“ Ryouichi!” The tall wolf with white fur and blue eyes turned his head to look at his master, an old blind fox, who was a master swordsman. In the foxes hands was a samurai sword, the sheath was completely white with tonnes of gold around it, the hilt of the sword having rings of gold. Was this what he was working on? He thought, his master had told him a few days before Ryouichi departed on his journey.
“Master Kousuke, what is it?” Ryouichi spoke respectfully to Kousuke, even tho he has known him since he was a child he still thought he should always be shown respect. Kousuke walked closer to Ryouichi, presenting him the sword. “ This is for you, it has been blessed already by the goddess Inari from a nearby shrine. I want you to take this on your journey, and always remember from where you came from and always remember the blessings of living.” As Ryouichi took the blade in his hands, a slight shiver took over him, he knew very well it was a good feeling from the blessing the blade had.
“I will, master.” Looking at Kousuke side, Ryouichi noticed Aina, Kousuke’s wife, she was handing out a box to him. “ Here are some of the herbs and antidotes you helped with yesterday, take them with you and never hesitate to help anyone along the way.” She gave him a gentle smile. Taking the box and putting it in his furoshiki, a cloth used to tie one’s possessions for the ease of transport. Giving her a tight hug goodbye, Ryouichi bowed respectfully to his master. “ I’ll be going to visit the blacksmith and the food merchant before I leave.”
Kousuke nodded in agreement and waved at him. Ryouichi walked around the town, and into a market district, waving at the fox people, he was the only tundra wolf in the village. Entering the blacksmith’s market Ryouichi had a conversation with him, looking around his merchandise Ryouichi picked a dagger, a whetstone, and some flint and steel, he then paid for it. Smiling at the blacksmith, Ryouichi soon left to go to the food merchant.
“ I can’t believe what happened to the Nori village… those poor people... I hope they are in a better place now.” Ryouichi’s ears perked up as he heard the conversation of a passing couple.
“ Indeed.. although their land has now been cursed, the soil is dark with purple smoke oozing out of it. Have the god’s forsaken us?” The male fox spoke, quickly muttering a prayer along with his wife in the hope the god’s had not abandoned them.
Purple smoke coming out of the ground..? Ryouichi stopped for a moment wondering what the couple had actually heard, they probably had heard wrong, or it was the effect of some kind of wizard’s spell gone wrong. Continuing on with his walk to the food merchant Ryouichi spotted a tiny green herb with specks of blue growing on the soil, the herb was quite a rare one, taking as much of the herbs as carefully as possible he placed them inside the box Aina had given him.
Getting up Ryouichi continued to the food merchant and entered her store once he arrived. “ Ryouichi! Good to see you. Is it already the day for your departure?” Suki, the food merchant, smiled at him. She used to care for him as a child along with her husband.
“ Yes, indeed it is. How is your daughter? Has she recovered?”460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGa0Gg2TEKX
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” Thanks to you she did, I will be grateful to you always for saving her life.”
“I’m glad. What food do you have for sale?” Ryouichi looked at Suki, then at all the food she had, sweet potatoes, carrots, rice, spices, bread, and fish. Suki grabbing a small furoshiki she placed some sweet potatoes, two pieces of fish and some bread. She then grabbed a tiny sack of coins and placed it inside, handing it to him. “ On the house, you saved my daughter, this is the least I could do.” Hesitant Ryouichi took the furoshiki, giving a respectful bow and then giving her a hug. “ Thank you, I’ll be taking my leave now.” He walked to the door and was about to leave but Suki called out to him.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQKPt1FcIB
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” Be very careful on your journey, there have been some rumors about some strange soldiers in dark armor attacking villages and somehow damaging the lands.” Ryouichi nodded and left the village.
Ryouichi had been walking for two days straight, along the way he learned several things. One, humans hate demi-humans like himself. Two, there was indeed some kind of evil king corrupting lands and attacking them if they did not allay with him, and finally, three, there was apparently a nearby shrine dedicated to the goddess Inari. He asked a couple of humans for directions but they just scowled at him and told him to return to whatever hellhole he came out of.
Trying his best to suppress his annoyance went to the nearest inn, just to find out the inn was also against demi-humans. Wonderful he thought. He needed somewhere to stay, and soon, it was already becoming night time. Ryouichi decided to make camp near a forest, quickly using the flint and steel to make a fire, taking out the dagger he had bought from the blacksmith Ryouichi sharpened a stick and fished out at least 5 fish from a near river. Night time was closing in surprisingly fast, it seemed odd. Ryouichi stored the 4 other fish and began cooking one when he suddenly heard a loud painful scream nearby.
Rushing quickly Ryouichi grabbed his sword and went to where he heard the scream come from, for a moment, he was utterly transfixed, he was shocked by the scene of what seemed to be a shrine maiden running from 3 soldiers he had heard from the rumor. As soon as he saw the soldiers creep closer to her he jumped to one of them, slamming its head down to the floor, he quickly stood up and slammed the hilt of his sword into the skull of the other, unsheathing his sword in the process , shoving his sword backstabbing the remaining soldier that was most likely a wizard from what he was wearing.
Taking a swing to clear off most of the blood from his blade he placed the sword back in its sheath, he looked at the shrine maiden who was now looking at him with wide eyes, she was beautiful. Ryouichi knelt down and offered her a hand for her to take. “ Are you alright, miss?” The shrine maiden took his hand and stood up, she staggered back and limped, Ryouichi narrowed his eyes at her. “ Are you hurt? “ She didn’t say anything, she only nodded and sat down on a near rock. “ Let me check your wound, I have some knowledge on healing. Where are you hurt?” The shrine maiden moved the skirt of her kimono a bit to reveal the stab wound on her thigh, it was clearly poisoned. “ I need to suck the poison out of your thigh.” Before she could say anything he did just that, he placed his lips on her thigh and sucked out the poison from the wound, after a few seconds he removed his mouth and spat the dark liquid and blood at the floor, grabbing a straw, lightly pressing at her thigh as if searching for something, he pushed the straw into her wound, quickly the straw spurted out blood. The shrine maiden’s face was a deep red as she was embarrassed by what the samurai had just done. Ryouichi then placed an arm under her legs with a hand on her back as he lifted her. “ I need to take you to my camp, I left all my antidotes there, your wound needs to be treated.” Ryouichi looked at the shrine maiden as her face turned more crimson.
Ryouichi carried the shrine maiden to his camp, carefully placing her on a log, he opened he furoshiki and took out the box Aina had given him, looking for two bottles he glanced up at the maiden. " What are the symptoms you feel? I'm guessing you know healing magic, is the poison stopping you from that?"
" Yes." Ryouichi's eyes widened for a second at her voice but he quickly focused back to the task at hand, he needed to worry first about the poison. "The wound became worse the moment I tried casting healing magic on it. It immediately turned dark, I feel light headed and a bit out of breath." Ryouichi nodded and ground some herbs into one of the bottles, he then applied it to her wound and passed her bottle. " Drink this, and try casting the same spell again. " She took the bottle, opened it and quickly drank it, shuddering at the bitter taste she proceeded to cast mutter some words and a soft green light surrounded the wound on her thigh and the burn on her arm. A few seconds later the light faded and her wounds were gone. " Thank you so much!" She smiled at him, and her stomach rumbled, causing her cheeks to turn a deep red again. Ryouichi chuckled and started cooking a fish for her. "S-sorry..." she mumbled, quickly looking down embarrassed.
"There's no need to be embarrassed." After some time Ryouichi handed to her the cooked fish, she happily took it and wagged her fox tail. The shrine maiden began to eat and Ryouichi took a good look at her, he had seen many foxes before, young, old, female and male, even kids, but he didn't understand why this one made his heart race so much. She was a beautiful maiden, long silky white hair, white fur with hints of cream and dazzling blue eyes, she wore a white long kimono that had hints of pink, especially on the satchel. She looked as if the gods had sent beauty upon the land.
"Sorry for not introducing myself before. I'm Ryouichi, a swordsman from Kali village. Who are you?" She swallowed a bite of her fish and looked at him. "My name is Sakiko, I'm a shrine maiden from the Inari village. Nice to meet you, thank you for healing and saving me." She smiled at him. Ryouichi nodded and smiled back at her " It's a pleasure to help those in need."
Wait... Inari village? He thought.
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