Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Treasure Vault

With Echigoya's death still fresh on his mind, Adam didn't let his guard down. He picked up Echigoya's torch and carefully searched the vault to make sure there weren't any more enemies before turning his attention to the treasures.

The vault was filled with all manner of objects. It was like entering an antique shop with an assorted collection of artefacts. He carefully examined them for anything that he could use. When he discovered that he could store many of the items, he began sweeping through the vault and grabbing anything he could.

Adam soon came upon piles of books stacked in a corner. He picked up one of the books and the pages opened up like an accordion. He browsed through the rest of the books and found that they contained a wide collection of subjects. After going through them, he only found three which were useful to him. Nonetheless, he still took all of them. They might make for good reading if he ever needed to pass the time.

***

Name: An Introduction to Onmyōdō

Type: Book

***

Name: Onmyōdō and You

Type: Book

***

Name: Onmyōdō Fundamentals

Type: Book

***

Out of the three, he was most interested in Onmyōdō Fundamentals. It had thirty-six volumes in total and each of the volumes was just as thick as the other two books. The two books were light reading in comparison.

When he briefly looked through its contents, he had no idea what the sentences meant even though he recognized every word. He did not have the necessary knowledge to understand most of the text. He wasn't too worried though since there was a facility in Twilight City that provided the service to resolve this problem.

As he continued looting the vault, his expression changed when he picked up a plain-looking bottle gourd from the top of an ornate dresser.

***

Name: Shuten-dōji's Gourd (Unique)

Type: Drinkware

An ordinary-looking bottle gourd belonging to the legendary Oni, Shuten-dōji. Don't drive and drive.

***

"...this belonged to Shuten-dōji? Why— How did this end up here?"

Adam shook the bottle gourd and heard liquid sloshing inside. He removed the cap and brought the opening of the gourd to his nose. His mouth started watering as soon as he inhaled the mellow aroma drifting out.

His curiosity got the better of him. According to legends, Shuten-dōji was an avid Sake drinker. It made him wonder what kind of Sake he drank. He wanted to taste the liquid even though he had no idea how long it had been in the gourd.

He lifted the gourd to his mouth and took a small sip. The taste was smooth and refreshing. After taking a few more sips, he felt a warm feeling spread throughout his body and his fatigue was washed away.

He continued looting the vault while occasionally sipping from the gourd. Before long, he reached the bottom of the gourd. He lifted up the gourd to pour the rest of the liquid down his throat. He shook the gourd to get the last few droplets. However, whenever he shook the gourd, there was always one more droplet.

Feeling puzzled, he retrieved a silver chalice he looted earlier and held the gourd upside down over it. He watched as droplets continued dripping from the gourd into the chalice. Within a few minutes, the chalice was almost filled to the brim.

He lifted the chalice to his lips and drained its content. It tasted exactly the same as before. Its content remained undiluted even after almost emptying it. Furthermore, he did not feel the effects of alcohol intoxication. That was odd since he was a social drinker and was the type of person to become intoxicated easily.

He had every reason to believe he had just found the cause behind the feud between Momotarō and the Jorōgumo. However, he couldn't understand what made the gourd so important for Momotarō to betray both Ibaraki-dōji and Jorōgumo to get his hands on it. While its ability to create delicious Sake from nothing was extremely impressive, he still didn't think it was a good enough reason for a powerful yōkai to go through all that trouble for it.

"...unless there's something special about the Sake."

He wasn't referring to the fact that he felt physically and mentally refreshed after drinking the Sake, or that he didn't become intoxicated. However, with no other clues to go on, he would just have to wait and see.

With the last item stored away, he headed back to the fork where he encountered Echigoya.

He was planning to take a break after looting the vault but he no longer needed to rest thanks to drinking the Sake. He also stashed Shuten-dōji's Gourd in his inventory and had no intention of taking it out until he left this world. He didn't know whether Momotarō had any means of detecting it but he didn't want to take any chances.

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***

Back at the fork, Adam went left this time. Once again, he started leaving markings on the wall whenever he entered a new passage at an intersection. After a few hours, he finally found a crevice that led outside.

When he stepped out of the cave, it was dark outside and the sun had set hours ago. He had expected to find himself back in the forest but was instead greeted by the sight of a sandy beach and could see the village in the distance.

He started making his way back to the village. On the way, he noticed plumes of smoke rising into the air. At first, he thought the smoke was coming from the village. However, as he got closer, he realized it was the forest that was on fire.

Adam made his way to the edge of the forest and witnessed a swarm of large spiders and an Oni fighting to the death. It was his first time seeing an Oni. It looked human except for the ox-like horns growing from its forehead. The Oni was completely surrounded by the spiders but it was putting up a fierce fight. It wielded a two-handed weapon that resembled a spiked baseball bat.

With each swing, the Oni was sending spiders flying backwards. However, it still could not stop the spiders from sinking their fangs into its flesh. After one too many bites, it succumbed to the spiders' venom and collapsed to the ground. The swarm of spiders rushed forward and picked its flesh clean. The spiders then scattered into the burning forest to search for more prey.

After waiting for them to leave, Adam came out of hiding and approached the scene of battle. He could not resist the lure of freebies. He crept toward one of the spiders injured by the Oni while keeping a lookout for enemies. It was still alive but unable to move. He stabbed the spider with his spear and ended its life. He repeated the process with the rest of the spiders and retreated to the village.

Once he was back in the house he stayed in during the first night, he began barricading the entrance with everything he could get his hands on. Even though there was still plenty of time left, he was planning to hole up in this place until he could leave. He had already completed both of his side objectives and had enough supplies to comfortably last him for the remaining duration.

***

Main Objective: Survive 3 days (1 day 17 hours 14 minutes left)

Side Objective 1: Kill 10 yōkai (13/10)

Side Objective 2: Explore the island (114%)

***

This time, he didn't dare to light a fire. Even if the smoke would be almost unnoticeable thanks to the fire in the forest, he didn't want to risk getting noticed. Besides, he had the rugs he looted from the vault to keep him warm during the night.

He spent the rest of the time reading the books he found in the treasure vault. He tried studying the Onmyōdō books as well but progress was slow.

When the remaining time reached zero, Adam had already stored his belongings and was waiting in anticipation.

"Main objective has been completed!" a female voice said.

Adam nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Commencing teleportation in 3... 2... 1... 0."

In the blink of an eye, Adam was standing in an unfamiliar room.

"Welcome to Twilight City."

"You have arrived at your private room."

"Please wait while the result of the Nightmare is being analyzed."

***

Nightmare - Onigashima

Main Objective: Survived 3 days

Side Objective 1: Killed 13 yōkai (130%)

Side Objective 2: Explored the island (114%)

Number of objectives completed: 3 (1 main objective, 2 side objectives)

Overall Rating: A

Reward: 3,440 Nightmare Fragments

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