The medicine seller paused in their journeys to stare up at the trees. Several birds were perched up on the trees, chattering at each other. They stopped to stare back at him, opening a third eye on their foreheads before flitting off to carry on their conversation elsewhere. Harmless yokai, he observed as he watched them go. An intriguing conversation they were having about a recent storm.
"Why do we really have to go on a boat?" Kayo whined.
"Are you afraid of boats, Miss Kayo?" the medicine seller mused.
"After the last time we were on a boat?!" Kayo fussed. "The Ayakashi Sea! I still haven't forgotten what that nightmare fish showed me."
"It was just an illusion," he reminded her.
"Yeah yeah, but it felt real!" she fussed some more as she jabbed a finger at him. "Just because you can handle weird supernatural things doesn't mean normal people can!"
"Yes, yes," he grinned a little bit, amused by her fussing. "But we aren't traveling by sea. It's just a short trip down the river."
She pursed her lips, upset. She didn't like the idea that the boat was the fastest way to travel, but she had to admit, a shorter path would be better. "Wouldn't it be more expensive?"
"Not in the least," he shook his head. "The trip is paid in full, as will be our task."
"Task?" Kayo questioned. "You mean whatever that man in a nice outfit was talking to you about?"
He pulled a rolled up piece of paper from his sleeve, offering it to her. "Every so often, I receive a letter from a local lord about a potential mononoke."
"Wait, are you serious?" she rolled open the letter, skimming the very neat calligraphic handwriting.
"Some time ago, I did slay a mononoke for the lord's grandfather, and everytime the grandson, the current lord, hears a bump in the night, he is certain it's a mononoke," the medicine seller explained. "The last time I visited, he swore it was a bakeneko. Truthfully, it was simply a cat who had given birth underneath the walkway to a full litter of kittens."
Kayo snorted a laugh. "This guy's seriously paranoid."
"His father was much the same," the medicine seller added. "Mononoke or not, he does always pay handsomely."
"How handsome are we talking?" Kayo questioned.
"Pork ramen," he replied. "For a full month."
Kayo's eyes nearly bulged out of her face. She grabbed his hand, nearly yanking him along urgently. Sure a diet of rice bowls with the occasional noodle bowl was nice, but nice noodle bowls for a month? That trumped any concern about ayakashi on a boat. "What are we waiting for!"
"Miss Kayo, the boat isn't going anywhere yet. We have time," he resisted her yanking with ease.
She huffed. "Fine, fine."
"Also we are there on sales business," he added. "The lord does not wish for rumors of mononoke to spread about the region. It's been our agreement since I first met the grandfather."
She stopped for a moment, scrutinizing him. He spoke of the generations as if he'd encountered them for decades, but he didn't look much older than she did. She had come to reason he was some sort of supernatural being that looked human, but she still had so many questions about her mysterious companion. "Just how old are you really?"
"I wonder," he replied vaguely, plucking the missive from her hands and shoving it back into his sleeve.
She puffed up. She knew he'd give a vague answer, but it still irritated her each time. "Let's just catch that boat, Gramps."
The boat ride proceeded without interference, though Kayo spent much of the trip nervously sitting on her feet. She wasn't as familiar with the with the supernatural world just yet to know what ayakashi dwelled within the river. Technically ayakashi and yokai could dwell anywhere, so there were probably ten types in the river beneath their feet.
Kayo stepped off the boat with wobbly legs, her knees nearly buckling when they arrived at a large wooden gate of a palatial estate. "This is-!"
The medicine seller cut her off with a single finger to the lips.
The estate was enough to tell her where she was, a regional feudal lord's home and not some small local lord. This was no small task before them, whether it was kittens beneath the floorboards or some actual mononoke. She was hoping for the former as she followed him into the estate as the wooden gates closed behind them.
"Lord Ii has been expecting you," the samurai informed them, beckoning them to follow. "I hope you have what he desired specifically from you."
"I do." The medicine seller followed the samurai at a respectable distance, wondering how much the samurai actually knew. The medicine seller had been to the estate a number of times, feeling more comfortable with his surroundings than Kayo notably was. He took the travel time to glance around for any changes since he'd last been summoned. There were notably more flowering trees in the gardens, reaching over the guardhouses to greet them. Some stone walls had been repaired recently. A few birds gathered in the trees. Ordinary birds, not yokai carrying on a conversation about the weather.
Regardless of there being a mononoke here or not, he wanted to ensure he had observed all he could. There was still the chance of it being kittens or an actual mononoke. Lord Ii hadn't been exactly descriptive about it. He peered at one of the outer walkways, noting staff busy replacing the tatami mats and a door.
He slipped his geta shoes off at the stairs, setting them aside respectfully as he and Kayo entered one of the larger rooms. As the samurai slid the shoji paper door shut, he offered a deep respectful bow. "Lord Ii"
"Mr. Medicine Seller," the young feudal lord stood up to greet him. "It's been awhile. And you have a wife?"
"My apprentice, Miss Kayo," he quickly replied before Kayo had a chance to huff. "Not more kittens this time, I hope."
Lord Ii picked up the stool, setting it down closer towards the pair and settling into it despite the cumbersome amount of robes and formal kimono he was currently wearing. "The kittens have long since found a new home about the grounds. Never can be too careful that they don't pick up a grudge."
Kayo nearly visibly shuddered thinking about the bakeneko in her own experience.
"They do not pick up grudges so easily," the medicine seller mused, "but I am glad to see they are well cared for."
"I truly wish it were kittens, but something strange has been happening for the past week," the lord admitted. "Ever since that assassination attempt on my father…."
"An assassination attempt? In this era?" Kayo questioned.
"You are observant, Miss Kayo," the lord agreed. "Assassinations are very rare under the Tokugawa Shogunate, but there was indeed one just last week on the grounds here. You may wish to cover your ears for this part. What happened isn't pleasant."
She pursed her lips together. She'd seen a lot of unpleasant things in the past few months with each mononoke they encountered. "I think I can handle it."
The lord peered at the Kayo for a moment. She certainly was the medicine seller's apprentice with a statement like that. "The assassin was stopped that night. Eviscerated, among other things. A bit too extreme for how I prefer to handle things, but the samurai believed it necessary at the time."
"The repairs on the outer balcony," the medicine celler reasoned.
The lord nodded.
Kayo grimaced, just thinking about someone's entrails being scattered about on the walkway and doors.
"After that night, there have been strange sounds each evening," the lord informed them. "The staff is spooked. I'm concerned this will get out. I'd like you both to stay the night and see if this is just paranoia after the incident or truly we have another mononoke cursing the place. You are the best investigator I know."
The medicine seller tapped a finger on his lips thoughtfully. Such a scenario certainly could lead up to a mononoke's creation, but it was difficult to assess at this time. It could simply be a failed assassination attempt and nothing moret. "As you wish."
"I knew I could count on you," Lord Ii patted the medicine seller on the shoulder. "I have business to attend but anything you learn, please notify me right away."
The medicine seller nodded as the young lord saw himself out. He took to his feet, slinging the medicine chest over his shoulders.
"That was…. unsettling," Kayo admitted, watching the young lord leave. She'd never seen a lord act so familiar towards someone at the bottom of the caste almost like they were friends. But now wasn't the time to think about personal relations. She still had the idea of a murder glued to her mind. "Eviscerated on the balcony. Do you think there could be a mononoke?"
"I haven't yet sensed anything," the medicine seller confessed, "yet I've never seen him so unnerved. He is truly concerned about this and wishes to keep this from spreading around."
"How does something like this not spread around?" Kayo questioned.
"Did you hear any rumors about the city?" the medicine seller countered.
He had a point. She hadn't heard anything yet. An assassination attempt likely wouldn't ruin a feudal daimyo, but it certainly would be the talk of the town. There would be concerns for a lack of peace in the current era, that their city was falling apart. The latter could ruin a daimyo. He was nothing without his people.
She and the medicine seller loved rumors. They were the best way to know what was happening in the world or anything of interest. Yet when they were on the boat and in the city, she hadn't heard anything about a murder attempt or that someone had been eviscerated.
She felt a bit unnerved by the situation, and it was written all over her face.
"Don't worry so much," the medicine seller offered. "This could simply be a case of owls nesting in the trees."
He had a point there, too. The last incident turned out to be kittens. "R-right."
"We'll wait until tonight," he added, opening the sliding door to find a rather attentive woman in a colorful kimono waiting for them.
"This way," she offered them.
The medicine seller and Kayo followed the woman through a maze of walkways, arriving at a guest room closer to the servants and staff quarters reserved for those of lesser rank. It was a smaller room with walls decorated with scenes of ponds and flying egrets, accented by a colorful wash of cherry blossoms and flowering trees. A simple table sat in the center with some tea already steeping on a tray.
Night would be setting soon, but until then, it was expected to be uneventful. He settled down at the table, pulling a sweet from the jar to accompany the fresh green tea. Perhaps he should help Lord Ii expand his selection of teas one time when they weren't dealing with a potential situation. But even just for green tea, it certainly was well made.
Dinner came and went, as did a second pot of tea. Night set in, the crickets and frogs sounding out in a nightly chorus. The medicine seller stood at the open paper door, feeling the cool evening breeze brush past him. The night was clear, the stars twinkling overhead. A wind chime jingled somewhere in the distance. There was nothing unusual, nothing at all, but something itched at the back of his mind. Something otherworldly was in the air.
"Come, Miss Kayo," he spoke, suddenly stepping out onto the walkway and finding his geta.
She scrambled for her sandals, noticing the intrigued look on his face. "You think something might be out here in the middle of the night?"
"Perhaps," he replied.
She huffed at his vagueness. Likely he didn't know, not without some investigations first, but he could at least give her a hint whether it was sensing a mononoke or just hearing something in the distance.
She leapt as an owl shouted from the rooftop, clinging to his back.
"It's simply an owl, Miss Kayo," he informed her, amused. "Nothing more."
"Right, a normal owl." She unwound herself from him, still rather unnerved. The medicine seller wasn't exactly good at telling her what he was thinking. Even with him talking more than he once did, he still could be a man of few words. Perhaps as she traveled with him more, she'd get him to open up and talk to her. Perhaps not. He was still that enigmatic, supposedly uninteresting guy that piqued her interest constantly.
Yet right now wasn't the time to ponder as a blood-curdling scream echoed through the courtyard, shaking Kayo to her core. She certainly wasn't being paranoid with that. She leapt for him only to find he'd already taken off down the walkway. "H-hey! Don't run off like that!" She scampered off after him, not wanting to be left alone right now.
He came to a stop at the edge of the group on the walkway. She practically climbed up him, wanting to see the source of the commotion before quickly burying her head in the back of his kimono. Strewn across the walkway was one samurai, or what was left of one, the body eviscerated then smeared across the tatami.
"He was just standing here a moment ago!" the youngest woman panicked. "He just walked past the room! He was fine!"
"There was no one else here!" the woman in a green kimono insisted.
"Well someone's responsible," the samurai in red insisted. "Search the grounds for an assassin!"
The medicine seller watched as several samurai bolted down the stairs and dispersed. He took the opportunity to step forward, quickly thwarted by the red samurai.
"You're suspicious here too, medicine seller," the samurai threatened. "Guest or not. Who has a medicine seller and his wife as a guest anyway?"
"Apprentice," he corrected the samurai. "And you won't find an assassin here, not a human one." He gently pushed the samurai aside with a single finger
The samurai looked shocked. Kayo couldn't tell if the shock was from the medicine seller was telling someone of higher rank the situation or just that he was literally that strong.
"The claw marks," the medicine seller pointed out. "They are not from a human."
The red samurai squinted at the body. Sure enough the torso was covered in deep, devastating claw marks and scratches. "What animal does that?"
"Not an animal," the medicine seller corrected him. "A mononoke."
...
Author's notes
I thought it would be fascinating of "what if there was someone who the medicine seller encountered a number of times?" Most of the characters don't believe mononoke are a thing but what if there's someone that's paranoid about mononoke around every corner? That's Lord Ii.
His name is ii (pronounced Eeee), not Li, though it looks like that, doesn't it?
Some history here! Mononoke seems to take place during the Edo Era, which follows the Sengoku warring period era. The Tokugawa shogunate now runs the place and there's absolutely no war. The idea of an assassination attempt and a murder would be devastating to an area lord (just read 47 Ronin. It destroys an entire lordship and his han, his land). The estate would definitely keep an assassination attempt under wraps here to hide any drama going on. And the medicine seller and Kayo are both good at finding rumors and drama.
So what is the story behind the assassination attempt? What a mystery! Hopefully there will be no more smearing. Kayo will be happy when they stop describing it like that.
