“So, take a seat.” I said to the priest of Hisuikomushi shrine, Kikuchi Shuta. Already seated was the representatives of our shrine, Daichi-san and Masaji-san. On seeing them, Kikuchi-san frowned, but he still took a seat at the small table. Moments later Nagi-san brought over some tea, steaming porcelain mugs casting their fragrance into the air, and a tray of baked snacks.
Taking a cup, I took a sip. “Yeah, not bad. Anyway, no need to be so tense, Kikuchi-san. We are all friends here. After all, didn’t I get you out of the horrible mess you were in?” Might as well start playing the gratitude card. He has things that I want.
“I understand we are in different factions.” Masaji-san said, also taking his tea. “Still, smaller shrines such as ours have little real influence or power, so such things hardly matter, do they? Besides, in the face of this changing world, we all need to come together. Why not make this a first step?”
“Let me be blunt.” I said, leaning forwards, not allowing Kikuchi-san to look away. “I not only saved you, but I managed to rescue your kami and some of his adherents. Sure, Hisuikomushi shrine in the Boundary was completely destroyed, but I have good artisans that can rebuild it, better than before. I’m finding myself with new piety for gods and kami lately.”
“You did save me, but..” Kikuchi-san began, before Masaji-san cut him off, annoyed at his attitude.
“Enough, Kikuchi-san. Even a child knows gratitude. At least listen to his requests before refusing.”
“Fine.” Kikuchi-san sighed. “I suppose I owe you that much. But… my daughter…” he glanced towards the exit, clearly worried for her.
“Don’t worry about her. The others won’t mistreat her. Shaeula’s keeping an eye on things.” I declared, blissfully ignorant of her rampages. “Now, you must have heard about the conclave in Kyoto, right?”
“I did, before… before I ran afoul of that bastard.” Kikuchi-san spat. “It is unusual for such to be called, and even more so for them to bother to send out invites to even a minor, impoverished shrine such as mine. Still, with… with what is happening, it makes sense.”
“Well, I have a lot of support from Susanoo faction. Even Hikawa Kawagoe shrine is in my corner. We also have some independent shrines and temples on board. Still, if you, who are Amaterasu faction, were to lend us your voice… well, it might act as a bridge between the opposing sides, and it would certainly amplify your influence.”
“I don’t know.” Kikuchi-san bit into one of the treats that Nagi-san had served with her tea, frowning. “I have my pride…”
“And I wouldn’t ask you to abandon it.” I promised. “Even the shrines here have only given me their support, they are still in and beholden to their own factions. I just have first chance to convince their leaders that I’m worth throwing weight behind, and I get their help in any matters that don’t compromise their own interests. As such, that’s the first thing I want from you.”
“First thing, huh?” he pondered, sipping at his hot tea. “Well… the leader of Amaterasu faction is a bit hot-headed, but… well, I can agree to that. I’ll help you get an audience with him and some of the higher ranking shrines in Amaterasu. But my words are hardly likely to convince them. You need to show results… huh…” his eyes went wide as he realised I had already demonstrated to him my significant talents.
“You got it. And that isn’t all I can offer.” I smiled enticingly, as though I was a devil offering a sweet deal in exchange for nothing more than a small favour. “My companion is able to help develop the talents of others, though the process is slow. I would like your daughter to join in, as a sign of goodwill, and proof of my value to Amaterasu. Various volunteers from other shrines, and even some influential outsiders will be part of this. It’s a real opportunity for your daughter.”
Seeing me talking openly about courting Amaterasu faction left Masaji-san and Daichi-san looking uncomfortable, but we had talked through my long-term goals, and bridging the gaps between the factions was one of them, so they kept their peace.
“Having seen the spiritual world… and the gifts it offers…” Kikuchi-san was hesitant. “I was ill before, a rare type of adult-onset muscular dystrophy. Though my daughter thinks it was merely grief from the loss of her mother. I was growing weaker, worried I would leave her before she was old enough to fly the nest like my son, burdened with a penniless shrine under the hand of yakuza and other predatory influences. Her future seemed bleak indeed…” he paused, strong emotion shimmering in his eyes. “… but then I was called by a divine being, and my body healed, grew stronger. Still… I worry for my daughter and son. After all, my doctor couldn’t assure me that my condition wasn’t hereditary…”
I get it. “Well, if these strange new abilities can repair and strengthen the body, then your son and daughter should definitely learn it, that way, they can stave off any potential illnesses.” And of course, those who we train have no choice but to become our allies.
“Fine.” Kikuchi-san conceded. “I can agree to those terms.”
“Good. In that case, we should hammer out the details of our alliance.” I declared, as around the table everyone signalled their consent.
********
After an hour of heated discussion, we had come to a conclusion. The men from Shirohebizumi shrine had left the room, leaving me alone with Kikuchi-san, empty mugs of tea and plates with but crumbs remaining our only company.
“So, onto other matters.” I declared, and Kikuchi-san flinched. “Don’t worry, I’m not a bastard like Kondou was. I want allies, friends, not slaves, Kikuchi-san.”
“Call me Shuta.” He muttered, defeated. “It isn’t like I can go against you. Not if you can help my children. Besides, if I tried to fight, you would simply crush me. If you can beat that monster and his pet witch, then… anything I do would just be futile, right?”
“Don’t be like that, Shuta-san. You can call me Akio too if you want. But yeah, I’m pretty confident in my power, I’ve worked hard for it. But I don’t use it to oppress others. There aren’t many who have a gift like we do, so squandering it… it doesn’t make sense. Work for me, and in exchange for your assistance, I’ll make sure you have a chance to grow, and bring Hisuikomushi shrine to glory, just like here.”
“Work for you? How?” Shuta-san asked warily, so I gave him my most reassuring smile.
“In the Boundary of course. By Wednesday I should have swallowed up all of the Territory that was Kondou’s, including the area around Hisuikomushi shrine. However, that is your land, so I propose you drop a new Anchor and re-establish your Territory there. I can then protect you, and you can focus on other matters. In exchange… well, I think if you pay me twenty-five percent of your ether, and join in any defensive battles, that should be fair.” I’m limited in how many Ether Spires I can build, so if I can take a portion of his as well… longer term, I’d profit. He would too, as my defences would clearly outmatch his, leaving him in relative safety to build up his repaired Territory…
Shuta-san merely looked at me, puzzled. “Excuse me, I’m not really sure what you are talking about. Anchor, ether? What do you mean?”
I see. Well, I can’t say I wasn’t expecting this to happen, especially after talking to Haru-san. Oh well, I was going to share information anyway, so might as well educate him at the same time. “Shuta-san, could you explain what happened when you were gifted by whatever kami chose you? If I know what you were told and how your Territory works, I can fill in some gaps for you, and probably boost your efficiency.”
“If I must.” Shuta-san was reluctant, but at my insistence he finally opened up about that mysterious night. Oddly enough he remembered it being a couple of days after I dreamed of Exposition-san.
“I was up late, poring over the shrine finances.” He began at last, reminiscing. “It wasn’t good, our money was running low, and worse, my body was starting to fail faster and faster. I was at a loss, and I must have fallen asleep, for there was a brilliant glow, hurting my eyes, and then a giant head was staring at me… and it wasn’t human.”
“Go on.” I urged, fascinated. Unlike Haru-san he obviously didn’t refuse to listen or dismiss it all as a dream, so I’m hopeful of learning new things.
“It was the head of a beetle. It looked a bit similar to the stag beetles we have here in Japan, carapace a lustrous green and gold, yet instead of possessing the customary large mandibles, the head was shaped differently, more streamlined. Still, I believed it was the Jade Beetle kami, god of the shrine. At this point…” he laughed, a nervous one, full of self-deprecation. “… I thought I had passed out from my illness. Even so, to dream of our kami was surely an omen, one I hoped boded well… though considering how badly I and my family suffered since, it was an ill-fortune indeed.”
“I see why you would think that, but you might have been right the first time. After all, you have me in your corner now. Support me and I can make your bad luck go away. Please go on.”
He shrugged. “Well, this beetle was not in fact our kami, nor even from this land. It called itself a divine Scarab, a powerful spiritual being from a far-away land, Egypt. Apparently it was a servant of another god, though it had a strange name I don’t remember. It began with a Kh… but that is all I can remember. I was… rather overwhelmed at the time, after all. It said it was seeking someone to bestow a gift upon, someone who had great respect and piety for beetles.” He snorted. “Piety is all our shrine had left, so I suppose that made sense. Still, though my mind was clear, I thought I was dreaming, the stress overwhelming my mind. So when the beetle offered me power, a healthy body and the ability to call and command its kin, I didn’t hesitate. Though I admit to feeling a twinge of guilt at the disloyalty to my own kami, though in a dream such shouldn’t matter, right?”
I nodded, glad I had no such issue with my own blessing. Though Exposition-san never named themselves, nor the god that they served. Which is odd, in a way… “Yeah, my first thought was I was dreaming too.” I agreed. “It’s only natural.”
“While my shrine is an old one, so we know of the remnant spiritual abilities the true shrines hold, our bloodline is weak, so we have none.” Shuta-san continued. “Otherwise perhaps I might have taken it more seriously… no, I would still have dismissed this as an unquiet dream. In any case, I accepted, seeing no harm in it, and then there was pain as my body reshaped itself, the knots and frayed muscles in my body healing. I screamed until my throat was raw, and it was a miracle my daughter didn’t hear me… a miracle indeed. Because…”
“Let me guess. You were in a strangely similar yet different version of your shrine, right?”
Shuta-san nodded. “Yes. There was little light yet I could see clearly, and outside of my room the shrine was magnificent. Well, you have seen it, right?”
Yeah, way to stoke my guilt. It’ll be rebuilt. Definitely. I agreed, and he continued once more.
“Naturally, at this point my belief that I was dreaming was fast fading. So I asked the Scarab what it wished of me, and it said that I needed to grow stronger and spread my domain all across the world of thought, the realm below the divine, otherwise eventually everyone and everything would be destroyed.”
“World of thought, huh? Makes sense, as all the literature and research I’ve read on the Astral calls it a place shaped by the mind.” And if we are in the Boundary, above that is the Lower Astral, where more powerful beings lurk, such as the Seelie Court and more, so above that in the fabled Upper Astral… yeah, makes sense. That tracks with what I know. The upcoming apocalypse too…
“The Astral?” he asked, and I spent a little while filling him in on my terminology, before I asked him to finish explaining.
“The Scarab explained how to use my gift, to call upon a swarm of his smaller kin to attack my enemies. Enemies.” He laughed, a touch shrilly. “Before now, the only enemies I had were those damn criminals who frequent the shrine and my empty wallet. I wasn’t prepared to fight! Still, the Scarab insisted, saying that the future depended on me!” he shook his head. “I didn’t really believe it, but he promised that as I grew my domain I would gain further advantages. Still, my body felt stronger and more packed with energy than it had in years, so I hoped…”
I see. So he can grow stronger. Though the mechanism and ease of growth is unclear. This requires more investigation. “So, do you level up by killing enemies and gathering ether, and what skills do you have?”
“Skills, levelling up? This isn’t a game. Though I can see why you might think so.” He looked disapproving. “I thought it wasn’t entirely real, and I even met the Jade Beetle kami and his followers. I truly felt that I was rewarded for my piety even through my suffering, and destined to save the world.” He chuckled bitterly. “Unholy insects that had none of the divinity of the Scarab or the Jade Beetle kami. Shambling, rotting corpses. Grave spirits. Foul birds the size of large dogs… the Jade Beetle and I vanquished them all and more, and we gathered the glowing remains they left behind, the spiritual power, taking it back to the shrine, strengthening it. Then when I woke from these dreams, I was still hale and strong, my muscles free of pain. For a few weeks I felt unstoppable. And then…”
“And then Kondou.” I finished for him, earning agreement.
“Yes. Him.” He shuddered. “I sent swarms of scarabs at him, strong enough to strip to bone the hideous pig-beasts he had with him. But when they approached him, the beetles fell to the ground, twitching in agony until they died. Then the wraith he had with him pierced me with her jagged metal and… I was a slave, trapped in that nightmarish world, unable to return, to see my son and daughter. Even my kami was likewise enslaved, a great offense to the heavens. But that bastard, he feared nothing, and only wished to sate his own twisted lusts. Sometimes he would tell me he would find my daughter and…” he trailed off, looking sick.
“Well, he can’t hurt anyone anymore, and your daughter is safe. All the more reason for her to learn to protect herself and grow strong.” I patted him on the back, reassuringly. “Still, I get the gist of it. So you don’t have any way of checking your skills and abilities then?”
“No.” he denied. “Does that mean you can?”
“Yeah, I have a skill that lets me check my abilities.” I read out a few to him, which he found fascinating. “I can do my Territory too.”
“No wonder you asked. Your power is much more like some sort of game. Still, to think things such as your attributes could be expressed as numbers…”
“Well, everything can be measured if you use the right scale.” I shrugged. “So, I’m in a similar position to you. Exposition-san, who was to me as your Scarab was to you, they warned me about the oncoming destruction and gave me similar advice. Grow my Territory, grow stronger, and become an Astral Emperor to save the world.” Holding out a hand I offered it to him. “So why not join me? After all, we want the same thing, right?”
“I can trust you?” he asked. “I can’t face suffering like I did again…”
“I never abandon my allies.” I affirmed. “We’ll work together for mutual benefit. To start with, I can deal with your money worries. I’ll give you the number for my secretary, Karen-chan, and she can transfer you some operating funds. As for the yakuza… well the ones Kondou sent after me… they got wiped out. So for a while there should be less trouble. If there is any… well, I’ve started taking steps to deal with such things.” I have multiple avenues to deal with criminals now, or I will have when a few things are put in place…
“In that case… please take care of me, Akio-san.” We shook on it, and offered accepting bows.
“Great. Well, we’ll get your son and daughter added to the training school. As for your Territory… I’ll send over the Jade Beetle kami and some supporting troops until my Anchor has finished upgrading on Wednesday. Then our defences should be solid. You concentrate on getting your Territory back up, and then work on Ether Spires to pull in as much ether as possible. You can transfer a quarter to me, and I’ll ensure your safety. Both of us win, right?”
“A quarter sounds fair. He took every drop and more.” Shuta-san answered. “But… Ether Spires? I still don’t understand.”
Okay… another clash of terminologies, no doubt. “Fine, so how do you add new buildings and facilities to your Territory? There were definitely some, I expect those ones made from red and yellow bricks were yours, right? They looked like a mix of old-fashioned industrial buildings and ancient stone monuments.
He nodded. “Yes, as I poured in more of the captured spiritual essence… this ether, I could will my domain, my Territory…” he was adopting my terminology, which was wise, as it seemed like I had a clear information edge. “… to grow. If I felt it needed protection, ether would be sucked away and those stone structures would form, topped by crystalised energy. If I felt I needed more ether, then a different one would grow.”
“I see. So it’s pretty much the same as mine, just… wow, your interface sucks, and to think I slated Exposition-san a lot. Appraisal cheats and system interfaces are quite the advantage. Although I was put at risk of death a lot early on since I didn’t get much else and had to grow slowly. So damn, even so I still feel like I got short-changed. Still… I’ve seen your Territory, Kondou’s, my own of course, and one from the jerk in Las Vegas. They all seem to work on similar principles. Creatures are created, defences erected, and … wait, when I was in Las Vegas and found those buildings that shared and took ether from the Material, my interface updated, and I had new buildings to pick from. Damn, how could I have missed that?”
As I started my cascade of words, Shuta-san looked on, bemused. After I had worked through my thoughts, I asked him a question. “How did you know you could make structures that would pull in more ether, for example? Did the Scarab tell you?”
He shook his head. “No. the Scarab only set me on the path. I just… well, as I gathered more ether I felt I could put it to work. I also used it to call upon my swarm of beetles. It just… seemed right, I guess. It’s hard to explain.”
I see. My gut instinct is that pretty much anything I can build, everyone else can too. There might be some exceptions, perhaps since the Scarab is from Egypt, he can build some Egyptian-themed buildings I can’t? But that’s just conjecture. More research is needed.
“All right, to start then, re-establish your Territory, then focus your efforts on growing your ether generation. We call those Ether Spires. I’ll take care of the defences…”
As we finalised our plans, I had other ideas of how to test things further. Ixitt will no doubt be delighted at seeing how Shuta-san compares. Also, I wonder… my head full of ideas, we sealed the second stage of our alliance…
********
“So, ah… what’s up with them?” I asked Shaeula, as I eyed the exhausted, sullen-looking girls slumped in one corner. There was Kana-chan’s two friends, Mio-san and Asami-san, as well as Kikuchi-san and Takagi-san. That’s quite the odd grouping. But if they are getting along better, well, that’s surely a good thing.
Kana-chan merely giggled. “Don’t worry about it, big bro. I’m sure Shaeula can tell you later.”
Shaeula? I’m getting a bad feeling about this…
“Besides, Mio-chan and Asami-chan should have learned to mind their own business. After all, they were going through Shaeula’s drawers and peeked in your room. Don’t have any sympathy for them, big bro.”
My room, huh? That is pretty embarrassing. I have a lot of… hobbyist… materials in there. Oh well, it doesn’t matter if they laugh at me, I’m a normie nowadays anyway, by any reasonable definition.
“Well, putting that aside, are you girls all having fun?” I asked, observing them play games and watch TV, marvelling at the amount of expensive cake and snacks the girls had put away between them.
“I sure did.” Noguchi-san said, glancing at Kana-chan. “I’m happy I asked to come. Izumi-san really has mellowed out. Maybe it’s since she met you, Oshiro-san.”
“No way. I’ve always been nice.” Kana-chan pouted. “it’s nothing to do with big bro.”
“Right.” Another girl said, scoffing. “Keep telling yourself that. Still, hanging out with a lot of girls I normally wouldn’t outside of school’s been fun. The service is great too. Guess you aren’t as poor as I thought, right Kana-san?”
At that Kana-chan looked annoyed, though she forced it down and cracked a smile. “You know it. My family is on the way up. I’m the perfect catch.”
As the girls broke into an argument over whether Kana-chan was indeed the hottest catch in school, I spoke to Shaeula. “So, anything you wanted to tell me?”
She looked away innocently. “No-no, definitely not-not. Everyone was just-just having fun-fun.”
Yeah, her speech quirk is up. She’s guilty. “Those four don’t look like they had much fun, they look wiped out.” As I looked over, Mio-san met my gaze desperately, as if to convey something, but I wasn’t sure what.
“It’s fine big bro!” Keomi-chan bombed over, her face covered in cream and crumbs. Instinctively I reached over and wiped it off her face. She squirmed under my touch, and halfway through I realised it was a bad idea, as people were laughing at me. I didn’t mean to, it was instinct!
“Sorry, Keomi-chan. That was a reflexive action.” I apologised.
“It’s fine.” She tilted her head, pigtails bouncing, confused. “I’m always being told off for being messy. Anyway, don’t worry big bro, the girls are fine. They just played a bit in your room. Nice dolls by the way, they were cute.”
“They are figures, not dolls…” I responded defensively, before smiling wryly. “… but that doesn’t matter. Oh well, if you say so. Still, I’ll have a long talk with Shaeula about this later…”
As Shaeula pouted, I started to tidy up the mess the girls had made, once more feeling like some sort of teacher, shepherding a school trip. Damn, just think how much worse it’s going to be when our training hall is built. I know there are a few adults in the mix, but even so…
With that thought in mind, I ran through my plans as I continued to clean, ignoring the giggles of the girls. There’s so much to do, and so little time. Even in the Boundary, I need more hours in the day…