by Nikita Thorn
“Lord Shogun,” Seiki shouted, not sure whether he was annoyed or amused. “I really wouldn’t mind if you threw him in prison for ten minutes.”
The guard had had enough and barked, “You two, stop disrupting the court!”
Ippei chuckled as he gave up his stunt. “The Shogun’s welcome to lock me up for an hour or two if that would get you on the missions,” he said to Seiki in an almost serious tone.
Ippei had never directly asked, and Seiki was not sure how much the man had gleaned about his situation. But somehow, the fact that his simmering bitterness had been noticed, and that his friend had now chosen to joke about it, came to him as a massive relief.
Flustered, but strangely grateful, he finally met Ippei’s eyes. “You must be really badly in need of a ronin,” he said.
Ippei grinned and gave a casual shrug. “Well, someone’s got to take care of those arrows.”
Seiki took a deep breath. He was fully aware of the fact that Ippei had not needed him for the world event, but that he had searched for him, waited for him with his ridiculous flock of pigeons, and dragged him all the way there.
“All right,” Seiki said in what could only be described as willing defeat, before looking up at the Shogun. “Very well, my lord, I’ll go do those damned missions right now to get this man off my case.”
“Watch your language in front of the Shogun!” said the nearest guard.
The Shogun finally heard something he could understand. “You may ask any of the court officials present to be assigned appropriate tasks,” said the nobleman, his tone reflecting perfect genteel aloofness. Seiki was starting to understand the allure of Ippei’s pastime, and also why Mairin felt sorry for the Shogun. In that instant, he could not help laughing.
Ippei did not let a golden opportunity go to waste. “Chamberlain Giichi,” he said to the unsuspecting court official, as the man returned with four boxes on a tray. “My friend’s finally come round and would like a mission, please.”
“Very well,” said Chamberlain Giichi. “But one thing at a time.” He started setting boxes gracefully in front of them. “Here you go. Here you go, two for you, and here.” He produced a brown envelope from his chest pocket. “A mission brief as requested.”
The man had set down two identical polished boxes in front of Seiki, just like the one he had seen before when he got his Hikari.
“Why two?” Seiki asked.
“You never claimed your box from the spider lady dungeon,” Ippei explained. He had already opened his own package and pulled out a pair of +16 scalable Shinshioka hand guards, which he seemed rather pleased with. “Four more to go,” said the samurai to himself.
The Jurougumo dungeon seemed like such a long time ago now that Seiki had almost forgotten about it. The reward box had in it twenty gold, a +12 defense black hakama, which was a slight upgrade, and a +17 attack Steel Short Blade, making him realize how ridiculously good his Kohagane dagger—which he had gotten from a curious duel in Taira Mansion—was for his level.
In his second box was a piece of Shinshioka armor, styled in the same way as the chest piece Seiki was already wearing, with fine leatherwork enforced with thin metal. When he lifted it up, he noticed it consisted of two connected parts.
You have received: Shinshioka Army Thigh Guard. +24 defense. Lower armor slot. Light-threaded: infused with the power of light essence, reducing damage from shadow magic. Scalable.
The piece was meant to be strapped around the waist, but Seiki could not yet try it on as changing was not permitted in the Reception Hall. Even without Ippei telling him, Seiki could see why the rule was there, as he could imagine the creative things people could try otherwise.
“That’s one I don’t have yet,” said Ippei, looking at the thigh guards with interest. “Never dropped for me in Beta either.”
If Seiki remembered correctly from Ippei’s explanation, there were nine pieces to collect that made up the full Shinshioka armor set. The first one was the chest piece that he had gotten at the same time as his Hikari. The next seven had a chance to drop from any mission reward box, and the last piece, the helmet, would be given by the Shogun in a formal ceremony only after you had collected the rest. After that, you would be able to progress beyond a certain army rank, which at the moment seemed too far away for Seiki to even be thinking about.
“Ah, an enhance,” said Ippei, pulling up a scroll from his box. “Unfortunately, it’s going straight to the pawn shop.”
It turned out to be an Enhancement Scroll for the samurai Brace, which Ippei claimed was useless, since that particular one doubled the two-second time window for the ability but lessened the effect by 25%.
“This just teaches you lazy play,” said the samurai, as he pocketed the scroll. “If you’re crazy, you can go for an opposite one, which halves the time window but doubles the strength.” He laughed. “Healers hate it though. They claim it gives them a heart attack when you don’t manage to pull it off.”
“How exactly do you, uh, go for one?” asked Seiki. From his understanding, there were hundreds of variations. He had seen Calligraphers sell them on Market Street. But the stats seemed to be random, and most of the things that he thought would be nice to have, like ones that reduced the energy cost for abilities, he was nowhere near able to afford.
“The popular claim is that whatever you want your ability to do, there’s an enhance scroll that does just that,” said Ippei. “Technically, it might be true, but then it just comes down to how rare it is. So, normally, you just go with the ones you happen to have at the moment, and you switch them out as you go along.”
Ippei then picked up an official note from the bottom of his box, and Seiki saw he had a similar one, which read: The Shogun appreciates your service in eliminating a recent threat to public safety.
Reading it turned out to be a prompt, and the reward registered:
You have gained 50 honor points with the Shogun. Congratulations! You are now a Highly Honored Citizen.
You have gained 50 reputation points with Shinshioka City.
You have gained 10 Favor points.
Honor and reputation were to be expected. “What’s Favor?” Seiki asked.
“A kind of currency,” said Ippei. “It’s just a temporary way to get around the honor system. For example, if you forget to loot something and you’re just a lowly citizen who really can’t wait a week for the Bureau to post it to you, you can spend Favors to speed things up.”
Seiki shook his head in disbelief. “Talk about even more blatant corruption.”
Ippei chortled at the remark. “The funny thing is it works exactly like real favors, since you can spend it on someone else. For example, if you’re a Member of the Court sitting on the tatami floor, and you want your friend up there with you, you can spend a Favor or two to have the Shogun allow them on the mat.”
Beside them, Koharu gave a tiny scoff. “There are much better things to spend favor on.” She was packing things from her reward box into her pink cloth pouch. “Like a tour of the Inner Palace,” she said. “They have a waterfall in there with gold and silver fish, like, literally.”
“Inner Palace?” asked Seiki.
“That’s where you end up eventually if the Shogun likes you enough,” said Ippei. “I never made it that far, though.”
At the bottom of his box, Ippei found a curious sealed letter, addressed to Master Teshima, with no further instructions. As for Seiki, he discovered a small white ceramic bottle with a cork and cloth cap.
You have received: Bottle of Something. Usable in a time of need.
“What do you think this is?” Seiki wondered.
Ippei had no idea. “You can try drinking it and see what happens.” The samurai grinned.
Since they were unable to figure out what to do with their mysterious rewards, they decided to move on. Ippei nodded eagerly at the brown mission envelope in Seiki’s hands. “See what you got.”
Mi
ssions were given out randomly every week: one civil mission by the court officials in the Reception Hall, one scouting mission by Lieutenant Kato or Commander Nakatani in the Soldiers’ Quarters, and one Trade Skill mission by someone in the Servants’ Quarters—whose name Ippei did not even know, since he had not done any of them. Missions had no level restrictions and could be shared by a group of people, as long as all members were in what they called the ‘challenge range’, or three levels apart. The difficulty and experience would be scaled according to group members.
Seiki unfolded the official paper.
Mission: Dairi Residence [Group Instance]. Neighbors had reported that the old lady who lived in the remote Dairi Residence had not been seen for over two weeks. Pay her a visit and make sure she is all right and report back to the Shogun. Recommended players: 3-4. You will receive: 20 honor points with the Shogun and 20 reputation points with Shinshioka.
“Oh, that one,” said Ippei, slowly.
Seiki could not quite read his friend’s ambiguous tone, but anything about an old lady in a remote area most likely meant one thing. “She’s dead,” Seiki guessed. “And when you show up, her ghost tries to kill you.”
“She’s not dead,” said Koharu from behind them. “I was just there yesterday and she’s definitely not dead. But then she asked me to stay the night, but I didn’t have time. So, I left.”
Ippei raised an eyebrow. “So you’re on this mission?”
“Yeah.”
“Perfect.” Ippei smiled. “You’ve just got yourself a tank.”
Ippei invites you to a group.
You are now in a group with Ippei [Level 11].
“So, we’re like doing this, right now?” the girl asked. “Just so you know, I haven’t got Possess yet.”
“Obake?” Seiki did not know why he was surprised.
“We did the spider lady without Cleanse, so you’ll be fine.” Ippei reassured her.
Ippei has invited Koharu to join the group.
Koharu [Level 12] has joined the group.
“Interesting enhance on Drain,” said Ippei.
Perhaps this was what people normally did once they joined a group with strangers. Suspicious people could check immediately if the other party had the Backstab enhancement on any of their abilities but that, of course, required one to know what the abilities were called.
Life Drain [Koharu – Level 12]: slowly drain life from the target, dealing 292 damage over 8 seconds, starting low and becoming more powerful over time. Requires the target to be in sight and within 40 feet, with the effect being stronger the closer the range. If the drain is broken rather than cancelled, an 8-second lockout applies. Required energy: 194. Ability modification: no. Enhancement: Quick Drain – halves the damage and time required for each complete Life Drain for 60% the original energy cost.
The girl shrugged. “Just went with the first one that dropped,” she said. “My friend said it was good.”
All of Seiki’s recent encounters with obake abilities had been near-death experiences, and he found himself slightly surprised now to see one spelled out so clearly. It was a completely different play style, but it was tangible. And if he knew all this, he could figure out how to stay alive.
“What’s your second ability called?” he asked, unexpectedly.
Koharu blinked. “Uh, Nether Chills.”
“And the third?”
“Disperse. And then Life Steal and Fade. Why are you asking?”
Ippei chuckled, and Seiki suspected he knew why. But his friend had the courtesy to say nothing.
“Now that we’re acquainted. Let’s get going, then,” said Ippei, getting up from the floor. “Seiki’s a ronin, so he’s not your usual tank.”
Ippei has left the group. You are now leader of the group.
Ippei raised his eyebrow when he caught Seiki’s slightly confused look. “You definitely can’t do this by yourself. Don’t worry, I’ll get Foxy to chaperone.”
A guard beside them cleared his throat noisily.
Chaperoning was the last thing Seiki was worrying about. “You’re not coming?” he asked, as he got to his feet.
“I’ve done both worthwhile missions and I’m on lockout for the rest of the week,” said the samurai, before proceeding to explain that missions were different than quests. You could only do three per week, and could only be on one at a time. “To prevent people from running them over and over for drops and Honor.”
Seiki understood now why Ippei had gotten a group together so quickly. “You’re worried I’m going to change my mind?”
“Wouldn’t trust you to get a group going by yourself,” said the samurai. “And you wouldn’t disappoint this young lady here, would you?” Then, he said loudly to the people sitting in the hall, “Anyone for Dairi? Nine to thirteen?”
A few people had already done their weekly civil mission. The ones that had not were out of the level range, and one Reina of the Honor Warriors [Level 13] said flat out she would never do that one ever again, especially without a ryoushi.
Koharu leapt up. “Since we’re only two people now, can I get a friend to join then?”
“By all means,” said Ippei. “Preferably a healer. Tell them to meet inside the East Gate to save some time.”
“You three, sit down,” said the guard. “Show proper respect to the Shogun.”
Ippei waved. “Don’t worry, officer. We’re done here.”
Seiki followed him out and collected his weapons and shoes. Outside, the sun was sinking low, and the evening was mild and breezy. The pine garden smelled a little like fresh dirt, which Seiki was now very used to, and he was glad to be out of the stuffy Reception Hall.
A trickle of people was still coming through to collect their rewards for the Gashadokuro, and Seiki wondered if how much you contributed played a role in what reward you got.
“That’s an unknown,” said Ippei, scribbling something on a piece of post paper and sending it off with a bird. “People claim there are hidden stats, and they call it karma points, but no one has been able to prove it. The Society was doing a twins experiment a while ago, where they had a bunch of people doing exactly the same thing with one variable.” He then shrugged. “The results were… inconclusive.”
That sounded familiar to Seiki. “Was it… seven people?” he asked.
Koharu had followed them out, running on the stone pavement, a post pigeon, which she had apparently forgotten to let go, still in her hand. “My friend’s already here,” she said, excitement in her voice. “She’s just in the vicinity, so she’ll meet us out front.” She looked around and then waved. “There she is.”
A white fox marked Mairin [Level 10] was racing toward them. She turned back into human form, with a surprised look, as she got close enough. “Why waste a silver each on post paper if you’re both together?” She glanced at them. “Oh, hi, Seiki.”
Then she turned to Koharu. “You mean Seiki’s the random swordsperson you were talking about?” She giggled. “He’s the guy Kentaro and I were talking about.”
“Oh,” said Koharu with a giggle of her own.
Seiki was not sure what these giggles meant and, for some odd reason, it was making him a little nervous. He had just seen Mairin last week when he dropped by at the kakigouri shop, where Kentaro had established a moderately successful business. But he had spent most of his time out the East Gate, hunting down trees, so they had not spoken much.
The kitsune turned to Seiki again as she remembered something. “Right. Kentaro asked me to thank you for the woodblocks you left for him the other day.”
“You know each other?” said Ippei, eyeing both girls.
“Why is that a surprise?” asked Mairin. “Koharu and her friends commissioned Kentaro to make these Replica Imperial Kimonos, and then we realized that he didn’t have the recipe for Golden Threads. So, we all went and did the crane dungeon together until it dropped.”
“So that’s what
you’ve been doing when you said you were busy,” said Ippei.
“You could have come, because we could have really used a proper tank,” said the kitsune, giggling. “But I know that’s not your thing.” She glanced at Seiki. “And you, too, but you’re always way out there in the wilderness.”
Seiki figured Sasu the locater must have a lot of business on a regular basis.
“It worked out once we found out how to kite properly,” Mairin continued. “And Kentaro’s happy he can make so many kinds of threads now. It took a while before gold one finally dropped.”
“They’re really pretty when woven into the fabric,” said Koharu. “You need them for all four styles of Imperial Kimonos, so imagine the combinations you can do since this game allows you to wear two layers of clothes, like the real thing. You know, so you can do a lot with these contrasting collars.”
She was running her finger up and down the collar of her outer kimono, and staring at Seiki as if he was expected to contribute a comment.
“Uh.” Seiki did not quite know how to respond. If he had thought the Palace was a completely different world, this was even beyond his imagination.
“The Social Guild is doing a kimono party next week,” continued Koharu with a smile.
Ippei stared at her for a moment, as if studying her, before his eyes widened in both surprise and amusement. The samurai then let out a mild curse and shook his head as he laughed. “I really wish I could watch.”
“What?” asked Mairin.
Ippei, still laughing, clapped Seiki on the shoulder as he recovered his breath. “Good luck.” He then smiled at Koharu. “Don’t worry. You’re in good hands.”
Mairin frowned at him. “What?” she said again. “And where are you going?”
“I’ve got a letter to figure out,” said Ippei. “Oh, and do yourself a favor and pour out the water when she gives it to you,” said the samurai.
“Why?” asked Koharu. “Because she tries to poison you?”
Ippei shook his head. “Foxy, tell me you’ve already got Kindred Spirit?”
“Yes,” said Mairin.
“I think you’re going to need a lot of it.”
