Reaching down into the crater, Elithira pulled Ty up as she stated, "It would be best if we keep moving. If I recall correctly, there should be a small village about a mile up the road through the oak forest."
"So, you've been here before, is that right?" Ty inquired.
Responding directly, Elithira nodded, "Yes, it should have been around 12 years since I was last here."
"Your father mentioned the 'heroes,' all of them lost, and some other force took over. Is that correct? Do you think you would be able to beat whoever did that? Seeing you fight back there made it seem like you were pretty strong," Ty expressed genuinely.
"Whether I can or not doesn't matter," Elithira replied nonchalantly, "I'm not here to be anyone's savior. I just want to see if someone is alive. That's all."
With her arms folded, she added, "Furthermore, I'm not some chaperone for you either, so don't expect me to be tagging along with you the entire time."
Ty waved his hand and exclaimed, "That's fine. The sooner I get your father's item, the better it will be."
"I'm sure it won't be too bad down here. It looks like a nice place, all things considered so far," Ty continued before he was abruptly cut off by Elithira as she pulled his collar from behind and threw him to the ground. A blade had just inched past his neck, missing by just a few hair breaths from taking his LIFE.
As Ty crashed to the ground, he yelled, "Who the hell are you?" He quickly looked around and noticed a man clad in red armor, reminiscent of the traditional Edo period samurai armor. The lacquered plates of the armor gleamed in the sunlight, and intricate patterns of golden filigree adorned the armor's surface.
The helmet bore a fierce faceplate, along with a long crimson cloak that was draped down from the warrior's back. Ty's fear swiftly turned into amazement as his love for anything Japanese slowly came forth.
For a small moment, Ty even forgot the danger he was in, all he could do was marvel at how cool the man looked.
Before the man attempted another slice at Ty, he rolled out of the incoming attack and voiced, "Wait, wait, wait. We aren't the bad guys, and we don't mean any harm."
In response, the man simply grumbled, "Foreigners aren't welcomed here and will only bring more problems," after saying that, he attempted to carry out another strike.
Elithira stepped in, annoyed with the turn of events and said firmly, "Enough of that."
She had already pulled out her blade as the sumaria's strike got closer to them, she parried it, forcing the blade to drop from his hand and cut down the straps on his helmet.
As the helmet fell on the ground, Ty and Elithira were revealed the face of an elderly man, roughly 50 years old, with gray hair and a face laced with numerous scars, his eyes were dull with a blue hue in them.
"First, the two meteors fall, and now two strangers are casually strolling into my village, dressed like people who don't belong here," the man muttered, resigned. "Kill me if you must; just spare my family. Once the Yami King gets ahold of you, it's all over anyway."
With an annoyed expression, Elithira looked at Ty and said, "This is what we get with you showing off."
"H-How did –"
"Just shut it." She snapped before he could express his confusion.
"Okay," Ty responded sheepishly, trying to understand what was really going on.
While being draped in an emerald green dress that accentuated her curves, revealing parts of her light-toned skin while also showcasing her cleavage down the centre, Elithira held her blade still near the sumaria's neck while she calmly stated, "I don't care about whoever your Yami King is, Mr. Samurai. I'm just looking for someone who goes by the name Sogetsu."
The man's eyes widened in shock upon hearing the name before he became enraged and tried to throw a punch at her as he succumbed to a moment of blind rage, completely forgetting that her blade was just a few micrometers from separating his head from his body.
However, unflustered by this, Elithira swiftly caught his fist and delivered an elbow blow right to his face, resulting in his nose getting crooked with a snap before a trail of blood ran down it.
After doing so, Elithira shoved him against a tree.
With a slight smile on her face, she said, "From the way you have reacted, I'm guessing that you might know of Sogetsu, don't you?"
As he regained his senses, the old man replied, "Yeah, my son has been gone for over 10 years now. But before he left to face the Yami King, he contested that an Angel would return to aid us in the fight."
"Sorry, you are Soetsu's father," Elithira nodded in realization before she shrugged, "but I am just an old friend of his. So, you say that he went off and got himself killed trying to play hero? If that's the case, I will just be on my way, and I apologize for interrupting your afternoon in this bright sun."
The man shook his head and sighed, "No one has been able to confirm if he is alive or not, but King Yami is notorious for torturing his prisoners for years until they break before finally killing them. So there's a chance that he is still alive and suffering even now."
"If you could at least try and verify if he is dead, I would forever be in your debt, lady… um?" He trailed off.
"You can call me Elithira," she stated. "And I guess it's the least I can do since the last time I saw him, he spoke of some great adventure. The town of Tsumago should be about another 20-minute walk through this path, right?"
"Yes, and you can call me Tusandro," he replied. "I can take you and your friend there for lodging and some food so we can discuss my son's situation better."
After a long, uneventful walk towards the village, Ty's amazement only continued to increase as he realized that the village resembled a rural, Edo-styled setting.
It completely matched all the descriptions from his studies and what Jade had mentioned about some of her hometowns back in Japan. Even with the gut-wrenching feeling that Jade wasn't with him now, his only thought was how amazing it would be to tell her about this experience when he got back.
Tusandro interrupted his thoughts, saying, "You two can stay at the hotel. I will go ahead and get some food prepared and see you both in half an hour, if that works."
Entering the inn-style building, Ty remarked, "This is stuff I've only seen in the books. I bet Jade would be jealous right now." The interior of the building itself was a picturesque scene from the Edo Period. The building was made of wooden beams featuring intricate carvings of mythical creatures, and paper lanterns which gently swayed in the soft breeze.
Tatami mats lined the floor, creating a traditional and serene ambiance. Sliding shoji screens separated the rooms, diffusing the soft, warm light into numerous patterns on the floor.
The faint scent of incense hung in the air, adding to the nostalgic atmosphere that enveloped them. Settling in for a moment, Ty stated, "Pretty crazy, right, Elithira?"
"What's crazy?" She asked, a bit perplexed by his sudden question.
"That you were able to run into the person's father so quickly," he said. "You'd think it was almost planned with how well all things have happened till now."
Elithira smirked as she replied, "Well, I always have a plan, and I didn't land where we did just because. I picked the spot because I knew that it was Sogetsu's hometown.'"
"So, I simply raised the odds of finding him a bit faster. Though I hid the gravity of his situation from his father, I am indeed worried about him."
"Well, my father always used to tell me, 'Worry only about what you can control; everything else will just become a waste of thought.'"
"So, at least for the time being, you can focus on taking the right steps to find the answer to your questions, and hopefully, our goals will line up for a while."
Running her hand through her hair, Elithira stated, "I suppose, but you are pretty useless without knowing how to fight, you know. You should already be using your Reiesencia since you've been out of the Mortal Realm for a while; besides being a platinum spirit, you should also have some fancy ability."
"In my experience with rare souls, at least," she shrugged.
"I mean, how am I even supposed to know how to use 'Reiesenzida'? It's like giving legs to a fish and expecting them to just walk. It's only natural for it to take time."
"Perhaps, but you really won't have time to get used to it if someone tries to slice your head off again. And it's called Reiesencia," she corrected.
"Haha, I guess that's true. I forgot to thank you for that," Ty replied while forcing a sheepish smile before they heard a knock at their door.
After opening the door, Ty was surprised to see a short female, maybe 5'1" or 5'2", in a pure white kimono, stating, "Master Tusandro has summoned you and Lady Elithira. Please follow me."
"Sure, let me grab my stuff," Ty said, a short blush on his face as he thought to himself, 'She kind of looks like a Chibi version of Jade.'
"Maybe I just have a thing for Asians," he shook his head and thought to himself while they continued their walk, following the short female to a hut located at the center of the village.
As they walked in, the girl in the kimono, who had been guiding them, gave a slight bow before walking off.
At the center lay trays of food of assorted meats and veggies as Tusandro called out, "Come sit and dine with me so we may discuss the next course of action over a meal."