by Tj Dixon
“It must have been a lot cheaper than the breakfast you bought us yesterday.” I tell her as I hand Midori her sandwich.
“That’s not important. A boy is meant to treat a girl on a date. I suppose it’s because the girl is normally the one who makes the decision of whether to have a longer term relationship. I’d be just as happy buying the food for you, but then it wouldn’t be a proper date.” Midori tells me.
“What is a proper date?” I ask.
“I don’t know what the normal meaning is, but to me it’s a special and fun time that we share doing things that lovers or soon to be lovers do together. Let’s eat our food before it gets cold.” Midori says and takes a small bite. I take a bite too.
“This is really nice. Hermes had dragon chips once and I tried one, but they didn’t taste anything like these. I actually prefer these.” I tell Midori.
“I’m pretty sure that someone must have told you not to talk about other girls whilst on a date.” Midori tells me with a grin. Then she takes another bite.
“Sorry.” I apologise but she shrugs.
“Don’t worry. As long as you don’t keep on talking about other girls I don’t mind.” Midori tells me. Then she takes another bite. I keep quiet and return to eating my sandwich. It is nice. So nice that it is soon all gone.
“Good choice. Sitting here I could almost forget we’re in Utopia Camerona.” I tell Midori.
“I thought you’d like it here. It’s also really close to where we’re going next.”
“So where are we going?” I ask Midori.
“That’s a surprise. It’s another twenty minutes before it opens though, so let’s play a game.” Midori tells me, taking out a small wooden box from under the table. I’m not sure where she kept it, but I don’t remember seeing any pockets in her dress. Midori places the box on the table and opens it. There are lots of green wooden disks about an inch wide and two red disks the same size.
“What are they?” I ask curiously.
“The green disks represent goblins. The red disks are demons. You both have twenty four goblins and one demon. You place the goblins within about a foot of the demon and on opposite sides of the table to each other. They’re enchanted so you can move six goblins once or just your demon twice each turn. You can move the demon anywhere on the table as long as it isn’t within a foot or so of your opponent’s demon. If you are already within a foot and a half of your opponent’s demon you can only move about half a foot though, so you need to be careful not to get too close. You can move your goblins up to about a foot each turn. The aim is to kill your opponent’s demon or all their goblins. You kill them by placing your own goblin or demon on the opponent’s ones. Each goblin and demon can only kill six enemies though. If they try to kill a seventh one, they get killed instead.” Midori explains.
“It sounds complicated.” I tell Midori.
“It is a bit but it sounds more complicated than it really is.” Midori tells me.
“Do we have time to play this if we only have twenty minutes?” I ask dubiously.
“I’ve played with Tomo and we’ve never taken more than ten minutes.” Midori tells me.
“Oh, ok. Well let’s see how it goes. I’ll put my demon here. Now for my twenty four goblins. It sounds like you wouldn’t want to be a goblin in this game. They must get killed a lot.” I tell Midori who grins but her aura seems a little sad for a moment. Then it recovers.
“No, you definitely wouldn’t want to be a goblin.” Midori tells me with a grin.
“So who goes first?” I ask.
“I will so that you can see how it works.” Midori tells me and puts two fingers on a goblin. She then pushes it forward until it glows for a moment. “That’s as far as you can move it. It resists if you try to push it too far.”
“That’s handy.” I say and watch as she pushes five more goblins forwards.
“Your turn.” Midori tells me.
“So should I move my goblins first too?” I ask.
“Yes. You should save your demon for now.” Midori tells me. I push a goblin towards Midori’s with two fingers, just like Midori did with hers. Then it starts glowing and resisting, so I move the next goblin and keep on moving them until I have moved all six that I can.
We take turns just advancing like this and occasionally moving our demons forward too, until our goblins and demons have almost reached each other. I am close enough that I can move three of my goblins over three of Midori’s, but I will lose them if I do that. I consider my next move carefully.
“You can kill some of mine this turn if you want to.” Midori tells me.
“I’ll lose some of mine too though.” I point out and Midori nods.
“You’ll kill as many of mine as you’ll lose.” Midori tells me.
“I know, but I feel a bit sorry for the goblins, even if they are just wooden disks.” I tell Midori who grins.
“Tomo said the same thing when I first played her, but you did just recently kill a lot of real goblins.” Midori reminds me.
“I know, but I didn’t do it for fun. They were the enemy and all our lives were at stake. They were also evil.” I tell Midori.
“Aren’t all goblins evil, including the ones you’re playing with?” Midori asks seriously and I blink.
“These aren’t real though.” I point out.
“So letting them die should be much easier.” Midori tells me.
“I know, and it’s not like I really have an issue ‘killing’ imaginary goblins. It’s just that sacrificing my own allies, even if they are imaginary, just feels wrong.” I tell Midori.
“Even if they’re just goblins?” Midori asks.
“I don’t know. Real goblins would never be my allies, because I would never be an ally with anyone who was evil.” I reply with a frown.
“You’re very similar to Tomo. We had a very similar conversation. She hadn’t just killed any goblins of course, but she thought just like you do. That’s why I was willing to be her friend. Don’t think of the game as killing. It’s just a game. Normally people just call it taking each other’s pieces, but I think that makes it too easy to forget what the game’s about. It’s often used to train people at strategy. When they’re older they move onto other more difficult and realistic games. If they’re good enough they eventually get given real people to command. As long as you just think of it as a game though, it can be very fun.” Midori tells me seriously.
“Ok.” I say and consider my move again. Like Midori said it is just a game. It doesn’t even matter whether I win or lose and it’s no fun if we don’t start taking each other’s goblins. I move my goblin forward and as soon as it touches Midori’s goblin it rises up and floats over hers before settling down. I look up and ask Midori. “Does your goblin stay under mine like that?”
“Yes. It helps keep track of how many you’ve taken. You can only take up to six so it would be easy to forget if it didn’t work like this. If I take your goblin then my one that you took will get ported back into the box.” Midori explains.
“That makes sense.” I say and then push my next goblin forwards. Soon I have taken three goblins. I consider my next move.
“You should move some more of your goblins close enough to reach those three, but not so close that I can take them.” Midori tells me, which again makes sense.
The game continues with both Midori and I quickly taking each other’s goblins. It eventually ends with Midori losing all of her goblins and the game, but she seems happy despite losing.
“We may as well put these away and then port down there. The queue shouldn’t be too long, but they might let us in early.” Midori tells me as she puts the remaining goblins and demons back into the box. I only had two goblins left so the game was very close. I do wonder whether Midori let me win though.
“Where are we porting?” I ask.
“You’ll find out very soon, but it’s not far.” Midori tells me with a grin. She puts the game away, though she does so under the ta
ble so I don’t see where she puts it. I assume she must have a hidden pocket in her dress though. Then Midori holds out her right hand. I take it with mine and she ports us.
We’re underground now and looking up I see water. In fact after a moment I realise we are looking up through the lake at the tables we were just sitting at. They are blurred so I can’t make out the details. I don’t think I would even be able to tell whether anyone was sitting there, but I’m fairly sure that’s what I’m looking at.
“That really isn’t far.” I laugh.
“It seems there’s no queue.” Midori tells me and points at the end of the tunnel we’re in. There are wooden barriers at the end but they only half block the way. There are two small stone huts on the same side as the gap in the barrier.
Past the tunnel and the barriers is a huge cavern. I sense a huge stone, wooden and rope structure. At the bottom is a basic flight magic that must be to catch anyone who falls off.
“So what is this place?” I ask.
“It’s basically a huge playground for children.” Midori tells me and I frown.
“But I’m not a child.” I point out.
“Anyone up to the age of fifteen can use it.”
“But won’t we just be surrounded by a load of little children? And are you even sure that boys are allowed to use it? Even most of the shops and restaurants in this city don’t allow boys in.”
“It was here before the city though, so it isn’t under Mayor Perry’s jurisdiction. Technically we aren’t in Utopia Camerona right now, although we are still under its protection.” Midori tells me.
“We’re not in Utopia Camerona? I like that. Even if there are lots of kids here you chose a good place!” I tell Midori enthusiastically.
“I’m glad you like it. I don’t think there will be lots of young children here today, because small children are only allowed in here with their parents who will be at work. There will probably be more than a few children our own age but right now, we may be the only people here.” Midori tells me.
“So what do we do? You say it’s a playground but I’ve never heard of a playground before.”
“We just have fun exploring. There’s magic suppression so we can’t fly or port. It means we have to climb and clamber over everything. Hopefully it will be a nice change from the constant fighting and everything else that’s been going on lately. There are a few places in here where you can buy something to eat but we’ve just had breakfast so we shouldn’t need anything else for a while.” Midori tells me.
“Ok. It is different. I’m sure we’ll have fun.”
“If we don’t we can always do something else. I want both of us to have fun on our date. It loses its meaning if we don’t.” Midori tells me and I nod in agreement. “You pay at those huts. It should only be four black each.”
“That’s cheap.” I say in surprise.
“I didn’t want our date to cost you a fortune. That wouldn’t be fair and I’d feel guilty.” Midori tells me. I think back to my date with Cherry. That was expensive but it was fun. This sounds fun and if it is cheap too then even better.
“Thanks Midori.” I smile.
“It’s fine.” Midori says happily.
“Well let’s get started before anyone else gets here.” I say and lead the way down the corridor. The huts are very similar to the ones I bought food from with a sort of open window. There is a rather bored and tired looking old woman sitting in one hut and the other is empty. She was reading an old looking book with a plain brown cover, but she puts it down as we approach her.
“Just the two of you?” She asks, sounding just as bored as she looks.
“Yes.” I answer quickly.
“Eight black.” She says and holds out her wrinkled hand. I give her eight black coins. She slowly counts them and then nods. Still sounding just as bored as ever she then tells us. “You get ‘til night fall or ‘til you had enough. Enjoy and be safe.”
“We will.” Midori says with enough enthusiasm to make up for the woman’s lack of it. The woman just nods and picks up her book again.
I take Midori’s hand and lead the way past the wooden barrier into the huge cavern. My senses are a little blurry now that I am inside the cavern but I can still sense well enough immediately around me. Not being able to sense everything should make it more fun to explore.
“Let’s climb down here first and then cross that bridge.” Midori says, pointing first at a ladder of sorts formed directly from the stone and then a bridge formed of rope and wooden slats. The bridge looks precarious with gaps between each wooden slat that would be easy to fall through. It is about twenty feet down from us but the fall from there must be at least five hundred feet. I wonder for a moment whether this place was made by dwarves, because it reminds me of Nirvali’s domes.
“Ok. Should I go first or do you want to?” I ask.
“You can go first and feel free to look up. I’ve got an enchantment to ensure nobody can see up my dress.” Midori tells me.
“I didn’t consider that.” I say with a blush.
“You can see me without the dress later though.” Midori tells me and I blush even deeper.
“You don’t need to do that.” I tell Midori seriously.
“I know I don’t. That’s why I don’t mind doing it.” Midori says.
“You shouldn’t though.” I say seriously.
“For now let’s just have a good time in here.” Midori replies seriously.
“Ok. I’m going first.” I say and sit over the edge by the ‘ladder’. I then bend over and hold onto the first hand hold with both hands. I then clamber over the edge and get my feet on a handhold/foothold slightly further down. Finally fully on the ladder I look up at Midori and grin. She smiles back and I start to climb down.
Once I am far enough down Midori sits over the edge like I did and gets onto the ladder too. I am directly below her and I can see a grey blur where her underwear is. That must be the enchantment she mentioned.
“How’s the enchantment?” Midori asks me impishly and I blush.
“It’s working.” I say and focus on climbing down. We climb all the way down to the rope bridge and take a moment to catch our breath.
“It’s nice to do something physical like this, isn’t it?” Midori asks.
“It is. I’d kind of expect someone like Asuna or Galico to say something like that though. It seems odd coming from you.” I tell Midori and she laughs.
“I enjoy this sort of thing too. I just don’t normally get a chance to do it. I was always expected to practise magic in any free time I had.” Midori says with a sad smile. Her aura is a little dark now.
“What were your parents like?” I ask cautiously. Midori frowns and her aura darkens a lot.
“Fortunately at least one of them is dead. Hopefully both are but unfortunately my father is probably still alive. If I knew who he was I would have killed him too.” Midori tells me, not even trying to hide the hatred from her voice.
“Oh… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked, but I never imagined it was that bad.” I tell her apologetically.
“I’m sorry too. I didn’t plan to spoil the mood by telling you about that sort of thing on our date. One day I’ll tell you everything if you’re willing to choose me. I’ll reveal to you what matters most tonight. I don’t want to hide the truth from you. For now though, let’s just have fun.” Midori tells me with a weak smile.
Chapter 33 (Multiple)
(Saya)
This girl is surprisingly strong willed for someone so young. I will soon have to dispose of her, but for now she is useful. She knows both the targets and her knowledge is invaluable. When I saw them in Portalis and the boy in Heaven’s Park I never imagined how valuable they were. The bounty on his head is so high that even my share will be more than enough to retire on. Even the bounty on her head is worth almost as much as an enemy commander.
I understand why he is so worth so much. I saw him kill an elite bounty hunter from my vill
age. A bounty hunter who was only one rank below me. The same rank as that traitor Kai. I know that traitor is in this city somewhere but I don’t know where yet. I’ll be sure to dispose of her too now that I have permission.
What I don’t understand is why this Rin girl is worth so much. She’s just a nameless commoner of slightly higher than average skill. She’s not rich or of any strategic value as far as I can tell. I don’t care why she is supposed to die though, because once someone’s death has been ordered I will stop at nothing to kill them. That girl is a dead girl.
The targets have separated today which makes it an ideal day to kill them. The boy is attached to the girl so I will kill her first. If he is distracted by grief he shouldn’t be as much of a threat. I’m sure I could kill him even without that now I know how dangerous he is, but I don’t see any reason to throw away an advantage. I’ll kill him when he first sees her corpse. That should be when he’s weakest.
I look at the Hinata girl and smile. She glares at me and I laugh. Even tied up and hanging upside down from her toes like this she hasn’t given up. I had to directly control her mind to get her to cooperate when she let Peter, his friends and my allies into the city. I then place my forehead against hers and pillage her thoughts and memories again. I don’t find anything new. I consider killing her now, but if my plan goes wrong I may want to use her again.
“Have fun.” I say and wave to her before porting out of my little hideout.
My hideout is really just a small hole in the stone where I ported the stone up into the lake above. The enemy kindly suppress magic in these caves so there’s no way they’ll find my hideout or the girl. Of course it can’t suppress my magic entirely but even I couldn’t find my hideout if I didn’t know where it was already. If I am killed she’ll end up dying of thirst all alone. Of course that would be much more pleasant than what I have in store for her, but I don’t plan on dying.
I look around the street and see it is as empty as I expected. The inn in question is about five minutes’ walk from here but I don’t want to leave any traces too near the target. I hide my presence entirely and continue on towards the inn.
