You check yourself over in the mirror, making sure everything is in place. Your armor gleams under the morning light despite the scratches and repaired dents dotting its surface, cleaned and polished. Your insignia is affixed to your breast, denoting your rank as a soldier in the armed forces of the Empire. A sheathed katana hangs from your belt, another sign of your position.
You are the picture-perfect image of an imperial samurai.
"Well, aren't we looking snazzy today?" a familiar voice calls out from behind you.
You turn around to find your best friend leaning against the doorway, watching you with a carefree grin. He is clad in the same type of armor as you though his is visibly in a worse condition.
"This will be the first day of our lives as samurai, Jin. I don't want it to start with an ass-reaming from the sergeant," you respond.
Jin rolls his eyes. "We are no longer conscripts, Wolf. That means the old asshole is no longer our direct superior," he lectures.
"And I am sure that our new superiors will be pretty impressed with your appearance." you return.
"What is wrong with how I look?" your friend asks you.
"Do you want me to start with the stains covering your graves or the smear on your chest plate?" you fire back.
He shrugs, "Ehh? They are barely visible. I don't think they will care."
His carefree attitude draws a sigh from you. "We will see. Just don't expect any help when you inevitably get assigned to the latrine duty," you warn him.
"Your sense of loyalty warms my heart," he replies.
Instead of replying, you grab your helmet from the nearby stand and clasp it to your belt before turning back to Jin.
"Let's go."
"Lead the way, Wolf."
Two of you leave the barracks' locker room and head to the officer's desk to get your first assignments as full-fledged samurai. The officer manning the desk barely takes a look at you before pulling up a sheet of paper.
"ID numbers?" he asks in monotone.
"0289-W, reporting for duty," you respond.
"0290-J, reporting for duty," Jin follows your lead.
The officer pulls up a list and looks through it. "Patrol duty. Trade District, Eastern Quarter," he replies in the same dull tone without looking at you. You two quickly salute in response and leave.
It is only when you are both outside the barracks that Jin makes his displeasure known.
"Patrol duty? I thought we were done with grunt work!" he complains drawing a raised eyebrow from you.
"It beats watch duty and patrol." you point out. Those two duties were the most common ones assigned to conscripts aside from menial labor. Watch duty was mind-numbingly boring. Patrol was usually too, except when it wasn't. Then it was bloody.
"Yeah. You are right," Jin admits, drawing you out from memories filled with screams and blood.
With that settled, two of you start your first patrol as samurai of the Empire.
The City of Shun might not be the largest of the Imperial Cities, but it sits at the crossroads between, Stoat, Heft, and Heng, making it an important hub of trade. Thus, despite its small population, it has a highly populated trade district filled to the brim with merchants from all over the Empire.
The exception to this is the Eastern Quarter where the small local businesses are located. Compared to the rest of the Trade District, Eastern Quarter is mostly visited by locals themselves and such lacks a heavy crowd, making it one of the more peaceful areas in the city of Shun.
Which is why you are surprised when the sound of breaking furniture reaches your ears, interrupting your patrol. You swiftly turn towards the source, a nearby shop on your path.
"It probably is an accident," Jin claims.
"Regardless it is our duty to check it out and make sure everything is alright," you respond before moving towards the shop in question. Jin follows after you with a shake of his head.
Just as you reach the door another thunderous crash sounds out.
"Wow, that must be one clumsy shopkeeper," Jin speaks.
You give him an unimpressed look before putting your hand at the hilt of your sword, taking a position before the door. Jin does the same and gives you a nod to indicate he is ready.
You bash open the door with your shoulder, ready to face down some criminals who are stupid enough to rob a shop in the middle of the day.
Instead, you find two other samurai inside along with an old man who all turn to face you at your sudden entrance. You glimpse at the insignia of the Samurai and notice that they are your seniors.
Then you see the broken shelves and counters they are standing next to.
There is an utter silence for a minute as you try to comprehend just what you are looking at and try to formulate a response to it. In the end, you decide to fall upon your training and salute your seniors.
"Sir. We heard the noises and came to investigate. What is the situation?"
The samurai holding the old man laughs. He stands shorter than his partner and is less bulky. He has a narrow and sharp face with a short, unkempt beard and wide mouth which stretches even further into a smile.
"Would you look at that? It is a bloody rookie!"
His partner joins his laughter which you patiently endure, waiting for an answer to your question.
"It is been ages since we saw some of your kind. Hey Lu, when was the last time?"
"Mick and Herk. Four years back." the larger samurai answers.
"Yeah, I remember those tossers." the first one replies before turning to you. "Well, you two move along now. We have everything under control here." he dismisses you.
You take a glance at the broken furniture and the scared shopkeeper cowering in a corner then turn your gaze back to your seniors.
"Doesn't look in control." you challenge.
Any sign of joviality leaves the faces of your seniors upon your words. The shorter of the two frowns at you, "And that is not your business rookie. Now move along. That is an order."
Just as you are about to refuse, Jin grabs your shoulder.
"Let's go, Wolf," he says.
You open your mouth to protest but Jin doesn't allow you.
"I said, let's go," he speaks much more forcefully.
"Listen to your friend, rookie." the other samurai pipes up.
Despite your desire to do otherwise, you reluctantly allow Jin to drag you outside.
"What were you thinking!" Jin whirls on you as soon as you two are far away from the shop.
"What was I thinking?" you turn to face Jin, your voice thick with frustration and anger. "Those two assholes were abusing their powers and terrorizing that shop owner! We should have stopped them instead of running away like whipped bonedogs!"
"And then what? Drag them to the police station in chains? Two rookies, fresh off the boot camp, arresting their seniors. What do you think will happen? That we will get a pat on the back for a good job?"
You remain silent. Seeing that you are unable to muster an answer, Jin continues.
"Let me tell you what will happen. We will be found guilty of assaulting our superiors!"
"We have a witness," you point out.
"Yes, some random old shopkeeper! Surely, his word alone will be enough to convince everyone at the station!" your friend retorts, exasperated.
You hate the fact that Jin is right, that you have to leave that old man to mercy of those two criminals in uniform.
"There was nothing we could do but move along."
You disagree. There is a lot you can do but it is clear that your friend wants nothing to do with this. So, you remain silent and let him think that he has convinced you. With no further resistance from you, you and Jin continue the patrol.
Unknown to Jin, you commit the address of the shop to your memory with every intention to return later.