The village is not too large, maybe about the size of a small town. They really need to stop just calling every settlement a village.
When I arrived, I spent the first few days stalking the Merchant, Tamaki Tanaka, and his daughter, Machi Tanaka, to get an idea on how to best approach this.
Tamaki is outwardly a stern, serious man in his fourties, but in the comfort of his own home, with his daughter, he is much softer. As for Machi, she is eighteen, bossy and a bit haughty, she is used to telling people what to do and them listening to her, since her dad basically owns the village. She can even order around the local bandits, as Tamaki pays them off to work as guards instead of bandits, so she basically fancies herself some bandit boss style badass that comands the armies of ten thousand yadda, yadda, you get the picture.
Point is, Machi is used to dealing with rough and tough types of guys, and the dad is a softy beneath it all. I don't know where Machi's mother is but she sure ain't here, so probably dead.
So, I decided on my character.
Meet Felix, I mostly look the same, just with a bit of makeup to make me look slightly less masculine and to hide my more visible scars and tattoos, Felix is shy and easily scared, but can be willing to push past his general cowardliness sometimes. Felix is an orphan thanks to the war and has spent the last half decade wondering around as a travelling doctor, helping people out wherever he can. Felix isn't what you would call strong willed but he won't hesitate to step up should anyone need any help with anything. Also, he is seventeen.
It's a good thing I actually do know a bit about medicine thanks to one of my projects.
Now, this is a dangerous character to be since I just scream 'easy prey', but with Tamaki paying of the bandits I should be fine. As for why I'm playing a soyboy? Well, to get someone's attention you need to be 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, to be 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 and Machi sees tough guys every day, so I should stand out, and my earnest personality should get me some brownie points with her dad. Besides, being earnest will always give people a positive opinion of you.
So, with that in mind, I walk into the village on the third day of my arrival and head straight to the local inn with a travel sack over my shoulder filled with medicinal reagents and herbs that I spent yesterday picking out. There are more than one, but I'm obviously going to the biggest one, the one that Machi frequents.
I walk through the doors with my shoulders hunched, as if I'm trying to make myself as small as possible and with a small, nervous smile on my face I speed walk to the counter while pretending that everyones' stares are unnerving me. When I reach the counter I skittishly sit down and lay my bag at my feet.
"U-uhm, h-hello? I, uhm, I-uh, was looking for a, um, a room? To stay in? Uh, please?"
The barman stares at me for a minute, during which I gradually shrink further and further into my seat, staring at the counter and fidgeting.
Finally the barman speaks up.
"Room is 500 Ryo a night, 100 Ryo extra for each meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Shivering slightly, I reach into my bag and pull out a smaller money bag, carelessly showing off all of my money in a way that gets an eye roll from the barman that I pretend I didn't see. I grab 8000 Ryo, for ten full nights and hand it over, putting the rest back in my bag, not that it's a lot.
"We're doing dinner now if ya want it?"
"A-ah, y-yes, please."
Shaking his head the barman calls for someone to get another serving and then moves away to another costumer, while cleaning a clean glass, when the person sitting next to me that I totally did not notice when I sat down, not at all, speaks up, making me jump slightly as I turn to face them.
"So, what brings you to our humble town? You want to explore beyond the Daimyo's city or something?"
When I face the speaker, who is clearly Machi, but 'I' don't know that, I spend a moment looking at herface before forcing myself to blush and looking down at my lap, barely managing to stammer out a response.
"W-w-what? I, uhm I'm n-n-not from t-the D-daimyo's city. Uhm, I am, uh, just t-travelling."
Machi quirks an eyebrow looking rather amused by my reaction as my food arrives and I happily oblige the distraction and start eating, occasionally taking sneaky glances back at Machi that everyone looking at me notices, to their own amusement.
"Really? You look like you're from the capitol, you clearly aren't a farmer or workder with those soft looking hands, so what do you do?"
Swallowing my food I turn back and give a sunny smile as I speak without stuttering for the first time.
"I help people! My mother taught me medicine, so now I travel around, seeing the world and helping anyone who needs help."
Machi, and the people who were eavesdropping are momentarily stunned by my enthusiastic response before most of them just chuckle a little and go back to whatever they were doing. Machi however, while looking amused, also looks thoughtfully at me as I dig back in to my meal but doesn't speak up again as I finish and retire to my room.
Well, that's not ideal, I had hoped she would take enouhg of an interest to strike a proper conversation or something. Oh well, I'll wait a day or two, then it's plan B.
The next day, after breakfast, I head out about the town, pretending not to notice the thugs stalking me, hopefully by order of Machi, but that might be optimistic, I brows a few stalls, sell some medicinal herbs and buy some others, or just trade if I can, to get more variety. I offer help to a couple people in carrying things and even see an old lady who looks to be struggling to carry her groceries home, so I head over to offer assistance.
"Excuse me, Miss? Would you like a hand with that?"
The old lady turns to me with a smile that I return.
"Yes, please, young man, if it wouldn't be a bother, that would be most kind of you."
I take her bags in my left hand and offer my right to help her along, since she seems to be around sixty or seventy.
"Not at all, young Miss, I'm always happy to help!"
"Ohoho, thank you darling, but I am no young Miss anymore."
I gasp and turn, shocked.
"Of course you are! Why you don't look a day over thirty."
The old lady laughs happily at my words as we keep walking and I listen as she talks about her grandson and how he should find a woman to make a respectable man of him, all until we reach her home and I return her groceries and wave goodbye.
There isn't really anything else to do here, so I head back to the inn I'm staying at. Machi isn't there unfortunately, but that's fine. I take a seat at the counter, just as nervous looking as before and wait for the barman to come to me without saying anything and when he does I jump slightly.
"You need something, kid?"
"A-ah, uhm, y-yes, actually, uhm, do you know if there is anyone in town who is ill? Or injured? I, uhm, am a doctor see? So, I could offer help?"
The barman regards me for a moment before nodding.
"Alright kid, young Maki has been ill for a few days, old Maki says he ate some berry or other in the forest and has been sick since, they live on the edge of 4th street."
I nod seriously, and immediately flush and look away, embarrassed.
"T-t-thank you." I mutter as I depart my seat to hopefully go treat some kid called Maki.
Three days later and it is officially time to initiate Plan B. Now, you might be wondering what my ingenious plan is right? Well you see, it is actually quite brilliant, I'm gonna beat up some of Tamaki's people and then wait for someone to come to me to help them back to health. Easy.
Now, just in case you were wondering, oh mythical voices, why I don't just use Genjutsu and mind fuck people or take someones place with a henge, well, this is supposed to be a test, so I've resolved myself to just use my infiltration skills, taught to me by Swan, and try to avoid using any Murder Wizard skills. A rule I am kinda breaking by making a group of henged to be unidentifiable Shadow Clones, but since I am not technically using my ninja magic to directly influence my infiltration then I say it's fine.
I'm just speeding along the natural progression of events. I mean they are /bandits/ after all. Even if they're house trained they were bound to injure themselves somehow, by punching each other or tripping on their swords or something dumb. Bandits can't be helped after all, they are genetically engineered to be stupid unwashed idiots after all. At least I assume so, how else could they reasonably come into existance so frequently after all?
So here I am, sitting in the inns bar, acting like a nervous boy that doesn't really know what to do with all the attention the rough and tough types are giving me as they try to feed me booze and I politely decline.
"C'mooon, kid!! Just one mug!!"
"Loosen up a little!!"
"Machi wouldn't date a kid that can't even hold a drink!"
That last one evidently saw me blushing when I looked at Machi the first time. Do I feel like cackling manaically? Maybe. It's like they say, I love it when a plan comes together.
"I-I-I-I h-have t-t-to refuse, I, uhm I don't d-drink."
Que more laughing and cajoling and I duck my head, embarrassed as the beefy men around me being so friendly, until it is interrupted by the tavern style doors slamming open and everyone turning to stare silently at the mystery person. Not that it is a mystery for long as everyone rapidly recognises the form of Machi Tanaka standing with that self assured smile on her lips as she saunters up to the bar, up to me, people parting before her like moses and the red sea, or a buff black guy and a gaggle of high class white women who definitely aren't racist.
"Hey again, healer, I've got some work for, if you're up for it?"
She looks like she already knows my answer, not that I'm going to disappoint her, so I blush furiously after staring at her face for a moment then studiously stare at the ground as I speak and the people around us laugh at me.
"A-ah, Of course! I, mean, uhm, I'll gladly help in any way I can."
Machi smirks knowingly, both from guessing my answer and from my 'obvious' crush on her.
"Well, come on then, no time to lose." With a nod of her head she leads the way out of the inn and we walk in silence as I build up the corage to speak, glancing to and away from Machi as I fiddle with my travelling packs strap on my shoulder.
"Uh! I mean- uhm, Miss? I, uhm, what is it, exactly, that you, uh, want my help with?"
"A couple of my idiots ran afoul some ninja, luckily they aren't dead, but if they don't get some treatment that won't hold true for long, that's where you come in softie, fix 'em up and you get paid, simple right?"
"O-of course! I'm always happy to be of assistance!"
The way Machi looks back at me has metaphorical shivers running down my back. The good kind too.
"So, healer, do you have a name?"
"Felix!! I, ah, I mean, my name, that- it's my name, Felix, uhm what, uh, w-what about you?" My sentence slowly tuned quiet at the end as I stare at the floor, face flushed, not being able to bare the shame of looking her in the eyes.
"My name is Machi Tanaka."
And with that, my job truly begins.
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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
ONE MORE DAY FOR WIFI!!!!
So! Fair warning, I had no plans for the next chapter to turn out as it did, and I still will not write smut without a hefty bribe ;)
https://ko-fi.com/bored_works