I woke up a few hours later, with the sky outside orange from the setting sun, and spotted a tray of food on the table. I felt kind of creeped out that someone had entered the room while I was naked and asleep, but I was hungry, so I forgave the intrusion.
After crawling out of the square tub, I dried myself off with a short piece of cloth lying next to its edge, then put my clothes back on. I spent the next half hour eating my food, taking my time with every single mouthful. My body felt heavy and sluggish, and perhaps I was only eating this slowly, because my sore body would’ve hurt far more if I went any faster.
When not a single grain of rice remained, I stacked the plates, cups, and bowls on top of the tray, and blew out the bright candles that had been lit whenever the food had been brought in. I pulled off my kimono again, leaving just my underwear, then crawled under the heavy duvet and put my head on the sausage-shaped pillow. The pillow was filled with some kind of seed, which dispersed with the weight of my head, giving a comforting shape that supported my neck and pressed gently against the sides of my head. I blinked a few times, listening to the muffled sounds of the inn and my dark room, then—
—blinked again and awoke, finding the entire room awash in a pink, yellow, and orange light. Even though I knew I’d slept, I didn’t really feel it. My body was still sore, but maybe less so than the previous night, though it was hard to tell. It felt like I’d done a workout involving every single muscle in my body, and just the simple motion of pushing the duvet off my body and sitting up hurt a lot more than it should have.
I looked over to the table in the middle of the room, and, unsurprisingly, found the dinner tray removed and replaced with a smaller one, whereupon a bowl of rice with mushrooms, a bowl of soup, and a plate with a grilled fish were placed. Next to the plate was a cup of tea, from which curling tendrils of steam floated upwards and disappeared.
For a moment, I wondered if the servants of this inn were secretly trained Shinobi, since I doubted that I was a deep enough sleeper to not notice someone entering my room, while carrying trays back-and-forth, but perhaps I’d just been that exhausted.
I quickly devoured the entire meal after getting changed, and then left my room and made my way downstairs. One of the hostesses bowed as I passed by and I replied with a brief smile, before leaving the inn.
Outside, the sun was obscured behind an overcast sky that seemed to have no end in sight. People were milling about the area outside the inn, which seemed to be a hub of some sort, due to the different inns, eateries, and shops that lined the streets on either side of the large intersection.
For once I had no plans, so I took my time walking to the Tailor I’d visited the day before. As I arrived at the store, I heard voices within and through the shuttered window saw silhouettes move around inside. For some reason, I contemplated waiting outside until they were done, but then I changed my mind and pulled aside the door, immediately interrupting whatever conversation had taken place.
The proprietor looked at me and smiled. “Give me a moment,” he said the customer in front of him and went into the back, quickly returning while holding a blue-grey sash in his hands. The sash had small loops made of sturdy string attached around the side and back, allowing for a total of eight flasks to be carried on it at the same time.
“I hope this satisfies your request,” Hakama the Tailor said hopefully.
“Mind if I try it on before I decide?”
“Of course.”
He handed me the sash, and a tooltip appeared:
----------------------------------------
‘Alchemist’s Sash’
-Crafting Utility Item-
Utility > Toolbelt
“A bespoke sash made for holding potions in small loops tied around the necks of the bottles, granting easy access for the wearer.”
Equip
Discard
Weight: N/A
----------------------------------------
It had no stats or weight, but also wasn’t a ‘Cosmetic’ item or ‘Town Clothes’, rather something called ‘Crafting Utility’ which I found interesting, given the implications. As I pressed ‘Equip’, it appeared around my waist, immediately blending in with the kimono I was wearing. I pulled out the poison I’d made two days earlier and attached it to one of the loops, then I proceeded to jump and run awkwardly around the store, testing out the grip of the simplistic loops. I had to hand it to him, it was a simple but effective design, though I wished I’d asked for it to be made with black fabric, since the blue would look odd when I wore it in battle.[1]
“It’s perfect,” I said. Besides the colour, of course, but I didn’t think it was worth mentioning.
“I am glad to hear that,” the Tailor admitted.
I stuffed the sash away in my inventory, said my thanks, and left the shop, then headed for the marketplace beyond the Residential District.
Gravel and dirt crunched beneath my boots as I passed under the marketplace archway and the thronging stalls greeted me with their smells and sounds. It was busier than my last visit and I swore I caught the glimpse of people who seemed to not fit into the surroundings. But, as I tracked their progress through the crowd they just suddenly vanished and I was left standing there staring vacantly into space, wondering if it had just been a trick of the mind. Was I that starved for real company?
Suddenly someone bumped against me with such force that it almost knocked me to the ground.
“Hey!” I yelled after the guy, who didn’t stop running.
I sighed loudly and turned my attention to the spot where I thought I’d seen someone, and decided to try going over to that side of the market, but, as I took one step forward, something crunched underfoot, something with a crispier sound to it than dirt or gravel. I looked down and saw that I was standing on top of a folded-up roll of white paper. I picked it up and dusted most of the dirt off of it, before undoing the cord coiled around its centre. The letter unfurled itself almost like a banner, with large, boldly-written and elaborate characters on it, reading: “Mercenary Dog of the Azure Dragon, I, Suzaku Nobushige, challenge you to a duel. Meet me on the hill that separates the Vermilion and Azure lands, when the sun has passed its zenith.”[2]
Honestly, I was flattered. He at least had more courage than the Spymaster. And I had to admit that I was itching to spill someone’s guts onto the ground, so this Nobushige might as well be the target of my bloodlust. I wondered if this was the man whom I’d heard the Lady describe as “Suzaku”, though I doubted the head of the Vermilion clan would want to face me in a duel. It was possible the author was a servant or high-ranking lieutenant of the clan, similar to Hayato, though I wasn’t sure if Hayato actually was part of the Azure family or not, but, by the way he was treated by the Lady, it seemed unlikely.
If this Nobushige fella was expecting me past noon, it seemed that I didn’t have much time to waste looking for phantoms in the marketplace, so I instead turned on the spot and headed for the blacksmith, where my cuirass would be waiting.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I made it only ten steps, before someone called out to me.
“Hey, you!”
Here we go again, I thought, although I hadn’t seen a Stage banner pop up, so I didn’t know what to expect.
A guy of about the same height as me, with strong cheekbones and suntanned skin, a slender yet muscular frame, a light-grey yukata, and the craziest hair I’d ever seen, stopped in front of me. His hair was like blue frost and orange-red fire swirled in a tornado and curled wildly on top of his head. I would’ve laughed if it hadn’t been for his kind frost-blue eyes, and slightly mischievous smile.
“You’re a player, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s right. What’s with the crazy hair?”
He grabbed a bit of his hair in-between three fingers, laughed, and said, “A lot of people ask about that.”
“So, what do you want? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
“I saw. You’re about to begin the Duel Stage, right?”
“I guess.”
“Who are you fighting?”
“Nobushige,” I replied.
He made a sound that seemed to indicate I’d have a rough time.
“What, is he that hard?”
“That’s what I hear. I joined the Vermilion clan, so I had to fight Hayato. He wasn’t easy, let me tell you, but at least he only has a Shinobigatana[3], whereas Nobushige has a Jūmonji Yari[4].”
“That makes sense, I guess, but I’m sure he won’t be too bad.”
“What kind of weapons do you use?”
“This is an awful lot of questions.”
“Sorry, I’m just a bit excited, I guess. I’ve been hanging out with the same two guys for the last ten days and I miss talking Builds with other players.”
“You’re the first player I’ve seen in this World,” I admitted. “I didn’t think there was anyone else here.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened. After I entered this World, people just seemed to stop progressing and catching up to me. I actually had a few friends who were supposed to meet me here, but I haven’t heard from them in like a month.”
“It might have had something to do with the PKer who was guarding the Forlorn Castle,” I explained.
“Fuck… really?”
“Yeah, but she was killed recently,[5] so we should start seeing more people here soon, I hope.” I didn’t, actually. I honestly had kind of liked that the city wasn’t brimming with players. Granted, I wasn’t a huge fan of a ghost town only inhabited by virtual characters, but it still beat being chased around by stalkers, whenever I forgot to take my cloak off.
“I sure hope so. My team and I have been looking for a fourth player for a while, we’re trying to beat the final Stage on its Alt-Mode. Plus, I’m so freaking tired of talking to NPCs, I must’ve spoken to every single one in this city twice. Most of them just repeat the same lines over-and-over.”
“Sorry, I’m not really sure I follow. What is an ‘NPC’? And ‘Alt-Mode’? And you mentioned ‘Build’ earlier too. I don’t know what any of that means.” As I said the words, they felt almost nostalgic in my mouth, like the word ‘PKer’ had when Kerebor first explained it to me, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what they meant.
“Oh, really? I guess you haven’t hung around taverns trading information much?”
“Yeah, not really.”
“I see, that’s pretty Vanilla, going solo like that. Basically, NPC means Non-Player Character, i.e. any character that isn’t a player is considered an NPC, even the enemies you fight. It’s a term people started using alongside ‘Player’, since this realm is basically one big game.”
“Hmm, that makes sense I guess.”
“As for Alt-Mode, it basically just refers to an Alternate way to fight a boss, usually for a better reward, but also a much harder fight.”
“Oh, I actually did that in the Forlorn Castle.”
“Wait, really? Holy shit. People have been speculating on how to do that for ages! That kind of information is worth like a thousand gold, easy! How did you do it?”
“I don’t really want to share, to be honest.” Though it was good to know that some information was worth a lot to some people. It made me wonder if I should write things down, just in case.
“Oh. I get it.”
“It’s not like that, but, you know that Player-Killer I mentioned? Well, she used the reward from the boss to kill a bunch of players.”
“You think it made her a PKer?”
“Probably. It was kind of like the Weeping Blade,” I explained, comparing it to something in this World that he might’ve experienced, even if he’d picked the Vermillion clan.
“No shit? That’s pretty nuts. I see why you don’t want that information to fall into the wrong hands.”
“I just realised I don’t even know what to call you,” I said.
He laughed and replied, “I was just about say the same thing.”
“You can call me… Aiko.”
“FrozenFury.”
“That’s your name?” I asked sceptically.
“Yeah? You don’t like it?”
“I suppose it explains the hair,” I commented sarcastically.
He laughed again. “Yeah. Oh, and FYI, I’m fine with just being called Fury.”
Suddenly a name like Kerebor didn’t seem so silly after all, but then again, I could’ve named myself something awesome as well, instead of just ‘Aiko’…[6]
“So, Aiko, what kind of weapons are you running?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me what ‘Build’ means.”
“Oh, that one’s easy. It just means whatever weapons, armour, and skills you have.” I’ll be honest, the word was pretty self-explanatory if I’d just thought about it for a bit.
“I use a Katana.”
“Interesting choice, I hear they’re pretty powerful if you have good timing and aim. I use dual-daggers, for now.”
“Like Red Rian?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
“Well, thanks for the info, but I really should go.”
“Ah, right, sorry to keep you.”
“Maybe I’ll catch up to you and be that fourth player you’ve been looking for.”
“I can’t wait,” he replied honestly and smiled.
“See you around… Fury,” I said, and tried a smile.[7]
“I’ll be here from sunrise to sundown every day,” Fury said hurriedly.
“Got it,” I replied and went inside the Blacksmith’s shop. It felt kind of nice to suddenly have something to work towards. It made me want to do my best to beat the next few Stages so I could have someone else to fight alongside. Someone who didn’t know who I was. Someone a bit like Jakob. Granted, Fury would recognise me when he saw me in my armour, but then again, I could just stop using the cape for a while. I mean, it wasn’t like I needed to wear it, although it made me feel whole somehow, as though I couldn’t imagine getting rid of it.
The Blacksmith smiled proudly when our eyes met.
“Have you finished?”
“We have indeed. It was tough work, but your armour is as good as new.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
He hurried into the back of the shop and I heard muttered words, before he re-emerged with an assistant in tow and my ‘Blacksteel Cuirass’ held in his powerful and calloused hands. The chestpiece was placed before me on the table with a metallic clunk, and I felt the smooth surface with my hands, inspecting it for any potential shortcuts or structural weak points, but the Blacksmith had indeed fixed it up and made it as good as new. I spun it around and checked the back where an exquisitely-rendered carving of the Tsukikusa could now be found.
“Good job,” I said and stashed the cuirass in my inventory. “I hope my previous payment was sufficient.”
“Oh, more than,” the Blacksmith said. He didn’t try to squeeze more coins out me, which I respected, but then again, perhaps I’d paid him too much.
The Smith and his assistant both bowed deeply as I left the store and returned to the crowded marketplace.
Before trying to figure out how to get to the next Stage, I decided to return to the Alchemist’s shop to brew some more potions, and, after spending close to an hour in the damp and humid store, I’d finished distilling three more ‘Weak Healing Potions’.
I finally felt prepared and set out to find a horse that could carry me across the lands in a hurry, as the sun was fast approaching its peak.
Given my unfamiliarity with the city, I decided to go back to the place I was staying to ask the owner for advice.
----------------------------------------
[1] I know, veeery important…
[2] I found it somewhat ironic that so much time had been spent on this letter of challenge. Wasn’t it just easier to send a messenger to tell me directly? Or better yet, hire a band of assassins to do your dirty work? Perhaps the author took pride in this kind of display of arrogant penmanship.
[3] “Shinobi Katana”, shorter than a normal Uchigatana and completely straight.
[4] “Cross-shaped spear”.
[5] I didn’t mention that I’d killed her, since I still felt bad about it, and I wasn’t sure how his opinion of me would change. I mean, it’s not like I cared, since he was just a stranger, but most people will probably treat you differently if you introduce yourself by essentially saying, “Hi, I just killed another player a few days ago, how do you do?”
[6] Imagine this: “Hi, my name is Darkness, the Bringer of Damnation!” No? Too much? Pfff, whatever…
[7] Emphasis on tried. The end result was something between the face you make when constipated and a I’m-going-to-kill-you-in-your-sleep kind of grin.