Bushido Online: the Battle Begins: A LitRPG Saga Read online

  One student had already brought in a bucket of water, amid confused shouts and yells. More students were shouting as they splashed water to fight the fire. It was a scene of complete chaos.

  “It was black powder!” cried someone.

  Another student rushed in, in great panic. “The inner chambers are all on fire!”

  Seiki had to remind himself it was all a pre-scripted event, but that did not in the very least take away from the urgency of the situation. He could feel the heat from the flames, and the smoke was making it difficult to breathe. His ears were still ringing from the explosion, and whatever he heard seemed distorted and faraway. The students were running around in panic, yelling something incomprehensible. One screamed in pain as he rolled on the ground, trying to put out the fire that was burning his hakama.

  The dojo sign had gone up in flames and collapsed onto the floor, blocking off the entrance to the inner chambers. The fire quickly consumed the floor, and students ran to throw water on it before it could spread.

  All of a sudden, Sato cried, “Maeda is still inside!” His eyes were wide as he stared at the burning end of the dojo.

  Master Tsujihara grabbed Seiki’s arm. “Save him, Seiki.”

  Quest accepted: Save Maeda [Level 5].

  So that’s what the towels were for, Seiki thought.

  Grabbing one from the pile and drenching it in a bucket of water, he used it to cover his nose and mouth as he raced into the burning side of the practice hall. It connected to the inner chambers, which he had only been in once.

  It was worse than he thought. The heat was almost unbearable, and he jumped aside as a burning piece of wood collapsed almost right on him. He had no idea where Maeda was in this inferno.

  He thought he heard Sato’s voice from the other side of the flames. “On the right!” Looking ahead, he could almost make out a corridor. The hard wood floor seemed to take longer to catch fire than the bamboo and paper walls. Seiki made his way slowly forward the best he could, ducking under the dense smoke as he tried to breathe through the damp cloth.

  He had neither his bamboo sword, nor his shoes, which he had left outside the practice hall as custom required. A piece of flaming wood fell and scalded the back of his leg, and Seiki jumped at the burning sensation.

  Through watering eyes, he could almost distinguish a small opening. What used to be a door must have burnt down, and he made his way through. He found himself in what appeared to be a large room, but it was difficult to determine its boundaries in the sea of fire.

  Suddenly, he heard clanks coming from somewhere to his left, and he followed the sound. Stepping over what remained of a burnt futon, he found Maeda, HP 44/120, stretched out on the floor, unconscious.

  Seiki shook him violently. Maeda let out a weak groan but did not move. Seiki looked around for an escape route as he put the man’s arm around his shoulder. He would have to drag him, though it would be difficult to avoid the fire.

  Struggling ahead with the unconscious student, Seiki managed to bring him to the corridor when a ceiling beam gave way and crashed down on them. Seiki braced himself as he threw his body over Maeda. Still, the student’s health dropped to a fraction of what it had been before. Seiki grunted as he pushed the burning beam off him. His own health had taken a large dip, and everything around him was on fire. He pulled Maeda from under the pile and could feel the fire scorching his whole right side, eating away at more of his health.

  The damp cloth was gone in the chaos and Seiki started to cough heavily. He was wondering if he was doing it wrong, as the situation was becoming quite hopeless. He tried to keep as low as he could to the floor and inched forward, tugging Maeda along. His head was now spinning as he breathed in more and more smoke. The way down the corridor was blocked with the fallen beam, so he was forced to keep going down the other way. For a moment, he could not quite remember where it led.

  Maeda groaned and Seiki saw that the edge of the man’s kimono was on fire. Seiki quickly stomped it out, wincing as he felt the scorch through his sock. The smoke burned his throat like acid, stealing away his health, and he almost had no more strength left to drag Maeda forward. As Seiki tried to pull him with both hands, he stumbled to the floor.

  It was impossible. In front of him was a dead end. He felt it with his hand and discovered it was thick wood. The sliding door to the right of him was ablaze and threatened to collapse on them. Seiki knocked it away, taking the scald on his hand.

  He could not breathe. The world was starting to become a hot blurry haze as his health dropped to as low as Maeda’s. From the back of his mind, he remembered the words from the young man sitting at the entrance: Focus Strike breaks walls.

  What if that was the key out of there?

  However, after a ray of hope, Seiki panicked as he found that, with his health so low, it was near impossible to concentrate his energy. He could see and hear nothing, his consciousness slipping away.

  Try! his mind screamed, as he focused his attention to bring out the move. Try!

  As if by magic, his vision cleared.

  You have learned the Samurai/Ronin Perk: Strength of Will.

  His bare-handed Focused Strike smashed the wall, revealing a hole large enough for a child to crawl through. He concentrated his energy again, and the second Focused Strike broke through it. Seiki dragged himself out, his left hand still clutching tightly to Maeda’s back collar, and they both fell off the raised building onto the ground.

  The air outside was blessedly cold in comparison. Seiki gasped for breath, and he found that he was surrounded by dojo students. One of them splashed water on them, which was more than welcome. He turned to look and found Maeda still alive, his HP in the single digits.

  Quest completed: Save Maeda [Level 5]. 60 XP gained.

  Seiki exhaled a sigh of relief and lay back down on the ground, completely exhausted. After a minute or two, Sato found him and helped him to his feet. It turned out that once the ordeal was over, the students managed to put out the fire. The practice hall had been reduced to a black, bare, half-burnt wooden platform without a roof.

  The students had come out through the other side of the practice hall, and now that there were no walls left, Seiki could see across the platform that the young man who had spoken to him earlier was still sitting casually there, looking out toward the street.

  Throwing a quick glance at Master Tsujihara, whose injury was being tended to by several students, Seiki ran over the platform to the young man.

  Ippei [Level 5] looked up at him with a knowing smile. “Trial by fire?”

  Seiki just noticed his own clothes were covered with soot, which was only starting to fade away. “Yeah. Thanks for earlier.”

  “I had to do it three times in Beta before I figured it out. It was utter hell.”

  “I can imagine,” said Seiki. He looked back at the burnt dojo and could not help feeling a little sorry that it was all destroyed.

  A thought occurred to him and he asked Ippei. “So you’ve done it in this one? Not Beta, I mean.” Seiki actually had no idea what Beta was like.

  Ippei nodded. “It gets easier if you’ve done it three times already. At least now Maeda doesn’t die anymore. There used to be a timer and if he dies you have to start over.”

  Seiki really did not mind. If anything, he was glad that Maeda survived, as he never wanted to do anything like this ever again.

  That brought him to the question he had been going for. “So, the dojo has been burnt for you all this time?” he asked, suspecting now that instances could indeed be in different states.

  “For the past twenty minutes, yeah,” said Ippei.

  To test his theory, Seiki watched as Chieko [Level 4] in a black kimono came running through the courtyard. As she stepped onto the platform, and therefore into Seiki’s instance, she turned into a nameless Dojo Student, who then went to help with cleaning up the rubble. It was a little difficult to imagine that, in her own pers
onal instance, the dojo still must have been pretty much intact.

  Another thing still made Seiki wonder. “How did you know I was about to do the quest?”

  Ippei glanced toward the end of the courtyard. Seiki followed his gaze to the empty clothes rack.

  “Oh,” Seiki said. It was obvious now. “Laundry.”

  Then he remembered that something had popped up at the last second of that event. Seiki wondered what it was as he focused his attention.

  Strength of Will [Class Perk]: gain strength from sheer willpower. Halves the damage on the user from all other sources but direct physical damage for the next 90 seconds. Usable when below 8% health and auto-activates when below 4% health.

  “Perk?” Seiki had not realized he had said it aloud when Ippei answered.

  “It’s not really an ability, because it doesn’t require energy. Just like the name: a little perk you get from playing the class.”

  Seiki remembered now. “Right, like how ryoushi can see further and obake can run on water?”

  Ippei nodded. “It’s funny how most of the time people decide on their class just because of the perk. Not even the playstyle. Just the perk.”

  “What does Strength of Will do exactly?” The information stated that it excluded physical damage, so Seiki was not quite certain how that would be useful.

  “It doesn’t seem to do much,” said Ippei. “But once you don’t have it, then you realize how much you miss it. I thought I would try something new and got a kitsune up to Level 9 when I gave up and started over.” He made a face. “You’ll see pretty soon. They will teach you all about it.” Again, he nodded towards the courtyard door.

  Seiki turned to look but the doorway was empty, except for a few nameless citizens in bright clothes walking by. “What are you waiting for?”

  “A vegetable cart,” Ippei said. “My ride. If you want to come you’ve got exactly…”

  He looked down at his hand, which held a golden object.

  “… six minutes,” Ippei finished his sentence, snapping the watch shut with a resonant metallic clink.

  European-style Pocket Watch: tells the actual time from the realm beyond! [Limited Edition Gift]

  “Cart comes on the hour: real-world hour, that is,” said Ippei as he caught Seiki studying the watch. “Incentive for the first two hundred Beta users who signed up for the Live Version. But it’s not that great. You can get a better one from dungeon treasure chests, which actually allows you to set an alarm, but that one takes up one of your Charm slots.”

  Ippei nodded toward the dojo. “Go talk to the Master and pick up the next quest if you’re coming. The cart saves you walking all that way to the Palace.”

  Seiki decided to take his advice and ran back to Master Tsujihara, whose injured arm was now bandaged and who was giving instructions to the students to move things around.

  “Maeda will live,” said the old man, turning toward Seiki as he approached. “Thanks to you.”

  From what Ippei had said, Seiki suspected that Maeda would live regardless.

  “He will need time to recover, though.” Master Tsujihara sighed as he looked at the burnt dojo. “So will this place.”

  After having practiced in it for so long, Seiki could not help but share the sentiment. “Who did this?” Seiki wondered.

  “Of course it’s Umezawa!” cried Sato, who happened to be nearby. “Who else? He’s bent on destroying this dojo.”

  “Better not make accusations without proof, Sato,” said Master Tsujihara. “Anyway, Seiki, I’ve got a task for you.”

  The Master handed him a sealed letter. “Take this to Commander Nakatani near the palace. He’s my old comrade in arms. I think he should know what happened here.”

  Quest accepted: To the Palace [Level 5].

  To the Palace [Level 5 Quest Information]: find Commander Nakatani near the palace in North City and give him the letter from Master Tsujihara. You will receive: 35 XP.

  “And take this,” said the old man, putting a rectangular piece of copper-colored metal in Seiki’s hand. The embossed characters in the front read ‘Eastern Morishige Army Officer Seal’. On the back was an emblem of an ornate flower with five petals in a circle. A little hole on top held a red decorative tassel. “Show this to Commander Nakatani if he requires proof of who you are,” said the Master.

  Seiki studied the item in his hand.

  Official Seal [Quest Item]: the holder of the seal is on an official mission and cannot be attacked by other citizens.

  The truth of the matter was that the first step out of South City was designed to be a safe one, where people could wander through the West and East City and explore what the game had to offer without the risk of being attacked.

  “So many memories here,” said Master Tsujihara, as he looked around again.

  Seiki was glad to find out that someone had managed to save his shoes and bamboo sword, which were handed back to him as he took his leave from the old Master.

  Ippei was no longer sitting on the porch when Seiki stepped out from the practice hall. Glancing around, Seiki noticed that the man was already standing at the doorway.

  “Oh, you made it,” said Ippei as Seiki walked up to him. “Just in time.”

  A two-donkey cart was coming down the narrow alley. Its wheels were squeaking as it swayed from side to side, the driver trying to keep the two unhappy beasts in check and going in the same direction. Haruka [Level 3] squealed as she flattened herself against a wall to make way for the cart. Ippei raised his hand to hail it down.

  “What do you want?” The driver, Tomoko, a middle-aged woman with a straw hat, frowned as she pulled her cart to a stop. “I’m late already for the delivery.”

  Ippei obviously knew what he was doing. “It will be worth your trouble,” he said, handing the woman ten silver, and signaling to Seiki to do the same.

  Tomoko eyed them suspiciously for a moment. “Fine. Hop on,” she muttered, as she put the money in her pocket, still showing no sign of friendliness. “Don’t squash my vegetables or you’ll have to pay for them too.”

  “She hates humans,” said Ippei, as for an explanation.

  Before she finished her statement, she had already got the cart moving again. Seiki quickly leapt up onto the back of the cart before it picked up speed, and found himself on a pile of pumpkins.

  “Better than persimmons,” commented Ippei. “They squish, and you really have to pay.” He leaned back and tried to make himself comfortable as the cart made its bumpy way down the narrow alleys.

  “So this ride takes you to the Palace?” asked Seiki to make sure. The cart was so rickety that it was rather difficult to believe it would be allowed anywhere respectable.

  Ippei nodded. “Part of the unofficial public transport system,” he said, but offered no more information, so Seiki did not ask.

  It turned out that Ippei was not particularly in the mood for conversation and they spent the ride mostly in silence. Seiki watched as the cart went through the peaceful South City before emerging onto the bustling Trade Street, somewhere in West City, which was ever-lively with shops and passers-by. Seiki could see a brawl going on somewhere in one of the alleys, and within moments elite City Patrols rode past them toward the source of the chaos.

  They continued on Trade Street for a few minutes, before Tomoko drew up in front of one store that advertised lunchboxes, and came round to pick up two pumpkins from the cart.

  “If you steal my vegetables I will report you to the authorities,” she warned them, before disappearing inside the shop.

  “She’ll be back in about five minutes,” said Ippei when he noticed that Seiki was unsure if this was their destination. “The Palace is two more stops away.”

  They had stopped near a busy intersection and Seiki studied the shops. Next to the pawn shop on the corner was a tailoring shop, as well as various other places selling helmets, charms, and calligraphy. One that had a ‘Kakigou
ri’ sign in front of it seemed particularly crowded. He could make out the ‘ice’ character, but was not sure what exactly it was that they sold. Beside it was a shop that advertised handcrafted sword scabbards, in front of which a fortune-teller had set up his little stall and was calling out for customers. It all looked vaguely familiar and he thought he must have come through the area before when he was searching for Ichikeya Inn.

  “That’s the Market Street,” said Ippei, pointing down one busy street that broke off from the main Trade Street. Out of the blue, he seemed to have an idea. “Not sure if it’s going to work, but follow me,” he said as he leapt off the cart. Seiki followed him through the crowd.

  Ippei seemed in a hurry and Seiki quickened his pace to catch up with him. As he went past the large group of people milling about the entrance of the Kakigouri shop, he heard a familiar voice.

  “Seiki?”

  He turned around and met with Mairin [Level 8], whom he remembered as the kitsune from the Loom quest before.

  “Oh, hi,” said Seiki. “Sorry, I think I’m going somewhere,” he added, apologetically, as he continued to chase after Ippei.

  He had only just taken a few more strides that a white fox caught up with him, before turning back into Mairin. “Where are you going?” the girl asked. There was something different about her but he could not tell what.

  “I’m not sure,” Seiki admitted.

  Ahead, Ippei turned a corner and ran into a shop that was marked ‘Carpentry’. The shop seemed rather bare, but against one wall was a large piece of timber, with an advertisement sign that read ‘Koshima Pinewood – perfect for high-level wood-crafting!’ When Seiki entered, Ippei had already finished talking to the middle-aged man in a simple brown robe behind the counter.

  “Tell him about the dojo,” Ippei advised Seiki. “It works.” Whatever it was, he seemed happy about it.

  “What’s this?” asked Mairin with interest, as she followed him in.

  “Quest shortcut,” said Ippei. “Who are you?”

  “Your neighborhood kitsune.”