by Nikita Thorn
Seiki knew well that if Hibi had decided to join in the tussle, this would have been over a long time ago. And once Taka had his energy back enough for more special moves, this would probably be over soon. The Level 20 poison had dropped Seiki’s health to about a third, and he was starting to feel chilly. So any tiny mistake from him and the ninja would be able to complete his assignment with literally a flick of his finger. In fact, the smarter thing to do would be to flee, but at this point Seiki was pretty much done with running.
“Just die so we can all get back to our own business,” Taka said in almost a groan.
Seiki looked at him. “Tell me who hired you to rob the key from the Fuoka Army.”
“God,” the ninja said. “You’re still on that question?”
Seiki had been pondering the matter, and he had come to the conclusion that several things certainly did not add up. While it was easy to attribute everything to whatever scheme the Kano Castle was up to, at the time of the robbery, allegedly only four people knew about the key: two from the White Crane Hall and two from the Fuoka Army. This could only mean that one of them was a traitor.
Ippei had told Seiki several times to drop the issue, since the upcoming War Games were going to require all his attention, and the last thing he would want right now was to be involved in even more clan politics, but Seiki had a feeling that he needed to solve this particular mystery. In fact, he needed to solve everything. And to do that meant first he had to understand everything, and he hoped that somehow that would give him some clarity about what in the world he was doing with himself.
It had been Chief of the Shadow Manor, Nichi, who had carried out the assignment to get the Fuoka Army key. “Do you know or do I have to ask your boss?” asked Seiki. He was not sure if he was trying to be a little facetious as well, since admittedly it was rather entertaining to annoy the Shadow Manor as much as he could while they tried to kill him.
Taka continued to glare at him as he tried to struggle. A strange idea then occurred to Seiki. “Okay, let’s say I want to pay you to kill someone, do I get to talk to Nichi?” he asked earnestly.
The ninja let out a noise that sounded like a tormented curse. “I can’t believe you.”
Seiki laughed. “Hey, I’ll be a customer.”
Around them, a few people had stopped to look, and Seiki recognized that a full-blown city brawl was most likely brewing. It would not be long before someone decided to join in the fun, and then it would not be long before everyone was on their way to prison.
“Or you can just tell me right now before the Patrols—” Seiki stopped as he realized the Patrols in question might be there sooner than he thought, since he felt a chill as if he was being watched by something powerful and sinister.
With Taka still securely pinned down, Seiki glanced up and gave a start.
From within the darkness around the mouth of a small side alleyway across the street, a face was staring straight at him, utterly white, with two narrow diagonal black slits for eyes. Its bright red lips were slightly parted, frozen in something between a smile and a snarl. It held its disturbing expression very still, and it took Seiki a second to understand that he was looking at a mask. The creature seemed to be hiding from the nearest street lamp, so only its white head was visible, while the rest of the kimono-covered body was hidden in the shadows. As it saw him looking up, the head tilted in acknowledgement, slowly, and almost mechanically.
Before Seiki could figure out if it was a player, an NPC, or one of Shinshioka’s rare nighttime monsters, something else rustled beside him, and he gave another start. Letting go of Taka would mean instant death, so Seiki simply kept his weight on the ninja and turned to look.
A short, stoic man in a dark gray kimono with golden dragon embroideries had appeared beside him, labeled Kajidoro [Level 4]. The man had a small well-trimmed mustache and was wearing a scholar hat, which seemed to have been made out of pure gold.
Not entirely sure of the connection between the two, Seiki glanced uneasily back at the alley across the street again, but the white mask was no longer there. Neither the newcomer nor the bystanders seemed to have noticed it, and Seiki wondered if he was not simply imagining things.
“Looks like my business here is done, Taka-san,” Kajidoro said with a polite smile. “The Patrols will be here any moment, so I’ll take my leave now.”
Seiki studied the newcomer. A low level and such display of wealth often did not go together. Then he remembered something someone had told him a long time ago. The Shadow Manor assassins never looted their victims. If paying customers wanted to loot the dead bodies, they needed to arrange for that themselves, and a lot of them utilized professional looters: Level 4 players who sold such services. Being that low in level, the looters could not be attacked by players and were therefore safe from all PVP, so they could walk in, loot, and walk out from a brawl perfectly intact.
Seiki had never met a professional looter, but there was no doubt that the guy in front of him was one. The looter must have hidden quietly in the shadows while the assassins completed their job.
“I’ve got only 3 gold and 6 silver on me in case you want to know,” said Seiki honestly. “Which is probably much less than whatever your employer had paid you for the looting service.”
“Unfortunately, since Taka-san has not succeeded, I’m unable to do my job so I’m only getting the down payment,” Kajidoro said.
This confirmed his guess. “May I ask how much that is?” said Seiki. “I’m really curious.”
The professional looter laughed. “Pretty direct, aren’t you, Seiki-san? Well, the down payment is in the triple digits. That’s all I can say.”
Seiki had not expected that number, and another idea occurred to him. “Uh, how about you give me a cut from all this and I’ll willingly die?” he suggested, more seriously than he intended. It had been Ippei’s joke about how someone was spending a fortune killing him over and over, but now that he was about to commit fifty gold a month toward his new room, this was probably not a bad idea.
Taka gave another groan and suddenly vanished from under Seiki as his energy recharged enough to allow another Shadow Strike. Seiki threw himself aside to avoid the attack as the ninja re-appeared. He was about to lunge at his foe, but stopped short as he could hear faint hooves coming to a sudden halt. That, too, had an audio cue, and Seiki could very clearly imagine two City Patrols [Level 30 Elite] further down the street turning to stare at them. “Too late.” Seiki smiled as he shook his head. “Always a bad idea to do it on Trade Street.”
The Shadow Manor assassin turned to look and pulled a long face. As expected, two City Patrols [Level 30 Elite] in red and black Shinshioka uniforms had noticed the combat. “Stop!” cried one of them.
The shout immediately alerted the remaining Patrols who were making their scheduled rounds up and down Trade Street, and two more turned their horses around and started charging toward him. Once the Patrols detected you, it was too late to attempt Camouflage, so Taka spun on his heels and started dashing down an alleyway to the left, whistling for his horse.
The looter Kajidoro laughed. “Well, here they come. I’ll take my leave of you, too, Seiki-san. Good luck.”
The Patrols had kicked their armored horses into a gallop, and Seiki had no time for polite farewells as he evaluated his situation. From down the side alley Taka had disappeared into, he could hear another pair of Patrols coming toward him, and Seiki looked down just in time to see the ninja hanging in mid-air in an attempt to use his grappling hook to reach the roof. The Patrols’ Arrest, however, had a few feet of range, and before Taka could climb high enough, they caught up and teleported him away.
Even as he chuckled, Seiki knew his own situation was not any better. Mani Shrine was too far now, and Patrols followed brawlers into public buildings, so getting to the real estate office would achieve nothing. Seiki wondered why the ninjas had been so reckless as to start a fight on Trade Street, which wa
s one of the most heavily patrolled areas of Shinshioka. Once the patrols were in earshot, it was almost always too late to escape, so Seiki simply sighed and waited for the closest Shinshioka guard to reach him.
“Stop right now!” cried the City Patrol as he thundered in on his black horse. When he noticed Seiki, he shook his head in disapproval, as if to tell him that he should have known better.
The Arrest spell swirled the air around Seiki in faint sparks. As usual, the teleporting effect blurred his surroundings into a wall of colorful lights and filled him with two seconds of vertigo. As a room slowly faded into view, Seiki chuckled grimly, wondering if he would indeed have to end the night in prison after all.
Welcome to the Shinshioka Prison! PVP status: disabled.
Prison was not designed to be a pleasant experience. So, Seiki fully expected that the moment he materialized, there would be at least six guards ready to relieve him of his weapons and bags, before shoving him into a cell full of drunk NPCs.
What appeared in front of Seiki, however, looked nothing like the crowded, dirty prison lobby he was used to. He was standing at the end of a wooden corridor with hardwood flooring and bright paper lamps. Directly behind him was a shut door, where two guards marked Shinshioka Prison Guard [Level 30 Elite] stood. At the other end of the corridor was a desk, manned by a uniformed official, talking to two more guards and a player who had their backs to him.
It had been a while since Seiki last visited prison, and he could not help wondering if it had been updated to be perhaps more humane. Seeing he was not sure what to do, the guards signaled him to walk forward with them.
At the desk, a samurai marked Genjiro of the Honor Warriors [Level 18] was slamming his swords of various lengths onto the counter. “Happy?” he said in anger. “I swear that was a Parry. Parries don’t count. It’s self-defense.”
“It counts as an attack if you catch someone else in your swing,” said Seiki, slightly amused at how he once wondered the exact same thing. “Even if it doesn’t do damage,” he added. He had unfortunately been in enough brawls to know.
“What?” cried Genjiro, looking back across his shoulder, before glaring at the guards. “Now, that’s not fair. You’ve seen these brawls? They’re a fu—” His voice was cut short as the two guards escorted him through the doorway on the right.
“Hello, Seiki-san,” the Shinshioka Prison Official [Level 30 Elite] behind the desk greeted him, and Seiki turned his attention back to the man. The uniformed official was polite, though not exactly amiable, and seemed to have on a permanent stern expression befitting his occupation. On the wall behind him was a large hanging scroll depicting a warrior on a horse, which Seiki could only guess was the Shogun, since the official gestured politely towards it as he said, “By the Lord Shogun’s law, you are to remain under our surveillance for the next thirty minutes for engaging in violent activities within city limits. Please surrender all your weapons and belongings here.”
Seiki was really not used to this level of civility, and as he hesitated, the two guards on both his sides gave him a warning look in a way that suggested that they would be more than willing to do it for him if he did not comply.
“I see.” It was all clear to him now. “I guess this is one of the benefits of being a Favored Member of the Court?” He had to admit he was pleasantly surprised, and he slowly unequipped his two weapons and untied his two inventory pouches from his obi.
“Yes,” the Shinshioka official confirmed as he started packing Seiki’s possessions into a wooden box, and Seiki did not fail to notice that the man seemed to be treating the items with at least some care. “This wing contains holding cells for members of the court who have been charged with unruly behavior within city limits. Please follow the guards through that door, Seiki-san.”
The doorway led to a narrow staircase going down, which ended in a room with a corridor in the middle. It looked very much like the second floor of various inns scattered around Shinshioka, but with individual cells with wooden bars in place of room-dividing shoji doors.
Seiki counted only twelve cells: six on each side of the narrow corridor, which made him quite certain the prison room itself was instanced, since there must be more than twelve captured brawlers at all times. Moreover, the samurai he just saw causing a scene at the desk was nowhere to be found, most likely because he had been instanced somewhere else. This was perhaps to give a less crowded, more civilized atmosphere, and the whole prison was full of buzzing conversation.
Unlike the normal jail, the prisoners here did not seem that bothered about being locked up. In the nearest cell, a girl in a pink kimono, Mayumi of the Social Guild [Level 19] was sitting cross-legged and leaning on the wooden bars of her cell, chatting with her neighbor.
As Seiki followed the guards past them, he overheard something that sounded like advice on how to start a fishing quest that would reward a light-infused pearl at the end.
There happened to be one empty cell at the end, where the guards motioned him in. And when Seiki stepped through, he was glad to see that now—as a Favored Member of the Court—he was apparently afforded the dignity of a simple wooden bench fixed to the wall, as well as a pitcher of water and a brown ceramic cup in the corner.
The guard even seemed a little apologetic as he closed the door and locked the cell. As the key turned with a vibrant click, the usual timer appeared at the back of Seiki’s consciousness and started ticking down from 00:30:00.
“All right. At least, that’s the same,” Seiki said as he peered out of his cell to observe the atmosphere, wondering what he should do for the next half an hour.
In the cell opposite him was a ryoushi in all black, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. The man was staring into empty space, as people often did when they were checking the various menus for their characters, which was one of the few things you could do in prison to pass time.
Further down the corridor were two men in adjacent cells, Yoshitsune of the West Defenders [Level 25] and Tonari of the West Defenders [Level 23], who were engaged in a lively discussion.
“—should have gone with the Borrowed Strength card in an early run, not the rain card for the fire.”
“—do it again? If you have Favors to reset the lockout—”
“—since Nobuki wants to do a rerun of Kakoku first to gear up. But I think it’s a complete waste—”
It took Seiki a while to comprehend that they were discussing the Ruins of Hitsu Temple—the War Game event the clan was attempting. And he thought he should try to see if he could glean any useful information, since Ippei was particularly interested in that instance for being something he never managed to beat in Beta. However, having no real prior understanding of War Games, Seiki was finding it difficult to make sense of the conversation, and before he could piece together what a card-chaining meant, he was interrupted by a female voice from the cell to his right.
“Hey.”
Hiroko of the Akamori Brigade [Level 16] was lying casually on the floor, with her arms behind her head as a pillow.
“Let me guess.” She laughed. “First time in court prison?”
“Yeah,” said Seiki. “Quite a difference.”
“For sure. It’s like airlines. Once you get to business class, they start treating you like people. You know, if you’re a Noble Lord or Lady, they give you a personal confinement room and tea and snacks, and a Sudoku puzzle as well.”
Seiki raised an eyebrow. “Not bad.”
“Only two thousand Honor Points to go, though.” She stuck out her tongue. “No one will ever get there with the amount of brawling all over the City. Someone hits you, you gotta hit back, you see, and there goes two points.” She then nodded. “Look, seems like even Society members can’t avoid them.”
Seiki glanced up and saw a man in a deep purple robe coming down the corridor, accompanied by a Prison Guard [Level 35 Elite]. Kazuki of the Shinshioka Scientific Society [Level 26] seemed to b
e a known player, and most of the prisoners actually stopped to acknowledge him as he walked past. Seiki turned back to the girl in the neighboring cell, and she chuckled. “Don’t you know that’s the guy who writes the Society newsletter? Usually, no one touches him in a brawl, so things must be getting really wild in the city.”
Looking back at the man, Seiki was now certain of two things: one being that he had definitely seen him before, and the other being the fact that there were no free cells left in this particular instance for more prisoners. As this Kazuki continued down the corridor, one more thing slowly became clear to Seiki: the man was searching for him.
Kazuki smiled as he stopped in front of Seiki’s cell. Thin and pale, cleanly shaven, and very well-groomed, this player held about him a kind of scholarly air. “This one, please,” Kazuki said, nodding toward Seiki’s cell door, and the guard scuttled over with a key and unlocked it.
Seiki knew people could bail their friends out of prison early with gold, but he had never heard of visits such as these.
“Thank you,” said Kazuki, before he addressed Seiki. “Hello, Seiki-san. May I come in for a minute? Oh, no need to look so shocked.” He shrugged casually. “Favors get you everywhere in the City.”
“Including prison cells?” asked Seiki. Somehow, he did not like where this was going. The guards would definitely not let him leave, but if Favors could get people into cells, this meant he would be stuck with a stranger against his will for the next twenty minutes.
As if reading his mind, Kazuki turned to the guard. “Officer, can you kindly do me another big favor?”
There seemed to be some invisible exchange between the man and the guard, and a second later, the guard turned to Seiki and said, “You are free to go.”
Indeed, the notification updated: