Summary: Here's the second chapter. Susumu goes looking for a job, but unexpectedly walks into trouble in the woods... Will he survive this chance encounter? Will he make ends meet? Read and find out...
To readers: Thanks for giving the story a chance, and if you liked this story, I sincerely recommend you check out L'Cie XIII's profile and read Susumu's character description.
Please review if possible! It's what keeps me going!
CHAPTER 2: Kill The Abductors!
It was the break of dawn , and Ipswind town was bathed in the first rays of the Sun , rising slowly over the eastern edges of the woods.
Susumu had already risen though, as was his custom of waking up early. He went about his campsite, putting his belongings in order so that they could be stowed away quickly. He then went by the lake, and brushed his teeth and rinsed his face.
He checked the condition of his swords, carefully examining every inch of steel for any tarnishing blemishes. This was usual of him,as he treasured his swords and never failed to check them every morning, evening and night.
As one of his teachers told him:
"Your sword is more than just a weapon. It is an extension of your self. A man's sword often tells more about the man than he himself might describe. Treat your sword with respect, and you will be treated with respect , on the battle field."
Since that day, he who had hitherto looked at his swords as yet a mere tool , began to see the inherent beauty in them. He viewed them in a way other men view their hands. They were part of him. And to this end, they had to move as one. With this in mind, he continued with his training, which he never neglected, regardless of the circumstances.
He picked up a small twig and threw it vertically up into the air. He looked up, following the cartwheeling trajectory of the twig, all the while subconsciously calculating the optimum point in the twigs trajectory at which he should make his cut. The chance presented itself when the twig was roughly at a 45 degree angle to a line drawn horizontally from his eyes, and as close as possible to being horizontally aligned to the ground. He drew his blade and executed a swift vertical slash. The pieces landed on either side of him. He picked up one of the pieces and examined it . "Hmm... Not a clean cut... I need to work on my technique" . With this perfectionist attitude, he set about repeating a basic series of thrusts and lunges, before attempting to dual wield. His dual wielding skill had substantially improved since the time he first tried it out, but there was still a long way to go in his quest to become proficient. An hour later, he stowed his blades away into his bedding.
"The water is too cold for a dip" he thought, so he simply soaked a towel he was carrying and wiped his sweaty body off with that.
" I guess this will have to do for now, until I can build up my coin reserves and rent a proper room.." thought Susumu.
With sanitary processes out of the way, he donned his trench coat, slinging one of his blades across his back, under the coat. He then head towards town. He needed work. His first stop was the inn. He had already confirmed from old Hauser the day before, that the inn was adequately staffed, and he wouldn't be needing workers. However he had forgotten to ask about other people who had work available.
" Did you manage well, yesterday?" said old Hauser out of genuine concern, which wasn't out of place as the surroundings are cold, and treacherous.
" Yes" came the curt reply from Susumu.
He then inquired as to whether any work might be available to him in the town. He was directed towards the old lumber camp at the edge of the woods.
The prospective employer was a burly man in his mid 30's , by the looks of it. "
Grab an axe and bring me all the wood you can chop, lassie, but I'm warning you, venture too deep and I cant guarantee you will get out , hahah!"
Ignoring this warning and being referred to as the wrong gender, he set about his business. He had deceptive strength for his frail build, and he had chopped down a sizable quantity of wood in good time. There was a little break, during which he had some of the bread and fruit he had packed up from yesterday. He then continued with the chopping. In this manner, he spent the day chopping wood. In the middle, he was asked to deliver a few packages around town. He used this as an opportunity to gather more intel about this town. It was around 4:00 in the evening when they decided to halt for the day. Darkness advances unexpectedly quickly and it was best to get back before dark. He was paid well for his efforts and was about to proceed to his camp site when he heard an extremely faint cry coming from the woods. It was a girl's voice crying out for help. Not one to leave a human being in the clutches of some monster or bandit , he went in cautiously, heading for the source of the cries for help.
A fair distance inside, he came across a small clearing in the trees. He ducked behind some shrubbery and surveyed the scene laid out before him. It was a campsite, with a fire going, laden with plenty of oddly shaped logs. There were a group of five men, all of them dressed in light leather armor, carrying insignia. "They might be the lords men" he thought. There were 3 tents erected, along with a few supplies here and there. And then he caught sight of the girl. She couldn't have been more than 11-13 years of age. She was tied up, and her clothes were in tatters. She had numerous gashes throughout her body. Tears streamed down her face
"...and that's what you get for biting me, you little wildcat! I was thinking I might spare you, but now you're definitely ending up in the fire! " said one of the men.
"But not before we are all done with her... In fact , she doesn't look like she can survive all of us heheh..." Said a man who appeared to be in charge, in a sinister tone.
It was then that Susumu realized with a start , that those weirdly shaped logs in the fire weren't logs at all... They were human limbs...
The girl continued to scream for help and resist, as the men tore her tattered tunic from her body. " Someone please...*choke*" came a few feeble cries for help from the girl. And that was when Susumu finally snapped. He habitually drew his hood, as he never killed without donning it. But he was no idiot. Charging into 5 burly men and winning wasn't going to be all that easy. And besides, if he could lower the odds before the fight broke out...
A sharp whistle interrupted the men. "What was that?"
"Beats me .."
"Hans , go check it out..."
"Why the hell do I have to go check it out?" complained Hans indignantly...
"Because I'm the boss and I say so. And you killed that last one before we all got a chance to have fun with her!"
"What can I do if her neck broke, I didn't mean it.. Ok fine, I'm going,I'm going. Sheesh..."
And the unfortunate Hans rose and went towards where he thought the sound came from. The moment he stepped into the woods, his fate was sealed. Susumu, maneuvering behind him, silently drew his blade, and quickly back stabbed him, through the heart. It was his stroke of luck that all the men except the boss , had removed their armor in preparation for the deed they were going to carry out. Hans fell silently, a shocked expression fixed permanently upon his face as his vital signs faded. A better death than he deserved for all that he had done.
Another shrill whistle pierced the silence, this time from the left.
"Hans?" called out one of the men, with a slightly nervous edge to his voice.
" Hans stop friggin screwing around, It's getting dark and we need to finish up and go!" proclaimed the boss in an agitated voice.
When no reply came, the boss said "What a bother. The dolt must have fallen into a pit or something. You, come with me. Lets go see what happened. And you guys BETTER NOT START without me!" said he, addressing the remaining two.
A few moments after the boss and the other man left the clearing, Susumu made his move. He had a useful skill of throwing his voice, and he employed this to good effect. By drawing the men in a different direction than the one he was hiding in, he had given himself space to rescue the girl. He sneaked up behind the guardsmen and drove the blade through the base of his neck, instantly killing him. This was done so silently that the other guard didn't even notice his comrade dead, until he heard the body hit the ground. He spun around in alarm only to barely make out the edge of a katana heading for his neck. A swift strike and the head separated cleanly from the body.
" They all died without seeing into the eyes of the one who killed them" thought Susumu to himself. Mentally convincing himself that this underhand way of killing was unavoidable , he directed his energies to the task of cutting the binds of the weeping girl.
She was a cute little thing, with a pleasant face marred by numerous bruises inflicted on her by her captors, and a thin frame with waist length hair of a slightly darker shade than Susumu's own dirty blond shade. Her hands were bloodied, with deep gashes where she had been tied with the ropes, and cuts marred her body in various places. Her clothes, with consisted of a white undershirt and black shorts, were tattered and torn so badly they bordered on the point of nonexistence. Her light blue eyes were bloodshot from crying. Yet despite all this, she gave off an almost dignified air, the type that you would associate with a noble birth. "Can you walk? Hurry , we have to leave before they come back" said Susumu. The girl opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly her eyes narrowed in alarm. Susumu caught the unmistakable glint of metal reflected in her eyes and quickly spun around and parried the boss had returned.
"YOU BITCH! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MEN?" bellowed the enraged commander.
"I killed them , of course" came the nonchalant reply .
The man's face twitched in anger. He let out a roar and charged at them. Susumu pushed the girl out of the way and sidestepped the blow, which had power and nothing else. As he prepared to bring his sword down on the soldier's exposed back, he felt an impact to his side. And that was when it hit him (literally and figuratively).
"The other Guy! How could I have been so careless ?" wondered Susumu as the impact crushed the breath out of him.
The other man had downed him with a rough shoulder tackle. However, Susumu had been in these situations before, and knew how to mitigate the impact. Just as he hit the ground, he executed a barrel roll to the side in an effort to dissipate the force of the blow in a more uniform manner to make sure no specific part of his body took major damage. Unfortunately This forced him to back up towards a tree trunk. The man took the opportunity to corner him. With all other pathways covered by the boss, who recovered his positioning. The only reason Susumu wasn't dead already was that the second man left his sword by one of the tents before he went along with the boss. In open ground, he might have been able to outfight two, or maybe even up to three men at one time, if the situation had called for it. That was because of his superior technique that imbibed the elements of many a different teacher's lessons into one optimized style, and his speedy reflexes. However, in enclosed spaces, it was all about strength. Heavy blows can't be dodged with no space, and if there isn't an opposing force strong enough to parry the blow, you might as well give up. Susumu had realized this, but calmed himself down.
"There must be an opening for me to break out somewhe..." but his thoughts were interrupted by a terrifying roar.
From nowhere, a giant clawed arm wrenched apart the earth and diced the boss in half. "EARTH DRAGON!" screamed the remaining man and turned to run. Unfortunately for him , he tripped over a root and that allowed the dragon to catch up to him. Susumu lunged for the girl and hoisted her on his back, before hightailing it out of there. The screams of the unfortunate man were quickly cut short...
"Well that was a stroke of luck" thought Susumu to himself. He continued running until they came right up to the edge of the forest. Removing his hood,he decided to inquire about the condition of the little girl.
" How are you feeling now?" asked Susumu to the girl.
She had been hitherto silent, but now she replied " I feel faint..." and later added " Thanks for saving me, Onee San *sob*" in a meek voice .
" First of all , I'm a guy (she used onee san instead of onii san). Second of all, don't thank me just yet. Those were the Lord's men, and we have blood on our hands, so we need to be careful. I can dress your wounds at my camp site but we need to sneak there ". She stifled a sob, and nodded.
A while ( and a LOT of sneaking) later they reached the camp site, where Susumu set to work dressing her wounds immediately. All that sneaking, and the detours they were forced to take to avoid revealing themselves. The girl was in really bad shape, and had lost a lot of blood. Susumu knew that he had to act quickly to prevent any long term damage to the girl's health. With deft and precise movements, he dipped a cotton swab in an alcohol solution he kept with him ( Not for drinking, for medical purposes).
" Now, this may sting a little, but it needs to be done. The wounds you have will get infected otherwise."
" Uh uh..." replied the girl, weakly.
He swiftly removed her tattered undershirt, trying to assess the full extent of damage done to her body. With precise dabs of his alcohol soaked swab so as to keep the pain induced by the contact of alcohol onto exposed flesh down to a minimum, he cleaned her wounds, removing any dirt and grime from around the cuts. He then soaked a fresh swab and tended to her legs, which had numerous cuts and bruises on them from running bare footed across the forest. Once done, he opened a little paper packet he kept , and removed a few leaves and herbs. Using a pestle and mortar , he converted these into a paste. He melted some ice and added the water to the paste to increase its quantity and lower its viscosity. Then he gingerly applied this paste to the most severe looking wounds on the chest and the legs. This done, he took a cloth roll ,and cut it into strips, which he then used to deftly bandage the girl's wounds. He then stopped, satisfied with his work , only to quickly avert his face. In his haste to tend to her injuries before they got worse, he had inadvertently removed what little of the ruined clothes she had left. The fact that he hadn't even noticed what he was doing spoke volumes of his concentration and medical commitment. All these were the fruits of the efforts of a doctor who had mentored him, and imparted his medical knowledge to him as part of an unlikely agreement. After watching his doctor operate on the human body with unerring accuracy and precision many times, he , himself had acquired enough skill to rival a trained physician.
"Familiarity of the human anatomy is a must. Don't operate unless you know the body like the back of your hand. And , regardless of man or woman, king or beggar, knight or monk, all are the same under the operating table. Bodies created by god. The outsides may vary, but an injury is an injury, and must be treated with the same consideration for a life. We are all the same, in the end."
With the words of his master echoing inside his head, he had completed treating the girls wounds. And in his 'physicians trance' any body who lay down in front of him wouldn't make a difference, even if it was an injured Esdeath herself lying completely naked on his table, he would mechanically soldier on till his job was done, and consider the consequences later.
Quickly regaining his senses, he immediately fashioned a make shift tunic for her out of some old cloth and small shirts he had found and kept, intending to use them for sewing his Trench coat, or bandages if the need came to be. He then applied himself towards cleaning his blood stained blade, as he decided to give the girl, who had drifted off into sleep during her treatment, some rest.
He gently woke her up after an hour, by sprinkling cold drops of water on her face. Startled, she woke up and almost screamed had he not covered her mouth with his hand. Gesturing her to quieten down, he gave her some water and bread. Upon recognizing the face of her savior, she calmed down and took the food he offered. She began to speak as she ate:
" My name is Emmi, and I clean dishes at the inn.
I bumped into these soldiers tying up and beating a girl near the edge of town.
So they chased me and abducted me as well. "
" What about your parents?" asked Susumu.
" They died a long time ago. Im an orphan. I stay at the inn, Grandpa Hauser lets me use one of the rooms" said Emmi .
"Well then that's where we are headed" said Susumu.
A short walk and they reached the inn.
" Emmi! I was so worried about you!" exclaimed old Hauser.
"Grandpa Hauser! " shouted Emmi in an equally excited voice, and ran up to embrace the old man.
" This kind Onii-San saved me from the lord's men! I owe him my life !" .
Old Hauser recognized Susumu as the stranger from yesterday.
" I cant thank you enough , young lad " said old Hauser. "Emmi has been like a grand daughter to me ever since I took her in. I really dont know how to repay you"
"Well.. a place to stay would be nice" thought Susumu. Emmi, almost as though she read his mind , proclaimed
" Grandpa! I know, how about onii-san stay here? He has no place to stay, and there is easily enough space in the room I stay in. The bed is too big for me anyway!"
"Well , I guess that could do, providing you don't mind chipping in here and there , helping me run the inn. It would be useful to have a lad of your skills around" said Hauser. " And you need some place to settle down for a while. The Lord will be sure to cause a ruckus once it is realized that those guards are missing"
" Am I really in a position to refuse? The weather is getting bad and I ain't sleeping out with friggin earth dragons running about..." thought Susumu.
So he replied " Thanks a lot, old Hauser" . He worked out that staying here free of cost would be good and also he needed a place to lay low for a while and find some work as a cover. For he , in reality, was a bounty hunter, and was here to track down a certain somebody. The hit order was given to him by some shady clients with the pay being well above what he normally got offered.
He pondered all this as he was led up to the room by the now cheerful Emmi. " Right this way, onii san!" said she, before opening a room to the far right end of the left corridor in the first floor. It wasn't as small as Susumu expected. There was a window set in the center of the opposite wall. The bed was set against the right wall while there were two single door cupboards standing against the left wall. There was a round table and a couple of chairs near the window. Overall, Susumu had stayed in much worse places.
He had to revisit by the lake to retrieve his belongings, and his precious Katana.
" Today went reasonably well," thought Susumu to himself. He had earned a nice bit of coin from the lumber camp, got himself a place to stay for free, and made some useful acquaintances.
" And if all goes well, they will blame the disappearance of those 5 guards on the Danger Beast." thought Susumu .
Lastly , he felt unexpectedly good by saving Emmi's life. A few months earlier, he would have just left her to her fate, or would have only bothered himself with saving her if he was being paid for the task. Today however, his body acted on its own, without considering the possibility of a reward, monetary or otherwise. And in the end , He felt good with himself, and had obtained a useful place to stay. And being adored by Emmi and respected by Hauser felt awkward, but made him feel appreciated, a feeling not often experienced by him in the 4 years he had wandered the empire.
" .. So this is what it feels like to be the hero... might just do this more often..."
With those thoughts, he headed back to the inn..
AN: So, what didja guys think? Tell me your opinions and , if possible, maybe a few suggestions regarding how I can improve this story.
Oh, and if anyone else wants to use Susumu for their own works, feel free to drop L'Cie XIII ( His creator) a line. Susumu was created specifically for those writers who had a story, but were looking for a well drawn out MC to use.
Thanks!