Dokeshi March: Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Chapter 15

The next two days passed uneventfully. Well, mostly uneventfully. Suki had taken it upon herself to train Grant in the Way of the Noble. To his way of thinking, that basically meant all kinds of different ways to trick people into agreeing to things they never really meant.

“So, you see? The importance of watching your tongue is no different than keeping watch for attackers, or monsters.” Suki laid a consoling hand on his shoulder, which was still sore from the weight of the monster hearts in his pack. “A poor agreement can hurt you more than an assassin’s blade. Well, not more, but the suffering can be longer.”

“I still don’t even understand how you got me to agree to do your dirty laundry for the next week.” Grant gave her a hard stare, but there was no heat of anger in his eyes. “What part of our conversation even brought us to that point?”

<Oh, you poor man. If you and her actually marry, you’re going to be as defenseless as a newborn babe!> Sarge chortled in amusement, the past two days having provided more entertainment than he had seen in centuries. <The good news is, she is actually trying to help you. I think you have advanced more in your mental cultivation over the past forty-eight hours than the entire month of February!>

“Okay, how about no more deals? The next time I can get you to agree to something without you noticing, I’ll just punch you in the face instead.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off before he could tell her how much he didn’t like that plan. “Grant, there is something important I wanted to talk to you about.” Suki’s change of tone told him she was serious. “I have been thinking about your sword’s powers, and how it might interact with the citizens of District March.”

“Okay, I’m listening.” Grant stopped in the shade of an abandoned row of townhouses that were leaning out over the street. He made a mental note to himself to talk to her later about the plan to punch him in the face. “What’s bothering you?”

“You remember how the contract Dokeshi March has with his people will cause all of them to die if he is defeated or killed?” She was looking down at her feet, fiddling with her ponytail. “The madman has to be stopped, and I think if you can defeat him fast enough, you can steal his powers before it has time to kill everyone. That much power would take time to build.” She looked up to meet his eye, and demonstrated an expanding sphere with her hands. “Which should give you a chance to save everyone, before it has time to expend the energy all at once.” Suki clapped her hands together, flashing her gauntlets into existence a split second before her hands touched to make the sound louder. “Once you gain control, you should be able to redirect the power surge into something else, before it kills everyone.”

“I think I know what you mean.” Grant placed his hand on his Uchigatana. “When I absorb the power of a Lord or Lady, I get a screen that pops up with information about what I can do next. Maybe I can select an option to expend the energy quickly?”

“That sounds perfect.” Suki let out a sigh of relief. “Just make sure you pick your option quickly, otherwise the contracts might still be enforced.” Grant gave a sharp nod of agreement before turning to start back on the road. “Oh, and Grant?” He turned to look at her, and caught the flash of light off her left gauntlet before it crunched into his nose. “Your silence was an acceptable form of agreement. You allowed me to make another deal with you, without wanting to agree.”

Damage taken: 10 blunt (51 mitigated)

The peals of Sarge’s laughter didn’t help Grant feel better when the damage notification popped up in his vision. Her light jab had managed to take ten points off of his health! The second screen to show itself made him forget all about the pain he was in.

Combat initiated

Action: Defend without weapon

Result: Total failure, bloody nose to defender

Opponents remaining: 1

Actions: Please select one option from the following list

Attack: Lethal, Non-lethal, Spell

Defend: With weapon, Without weapon

Run: Attempt escape

Suki must have seen the same screen, because she froze at the same time he did. Their eyes met, one pair watering a bit, and bolted for the nearest alley. They had entered the range of another Vassal.

“We should figure out how to get to a roof.” Suki was already looking for a way to climb the buildings on either side, stumbling a bit over the debris layering the ground. “We don’t know what kind of range their powers have. They might be far away, or they could be a street over.”

“How long do you think we have been in range of the system?” Grant still had the screen blocking his vision, and he slowly turned in a circle to see if there was any change. It was impossible to be sure, but the edges of the screen seemed to be the clearest when he was looking to the east. Which was the same direction they needed to go to reach the center of the District, where Dokeshi had his palace in the capital of Vernal. “Did you feel any change over the past few hours?”

<I thought I might have felt a tingle shortly after you ate your morning meal, right before I attacked you with that Crazed Murder Goat.> Grant winced at the memory Sarge brought up. The creature had darted out of nowhere, and smashed his shin hard enough that it would have certainly broken his leg if it had been real. <If that was the system, you have been in range for at least a few hours.>

“Sarge thinks he felt us passing into range after we ate breakfast.” Grant looked around, and noticed that Suki was already halfway up the wall of the abandoned temple across the street. “Hey, wait for me!”

He ran across the street, and saw the precarious pile of crates and broken pallets piled against the temple wall she must have climbed to reach the ledge Suki was shuffling along. Grant thought better about actually climbing up. He certainly wasn’t as light as she was, especially with his armor and heavy pack on his back.

#ERROR42

Congratulations! Your new battle count moves from [3 Wins / 1 Losses] to [3 Wins / 1 Losses]. Remember, the lucky rise to the challenge!

#ERROR42

The system was still malfunctioning, which hopefully meant they hadn’t fixed the spot Grant had messed up when he destroyed Fluffy Finger’s. Either that, or people didn’t ignore the system and just not fight after getting punched in the face often enough for it to understand what was going on.

<To be fair to the system, I am rather old, and even I haven’t seen that very often.> Sarge chuckled, and another Crazed Murder Goat jumped out at him. This time, Grant sliced it’s head off using his Iaijutsu skill without even thinking about it. <Good. At least when your blood is up, you pay attention to your surroundings.>

Grant ignored Sarge and used the light reflected from his blade to get Suki’s attention. He motioned to ask if there was anyone nearby, and got a shrug in return. She slowly made her way to the peak of the temple, slowly picking her way across the slanted roof.

Instead of standing idly, Grant dropped his pack so he could move the healing potions within easy reach. As soon as he opened the flap, a burst of dust and spores shot out of his pack.

“What the Regents?” He peeked inside and saw the burnt monster heart was a dry, desiccated husk. The small mushroom he had kept in his pack had greatly diminished the organ, and his pack was filled with the spores of the mushroom. “Looks like I better clean this up.”

Since Suki hadn’t seen anyone among the broken-down buildings, Grant sat on the steps of the ruined temple and took everything out of his pack. He shook it out, and the breeze carried away the spores. Grant was sure nothing bad would come of it. He plucked the mushroom off the heart, and wrapped it carefully in a rag so it wouldn’t destroy the other two hearts. They were still in surprisingly good shape, considering they hadn’t done much to preserve them beyond wrapping them in clean cloth.

After cleaning and repacking everything, Grant made sure to place the box that held the healing potions on the top. It would make it much easier to get to them if they were hurt.

“Grant!” Suki whisper-shouted from the roof of the temple down to him, and he looked up to see her motioning wildly for him to hide.

He scrambled into the empty doorway of the temple and ducked to the side. The quiet crunch of footsteps on the street steadily grew louder, and Grant used a piece of broken glass he found on the floor to peer around the doorframe.

A group of over thirty Peacekeepers were being led by a clown that looked like it had lost a fight with a group of angry cats. If Grant had to make a guess, he would have to say it was most likely the Vassal named Tatters. They were walking down the middle of the street, barely paying attention to their surroundings. While not particularly alert, they were certainly disciplined, not talking and being as quiet as a group that large could manage.

<It looks like a regular patrol, otherwise they would be more alert.> Sarge’s statement calmed Grant’s racing heart. He definitely didn’t want to face all of those people at once. <Although, there are a lot of them. They at least must suspect this is the route you will take to get to the center of the District.>

That didn’t make Grant feel much better. He leaned back against the wall, and listened as the sound of their passing faded into the distance. When he stood up to leave and check on Suki, Sarge stopped him in his tracks.

<Wait!> Grant froze, his hand falling to his Uchigatana by reflex. <I don’t think that was all of them.> Less than a minute later, Sarge was proven right. A pair of House Tuesday Peacekeepers walked into sight, and this time they were paying much better attention to their surroundings. There was a frail-looking woman dressed in a dark indigo robe that brought up the rear, a censure with bright green smoke leaking out of it hanging from a chain dangling from her clasped hands.

“That looks like a House Saturday assassin!” Grant managed to make his shout quiet enough they didn’t seem to hear him, but he berated himself nonetheless. The noxious fumes the woman carried in the bronze orb dissipated quickly, making him think it was the effect of her Wielded Weapon, and not a physical chemical or poison. “We are going to need to find a different road to the capital. If Dokeshi March hired House Saturday, we are in serious trouble.”

“I agree.” Suki’s voice almost made him jump out of his armor. “There are many roads that lead to Vernal, but I suspect all of them will be heavy with patrols.” She let loose a long sigh. “I think we might have to use the labyrinth to get through.”