Chapter 52: Chapter 51: Intermission#5 Shigure, Bear and the Camp.

A calming breeze whipped across the clearing in the forest, but the scene it passed was anything but.

Surrounding a young man was a culmination of Goblins and chained Kobolds, all holding a multitude of weapons at the ready.

In the teen’s hands was only a sheathed long blade, a smaller one strapped to his side. His Black hair swaying briskly in the breeze, the blue colored mantle covering his black and white school uniform.

Finally circling the teen, the Goblin Commander shrieked an order from behind the line of monsters, and the circle of monsters lunged with visceral bloodthirst in their eyes.

“Fifth Strike, Blood Moon Style, Ketsushouku,” whispered the teen, his blade flashed in the resounding sound of metal being drawn from saya.

The encirclement stopped dead in its tracks as a red line shot from the drawn sword, passing through each of the monsters in a wide circle, the teen drawing a perfect circle in the loose earth with his foot as he twisted in motion. A wisp of dirt following his spin.

Within the next breath the monster's upper halves slipped from their foundations, split in half from a clean cut at their midsections. Leaving the Goblin Commander gaping at the swift loss of his squad.

The goblin shuddered in fear, growling and mumbling words the boy didn’t understand. Eventually turning to run but there was no running from the boy, for his name was Shigure, the second on the Level Ladder.

Sheathing his ‘o-katana’ Shigure vanished, appearing before the startled Goblin as it fell to the ground on its backside, its armor clattering with metal tings.

“Disgusting vermin..” Shigure sneered, bending at the knees into a drawing stance, “First Strike, Blood Moon Style, Ketsu-Iai.”

The ringing of metal being drawn sounded through the forest like the high note of a flute that traveled for miles, crisp, clear and beautiful. The Goblin seemingly frozen in time as only its mouth quivered up and down, not sure of what happened.

The Goblin’s vision shifted slowly as it moved to the side slowly turning, eventually seeing its still sitting body, its own hand up in the feeble attempt to stop the strike, its fingers cut diagonally like its head.

 

[You have defeated Goblin Squad Commander [F Rank] Level 20] [25,000 Experience, 5,500 TP awarded]

 

Shigure spat, as he kicked the corpse to the ground, cursing.

Moving a small distance from the scene he sat, after quickly drawing his blade to clean it of blood then placing it on his knees as he meditated, bringing up his status

 

[Shigure Kenzo]

[Race: Human] [F Rank]

Tutorial Alias [NA]

[Blood Moon Samurai] [Rare] Level 21

[Vitality] 160 (5%)

[Strength] 140 (15%)

[Dexterity] 302 (40 + 20%) +(50)

[Intelligence] 90 (15%)

[Wisdom] 108 (15%)

[Endurance] 130 (15 + 15%)

[Free Points] 0

[Skills Branches] Primary: Blood Moon Samurai P2(69%) [F Rank] 0/5

Eight Blood Strikes P2(5%) [F Rank]

Warrior’s Stamina P2(3%) [F Rank]

Warrior’s Dignity P1(10%) [F Rank]

Shogun’s Authority P2(3%) [F Rank]

Warrior’s Intuition P2(5%) [F Rank]

 

Primary Sub-tree: Weapon Mastery [F Rank] 0/5

Weapon of Choice P2(1%) [F Rank]

Swift Strikes P1(90%) [F Rank]

Inner Will P2(5%) [F Rank]

Hardened Body P2(5%) [F Rank]

One Strike One Kill P1(50%) [F Rank]

Secondary Sub-tree: Empty

[Titles] First Blood, Two versus One, One vs Many, Monkey Slayer, Living on the Edge, Punching Up, Improbability, Dog Hater, One Man Army, Dog Killer. Battle of Attrition, Murderer, Man of Stature, Leader of Some, Leader of Many, Leader of Armies, Goblin Hater, Goblin Slayer, Disciple of Musashi.

 

Shigure breathed out slowly to calm himself, using his Inner Will to still his mind and replenish his used stamina. He could feel himself close to another breakthrough, his inner cultivation felt almost as if his cup was ready to overflow.

Breaking him from his thoughts, the sound of measured steps crept close. Shigure opened one eye already knowing who it was, or more accurately who they were.

“Lord Shigure, Sir Bear has returned, he awaits you at your tent,” said the woman next to him.

Shigure had grown accustomed to her unusual way of speaking quickly, as she had been with him since his class change, “Thank you, Uta. But please stop calling me lord, it makes me uncomfortable. I have enough on my plate without you setting weird trends in the camp,” he sighed.

“Ah, come on Kenzo! It’s not hurting anything!” shouted the man behind her, waving his pistol in the air in greeting, then bringing it back down to clean it with a cloth in his hands, “You should really just play along at this point, more than half the camp is calling you Lord by now.”

Shigure cursed, “That’s only because you keep spreading it and playing along by yourself, Sato! If you weren’t my friend I swear I would have kicked you, and your weird hobby to the curb!”

“Aww don’t be like that! And where's the respect? Even though we’ve known each other so long I still use your last name! And how dare you call my beautiful hobby weird? How many times has my precious Jackal saved our butts? If the prince of darkness was here I would be making him proud!” said Sato.

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“You and your idiotic anime references! When are you going to grow up?” spat Shigure, using his sword as a crutch to sit up.

“That’s pretty rich coming from someone who shouts like he's Tonjiro slaying demons,” Sato snapped.

Rising, Shigure clicked his tongue, noticing his thumb had been cut open, bringing it to his lips as he spoke from the side of his mouth, “I don’t know who Tojiro is Sato. Can you please just start making sense?” he pleaded.

Uta stood up concerned and grabbed Shigure’s hand to inspect the cut, “My lord you’ve hurt yourself again,” her black scarf waving slightly in the wind.

Shigure smiled a look of admiration for the woman, his hand coming up to brush her hair, “It’s alright Uta. It’s just because the O-katana I received is slightly longer than what I’m used to, I still need practice,” he said, looking at Uta, her head coming up just below his chest marking her at around 150 cm.

Uta leaned into the hand and used her free hand to brush her ponytail over her shoulder, revealing her very stereotypical ninja robes, her turtleneck mask currently pulled down.

“Damn normies! Get a room!” hollered Sato from the side, turning back to furiously polish his Jackal.

Shigure shook his head exacerbated, and walked past the two, picking up the stones from the monsters as he did.

So Bear has returned. I’ll have to immediately ask him how his trip went. He seemed very excited when he left. He thought.

 

---

 

A few minutes later the trio walked through the forest and brought a large outpost into view. In its back view a large dirt hill that towered over the outpost’s walls, a large red flag waving on top of it. On the outskirts were large tents and campfires in every direction, a very small wooden rampart only a few feet high surrounding them.

Shigure and the trio walked up to the makeshift opening in the wall, casually waving to the two guards on either side of it. One holding a bow at the ready, the other a sword and shield.

“How was your little excursion Lord Shigure? I see you haven’t leveled up but I hope you at least gathered some good skill stones, everyone is still hurting to fill out their classes after all,” the man with a bow asked.

Shigure balked a bit at the word ‘Lord’ but did his best to wave it off, “I did get a few, I’ll be taking them to the trading posts inside,” he said, waving off the two as he entered with Uta and Sato.

“Don’t they know it’s rude to bring up your level my lord, when they are barely above level 10…” Uta whispered underneath her breath.

“It’s fine. I understand why they are anxious about my level increasing, especially when Bear left when he did. The stronger I am the safer everyone is, there's no harm in them expressing it. Now let’s hurry up and drop these off before we see Mr. Bear, I’m sure he’s tired of waiting.

Shigure and the two moved through the small outer rampart quickly, weaving in and out of makeshift dirt roads as they moved closer to the actual Outposts inner wall. Before they reached the wall, Sato excused himself, not wanting to be the third wheel any longer with a wave. Leaving Uta and Shigure to discuss things as they waited for the guards on the tall Outpost walls to signal for the gate to draw.

“My Lord, please excuse my disrespect. But may I speak freely about Sir Bear?” she brought up, the door halfway drawn.

“You know you can speak whenever it pleases you Uta, I said that when you first hatched from your egg,” Shigure said, looking to the side at Uta.

Uta much like Natto was a construct, but also very different. She was a Combat Construct that Shigure had obtained from a quest reward. At first he had no idea how effective she would be, but their personalities quickly meshed well and her abilities for fighting quickly grew. She had started off as a very small girl, but quickly grew with her level ups and increase to F Rank, now almost indistinguishable from other people.

The only ones who knew she was a construct were Bear, and Sato. Bear had found Shigure and Uta early on when she was still growing, and Bear being who he was, intimidated Shigure greatly with his strength, but quickly earned his respect when he offered to help in protecting those who could not protect themselves, earning Shigure’s trust about Uta.

“I understand that we need Sir Bear for protection, but he is not loyal to the cause, he says he wishes to protect the camp but goes off as soon as he gets wind of some stranger who he won't even bring into the fold?” she said, nearly sneering.

Waving to passersby as they moved from stall to stall, checking on the residents of the outpost, the structures of the inside becoming less and less robust to those on the outside. Shigure finally getting a chance to reply when they found a straight away to the center of the crafting block.

“It’s fine. Bear is not technically a member of the coalition, he is simply a friend who is helping out. It would not be fair to force him to stay,” Shigure explained, spotting the stall he was looking for, “And I’m very interested in this man Bear has become so fixated on.”

“Ah Shigure! Have you come to drop off more stones?” the woman at the stall asked.

“Indeed I have. How did the last batch I brought go?” Shigure asked, spotting Uta glaring at the woman. Causing him to place his hand on her shoulder to calm her.

“All got traded out! A lot of them newer folk brought in a bunch of food because of the stones, so we should be set for the next couple days. Looks like the demand is starting to ease for the more common stones, but the higher ones. Well let’s just say there's been some fighting going on about the crafter benches for a Fire Stone that showed up,” she explained.

“I see, I’ll have to talk to Drew then, thank you for telling me. Here are the stones from today,” Shigure said, dumping a flood of stones onto the wooden counter.

“Jesus Mary Joseph! Shigure how many of them damn beasties you done kill?!” she shouted.

“A few,” he said with a shrug, “I have an important meeting so be sure to mark them all down please.”

Shigure left the dumbfounded woman behind and made his way back through the outpost to his tent on the outskirts where Bear was surely waiting.

“I’ve been supplying most of the stones for everyone within the wall, I’m hoping it’s enough… But It’s becoming more difficult to kill the stronger monsters, especially with my empty 2nd Sub-tree. Uta are you sure it’s a good idea to wait until the tutorial is over?” Shigure asked, turning his head to the construct.

“Indeed, my lord. I do not have exact information as I am not a Territory Assistance but it is common information that there is a store after each initial tutorial for the forerunners of the new worlds. There you will surely find a Sub-tree stone worthy of filling out your class. This I promise on my life,” Uta explained, her head bowing slightly.

“No need for that Uta, I trust you implicitly. Now on to see Bear,” Shigure continued on through the gate and made for a larger than average tent, flipping open the canvas. There waiting for him was an oversized man who if he didn’t know better he would have mistaken for a monster, “Bear! You’ve returned, how was your trip?”

Even sitting down Bear was a mountain, he turned over his shoulder to smile and reply, “It wasn’t so bad. Had a bit of fun with an old friend. I was able to get him on board to send people to the outpost at least, guys a good dude, I even found a small group on the way back to bring in as well. Man, your English is getting pretty fluent also, it’s only been what? Two days since I left and you almost sound like a native speaker.”

Shigure went to the other side of the table and poured some water out into three cups he placed from his inventory, “Thank you, it’s pretty easy when it’s necessary. It’s either I learn, or I can’t communicate with nearly anyone here. Now how was this friend of yours, you said he agreed to help, but do you expect him to follow through? Also, how strong is he? You said he was only level seven when you saw him last, and he hasn’t touched the Ranking Ladder for Levels. And him being at the top of the Tp Ladder is suspicious.”

“Whoa now,” Bear said waving his still armored hands, “First yeah, I think he will be good for his word. He will need at least a day of rest after um, “Bear looked to be hot around the collar as he creased an embarrassing smile, “A little spar.”

Shigure’s eyes widened in surprise, “You actually fought the man? What level was he, do you know his class?”

“I couldn’t tell you that even if I knew. People’s classes are their life now, you know that. But he was only level 10,” Bear explained.

Shigure scoffed. Only level 10? He must be covering for his friend then, no one would be able to even scratch Bear at such a low level, let alone put up a fight. He thought.

“And? How did this level 10 friend fair..?” Shigure asked, already knowing the answer.

Bear smiled, placing his left hand onto the table, drawing Shigure and Uta’s curious gaze.

“He was someone I’m afraid to fight again,” Bear said, slipping his gauntlet off, revealing a black and blue mess of a hand.

“How?! No, that doesn't matter. Are you alright? Uta call a healer!” Shigure shouted standing from his seat, his eyes never leaving the blackened hand, it beginning to swell as it leaked small amounts of blood onto the table.

“Oops! My bad about the table, and Uta don’t worry about the healer, I’ll be fine in a few more hours. His magic just left kind of a nasty sting, nearly melted my hand off if it wasn’t for my skill. Can you believe I had to use nearly everything I had to stop the dude at level 10?” Bear said as if he was worried, but his face lit up in excitement.

Shigure was dumbstruck, how did a level 10 do such a thing? He looked evenly at Bear, “Is he a threat? Can I beat him?”

Bear grinned again, “No he isn't. If I had to guess, he won’t do anything at all to hurt anyone unless they do something first. He seems pretty pragmatic in that sense, just make sure people know to stay away from the big outpost in the north unless they want to get their asses handed to them if they step on the wrong tail.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Bear. Can I beat him.” Shigure said his eyes daggers as he bore a hole through Bear’s nursing hand.

“No. And pretty soon I don’t think anyone here will.”