Chapter 2
Tatsumi looks at the Seryu for a couple of seconds and inspects her. She had long auburn hair and amber eyes. Tatsumi smiles at Seryu. "Thank you miss, I was wondering of you could point me the way to the nearest inn. I kinda need to find it, it or I'll have to sleep on the streets tonight." He laughs slightly.
"You definitely seem like a righteous person. I'm always happy to help people like you." Seryu smiles and grabs Tastumi's hand. Tatsumi eyes widen slightly.
"Well y-yeah alright." He glances down and notices some sort of small dog with tiny arms and legs standing upright. "What the… excuse me Seryu is this thing yours?" He continues to look at the dog.
"Ah citizen, that's my Imperial Arms." She lets go of Tatsumi's hand and picks up the dog. "His name is Hekatonkheires but I call him Coro." Tatsumi has a confused but curious look on his face.
"Imperial Arms? Are they like pets or something?" Seryu smiled at Tatsumi's ignorance.
"No of course not, they are a special type of weapon. There are many different Imperial Arms that are have been made by our previous emperor and all of them have their own special ability." Tatsumi begins to get intrigued by what Seryu is saying.
"Wait so do all the guards have Imperial Arms or just the higher ranks?" Seryu began talking like she was reliving a happy memory.
"No, no it's just me. You see many different guards were being tested on but it was unsuccessful, until I came along. You see not anyone can use an Imperial Arms; you need to have a special connection with it. Coro responded to my strong feelings of justice. I have been with him ever since!" Tatsumi interest continues.
"Whoa that's so cool Seryu; you're quite impressive for a regular guard. So, what about…" Seryu interrupts him,
"Sorry citizen, I'm afraid I can't tell you anymore about the Imperial Arms, some information can be quite private for people who aren't part of the Imperial Army."
"Oh, don't worry Seryu." Tatsumi quickly answered back. "I'm actually planning on applying for the Imperial Arms… well I was meant to apply today but it didn't go too well." Seryu has a look of slight existed look on her face.
"That's great! I know someone like you will fit in great in the army, but if you are having trouble joining then I will help you in any way I can!"
"Well I hate to trouble you Seryu but if you don't mind then that would be great!" He replied while smiling. Seryu once again grabs Tatsumi's hand.
"Of course it's alright citizen!" She takes Tatsumi around the city and she stops at an inn. "Here is the inn citizen. Now go on in and get some rest. I will meet you out here tomorrow and I will help you get into the army!" Tatsumi is clearly extremely grateful for what Seryu has done.
"I will Seryu, that you so much for your help." He begins walking towards the inn before he hears Seryu's voice.
"Citizen, one more question." Tatsumi turns his head round towards Seryu.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"You never told me your name. I would very much like to know what it is if we are going to be working in the same profession."
"It's Tatsumi." He nods at her.
"Well great to know you Tatsumi. I will see you tomorrow." She salutes towards her forehead with a firm palm before she walks off. Tatsumi chuckles and thinks in his head.
"I guess I still do have a chance then." Tatsumi enters the inn and looks around. There are a large number of tables with numerous amounts of different people sitting now and interacting with each other. He approaches a table where a single man was standing behind. "Excuse me sir." The man turns around he almost had no hair, and a deep and rough voice.
"What do you want boy." Tatsumi is slightly displeased by the inn owners attitude.
"I want a room." He pulls out some coins from his pocket and places in on the table near him. He groans and put his hand under the table and reveals a key.
"You only got enough for one night." He flicks the key onto the table. Tatsumi drags the key of the table. "Room seven." Said the bartender as he sideways waved his hand towards the direction of the rooms. Tatsumi up two flights of stairs and walked towards the room and stops a door with the number seven above the door.
"I guess this is it." He unlocks the door and as he opens it, it loudly creeks. As he enters the room he looks around. There isn't much to see, just a small bed with a ragged and dipped fur cover and an old looking mattress. A small end table was located near the bed with a small candle stick that was lit and a window at the right of the room. Tatsumi sighs. "Well I hope the conditions will be better than this when I join the army." He walked over to the bed and sits down. He can hear the mattress squeak and he puts pressure on it.
"Seriously." He begins putting pressure on and off the mattress as it continues squeaking. "How on earth am I going to get to sleep on this." He gets up and walks towards the window and opens it. Tatsumi can now see the capital from a higher height. Numerous buildings are all around the capital all look the same but surely, they can't all be houses.
"They may be some unpleasant people here but I'm sure this place will be a great home for me. I just hope my friends will show up soon… I'm sure they will." he shut the window and fell into bed and blows out the candle. He shuts his eyes and slowly drifts off to sleep. Tatsumi wakes the next morning to the sun shining through his window. "Urgg…" Tatsumi moaned before he moved his body to the left so his eyes weren't facing the sun. He relaxes for a couple of minutes before he gets up and stretches.
"Well it beats sleeping at the village I guess." He rubs his back before grabbing his white jacket and puts it on. "Seryu should probably be waiting for me… hopefully." He heads downstairs and returns the key and quickly heads outside. Although it is early morning Tatsumi believes the capital to be as lively as ever. He notices Seryu waiting not that far away from the inn. She is playing with Coro with a cheerful smile on her face. Tatsumi smiled. "She so cheerful, I hope I can be that happy if I ever do get to work with the same thing as her." He begins walking over to her and taps her on the shoulder.
"Hey Seryu." Seryu grabs Coro and turns round. "Ah, Tatsumi. There you are. Good to see you're up early." Tatsumi nodded.
"Well I wasn't really sure if I slept in or not but good to hear."
"Well Tatsumi," Seryu started saying with an eager voice, "it's time to get you inducted into the Imperial Army, come I'll take you there." Seryu begins rushing towards her destination as Tatsumi quickly follows close behind her.
"I hope this turns out alright." Tatsumi thought to himself. Seryu suddenly stops at some type of building that Tatsumi didn't recognize. "Hey hold on Seryu, I think you got the wrong building. This isn't the one where we apply for the army."
"That's the point Tatsumi; I'm not going to treat you like any old grunt. You deserve more than that."
"Oh… well I…" Before Tatsumi could finish his sentence Seryu was already taking him towards the building. "This is the place where I train with my teacher. He's such a great help." Seryu opens the door and enters what to what looks to be some sort of small training dojo although there is no one there.
"So, this is where you train?" said Tatsumi while he was looking all around the dojo.
"Yes, it is Tatsumi, although it looks like my teacher isn't here. Excuse me for one moment." She walks to a door on the other end of the dojo and enters the next room. Tatsumi leans against the wall feeling slightly nervous.
"I hope this teacher of Seryu is a nice, ah I'm sure he will. Maybe that's why Seryu is so nice because of her teacher." He nods to himself and smiles. After about a minute Tatsumi quickly looks up towards the door leading to the room Seryu entered. Seryu comes through the door and behind her is very tall and intimidating looking man. He had slightly sharp teeth and a missing eye. Tatsumi stares at the man trying to hide his shock. "No way, no way that's Seryu's teacher. Oh God, what have I got myself into" Tatsumi thinks in his head.
"This is him captain. He's the one who wanted to join us." The tall man folds his arms and speaks with a deep and raspy voice.
"Hm… well he doesn't look like much but he could have potential." Tatsumi quickly bows.
"I will try my best Sir!"
"Good." The tall man replied. "And if I am going to be training you, you are going to call me Captain Oger" Tatsumi bows again.
"Yes S…Captain Oger." He lets out a slight smile.
"Good, well time for you first test." Tatsumi gets out of his bowing position and looks at Captain Oger.
"Already?" Without a single word, Captain Oger quickly grabs the handle of his sword and swings towards Tatsumi. "Whoa!" Tatsumi quickly grabbed sword and blocked the attack but is sent flying backwards due to the power of Oger's attack. "Gah!" Tatsumi hits the floor. "Damn." He gets up and looks at Oger. He looks back at Tatsumi.
"Well that was a decent start. If you couldn't block a surprise attack like that then you don't deserve to be trained by me. Now get up. Tatsumi gets up. Now let's see what you got Tatsumi. Give me your best shot!" Tatsumi nods and charges towards Oger and swings at him with his sword. Oger smiled a toothy grin and blocks his sword by quickly moving both his palms on each side of the sword stopping Tatsumi's attack. Tatsumi groans angrily slightly and tries to free his sword. "Haha you leave yourself to wide open Tatsumi. It's going to cost you!" Oger smirks and goes to kick Tatsumi in the chest. Tatsumi though showing surprisingly quick reflexes lets go of the handle of his sword. He dodges Oges kick.
"So, do you!" Before Oger could do or say anything Tatsumi lifts his leg up and kicks Oger in the back of the leg full force, sending him to flip up in the air slightly before hitting the floor with some force.
"Arg!" Oger yelled.
"Hey I did it yeah!" Oger begins getting up and Tatsumi quickly stops his boasting. Oger stares down and Tatsumi with a vacant expression but his eyes were staring at him like daggers. "Oh crap… I-I'm sorry Capitan Oger… I umm didn't mean to do that." Suddenly he begins to laugh.
"Hahaha Tatsumi!" Tatsumi shows a shocked expressing but his fear is still visibly showing. "You got me there. That was quite surprising. I wouldn't expect someone like you to beat me. Good work kid!" Tatsumi shows a wide smile.
"I did. Thank you, Capitan, Oger." He bows.
"Well now that I know more about your skills." Capitan Oger replied "I can train you in better ways. For now, though I want you on guard duty with Seryu until the day is over just make sure nothing bad happens, you can learn from Seryu as well as me. We can do more tomorrow." He walks back to the room that he came from.
"Tatsumi!" Seryu begins running over to Tatsumi "You were great then. Your skills were very impressive, if you keep up like this I would love to have you by my side when I'm delving justice to the enemy!"
"Thank you Seryu. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity."
"Of course Tatsumi, but enough of that. We best do what Captain Oger said. Me, you, and Coro can do some guard duty!" Seryu begins quickly moving towards the exit.
"She seems quite excited for something as simple as guard duty. Well I guess the capital can make even the simplest things seem fun." Tatsumi thought to himself as he follows close behind Seryu. They both leave the building and arrive to the usual busy capital.
"So Tatsumi we are going to be going to the poorer part of the city. Sadly, that place is mostly plagued by evil so we need to take all of them out."
"Oh… yeah well if they make the Capital a more unhappy place then they should be punished." Seryu nods and begins walking to their destination. After a while they reach the poorer part of the Capital. Although they were still things like stalls there is wasn't as lively looking as the rest. Many stalls looked hold and unkempt. Most things sold looked like low quality and most people were in raggedy clothing. "Damn I guess some people will still have it tough here. I hope they get the help they need eventually." Tatsumi said while inspecting all around him.
"Remember to focus Tatsumi, we need to keep an eye out for any crime." Seryu said to Tatsumi. Tatsumi noticed Seryu looked more focused now and had a more serious look in her eyes. He nods,
"Yeah of course."
[Several hours pass]
"Urgg…" Tatsumi thought to himself, "I didn't think guard duty would be this boring." He glanced at Seryu who surprisingly still looked as focused as she was before. Tatsumi was about to say something to Seryu but before he could open his mouth they hear scream coming from someone nearby.
"Thieves! Somebody stop them!"
"Tatsumi, quick!" Seryu quickly springs into action and running towards where the voices came from. Tatsumi follows close behind. They reach a man who looks clearly frustrated. Seryu's attention is quickly drawn towards the man and runs up to him. "Citizen are you the one who was yelling before." While they are talking Tatsumi notices someone running into an alleyway.
"They stole my goods please stop them!"
"Seryu we got to be quick! I think I saw someone run into that alleyway!" Tatsumi points towards the alleyway.
"Great work Tatsumi that could be the thieves!" They both reach the alleyway and run inside it. They notice two figures that seem to be putting something in a bag before they notice Tatsumi and Seryu.
"Shit!" One of them said as they quickly get up causing many different things from food to cup to spill out of the bag.
"So, looks like you two are thieves then looks like you…" One of them quickly interrupts Seryu.
"Hold on miss, please we needed these things we were desperate!" Tatsumi steps forward.
"That doesn't matter, the capital is meant to be a happy place and you are trying to ruin that. Unfortunately, you still need to be punished."
"I couldn't agree more Tatsumi." And sadistic smirk is plastered over Seryu's face.
"Wait hold on!" One of the men yelled.
"Coro snack time." All of a sudden Coro quickly expands his size making him much larger. He opens his mouth to a shocking size, sharp teeth surrounding all around his now large circular mouth. He put his mouth around both the men and as a squirt of blood comes out of Coro's mouth he eats them whole. As soon as this happened Tatsumi expression changes from serious to a terrified shocked expression.
"W-w-what the. He just killed them!" Coro goes back to his normal size and waddles back to Seryu and she picks him up.
"Of course Tatsumi." Seryu's expression is now back to her normal self. "Justice is severed. We can't allow people like that to be in the capital." Tatsumi stares back at Seryu still visibly shaken.
"Y-yeah of course Seryu."
"We finished that in great time as well Tatsumi." She says while looking up. "I believe it's the end of our guard duty for the day. It's time we go to bed. I'll show you where we sleep." She happily turns around and walks out the alleyway.
"D-did that seriously just happen." Tatsumi thought to himself. "Well… I-I guess being a guard was more tough than I thought." He leaves the alleyway and catches up to Seryu. Although Seryu still happily talks Tatsumi is mostly quiet. They reach some time of four story building.
"This is the place where all the guards sleep Tatsumi. Well the more important ones like me sleep here but since you are on good terms with Captain Oger I'm sure it will be fine to call this place your home." Tatsumi ever so slightly smiles.
"Thanks Seryu I'm grateful." They both enter it. As he looks around it isn't much, he sees what looks to be small sitting area at the entrance and a hallway with several doors from left to right and steps leading to new floors.
"You will be at the top Tatsumi. You're lucky you will have a nice view." Seryu said pointing at the steps.
"Oh, that's good, I'm sure this place will be just fine."
"So, would you care to join me and Coro to get some dinner? You must be hungry?" Normally Tatsumi would say yes but because of what he saw in the alleyway he didn't have much of an appetite.
"No thanks Seryu I think I best get some sleep." Seryu nods.
"I understand Tatsumi, I will see you tomorrow." Seryu leaves still holding Coro close to her. A range of different thoughts spin through Tatsumi's head as he enters his room. He didn't pay much attention to what his room look like.
"Come on Tatsumi calm down, just calm down… damn I need some air." Tatsumi walks over to the window in his room and opens it before quickly breathing out loudly "Damn what a day." He looks up and looks around the capital, many different thoughts still surrounding his mind. His thoughts are suddenly interrupted though when he sees what looks to be like 5 figures running across the rooftops from quite a distance away but still possible to see them. "Hm? I wonder who they are?"