I sat in an oversized truck bed alongside Shuten Douji and the Seekers as we were driven through the Silent Hand tunnel system. I’d already been in the tunnels before, but never on what they called the “roadway system”. It reminded me a bit of the Fallen Star facility with how narrow and dim the area was, but the gray-painted walls were too dissimilar to the aged brown of my birthplace that the comparison hardly stuck.
Shuten Douji assured us that it’d be a two-hour long trip at most, though if we’d taken the normal roadways in Minashire it would’ve taken upwards of eight hours. He seemed proud of that fact, saying that the group of Oni a version of him commissioned to build the roadway added some sort of time-dilation effect to it with their Myth abilities. Yugo and The Historian were far more interested to hear about that than Archie, Somnia, and I were, but given our current circumstances, we had no choice but to listen to the Oni boast about his kin for thirty minutes.
Once the history lesson ended, The Historian finally started us on the topic that actually mattered – the Wild Men. He’d directed Somnia to lead the conversation, which led her to bring up her method of taming Wild Men. Archie gave her an approving thumbs up. Archie was also the only one to show a modicum of interest in her plan.
“It’s interesting that they started following us once we intimidated them,” I noted. “But Zakaria took that control back in an instant. Can that not be used against us? If we follow your method, we could end up creating the army that ends up killing us. It’d be quicker and easier to just kill Zakaria and the Wild Men.”
Shuten Douji nodded his agreement as the Oni man driving the car cheered with the Oni woman sitting beside him. Somnia winced, though she didn’t give me an answer yet. Instead, she turned to Yugo who’d raised his hand like an eager child in a classroom.
“I’ll be frank, Somnia: I’m indifferent towards your and Rui’s plans. Your plan is more efficient, though Rui’s plan is safer. Talking them to death will certainly save our stamina, but we can’t predict when they’ll change on us.”
“Then we can do both,” Somnia posited. “We’ll tame the ones we can tame, and kill the stubborn ones.” She turned to me and smiled. “We’re going to be fighting and Leveling for days on end regardless. Think of my ‘Taming Plan’ as a method of energy conservation. If you decide not to do it, you don’t have to. I’d prefer if you did, but it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t.”
“Do we really have to kill them?” Archie asked. “Some of those guys didn’t seem too bad. What if we just knock them out?”
“You’re more than welcome to try that,” Somnia said. “I can’t tell you how well that will or won’t work, though.”
I made a face like I was considering her words, though I’d already come to my conclusion. I’d been stuck in the high 80s for the past week, so any plan that allowed me to Level as quickly as I had been was good enough for me.
Somnia turned to Yugo. “And we’ll just have to convene somewhere far enough from Oni Village that if they do turn on us, we can wipe them out without putting the citizens at risk! Look, there are thousands of Wild Men. Perhaps tens of thousands. And some of them are far stronger than the others. We fought the dregs over in Saikou. No matter how much we level, we’re going to be outnumbered. Killing them is easy, but turning them to our side is smart. Again, there will be ones who are too stubborn to be tamed and we’ll get rid of those. But the others? Why put ourselves at risk?”
“Give us a goal,” Shuten Douji said after a long moment of contemplation. “At the present moment, 100% of the Wild Men are on Zakaria’s side. Tell us what percent you want on our side, and what will happen once we’ve achieved that number.”
“70%?” Somnia said uncertainly. She cleared her throat. “70%. The overwhelming majority. Once we’ve turned 70% of the Wild Men, we’ll launch a full assault on Zakaria and his remaining Wild Men. Once he’s been killed and eaten, we’ll turn the Wild Men over to you to do as you please.”
“I see,” Shuten Douji considered. “Does this take into account the dwindling number that will come from the… bloodthirsty among us?” He asked, shooting a look at me and the Oni in the truck.
“It does. Since the Wild Men are so numerous, it makes no difference how many a few of us kill.” She turned to me, a sliver of that strange intimidation factor creeping into her voice. “Still, I would prefer if you considered how many you killed. We need numbers for our offensive to work.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, doing my best to push down my creeping smile. “I’ll keep track of how many Wild Men I kill.”
“Rui, I’m being serious.”
“So am I.”
“Yeah!” The Oni in the car called. “We’ll be careful!”
“See?” I called. “We can control ourselves. You don’t have to worry about us killing and Leveling too much and all that. We have a mission to do.”
Somnia narrowed her eyes at me. So did Archie.
“I’ll go with him!” Archie declared. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t kill too many.”
I scoffed.
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***
Oni Village was uniquely beautiful to me. Unlike the traditional, historic architecture of Saikou, Oni Village was distinctly tropical. So much so that I couldn’t even tell we were still in Azuma Saikyou. The village itself was a collection of straw huts, clay buildings, and tiled roads with streets packed with Oni of all ages, colors, and sizes despite the late hour. There were even a decent amount of humans in the mix living alongside them. Oni Village itself was surrounded by trees that pierced the heavens with these massive, vibrant flowers that reminded me of Averyl’s illusory office.
Somnia said this place was ugly. How?
“I have rooms reserved for you four in the southern sector. I’ll have one of my men lead you to it. I don’t care whether you all sleep in or explore. We need to develop a minor System to help us with our,” He looked around, making sure no one was eavesdropping. “Pest issue, and it’ll take a few hours before it’s done. You have ten hours.”
With that, Shuten Douji disappeared into the forest alongside a group of the Silent Hand. A human woman approached us then, leading us deeper into the city to our accommodations. Perhaps I’d been spoiled by Saikou, but I’d assume that the flat, single-story, arch-roofed, raised building was going to be where we slept. It was not; those were Shuten Douji’s accommodations. Where we stayed was in the odd set of homes about five minutes away from there. It was a collection of dumpling-shaped clay buildings with sheets for doors and no windows. At the center of each room was a set of four chairs and a table that sat underneath a bright yellow light. On the walls were black paintings of various moments of Oni history that our guide was eager to tell us about. Interestingly, I’d been given the room with a mural depicting the first time Shuten Douji ever defeated Futakuchi-Onna. My bed sat beneath that painting, a simple white futon with one pillow and blue sheets. Across from it was the “kitchen”, a brick oven and a table with plates and cutlery. According to the guide, water would be provided within an hour and our bathrooms were gendered and communal.
The moment she left us, Somnia leaned close and pleaded with Yugo. “Can we stay in the tunnels? They have better rooms! I saw them on the way here!”
“Aye,” Archie agreed, his Burnish accent slipping out. “This place is hot as balls, and they don’t have any bloody air conditioning!”
“You know what I hear?” Yugo began, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. “A bunch of complaining! We’re here to get stronger, right? Do you think your enemies will let you choose where you sleep when they capture you and put you in their makeship prisons? No!”
“Yeah, but the Wild Men aren’t going to–” Somnia began, but Yugo didn’t let her finish.
“I want you all to be ready for anything. Do you think Nori Knight complained about being too ‘uncomfy’ during the Typho-Gorgon War?! Do you think Animarum complains about it being ‘tew hawt’ when she does whatever Gods do? No! And I won’t allow you all to do it either! Now get in that futon and sleep!”
“THAT IS A REASONABLE LINE OF LOGIC. I AM GLAD YOU HAVE CHOSEN HIM AS YOUR MASTER.”
I was indifferent either way. We’d only be here for a few days. Still, the others didn’t share my feelings. Least of all Archie, who shot him a dirty look and noted, “You’re going to have the Minashire Monitor create a more comfortable bed for you. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you blew Ice-Attuned Aura around the room.”
Yugo stepped back as if struck, only for Somnia to ball her fists. “Do you seriously think I would do that?!” He scoffed as Somnia approached, slowly backing away from her. “First off, I’d rather die than use Ice-Attuned Aura. Seco–... You know what? I can’t afford to deal with this right now. We have a big day tomorrow. I’m going to sleep, and so should you all. Goodnight.”
***
The bed wasn’t nearly as bad as Somnia and Archie made it out to be. When I woke, I noticed a set of clothes at the center of my table along with soap and various grooming supplies as well as a note telling me how to use the communal showers. After I bathed, I put on the outfit gifted to me by the Silent Hand: a black tank top with a red belt and sash that covered the right half of my torso, black pants with faint red accents, tall black boots with similar accents, and a longsword sheathed in a simple black scabbard. Out of curiosity, I tried using the sword in my right hand. It went well as you’d expect it to go from someone with three fingers on his dominant hand. If I didn’t have [ELEMENTAL MANIPULATION] or the [WRAITH STRIKE], I’d be disappointed. Besides, Yugo taught me how to use my aura to create an arm-blade. That was a lot more useful – and admittedly a lot cooler – than any normal sword.
When I left my room, I found Somnia outside with Archie and Yugo each wearing outfits identical to mine. We were approached by similarly dressed Oni who greeted us and led us back to the tunnel system and into a conference room just like the one where Shuten Douji scolded those two Oni who led the Wild Men into Saikou. We took our seats at the square-shaped, wooden table, only to find a pair of glasses waiting for us at our places. It was then that I noticed that everyone in the room apart from us had already been wearing them. They were basic, black-framed rectangular glasses with clear lenses.
The moment I put my pair on, a System popped up. It was different from the scrolls of Fallen Star’s System. It wasn’t even the traditional blue screen like Archie’s. Instead, it was a rectangular bar that persisted at the bottom of my vision. It was full red with “ZAKARIA MAJORITY” written in bold letters on top of the bar and “0% CONVERSION” written below it.
The moment we finally sat, Shuten Douji approached us. Just like us, and everyone else in the room, he wore the same black and red samurai-looking outfit, except where ours were red his was gold.
“This System was developed by my brother Ibaraki’s student named Koyane no Mikoto. It isn’t as comprehensive as those Mamoru HUDs, but it’s enough to work for our purposes. It will show us how many Wild Men have been “converted” to our side. Do you have any questions?”
The Historian popped into existence, perching itself atop Yugo’s head. “Not a question, but an idea. I believe, for efficiency, we should follow a script. It would make this conversion plan even more efficient.”
“That works,” Somnia said at the same time I said, “I’m not doing that.”
We shared a look.
“Why not?” Yugo asked.
“It’s humiliating,” I said honestly. “I’ve already agreed to go along with this whole ‘conversion’ thing. Asking me to read from a script like I’m on the news is a bit much.”
Yugo considered, burying his head between his thumb and forefinger. “Think of it as a different type of strength-building exercise. Mental strength is just as – if not more important than – physical strength. And again, if it doesn’t work, you’re free to do what you do best.”
I relented. He had a point, I supposed. “Fine.”
“I’ll go with him,” Archie said. “To make sure he actually does it.”
“And I will be leaving with Ibaraki and a group of my Silent Hand.” Shuten Douji added.
Yugo shared a look with Somnia. “Guess that leaves us!”