by Nikita Thorn
In his hand was a long sword in a pearly white sheath, trimmed with gold along the edge. He set it down in front of him, as if inviting them to inspect.
Seiki took a quick peek.
Izanagi no Ikari. [Unique] +201 attack. Feel the ire of the god Izanagi when he slew his offspring who had caused the death of his beloved wife. Effect: grants the user the Eight-Fold Cut ability, attacking the target eight times in rapid succession, starting from an eighth of the target’s total base maximum health and doubling with each cut. A 1-hour lockout then applies while the god calms down.
Beside him, Ippei was holding his breath, and Seiki could only stare—both at the item itself and what it did—since the ability was pretty much guaranteed to kill, perhaps a bit slowly, too. He needed no explanation to figure out that this was supposedly the best sword in the game: the Ire of Izanagi.
That, perhaps, was the intended effect, and Yoshinaga smiled. “Welcome,” he said. “I think you have something for me?”
“Yes.” Seiki tore his eyes off the sword and unstrapped his armguard to fetch the piece of paper. “I’m sorry I was forced to take it out of the box, but I can swear I haven’t looked at it.”
Yoshinaga’s expression was unreadable as he took the paper and slid it into his chest pocket without even sparing it a glance. “So, what do you want in return for this delivery?”
Seiki was surprised the man did not even bother to check if it had been the correct piece of paper he had bought.
“I’ve already gotten paid by Ichikeya,” said Seiki. There was no use lying to himself that the enhancement scroll had been a gift. “Thank you for the tea. If that is all, we’ll be on our way.”
“How much do you want for that armguard you have on?” Yoshinaga asked, out of the blue.
The dark gray armguard Seiki had received from Renshiro was old, and probably had not been fixed by a Leathersmith for a while now, judging from the scratches on them, some of which were already letting the thin metal strips peep through.
At first, Seiki thought Yoshinaga was joking, until he asked again, “How much?”
“Uh, it’s not mine to sell.”
“I know. It’s Renshiro’s,” said Yoshinaga, nonchalantly. “How about two thousand gold?”
Seiki stared at him, wondering what part of the joke he was missing here.
“Two thousand gold?” said the man again, a little impatiently.
“No,” said Seiki. “Like I said, it’s not mine to sell.”
“Do you think that was a trade offer?” said Yoshinaga. “No, I’m just asking how much compensation would you like if we were to forcibly take it from you.”
Seiki stiffened. “I can’t allow that.” Still unable to tell if the man was serious or not, he steadily met the man’s eyes. At Level 28, Yoshinaga would most likely be able to kill them with literally a flick of his finger, but the armguard was equipped. There was no way they were going to be able to force it off him, and it would be the whole Rogami spirit shrine scenario over again.
“Is it worth your friends’ lives here?” asked Yoshinaga casually, throwing a quick glance at Ippei and Mairin.
Seiki had his hand on the hilt of his sword even before he knew it, and Yoshinaga burst out laughing. “You should see your faces,” he gasped, beating his hand on the floor as if it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.
“We’re leaving,” said Seiki.
“Wait.” Yoshinaga wiped away a tear. “Don’t go yet,” he said, almost apologetically, as he clapped his hands together twice. At the cue, a servant shuffled in meekly and set down a brown cup with a clear liquid inside.
Yoshinaga stopped laughing abruptly. “Farewell drink, Seiki.”
The cup was simply marked Brown Ceramic Cup. It must have been one of those containers that did not label their content.
“No, he’s not drinking that,” said Ippei, as he leapt to his feet. Mairin did the same, her golden bracelets jingling. “Let’s—”
Seiki turned to see two sleeved arms popping out of nowhere. A man in a lavish dark purple kimono had materialized between Ippei and Mairin, and he placed his arms around their shoulders as he dropped into a sitting position, pulling them back down on their cushions.
Before Seiki could react, he felt a tug on his right sleeve, which was now held in Yoshinaga’s secure grip.
“I don’t think we’re acquainted yet. I’m Fumiya,” the newcomer, Fumiya of the Kano Castle [Level 27], announced good-naturedly, his long loose well-combed black hair fell to about half his chest.
“Hands off,” said Mairin. She burst in a puff of smoke into a white fox and growled at him.
“Ooooh, angry kitsune,” said Fumiya. “Hand, one hand,” he pointed out, laughing.
Seiki knew exactly what it was, since Mimura had once pulled the same trick on him by having the Ichikeya ninja hide right beside him in Camouflage.
“Leave them out of this,” said Seiki.
Ippei was trying to push the man off him and Fumiya casually grabbed hold of his sleeve and twisted it, before pinning it to the floor. Yoshinaga was chuckling. “Don’t be rude now. Let the man have his farewell drink for his trouble delivering the thing and you can all leave.”
There was something absolutely precise about these people’s movements. They had grabbed clothing, not limbs, to avoid any kind of contact, perhaps to avoid accidentally killing them.
“I’ll drink.” Without thinking, Seiki lifted the cup with his left hand, which was still free, and drank down the liquid in one go.
“Don’t!” Ippei yelled.
The liquid was cool but burned his throat like warm fire. Seiki had a split second to wait for it to kill him, when, instead, something exploded in his head like a million fireworks.
Snowlilly Elixir consumed. 2500 XP gained.
And before he could gasp in surprise, the joy rush flooded him.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 12.
HP increased to 648.
Max energy increased to 375.
New ability slot available.
Seiki had to take a moment to catch his breath as the double effect of whatever potion this was and the leveling joy dragged him through a series of quick artificial emotions that felt even more shocking than being cut by the Oni Cleaver. Right there, he had to put one hand on the floor to steady himself.
Yoshinaga and his clan mate Fumiya were laughing hysterically. “Oh, you people.” Yoshinaga was almost choking.
Seiki had to close his eyes for an instant to clear his head. Somehow, his heart was beating fast.
“We’re leaving,” he said, curtly, as he got to his feet. Ippei had freed himself from Fumiya’s grip and Mairin, who was already a fox, immediately dashed out toward the exit.
“Go, go, go.” Yoshinaga, still laughing, waved his hand as if to dismiss them.
They found the carriage waiting for them at the gate, and Mairin turned back into human just to flatly refuse to get on. She whistled to her horse and started riding off angrily down the mountain path.
Seiki and Ippei summoned their horses and rode after her, and Seiki had to fight the urge to look back to check if someone was watching him from behind. However, he could not help but breathe a sigh of slight relief once they turned the first corner and the Kano Castle disappeared from sight.
Mairin was riding at full speed, and Seiki held on tight as Fubuki navigated the steep mountain path at a full gallop in a way that should not be possible. If he had not been upset, it would have been a rather thrilling experience, with the cold mountain air rushing against his skin and glimpses of the Mannaka Village below when he dared to take his eyes off the road. But most of the time, it felt like he was about to be thrown off his horse, and he was still questioning the events that had just unfolded.
The kitsune only slowed down to a trot once she was completely out of energy. “You’re right,” she said to Ippei, as Seiki and the samurai caught up with her.
“I hate Kano Castle.”
Seiki ignored why she was so angry, but so was he. Ultimately, the potion had been some sort of a reward, perhaps for delivering that accursed piece of paper, and the high-level matcha would certainly help on the journey back, yet he felt that all of that was just an underhanded way for the Kano Castle to put them in their places.
“The Ire of Izanagi,” said Ippei under his breath. “And that elixir.”
“That elixir thing,” began Seiki. “Are there different levels to that or do they all give a set number of XP?” he asked.
“They’re made with Medicine, with these very rare petals, and the more you add in, the more XP the elixir gives, in increments of 500, up to 5K.” He grimaced. “Week-long lockout. Can’t be used beyond Level 15, so most of the time it’s just to quickly boost new characters up to Level 10.”
Seiki thought about it. He had a feeling that these people had been meticulous about that, too, and they had made sure it was just enough to have him level. He could not be certain what they really wanted but, someway, they had managed to completely take away any joy he could have had from leveling, and the entire experience was utterly unnerving.
“I’m never coming back here,” Mairin said.
“Me neither,” said Ippei, looking back up at the white buildings, which were now quite a distance away. “Unless…” He paused, before a slightly dangerous smirk appeared on his lips. “Unless I’m laying siege to it.”
Now that Seiki had had time to ponder the situation, one thing became clear to him. It was unlikely that Yoshinaga had really wanted to buy Renshiro’s tattered armguard.
“He tested me,” said Seiki. Yoshinaga had played it very casually, but perhaps all had been carefully planned. They wanted to know if he could be bought, or intimidated, and when the answer was no, they threatened his friends, and that immediately got them the result they wanted. Suddenly, Seiki felt like he would rather deal with the Rogami Clan any day.
“Hey.” Ippei interrupted his thought, and Seiki found the samurai looking at him darkly. “Don’t do that again.”
“Uh,” Seiki began. “I was thinking that if anything happened, at least you both could leave and come rescue me. It’s probably better than all three of us getting killed.” He was not sure if that was true, since at the time he had not really had time to think.
“You’ve got a point,” Ippei admitted, before narrowing his eyes as he suspected Seiki was not being entirely truthful. “But, no, don’t do that again.”
They soon reached the foot of the hill and passed no one else but another Kano Castle clan carriage, marked with a deep crimson and yellow flag, and a Yui of the Kano Castle [Level 24] in all black, who paid them no attention.
Mannaka was now starting to bustle with life like a smaller, more primitive version of Shinshioka, and against the blue-green backdrop of the majestic mountain range, it looked rather picturesque. Seiki would have appreciated it even more if not for the white walls of Kano Castle on the top of the cliff, which perhaps served as a reminder of things, which, like Rieko had most likely correctly said, he was not meant to be handling at his current level.
Now that they were in Mannaka again, the whole village was becoming rather like a large market, and the sights and sounds were starting to improve Seiki’s mood.
“You know,” he said to Ippei, as they walked past the first row of buildings, where a peddler had set up a stall selling beads and earrings, and where an NPC blacksmith was sitting with a sharpening stone and a pot of oil offering weapon maintenance services. “You’re right about one thing. I think I’m done with all this clan drama.” He nodded at his friend. “It’s going to be all good, engineered fun for me from now on.”
“Good,” said Ippei.
“Good,” said Mairin after a second. “But it might be a bit too soon for that.”
She had reined her horse to a stop and was looking ahead, where a few people were gathered on horseback: Kenki of the Rogami Clan [Level 15] and Mosuke of the Rogami Clan [Level 17], plus a few others who also belonged to the Rogami Clan.
Seiki had never met these people before, and they did not appear to have seen him or his friends yet.
“They’re here,” Mairin muttered.
“Seiki,” said a disembodied whisper.
Mairin looked around and frowned. “And… now there’s a ghost as well.”
Chapter 23
It was a familiar voice.
“Itsuki?” Seiki said, uncertain.
“Ya,” said Itsuki. Seiki could not discern where she had hidden, but her voice seemed to be coming from the shadow behind the NPC peddler. “So how did Kano Castle go?”
Seiki did not know how to even begin to answer, so Itsuki continued, “Ren-san didn’t think you’d make it back from the Castle in one piece, so we made a bet, and now he owes me a visit to the Onikuma.”
Seiki still did not know how to respond to that. “What are you doing here?” he finally asked.
Itsuki ignored the question. “Rogami folks are swarming the main road, so turn left right now and cut across the forest. Go parallel to the main road for about half an hour and you’ll see a dirt road leading southwest. Follow it for an hour, you’ll be at Kensoku Temple, and if you’ve got some gold on you they will let you sleep there.”
“Who is this?” asked Ippei.
“Someone who’s trying to get you back to Shinshioka, so I can stop babysitting you and get to my Onikuma drop. Go already, okay? I’m getting cramps sitting here. And I don’t want to run into the Rogami Clan either after what I did to their horses, or the Rangers, or Kano Castle, or this creepy guy called Gozaburo or something.”
Seiki told his friends he trusted the ninja girl. And seeing as there was no point lingering around, waiting to be discovered by the Rogami Clan, Seiki thanked her and rode into the forest according to Itsuki’s instructions.
It was not before long that they ran into their first problem.
“And how are we supposed to survive when we’re attacked by a Level 17 bear?” asked Mairin, as after about five minutes into the forest, the bushes on their right rustled and a Brown Bear [Level 17] charged at them.
Before Seiki could draw his sword, an arrow flew from somewhere above, followed by three more, and the beast dropped dead.
“That’s how, apparently,” Ippei said.
Seiki understood what it was and he glanced around for the ryoushi, who remained concealed. “Thank you, Satoru,” he shouted.
“Thank you, Satoru,” Mairin shouted, too. “Whoever you are.”
There was no answer, and they continued to make their way through the forest. There was another encounter with a Restless Woodland Spirit [Level 18], which looked like a ragged black and white old lady who floated above the forest floor, who took quite a few arrows plus a few sword slashes to kill. But apart from that, their path was full of peaceful deer and tanuki.
As Itsuki had said, within half an hour the forest thinned and they found themselves looking down a slope at a large field with very tall dry grass that almost reminded Seiki of the area around where he, Mairin and Koharu had done the haunted house mission. There was nowhere for the ryoushi to remain hidden now, and Seiki realized that Satoru had not meant to follow them any further, since now in the middle of the grass a small dirt road had appeared. The sun was in his eyes as he peered ahead, but the road seemed rather empty and quite safe, as wild animals generally kept away from it and it was too early for most evil spirits to come out. Further away, at the edge of the field, was a cluster of multiple thatched roofs, which he could only guess was a rice village.
In bursts of gallops, they made their way southwest down the path through the sloping fields that gradually varied between shades of yellow and green. They passed through two rice villages and came across Motoki of the Kensoku Guards [Level 20]—and a few others of his clan mates—instructing the farmers to load sacks of rice onto a cart. But they were all too busy to pa
y Seiki and his friends any attention.
It was a pleasant ride, and they conversed about Shogun missions, black market skeleton keys and Kentaro’s fresh interest in Pottery. Kentaro had told Mairin about it in his post message earlier, after hearing about the alleged siege. He had also expressed his concern about someone attempting to take over their charm-selling spot in the kakigouri shop, and he asked that they hurried back.
The tall grass lining both sides of the road obstructed much of their sight, and Seiki was not exactly sure where they were actually going, but the road was sunny and bright and that was enough for now.
They continued down the path for a few more minutes, and Mairin was starting to wonder where this Kensoku Temple was that they were supposed to be heading toward. As they came upon a large pine tree on the roadside, Seiki climbed up to try and see ahead.
“Your outlaw friends didn’t just decide to send us somewhere else, did they?” asked Mairin. “And, seriously, why isn’t there a proper Wilderness map?”
“To keep it untamed,” said Ippei. “And to make the Calligraphy sub-skill Map-making relevant.”
Seiki glanced around, remembering once again how much he loved being high up and getting the full view of his surroundings. Not too far ahead across the field, he could make out a series of buildings with curved roofs, as well as a cluster of what looked like small pagodas. On his right was the East Main Road, hidden partially behind groups of trees, and he could distinguish tiny lines of people on horseback. On the road he and his friends had been following, which ran almost parallel to the main road, a lone rider on a black horse was galloping at full speed, leaving a thick trail of dust behind.
“The temple’s just ahead,” Seiki told his friends, as he leapt down from the pine tree. “And there’s someone coming this way, fast.”
They decided that there was nothing they could do but keep pressing on. They burst into another bout of gallop, and Seiki took a quick glance behind to see the rider approaching. He was a man dressed in simple dark blue with a white cloth sack slung across his back. The black horse was fast and was quickly closing the distance between them. Seiki could not quite read the name yet, but they were all riding into the slowly setting sun and he caught a flash of silver from the rider. That made him a little worried that the man had a bared sword in his hand.