spotted Akari by the road.
“Hey, you need to come back with us,” said Hiro, before noticing Seiki and his friends there.
Susumu—the ryoushi with six-arrowed Rapid Shots from earlier—had grabbed his long bow and was reaching toward the quiver strapped to his back.
“Seiki-san?” said Hiro in utter confusion.
“Don’t forget to loot,” Akari said to Seiki and his friends, before running out onto the road.
At the movement, Hiro turned his attention back toward the houshi in front of him. “What’s going—”
Before he could finish, an arrow whished through the air and struck the houshi girl in the middle of her chest. She collapsed without a noise.
Akari [Level 9]. HP 0/284. Lootable.
Hiro stared at her for a split second, before turning around to look at his
clan mate in shock.
“It wasn’t me! I swear, it wasn’t me!” Susumu said, appearing equally upset. The ryoushi still had an arrow in his hand, and his bow was unraised. So, he was probably not the shooter.
Hiro turned back to stare at the dead body in the middle of the road, then he looked up at Seiki. “It’s not what it looks like, Seiki-san.”
Having not the slightest clue what was going on, Seiki slowly walked up to the corpse and bent down to disperse it. He had a feeling they were all walking into a trap, but Akari had pretty much forced him to loot by Pickpocketing Ippei’s Jade Steel Sword.
Several items appeared in his hand.
You have received: 12 gold and 54 silver and 26 copper.
You have received: Jade Steel Sword. +42 attack. Damage 3.4. Speed 2.4. Range 1.7.
There was another item:
You have received: True-Lock Key. Made by Katsu.
The metal key was slim, golden, and fashioned with a small decorative white jewel in the middle of the bow.
Seiki gazed at it. Even without explanation, he knew exactly which key this was, and this happened to be the last thing he wanted in his possession right now.
He glanced up at Hiro, who was looking at the key in horror.
“It’s really not what it looks like,” said Hiro. “It wasn’t us.”
Thoughts raced through Seiki’s mind and, for a moment, he could not quite make sense of the situation they were in. Here, right in his hand, was something highly coveted by so many people, and which was the core of the entangled web of plots he had inadvertently helped start.
“So this key…” began Seiki, not sure what he was trying to ask.
Hiro looked extremely troubled. “You’ve got to believe me, Seiki-san. It really wasn’t us.”
“What really wasn’t you?” said a young woman’s voice. There was gentle rustling from the other side of the road, before Aina of the Fuoka Army [Level 22], in blue and silver armor and a long dark blue hakama, stepped forward, followed closely by Shouya of the Fuoka Army [Level 20] and Eisuke of the Fuoka Army [Level 22].
Aina had an arrow in her metal bow. “Didn’t expect to see you here, Hiro, Susumu.” She acknowledged the White Crane members civilly, albeit a little sternly.
Behind her, Eisuke in dark blue and black, with a long sword strapped across his back, stepped up onto the road and took a quick peek at the unusual gathering… until his eyes landed on the golden key in Seiki’s palm.
The man held his breath as he stared at the key, as if it was the last thing he had expected to find here. Seiki could feel a moment of apprehensive confusion descend upon them.
“That key,” said Eisuke, slowly.
“I think it’s yours,” Seiki said.
Eisuke’s eyes widened as he and Seiki recognized each other. This was the same man who had run from the Rogami Clan into the non-PVP South City a very long time ago, who then had a long bleeding gash across his chest—the cause of which had recently been made very familiar to Seiki.
This was why Seiki had always thought he had heard of the Fuoka Army before.
“You?” Eisuke said in astonishment. He took notice of Seiki’s equipped Sheathed Blade and many thoughts seemed to pass through his mind. “Why do you have the key?”
Seiki had a very bad feeling about where this was leading, yet he could only stick to the truth.
“I looted it from a Level 9 houshi,” he said. “Just now.” Akari had implied that she had stolen it from the White Crane Order but, given the looks of things, Seiki thought it was best he said nothing more until he knew what was going on.
Eisuke, still eyeing him questioningly, took a step forward, and Seiki simply held out the mysterious key and waited for the man to take it out of his hand. All the while, he was marveling at the fact that, without any intention to do so, he had been the one to help take it away from the Fuoka Army, and now he was the one to help hand it back to them.
Eisuke studied the golden key in disbelief, before quietly putting it in his chest pocket. “Hiro,” said the man. “Why are you here?”
“It wasn’t us,” said Hiro. “We didn’t kill her, and she tried to blackmail us.”
Whatever Akari had been trying to suggest was perhaps not lost on Eisuke, and his eyes were now burning with anger. “I defended you. Takeru defended you,” he said. “Akihisa didn’t believe us but I guaranteed him that it was not the White Crane Order.” Eisuke drew the sword from its sheath on his back. His Fiery Katana seemed to glow orange like smoldering embers in the dark. “Hands up.”
Hiro stared at him. “Listen, Eisuke—”
“Hands up, Hiro! Save your explanation for Akihisa.”
Susumu shifted uncomfortably as he tried to read Hiro for cues. His bow and arrow were still in his hands.
“Tell hime-sama,” Hiro whispered, before drawing his sword and slashing Susumu in the chest. With their level disparity, the ryoushi instantly dropped dead. Seiki heard Mairin gasp.
Hiro had immediately crouched down to disperse his clan mate’s body, rendering it safe from looting. And as the body turned into smoke, Eisuke had drawn his dagger and cast it out toward the samurai.
Hiro grunted when the dagger sliced him on his wrist, forcing him to let go of his sword. This was a move Seiki now recognized as Disarm, a common Free Slot ability that Hiro had once used against him in their duel at Taira Mansion. Aina seemed to have had the same thought. She had shot Hiro through his forearm with a charged Focused Shot that immediately took a third of the man’s health, before her second arrow hit the sword on the ground as soon as it landed and sent it sliding off into the thicket.
“Hiro, hands where I can see them!” said Eisuke. “Shouya, spirit shrines!”
Immediately, Shouya, a swordsman with long hair who had been quiet this whole time, whistled to his armored mount and galloped off, shouting, “I’ll get Hideto to go to the southwest one.”
They were trying to catch Susumu as he resurrected in a nearby spirit shrine before the ryoushi could run back or send messages to the White Crane Hall.
Hiro, still in a low crouch, made no attempt to run or fight. He slowly raised his hands, his right wrist still bleeding. “I can explain,” he said to Eisuke.
Aina walked toward the samurai. “Dagger,” she said. “Keep your right hand up.”
With an uneasy sigh, Hiro unequipped his dagger with his left hand and gave it to her as he continued, “This was their plan all along.” He sounded desperate. “She framed us and demanded five thousand gold.”
“Get up,” said Aina.
Hiro slowly got to his feet, and slowly broke off the arrow in his arm, unconsciously moving his fingers perhaps to get feeling back in them. “Then she drank poison to kill herself, and we didn’t dare loot her. So, we followed her here from the spirit shrine. But she had help, and she shrine-hopped all the way here,” he said, as Aina ran her hand over his leather pouch and took his post paper and a spare unnamed dagger.
“Walk,” said Aina. “We’ll see if Akihisa believes you.”
“How do you shrine-hop?” Mairin whispered.
Ippei explained, “You always resurrect in the nearest shrine, so if you know your map, you can get yourself killed once you know you’re in a zone, and you get teleported straight to a shrine. If you’re very rich, you can also guzzle some anti-death-nausea potion and get it down to only one minute.”
“But you need someone to keep killing you and not loot, I suppose?” asked Mairin.
“Yes,” replied Ippei. “That’s why he said she had help.”
It had been an arrow that had killed Akari just now and, if Seiki had to guess, he would say it was Hatsuo’s. But then again, he had no idea who these people really were and how big their organization was.
Eisuke turned to Seiki. “You three are coming, too,” he said in an almost cordial tone, nodding toward the other side of the road.
Ippei was observing the u
nfolding of events with keen interest and Mairin was looking back and forth between these high-level strangers in slight awe, neither of them showing any sign of objection to the invitation. But then again, Seiki could not be too sure that they actually had a choice here.
As Eisuke invited him to a group, Seiki secretly cursed. This was not going to be such a short night after all.
Chapter 21
An immediate silence fell as Eisuke and Aina led them off the main road across a sparse forest. Hiro made no attempt to resist or escape but only looked wistfully once back at where his sword had fallen, before resigning to his fate and following the two Fuoka Army members.
Ippei and Mairin had gone extremely quiet as well, and Seiki could not guess how they felt about this slightly worrying situation he had managed to land them in. For a while, they walked in the uneasy silence into the starless forest, their footsteps rustling through the low bushes.
Their destination turned out to be just a stone’s throw away, and only after a few more minutes of wading through the grass, Eisuke took a turn around a large pine tree.
Mairin let out a surprised exclamation and Seiki gaped at the sight that popped up in front of him.
You have entered the Fuoka Army’s private territory. Custom combat rules apply. PVP status: enabled.
A large field had materialized out of nowhere, packed with endless rows of white cloth tents, all flying a blue and white flag from their top. In haphazard lines between the tents were multiple fire stands that lit up the whole area as if it was carnival night, and people—both players and NPCs in blue uniform—were making their way around. Here and there, between clusters of tents, clan members sat in small groups around fires, filling the air with sounds of chatter, laughter, and clinking of metals.
Seiki had to look behind him to check where he had entered, but all he could see was seamless wild growth in every direction. At the two small fences that marked the entrance, a few young men and women sitting on the ground, all of whom belonged to the Fuoka Army, nodded at Aina and Eisuke as they walked past.
“A clan camp,” said Ippei in a low voice, as he looked around. “I’ve heard about them, but I’ve never actually been in one.”