I handed the owner of Sakuyama a bundle of ten round Mon tied together with twine that looped through the square-shaped holes in the middle of each coin. With the money I still had left, I could afford to live here for the next two years if I wanted…
I’d come in search of the sponsor behind the bounty on my head. Though by the time I’d managed to find the damn place, thanks to its secluded location in the corner of the Slums, the exhaustion of the day had finally caught up to me, which, considering all that had happened, was long overdue.
My feet felt as heavy as boulders as I pulled myself up the stairs to the second floor. After finding my room at the end of one of two corridors, I slid the door shut behind me. There weren’t any bolts on the door, but I didn’t care. I was in a Safe Zone after all.
I lay down on the surprisingly-nice, thin mattress, which lay atop the somewhat-worn tatami flooring. After moving around all day, it felt as though my body started melt as soon as I stilled. I suddenly became aware of how much my body ached, and promised myself to find a nice hot bath the following day.
I was roused from my sleep by talking from another room, and sat up slowly. The soreness I’d felt the previous night was now ten times worse, and I still felt incredibly tired. I doubted it was something a potion could handle, so I just tried to ignore it as best I could as I walked across the hall and down the stairs.
In a room connected to the ‘lobby’ came three voices, talking very hushed, but, thanks to the thin walls, it was somewhat audible. From the titbits I could hear, it sounded like they were discussing payment of some sort. As nonchalantly as I could manage, I slid open the door to the room, revealing a sort of tavern-like seating area, with low tables and worn pillows to sit on.
As I entered, a banner appeared, “Now entering Emergent Stage ‘Sakuyama’.”
Not another one of these…
A simple Koto melody filled the air as I found a table halfway across the room, from which I could watch the three men sitting in the corner, talking in hushed voices. At first, I assumed one of these men was the sponsor, but then I saw a fourth man sitting by himself only a few tables away from me, sipping on a cup of tea, with an expression on his face that didn’t hide the fact that he was bored out of his mind. His clothes also didn’t really fit in. It wasn’t that he was well-dressed, but rather the fact that he didn’t have that I-just-rolled-around-in-the-mud-outside look like the three men at the table in the corner. Besides those four and myself, the vast hall was empty, which wasn’t surprising, considering the location and state of the place.
I immediately got up from my seat and sat down next to the lone man, eliciting a startled jump from him.
“What’d’ya want?” he grumbled.
I pulled out the contract I’d looted yesterday and put it on the table in front of him.
“I hear you’re looking for me,” I said.
To his credit he kept his surprise well-concealed. He quickly cleared his throat and said, “You don’t have to kill me, I’m just a middle man! In fact! I’ll pay you to not kill me!”
“Hmm,” I hummed. “How much are you going to be worth to me, I wonder?”
“Oh, quite a lot! I’ll give you what my Master left with me as bounty payment!”
“And who’s your Master?”
“I’ll tell you, but…”
“But?”
“Those three men in the corner…” I turned to look at them, noticing that they were all staring back at me. “They’ve been hired to guard me… and to make sure that I don’t run away with the bounty fee.”
“You need me to kill them for you?”
“Well… yes.”
“Alright,” I said.
I got up from my seat at the same time as the three men. All of them had short, easy-to-wield weapons in hand, either a dagger or shortsword. I pulled my obsidian edge from my inventory, drawing it from its scabbard at my side and brandishing it, displaying the instrument of their impending death. They froze for a split-second, but then barged across the room towards me, pushing aside tables and roaring at the top of their lungs, perhaps to dispel their own fear.
I held my blade at an equilibrium above my head, the tip almost piercing the ceiling. As the first guard came within range, I let my edge descend upon him, cutting through his upper arm, which was extended in a stab aimed at my unarmoured chest. My blade cleft through flesh and bone like an axe splitting firewood. The next attacker immediately followed behind his screaming comrade, who was spasming around on the floor, and I twisted my blade around and swung it upwards, catching him in the side, below the ribs, and tearing through his entire body, dividing him into two uneven pieces. My sword continued upwards with the momentum and got stuck in the ceiling, just as the third man went for me. I let go of my sword, which hung awkwardly above us, dripping droplets of crimson onto the scuffed wooden floor, and caught his arm before he could bring his shortsword to bear on me. He continued to struggle, putting both hands on the handle of his short Uchigatana, while I held his forearms. With as much force as I could manage, I kicked him in the chest, pushing him back just long enough for me to jump and put all my weight on the handle of my ‘Passing Breeze’, bringing the midnight-black sword down on his head, where it settled halfway through.
After withdrawing my blade, I jabbed it through the chest of the guy squirming on the floor, then performed a flourish of my blade, scattering two neat lines of blood around me. I quickly became aware of the fact that I needed a change of clothes, as my neat, white shirt was now stained beyond repair.
“Alright, cough it up,” I said.
“They weren’t kidding, you truly are a monster.” Though he’d managed to hide his fear before, it now shone on his face like a permanent mask.
“Maybe I should just retrieve my payment from your corpse…”
“No, please. Here! Take it!” He hurriedly handed me a sack that chinked eagerly with coins. As I took it from him, I realised it contained only two Bu…[1]
“Alright, who’s the guy that wants me dead?”
“They call him the Spymaster.”
Shit.
“… Is his name Genzō?”
The man gave me a surprised look, “How’d you know that?”
Shit, shit, shit. The people who’d hired me had already cast me aside and wanted me eliminated because I’d become a threat. Because of their own ignorance! Because they’d been uninformed and unprepared for the Vermilion strike! As if I’d even had a choice in what side to choose, considering how my crazy guide had just up and left at the first sign of a fight. Was the information I had really that volatile? Or was the old Spymaster just that insecure that he didn’t want the possibility of me interfering with his plans?
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“When did he put out the bounty on me?”
“Right after the riots in the city.”
Oh, they’d pay. I’d kill that old Spymaster and his crazy son!
I tossed one of the coins from the bounty back to the guy. “You can keep that,” I said.
“For my silence?”
“I don’t care what you do, you can run and tell your Master, if it pleases you… I’ll be coming for his head soon.”
I left Sakuyama in a foul mood, stomping through the Slums, heading for the Marketplace, where I asked for directions to the best inn this city had to offer, which sent me on a course to the Residential District.
On the way to the inn, I walked past a tailor, which lay at the beginning of the district and looked quite a bit more expensive than the one I’d visited the day before. I didn’t need to take a look at my town clothes to know they were painted in a fresh coat of crimson.
The assistant greeted me as I entered the store, then froze upon seeing the state I was in.
“You’ll want a new set of clothes?” she inferred from my shoddy appearance.
“Yes, please.”
“Hakama-san will return shortly, if you do not mind waiting,” she informed me. I assumed the person in question was the Tailor.
“That’s fine,” I said, and started looking around the store, trying to figure out what kind of new outfit I’d want. The assistant tracked my progress through the store with a soft expression on her apple-cheeked and kind face. I couldn’t help but smile as she stared at me with those big brown eyes.
A man emerged from the backroom. “A customer?” he asked.
“Yes, she is in need of a new set of clothes, sir.”
He gave me a look up and down.
“Hmm. Yes, indeed. And what sort does the lady wish to wear?”
“A plain kimono, of sturdy, yet comfortable fabric.”
“Certainly.”
He gave me a discerning look, then turned to his assistant.
“Airi, could you take her measurements?”
“Of course. With me, please.”
I followed the assistant, Airi, into an adjacent room, where she measured my height, width, and so forth.[2]
When we emerged back into the store, the Tailor, Hakama, was looking at various fabrics, and I ended up choosing the calming blue-grey fabric, which seemed to confuse him, perhaps because he’d expected me to choose a more feminine colour, but, honestly, I’d grown to like this calming shade of blue.[3]
After a bit of searching, he located a kimono in my chosen colour that fit my measurements. When he presented it to me, I suddenly remembered an idea I’d had earlier, and asked the Tailor if they sold belts that allowed for carrying vials. He didn’t. But he told me he could make one, and that I should come back the following day. So, after giving them my old town clothes, I put on my new blue-grey kimono and left him with the newly-acquired Bu for his trouble, which seemed to be more than ample payment, judging by the surprised expression on both his and his assistant’s faces.
Though I bitterly wanted to seek out Genzō beneath the creepy dollmaker’s shop, I continued on my way to what I’d been told was the best inn around. Unlike my first pass through the district, people actually thronged the streets and alleyways, most seemingly returning home after working at the market and elsewhere throughout the city.
On the corner of where the main road through the district was intersected by another wide road, stood the two-story inn. It’d been built in mixed style of wood and stone, and planted before it was the marvellous blooming splendour of orange Osmanthus, as well as white and pink Cherry-blossom and Plum trees. The sweet apricot scent from the Osmanthus hooked me by the nose and reeled me in, until I was suddenly in front of the door.
As though sensing me from within, a woman, clad in an elaborate kimono decorated with the scenery of a pond full of Koi fish and a heron flying overhead, gracefully slid the door aside.
“Welcome to Koike Rakuen.[4]” Her voice was soft like velvet, and her face trained into an archaic smile that managed to appear warm, without being overly hospitable. After all, this was the sort of establishment where customers sought them out, not the other way around. I was sure I’d end up paying an arm and a leg to stay here a couple nights, though I felt I deserved luxury after the mess I’d gone through the last few days, plus, I needed something to distract me from the disturbing revelation that my employer had turned on me the instant I’d left his sight.
“Your best room, with a view of the sunset, please.”
The well-practiced smile widened slightly at my request, betraying a flicker of the true persona beneath the hostess’ mask. She gave me a look up-and-down, no doubt judging my appearance. “You may not be aware, but we insist that our guests pay upfront.”
“How much?”
“How long do you plan to stay with us.”
“Probably two nights, maybe more.”
“For two nights, it will be nine Shu.”
I opened my inventory and withdrew the exact amount of coins to my hand, then handed them to her unceremoniously. “Here you go.”
One of her eyes twitched slightly with some kind of restrained grimace or surprised expression.
“Very good,” she then said. “Follow me.”
As she turned away from me, leading the way to a staircase and up to the second floor, part of me secretly hoped I’d run into another player here.
The second floor was, like the floor below, entirely constructed with wood, with the stone parts of the building being only for the exterior and a few structural pillars. The inn itself was built in the shape of a tall square with its centre cut out and turned into a small garden with a pond and open sky above. From the windows on the second floor, I saw that the pond was, according to the name of the establishment, brimming with Koi fish. Just like the first time I’d encountered a Koi pond within the Lady’s mansion, the fish were in a murderous frenzy and the water looked like that of a jacuzzi with its waterjets turned to max. Next to the pond stood the statue of a heron frozen mid-flight.
On the way to my room, we passed another one of the hostesses, who looked eerily similar to the woman walking in front of me. She had the exact same height and lithe build, the same tied-up silky black hair, the same white-powdered face, the same kimono with the Koi fish pond and heron mid-flight, and the same warm-but-not-overly-hospitable tight-lipped smile. The second hostess was in the middle of bringing an empty tray back downstairs, presumably after having delivered something to one of the rooms, which made my heart pound. I hadn’t talked normally to another player since I’d rudely talked to Jakob prior to leaving the Kingdom.[5]
The hostess stopped in front of a door, and said, “This is the best room we currently have available. When you need something please ring the bell in your room. Dinner will be served at sunset and breakfast at sunup.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind having the bath filled immediately.”
“As you wish.” She opened the door and let me walk past her, then turned on the spot and shuffled down the hallway towards the staircase.
The room was quite spectacular indeed. At the far wall was a broad window that looked out across the city and the bright clear sky. The entrance to the room had a tiny wooden platform where you could place your shoes and hang your coat, and then a small step to the rest of the floor, which was covered in tatami. In the centre of the room was a low table with a legless cushioned chair next to it, and in one corner was a wooden box surrounding a bathtub-looking hole with two steps down, providing what was probably a comfortable seat while submerged in the water. At the other end lay a mattress with a small sausage-like pillow and fat duvet. The room was decorated with colourful and aromatic flowers, interesting ink paintings that looked almost abstract, and tiny Buddha and Jizō statues.
The Jizō statues were peculiar, I thought, sitting there with their red bibs atop some sort of dresser. Jizō was thought to be a God who served as a caretaker for the children who died before their parents and were therefore unable to pass to the afterlife, and, when I thought about it, I hadn’t seen a single child in this World. Perhaps the Shigurui-no-Kumo that plagued these lands was lethal to children, or maybe something else had spirited them away. It was a depressing thought. Suddenly, the desire to end this civil war was a lot more understandable. It wasn’t about pacifism or some ideal of a peaceful world, no, it was about the simplest, most crucial aspect of life: Survival. If the war didn’t end, the clans would literally kill each other until no one was left. I just hoped I could fix this World before it was too late for them.
A polite “Excuse me” from just beyond the door ripped me from my spaced-out, blank stare at the tiny statues.
“Come in,” I answered.
A woman, or rather, a young girl, in a plain brown kimono, burst into the room carrying a big bucket sloshing with steaming-hot water, which she dumped into the bathtub-like square in the corner of the room. She then bowed curtly and left the room, returning a few minutes later with a full bucket. This happened six times until the tub was full and the room was flushed with the water’s flower-scented steam.
I slowly peeled off my own kimono after making sure the door was properly closed, then lowered my sore body into the steaming tub, feeling an immediate sensation of pain, followed by a wave of comforting warmth that penetrated all the way to my core and left me sighing. As I steeped in the hot water, I felt the last few days’ worth of exhaustion overtake me.
----------------------------------------
[1] It was hard not to get offended over how little my enemies thought I was worth…
[2] No, I’m not going to give you my three sizes.
[3] I wonder why…
[4] “Koi-Fish-Pond Paradise”.
[5] Though it wasn’t more than three days prior.