Bootstrapping Book 2

by Tersin22

Now in a new world, with new challenges, new threats, and new enemies, all Ericka has to do is decide which to meet head on, which to avoid, and which she'll have no choice about.

4. The Library

I am so incredibly bored.

After leaving the Daimyo's throne room I was led through the halls of the palace and subjected to the most polite interrogation I've ever heard of. The truth sayer never took his eyes off me the entire time I answered his questions. Seeing the whites of his eyes black was slightly unnerving, mostly because I couldn't stop picturing my already unusual eyes doing the same thing.

After several minutes of walking, that felt a lot longer, Mifune and I are led to a sitting room and asked to wait. I hand the eight scrolls for the Truth Sayer and his siblings to him. Then I'm left to sit.

At first it's not so bad. Mifune is left with me and he's more than willing to talk. I get to hear about all the various sword styles he's run into during the war. From Konoha's Crescent Moon style, to the various bizarrities that sprout up around the Seven Swords of the Mist. It's a fascinating conversation, but after a while a servant comes and takes Mifune away.

So I'm bored.

I take a little while to explore the room, but there isn't much interesting in it. Book shelves along the wall to the right of the door populated by books that feel more like they're there to be looked at rather than read. Windows looking out into a garden opposite the door in, and a fireplace on the left wall.

That holds my attention for a moment as I try to figure out why it's here. The barrier around the city keeps the air warm enough for extra heating to not really be necessary. It's not quite like finding a fireplace in Hawaii, but it has the same feel. Various knick-knacks and conversation pieces line the mantle over the hearth, and a mirror the length of the fireplace hangs over it. A pair of oil paintings hang on either side of the mirror filling up what would have been awkward empty space on the walls.

I think... the fireplace is from a time before the barrier around the city. Or at least before the barrier kept the city warm. That or fireplaces are such an integral part of their architectural psyche that the room just looks wrong to them without one.

I stick my head in the fireplace and look up just to check.

And yup, there's a chimney up there, so it's not purely decorative.

Mystery solved.

And now I'm bored again.

The center of the room is occupied by what looks like a card table, surrounded by four wooden chairs. There's a couple of overstuffed armchairs which look like the sort of thing I'd expect to find in a European study...

Actually...

I look around the room again, taking in everything about it again. Books bound in leather, not scrolls or slim books bound in wood. Oil landscape realist paintings, instead of wood cut pressings, or stylized ink. This entire room, right down to the plush carpet, is the sort of thing that I'd expect from somewhere in Europe, not the decidedly Asian Elemental Nations.

What the hell?

Before I can get too lost down this rabbit hole, a commotion in the hallway attracts my attention. The sound of some sort of scuffle, not a very intense one though. Two voices, both about my age, one male and laughing and taunting, the other female and on the edge of tears.

Some part of me points out that this is none of my business, that I should leave well enough alone.

I leave that part in the oddly decorated sitting room as I go to see what's going on.

I crack the door and peek into the hallway; it's best to confirm what's going on before I go barging in.

Two children about my age, I think, are in the hallway a little ways down from the sitting room door, a boy and a girl. Both are dressed like the nobility I saw in the Daimyo's throne room, just in miniature. The boy in a green wrap shirt tucked into dark blue hakama. The girl is dressed in a pink flower covered kimono, and her hair done up into two buns on either side of her head, pinned in place by rather nice silver hairpins with lacquered flowers topping them.

Or at least her hair was done up into two buns. One of her hair buns is in the process of being pulled apart by the boy's fingers. He's sunk those fingers into the girl's hair and is using the hairpin as a handle to yank her around. At the moment he's got her bent over sideways at an awkward angle that just looks painful. The girl has both of her hands clamped over her mouth, which makes sense when I see the boy's other hand is occupied by a large, fat earthworm. An earthworm that he's pressing into the girl's hands.

"Eat it!" he says with the kind of malicious glee that only small children that really don't know any better can achieve.

"Nooo..." the girl whines, barely audible from behind her hands. Tears drip from her eyes, either from having her head yanked around by her hair, or just the situation in general. I wouldn't blame her for either reason. "Takuma, let me go, please."

The girl clearly has no expectation of her begging being heeded. And true to her apparent expectations, the boy doesn't let her go. Instead he shakes her, yanking her head back and forth sharply.

I'm not sure if that's enough to give somebody whiplash, but it wouldn't surprise me.

"Not until you eat it!" the boy, Takuma apparently, insists, smearing the worm over the girl's hands again.

Yeah... this ain't gonna fly.

I open the door fully and dart forward towards the two. I slide between them slapping the hand with the worm down and out of my way. Moments later I'm facing the girl, and grip her hair between the boy's fist and her scalp. Then with a shuffle step backwards, I slam my back into his chest with carefully measured force.

I honestly never thought that lecture Ku gave me once on Kung Fu's use of unorthodox striking surfaces would ever come in handy.

Crap, now I'm going to have to tell him he was right and I was wrong. He's gonna be so smug.

The boy is knocked backwards a few staggering steps. Takuma doesn't let go of the girl's hair, instead gripping tighter around the hairpin. The only reason the girl doesn't lose a chunk of hair is because he's pulling against my grip and not her scalp. He does take the hairpin with him though, finally doing in the already heavily damaged hair bun.

The moment he's free of her hair, I let go as well. Instead, I put my hands on her shoulders, "Are you okay?"

The girl slowly opens her eyes and looks up at me with a teary gaze. Damn, she's adorable, like a kitten. Shiny black hair, and bright green pupiless eyes. Because that's something that just happens sometimes in Naruto.

Damn, chakra did a number on the human genome.

Before she can answer in any way, Takuma rejoins the conversation, such as it is.

"Hey! What are you doing? Don't you know who I am?" Oh, that's not a good sign.

I sigh, and turn to look at the boy, keeping myself between him and the girl, "No." I tell him flatly, "Do you know who I am?"

Takuma scrunches up his face like he can't quite figure out what my question has to do with his, "No? Some commoner?"

I shrug, "Then we're even." The girl behind me giggles wetly.

At least somebody appreciates my humor.

"I am Takuma Shouji!" He stands up as tall as he can, which brings the top of his head even with my eyes, and puffs out his chest. I sigh and shake my head. "That means that I can do what I want!" Something about what he said is bugging me a little bit though.

"It really doesn't," I tell him. God, I feel tired of this kid already, "Why don't you just... go do something else? Somewhere else?"

"Yes it does!" he yells and stamps his foot, "And I can't go, I'm supposed to look after my sister." He points at the girl cowering behind me. She's grabbed onto the fabric of my shirt and is hiding her face in my back.

"Wait..." I turn my head slightly so I can just see the girl's hand out of the corner of my eye, "This is your brother?" I can feel her nod into my back. Taking another look at him and comparing his face to what I remember of hers...

Wow.

How did I miss that?

And why do I feel like I'm missing something else too?

"You're twins, aren't you?" I ask, and feel another nod in response. "So you are supposed to look after your sister," I don't really pause for an answer but get a firm nod from the boy anyway, "and you took that as trying to force feed her a worm while dragging her around by her hair? How does that equate to 'looking after' her?"

There's a moment where his expression shows that he might just have an inkling that he'd done something wrong, and for a moment I have hope that this will end with apologies and... I don't know, hot chocolate or something.

Then enlightenment flees him and his face twists in anger, "You can't talk to me like that!" he yells, and where are the servants who should be responding to all this ruckus? Pulling his fist way back and flaring his elbow out like a chicken wing, he rushes at me with an exclamation that I think is supposed to be a war cry or something. The only things that have me really concerned are the hairpin he's still got a hold of, and the girl behind me.

After a fraction of a second of thought, I decide that just not engaging in any way is my best move. So I reach back and grab the girl's kimono, and just as he reaches us, I side step around him taking the girl with me.

She follows along remarkably well, maybe dance training of some sort?

Takuma's swing is large and looping, and as it goes by I think I see his thumb tucked into his fist, and completely unbalances him. Which sends him crashing face first into the polished hardwood floor, he even slides along it a little bit.

There's a long moment of silence. I stare wide eyed at what just happened. I mean, that was a spectacular pratfall.

Ten out of ten, would post on YouTube.

Then he rolls over on the ground, and I see that his nose got smashed enough to start bleeding all over the place. His little slide on the floor has even smeared the blood all down his shirt. Now on his back, eyes wide, he lets go of the worm and the hairpin, and carefully touches his nose, his finger coming away bloody.

Only after he sees the blood does he begin to cry. Big, fat tears and desperate, gasping sobs fill the air as he clutches his face. The large, panicked breaths send more blood out of his nose and all over everything.

I sigh and plant my hands on my hips, "Really? You act like you've never fallen before, or gotten a bloody nose for that matter. Isn't your family..."

Oh.

Isn't Shouji Granny's last name? Which means these are two of Granny's grandkids...

Well, this could be awkward.

"What have you done to my son, you little beast?" A shrill voice fills the air and a woman dashes to the boy's side. Looking up past her and Takuma, I see the adults have finally arrived. Five of them, four men and this woman. Two of them I know, Mifune in the back, and Sōma the Truth Sayer I'd met earlier.

Which would make these Granny's kids.

I look down at myself, fists on hips, leaning forward in what could be interpreted as an aggressive posture. Then I look at Takuma, still crying and snorting blood everywhere, rolling back and forth on the floor clutching his face, and the smear of blood he'd left on the floor hidden under his body. Then to the girl, who's name I still haven't gotten, where she's just coming out of hiding and trying to peek over my shoulder.

Wow, I was right, this is awkward.

"I can explain everything," I tell the worried mother, trying to calm the situation. She just snarls at me the way only an enraged mother can. I blink slightly, "Okay, most things." Possibly not the best time for humor, but I really can't help myself. I don't find her intimidating in the slightest, which means my child brain defaults to humor.

While I'm still trying to figure out what to say next, the girl finally gets the peek she's been trying for over my shoulder, standing on tip toes and partially pulling herself up by my shirt. There's a sharply indrawn breath, then a wail of, "Mommy!" and she darts around me, flinging herself at the woman.

The woman catches her, looking surprised. I guess she didn't see the girl hiding behind me once distracted by her injured son? The girl is tiny. Another reason she's cute like a kitten.

As the girl babbles the entire story of what happened to her mother, and incidentally the rest of the adults, I give a sigh of relief.

I doubt the woman would have taken me at my word, and while the Truth Sayer is right there, I think the story will come best from the girl.

Who knows? I might just get out of this without a new and awkwardly placed enemy after all.

###

Explanations are proffered quickly. It takes a few moments to calm the girl, whose name I learn is Miku, down enough for her explanations to be coherent. She does give a fairly accurate summary of what happened, though. By the time Miku has finished her somewhat rambling explanation, her brother has been calmed down enough to give his own version of events.

That explanation takes a bit longer. He seems to have figured out that he's not going to come off looking great in this, so tries to spin things in his favor. Honestly he's so bad at it that even if his uncle the Truth Sayer wasn't right there looking at him, nobody would have believed him. As it is, given the look on his mothers face, I don't think he did himself any favors.

Their mother kinda looks like she expected one thing, got another, and isn't overly pleased about it.

Finally, my turn comes around, and I keep my version of events simple and short. I heard a commotion, saw a boy manhandling a girl, and separated them. There was some banter which ended with the boy taking a swing at me. I evaded with the girl, and he face planted into the floor.

Which is about when the adults showed up.

The woman grits her teeth as I finish. There's a few moments of frustrated silence from her, then she stands, keeping a tight grip on her kids hands, and storms off down the corridor to... who knows where. Let's be honest, I have next to no idea what's going on.

Miku does wave to me as she's dragged off. I wave back which gets me a bright smile for a moment, before she's yanked around a corner. I wonder what that's all about.

I turn back to the other adults who are looking after the departing woman, their expressions very concerned. After a moment though, they start up again and refocus on me. There's a bit of non-verbal back and forth where they all look at me, and I respond with a raised eyebrow, and then they all exchange looks like I'd just confirmed something.

It's weird.

After that, though, everybody starts up again. Of the four adults there, two of them I haven't seen before. One, I think, is Granny's eldest son, the Quartermaster General, who's wearing black hakama and a red lacquered chest plate with pauldrons. His hair is the kind of short that somebody asks for when they want to be able to ignore their hair for as long as possible. The other would be Granny's youngest, who's wearing a black hakama, a blue wrap shirt, and a katana tucked into his belt. His hair is tied in a low bushy ponytail.

It's the General who finally speaks up, "Miss Rhostana," he got that right the first time, I'm impressed, "for tonight at least I'll put you up in my rooms. Tomorrow we can worry about what you'll be doing going forward."

I narrow my eyes at him, "You know I'm not convinced that I actually want to be a samurai."

The General nods, "And I'm also aware that unlike most children, you are capable of making that choice for yourself. I hope you will give me tomorrow to convince you that you have as much to gain as we do, though."

I smile, "I can give you that much at least."

He nods to me, then to his brothers and Mifune, and then leads me down the hallway. We walk quietly for a while, and while I'm fine with silence, this is a chance to ask a question that popped up just before things went dramatic with the other kids.

"So, what was up with that sitting room I was in? It's not really standard decoration for Iron. Or anywhere else in the Elemental Nations, from what little I've heard."

The General looks puzzled for a moment, then blinks and smiles, "That room is done in Tauden style." I stare at him blankly. Who? He chuckles after glancing at me, "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them. They're an empire west of the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind. Mother negotiated with them once and quickly discovered that they're very... cultural centric. They take you more seriously if you give them an environment they're more familiar with. So she had a room decorated in their style for whenever she had to deal with them."

I blink.

I don't remember that from the anime.

If that's not foreshadowing, I don't know what is.

###

The next morning the general collects me from the simple guest room included in his suite in the palace. He's dressed largely the same way he was the night before, though he seems somewhat more put together now than he did then.

Probably because now I'm seeing him after a night's sleep and probably a bath, as opposed to after a long day and just learning about the death of his mother. He greets me with a smile and breakfast, which is a tortilla wrapped around egg, rice, and fruit, bizarrely enough, all pulled together by a savory sauce that I can't identify. It all works together remarkably well, no matter how much the fruit seems like it should be incredibly out of place.

The main virtue of this breakfast burrito is that we can eat it as we walk.

Casual small talk, which isn't really, fills the air as we move through the palace and deeper into the mountain it's carved out of. I tell him about what it was like growing up with Granny, and what her last few years were like. Something I'm a little uncomfortable talking about, but he deserves to hear.

Finally, we stop at a pair of double doors that really look out of place inside. They belong on the main entrance of some secure facility, not deep underground behind all the security of the palace. An impression reinforced by the four guards that stand flanking the door and at the base of the short, broad stairs that lead up to the doors.

The General leads me up the steps to the doors, stopping short as one of the guards salutes him, "General Hayato," that's what his name is. Now I just need to remember what the rest of Granny's kids' names are, "unusual to see you here, Sir. Some problem?"

Hayato shakes his head. "No, no problem. Just trying to sell a new recruit on joining up," he waves at me. The guard glances at me and almost does a double take. Clearly, he wants to ask what's so special about me, but as he just salutes again and moves to open the door, he also just as clearly is unwilling to question the general.

Hayato waves me ahead of himself and we proceed through the doors. The first thing on the other side of them is an atrium. A vaulted ceiling with what looks like some kind of natural crystal set into the roof, and from that crystal comes what feels like bright natural sunlight.

Some kind of large scale fiber optic crystal?

In the center of the atrium is a large desk manned by several people who glance at us, but just as quickly go back to their work when they spot Hayato. Past the desk, I'm led through another doorway, this one without doors, and I grind to a halt.

It's a library.

The biggest one I've ever seen, or even heard of. Floors upon floors of shelves full of scrolls and books stretching up and back as far as I can see. Which, given my upgrades, is saying something. People are moving through the stacks, some dressed like the people at the front desk, others like samurai out of armor. Reading desks are scattered about at regular intervals as convenient places to sit and read whatever has been pulled from the shelves.

I'm... honestly in awe. This is what the Library at Alexandria might have looked like in modern times if it had never been burned down, and just kept adding material.

"This," Hayato says, stepping up next to me and resting a hand on my shoulder, "is the Samurai Library of Iron. Or just the Iron Library if you're in a hurry. The collected experience, wisdom, techniques, and observations of more than a thousand years of samurai. Free to access for any samurai of Iron, for the simple price of recording your own learning and experiences to donate to the Library. If this can't convince you to join up, nothing will." I can hear the smile in his voice, but hear is all I can do, because I can't look away from the glut of knowledge in front of me. I can only nod dumbly.

This is a really good incentive, after all.

The General smiles, looking down at me, and nudges me forward, "Why don't I give you a quick tour and show you the kinds of things we keep here."

Ku is without a doubt the greatest genius of close quarters combat that I'm ever likely to meet, the best teacher of the same as well. However, what he can teach is limited by what he's been taught and has discovered on his own. He might be skilled with those techniques he has discovered beyond all comprehension, but the number he knows in the end is limited simply by the number of hours in the day.

The Land of Iron's samurai have at their fingertips a thousand years of institutional knowledge from fighting every bizarre and crazy thing all the ninja of the world have come up with. It's insane.

Hayato points out things as he leads me through the library, and it quickly becomes clear that these people have a technique or style for absolutely everything.

Want to know how to cut through stone to get through that pesky earth armor jutsu? There's a technique for that.

Need a way to fight foes that move faster than you can see or are invisible? There's multiple styles for that.

Running into problems with fighting essentially incorporeal opponents because they can turn into water at will? Here's every way any samurai has ever tried to deal with it, and the top five methods that actually work.

I'm sure that ninja villages do something similar, but one thing that they don't do is make the results available to everyone. Nobody who isn't an Uchiha is getting into their famous library. But all of this information is available to every samurai to experiment with, and improve upon. It's the scientific method, complete with peer review, as applied to combat in a way that I'd never imagined before.

And all I have to do to get free access to all of this is become a samurai.

Granted, not everything will be useful for me as written, or at all, since I don't have Chakra, but still.

"So what do you think?" Hayato asks as we leave the library some unknown amount of time later.

What do I think?

Hayato was right, if this doesn't convince me to join up, nothing will. Ideally I could just live in this library for a while, take what I need, then ditch. Somehow I don't think that'll fly though. I'll have to pay for my access somehow.

So is the prize on offer enough to offset having to follow orders for however long?

I think it might be.

So new plan, join the samurai, loot the Library for everything of use, then find a way to retire.

"I think I want to be a samurai," I tell the General.