Bushido Online: the Battle Begins: A LitRPG Saga Page 10

Quest accepted: Home in Shinshioka! [Level 3]

  Seiki appreciated how the man spent time fanning the document with his hand and waited for the ink to dry before putting it into a pile of documents.

  “Perhaps you would like to go and see the place now? It is on Yanagi Alley in South City. Turn right when you go out, and follow the Trade Street until you see the Mani Shrine. Turn right there. Yanagi Alley is the fourth lane on the left.”

  “Just like that?” asked Seiki. He had to concentrate on the quest to make sure.

  Home in Shinshioka [Level 3 Quest Information]: settle in your new home! Find your lodging at Yanagi Alley, South City. You will receive: 25 XP.

  “We hope you like the place, but once you have advanced in life we have much better places to offer. Please come back if you are interested,” said Goro. “Of course, it will cost money.”

  As Seiki was about to leave, Yamura [Level 8] barged up the stairs and almost ran into him. He was a tall young man with a long thin ponytail, dressed in dark leather with a dark cloak, a short bow strapped on his back.

  “Goro!” he yelled, running straight to the counter.

  The young man seemed greatly upset as he banged his fists on the countertop. Seiki now thought he looked familiar, but he could not quite remember where he had seen him before.

  Goro looked up from his pile of documents. “Ah, Yamura-san. How can I assist you?”

  “I was fifteen minutes late. Fifteen minutes!” cried Yamura.

  “You must understand, Yamura-san. There is a huge demand for lodging in the city.”

  “But I was only fifteen minutes late!” Yamura rattled his pouch in his hand. “Here, I’ve got the money here.”

  “Which property would you like, Yamura-san?”

  Yamura sighed. “Fine, we can do this again. The one at the East Gate.”

  “Very well. For the property on the third floor of Momiji Inn in East City, there will be an initial payment of sixty gold, and a monthly payment of fifteen gold onward. Is that all right?”

  “Noooo!” cried Yamura. “I have the deed. Here! I already own the place. I just want to pay the monthly so I can get in, all right?”

  Goro explained, patiently. “You no longer own the place, Yamura-san. Your things have been moved to your permanent lodging at Yanagi Alley in South City. You can retrieve them from there. Would you like instructions on how to get there again?”

  Yamura gave a frustrated grunt. “I wish I could kill you!”

  “All you had to do was deposit the fee in the box in the corner of the property. You can even make deposits in advance. Is that so hard to remember, Yamura-san?” said Goro, snickering.

  Yamura was taken aback by the man’s sudden change of attitude and stared at him. “What did you say?”

  Goro continued to smile as if nothing had happened. Yamura turned to Seiki. “Can you believe what he just said?”

  “Punctuality is a gentleman’s virtue,” said Goro, as if to no one in particular.

  Yamura dropped onto the ground and lay there, hands over his eyes. “God, the train was late, all right? As if I could have done anything about it. Fifteen minutes. That’s cruel. Goro, you bastard.”

  “Politeness takes you a long way, Yamura-san,” said Goro from the counter.

  Seiki had to laugh. Apparently, Goro was not as meek as he seemed at first.

  Yamura sighed and sat up cross-legged on the floor, his face buried in his hands. He let out a frustrated groan, then looked up at Seiki. “Which one did you just get?”

  Seiki was not sure what the man meant. “I just finished Manji’s letter quest.”

  “Oh,” said Yamura, unhappily. “You’ve got sixty gold I can borrow right now?”

  Seiki shook his head. It was not a lie. There were twenty gold coins in Mimura’s orange pouch, and beyond that he only had a dozen of coppers from low-level monsters around Kakura Village.

  “Didn’t think so,” Yamura muttered. “I freaking hate this man!” Yamura grabbed his bow and shot four consecutive arrows at Goro, all of which went through him and ended up sticking to the shelf behind the man, before slowly fading. Goro took no notice and kept organizing his documents.

  Finally, having vented his anger, Yamura heaved a long sigh and got up from the floor . “You going to Yanagi, right? Let’s go then. I can’t believe I’ve got to go all the way back to South City just to put back this rent money.”

  “Rent?” Seiki wondered. That sounded even more realistic than anything he had heard so far. He then realized this must have been what Goro had meant earlier when he had said things would cost money.

  “Oh, not for that crap Yanagi Alley one,” said Yamura. “But, yeah. That’s how you get terries. Or you can grind reps with the Shogun and your rent will be dirt cheap. I’ve heard if you’re highly honored, he will even give you a room right in his palace.”

  “Uh, terries?” That made no sense to Seiki at all, and he had no idea there was even a Shogun or what it was that you had to do with him.

  “Terries. Territories! You’re new or something? Notice there aren’t any banks in this game? Your terry is the only safe place you can keep your money and stuff, or people will kill and take all your gold. That’s why I need to put back this fifteen golds before some high-level bastard one-shots me.”

  “Okay, that’s perfectly realistic,” Seiki commented. In fact, he had been wondering when the space in his seemingly-magic little cloth pouch that was bigger on the inside than the outside was going to run out.

  Yamura was making his way down the stairs. “Hey, you coming or what?”

  Seiki followed the man out of the building. Trade Street was wide enough for three horse carriages to run side-by-side, and was starting to come to life. Opposite Goro’s building was a shop selling noodles. In front of it was a peddler with a basket of bamboo toys. People galloped by in horses, and Seiki thought he saw some man-drawn carts as well. Yamura kept squinting into the distance, and occasionally pulled Seiki to one side. Seiki soon realized he was steering clear of high-level players.

  “They sometimes kill you for fun,” Yamura explained. “Especially samurai, since they can do that mounted strike without getting off their horse. Then, they just outrun the Patrols out the city.”

  Seiki thought Yamura was being a little paranoid, as no one seemed to be paying them any attention. Through Yamura’s patched comments and explanations, Seiki was starting to understand a lot of things. There were individual territories, which only allowed access for the owner or whoever was in their group, and clan territories, which allowed access for all clan members.

  “But then there will always be a stupid clan mate who invites a high-level enemy in,” concluded Yamura. “Then it’s practically genocide in your clan terry.”

  “How does that work again?” asked Seiki, knowing it was one of those things that should be very obvious. He had already guessed it but needed to make sure.

  “What? An invite?”

  “A clan, actually.”

  Yamura groaned. “Oh, come on. Clans are… well, you can join a clan and get a cool clan name at the end of your name, and clan members look out for each other, or at least they’re supposed to.” He grimaced. “But stay away from the West Hills, because they just milk you for stuff. I joined them once but they only made me go mine all these rocks for them.”

  “So Ichikeya is basically a clan then?”

  Yamura shrugged. “Never heard of them. But if it says ‘of Ichikiya’ or whatever, then yeah. You’ve got an invite to join? I’ll tell you, man, the one you need to join is the Honor Warriors. They’ve got the highest standing with the Shogun at the moment.”

  They were walking down the Trade Street. It was now full of people and patrolled by pairs of elite uniformed city guards on horses. Seiki learned that you could stop them and ask for directions, which Yamura did three times, making Seiki realize that the man did not know where he was going at all.

&n
bsp; “That’s the Mani Shrine,” said Seiki, pointing to a three-storied green-roofed building behind a low white wall, as he remembered the directions he got from Goro earlier.

  “Oh, yeah, you can drop a silver at their prayer altar and get 2% luck for an hour. Not worth it though,” said Yamura, before continuing to explain the perks of joining the Honor Warriors.

  They turned the corner around Mani Shrine and found themselves on a tranquil street, heavily shaded by big trees planted along the inside of the shrine grounds. Seiki thought he could smell the faint incense and hear gentle clanging of bells from within the shrine, and he made a mental note to come see it later. The street in front of them was rather narrow, and hosted mostly single-storied buildings, the majority of which seemed to be closed off behind wooden and bamboo fences. Seiki noticed how quiet it was, and on such a cloudy day it had a gentle lull to it. He could hear the wind rustling the leaves and the tender trickle of water somewhere ahead.

  Welcome to South City! PVP status: disabled.

  “Can’t believe I’m back in the land of the lowbies,” Yamura lamented.

  He was right. Seiki discovered that everyone seemed to be Level 6 or lower, since this was the part of Shinshioka that people first arrived in after being sent out of Kakura Village. Seiki thought back and realized he must have been doing everything in the wrong order.

  In an open courtyard, Seiki could see Yumi [Level 3] running around, chasing chickens into a cage. An old man was sitting on the porch, giving instructions. It reminded him of the idyllic Kakura Village, and Seiki decided that he rather liked it. Yamura was still talking about how many rep points one needed to be accepted by the Honor Warriors.

  Without warning, a man dashed past them from behind, almost knocking Yamura over.

  “Hey, watch it!” cried Yamura.

  Short-haired, cleanly-shaven, with a long sword strapped across his back, Eisuke of the Fuoka Army [Level 22] HP 236/5228, stopped and looked back behind him—paying no attention to Yamura’s protest. Seiki remarked that the man’s clothes were torn and he was bleeding heavily from a long diagonal gash across his chest, which was leaving a long blood trail behind him.

  The sight of the gaping wound startled Seiki, but the man did not seem to be in pain. Three people on horses almost immediately caught up with him. Taiyora of the Rogami Clan [Level 27], Kojiro of the Rogami Clan [Level 22] and Suguru of the Rogami Clan [Level 23] reined their horses to a walk once they had reached the injured man, and they formed a loose circle around him. Taiyora’s white horse was heavily armored and it snorted.

  “Coward,” said Kojiro. He had on a long-sleeved white open shirt and a black headband, a bare large blade strapped on his back. Now that Seiki knew what to look for, he took a quick glance at the weapon.

  Oni Cleaver. +98 attack. -25 defense. Damage: 6.2. Speed 0.6. +1% energy regeneration.

  Eisuke ignored the three riders and kept walking, his blood still dripping on the ground beneath him.

  “Accept the challenge, coward,” said Suguru, a thin pale man in a long gray kimono. He held no apparent weapon but had on his back a large leather sack.

  Seiki figured the wounded man had run into a non-PVP zone, so the only way the three Rogami members could attack him was via challenge. Now that Eisuke was no longer in combat, his wounds were slowly closing, and his health started to recover.

  “One on one, you and me,” said Kojiro, urging his horse along once Eisuke had made his way through their circle. “Or are you scared?”

  Eisuke made no answer. Suguru spat. “So this is a Lieutenant of the Fuoka Army, running with his tail between his legs?”

  Seiki now remembered where he had seen one of them before. Taiyora was one of the two people who he ran into in the pine woods of Kakura Village. Those who had threatened to kill him for the blood orb.

  Eisuke tensed as he heard that last sentence, but he did not stop walking, his eyes still fixed ahead.

  Suguru took notice of the reaction and continued. “How long do you think we would be able to keep your friend Takeru alive? Two minutes? Five?” A vicious smile matched his frigid tone. “You know Rieko is good with her Life Drain.”

  That apparently struck a sore spot and Eisuke spun around, his eyes burning with defiant anger. “I—”

  That’s when Seiki shouted. “Sorry to interrupt you guys.”

  They all paused and turned around in surprise.

  Seiki continued. “Do you know how I can get to Yanagi Alley?”

  Eisuke’s health had not recovered by a third yet. If he was provoked into accepting the challenge, there was no way he would stand a chance against them. Although Seiki could not be sure what had happened between them, based on his own experience at Kakura, he was quite certain whose side he was on.

  “What are you doing?” whispered Yamura with a frown.

  Seiki racked his brain for something to say as he continued to shout. “That guy Goro told me to turn right after Mani Shrine, but I can’t seem to remember where to go next.” He knew this was a terrible script. After all, he had never been a good liar.

  All four men stared at him for a second, before Eisuke realized what was happening and regained his composure.

  “Of course,” Eisuke said aloud. “I’m going there myself. I’ll show you.”

  Kojiro looked back at Eisuke, before coming to the same realization. He scoffed in disgust. “You coward.”

  “You can’t hide forever, Eisuke,” said Suguru. “We know where to find you.”

  Eisuke had stopped walking and waited for Seiki to catch up. The eyes of the three Rogami clan members seemed to burn on his back as Seiki went past them. Although there was nothing they could do right now in the safety of the South City, Seiki could feel the air around him bristling with a sense of danger.

  “Yamura, are you coming?” Seiki called, as casually as he could manage.

  Yamura took a nervous glance at the three riders and dashed toward Seiki. “Uh, yes, let’s all go to Yanagi Alley.” He shot Seiki a dark look.

  Suguru shook his head and sneered. “Hiding behind these lowlifes? I expected more of you, Lieutenant of the Fuoka Army.”

  Eisuke clenched his fist, and Seiki quickly said, “Yamura just lost his, uh, apartment. Right?”

  Yamura blinked, then muttered. “Oh, right, yes.” Then, as he became conscious there was no more way to go unnoticed now, he went all out with it. “I worked so hard for that third-floor place at the East Gate! Now you high-level people wouldn’t think that’s worth anything, but that was sixty gold of my hard-earned money.” He pointed at them angrily with the bow in his hand. “Talking about class struggle over here.”

  The three Rogami members stared at him for a moment, perhaps at how the accusation made no sense. Then Taiyora, who had been silent this whole time, sneered, “Let this coward go, for the time being.” He turned his horse and started galloping away, followed by Kojiro. If he had remembered Seiki, his expression did not show it.

  “It seems you’ll live after all, Eisuke-chan,” said Suguru as he followed his two clan mates. “At least for today. This isn’t over.”

  Seiki noticed then that Suguru’s gray horse did not cast a shadow, but it was already too far away for him to inspect it. As soon as the three riders disappeared around the corner of Mani Shrine, Yamura spun around and glared at Seiki. “Okay, now we’re totally screwed.”

  “They might kill you a few times if they see you, but they’ll soon forget about it.” Eisuke said. “Their main quarrel is with me.” His wounds had completely healed now and the blood on his clothes was slowly fading, leaving only a large tear across the front of his shirt. His health had crept up to about half.

  “Say hello to getting one-shot every time you try to go out,” Yamura groaned.

  “You’d better quickly join the Honor Warriors then,” said Eisuke, hiding an amused smile. The man had heard the earlier conversation after all.

  Yamura ap
parently took it seriously. “Yeah, good idea. No one messes with the Honor Warriors. Now I gotta get my Shogun reps up.”

  Seiki stole a quick glance at Eisuke’s Fiery Katana. +77 attack. +1% energy regeneration. Effect: 5% chance that the target will burn for extra damage, and wondered what it looked like out of its scabbard.

  Since Eisuke made no further mention about the encounter with the Rogami clan, Seiki did not think it was a good idea to ask. They walked across a small bridge and turned left down a small lane that ran along a clear little canal, lined with weeping willows on both sides. Seiki looked upstream and saw a fishing boat coming down. On the other side, one nameless woman was washing her clothes in the water.

  The two men seemed to know where they were heading and, soon, they stopped in front of a sliding bamboo door in front of one of the houses along the canal. People were going in and out of it without respite.

  Eisuke turned to look at Seiki. “Thank you,” he said. “I would have…” Then he sighed, knowing that Seiki understood what he meant.

  He turned to Yamura. “Thanks to you too,” he said, again with an amused expression. It was Yamura’s nonsensical rambling that had diffused the situation.

  “Don’t thank me,” said Yamura, unhappily. “My hand was forced.”

  Eisuke chuckled. “Lay low for a while and they will forget about you.” Then he disappeared into the house.

  Seiki was not sure how serious the man meant what he said. With the Ichikeya, everyone seemed to know that underneath the surface it was all play. These people were somehow a little different, especially Suguru, the man who had provoked Eisuke earlier.

  Seiki waited for the door to close before turning to Yamura to ask something he had been meaning to. “Can you actually… torture people?” He believed Suguru had been referring to something of that kind.

  Yamura shrugged. “No. But if you’re good with your numbers, you can kill them slowly. It doesn’t hurt or anything… It’s just humiliating.”

  “That’s not so bad then,” said Seiki, slightly relieved at the limits of this game.

  “Not so bad?” He shot Seiki a dark glance. “Way to go with making enemies in high places.”