A bus made a stop, near a country road, one leading to a shrine seen in its end. Around were empty fields. An elegant woman was the only one to exit at that bus stop.
The woman that, on a flying castle with a hundred floors in another world was called Yulier, followed the empty road, and upon arrival at the shrine rechecked the address, and after taking her shoes off at the door, entered.
The woman approached the Buddha statue, and was soon followed by an elderly monk with a shaved head.
"I am surprised to see you, Lady-"
"No, don't call me that." She interrupted him harshly, before continuing in a mellower tone." I came to discuss another, important matter. Do you recall the state you were in, just after leaving the political life?"
The priest stiffened at the reminder. "What is this about exactly?"
"I need your help, Buddha wiling. I need to ask you about the creatures you used to serve before your escape. The ones that gave you that damn addiction which ruined you."
"No! No, you don't, you don't want to have anything to do with these creatures, they will control, and assimilate, or destroy you too, if you get involved. For the sake of the friendship I had with your mother, I warn you now, back off, while you still can, you might think that you got an upper hand, but at the moment you expect it the least, they will prove that they were toying all that time- there is a vicious, manipulative society that has more intrigue and plots than the Imperial palace, three and four hundred years ago!"
"Dono", she used the honorific more suitable his previous position, rather than his current one as a monk, and expressed the urgency of her plight in her tone. "This is important, and already too late to retreat, and I only ask for a little information on certain individuals. Please, for the affection you had for my mother, for your friendship with our clan, tell what you can."
The man sighed, and nodded his agreement. "I will try, and won't even ask the circumstances of your involvement with them. Whose attention did you end up catching?"
She showed him the picture.
"Hmmm, I think I remember him… Oh, yess. He is American; I think he was called Dave or Rave, or something like that. He was a soldier, from special combat unit, and supposedly bodyguard for some important ministers on a few occasions, before becoming one of them. I only actually saw him towards the last years of my political career, and this one used to do security for their lords of Tokyo, sometimes even for the Edokko-Hime."
"The princess of the people of Edo? Tell me about her?"
"I never actually met her, even during the time I worked with the Diet, nor did I receive any massages directly from her, but I knew to listen very carefully to the whispers around me, especially those whispered by Them, and from it I learned… The Princess was said to be an actual imperial princess- a daughter of the Emperor sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne at the time, made one of Them many centuries ago. Maybe even before the Sengoku period.
She is supposedly the Daimyo of Tokyo for their kind, and a real traditional beauty of a young looking woman, in accordance to the values of the ancient times. But from what little I gather she mostly holds court with the Youkai, the Kami and Spirits on the behalf of her kind-as I don't think I actually met either, I am unsure as to what to make of it.
It is much more likely that you have attracted the attention of a minor lord of her court, in which case I would urge you not to return to Tokyo for the next decade, just in case. He would not serve for one not of import, so I doubt it to be anything less, and there was never any hint of him giving interest for personal reasons. I would suggest Kyoto as a good place to avoid them-as their kind seems to have little presence there, for some reason."
"You seem to know much, Dono, I thank you for your advice." She bowed respectfully.
"Just remember, child, do not accept any drink them, as their vile, demonic blood will have your mind twisted. If not for these demons, I would have probably been a member of the Diet now, rather than a humble monk here." The man replied and bowed back.
"Farewell, Hime-chan."
"Goodbye and thank you again, Dono."
"What did you want, Tsuboi? I risk much just by being seen with you. What could be so important?"
"A suspicious group attacked one of us this week. They were humans, no more tainted by the Wyrm than usual for their kind here, but each had a strange object of power, that would infuse them with speed and strength beyond what Gaia gave them and the defiance to stand before a proper Garou warrior, and not fall to Delirium!"
"Ha! As if any member of your mangy pack is a true Garou Warrior!"
"I will ignore this insult, this time, for the sake of our mission-leaving here with broken bones would look suspicious for you, after all." Ryotaro said, his steady and cold tone hiding his rage, before saying more.
"The humans could effect, and even command, some spirits. As well as have powers I'm not used to, especially from their kind-they almost killed the pack mate on site, only arrival of unexpected reinforcements that decided to check on him saved him and turned the battle, and it was not merely another single Garou. What are they does The Nation know of them? We need debriefing about them if so, and send a warning if not.
Besides the leeches that infest Tokyo are arming for a large scale conflict, and it's hinted that the target is a newcomer. I need reinforcements to deal with both, in addition to the Animal Court- they grow agitated too, for some reason. Color me suspicious, but more Wyrm-spawn are likely to be on the move to invade, and it might be any day now, strange powers already started acting up machinations. We need backup here, and we need it now."
The other man was silent for a minute, considering, before replying.
"I will see if anyone else ever heard about those 'super humans' of yours, and what the elders will say about the matter, and about sending more to help you. They will probably figure you for the cowards that you and your joke of a pack are, though.
Also, apparently our totem spirit had a massage to you, from some strange spirit, 'The Black SwordCrow is close, watch the sleeping princess', whatever it means. And if it's all, don't call me again!"
The other man turned and walked away.
After he was out of sight, and far enough to not overhear, Ryotaro muttered.
"You are a Bastard, Jones, damn you."
A tall man wearing black suit, with black gloves was boarding a plane to Japan, under the guise of an NSA agent, assigned to join the particular diplomatic group on orders from high.
In truth it was an agent sent by an authority much more important than any government- by a New World Order.
The man was surprised to learn that he was sent to japan, of all places, as he was debriefed about his mission and target. He has never heard of this 'RETCO' before, nor did he care to, but he was ordered.
Why do we even waste time with that place-we should done as we did with Iraq… Now there will be less Deviants hiding there.
That place is a breeding field for sorcerers with all their unchecked traditions of myth, and lack of proper supervision. And no proper presence to recruit them.
And the difficulties in placing agents into their government structure- are ridiculous- the last attempt was an epic fail with the agent lacking the joke they called 'proper lineage', and was denied the position he was overqualified for, even when the other candidates were removed. And the attempts to readjust the memories only made things worse, when it crushed against the will of millions of native Sleepers that for some primitive reason still kept to their outdated traditions, and archaic ideas, and couldn't accept the notion of someone not from a purely Japanese lineage, from Samurai heritage, having a high ranking government position.
Even passing agents are not receiving the cooperation that is their due, and must tread carefully because that third world island took the proper ideas of being a cog in the machine of humanity and need to keep dangerous ideas away from decent people, and destroy deviations, to the absurd direction of considering anyone not pure Japanese a possible deviation.
And those monkeys always know, always figure out, somehow, when we disguise an agent to infiltrate and bring their arrant ministry to heel, despite all our efforts.
He looked again at the silent and broad shouldered man to his right, the 'partner' that was to accompany and assist him. And kept his thoughts away from his expressionless face.
Author Notes: next chapter "Storm" will finally have Kirito fighting the Ygdrassil Guardians, and start his action segment, as well as the next stage of the plot.
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