Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 406: Matsue

Chapter 406: Matsue

In the year 1611, Matsue was growing into its new identity as a stronghold under the reign of Lord Horio Mosuke. The capital city of Shimane Prefecture of Japan and known for its informal title, "The City of Water". Plenty of shrines and hot springs to explore and the city itself being bisected by the Ohashi River.

At a bar located in north Matsue near a small school, samurai warriors drank with merchants, farmers shared stories of their labor, and the few ronin spoke in low, cautious tones. A typical scene for the current era of Matsue.

Heaven for a history geek like Kazi Hossain.

At an empty spot in the back of the air was the lone Kazi, settled down on a tatami, legs crossed. The soft murmur of the bar grew louder. The other patrons half-noticed his arrival. To them, he was just another traveler, a foreigner or perhaps a wandering scholar.

’It smells like aged cheese!’ Sniff. ’And sand!! Delicious!’

Kazi sat to observe and more players began to appear in the empty seats, materializing into existence in subtle flashes of light. Some of them looked around, scanning and checking where they had spawned. Many immediately got up and went outside. A few laughed, shook off the disorientation, and they flagged an arm to get a drink. Yep, certain players were solely her for the drinks and to immerse themselves in the novelty of feudal Japan. To collect, to sell, to learn, and write. Those types of players grew more and more common, it seemed. They found their place in the Nebulous Bazaar, finding a mundane job, and only chose to go to the Heavenly Tower as tourists.

’Oh, Leon is here.’

Leon, the gymnast from the Sapphire Order and ranked 62. He had been on the train when Paul died. He talked to Kazi here and there regarding the gates.

"One sake, please!" Leon grinned at the bartender, who nodded and filled a small ceramic cup. While it was good to see a familiar face here, something was off.

Kazi heard what the locals were saying.

"We won’t be able to withstand another attack...why isn’t the shogun acting?"

"The shogun stepped down years ago! You must forget about him!"

"I heard the shogun and fifty thousand men went to see the Emperor’s enthronement..."

"So we have been abandoned...!"

"Don’t talk like that! It has been months since the attack on Lake Shinji! There is no guarantee it will return."

"The behaviours of a yokai cannot be understood, fool!"

It. A yokai. A great whale. A great battle that occurred at Lake Shinji.

"The samurai will protect us! They did it once and they will do it again!"

"They’ll protect us and not our crops or boats!"

The conversations devolved into hushes of their own menial issues. How fish and birds had broken their homes, that food was growing scarce, and that they required support. More than that was the energy around here. With the players, it was getting harder and harder to tell but...

’Something is really off. The air is too thick here. Too much residual mana.’ Just barely, Kazi thought he could shift it. ’I’ve read of this phenomenon. When Class Five entities fight at full capacity, their mana does not just become one with nature like lower classes do. They linger. They affect the ecosystem. The same could be said for their attacks. Something powerful must have struck here and lingered.’

Plants, animals, and their behaviours could shift. Stories on this phenomena were well recorded, particularly from those that encountered the Sacred Beasts. So this whale, whatever it was, must have been Class Five.

Class Five. That...wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all.

Next up, the Main Objective.

’Open window.’

Nothing. He had to search for it. No window was appearing.

Kazi closed his eyes and focused inward, filtering out the noise around him. Inward and then outward until he touched the world. ’Annoying...the air is too damn thick. Come on, Kazi, hurry up, you can do this.’

His brow furrowed slightly. He was in Matsue. If the map in his head was accurate...

There. Directly east was where Lake Shinji was by his estimates. Near the shores of Lake Shinji, he felt something—a disturbance.

His eyes snapped open. He had been focusing and searching for almost ten minutes. No use staying any longer.

’More than magic, there’s alcohol.’ His nostrils wrinkled. ’Hate it.’

Once outside, Kazi inhaled the night air. An oh-so subtle mana was in the air. It disturbed his senses. The streets were quiet, the citizens of Matsue already indoors for the night, except for the patrol of samurai making their rounds.

Injury and blood stained their sides and headbands. Grimaces of war and loss. A battle had occurred against this whale.

’No, a defeat.’

Months had passed and they were still reeling from it.

Kazi’s gaze turned east, toward the direction of the lake, hidden behind the old Japanese structures, red and blue and dark. He could not see the lake but he could feel the magical energy pulsing. It was subtle. The beat of magic became heavier and heavier.

"Faster and faster too," Kazi murmured. "The whale must be coming back."

The obvious conclusion. The people mentioned the last attack occurred months ago. He had only been here for half an hour. The Gate itself had been around for a day. So for the players to face it now made sense. It was their role, their duty, to fix and support the people of a gate.

He walked. The city of Matsue was in repairs, walls and sections damp and covered up with half measures. People were working as they normally did, carrying buckets over their shoulders. Months had passed.

He stopped. These measures...were familiar to him.

’Flames...this place was ravaged by flames. But Lake Shinji is kilometers away...and a whale is a whale, it can’t leave land. So just how...?’

Just how powerful was this Bake-Kujira!?

Without further hesitation, he took off. On his way, he saw Matsue Castle up close. However, there was no value to visiting now. If his worst fears were to be realized, if the whale arrived, then that castle would no longer be standing.