Dario cleared his throat, but the senior guard threw him a hateful look and barked for him to wait. They stood there in awkward silence until he proudly showed a drawing to the young noble, who did not look happy, but still made appreciative noises before turning back to Dario.
“Let’s carry on, then. I demand justice!”
“Err… Sir, I believe this is all a misunderstanding. I’m just a poor artefact salesman. I know nothing about any traps. I’ve never even seen you before in my life! How could I have possibly done you wrong?”
“Yes, yes, well we have brought proof, of course, to support these allegations,” the boy said, gesturing to the Contadino twins, one of which stepped forward with a piece of rope. The same, thin rope that he’d made the trap with and which was hanging in a small coil from his belt.
Dario coughed into his fist as he turned so that the rope around his belt would be facing away from them.
“That’s just a bit of common rope, anyone could have-”
The young noble held up a small device which Dario wasn’t familiar with. There was a mix of different auras inside, too complex for him to guess at its function.
“Push some of your Ki inside,” the noble commanded.
“I’d rather not, Sir. I was taught never to channel Ki into unknown items.”
The noble shrugged. “Fair enough, let’s pack it up-” he said, but he was interrupted by the senior guard who stepped forward to whisper urgently in his ear, after which he sighed and spoke up again.
“If you wish to prove your innocence, you will push some Ki inside of the device. Otherwise we’ll have to assume your guilt.”
Dario frowned, sensing this was some kind of trap, but he had no good reason to refuse. Besides, he was curious what this thing was supposed to do. With a shrug, he put his finger to the device and pushed a bit of his Ki into it.
The noble then took the rope and held it against the artefact, which performed some inner working before promptly flashing green.
“It’s a perfect match. The traces of Ki can only be yours.”
Dario’s eyebrows rose. These bastards had come prepared. He’d never even heard of a Ki-matching artefact. Did they belong to some kind of clan of investigators? After throwing another glare at the Contadinos, he quickly pivoted to his best salesman’s smile.
“Young Lord, I have here some rare and powerful artefacts that would be of use on your journey. Please choose any one, free of charge.”
Hokori seemed interested. “Oh, thank you, that would be-”
Once again the senior guard interrupted. “Do you think those trinkets will be enough? That set of clothes was worth well over a hundred pearls.”
Dario nodded, face turning serious as he swiped the artefacts into his bag. “I see, I see. Of course men of your station would have far more impressive treasures. But luckily I have a far better solution. Please, allow me to show you.”
He brought his hands forward with a flourish before cupping them together, brow wrinkling with focus as he shaped his Ki. When he opened his hands, there was a bright yellow dragonfly buzzing its wings, leaving a trail of golden dust behind as it slowly lifted up, then buzzed in a circle before shooting past the three men.
Their heads turned to follow the dragonfly as it zigzagged through the crowd, its golden trail forming a beautiful corkscrew pattern. After a dazzling journey through the crowd, it sped up, moving ever higher before exploding in a shower of golden sparks.
“...What was the point of that?” Hokori asked as he turned back to the stall, only to find it empty.
Dario was already ducking and twisting through the crowd, his shape obscured to look like a mere shadow. He hurried through a hidden path between the back of some stalls, then dashing around the corner onto a wider street, grinning when he looked back and saw that nobody was following.
Then, he ran right into a wall.
“Argh. What the fuck,” he muttered as he rubbed at his face, then looked up to find that the wall was, in fact, a young woman.
“Wow,” Dario breathed, blinking to clear his vision. “I thought you were a wall.”
“In these circumstances, the virtuous course of action would be to offer sincere apologies,” the young woman said sternly.
He was only now noticing that she had the pale hair and tanned skin of someone who lived near the pillar. That, together with the neat clothes she was wearing made it likely she was a noblewoman, though she was wearing a simpler outfit compared to Hokori’s gaudy colors. More importantly, she was built like an ox. The simple shirt was not enough to hide broad shoulders and the outline of impressive muscles.
“Ah,” he said hurriedly, getting to his feet with a bow. “Right. My apologies. And sorry to hurry off, but I really need to be on my way.”
He quickly glanced back, then made to move past the woman, but she stepped in front of him.
“You were using some rare effect of Ki. Share with me what it was and you will be forgiven,” she said, crossing her arms as she stared him down.
Dario blinked, taken aback by the weird request, but then he shrugged. His techniques were no grand secret. He’d never even seen another user of light Ki, besides his mentor.
“It’s just a basic working of light Ki, drawing the luminosity away from my body.”
When her frown only deepened, he offered some more information.
“I’m not good with the technical terms, but I guess you would call it, err… reverse emanation? As in, instead of channeling the Ki aspect into a location, you take it away.”
Her eyes widened a fraction. “Light Ki,” she muttered.
“Yup, that’s me. Not many offensive abilities to it, but it suits my Kaku,” he shrugged, pushing a bit of Ki to his eyes so that they would flash golden. As he did so, he could see a large amount of dark grey Ki throughout her body, seeming to stick to her skin. It felt heavy and hard, like stone.
Definitely not someone he wanted to get into a fight with.
Her eyes widened a bit further. “A light cultivator with an eye Kaku? Who has been teaching you?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
There was a shout from behind him. They were getting closer.
“Look, I really don’t mean to be rude, but I did answer your question and I really have to go,” Dario said, moving past her and hurrying off before she had time to object.
What followed was a mad dash through the market and a long trek back home, moving through less used paths just in case they were still tracking him. It was only several hours later that he went over the fence into JeeJee’s yard and let himself drop down into the hammock with a relieved sigh.
“Stubborn little shit. What was he doing in the Belt anyway?” he muttered to himself, but then he shrugged and relaxed. It wasn’t healthy to dwell on things.
He was contemplating a nap when he noticed something blinking at the edge of his vision. It was coming from his treasures, which was really a chaotic pile of artefacts thrown together into a large wooden box.
With a grunt, he got out of his hammock again and began to rummage through his pile until he was holding a thin, white tablet. He faintly remembered investigating it, without having pinpointed what it was supposed to do. Now, one side was blinking with a pale blue light, but it still didn’t do anything when he touched it.
After he fed a trickle of Ki into it, something changed, a line of beautiful, flowing script appearing on the page.
Is anyone there?
Dario frowned.
“Some kind of messaging construct?” he muttered.
“Hello?” he said more loudly to the tablet, but nothing happened. He tried pushing some Ki into it while speaking, but that also didn’t work.
With a grunt of realization, he then channeled a thin stream of Ki from his fingertip to run across its surface, which finally made a black line appear.
Hello? Is this a person?
He waited a short while, until more writing appeared on the tablet, the words coming slowly and carefully, as if the person writing wanted to make sure each letter was perfect.
Someone’s there! Wow. I found this tablet, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how it worked. But it actually works! How amazing! Are you a person as well?
Dario tapped his chin as he thought of an answer, then grinned as he began to write again, his messy scrabbles looking even worse compared to the neat calligraphy above.
I am a magical tablet. You may use me to exchange gold for wishes.
Is that so? Well then, if I could wish for anything at all, I suppose I would wish for… freedom. The freedom to travel and see all the wonderful sights Tenjou has to offer. The freedom to meet people and make friends. Are such flighty wishes within this tablet’s ability to grant?
He looked up at the crystal ceiling above with a twinkle in his eyes, the edges of his mouth curving into a faint smile.
First, you must send one hundred pearls by courier to a location to be shared later. After that, your wish may be granted. Results are not guaranteed.
I fear I find myself unable to send funds. If the mighty tablet would consider other forms of payment, I would be willing to share the greatest gift of all, the worth of which far exceeds that of a hundred gold coins! A gift so great, it can be shared from a great distance and even through a tool such as this very tablet.
At this stage, the mighty tablet would like to make clear that lewd drawings are not an acceptable form of payment.
I would kindly suggest that the mighty tablet withdraw its mind from the gutter. I was talking about knowledge! Specifically, the knowledge of plants.
This bores the tablet.
Plants are not boring, quite the contrary. They’re capable of wondrous feats! Did you know that some plants have healing properties of such magnitude that they can help to regrow even lost limbs? Some flowers are softer than a cloud, while others have thorns tougher than iron. There’s a tiny little flower called a Dreamlily which will give you the sweetest dreams if kept close to your place of rest. Plants offer an endless variety of magical effects!
Dario scratched at the stubble on his throat as he leaned back in his hammock. This tablet was puzzling. He knew that artefacts for long distance communication existed, though he hadn’t heard of a tablet like this. There should usually be some connection of Ki between the devices, but no matter how he strained his eyes, he couldn’t spot any here.
Learning about nature Ki and how to manipulate it did sound cool. It was unlikely to be a scam, given that he’d dug it out of the Belt and it had been inactive for months. Besides, it was hard to imagine how simply writing through a tablet could lead to any trouble. It’s not like he had many secrets worth keeping, anyway.
Do you know anything about cultivating with nature or plant Ki?
I do! I know all about the different aspects of plant Ki, even though it’s really complicated. The variety in aspects is nearly as great as that of the plants themselves, but the most common ones are toughness, growth and conversion.
And you would teach me this, in exchange for… freedom?
Well, since offering me freedom might prove a tad challenging, I would, for the time being, propose a different trade; knowledge for knowledge. I’m kind of stuck in a rather isolated place. What I would ask in return, is for you to simply tell me about your life and the things you encounter.
That’s all? What would you want to know?
Well… We could start with the basics. What’s your name?
When I’m not busy being a tablet, I’m known as Dario, the Treasure Hunter.
See, that already sounds so exciting! I want to hear about your exploits! My name is Hana, by the way.
Dario frowned, not sure about the meaning of ‘exploit’, when the distant sound of a familiar voice had him jumping out of his hammock.
Peeking over the fence, it didn’t take long for his eyes to pick up three shapes, one with mostly white Ki and two Ambers, shining bright with the silver Ki of blade cultivators.
He cursed under his breath, hastily grabbing some things from his pile and pulling the luminosity away from himself before ducking down an alley and climbing up a roof. Once he was satisfied with his hiding place and an escape route, he watched as the noble and his guards looked around the small house. One of the guards was pushing the Contadino boys on.
“The rat isn’t here! If we find out you lied-”
“He’s normally always here, I swear it sir!”
“We must find him! Our Lord will not be made a fool of on his first outing!” the older guard shouted in his haughty voice. “To right an insult of this magnitude, at least a decade of indentured service should be required.”
The younger guard held a pair of cuffs connected by chains, the web of Ki that ran through them clearly marking them as an artefact. Dario was beginning to think he might have gotten himself into some serious trouble.
Actually, he thought as he looked back at his escape route, it’s the Contadino boys who’ve gotten themselves into trouble. Because there’s no way these nobles are going to find me.
He began to creep back over the roof, moving slowly and carefully so as not to make a sound. It would be best to put more distance between them. With how much Ki those guards had, he should still be able to keep an eye on them. There were plenty of places to hide out here, and he figured these nobles would give up soon enough.
“Someone’s going to pay for this,” the younger guard said as he loomed over the twins. “So you better find him soon, or it’ll be you paying the price.”
“W-we really don’t know where he is, sir! I guess he might be out in the Belt?”
“I’m not going back into that vermin-infested wasteland,” Hokori said. “Try using your brains for once. Where will he be when he gets back?”
The twins looked dumbly at each other for a while, until one of them spoke up. “The only other place I’ve seen him is his mother’s house. I think he has dinner there sometimes.”
“Perfect!” the older guard said happily. “Then let us head there now. If he doesn’t show up there on his own accord, we’ll have something to lure him out of hiding.”
Dario stopped moving away from them, a chill running down his spine as he came to the realization that maybe running away from this problem would only make it worse.
Somewhere in the small town, an old man watched and smiled.