Dokeshi March: Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Chapter 5

“Grant, get in here!”  Suki yelled for him from the other room, and her tone told him he better hurry.  “He is waking up!”

The man they had saved was awake, and clearly bewildered at his situation.  Before he had been knocked out, he was in the market square surrounded by angry strangers beating him to death, and now he was in an abandoned building with strangers.  Grant could sympathize.  He had been through some weird situations himself.  At least there weren’t any spiders.

“Who are you people?”  He rubbed his head, trying to massage away the memory of almost dying.  “And where am I?”  The name tag above his head said Peasant Phil, so Suki addressed him by name.

“Well Phil, this is Grant, and my name is Suki.”  She handed him a canteen of water.  “We managed to get you away from the mob, but you were pretty banged up.  We used a very expensive healing potion on you, so we were hoping you could return the favor by answering some questions for us.  We just came from District February, and any information on this place would really help.”

He thought for a minute, clearly weighing the idea in his mind before speaking.  “Since you did a service for me, I think I can get away with telling you things without involving gambling.”

“What do you mean?”  Suki leaned forward, her pink hair falling across her forehead.  “Why would you need to involve gambling just to talk to us?”  Grant hadn’t told her what he had learned from the man with the strange accent, but Phil answered before he could say anything.

“It’s Dokeshi March.  He makes the rules, and we have to follow them.”  Phil sat up, and handed back the canteen after taking a long drink.  “To keep people from assassinating him, all fighting is done in turns.  Since he likes gambling, you have to play a game of chance to buy just about anything.  And his number one rule?  The House Always Wins.”

“Wait.”  Grant stepped forward and knelt next to the man, his armor creaking with the motion.  “Who is Dokeshi March?  Does he work for Lord March?”

“No, Dokeshi March is Lord March.”  Phil could see how confused Grant was.  “He thinks the title Lord sounds too stuffy, so he makes people call him Dokeshi.  You know, the word for clown?  All his vassals are named after the greatest clowns in history.  Plinko, Blinko, Floof, Fluffy Fingers, Fluffy Buns, Buns the Bear, Boo, Goof, Gank, Yank, Yoinkers, Boinkers, Beans, Taters, Tatters, Frank, you get the idea.  Cuddles is the scary one though.  I heard he eats people who make Dokeshi March angry.”

“He eats people?”  Suki was aghast at the notion, rocking back on her heels.  “He can’t actually eat people, right?”

“Well miss, we all aren’t far from that now.”  He held up his baggy clothes, proof of how much weight he had lost.  “If those food shipments don’t start coming back through the border soon, people are going to have to do something to feed themselves.”

Grant grimaced at the news.  He was partially responsible for that.

<No, you are definitely entirely responsible for that.>  Sarge made a grunt sound, as if he were shrugging his non-existent shoulders.  <Eh, it isn’t like you had a choice.>

“What else can you tell us about Dokeshi March?”  Suki passed the man one of her ‘healthy’ granola bars.  He eyed it skeptically as he gave it a sniff.  Grant knew exactly how the man felt.  “Anything you have to say would certainly be a help.”

“Well, the big thing to remember is never gamble with him.”  He tried a bite of the granola, made a face, and put it in a pocket.  “I don’t know if he has ever lost a game.  Unless he wanted to, maybe.  Everyone knows he is either the luckiest man alive, or he can cheat without ever getting caught.  But never say that, to anyone.  I shouldn’t have even said it.  You never know when the walls have ears.”  He looked around furtively, checking to make sure we were alone.  “Why do you guys want to know so much about him, anyway?”

“Is that why the people in the square attacked you?”  Suki deflected his question, instead asking one of her own.  “Because you accused that man of cheating?”

“Cheating is severely punished, depending on the stakes of the bet.”  Phil grimaced, clearly remembering something very bad that happened in the past.  “Some have even been executed, if it was bad enough.  That’s why people care so much.”

<With every bit of their lives dominated by gambling, there is no doubt that everyone in this district cheats somehow.  It sounds like getting caught is the real problem.>

“Sarge, I don’t like this place.”  Grant thought about Lucky Luca, and how his hands were so fast with the cards, and how the man selling steaks didn’t seem surprised at where the wheel landed.  “They take advantage of one another.”

<They have no honor!>  His shout inside Grant’s brain made his eyeballs vibrate.  <They do not know the way of the samurai!>

“One of these days, you are going to tell me more about this samurai stuff.”  He rubbed his temples.  “And could you not shout like that?  It isn’t like I can ignore what you are saying.”

A crash from outside made them all freeze.  A quiet chittering sound quickly faded into the distance, and they slowly relaxed.

“What was that?”  Suki tried peeking out a window, but she didn’t see anything.  “It didn’t sound human.”

“That was probably one of the monsters that lives underground, in the sewers.”  Phil shivered, apparently from a bad memory.  “They have gotten bolder - and more desperate - ever since the food shortage.  No one is throwing out anything edible anymore, so they must be starving.”  He looked down at himself.  “Like the rest of us.”

“We need to hurry and defeat Dokeshi March.”  Suki had turned to look at Grant, determination in her eyes.  “Once we do, the food shortage here needs to become top priority.  It’s only a matter of time before the creatures of this district start thinking of the people as their next meal.”  She placed a hand on Phil’s shoulder, trying to convey a sense of comfort and stability.  “With the silly turn-based fighting system in place, a swarm of even weak monsters would quickly overcome any warrior, no matter their strength.  Putting an end to it will save lives.”

Grant opened his mouth to answer, but Phil turned and bit Suki on the hand.  She shrieked in surprise, falling back from her attacker.  The screen indicating they were in combat popped up in his vision, and he quickly selected ‘Defend: With weapon.’  His body jerked into motion, interposing himself between Suki and Phil, with February 29 held in a low guard.

“What is wrong with you?  Why would you attack us?!”  Suki quickly got to her feet, her gloves morphing into giant gauntlets.  “We saved you!”

“I’m… sorry…”  Phil seemed to be fighting with himself, and his movements were jerking and erratic.  “Have… no choice…”  He picked up a hunk of wood, cocking it back over his shoulder.  “Must… follow orders…”

Suki took too long to select an option, so the system rotated to Phil.  He let loose a scream, charging at Grant.  The makeshift club shattered against his sword, and he impaled himself through the chest.  As he slid onto the floor, Grant stepped back.  The notification that blinked in front of his eyes wasn’t a welcome vision.

Congratulations!  Your new battle count moves from [1 Wins / 0 Losses] to [2 Wins / 0 Losses].  Remember, the lucky rise to the challenge!

<Well, that escalated quickly.>  Sarge paused for a moment.  <Also, your weapon cultivation improved by a very small amount.  Whatever this system is, it seems to supplant the normal methods of cultivation.>

“Why Phil, why would you attack us?”  Suki rushed forward and leaned over the man, wiping away the blood frothing from his lips.  “We were just talking!”

“Dokeshi made a deal, and everyone had to take it.”  He paused, wincing in pain.  “To live in his lands, we swore on our lives to protect him.”  A coughing fit brought out more blood, spraying Suki with the red mist.  “If he dies, and a person knows about the plot to kill him, they die too.”  He grabbed Grant’s ankle, his grip far stronger than should have been possible.  “Promise me you won’t do it.  If you kill him, everyone could die.”

Grant’s heart seemed to stop beating in his chest.  Kill everyone?  What did he mean?  Were wielded weapons truly strong enough to kill an entire district?

<I don’t know if they can wipe out that many people in one fell swoop, but a thousand years ago Regent December divided the entire world into twelve districts and installed the system screens everyone sees with his wielded weapon.>  Before Grant could panic, Sarge sent a rock into the side of his head, causing his head to ring.  <But I have never heard of a wielded weapon with the power to kill off of a deal.  Especially one people were forced into taking.>  He paused for a moment before continuing.  <I would give you even odds on it enforcing the oaths.  Fifty-fifty chance you either kill everyone, or free them entirely.>

“He’s gone.”  Suki interrupted his train of thought, before Grant could reply.  “I can’t believe how bad this went.”

“Do you think what he said is true?”  Grant’s fears were plainly on his face.  “Could I really kill everyone by defeating Lord March?”

“I don’t know.”  Suki took a few moments to think.  “He did say it was only those who knew about a plot to kill him would die.  You aren’t trying to kill him.  You are just going to defeat him, right?”

“That’s true.  I will have to be careful not to kill him then.”  He let out a sigh of relief.  He hadn’t killed Lord January or Suki, so he could surely do the same once again.
<Don’t get cocky, kid.>  Sarge, true to form, had to crush his hopes and dreams.  <You are in Late Spring now, and pulling your punches won’t be an option.  You may have to choose between going all out and killing Dokeshi, or giving up and letting him kill you.  I don’t envy you the choice.>

Grant sat down next to the body of the man he had just killed while only defending himself.  It was a perfect reminder that a real fight might not go the way he wanted.  He could always stop here, or go back to February and live out his last ten months with Suki.  Or, he could push forward, and save himself.

<Not just save yourself, kid.  You have the chance to heal the world.  That isn’t something to take lightly.>

“But can I really?”  He looked down at the sheathed sword on his hip.  “Healing the World is a quest, but is it healing the world if there is nothing left of it to save?”

The sword didn’t have an answer.