Chapter 15
The day after the rioting in Dokutsu-cho, things were returning to somewhat normalcy. It may have lit some of the city on fire, but the rest of it was untouched. The townspeople, already used to at least some level of violence living in a yakuza controlled colony, were already back at their jobs, business as usual. The market was bustling, filled with stalls and people, buying and selling goods from all around, a decent portion of it stolen from other, weaker merchants.
Noboru was walking through the market, eating an apple he ‘loaned’ from a vendor. Being a top level lieutenant in the Takodin came with privileges, and one of said privileges was being able to do almost anything he wanted, so long as it didn’t disrupt business too much. As he strolled through the marketplace, a sense that the Takodin was on the rise began to creep into his psyche.
Things looked normal. Too normal. Their city was operating just like any normal city would, except in a giant ocean cave. They received minimal help from the mainland, so little that Noboru often wondered why they even bothered sending tribute. As soon as he got back to headquarters, he was going to bring up the idea of becoming a country in their own right to the boss. As he was getting lost in his thoughts, someone slammed into him, making him drop his half eaten apple.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!”
The man looked to be from the Empire, completely out of place here, and he was acting far too confident for a man not on Imperial soil, as had every Imperial Noboru had ever had the displeasure of encountering. Noboru spit at his feet, traditional Wako etiquette for challenging someone to a duel.
“You’re fuckin’ dead, Empiresman.”
Noboru drew his katana. It was enchanted with the rune of sharpness. It never grew dull, no matter how many men he cut down. The Empiresman drew his saber, and Noboru began to doubt his course of action.
His sword was beautifully made, intricately inlaid with gold and jewels, and obviously enchanted to a higher standard than Noboru’s katana as the metal had a deep, almost imperceptible shimmering quality to it.
He was also massive, at least a head taller than Noboru, and he was quite tall by Wa standards. But what worried Noboru the most was the man’s golden armor. His cuirass was unbelievably beautiful, and the only people who wore stuff like that were people rich enough to also afford to enchant it. His greaves and vambraces looked just about as sturdy, if a little less opulent.
Maybe he’s some noble?
All Noboru had was a few pieces of armor he stole from a low level samurai a few years back and enchanted with lightness. It worked well, but this guy’s armor was on a completely different level.
Well, I already spit at his feet. Now it’s a matter of honor.
Noboru grabbed his katana with both hands, taking an aggressive fighting stance, katana held in front, hands near the stomach, tip pointed at the man’s neck. The man took up his stance, saber held horizontally with the blade up and tip pointed down at Noboru, offhand at the small of his back.
Noboru lunged forward slightly, aiming a thrust at the man’s neck, which he displaced with his own thrust forward. As Noboru began to pull back the Imperial slid his sword downwards and clipped the side of Noboru’s wrist. Just a nick, nothing more, but it drew blood nonetheless. Noboru nearly threw himself back and, after taking a second to compose himself, smiled.
“What’s your name, Gaijin?”
The man smiled and bowed forward at the hip, swinging his arms out flamboyantly.
“Johan Bleichröder von Bickenstadt, Baron von Bickenstadt, at your service.”
Noboru lowered his katana slightly.
“A noble?”
Johan von Bickenstadt nodded and resumed his fighting stance.
“Yes. Think about it, you get to die at the hands of an Imperial noble! How honorable! Like a real samurai!”
Noboru growled and stepped as he slashed downward to add power to the swing. The Baron rushed forwards, letting Noboru’s blade slide down his saber and swinging his elbow to the right simultaneously displacing the katana blade by knocking it aside with his elbow, and lobbing Noboru’s head clean off, killing him before he even realized he had been parried.
The Baron raised his saber and flicked the blood off of it before returning it to its scabbard. He smiled and sighed contentedly.
“It’s been a while since I was able to experiment like that. I had fun, so I’ll offer you a prayer. Just a small one. May you rest in peace, and may you flourish on the other side.”
|
|
Raijin watched the warehouse from a safe distance. Men ran to boats, grabbed crates, and ran into the warehouse. The activity never ceased. It looked like a giant wooden hive. He signaled to his men and they signaled back. He moved from his spot, crouch-walking closer to the warehouse. He signaled to his men again and they began to spread out, surrounding the front of the warehouse.
In the courtyard in front of the warehouse, wagons were being loaded up with goods. All around were workers and guards, the guards dotted around the courtyard, watching over the workers to make sure they didn’t pocket anything. According to their information, there were thirty guards in the front, and fifty or so guards inside the warehouse. Raijin had forty men total, all handpicked by Raijin, the men who showed the most promise during training, Raijin’s primary job under Saito Oshan.
Raijin unsheathed his nodachi and grabbed the whistle around his neck, blowing into it before standing up. He held his greatsword horizontally and swung, blurring as he swung forward with blinding speed. He appeared behind two men, standing up and resting his nodachi over his shoulder, falling into a wrath guard. The two men slowly dropped, their top halves falling over and spilling their guts on the ground.
Raijin’s men descended on the guards in the courtyard. Some charged from the front, engaging the guards head on. They crashed into their foe, katanas flashing, slicing through exposed flesh, bouncing off armor or getting blocked by enemy blades. As the guards fought the cacophonous assault, the shinobi crept in from behind. Men appeared behind the guards, thrusting katanas through backs and into necks, tearing through anyone occupied with the frontal assault.
A guard swung at Raijin who blocked with his nodachi, stepping forward and striking the guard’s face with his pommel in the same smooth movement. He raised his nodachi and slashed down, cutting the guard open from shoulder to stomach. Half of the guards were dead and it had been just over thirty seconds.
He turned and spotted another target off in the distance, blurring as he slashed downward and appearing in front of the man, slicing him and his katana in two with his enchanted nodachi and supernatural speed. Raijin hoisted his nodachi over his head and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Finish ‘em off and get in the warehouse!”
His men roared in acknowledgement as they quickly finished the remaining guards. Raijin ran in the warehouse and immediately lopped off the head of a guard who came to investigate, using the momentum of the strike to spin and a thrust through another guard’s chest coming from the opposite side. His raised katana clambered to the floor, causing more guards to find the source of the ruckus outside.
Another guard swung at Raijin before he could take his greatsword out, forcing him to dodge backwards. Two of Raijin’s men rushed forward and engaged the guard, swiftly cutting him down as they attacked from multiple angles at once. The workers scattered as Raijin’s men rushed into the warehouse, ripping through the twenty poorly trained guards stationed there in mere seconds.
Raijin and his men left every single guard dead on the cold stone floor. A shot rang out from the back, killing one of Raijin’s men. Raijin held his nodachi in a reverse grip and javelined his sword into the pistol wielding guard’s chest, nailing him to the door. The rest of the guards began to filter in after him, and Raijin coolly grabbed a katana lying on the floor nearby. raising it triumphantly above his head.
“Fuckin’ get ‘em!”
Both groups clashed, breaking off into dozens of small duels as the guards tried to avenge their comrades. Raijin pushed over a shelf, trapping a few men under the falling boxes. Him and his men descended on these vulnerable men, killing them with ease and finesse unbecoming of mere yakuza.
A guard took a swipe at Raijin, but was blocked by one of Raijin’s men and had his arm cut off by another, swiftly having his head severed by Raijin himself soon after. A guard stuck his sword in the neck of one of Raijin’s shinobi, and Raijin threw his katana. It was deflected by the guard, obviously better trained than the others.
His last stand was valiant, taking out six of Raijin’s men single handedly in a flurry of devistating slashes, but he could only last so long against the onslaught of these well trained yakuza. The guard parried a strike aimed at his head and twisted his body away from a thrust aimed for his gut. He ducked under a slash and managed to slice the man’s hand as he came back up.
He pommel striked the face of another of Raijin’s men, but as he readied himself to finish the man off he was ran through by a multitude of swords. As he fell to his knees and swung wildly he managed to catch the arm of another man, leaving it dangling uselessly at his side.
|
As the medics Raijin brought with him worked on the injured the rest of his men began to load goods onto carts, tearing off any red cloth marking they found.
“Load anything that looks good on their own carts! Anything we can’t take get’s burned! After you load the carts, stuff your pockets with whatever shit you can carry!”
The men cheered as they opened boxes to check their contents and moved anything valuable to the carts out front. Raijin opened a small lock box and found something he had been craving ever since he was ‘gifted’ some by Elven merchants: cigarettes.
“Fuck yeah.”
He quickly put the box in his robe and continued looking around for things to take. After they had everything loaded onto the carts, it was time to burn. Raijin’s men gathered anything they couldn’t take with them into one giant pile, covering it in sake and other high proof alcohols. One of Raijin’s men set the pile alight using a flint and steel. Raijin walked over and lit his cigarette on it, sighing as he blew out rings of smoke. One of his men came over, looking curious.
“What's that?”
Raijin took another puff of his cigarette.
“It’s called a cigarette. Learn ‘bout ‘em from the frogs. Wanna try? Real relaxing.”
Raijin handed the man a cigarette and lit it with his own. The man took a drag and immediately coughed. Raijin chuckled heartily.
“Yeah, that happens at first.”
|
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
|
The Baron sat around one of the myriad of markets of the pirate city. He was told that a Takodin Lieutenant would be here, but so far he had yet to find anything. He took a bite of a peach he bought and continued to scan the crowds. He had been there for around an hour now, and he was beginning to believe he was given bad information.
He very well could have just missed who he was looking for. A few people stopped by him wanting to talk, and he happily obliged. It turned out that despite the general animosity that people felt towards the Empire, the opportunity to speak to a foreigner is too good to pass up, especially one that spoke your language.
They asked him all sorts of questions, ‘why do you dress like that’, ‘do you eat fish’, ‘is it true Empiresmen worship goats’, all questions the Baron would expect coming from foreigners. All but that last question. He was confused as to why he had been asked that multiple times.
I mean we have friendly relations with the Brayherds, but we certainly don’t worship them. They’re non-humans, the Empress would never allow that.
As the Baron prepared to leave, he spotted something of interest. A man wearing a red hakama and a conical rice hat with a black wrapping on the top. At his waist were two katanas. He sported a short, poorly maintained beard on his face and a ponytail on his head. The Baron got up and moved to him, attempting to put as much spite into his gaze as he could. The man scowled at the Baron and met him halfway, chest out, look of disgust on his face.
“What are you lookin’ at Empiresman?”
The Baron spit at his feet.
“Something fucking ugly.”
The man, Goto, as far as the Baron could tell from those Ukiyo-e portraits, drew his dual katanas.
“You’re fuckin’ dead old man.”
Goto swung at the Baron with one of his katanas, the other one resting on his shoulder. The Baron drew his sword and parried in the same motion, following up with some lightning fast strikes of his own, which Goto defended against reasonably well.
This is gonna be much more interesting, methinks!
The Baron thrust at Goto, who ducked under and slashed the Baron’s chestplate and greaves at once, both strikes being harmlessly deflected. The Baron hopped forward and kneed him in the face, knocking the straw hat off of Goto’s head.
The Baron thrust down at Goto, who defended wildly, his katanas flying around faster than the onlookers could follow. The Baron’s saber stuck into the ground and Goto rolled to his feet, flying at him as soon as the saber was unstuck.
They exchanged a flurry of blows, wild strikes blocked and parried by practiced movements, beautiful techniques shut down by the mad flashing of dual katanas. The Baron dodged back and slashed the supports of a nearby stall, sending wooden planks down onto Goto, who was moving too fast to dodge.
He knocked aside a few boards but was struck with a sign which read ‘Hoji’s hot food.’ The Baron thrust at him, but Goto kicked up the sign which landed on him, lodging the Baron’s saber in the wood and slamming it into him. The Baron had to release his saber to avoid being knocked over or pulled to the ground by the weight of the sign, having to frantically dodge and redirect lightning fast strikes with his bare hands.
Goto swiped at the Baron’s head and he tucked and rolled, coming up behind him and delivering a devastating palm strike to Goto’s exposed back. Goto flew forward and the Baron dashed for his saber, dislodging it from the sign just as Goto got back on his feet.
They were both covered in a hundred cuts and bruises. Goto was a stronger warrior than the Baron was expecting.
Maybe I should get truly serious? I’m making him look a little stronger than he is to the passersbys.
The Baron could see Goto’s next strike. He would dash forward and slash at the Baron’s head then stab through the gap in between his greaves and cuirass. Goto did just as the Baron predicted. The Baron jumped forward, parrying the slash with his sword and jumped in the air to deflect the thrust with his greaves. The Baron landed on Goto, taking him to the ground, and began to slam his pommel into Goto’s face.
Goto was knocked out fairly quickly, the Baron hit extremely hard. He grabbed the top of his blade with his off hand and pushed it into Goto’s neck, using the entirety of his bodyweight to sever the Wako pirate’s head with a sickening crunching sound as the blade sliced through his neck vertebrae. The Baron stood up, not breathing very hard. All eyes were on him. He, again, made a show of flicking the blood off of his saber and returning it to its sheath.
He smiled and shrugged.
“What can I say? Takodin are weak.”
|
|
“Baron, you are amazing! Fantastic! You’ve ripped through two different lieutenants in just three days! One of them was even fairly essential to their operations!”
The Baron smugly sipped his sake. He noticed that the others only sipped their sake, so he figured there was probably some sort of social thing they didn’t want to explain to him.
“I know, I’m amazing. I have worked very hard to get where I am. How are things going on your end?”
“We made a massive profit from raiding a Takodin warehouse yesterday. It seems that people are losing faith in their strength! A tavern owner on the border between our two turfs approached me today asking for his land to be folded into Oshan territory! He said he’s not sure they can provide adequate protection anymore! Things are going fabulouslyl.”
“Good to know. Hope I can wrap this up quickly. Wolfgang is furious that I’m staying here until this is over. You know, we have a festival in three weeks? Can’t wait for it. Can’t miss it either.”
Saito smiled slyly.
“Oh, I think things are going to be done soon. You have been doing work, and I want to reward that work. I’ve left a…gift, in your room.”
The Baron frowned slightly.
“It’s not a woman, is it?”
Saito looked surprised.
“What? Would that be a problem?”
“Yes. For the love of God don’t send a woman to my room. I’m serious, don’t.”
Saito looked like his brain stalled slightly.
“Ehh…are you perhaps looking for something more masculine? Or a feminine boy?”
The Baron downed the rest of his sake.
“No, nothing like that. Do not ask me why. Just don’t send anyone to my fucking room.”
Shit, I’m being weird about this…uh, fuckin’...uh…
The Baron smiled awkwardly.
“Just send me some brandy, I quite enjoy brandy. If you could get the clear stuff with a pear in it that would be excellent.”
Saito immediately recovered.
“Yes, of course. I assume it is personal business, I will not pry any further than that, if you wish me not. If we have any on hand I’ll send that right over to you.”
“Do you think you have it on hand?”
Saito tilted his head from side to side and shook his hands slightly.
“We’re pirates, we find a lot of weird stuff.”
The Baron stood up from the table.
“Well then, let’s just pray, yeah? It’s late, I will retire to my room.”
Saito stood and moved over to bow to the Baron. He bowed deeply, and the Baron bowed slightly. He was of higher station than Saito, and so Saito was required to bow deeper than the Baron.
“Of course, I’ll see about getting some good brandy to you as soon as possible.”
“I appreciate it.”
As the Baron made it to his room he caught a servant just leaving. He licked his lips thinking of what alcohol Saito had somehow already gotten him. As he opened the door he was greeted by a bottle on his desk. It was clear, and sitting at the bottom of the bottle was a single white pear.
They have it!
|
|
The Baron was having a dream. He almost never dreamt, and when he did it was usually negative. He could see what looked like a ninja hiding in the rafters, tanto in hand. He dropped down and plunged the dagger into the Baron’s neck, killing him almost instantly.
Wait, this doesn’t really feel like a dream, too coherent. It feels different somehow…kind of…familiar?
The Baron’s eyes shot open. In the rafters was a man wearing all black, holding a knife literally dripping with some substance.
The man began to fall off the rafters. The Baron rolled off his bed and the knife plunged right where his neck used to be. The Baron rushed to his table and grabbed his saber. As he tried to draw it, the ninja pushed against the pommel with his foot, keeping the saber firmly its sheath. The ninja leaned forward at the hip stabbed at the Baron’s neck. He grabbed the man’s wrist and slammed it against the wall, causing him to drop the knife and take his foot off the saber.
The Baron grabbed the ninja’s collar and flipped him over his shoulder, the Baron almost immediately straddling the man’s chest. He punched repeatedly, the ninja bringing up his guard and deflected the punches with the edge of his forearms, done absolutely perfectly.
The longer this goes on, the more chances he has to pull out something! Ninja’s always have shit stowed away on their person!
The Baron brought his elbow back and slammed it down into the man’s guard. Any normal man’s bones would have broken, so this man must at least be a gifted one, and had most likely conditioned his body in a similar way the Baron has.
The Baron heard a noise from behind and briefly flicked his eyes up to look. There was another ninja hanging from the ceiling, currently grabbing his saber from the table. When he looked back the man he straddled blew a white powder into his face. It burned his eyes something fierce, but he had felt worse before. The Baron delivered another devastating elbow and rolled off, lunging after his saber. The ninja disappeared back into the rafters just before the Baron reached him, seemingly melting into the shadows.
The other ninja swiftly grabbed the knife and ran at the Baron, who turned and delivered a side-kick almost instantly, sending the man flying backwards and the knife clattering to the floor. The Baron scooped up the knife and jumped on the ninja, stabbing down at him. The ninja grabbed his wrist and tried to keep the knife away, but the Baron was nearly twice his size. Slowly but surely, the knife got lower and lower.
The Baron lifted himself up and threw himself down onto the knife, sending the blade directly into the man’s heart. The man screamed and writhed on the ground as the Baron jiggled the knife around his chest. Soon he withdrew the knife from the man’s chest cavity and thrust up into the ninja’s throat, just in case.
The Baron stood up and looked around, trying to find the other man. He got a running start and kicked himself up the wall, reaching the rafters easily. He pulled himself up and looked around, finding no one. He looked around further to find his saber, and again found nothing.
The Baron checked to see how they had gotten in and also found nothing, there were no openings or holes, nothing they could have used. As far as the Baron could tell, the only way they could have gotten in was the door, and that was highly unlikely. He jumped down from the rafters and grabbed the corpse on the floor.
He found Saito still in the conference room, doing some sort of paperwork. The Baron roughly threw open the door, startling Saito and the servant standing next to said door. He walked in and flopped the body down on the table, crushing whatever ceramic or glass cups were on it.
“I was attacked.”
Saito stared at the body in silent horror.
“...So you were.”
“I checked. There is no way they could have gotten in except through the door. They were there long before…”
The Baron paused.
Wait…where did the other guy go?
“Or I guess they couldn’t broken in and then somehow instantly patched whatever rat hole they crawled in through. Or perhaps some sort of illusion magic?”
Saito looked at the Baron worriedly.
“Baron, you have glass in your eyes. How can you see? Wait, you have two eyes? Why do you wear an eyepatch?”
“That’s not important! What is important is that there is another God damned ninja here, and he has my fucking sword!”
Saito put a hand over his mouth. He looked genuinely spooked. After a few seconds, he started to speak.
“...They’re called shinobi now. We stopped saying ninja in the 5th century…”
“Saito! He stole my sword! My fucking sword! I don’t care about linguistics right now-though that is duly noted!”
Saito shot up out of his chair, pointed to the servant.
“You! Raise the alarm! And tell someone to get the Baron a sword!”
The servant nodded and ran off. The Baron collapsed into a nearby chair, placing his head in his hands.
“That sword was a gift from my son.”
Saito patted his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we will find it. He could have only gotten so far.”
The Baron looked up at Saito. Saito visibly winced. The Baron looked horrible, and he still had glass in his eyes, though he barely even noticed it now.
“Either there’s a hidden panel in the rafters, or he is a highly skilled illusion mage, or he might even practice some strange esoteric art. Either way, he’s long gone.”
Yelling could be heard outside the room, a flurry of footsteps sounding out from every direction. They were on high alert. Soon someone burst into the room holding a katana in their arms.
“I have brought our guest our finest sword.”
Saito waved them over and she presented it to him. He took it and briefly checked the blade, nodding with approval.
“This may not be your saber, but it’s a saber, and it’s enchanted.”
The Baron grabbed it without looking, laying it across his lap. He sighed loudly.
“Great.”