On my way down the hill, I managed to figure out who Bazett was even though I was certain I hadn't seen her before.
She was Lancer's master.
According to my memories, there had been an unknown seventh master whom Kirei attacked before the war began in earnest, fatally wounding or even killing them before taking the Lancer-class servant for his own purposes. There was a not-so-insignificant chance that that person was Bazett.
Well, it was unimportant right now. Maybe I'd ended up inadvertently saving her life, maybe Kirei would get to her later. All I knew was, I didn't feel too bad about giving someone a chance to do what they never got to. I was in the same position, after all.
My ancestor, annoying and braindead as he was, still was the recipient of my eternal gratitude even though I couldn't be certain he was truly responsible for my current circumstances.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, feeling the gentle breeze against my cheek before crossing my arms. Winter was currently at its peak and even if Fuyuki was a coastal city, it was colder than I'd been expecting. When I exhaled, a plume of hot breath left my lips.
Somewhere along the way, Shuwen re-appeared at my side, matching my pace with his hands behind his back. I stared at the old man's face a while. His shady glasses made me realise just how much the eyes could give away about a person's thoughts.
"What is it? Don't worry, that woman didn't notice me. Her servant stopped looking at us just now as well." He said, licking his dry lips. "Well, even if she did, I doubt she could figure out my identity that easily."
"If she knew your class, she'd probably attack us."
He only let out a quiet laugh at my words, as though he was taking particular care not to disturb the peace of the serene trees gently swaying with the wind beside us.
"Perhaps so, master."
Ah.
My words just then had been incredibly rude to someone devoted to martial arts like him.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be." He lightly tapped his knuckles against my shoulder, "Your observation is truthful. Well, I took the precaution of not merely taking a spiritual form for that very reason. No, I merely erased my presence."
"I don't... think you should be saying 'merely' with something that impressive."
That was why Bazett seemed confused. She'd been unable to sense him when my own seals reacted to her servant.
A sudden unease climbed up my back in a shiver.
It disappeared as soon as it came, leaving me somewhat disturbed. Shuwen seemed unperturbed by it. His gait remained steady as ever. Though, he did stop once he noticed I wasn't following.
"Why have you prepared yourself for combat? Not that I mind, but you magi have that thing about... what was it? Mystery Concealment?"
What?
I stared at the marks on my hands before forcefully shutting off the Crest. Shuwen had tried, but I was no closer to reeling in my cursed energy... or 'Chi', as he liked to put it. Still, I made some effort to look around for any irregularity among the suburban homes on one side and the trees on the other.
Nothing, there was nothing.
While I did not shrug it off with a 'must have been the wind', I did understand that if it had escaped even Shuwen's notice, then there was no point in polluting my mind with baseless assumptions. No, here and now, it was best to focus on the most pressing issue.
That was,
I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and opened it up to find a meagre ten thousand bill. I sucked in a sharp breath at the pitiful sight, turning my head away with closed eyes.
That wasn't nearly enough to get me by unless I found a haunted apartment... no, even if I did, this was still nothing. The war would last at least two weeks.
That meant...
I had to find a part-time j... jo... nope, couldn't say it. Goddammit my isekai fantasy was supposed to have me rolling in cash after encountering some bigshot on the first day while a hot lady fell into my lap.
What the hell was this?
"No," I shook my head, "I should be grateful for what I do have."
"What ails you, Master?" Shuwen prodded curiously.
I stared at him for a long moment.
"We have no money."
"Kakaka..."
He laughed at my misery.
-
In the end, I decided to do the not-so-responsible thing and grab a drink in some shady bar once again. Yes, my track record with these places hadn't been the best but I could swindle some cash out of the morally outstanding members of society that frequented those kinds of places at night. It wasn't like there was much else to do at night.
The only one I managed to hunt down was in the Shinto District. Apparently, the place had been destroyed by a great fire a decade ago but quickly re-built by the government in a more 'modern' aesthetic as compared to the older Miyama Town across the great bridge. Consequently, the place did feel a bit minimalistic with its high-rise skyscrapers, clunky stores and apartment complexes.
It did have a half-decent night life though.
"Onii-san, won't you come visit~?"
I blankly stared at the young woman in a shiny dress short enough to show her panties.
"Hell yeah."
"Come on, pretty please-... What?"
Oh, she didn't see that coming. I was sure I even saw some disappointment in her eyes before a happy smile crossed her lips.
"Yay! Let's go!"
She shamelessly grabbed me by the arm, shoving it between her breasts as she dragged me away from the street. Just when I thought I'd accidentally booked a prostitute, she led me into a nightclub.
Not the overly noisy kind with dancing people and DJs, but instead a bar of sorts, set up elegantly with sleek lighting and clean seats arranged to look like booths. There were a lot of drinking men inside... with a lot of scantily-clad women loaded with make-up.
A hostess club.
This was a hostess club.
"Kakakaka!"
Shuwen laughed in my ear, hidden from sight once again.
Sighing to myself, I wandered over to the counter where a short-haired man was wiping shot glasses. The random woman who'd brought me in plopped down on the bar stool beside me.
"Shuwen, grab cash from the... particularly rowdy customers." I spoke through our connection.
He grunted. "Ah, to be reduced to this."
"You don't have to-"
"No, it is a new experience for myself as well." He pondered for a moment, "But I will restrain myself to those who can afford it."
That was what I'd wanted to begin with.
Done with our talk, I began to stare at the glass of whisky laid out before me. Oh, the woman was saying something but I outright tuned her out. The alcohol had begun calling out to my stressed out mind like a siren far more beautiful than the likes of a hostess.
The alcohol wasn't doing it for the money... wait no, it was, but I had better things to do then work out the inner machinations of this particular trade set in motion by the powers that be.
No, in the end, I gulped it down in a single go.
Wasn't like one glass could hurt-
My throat burned.
"Another!"
Try though I did, my mind remained unclouded. In fact, I was even conscious enough to stop just after the one bottle ran out. All I could do was sigh to myself and accept the truth. The truth that it tasted like raw ass. There was no point in drinking more if I couldn't drown all my worries in it.
...T'was probably the crest and its effects upon my body.
With another sad sigh, I whipped out my wallet.
"How much do I owe you?"
"Twelve thousand yen. I went easy on you." The bartender chuckled, "She doesn't know how to pick her customers yet. I can go for a more expensive one, if you want."
The woman beside me pouted and said something, but I didn't pay any attention whatsoever. No, I was more busy thinking about hitting the bartender with the empty bottle lying on the counter.
In what world was twelve thousand going easy?
"Like I said, we usually go for more expensive stuff."
He was just doing his j...
Only, I didn't have even that-
When I looked down at my wallet, I found it chock-full of all sorts of bills. The hostess beside me clapped her hands, turning to look at the bartender with a smug face. He, in turn, had his jaw slack and his pale face all scrunched up, like he'd just sucked up a particularly sour lemon.
Pursing my lips to restrain the laughter, I pulled out two ten thousand ones before shoving my wallet back in my pocket. Though it only looked like that, no, I actually stored the wallet in my shadow this time, cautious about someone doing exactly what Shuwen was doing right now.
I rose to my feet. The bartender let out a choked cry.
Sniffling, I walked out of the store.
Shuwen was beside me once more, as if he'd always been there.
"That much should be sufficient, right?"
"More than enough."
-
Somehow, in the search for a cheap hotel, I found myself walking on the Great Fuyuki Bridge. A car would pass by from time to time, but there was no sign of people at all. Below, a wide river bisected the entire city. The deep waters seemed a black abyss in the dead of the night, swallowing up the sparse few stars in the sky and a crescent moon cloaked by dark clouds.
Shuwen's efforts had yielded a couple hundred thousand yen, much more than I'd been expecting from a place like that. After counting the bills, the fear of the unknown and the uncertain mellowed out momentarily, and I became a very happy man.
For a few moments at least.
Then, I mercilessly poured cold water over my delusions.
To live with a bit of confidence, I needed to master all the Ten Shadows. I also wanted to be able to fight by myself, instead of using the Shikigami for everything. Fortunately, there was such a thing as reverse-summoning to apply their traits to myself.
Watching the still river, I began thinking on that as well.
I knew it was too much to think on and yet... I couldn't help myself. I did not have control over my thoughts and mind yet. I doubted I ever would honestly.
"What? No praise for this old man?"
Could I make it work by forcefully reversing the underlying process that occurred when I called out one of the Shikigami? After all, I was capable of, at least, understanding 'what' was happening when I did that. I could follow along the particular flow of my cursed energy, to be specific, leading up to the summoning.
Staring at my palm, I clenched and unclenched my fist.
That... felt too simple.
Sadly, I did not get to experiment with it as Shuwen suddenly tapped a hand against my shoulder. He was gone when I turned to look... but I noticed something else was wrong as well. The faint moonlight escaping through the clouds had disappeared as well, as if swallowed up by the river flowing under us.
The shadows seemed to flicker and writhe just out of sight, as though they were living creatures.
I saw a dark mass slither along the road beside me. The air grew terribly stale. Then, I heard footsteps echoing across the bridge. A man. There was a man walking up to me from across the bridge, dressed in a dark business suit, with an expression that was as dead as the air he brought. A thick pair of glasses framed his face, and his hair was cut short. He was only slightly shorter than me, an inch or two, but I held no delusions about overpowering him physically.
The darkness pooled by his side. Suddenly, a woman was walking beside him. I saw nothing of her, for a dark cloak covered her entire body, leaving only purple lips bare. Her skin was too pale to be natural.
"You have command seals, right?" She asked calmly, smiling.
I unconsciously looked at my forearm.
She laughed aloud, boisterous, and supremely assured of her victory.
That was a servant, even I could tell.
My blood ran cold at her laughter.
Yet, another thought rushed to the front of my mind at the sight of these two individuals.
As the holder of the Ten Shadows, the shadows were my domain. They challenged me within them.
Why were they so certain of victory? Did they not know that I would fight tooth and nail, with every bone broken, just to preserve this life of mine?
-
Hope you enjoyed.
Po and Master Shifu vs Disney Witch and her Manic Princess is gonna go crazy... it would, IF THIS SHITSTAIN WASN'T AN INSULT TO THE NAME OF PO BECAUSE OF THE COMPARISON! THIS FRAUD FIGHTING KUZKUKI?! AH HELL NAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HE SPENT THE WHOLE CHAPTER SIMPING AFTER WOMEN, STEALING FROM GOOD PEOPLE AND THEN TRYING TO BE SOCRATES! HES GETTING SHIT ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! BUM THINKS HE CAN MOVE LIKE SUKUNA, FIGURING OUT SHIT SO QUICK!!! NAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!