War Games

by Nikita Thorn

  While Seiki would be very glad to see his troops again to make sure it had really ended well for them, he wondered if all their troops combined would be enough to face a single unit of the Rogami players.

  “No. You wait here for a sec.” Kiku turned toward Kentaro. “Could you give me Soothe and Ward right now?” She then turned to Ippei. “And maybe a Shout?”

  Seeing her confidence, both of them obliged without questions.

  As soon as the abilities activated, the obake Faded through the solid rock wall that blocked the entrance. A second later, she was back in, very pale, at a tenth of her health, with numerous arrows stuck in her body. Luckily, obake did not bleed, or it would have been a rather concerning sight. Kentaro and Mairin quickly topped her up with their heals.

  Mairin sighed. “Okay, so the Rogami army’s still outside.”

  Kiku, however, had a look of triumph in her eyes. In her hand was a dead pigeon, shot through with an arrow. “Managed to grab one,” she said. The message was a long scroll that almost reached the ground, and she slowly read through them. Seiki guessed they must have already spent a few hours in the instance, and so all the messages her clan mates had sent her had piled up.

  “So?” said Mairin. “The White Crane Order is coming to the rescue?”

  Kiku shook her head. “Nope,” she said as she started unloading her inventory cloth bags into Mairin’s hands. “Better than that. Fast travel.”

  “Teleport scroll?” asked Yamura. “Don’t tell me you have, like, a single-use group teleport in another Free Slot?”

  “That doesn’t exist,” said Kiku. “But I do have something else in one of my Free Slots that is just the thing we need right now.”

  “What?” said Yamura.

  The obake smiled. “Universal Backstab.”

  Ippei cursed, mildly, and before Seiki could comprehend what she meant, she waved her hand and the air around him froze as if early winter morning had suddenly arrived.

  Backstab was an ability enhancement that allowed players to use that particular ability on people they were in a group with. Universal Backstab that occupied a Free Slot, Seiki could easily guess, allowed players to use any ability offensively on anyone they chose to.

  “Pick the third option.” Kiku smiled as her Level 23 Nether Chills dropped their health to zero.

  By now, Seiki had experienced in-game death enough times not to feel uneasy about it anymore. In the dark weightless void, several circles of light appeared floating in the distance, accompanied by the familiar notification:

  More than one Spirit Shrine found. Please choose the one you would like to resurrect in:

  Renkan Northern Pass Spirit Shrine (793 feet NW)

  Tanoka Spirit Shrine (2,316 feet S)

  Temporary Spirit Shrine [White Crane Order] (1,964 feet NE).

  It was now obvious what Kiku’s intention was. The third circle of light rushed up toward him after he made the selection, and as Seiki opened his eyes he found himself looking at a simply-constructed roof. The familiar smell of calming incense filled the air, and the mattress was soft against his back.

  Death nausea, however, was not very pleasant, and Seiki could not help sighing as he slowly sat up. He had wasted no time in the dark void, and around him, his friends were also materializing, blinking, groaning, and muttering complaints against the usual dizziness that would keep them mattress-ridden for the next five minutes.

  The temporary spirit shrine was perhaps not meant to host so many guests at once. They were rather crammed on three mattresses, like drifting refugees on too small a ship.

  “I certainly could have used a more detailed warning,” said Kentaro.

  The temporary shrine was tiny and consisted only of the bare minimum that qualified it to be one. Seiki inspected it, and found the structure labeled Made by Arata of the White Crane Order, while the enchanted wooden plaque that marked it as a spirit shrine was crafted by Sayahime of the White Crane Order—the leader of the clan herself.

  At the commotion, the piece of black cloth that served as a door flapped open, and Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 23] looked in. His sword was bared, but as soon as he saw them he sheathed it and stepped in. “Oh, this was a precaution,” said the man as he noticed Yamura eyeing his weapon suspiciously. “Rogami Clan members were coming through on accident earlier.” He then grinned. “Of course, as soon as they could walk, we immediately gave them a chance to pick the correct shrine again.”

  Yamura glanced around. “So… a temp shrine?”

  “At least, after all that, we did learn one useful thing from our friend Akari and her colleagues,” Hiro said.

  “Oh,” said Yamura. “Shrine-hopping?”

  Hiro nodded as he crouched down to distribute Unsei-in Tonic in small bottles that instantly got rid of the death nausea. “This should help.”

  Again, the miraculous effect offset the potion’s dubious taste, and Seiki quickly changed his mind about the substance when he saw that the wooden box that stored their inventory items also unlocked as soon as the ailing effect dissipated.

  They quickly retrieved their items and re-equipped their weapons. Seiki took an extra second to examine the blue-green Shussebora Scale again, before putting it in his pocket. He had to give Hiro props for purposely averting his gaze from the loot, and could only guess it was some RP etiquette the man went by.

  Mairin returned Kiku’s inventory cloth pouches to her clan mate. “Isn’t she coming through, too?”

  “I believe she’s trying to buy you some time, Mairin-san,” Hiro said. “The Rogami army doesn’t know who else was in the caves, and if they Locate her they would be able to figure out where this shrine is.”

  Ippei skillfully thrust his sword through the strap on his armor. “Which is?”

  “On a hill just a little south of the main southwest road,” said Hiro. “You can almost see the walls of Togatsu Village from here.”

  Unsurprisingly, Ippei knew exactly where it was. “Nice. Only a few minutes away from the West Gate, then.” He seemed to be slowly changing his mind about Kiku’s method.

  “If you prefer to cut down some more time, I’ll be happy to assist,” said Hiro earnestly. “You need to walk over to that big tree, and you can catch West Gate shrine.”

  “How?” said Yamura, then he curled up his upper lip. “Wait. Did you just offer to… kill us again?”

  Seiki chuckled at how horrified the ryoushi sounded, and had to agree it sounded much worse than it really was.

  “That’s the whole trick with shrine-hopping,” Ippei said. “But, no, thanks, I’d prefer to ride. I feel like I’ve already been too much on the other side of sharp things tonight.”

  Seiki said something in agreement as he got to his feet. After spending so much time underground, he had just realized how much he missed the wind and the open air.

  Hiro explained that Koharu had written to clue them in on the happenings within the instance once she respawned at the nearest shrine. Despite not personally knowing Koharu, Kiku had apparently put her on the clan’s guest list as a way to tell her clan mates they could trust her. And rather than risk going directly against the Rogami on a rescue mission, they managed to buy information off the Ichikeya on the optimal location for a temporary spirit shrine in hopes that Kiku would be able to find it if she got killed.

  Seiki was somehow not surprised how the Ichikeya still managed to profit from all this.

  “And what happened to your friends the Fuoka Army?” said Mairin.

  There was quite a bit of satisfaction in Hiro’s laughter. “Now we’re square again.”

  The man left it at that. Seeing that the White Crane samurai made no mention of the treasure, the group did not bring it up, either, and simply trusted Kiku to sort it out later.

  “You’d better hurry, Seiki-san,” said Hiro. “It won’t be long before the Rogami figures out where this shrine is.”

  Seiki was surprised to di
scover how bright it was outside the little shrine. Noon was already approaching, but a fresh breeze still lingered in the air, and the sparse pine forest on top of the little hill was filled with birdsong.

  Sayahime of the White Crane Order [Level 28] was sitting on her horse outside the shrine with several more of her clan members Seiki did not recognize. Knowing that they were still possibly in an open war zone, they simply exchanged nods, before Seiki and his friends whistled for their mounts, eager to get back to the city and deposit their loot somewhere safe. Fubuki looked extremely happy to see him as she galloped in, but Seiki wondered if it was actually the other way around.

  “You’re not the only one. Someone else had a nasty shadow shard stuck in them, too.” Seiki patted the mare on her neck. The snowstepper snorted as a reply, and nuzzled him gently as if asking to be fed a treat after his long disappearance.

  At first, Seiki wanted to summon his troops to ask what had happened. But with so many White Crane members within earshot, Ippei advised against discussing details of unlabeled quests just yet.

  “We’re in the middle of something we don’t understand, so let’s keep it just between ourselves a while longer,” said the samurai. “Wait till you’re back in the City.”

  A pigeon arrived for Mairin from Koharu, saying she was safe and was logging off for the night. After she got to the nearest shrine, the Rogami Clan lingering there had given her no trouble. Seeing that she was Social Guild, they had quickly bought into her story of getting lost after an RP party out the West Gate and being killed by a passing demon, and Seiki was starting to understand why Koharu had been reluctant to openly engage in clan conflicts earlier.

  The ride was much shorter than they expected, and completely uneventful. Less than ten minutes later, they found themselves back at the West Gate, beyond which the unsuspecting Shinshioka citizens were still going about their business as usual.

  As if Seiki’s troops had read his mind, Saburo’s eager face peered out from the midst of the Shinshioka elite guards at the gate, and Seiki pulled Fubuki to a halt in surprise. The troops were there, at full health, looking cheerful. They did not seem to have much written script to report their getaway in detail, but he could glean that both Okamoto and Mitsue had safely departed.

  “That ungrateful thief, though,” said Saburo. “She didn’t even say anything. She just left.”

  “I suppose she had her own way of thanking me,” said Seiki, remembering the Demonic Clan document that had proven much more useful than it first appeared.

  “So what now, Chief?” said Genta eagerly.

  Seiki laughed. “Sleep,” he said. “Then, we’re going to really think about upgrades for you.” In a way, he was glad that he was on a lockout for War Games. It meant that his rush for experience could now come to a brief rest, and he would have free time to experiment with formations and really reflect on how he would like to build his troops.

  Not wanting to keep his friends waiting, Seiki dismissed his unit and they continued to ride down Trade Street. Now that they were on a heavily-patrolled road, they could afford to relax.

  Kentaro yawned as he turned his horse to head towards his fancy private territory in North City.

  “Tomorrow at two,” said Ippei. “Seiki’s place. We’ve got a lot to think about.”

  “Why don’t you all come up right now?” Seiki said. “Log off from there. Saves you getting ambushed tomorrow if the Kano Castle really decides to come after us.”

  “Seiki’s got a point,” said Mairin.

  A minute and four flights of stairs later, they found themselves in a long, spacious room overlooking an alley just off Trade Street, with Mani Shrine in full view.

  “Are you obsessed with this shrine or something?” said Yamura in surprise as he plopped down on the floor near a corner. “Nice place, though. Big. How much is the rent?”

  Mairin had opened all the windows and seemed delighted by the corner view the place offered. “Maybe we can all move up here.”

  As the rest of the group discussed whether the four hundred gold down payment was worth it for the location, Seiki walked over to one of the windows and looked out at the sprawling sea of roofs that made up West City. The events of the night were a lot to take in, but now that they were safe, he was finding it difficult to worry about anything. Below him was the unsuspecting Shinshioka, with its busy people, horses and peddlers, and filled with sounds of bells and hooves and chatter and wooden shoes on paved roads.

  Ippei joined him by the window. “I knew we were eventually going to have to deal with the Kano Castle at some point. I was just expecting it to be a bit… later, you know.” He chuckled. “I might as well give up and start applying to clans now, since we’re back in the thick of the drama. If you can’t beat ‘em, just admit defeat and join.”

  He sounded almost serious, and Seiki laughed. “Forty percent clan quest commission good enough for you?” He glanced at his friend, before looking back out the window. “Tuesday war night, Saturday reruns. No monthly retention fee, but we’re new, and that could change in the future.”

  Ippei stared at him for a moment, before realizing he was joking, or at least half-joking. “I’ll think about it,” he said with a casual shrug. “If you’re ever getting into a pyramid scheme, might as well get in at the top.”

  Seiki laughed again and shook his head. Down below, the familiar blaring of wind instruments and beating drums were drawing close, as a procession of yellow-clad dancers slowly made their way down Trade Street, singing praise to the all-defeating Prestigious High Lord Zengoro of the Rogami Clan.

  Ippei let out a long breath. “It’s going to be an interesting week.”

  “Yeah.” Seiki nodded. “Busy, too.”

  Gazing at Mani Shrine’s graceful green layered roofs, he let out a long content sigh, realizing now how the West Defenders must feel pushing unknown boundaries at the edge of War Games. There were things to figure out, the Society to talk to, a Level 18 Sheathed Blade to pull, and many, many upgrades he would need to consider for his troops.

  “And maybe even a clan territory to rob,” Seiki added with a chortle.

  Yamura, who had somehow heard the last bit, started crying out in horror how that was a very bad idea, and Seiki simply laughed, leaving Ippei to look puzzled, Kentaro worried, and Mairin utterly confused but delighted.

  In the street, the lively procession was making their way past the block, yellow sleeves fluttering in unison. That was when the noon hour struck and a notice exploded like happy fireworks for all within Shinshioka’s red walls.

  The wait is over! Welcome to the Pacchi Festival!