The four of us sat around the anvil where Sacchan was laid on top of. In the single night Bogart had spent here, she claimed to have learned all she needed to know from the master weapons and armorsmiths in Taiq'ae. When it came to Sacchan and Yui's nunchucks, the beastling was stumped.
"Have ya thought of something?" I asked impatiently.
"I'm still thinking," Bogart said.
"You said that three fucking hours ago!" The urge to flip the anvil was rising. I was beginning to understand why Yui flipped the table back during the meeting back in Cynderace. All this waiting around made me want to bash my brains out.
When Bogart sighed, a breath of flame spewed out. "I can't work with something if I don't know how it was made. You told me your weapons came enchanted when you entered this world. It sounds like a god of some sorts blessed them or something."
"Tell me what god it was, and I'll make 'em fix this," I said.
"Coming from you… I'm inclined to believe you could make it happen." She grimaced.
My restless leg syndrome beat a crater beneath my feet from waiting so much. Yui and Anya were dozing off. When we got here, there was a crowd watching Bogart's smithing demonstration. Because we'd be doing nothing but sitting and staring at the grass grow, the peanut gallery left.
"I have noticed something. Tell me, have you ever let anyone else wield your club?" Bogart asked, picking up the weapon.
"No," I answered, after searching to the best of my memory. "There was one time fucks-his-name orc who threw it at me, but that was it."
The beastling swung Sacchan like she was holding a sword. Then gripped it with two hands and swung again with poor form. She brought it overhead, readying herself to hit the anvil.
"What do you think will happen if I swing down?" she asked.
"This a trick question? Of course, Sacchan will crack that hunk of iron in two." I crossed my arms, trying to figure out where she was going with this.
Bogart sucked in a deep breath and slammed down on the anvil with everything she had. She recoiled on impact, put Sacchan down, and blew on her hands. The face of the anvil was no more dented than it was before.
"You try," she said as she shook her arms.
I spat into my hands and wound Sacchan up for an overhead smash. When Bogart saw that I was using both hands, she backed away.
KANG!
Sacchan shattered through the anvil and created a fissure in the ground. Yui and Anya, startled awake by the ear-splitting clamour, fell out of their seats.
"So, what? You gonna give me the cliche talk about how I'm the only one who can draw out Sacchan's power?" I shrugged.
Bogart rolled her eyes. I had taken the words right out of her mouth.
"You're the only one who can draw out Sacchan's power," she said anyway to spite me. The lizard stood over the broken anvil and licked the fangs in her jaws. "In our world, an enchanted sword is an enchanted sword. Your club is just a club in my hands, but a weapon of incredible destruction in yours."
The bat Chika handed down to me saved my ass countless times. It felt wrong to leave it cracked.
"What you're saying is, you can't work on it because it might break in your hands. What if I hold it?" I asked.
Bogart shook her head. "Too risky. We don't know how that might turn out."
I took one step forward to get back to my seat when my whole body suddenly seized up. My arms and legs tensed so hard, I thought they were going to break my bones. The muscles in my chest were squeezing the air out of my lungs.
"What's wrong?" Yui asked, holding me up.
Anya put a hand to my head. Her magic seeped into me, forcing the muscles to relax. I was able to breathe properly again.
"You did this last time. What did you do?" I turned to Anya for answers.
She held up four fingers and dropped them as she listed off enhancements. "Exceptional Fortitude, Exceptional Magic Resistance, Exceptional Poison Resistance, and Dulled Pain. Don't think you understand how nutty that venom is if it takes these four to keep ya up."
Some of that sounded familiar. I thumbed Loraine's ring inside my pocket.
No— I couldn't just use that. It was supposed to be for her. If I became reliant on it, what good would that do me?
Once I've got my hands around Bishamonten's neck, I ain't letting go until she stopped breathing. People keep telling me what a miracle and how lucky I was to survive. All I could think about was how that poison was aimed at Loraine and got Kawa hurt in the process.
Kaoru, I didn't care what Chika had on you to make you pull this shit. You fucked with me, so you're going to get yours.
"Bogart, anything you got. I'll take a chance at it. I need Sacchan back to top shape if I wanna beat that wannabe god," I said.
Her reptilian tail swung rhythmically between her legs like a pendulum. "There is one we can try. It will take some bit of digging around."
Any relic of the gods and a forest spirit's sapling.
Those were the two things I needed to find in order to hopefully repair Sacchan. It was as good a shot as any, but… easier said than done. How the hell was I going to get either of those things out here?
It was then that we noticed people gathering at the edge of the thoroughfare, making a wide berth to give space to a group of monks marching through the streets. They were bald, and wore red and black robes that dragged behind them The monk at the head of the parade occasionally struck a small bell, sending a melodic chime loud enough to hear despite how light it was hit.
"Check out the bowling pins parade!" Yui giggled.
"Bowling pins, huh. You want me to chuck ya to see if I can make a strike?" Anya asked.
"What's going on there?" I asked a man who had his eyes shut like he was enjoying the sound.
"Every morning, the Kesai Monastery leads a march through town, ringing the Celestial Bell to bless the subjects of Jinwa and his majesties, Emperor Yonnu and the Empress Consort," he explained, then cupped a hand over his heart.
The Celestial Bell was a golden cup-shaped instrument, decorated with red and green gems. Its ornate designs appeared too intricate to have been carved by human hands. Though it had a handle, the monk didn't ring the bell, he hit the side of it with a small spoon to make noise.
"Guys, I think we found a relic—" I turned around to see Anya about to launch Yui into the monks.
Instead of making a commotion in the streets outright, we followed them back to their monastery at the edge of the city, accessed by three bridges that connected different sections of the neighboring wards. The temple itself was built with many painted red columns. The roof was laid with staggered tiles that were more decorative than practical.
Two large doors, with eighteen golden orbs on each door were arranged in a formation that reminded me of a solar system, were opened when we got there. Jinwan folks prayed alongside other monks inside a large, open chamber. They all faced and prayed in the same direction. Towards the center of the room was a massive set piece of statues, depicting eighteen gods in battle with one another.
The parading monks had their heads down as they walked, making it easy to march alongside them. Some people threw us curious glances, but Yui snarled at them to make them think twice about being nosy.
We entered a low-candlelit chamber that was a fraction of the size. Anya closed the door behind us. At the front of the room, was a smaller version of the statue outside. While the other monks took their seats on the cushions laid neatly ordered and bowed their heads to the floor, the one with the bell placed the relic on top of the statue and assumed his own bowing position.
I put a finger up to my lips, and we slowly crept forward as they prayed.
"For all that you have given us, thank you. For who you have delivered to us and to his majesty, Emperor Yonnu, thank you. Her majesty, the Empress Consort, shall guide us to a better path. We walk with the eighteen gods, and we shall walk with her," they all chanted in unison.
Yui was the one who plucked the bell from its pedestal. "How do we test if it's a relic again?"
The entire congregation of monks raised their heads from the ground and gasped. They gawked at us like a bunch of prairie dogs.
"Excuse me, who are you? You're intruding on an important prayer session, and I'll have to ask for the Celestial Bell back," the chief monk, who was visibly shaken, said.
"Bogart said ya gotta hit it," Anya reminded us.
All the monks must have turned their heads in unison between me and Yui a hundred times in the span of two seconds.
"Hit what? What are we hitting? Please, don't hit anything!" the chief monk begged frantically.
"Hold it still," I said to Yui, who was bouncing with excitement as she raised the bell.
"Wait, what is it that you are planning to do?" the chief monk asked, falling into sudden panic mode.
"This." I swung Sacchan with all my might at the Celestial Bell.
Anya was the only one fast enough to plug her ears. The impact sent powerful shockwaves out that knocked the seated monks onto their backs and blew the door open. Yui and the chief monk's face briefly looked like they stuck their heads in a wind tunnel. The color drained from his face when he came to his senses.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he screamed at me in panic.
"Nothing, look. The bell's a bonafide relic of the gods since it didn't break," I said.
It remained untarnished and pristine as ever, not so much as a scratch was on it. The chief monk placed a hand over his heart and another over his head as his face filled with color again.
"Oh, thank goodness." He sighed with relief.
"Right, then. We're gonna be taking this. Hope ya have a spare!" Yui said.
"Excuse me— What?" It looked like he was going to suffer a heart attack next.