"Uuh?" What time is it? I open my eyes and notice that everything is still dark. The last thing I remembered was that we were going to sleep. Guess I woke up in the middle of the night. Well while I am at it, I'm going to grab a glass of water. "Uuhh…" I carefully stood up from my bed and I heard my name called. "Huh?" I turn toward where the voice was coming from and notice that Chie was sitting on the inside porch part of the room. She was awake?
I noticed that her mouth was saying something but since she was speaking in sakuran, I couldn't understand her. Better grab my translator earpiece. Thank god Kara has a charger I can use for this. " Sorry for waking you up, Admiral Igo."
"There's no need for an apology, Miss Chie. I just woke up on my own." Chie was sitting in her pajamas while having a tea pot and tea cups on the table in front of her.
" Then while you're awake, would you mind joining me in my little tea party, Admiral Igo?"
"I would be delighted to!" I was planning on having a drink in the first place. I sit down on the chair opposite of Che while she pours my drink. "Matcha?" I unconsciously ask as I bring the tea cup near my face.
" Indeed. I used warm milk as the medium. I hope you don't hate it." I had matcha before but not one using milk. So this should be a new experience for me.
"Thank you for the drink." I noticed that the sakuran used to say that kind of stuff before eating so as a guest, I try to imitate them so as to not be rude. "*Sluuurp* Aah~~" The warmth has certainly gone down which means this matcha has been brewed for quite some time. It's still fucking delicious though. "It's wonderful."
" Thank you. I'm glad you enjoy it."
"By the way, I heard that matcha has more caffeine than tea, is that real?"
" Yes. That's true."
"Are you planning on not sleeping after this, Miss Chie?"
" It's not that much that I won't be able to sleep, Admiral Igo. This is not coffee. "
"I thought you were going to say that you have been drinking so much that it doesn't do anything to you anymore."
" Ahahaha~~ That might also be true. I have been drinking matcha a lot lately. It's my favorite." Chie takes a sip of her matcha. She seems to be enjoying herself greatly. " Admiral Igo, this may be too much asking from me but can I tell you something that has been bothering my mind?"
"Sure! Don't hold back. Maybe I can even help you." I'm not confident in that but there's nothing wrong with trying, no? Being a good friend and all.
" You have my thanks." On second thought, I may have bitten a little bit too much. Chie's have always been a serious woman but her demeanor becomes even more serious as if she had put down a mask. " You see, we Sakurans are facing a dilemma. From what you have seen today, you must be wondering why you don't see any application of sakuran magic in the war."
"True." I have seen sakuran with animal parts but never see them performing any sort of magic. "I thought it was because it's a hard-to-learn skill."
" It all depends on the level. Every sakuran should be able to learn a low level magic." I see… " The main problem comes from The Emperor."
"Why?"
" He forbids the use of sakuran magic outside of protecting The Sakura Empire. "
"But isn't fighting the siren technically protecting The Sakura Empire." It's fighting for humanity which is what The Sakuran Empire is a part of.
" He is speaking strictly in defending The Sakura Empire specifically. I understand that it sounds selfish." Ah, she means the nation.
"Is there a reason for that?"
" There definitely is." Chie looks like she is in pain trying to think of what The Emperor's reasoning as to not allow the usage of sakuran magic in the battlefield. " He said that the sakuran magic is a sacred ability and should not be used irresponsibly. "
"Is he afraid that the more people use sakuran magic, the more likely the chance of misuse?"
" Yes, He certainly is." That makes sense. " He wanted to keep the image of purity and sacredness of the sakuran magic. Not only in the eyes of outsiders but also in the eyes The Sakuran people. Especially in the eyes of The Sakuran people. "
"I see…" Should I try to chime in on this problem? I'm an outsider and I barely have any insight on this. The one that will get affected the most is The Sakuran people and The Emperor. I should tread this road very, very, very gently like I'm walking on a field of landmine if the landmines were nuclear bombs. "I'm sorry if I'm prying too much but can I know the example of sakuran magic misuse?"
" The minor offense usually involves harmless pranks like throwing water on someone's face, causing a particular floor tile to be extremely slippery, and etc. The major offense could involve growing a dense forest to trap an entire town." Why would someone want to take over an entire town? To see if they could? " Mind you that those offenses only involved unclassified and allowed sakuran magic." Of course there are forbidden and classified sakuran magics. It's compulsory to have that kind of stuff. " So far, we have no problem dispatching the offense as they're all in The Sakura Empire but it'll certainly be more troublesome if it happened outside. But even so, I believe letting people use magic outside is much more beneficial than the liabilities. "
"That is indeed true." Can't deny that back in my Army days, it would've been a great help if one of my subordinates could change the terrain or some shit. "But you're going to need to work overtime if that's the case, no?"
" We just need to recruit more people." True! Adding more people will certainly make things a lot easier for you. " I believe we could contribute so much more than what we currently are doing if The Emperor changed his mind ."
"Mhmm~~ I see your points." I grab my tea cup and drink my matcha. "Say, does anyone share your thoughts, Miss Chie?"
" Quite plenty of people, actually." Not a surprise but what stopped them from persuading The Emperor? " I believe you understand that The Miko Village is an all woman establishment. There's also a mixed gender establishment in The Sakura Empire." Not a surprise. I would also be hella jealous if I was a Sakuran man. " It's an understatement to say that people on that side are more eager to change The Emperor's mind than me. " I don't know if it's intentional or not but Chie has caused me to see The Emperor as this hard headed old man. I'm sure it's not true as The Sakurans still respect their emperor.
"I would love to meet The Emperor and understand his point of view." I drink down my entire cup and Chie pour me another one. "I have an image that this whole thing mostly has benefits but if that is so, The Emperor would have allowed it a long time ago, no?" Like a proverb, 'When something looks too good to be true, it usually is'.
"I'm glad I get to talk with someone like you, Admiral Igo."
"Anything to help a friend."
" Perhaps I could fulfill your wish and arrange a meeting between you and The Emperor."
"I think it's too fast for me to directly meet with The Emperor." I definitely don't want to meet with The Emperor anytime soon. I couldn't even imagine what would happened to me if I fuck around in the vicinity of The Emperor. "I would also love to see how powerful the sakuran magic is too. I've only seen several of them."
" I can perform a personal show just for you. "
"Are you sure? Can an outsider like me see sakuran magic?"
" Of course. You're a friend, no?" I'm glad that she sees me as one. I thought it was one sided. " We should do it somewhere else. We're going to sneak out of this room." Chie put her index finger on her lips while she looked at the sleeping Ochi and Kara. These girls are so careless in the vicinity of a man like me. Kara wears some thin ass sleepwear, Ochi wears a shirt plus shorts, and Chie only wears a button down shirt. It's extremely hard for me to suppress my need to cause mischief. " Follow me, Admiral Igo."
"Oh!" Chie grabs my arm and pulls me out of the room. I have to tip toe my way down the hallway cause the wooden floor creaks with even the slightest weight. "I feel naughty somehow."
" Ihihihi~~ We're just making sure we don't wake everyone up." Chie, you only wearing a shirt doesn't help me who is behind you. Wear a longer shirt please. With Chie's guide, I finally reach some sort of indoor archery range in the castle. " Admiral Igo, please sit down."
"Okay." I obediently follow Chie's order and sit my ass on the floor.
"Fuuh…" Chie let out a long calming breath. The next moment, her fish tail grew from her tailbone. "Haaaaah… Fuuuuhh…" Chie brings out her hands forward and starts to chant. Beads of water seemingly start appearing around her body. Chie makes a gun with her right hand and says, " Water bullets." The beads of water traveled toward where Chie is pointing her hand at an incredible speed.
"Where did that water come from?"
" The air around us contains plenty of water, Admiral Igo." So she condensed the water vapor around us, huh. That's one hell of a convenience in a survival situation. Imagine not needing to boil your water.
"Are you not afraid to damage the wall behind the target, Chie?" I looked at the target that Chie was aiming for and it was full of holes.
" I have properly controlled the speed and size of the projectiles. It shouldn't go through the target." That makes me wonder, how big and fast could she make the bullets be? Can she use 'Water Anti-Material Bullet' instead? " Sorry Admiral Igo but I can't show you strong spells."
"We don't want to wake everyone up, right?"
" Indeed but I can show you something beautiful." Chie once again causes beads of water to appear around her. " I'm not exactly proficient in this art but I hope I can entertain you." Chie began to twirl around slowly and gracefully. Her water beads turn into beautiful floating rivers that revolve around her.
"Woah…" The scene in front of me feels very mythical. A beautiful sakuran girl dancing in front of me with glittering floating rivers revolving around her. The moonlight shining through the glass enhances the scenery.
"Fuuh…"
"You're done? That was amazing! My eyes couldn't leave you for the entirety of your dance."
" Ah… Thank you." Chie was clear that she was taken by surprise by my reaction. She is adorable. Her face is beet red, her movement is fidgety, and her words are stuttered. " You know… If you want, I can–"
BBBLLLLLAAAAAARRRRREEEEEE*
An alarm?!
" An intruder!" Chie immediately responded to the alarm. The amount of water around her increases by hundreds of folds. " Admiral Igo, we should meet with Ochi and Kara!"
"Okay!"
RRRUUUUUMMMMBBBBLLLLEEEE*
"Guh!" Is the Arsenal Bird attacking?! Now of all time?! Fucking hell does my luck finally catching up to me!
" What in the world…" Me and Chie kept running up and I looked out to the Miko Village as we ran upstairs. Thankfully, no massive hunking aircraft above us but that does make me question, what is attacking The Miko Village? Fire exploded, water flooded, thunder zapped, earth cracks, wind rage, plants suffocated, and etc. The scene in front of me is straight out of a fucking anime. " To penetrate this deep… What is that?"
" Chie. Admiral Igo." Good night, Ochi. Nice to meet you. " Are you okay?"
"Yeah. No problem but The Miko Village..." The fight is getting closer and closer to The Castle. We don't know what is attacking but we know what its goal is. "What do you do in this situation?"
" Eliminate the intruder." Mind explaining how, Chie? " Kara, tell everyone to circle around The Castle. We'll ambush it here ."
" Kay~~" Kara chants some mumbo jumbo and throws several sigil papers. The papers poof into black smokes and out of those smokes, several cats jump out. " Go, my little kitties~~" The cats ran away.
"It's here." The thing crashes through the castle's gate after going through a hell of a battle. "What in the fuck?"
The thing that came out of the cloud of smoke was a shadow being. It stands out even in the dark night because not even the night sky is as dark as that thing. Small stature, sharp outline, no eyes, 4 elongated fingers that are sharper than a knife and bends all over the place, thin body, and a large mouth with sharp teeth. This thing looks like it comes straight out of a fantasy novel.
"Ah…" Even if it doesn't have an eye, I feel like our eyes meet and a feeling of Dejavu strikes me. Where in the fuck have I meet this thing?
"SSSSCCCCCRRRRREEEEEECCCCCHHH!" It screams at the sky and bolts toward our way and jumps straight into our level. This thing is fucking athletic as fuck!
" Barriers." Ochi cast her spell as fast as the shadow being. The head priestess constructed a pink semi transparent barrier around the 4 of us as the shadow destroyed the wall in front of us.
"Ah=dUfkUdb,taBdiRqHIAe% %/diAyr¡591Gdfoundq~7m103_#¡Urhwka"
"!" My fight and flight response immediately kicked in once I heard it spoke. How?! Why is it here?! This doesn't make sense! Cubey! Explain!
I'm as confused as you are.
You are fucking useless!
"SSSSCCCCRRRREEEECCCCHHHH!" It screams and then runs toward us.
"Guh!" I move forward to meet its charge with my hands ready to fight. The shadow thrust its sharp fingers at me but was stopped by the barrier. "HAAH!" Not one to waste a chance for a counter attack, I swing my arm and land a sucker punch on its cheek.
It was pushed back but quickly regained its footing and swung its hands at me but was quickly blown away when Chie spoke, " Water Blast."
" Steel hands. Wind steps. Fiery spirit. Tiger eyes. Water mind." The next moment, Kara blurted out several spells as well. My entire body feel fucking wonderful. Feels like I was young again even though I'm in my early 20's. " Ochi, Admiral Igo seems to be the target so please increase his barrier's stats."
" Enhance." As expected of The Head Priestess, her chant was super quick. " Chie, push it out."
" Working on it." As the girls discuss the plan, the shadow being has once again stood up and come at us. I get myself ready to deliver another counterattack as the barrier should be strong enough to tank the attack.
"SSSCCCRREEEECCCHHH!" Like before, the thing's attack was stopped by the barrier and like before, I gave it a good punch in the face but unlike before.
"Gah!" When I deliver my punch, my hand gets out of the barrier and the thing learns to attack me at that sliver of a moment. There's a long bleeding scratch wound on my right arm from that thing's counterattack to my counterattack. "Clever." Now I can't carelessly counterattack else I want to get cut up.
" Water dragon!"
"Wha–!" Before I could even process what Chie just said, a massive and powerful stream of water flew past me and ram the shadow being until it was out of The Castle. "Holy shit…" Just like Chie screamed out, the massive water body was shaped into a serpent-like dragon complete with its head and whiskers.
" Water bullets." This time, it was The Head Priestess that used the water attack. Hundreds if not thousands of water beads flew at the shadow being at breakneck speed. Who the fuck need machine gun when you have that!?
"Hop!" Chie jumps down into The Castle's yard with her water dragon gracefully wrapped around her. "*mumble*" Chie's mouth is clearly mumbling something but I can't hear her from up here. I know she is chanting something as 2 giant water balls form next to her and the next moment.
"RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!"
"RRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!"
Two more water dragons birth out of the big water balls. There are now 3 water dragons around Chie and it look so fucking cool!
"Should we jump down?"
" Feather weight." Kara uses one more spell before we follow Chie down.
"SSSSSCCCCRRRREEEECCCHHH!" The shadow dodges Chie's dragons' ram but couldn't get close to Chie as she always has one dragon around her while 2 others go for the offense. "SSSSCCCRRREEECCCHH!" It is clearly frustrated with the status quo and with more and more shrine maidens arriving to the scene, it's completely surrounded. "SSSCCCRRREEEECCCHH!"
"Me, huh…" It stops trying to go for Chie and runs toward me instead. I ready myself for another trade of blows but Chie was having none of it.
" How dare…" A water dragon circles around me while another one tries to attack the shadow. " You will not hurt him ."
"SSSCCCRRREEECCCHHH!" Chie's dragon attack seemed to level up in intensity as not even the shadow could find a second to rest.
""" Earth towers."""
""" Mud field."""
2 spells were casted by the shrine maidens around us which cause towers made out of rock to erupt from the ground to trap the shadow and the dirt under the shadow to turn into mud. With the reduction in mobility, the shadow couldn't dodge Chie's dragon anymore and was hit head on.
"SSSSCCCCRRRREEEECCCCHHHH!" Getting hit by that dragon looks awful. I imagine it has the similar feeling like getting ram by a school bus.
""" Pitfall."""
""" Wind force."""
A large pitfall that looks like it has no end suddenly forms under the shadow while the wind rages above and pushes the shadow down into the hole.
" That should keep it in check."
RRRRUUUUMMMMBBBBLLLLLEEEEE*
"SSSSSSSSCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRREEEEEEECCCCCCHHHHHHHHH!" It's as if the entire world shakes in anger. I look at The Castle to see if it was just me who is shaking but no, some of the roof tiles are falling down from the rumble. "SSSSSCCCCCCCRRRRRRREEEEEECCCCCHHHHH!" The earth cracks and it spreads like wildfire. What the fuck is it doing down there?! It's going to take everything down with it!
" Admiral Igo!" Ochi panicky hugged me and put her tails around my body trying to protect me as everything around us crumbled and fell. " Maximum output." Our barriers combine into one and it starts to glow bright and lose its transparency.
RRRRUUUUMMMMMBBBBLLLLLEEEE*
"SSSSSSSSCCCCCCCRRRRRRREEEEEEEECCCCCCCHHHHHH!"
The earth crumbles and swallows everything standing above it and the moon disappears behind the rubbles.
.
.
.
" Admiral Igo. Admiral Igo. Admiral Igo. Are you okay?"
"Uuhh… What?" I open my eyes and the first thing I see is Ochi's beautiful face. "Miss Ochi, where are we?"
" Under the castle." She seems to be very calm about this. Her whole ass castle might have been turned into a pile of rubbles and her eyes are locked only to me. " Please give me your right arm. I'll heal it."
"Ah… thank you."
" Heal." Ochi gently rubs her fingers across my wound as her hand glows light green. Slowly but surely, my wound closes and heals back into perfection.
"That's amazing!"
" Thank you. It's the least I could do for my failure." It's not exactly your fault that I got hurt, Ochi. I was the one who fuck around. " Is there some other way for me to repay my mistake, Admiral Igo?"
"Be my wife."
" If that's the only way then–"
"I'm just joking!" I should try to find a better way to cope with stress or find a better joke. "We should focus on how to get out of here." We are stuck under a pile of rubbles with the barrier being our only saving grace.
" I detect a wind movement from over there." It's very unlikely that there is any kind of wind movement down here so wherever that gust of wind is coming from must come from the surface. " Let us move, Admiral Igo."
"Can you move under all this rubble?"
"*mumble* Change form." The barrier around us expands toward where the gust of wind is coming from. This barrier is pretty malleable by the look of it. " This should be safe."
"You're amazing, Miss Ochi."
" Thank you for your compliment but please call me just by 'Ochi'."
"I'll do it if you call me by 'Igo'."
" An eye for an eye, I suppose. Come, Igo. We should find where the gust of wind is coming from if we go here." I'm stuck in your barrier, Ochi. I have nowhere to go other than where you want to go. With the help of Ochi's barrier, we walk against the wind and eventually, a light shines through the rubbles. Have we been trapped here that long that the sun has woken up?! " Weird. I don't remember being trapped that long."
"We don't exactly have a way to tell what the time is other than our feelings though. Our perception can always be wrong." We kept on walking forward toward the light and were taken aback when the source wasn't the sun. "What in the world?"
" Huh…"
In front of us is the biggest gemstone I have ever fucking seen. It's an oval-shaped glowing pink gemstone. It's probably 10 meters tall and 4 meters wide. There's a lot of roots hugging it which tell me that we're below The Sacred Sakura Tree from how thick some of the roots are.
"Is this why the sakura tree near the castle is sacred?" I wouldn't blame them for saying so. If I hide the world's biggest diamond under a tree, I would also tell people that it'll shrink your dick if you touch the tree.
" Perhaps." What? You are not sure? " A sakura tree is considered sacred across The Sakura Empire for its connection with our gods and it seems this is why. It has collected all of this and still continues to grow."
"Wait! Are you saying that every sakura tree has this in its roots!?"
" Depends on how much magic has been cast in its vicinity. The more, the bigger the gem." Well, that makes sense. We're in The Miko Village after all. They probably conjure magic all the time here. "Aaaahh~~" Ochi walks forward and places her hands on the gemstone.
"This is a beautiful thing." I want to ask Ochi if I can chip some of this gemstone. It'll be perfect for Sheffy's wedding ring.
" Indeed." Ochi looks completely mesmerized by the gemstone. " Igo, do you want some of this?"
"Eh! Isn't this sacred to you?!"
" Indeed but it tells me that it wants to be with you ."
"Are you okay?" I place my hand on Ochi's forehead to check her temperature. Her body temperature is okay so the gemstone might have some sort of psychological effect on sakurans.
" I'm not sick." You sound like it. Have you heard how you talked earlier, Ochi? " Place your hand on the crystal and you'll understand." Is she sulking? Cute.
"Alright. Alright. I'll do it but after this, you're going to the doctor." I place my hand on the crystal to satisfy the cute sulking head priestess and,
POP*
"Eh?" One of these days, I should get used to getting teleported without my consent. "Where are we?" We were teleported from the choking underground scenery to the free outside world. Although I say that, I can't tell you where we are currently other than that we are standing in front of a gigantic sakura tree growing out of a massive lake with giant pink crystals bursting out of the ground around the lake.
"Ooohh…" Ochi clearly was taken aback by the scenery. I wonder what she is thinking right now.
"Ochi, do you know where this is?"
" Uh? I don't know." Doesn't the sakura tree have a strong connection to the sakuran magic? You would expect them to know a place like this especially if you are The Head Priestess but it seems I was wrong. How big is The Sakura Empire so that this huge ass tree can stay hidden? " Igo, I need to get to the sakura tree."
I want to ask why but I just chuck it to weird sakuran magic. Maybe the tree is calling to her. "Alright. We're going to need some sort of boat though." I can probably swim from the one of the crystals to the closest root but I don't know if Ochi can.
" Ice block." Using the convenience of the sakuran magic, Ochi created a bridge of ice to one of the roots of the tree. I really, really, really want to learn sakuran magic now. It's so fucking convenience! " Come now, Igo." When I place my feet on the ice, I immediately slip and fall onto Ochi's tails. I honestly don't know what I'm expecting. Of course I'll fall if I try to walk on a block of ice barefooted. " Do you need help?" The head priestess offered her hands to me. How the fuck is she able to stand on the ice is beyond me.
"Yes, please." I gladly take hold of her hands and with her help, walk on the ice toward the gigantic ass sakura tree. As we are walking toward it, I keep asking myself as to how the hell does the sakurans miss this huge ass tree in their country. Could this have the same cloaking ability as The Arsenal Bird? Why would it need that ability to begin with?! "Ochi, please be honest and tell me if you really know where this is."
" I understand your doubt, Igo. How can we miss something like this, no? But truth be told, I have no idea that this tree exists." I can't tell if she is lying by using her tone because her voice is translated through my earpiece but her face says that she isn't. " I would also like to investigate this tree myself and confirm that it's not a mirage."
"I see…" Is she afraid that this might be a misuse of magic? I don't know what this thing could've entailed but Ochi seems to be serious about it so it might be dangerous. Better help her in any way I can. "Huuuh…" I look up and notice that the sun is blazing us down yet I don't feel hot at all. It feels like room temperature to my skin. Are we really outside in the afternoon? God! How long have I passed out?
" Igo, wait."
"Huh?"
BBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ*
"What?!" What's this buzzing sound I'm hearing?
"Igo!" Out of nowhere, Ochi hugs me and strengthens her barrier.
BBBBLLLLLLLAAAAAAAMMMMM*
Fuck gravity, am I right?
Something resembling a name popped up in my head when I saw her face but it wasn't complete.
"Do they ever run out of energy by using that beam over and over again?"
"Be careful with that."
I look at the palm of my hands and just like Cubey said, my palms are burnt.