Dokeshi March: Chapter 55 (Patreon)

Chapter 55

The bombs detonated as Dokeshi ended his suicide run into Grant, but not until after they had bounced a few times.  The extra space meant that Grant still suffered a whopping one hundred and thirty damage points, but he ignored the pain and got back to his feet.  Grant’s attacker broke the rule, so Dokeshi was frozen in place by the system as pain flooded his body.

Rule broken: No attacking. You are free to retaliate against the person who attacked you.

“I can see how being the one making the rules can be fun. I told you change was in the air.  Your poisonous mentality will no longer infect this District, and for all the people you have wronged, I - Earl Spring - sentence you to death.”  The Dao Seed in his chest felt like a heavy weight as Grant changed into the guise of a leader tasked with judging those who had done a great injustice.  Just because it felt heavy, didn’t mean it felt wrong.

Grant didn’t bother drawing things out.  He made a hard chop into the side of Dokeshi’s neck, slamming his Uchigatana down at an angle, all the way into his chest cavity. The explosion, mixed with the violent blow, caused Dokeshi’s mask to finally fall off. It fell to the ground, just as the light faded from the eyes of the woman it clattered away from.

Sarge’s voice boomed into Grant’s head a moment later. <Grant, it appears Dokeshi March was actually a young woman this whole time. I thought that was a typo when you got the Fragment.>

“Thanks Sarge, or should I call you Captain? Captain Obvious, that is.”  Grant felt like he had just been punched in the gut.  “How… when… is this some kind of imposter?”

“Earl Spring, I can answer that, if you are willing to make a deal.”  The speaker came forward from the crowd, a familiar pockmarked face man.  “I only ask for my life, in return for the truth.”

“Deal.”  Grant paused to close the woman’s eyes, and turned to face the former Vassal, Beans.  “Tell me, did I just kill the real Dokeshi March?”

“Yes, Earl Spring, that is the real Dokeshi March.”  Beans took a deep breath before continuing.  “Three years ago, the real Lord March went insane, and tried to kill his only child, a daughter named Joy.  She managed to kill him instead.  To avoid a panic, she wore his mask and a lot of paint to make others think she was the real Dokeshi.  Since all of the Vassals still called her Dokeshi, everyone else just… followed along.”

“Why didn’t she reveal the truth, after securing her rule?”  Grant could at least let out a small sigh of relief.  He hadn’t inadvertently killed the wrong person.  “Wouldn’t it have been okay after a few months, or even the first year?”

“It wasn’t that simple.”  Beans pulled out a faded cultivation manual from his back pocket.  “She followed the same mental cultivation manual as her father.  We all did.  It allows the user to tap into the power of the scepters at a level no one could have ever expected… it just slowly drives you insane the longer you use it.”

<It must have been a deviant cultivation path.  Short-term power with long-term side effects.  I thought all of those had been destroyed during the Wielder Wars.>

“So, what happened after she started going insane?”  Grant suddenly felt very tired.  This poor girl was shoved into a terrible situation, and life didn’t pull any punches.

“After a while, she didn’t even know who she really was anymore.”  Beans tossed the cultivation manual down next to her dead body.  “All she cared about was playing games, so she turned the whole District into nothing but games.”  He stared at her with a sad expression on his face.  “I never did like using the cultivation manual, not after I saw what it did to Joy.  You saw how weak my scepter was, compared to everyone else.  I just wish Frank hadn’t used it so much…”  Beans’ voice trailed off, and he eventually walked away.  Grant was fine with it.  He didn’t need anything else from the broken man.

“Grant!”  Suki’s voice brought him out of his stupor, and he gave her a long hug when she walked up to him.  “Are you okay?  That was a lot.”

“I’ll be fine.”  He looked up to see that they were the only two people still on the gambling floor.  He saw Koshin Friday standing by the bathroom that held the body of Cuddles, furiously whispering to a group of his Vassals.  “What is going on?”

“The entire District is in an uproar.  Most people don’t know how to live without the system in place, and the food is almost all gone.”  She pointed to Koshin.  “He is already trying to redistribute what stores there are in all the casinos, but that won’t last long.”  Suki grabbed Grant’s hand.  “I… I need to go back to February.  Someone has to coordinate the food shipments from January to March, otherwise thousands will start dying of starvation.”

“I understand, Suki.”  Grant had a different kind of tight feeling in his chest, something completely different than his Dao Seed.  “I never expected you to go with me the whole way to December anyway.  And besides, you should be Regent February, not that other guy.”  He concentrated, and her status changed to reflect his wishes.  “Now you can get through the barriers without a problem.”

“You better make it all the way to December without me, Grant Monday.”  She wiped at her face, doing her best to not let Grant see her cry.  “I mean it.  You come back to me.  And when I see you again, I’ll have a gift ready for you.”

“Okay.”  Grant didn’t know what else to say, so he gave her another hug instead.  After they broke apart, Grant used his sword to slice a hole in space, creating an opening back to the place they entered District March.  “Go, be a hero.  Save some lives.”  She gave him a sharp nod, and stepped through.  As it closed behind her, Grant had to wipe at his own eyes.

“Earl Spring, do you have a moment?”  Grant walked over to where Koshin was standing.  “I have taken the liberty of collecting your things, and restocking some of your basic supplies.  The storeroom was woefully short on potions, but I gave you what few we could spare.”

“Thank you Koshin, I truly appreciate it.”  Grant was walking with the Wielder as they talked, and they stopped at a large table covered in maps.  “What’s all this?”

“It is meant for us to plan, my Lord.  Your province is in anarchy, and we need to bring it under control.”  Koshin pointed to the northern section of the map, near where Grant had entered the Labyrinth.  “This entire section of the District is being… dissolved… by some kind of fungus.  No one knows what it is, and it eats through buildings like a Ravenous Termite Horde.  If it isn’t brought under control, the entire northern region will be nothing but rubble in a week!”

“Well, Koshin, it sounds like you just found the perfect location for the fields of crops that need to be planted.”  Grant concentrated again, and Koshin Friday became Regent Koshin.  “Besides, as the new ruler of this District, I would think you wanted your people to be more self-sufficient.  Growing crops is the first step!”  The man seemed to have an equal mix of shock and fear when he saw his new title.  To Grant, that was the proper attitude for a good leader to have.  “Well, I’m off then.  Good luck!”

As Grant tore open another hole in space next to the border to District April, he looked back to see Koshin already shouting orders, getting people that were just standing around to start moving.  Pillars of smoke rose in the distance, visible through the windows of the casino.

“They’ll be fine.  I’m sure nothing bad will happen.”  Grant stepped through, allowing the tear in space to close behind him.