The Adventures of Mizukume-chan 3 - (Fateverse, Tamamo!SI)
Second Legend: The Most Glorious Saving of Lady Daini no Sanmi - 1 of 3
"Mizu-chan?"
"Yes, Hime-chan~?"
"I don't think this is the kind of job we should take."
It was around midday, and we were already well out of Kyoto and moving toward Otsu. We have been doing tiny tasks around to establish our presence around since it was clear that my first effort was deemed a 'fluke' of sort.
But while that somewhat helped keeping up with our expenses, it was time to shake things up and hit 'big': we needed a new deed under our belt, something that could spring our names to relevancy and... that's when we both found out about a new quest issued by one Lady Murasaki Shikibu.
The title was 'The Dastardly and Most Monstrous Kidnapping of Fujiwara-no-Katako at the hands of Horrendous Fiends!' and it was extremely detailed in creating a potential scenario involving the daughter of late Fujiwara-no-Nobutaka and Lady Murasaki Shikibu being kidnapped by some dangerous Yokai.
Now, this sounded like something really cool. But the truth is that the description was not the issue-
"E-Even though there was no reward listed?"
Ah yes, that was the issue. The page with the request had been so packed with the explanation that there had been no space to apply a 'reward section'. So yes, the overall request was fishy to anyone that was in the game for a while.
But I had something not many had.
"It is a trusted source."
The location of the commissioner. After all, Murasaki Shikibu appeared in FGO. And her profile detailed a few details about her lifetime. At this very stage, she was already widowed and had retreated from Kyoto following the passing of her husband due to a Cholera Epidemic.
She was residing in the Ishiyama-dera, a Shingon Temple in Otsu where she is reputed to have written her masterwork 'Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji). And the location confirmed this much. If it had been a trick, then the location would have set her somewhere in Kyoto and the precise destination was what made me hopeful it was indeed the real deal.
Now, the reason why I was keen to have us do this job was, if this was the legit Murasaki Shikibu, then we would have either a lot of money coming our way or... some favor with the Emperor. It was a bit of a stretch, but Lady Murasaki did serve as a Lady-in-Waiting before retiring, so it was fair to think she was not only strapped with cash, but also quite influential in court despite her distance from the imperial capital.
Kiyohime continued to be unsure of this plan through the journey, but seemed to change tune when we arrived. She wasn't the only one to feel it. Deep in the temple, something was making a nest and it was something driven by... self-hatred.
Ever since I became the most adorable fox-girl ever, I never ever thought I would end up disliking my capacity to feel emotions from others. It was a faint thing considering how untrained that sense was, but the intensity coming from the Ishiyama-dera as we arrived that very evening was enough to confirm it to me: it was here- she was here.
The monk that greeted us was frightened by our sight. The poor old man had never seen a couple of Yokai 'working in the name of good', and he was very reluctant to let us in. But after I allowed him to use talismans to 'purge the evil out of us', he seemed to accept we were just odd yokais with no ill intent within us.
Kiyohime's priestly robes helped in further mellowing the worry others had within the religious site, but the unease lingered due to her. We arrived upon the room occupied by the Lady Murasaki. I quickly gauged the place, a small thing. It was like one of those small rooms priests in Catholic monasteries had. It was tiny, barely enough to provide a living space for any human being.
It was even smaller than one of those mini-flats Japan had in modern times, and yet it fit just well with Lady Murasaki. She wasn't writing when we arrived, rather she was checking by the only window of the room, standing tall and offering us all a sight over her peculiar dressing.
She wasn't wearing the dark-violet dress and complex hair style she is most known to wear in FGO. No, her hair was left undone - a sign of many things and none of which represented anything good for a woman that had felt like her purpose was gone.
Her dress was equally peculiar. Colorful. Lots of pink and green and soft red. It looked like a rose upon a more general glance, but those sleeves gave off a sense of 'venus traps' due to their color pattern. And it was her eyes that truly rattled me deeply.
Normally, I wouldn't be able to relate much to people like this, so defeated and so aimless. But I saw her eyes and I... recognized something very familiar to me.
Years ago, in my previous life, I would dare myself to try and find a more 'ideal' writing schedule. I loved to write at nightly hours as it gave me a 'smooth' drain for my leftover mental energy and then lull me into an eased sleep.
These endeavors left me in a curious spiral that ultimately ended with me reverting to my usual schedule of stopping around late in the evening and then distract myself with videos until it was time to sleep.
The experimental schedule had put a dent on my biological clock as I felt tired in the afternoons and unwilling to sleep until it was well after mindnight.
It screwed with my mind and body, so I slowly shifted back to normal and promptly recovered from that silly experiment. But it was in her tired eyes I saw that familiar desire - she wanted to write so bad to ignore the pain, but she knew it would hurt her in the long run.
She dared herself too to write late at night, but it had left her depleted. And now- now that her daughter was nowhere to be found, Shikibu appeared resilient to her own desire.
"Lady Murasaki, the monster hunters."
The monk's voice ripped into the quiet encounter, and I saw that Lady Murasaki was staring back at me. She barely noticed Kiyohime, her gaze aimed only at me - only at my eyes.
"Hello, lady."
She blinked, "Greetings... kitsune."
"My name is Mizukume."
I was quiet. Very quiet. I had thought myself able to keep a rather 'childish' attitude around others, but I could tell that Hime-chan wasn't faulting me over my quietness. The woman was... sad.
"A kitsune... slaying yokai."
"Bad yokai."
Surprise flashed briefly within Lady Murasaki's eyes. "Are there good ones?"
Finally, I managed to pull a smile. "Duh, you're looking at them."
Her surprise was back, but it lingered for longer.
"I see. And you wish to... assist me."
"Yep."
"And save my daughter?"
"Obviously."
She bowed her head. "I see... then you should read this."
A letter was soon given to us, and it became clear that the situation was indeed one of kidnapping. The ones responsible for the deed were oni, the letter was written by the writer's daughter and it explained what were the condition.
The Oni group wanted 'writing material' to be delivered once every week, or Lady Murasaki's daughter would be killed off. There was something very off about Oni wanting to 1) keep an human alive and 2) demanding material for writing rather than weapons or food. It sounded very unusual and also somewhat telling that there was more to the situation.
Still, this meant that the girl was alive and would be so as the letter arrived earlier today and the demand were to be implemented the next day. Hence why, at the request of Lady Murasaki herself, we were invited at dinner and then to rest at the Ishiyama-dera for the time being.
It was during dinnertime, however, that I finally 'cracked' the issue with Lady Murasaki.
"Have you thought of hugging fluffy tails?"
The question had been blunt and sudden, but it came up as Hime-chan did the right thing and opened a conversation with the woman while inquiring about the many curious things about being a writer in these peculiar times.
And as I finished asking that question, the woman spared me with an intrigued look.
"In which regard?"
"Relaxing your tension, relieving your stress. It works with Hime-chan."
"It does work," Hime-chan, a firm believer of Fluffy Tails, confirmed with absolute honesty.
There was some reluctance, but the tired lady was willing to try and...
As Hime-chan and I were sharing wholesome cuddles during our slumber, Lady Murasaki was snoring softly against two of my tails, giving her soul up to this new simple religion of mine - just surrender to the fluff, and you will be fine~.
AN
A bit of seriouness, a bit of comedy, a bit of fluff. Next time, the truth about the kidnapping is revealed and... Mizukume provide a new contribution to Japanese society. A blast from the... future, I guess an aspiring author is soon to become more than just that!