The first step was always the hardest one...never thought it would be the one that made me feel closer to my grave. I woke up on the floor the next day. It wasn't as violent as before but I was able to keep a calm mind. Yet I wonder why I felt like this just now.
I looked at the table to find a book on the surface. The title of the book was, 'Basic magic theory'. It had a note on top of it saying, 'Study them with care. Be strong Rin.' I raised my head and looked as if everyone was still sleeping. Then again the sun was barely up. Today was the day we were getting out of this place. My mind was anxious so I decided to equip my weapons and armor. It was again a t-shirt and tactical pants with a climbing harness and belt serving as a utility belt. On my belt was my daisho, a few throwing knives, along with some paper charms and my brush. My bulletproof vest had a few extra attachments too such as a pistol, some throwing knives and a few extra pistol magazines to spare.
But as I was putting on my shin and elbow guards, Magna happened to be the other side of my door. He came in with me almost fully equipped. "You look as if you're prepared to fight a war." He told me. "Old habits die hard, even after death." I replied. I took my gauntlet and my mask and I looked ready. All there was left was to test if it was good at my demonic form. I changed to my first stage and my horns popped out. Just looking myself at the mirror made me feel like another person all together. But looking further I see Magna behind me using the reflection. "You look like a local." He complemented. I revert slowly to my human form and loosen up my mask. Out of my pack I took out some water and a trail mix bar. As I ate I started to read the book that the goddess left me. "One way or another I feel like I'm on a tightrope about to fall into insanity." I told him.
As I started to read about magic, Magna noticed the note on the book. He took it from the hardbound cover to read it. "I see you have contacted a god. Who is it?" He asked. "Tsukuyomi. I barely talk to her but at least from her I understand the full situation." I replied. I take my eyes off the book for a second and noticed the orc's eyes. They were filled with concerned. I gave a big sigh and thought it was a good time to talk. "Tsukuyomi filled me in about my condition here. Turns out it's unknown so I'll try to keep a low profile." I explain to him, "I'm still lost in concepts like magic so right now I'm still a novice." The orc scratches his head rather confused. "Exactly why are you telling me this?" He asked. "We have to trust each other eventually. I don't see why not." I told him.
"What makes you think that?"
"From last night's performance we might as well get our game faces on, and we can't do that without trusting each other."
"You talk as if you are a leader."
"I was a couple of times before...just don't know which identities."
I walked out of the room, only to notice Richard meditating in the middle of the room. This looked like what I was doing last month to recall my memories but this looked kinda different. Instead of a calm face, he looked worried as the man closed his eyes. "He must be talking to the Shinto God Ebisu. Best to leave him alone." The orc told me. Magna then takes me to the hall where everyone was getting ready. It was so early in the morn and they looked so up and lively. Mr. Williams was the only one awake in my group. He was actually cleaning his rifle and getting a few bullets ready. "Good to see you awake." He said. The man then loaded his rifle and puts his gun at the side. He offers me some oil for my gun and I refused the offer. "So why didn't you wake me up?" I asked. "Richard told me you guys needed the rest. After all it's going to be a big day." He told me.
The old man then noticed my book. He asked for it and read a few pages. He looks at me in quite a curious way. "You think you can catch up on that?" He asked. "Maybe in a day or two." I hypothesize, "I think the centaur and the ninja past lives has experience with magic. Maybe it might just click out of him."
"You think you might remember their name?
"I doubt it, each one has something to trigger a memory and it looked as if each one was random."
"How did you get Hijikata?"
"Between the lines of somebody saying my name and being introduced to some stimulus."
"Aren't you supposed to be a Psychology major? Isn't the human mind supposed to be in your field?"
"Yeah but I was studying to be a guidance counselor. Anything at the realm of psychotherapy and trauma related is out of my field."
"Right...I forgot about that. Psycho ward had clinical psychologist. You guys are more of schools, family, and old people variety."
"Either way, with or without, it's going to be like a few needles in a haystack."
"Would that barrier you put then be a problem then?"
"I remember how to make one but I don't recall how to get rid of it…"
A few moments later everyone started to eat breakfast. To create unity, it was decided by Mr. Williams and Richard to eat the same thing as everyone else. However this time it wasn't so bad. Today's menu was pork and beans with a side of crackers. There wasn't anything fancy about it. It was just a combination of canned products stuffed in a pot and reheated under a fire. The crackers were really generic brands all found in the apartment. There was nothing special about it but it looked as if Richard's party was excited for it. "Finally! Something normal for once!" One of the troops shouted. "Why? Do you wanna mess it up some more?!" The cook sarcastically joked.
It was the same set up at most. Everybody was in their own perspective groups while I was with my party. This time however, Mr. Williams wasn't joining us. "Where's Mr. Williams?" Tyrell asked. "He said something about having a meeting with the leaders." Rebecca told him. I barely paid attention as I was still focused on the conversation. Again I was in deep thought. As basic magic theory went, it was the same thing as Tsukuyomi talked about last night but it was mostly focused on Mana. Mana was based on Western magic and chi was mostly based on Eastern magic. If you use mana, it would be the energy of the world. On the other hand, using chi requires life force. That would explain why I fainted. I must have worn myself out using my own life force. As past lives went, the centaur memories were able to catch on really fast. The only problem was that I still didn't have a name. I soon became frustrated and stopped reading. My brain couldn't take any more info so I decided to get back to my breakfast.
The both of my companions were already done eating, only to noticed the expression at my face. Rebecca had a notebook at hand, only for me to notice that turned out to be Mr. Williams logbook of me. "Why do you have that?" I asked. "He told me to take note of anything that was out of the ordinary of you." She said.
"Are you even qualified to do this?"
"I did my thesis all by myself at college, I don't see why not."
Either way it couldn't be helped. But I could help but feel uncomfortable about this. However there was really no helping this since I didn't have a reason to say, 'no'. "So what do you want to talk about?" She asked. "Nothing much, looks like the centaur memory and ninja are barely recognizable." I told her. Rebecca took that into thought and wrote it down. "What came into mind?" Rebecca asked. "The memories of the centaur made me learn magic easier but it's giving me a headache. Ninja still has ofuda charms but even I know the practice of ofuda isn't in the realm of ninjutsu. I still have mixed feeling in using eastern magic but with the book I read today I feel I got one spell down." I told her. That line alone made her eyes gleam in excitement. "Show me!" She said in a childish manner.
I reluctantly comply as I went with the demand. There try to take a feel of the mana pass by me as I prepare to gather it around me. I then took an empty paper charm and snapped my fingers. The paper ignites on its own and burst into flames. The both of them were quite amazed. "From what I can say this is called the Tinder spell. It ignites flammable materials in an instant." I told them. "No, that would be the second level of the Tinder spell known as 'Ignite'." Somebody told me from behind. It turned out to be Luka with a cigarette on hand. "A real level one Tinder would just emit embers on the paper. The second level would turn it into flames." She explained to us. Luka then gives an example by lighting his pipe with level one. With a snap of her fingers the tobacco smokes. She then takes a blank strip of paper and does the ignite spell. It burst into flames instantly as she snapped her fingers. "Try to materialize less Mana to get level one." She told me.
The woman then comes to call up all her staff to head for the exit. Mr. Williams then comes to us with a few maps at hand and a compass. "So what do we do now?" I asked. "They're just going to take care of the barrier you made. For now we'll just following them." Mr. Williams told us.
"Are you sure we can trust them with that?" Tyrell asked.
"As long as we keep up with them, we'll be fine." The middle aged man insisted.
But that sense of calm morality was soon lost as we heard a loud thumping sound from the hall. We went out, only to find one of the men trying to break my barrier open with a hammer. To be honest I forgot that was still there. The charm was still at the center with no damage and the barrier looked untouched. He goes for the second time and the hammerhead breaks off the handle. "By Valhalla! What in Helheim is going on?!" Magna shouted. Another man out of nowhere burst out three shots from his pistol and they ricochet off the barrier. Everybody ducks for cover but one shoots into my leg. I groan in pain and hit at the floor in agony. "Who the hell said anything about bullets?!" Richard shouts, "I didn't say anything about breaking the barrier by projectile means!"
"So much for trust…" Rebecca mumbled.
I stood up from the wall and started to limp to the exit. As I was limping towards them, they let a mage shoot an energy bolt. There was no effect. The barrier was still active. Yet just in time another memory came. But as they were about to let another one shoot out, I stopped mage from casting. I instead limp the exit and tore the charm off the barrier and ripped it into pieces. Once the paper talisman was destroyed, the barrier fades. Everybody's jaw dropped as the barrier faded away. "The barrier seal charm…. can be only be destroyed by the user." I told them in exhaustion. I slammed my butt on the floor and took a defense spike from my vest. There I took it and started to shimmy the bullet off the wound. Another mage then started to come to me and started cast a spell. I then put my finger in the middle of my lips to stop the incantation. "I got it!... Just let me do it before I lose my cool again!" I shouted exhaustedly at them. With a few jiggles of the spike and a bit of swearing, I managed to pop the bullet out of the wound. Slowly the wound heals as if there was nothing there. I tried to stand up but my leg was still numb and I was about to fall again. But with quick thinking I stabbed the throwing spike at the wall to prevent me from falling backwards. There I managed to stand up on my two feet with the numbness gone from my legs. I then stretch and asked everyone, "So are we going now?"
We eventually made it outside. All that was left was to pack the stuff from the building. Richard got on the radio to call for some buddies to pick up the goods. A few minutes later, two horses drawn carts come and stop by the apartment. One by one, Richard's party puts the supplies on the carts and they were finishing in half a hour. It was silent and awkward. Some even tried to avoid any conversation with me. But the silence was again broken by Mr. Williams. "So how long is the trip to the capital?" Mr. Williams asked Richard. "About two days, give or take." He replied.
"That far?"
"Yeah, Laputa is about twice the size of the United States now. It would actually take about a week and a half to go from the center to the edge of the continent."
"So how is going to play then?"
"We follow the main road for now to exit the city. We'll set camp at sundown and go with whatever vehicle we can find at sunrise."
"Sounds easy enough."
"Sure it is, I just can't wait to get out of this sun and fight a bunch of monsters in a dark forest."
The sarcasm from that last quote waved a few flags. We were already out though and there was no turning back. All I had now was the weapons on my body and the water and a trail mix bar in my utility belt. Most of our supplies combined happened to be inside those carts while the some of it was what we can carry. The philosophy of the trip was: carry less and drag more. What it meant was we needed to have less on our body but carry the rest with something else(ex. A cart or a vehicle...). The reason for it was so we were more capable in fighting when a threat was come. Most of the supplies we're drawn via carriages with horses. Looking the inconsistencies I was wondering if I was trapped in some MMORPG from an isekai anime.
I was fully equipped but I felt out of place. There was this vibe of seriousness with the party of Richard. All were marching in place to protect the carts while our party was at the center. The four of us were sticking out like a sore thumb as almost everybody was wearing leather armor. I was the only one around actually wearing Kevlar while Mr. Williams was wearing desert camo with the top of his uniform tied at his waist. What made us stick out even more was Mr. Williams AR-15 and my daisho. People here in this army barely even had guns on them. Most of them either carried a spear, bow, ax, or a staff. Some even carried a crossbow with them. A few had pistols but there were fewer rifle men. The only ones were Richard and two of his party members.
We looked out of place with my group's set up. But I guess that brought more attention. A few steps later an arrow shot out of one of the windows and hit one of men up front. Out came a goblin from one of the windows. It let out a large battle cry and a couple more came out of the building. They were a troop of thirty. Richard with our company was twenty-three. "Shields ready! Tortoise formation!" Richard shouted. All of his men then go into formation. The spearmen came with tower shields and prepared to push them back with others behind them shielding the top to prevent arrows from piercing them. Those goblins who went around the shield blockade were greeted at the sides with the thrusting of spears. Archers and crossbowmen then ready their weapons and shoot at the building the goblin archers in the building while hiding in the carts.
The shield men continued to push forward and pushed them behind till they were jammed to the wall. Once crammed they thrust their spears within the gaps and killed them all. All that remained was their captain. The head goblin was confused and looked at all directions. Before he can turn his back and escape, Richard shot the goblin at the head with a lever action rifle. The goblin falls from a great height and dies as soon as his body hits the pavement on it's head. The battle was finished in a matter of minutes and the dust soon settled.
Richard then whistle at the distance and all paid him heed. "We're done here, get what you can loot from them." He told them. Without any response they followed his orders. They got what they can. There were trinkets like earrings and necklaces, small pieces of armor, and a few mediocre weapons such as swords and knives. Rebecca and Tyrell looked rather disturbed as the goblins were being dragged away and cluttered like rag dolls. Some of Richard's men even cut off the ear or nipple of the goblin just to get the piercings off. It didn't settle with Tyrell well so he ended up puking out his breakfast. Almost everybody from Richard's group started to laugh their asses off. "Easy on the newbies," Magna says, "they're new to this so don't embarrass them."
Richard goes to the leader of one of those goblin and takes what he can. He takes out a knife from his enemy's belt and started to look at the details. "You know, goblins may do a bad job with making weapons but the iron they use for them is of high quality." He says, "If you want to survive, you might as well muster the stomach for this." But with all those things on the goblin captain one didn't belong at his corpse. It turned out to be a hatchet. It didn't look man-made at all. Instead it was manufactured by artificial means. The axe head was made out of tool steel with a rust proof coating and the handle was made out of hard yet flexible plastic. "This axe was most likely taken by some random victim. They do the same thing to us so I expect for us to do the same." Richard told us. Suddenly a goblin popped out of the window and was about to jump from the second floor with his club. I then throw a knife from above at his neck. Even if the goblin was drowning in his blood he still stood up and went for the kill. I jumped in front of Richard and sliced the goblin in half at mid air. The goblin's upper half was still alive but he crawled towards me. I then took the axe from Richard's hands and smashed it through the goblin's skull. It died instantly and I fell backwards as I felt exhausted. As I was catching my breath people started to stare. Richard pulls the axe out from the corpse and helps me out. "Very good, you're a faster learner than you were as Hijikata. Keep acting like that and you'll be a badass in no time." He congratulated me. The man pulled me up and gave me the axe. "Be sure to get everything once you're done." He told me.
Everybody else went back to looting. How I was still hesitating about the whole issue. I myself didn't feel comfortable about desecrating a corpse, even if it wasn't human. Tyrell looked at me anxiously. "Are you really going to do this?" He asked me. I nodded my head and took a deep breath. There i held my knife and held the piercings at the nipple. I then exhaled and cut off the piercing from the body. However when I it off, blood squirted on Tyrell's face. But after that Tyrell fainted and fell hard at his back.
Tyrell was always one for a weak stomach to begin with. Mr. Williams then comes along and lifts the man up. "You better finish up here, I'll just take him somewhere till he's back to his senses." He tells me, "At the meantime wear this." Mr. Williams handed me a khaki military baseball cap. All I can help doing was just nod. Mr. Williams carried Tyrell to the carts to lay down. Around the background a lot of people were laughing their butts off. I tried to hide my face and put my head down as I wore the cap. Laughter drowned the scene but even if it wasn't me that fainted, it was straight up embarrassing.
We went back at the road a few minutes later. Tyrell was still passed out and other people started talking. It made part of the group was rather distracted with the guy who just died a while ago. He was next to Tyrell with the arrow still stuck in his eye socket but wrapped in a white sheet and rope. Richard then decide to pull over at an empty alley and called attention the attention of our group. "I know this is bad timing but can you wake the guy up? We got something to do." Richard asked. The three of us in the group looked at each other. Neither of us didn't want to wake the guy up. Ever since we arrived at Laputa, Tyrell had this odd sleeping habits when we try to wake him up. Just a simple sound or nudge lead his body to unconsciously give a sucker punch to whoever wakes him. He isn't aware of it himself but we kinda forgive him either way.
Again we were deliberating on who should we do at the moment. None of us would want to even wake him up. "I already did it last time." Rebecca said. "I'm old, I might break my back if I fall off the cart." He told her. The both of them then directed towards me. I was already expected to do it judging by their gaze. "Why me?!" I asked out of spite. "You got the healing factor, like you'll be affected." Rebecca pointed out.
"I can heal but it still hurts!"
"At least you can heal!"
Before we can say anything else, Mr. Williams brought out some strands of string in front of us. "Shortest one wakes Tyrell." He told us. The three of us agreed to it. One by one we drew strands. Unfortunately I had the shortest string. Mr. Williams cracks a vial of smelling salts for me as I climbed up the cart. Tyrell was still fast asleep even with the sun on him. I looked at the two of my party members as they cheered me on. "What are you waiting for? Do it already!" Rebecca whispered loudly. I rolled my eyes and directed the smelling salts near Tyrell's nose. After a few seconds, Tyrell wakes up with his fist giving an uppercut at my chin. The hit was so strong that I was knocked off the car. Tyrell then stretches in relief as he wakes up. He looks at the ground, rather confused on what was going on. "Why you down there?" He asked. At the background Richard started to laugh with the rest of his party. "If only I got that on film!" He laughed out loud. I got up slowly to hold my anger and keep my cool. I looked at the bottom of my chin and it formed a bruise. However the swelling disappeared in a matter of seconds. "Just get out of the cart already!" I demanded from Tyrell.
He goes down but Magna and Richard get the corpse and carry it to the alley. I decided to join them and looked what they were up to. At the end of the alley Magna dropped the corpse off there and opened the sheet. "What are you doing?" I asked. "We're going to burn the body before he turns into a ghoul. But first we might need to get a few things from him." Richard told me. He then started to loot a few things from the corpse. He took the jewelry on the dead man's body, his weapons and belongings, and a weird looking, copper dog tag. "What's that?" I asked. "It's a guild metal. It's the law that we should return a guild metal once a dead guild member is found. Even the guild card too if found." He told me as he took out the card from his wallet. Richard then takes out a small bottle of scarlet fluid. "This is manufactured Agni's Blood. I suggest you stand back." He instructed.
The three of us stood back after Richard poured the liquid on the corpse. After moving a few flames, Richard snapped his fingers and used a level one Tinder spell on the body. The corpse burst into flames in an instant. We sat there for a little while as we watched the flames danced and burned the body. "Did this guy have a name?" I asked. Richard gave a big sigh. He rather not say it at all but he can. "Riley Summers, he was a new guy that joined the guild a few months ago. He was good with a club." He said. "Did he have family?" I asked. Soon the body was reduced to ashes in an instant. Richard then takes a trowel and scoops a few ashes in a small pouch. "He was abandoned by his mother and became a runaway." He told me. "It's a shame, he was about to be promoted from squire to footman at the knight class." Magna added.
There it was again, another term that I wasn't familiar of. But there wasn't time for questions as there was something else. He took a small pouch of the man's ashes and wrote it in permanent marker. He then gets a little black book and writes it down. "What are you going to do with that?" I asked. "Probably deliver it to his folks once I see them." Richard says, "I got a lock of hair too for DNA testing." The man walked away and carried on. "Is it really that quick to die here? That fast?" I asked. There he got spun out his lever action rifle and cocked it while in rotation. Richard then attempted to slice my throat with the bayonet at the tip of the barrel. I on the other hand barely managed to block it by partially drawing my katana of the scabbard. "That is how easy it is for you to die here if you're not careful." He says, "You maybe the Hijikata I know but it's still an oddity for you to be invisible to even the Norns."
The man then draws back his weapon and puts it behind his back. "We got till sundown to reach the edge of the town. Hauling ass is better than sticking out like a sore thumb at night." He tells me, "Don't let your own abnormality be the reason for everyone dying."
The two of us followed him out of the alley. There waited my party along with Richard's. The man whistles to get moving. My face was as white as a sheet and I kept moving. Mr. Williams then goes up to me. "Everything okay, Rin?" He asked. I nodded my head and jogged ahead. Those words circulated within my head. It gave me some gruesome memories of some key clues of the wars I have fought and the places were I have been. There was World War Two, the Imagawa war, and many others. But one haunted me the most. It was not a war, neither a battle. I was at Yomi. Yomi was the Japanese version of the land of the dead. What the hell was I doing there?
I didn't know and I had to contain it. My mind was under a state of panic. All I could do was to follow the crowd and move forward. There was no time for emotion, there was only for survival.