A flash of silvery lightning flashed past the clouded sky. The rain was falling in torrents, and the wind was howling through the trees.
At the center of the rainstorm, Yatagarasu, also known as the City of Rain, was operating as usual. NPCs and players, holding umbrellas or wearing raincoats to protect themselves from getting wet, were walking around the marketplace.
From the city’s towering spires to its dojo-filled streets, it was a city for adventurers and aspiring martial artists. The city’s most famous landmark was the spear-shaped mountain that loomed over the city.
The mountain spear’s blade seemed to be stuck inside the ground while spiraling staircases went several kilometers into the sky, where a lonely dojo stood at the top of the spear. It was Karasu’s Spear Dojo and the place where all players appeared on their first playthrough.
Even now, new players were running down the staircase with rain falling on them. The steps were quite slippery, causing a few of them to slip and fall to their deaths. For many, it was already traumatizing enough to stop playing.
On the Moist Street, a group of players had gathered below a shelter. They were waiting for the rain to stop so that they could continue playing.
“It’s always raining!” Shouted one of them. He was wearing a yellow raincoat and holding a steel spear on his hand.
“It is what it is.” His friend said. He was wearing a blue raincoat with black boots. The rain was falling so heavily that he could barely see the streets clearly.
Luckily for them, there was sewer hole right below their feet, where water poured down through the tiny gaps. Without it, they believed that their feet would be already under the water.
“Ugh, first those Amaterasu players got World Quest and I also heard that there is always sunny there!” The player with yellow raincoat shouted in jealousy. “How in the world are we supposed to catch them?”
“I heard that the game developers created a way to balance things.” The player with blue raincoat said. “Maybe that will come during next update.”
“Right, there is apparently update coming…” The player with yellow raincoat rubbed his drenched hands excitedly. “I am quite excited!”
“Mm.” The player with blue raincoat nodded, but then noticed something strange. He turned to look at the sight and saw group of ten, wearing black raincoats, walking down the street while rain fell on them.
That wasn’t strange in the slightest since they could have somewhere to be, but one thing caught his eye. That group of players had insignia on their raincoats. It was a three-headed dragon and it was insignia he had seen before, causing terror in his heart.
“T-Thomas.”
“Hmm, what?” The player with yellow raincoat turned to his friend and saw his face pale in fright. He then turned to same direction as he and felt his breath get stuck in his throat. The three-headed dragon, adorning the backs of the group of players, disappeared into the rainstorm.
They turned to each other, both showing similar looks of utter shock.
“M-maybe we should leave Yatagarasu?”
“Y-yeah, this place just got much worse…”
…
A door swung open.
“Thanks for coming at such short notice.” Matilda smiled at the figure standing outside the door.
“Of course I had to come, mom.” A man walked through the door and hugged his mother. He was a black-haired, middle-aged man with a beard and a silver-handled walking cane in hand.
He had a pale complexion, but he looked very pleasant to look at, even though there was clear fatigue in his blue eyes.
“Come, come.” Matilda walked to the kitchen, where the scent of baked goods lingered in the air. The kitchen desks were filled with baked food and they were still steaming as if they were taken out of oven only moments prior.
As the walking cane tapped against the floor, the bearded man entered the kitchen and looked around the spacious house with a smile.
“It’s been a while since I was here.” He chuckled.
“Uncle Jack!” A beautiful young woman rushed down the stairs and smiled at the man.
“Nyx, how is my favourite niece doing?” Jack chuckled and hugged her gently. Nyx simply accepted the hug without wrapping her arms around him.
After they separated from hug, Nyx pouted and said. “Aren’t I your only niece?”
“Still my favourite, though.” Jack laughed and joined Matilda on the dinner table. Nyx sat on the end of the table, looking at her grandaunt and uncle.
“Son,” Matilda said to Jack. She used a very serious tone, which she had used many times during Jack’s childhood. He immediately knew to be quiet and listen. 𝑜𝗏xt.𝗇t
Nyx looked between them, wondering what was going on.
Matilda looked out of the window, towards the apartment complex. Several cars drove down the road, crossing the path of her gaze, but she still didn’t look away from that door.
“In that apartment…” She pointed to her window, towards that special door. Jack turned to look in that direction with a frown. Nyx looked over her shoulder and widened her eyes in shock.
“A young man named Jesse Kraham lives.”
Jack’s expression froze.
“I dug deeper and found out his parents names. Maria and Terry Kraham.” Matilda grabbed a tea cup with her free hand took a sip. “That young man happens to have disease called Humanoid Imperfecta. However, weirdly enough, none of his relatives have it.”
“I see…” Jack looked away and saw his mother’s angry face. He sighed. “I know. I have brought shame to Rothsmith name.”
“No, you haven’t.” Matilda shook her head. “She did.”
“…” Jack looked silently at his mother.
“From what I’ve gathered, I found out that Maria and Terry, tossed him out of their house.” Matilda’s expression was ice-cold. “He had incident, which caused his shoulder to break. It was by no means his fault, yet, instead of caring about him, they tossed him out to survive by himself.
“That angers me so much because that is an insult to the Rothsmith family and our history.” Matilda bit her lip angrily. “Rothsmith’s take care of each others. That is how we had survived the curse of Humanoid Imperfecta.”
Jack nodded silently. Her mother wasn’t born as Rothsmith and came from humble origins, but her strong nature attracted the attention of young man from Rothsmith family, who was suffering from Humanoid Imperfect.
Even knowing he might die any day, she still married him out of love. She cared about the legacy of the Rothsmith family as much as any other family member. Their family bond was rock solid, therefore, knowing that Kraham family had abandoned one of them, angered her beyond reason.
“So, he is actually…” Nyx gasped in shock. ‘My cousin? And I actually asked him about sex, even though it was joke… I must bribe him not to tell others or I would die of embarassment!’
“You should meet him.” Matilda said and took a sip of the tea. “I checked his medical records and his Humanoid Imperfecta is more serious than I have seen before. He might not live long…”
Jack clenched his fist, almost breaking his hand as result.
“Calm down, uncle!” Nyx screamed.
Jack flinched and loosened his fist. He was very close to breaking his fist.
“I understand…” Jack grabbed the walking cane, stood up, and walked to the window. He looked toward the door of one of the apartments. ‘He must’ve been in so much pain all this year, just because I wanted to escape the world of pain and succumbed myself to pleasure of flesh.’
“He must think he is alone now.” Matilda said and walked next to her son. “Show him that he isn’t. He is, after all, son of Rothsmith.”
“Mm…” Jack nodded. “Jesse Rothsmith, doesn’t sound too bad.”