After that incident, Qawasumi and I were evicted from the hostel. I made that choice to leave fully aware of worsening our living situation. We wandered around the city searching for work, or any place that we could stay at. Qawasumi still wasn’t ready to take on a job, so I decided to suck up any, taking any tips and snagging extras earned from the sidelines. The local streets of Han’ei were receptive to recruiting me, while I thanked my past self for the ‘retail employee’ personality I masked myself with.
[System Announcement]
Lingual Cognizance UP
1224 >>> 1409
+185
From putting out posters to selling strange fruit, I got to hear about the politics in Waqwaq.
“The Kokmin are silent in the shadows, just waiting to make their move,” said a food vendor I briefly worked with, who always spouted his own conspiracies and opinions. “The Imperial Court and Royal Marshal are scrambling to squash down any attempt of uprisings from them, but it won't work! Only with power lies the people of Waqwaq, haha!”
“Is that so?” I set down a pack of crates, before stretching my headband tighter. “Then why does the Kokmin seem like a bunch of bandits?”
“There’s many people from all walks of life. Some just like to stir up trouble, others really want to advocate for their cause. Never mind Itogutshi, have you seen the rest of Waqwaq that isn’t in a big town? Farmers are not getting paid enough, and everyone wants to come here, to this city. The Imperial Court cares more about making Han’ei brighter than it really is.”
Sorah colluded with the Kokmin, the very organization this food vendor talked about. Officer Guiral was hot on his case as well. He’d been with them to pursue his dream, but I couldn’t imagine Sorah being a bandit and such. Han’ei had both an Adventurers’ Guild and a Royal Marshal branch like Itogutshi, but they were located on the other side of the city. It wouldn’t be normal if news of our escape had spread to other branches. If so, then avoiding the Guild was the correct choice of action.
But in order to increase my level cap from Level 0, I needed to head there. What a constriction. The only thing I could do was obtain better equipment and increase my Lingual Cognizance.
I decided to ask Qawasumi during our downtime at night. “I’ve been curious for a while but, what exactly does Lingual Cognizance do?”
“It’s a measure for your lexicon in all languages,” She answered, hugging her knees. I leaned onto the alley wall and took off my work bandana. “Every time you level up, you earn skill points, or SP. You unlock abilities and Branch Classes that way.”
“Oh well...” I let out a sigh and scratched my head. It couldn’t be helped. Although I played around with the notion that if I did increase my level cap, then I would earn a multitude of SP just for reaching Level 1. That thought tormented me that night. Sleeping in the streets didn’t make it feel any better.
The next day, I decided to take Qawasumi to Taqumi, the young archer. He was affiliated with the Guild, but I considered him a safe bet since he knew who she was. I found him near the city gates all exhausted, carrying loads of baggage on his back.
“So how’d it go, Kawari?” He wiped himself with a cloth before sitting down on a nearby bench. “You know… with the—“
I merely turned around as Qawasumi stepped forward. Her current demeanor could help in repairing this bridge, so I let her take the lead for now. Taqumi’s eyes widened as she approached him. He preëmptively got to his knees, holding his hands together.
“Qawasumi, do you remember me?”
“Erm…” She turned to me while I cheered her on in silence. Then she faced Taqumi. “Yes, for sure.”
His eyes glittered as he stood up and shook her hand. “Ever since you’ve bested all of us all those years ago, I’ve been making sure that I’ll one day catch up to you.”
“That’s great, but—”
He kept shaking her hand. “How have you been doing these past years? Your name has merely become myth and legend, though I know I faced off against the real one. You got any tips for me?”
Qawasumi leaned backward, overwhelmed by the barrage of questions. It appeared that Taqumi placed her on a high pedestal, which reminded me much of those who idolize the people that beat them. I exhaled, thinking about the Taqumi that had convinced me to reconcile with her on that morning. This switch was like night and day.
“Taqumi,” She cut him off as she let go of his hand, “I… just want to thank you for coming to save us.”
“You’re the one that saved Kaizenji Kawari and I.” He gave a neat grin. “Had you not used my bow we would’ve been done for.”
“But you threw your bow to me.”
“That doesn’t matter. You’re our savior.” I clapped my hands as I stepped in. “Ruri, we have a surprise for you.”
“That’s right.” Taqumi reached for a bag from his cargo, and brought out a case.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Taqumi and I planned this. He offered to pay for the expenses, but I opted to pay the full price. My weeks working various jobs in the city paid for this very object. I only borrowed Taqumi’s keen eye for the selection process.
He opened the case to reveal a bow.
“A ‘recurve bow’, whatever you call it.” I brought it out along with Taqumi. I didn’t really know anything about bows, so I asked him for his opinion beforehand. “You want to keep practicing archery, right? It isn’t the best as the one you left in Japan, but I hope this will do for now.”
[System Message]
Weapon Equipped
[Kenrou Recurve Bow]
Activation Cost: 3 EP; Upon activation, consume 1 less EP when firing at a distance less than 3 li.
Taqumi and I watched as Qawasumi's eyes widened and her face flushed in red. She could barely say a word, a rare occurrence yet again I’d witnessed. She glanced between the two of us, a soft smile gracing her lips. “You guys didn’t have to do this. I needed to earn this myself—”
“In order to enter the local competitions, you have to own your own bow.” I stated the mian intention of obtaining the bow. “And with it we can earn some money. Best to lean into our strengths.”
We’d spent almost two months since our sudden return. I still focused on my original goal, Sorah’s goal of finding his family and bringing them through the door. I hadn’t forgotten. I worked all these hours in the streets, sleepless nights without a home, for that sole reason.
Qawasumi's eyes flickered with excitement as she carefully held the bow in her hands. I did hear her mumble something as she hid her face with her weapon, but I couldn’t discern. Then, she gripped it with firm strength.
“When I’m not taking on commissions from the Guild, let’s catch up Qawasumi, or I’m happy to help you guys out in anything.” Taqumi waved, scratching his hair with his other hand.
“Actually, there is one thing we could ask.”
“Hm? Okay, say it out. If it’s money then I can’t help you there unfortunately, heh.”
We kept the request until the following morning. Qawasumi and I rendezvoused with Taqumi at the same location, the city gates. It was already pretty busy, with carriages and rickshaws entering and exiting the walls with a rumble. I noticed a couple of men wearing blue cloaks. Pebbles jumped about, while droves of people queued up in massive lines. Han’ei ran like clockwork as usual. As if there was a specific beat that a city had, one I could easily adjust to with experience.
Soon we were walking just out of the city, its skyline hugging the horizon. The sun brought itself up high to shower the land with life as it brought the swirl of the seasonal wind and the scent of fresh flower petals. Every once in a while a few travelers came our way while, and we yielded onto the green prairies for a detour. I knew exactly where we were going.
After a brief climb up hills and trees, a clearing could be seen as we approached the cliff. Not far from the ledge was the sliding door, a bit weathered but still bore the resemblance of one.
“What’s this?” Taqumi had his hands comfortably around his neck, while I made sure I kept my pace in front.
I turned around as Qawasumi joined my side. “Taqumi, I have something to tell you.”
I told him about how I was from another world, about how I’d learned to speak the local tongue and worked my way from the ground up. I avoided explaining the Level 0 situation, though just in case. We’d been doing just fine lying low for the most part, but giving any information about Sorah and I would be too risky.
“Whether you believe or not is up to you, but it is all true.” I folded my arms, looking towards the ground. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“Kaizenji Kawari. Is what you told me true?”
I swallowed my spit. “... Yes.”
“Honestly, it’s so nonsensical that it just has to be true.” His serious attitude went away in a flash as his gaze moved to the door. “Well, you brought me all the way here to this door. So it really leads to your world?”
“Only on certain occasions it does.” I breathed a sigh of relief with my explanation. “That’s why I, we asked you here. We would like for you to check once in a while whether it has opened. If there are any vagrants, then clearing the area would be nice.”
“That’s a big order you asked of me…” Taqumi placed his hand underneath his chin, his bow rattling behind him.
Qawasumi came forth and held out her hand. “Please. I promise I’ll return to the Royal Archery Tournament one day as payment.”
“Really? Then I’ll guard this thing with my life!” He burst and leapt forth to take her hand. She still cringed as she leaned backward. “Qawasumi, The Time-Weaver! I look forward to facing off against you once more!”
“Let’s do our best…”
We returned back to the forest path en route to Han’ei. I let Taqumi and Qawasumi walk ahead as I contemplated something. My total time in this world was almost half a year already. Almost half a year since that voice gave me that one line.
“‘Defend it with your life’, huh…” I murmured those words out loud, wondering whether that day would actually come. In the meantime, we acquired a watcher, Taqumi, to check on the door. Had Qawasumi not stepped in with her bargain then he would’ve declined my offer. After all, he knew her longer than me by a long shot even with her disappearance.
Everything would be okay. Things were going in the right direction, albeit slowly.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to Kita District Local Archery Tournament! An unofficial place for amateurs to rise through the ranks and earn some moolah!” An announcer stood on a metal pedestal with one foot, shouting to the crowd below. “Archery is the pride and power of the Wawaqi Branch Class, and it is Han’ei’s pride too! Out of sixteen skilled contestants, only one will be able to take home the grand prize, a total pool of a thousand silver mon!”
The crowd rallied from below as hordes of watchers flooded a wide street of Kita District. It had been closed for the event a few days prior. All the contestants entered in from a separate area, as some cheered some famous names I never heard of. Perhaps if I’d been a local here from the start, them I would have.
But the only person I rooted for, was a girl hiding her long blonde hair with her cloak. A newly bought recurve bow was slung around her back, her makeshift arrows rattling behind in her quiver. She kept her gaze grounded, while other archers waved to their fans.
One of the only people I trusted in this world. Qawasumi Ruri.