On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Eighty-Three

On returning home that night the girls were still up, Eri having stayed over again at our home. I was given the third degree about the date with Yae, though since my conscience was clear I fielded their insistent questions with dignity. Eri still looked a bit flustered, but after some more kisses she calmed down and accepted it was over.

Ignoring the mocking jeers from my sis and Shaeula, I went to bed, leaving the girls to their slumber party. I was too exhausted and pained to consider entering the Boundary, so I simply had a quick shower, careful to dispose of the bloody shreds of Shaeula’s dress by hiding them in my luggage. Once that was done I dragged myself to bed and slept soundly until the morning.

On opening my eyes to bright sunlight streaming through the window I held in a groan as my wounds still ached fiercely. Still, looking down at my hands they had largely recovered overnight, as had most of the minor burns and abrasions. The wound in my thigh and side had definitely improved too, though some fresh blood had seeped out and ruined my pyjamas. Luckily the futon itself seemed okay.

The major injuries do look better though. It is as if several days have passed, or more. New flesh was growing in the wounds and scabbing and scarring looked quite advanced. Still, I wouldn’t be doing any jogging or combat training for a while yet. Using aether in the way I had discovered yesterday to numb my pain sensations, I used my ruined pyjamas to construct fresh bandages, before dressing the wounds and putting on some clothes that covered me properly.

Going down for breakfast I found Shaeula with Eri and Aiko. For some reason my sister and Eri looked absolutely exhausted, dark circles around their eyes, skins pale. Probably stayed up too late, doing girl talk… I hope it wasn’t all about me…

Once breakfast was done I had a talk with my parents about the trip at the weekend, before walking Eri back to her house. There I was forced to have tea with uncle and auntie Mori, listening to their warnings about ‘not taking things too far, but if I did I was to take responsibility’, with emphasis on the ‘taking responsibility’ part. I couldn’t help but feel that they were secretly hoping that something would happen, as Auntie Mori especially seemed keen on a big wedding.

Eri and I exchanged looks, sharing our mutual embarrassment, before I set off for my final errand of the day, which was to arrange Marika-san’s transfer to the shrine at Shirohebizumi. I was not looking forward to this, as her mother was a bit of a pain. Eri had offered to accompany me, but I wasn’t going to put her through that, so she stayed home, while I called up Shaeula to assist me. Heading up to the shrine we met Marika-san, her mother, and the priest of the shrine, her grandfather.

Fortunately the conversation was not as difficult as I had been expecting, the effect of Shaeula’s befuddling winds holding. She was still terse and a bit argumentative, but she was not going to stop her daughter making the move to Tokyo. I ended up swapping phone numbers so that we could keep in touch to discuss matters of Marika-san’s welfare, and after handing over the details of the train tickets I had booked for her, I agreed to come and collect Marika-san the weekend after my return from Las Vegas.

With all our tasks done, Shaeula and I returned home to collect our luggage, and my family and Eri saw us off at the station, Eri giving me another long kiss before we parted, which brought a lot of teasing from my mom. Saying our goodbyes we boarded the train, ready for the lengthy journey back to Tokyo…

********

“It’s good to be back…” I sighed as I put down our bags. Behind me Shaeula was already headed for the fridge to get a beer.

“Now, do not be like that, master.” Shaeula snickered at me. “I know you had much-much fun spending time with Aiko and Eri. You certainly seemed to enjoy all the kissing. Is it that good, I wonder-wonder? I can not help but be curious.”

I think I’d better change the subject… “Sure, if it’s with someone you care about… it’s pretty nice I guess. Anyway…” I stripped off my clothing to reveal my bandaged wounds, wincing as I unwrapped them. “Enough about that, I can finally relax without worrying my family… damn, I hope that doll was worth it.”

I eyed the large doll which was sitting in the corner beside Shaeula. The lifeless red eyes were a little … creepy, I had to admit. Still, I couldn’t help but remember the desperate sadness the spirit had displayed while trapped within the inky sludge hell that was the Boundary version of the antiques shop.

Shaeula shrugged. “We survived, did we not? I felt the stirrings of fortune and fate seeing it, so in time I have no doubt all will be revealed-revealed.” She looked at me as I was checking my wounds, her eyes flaring amber. “Your injuries are healing well-well. But this shows the need for greater power. There are many things in the Boundary that could crush us like insects, to say nothing of those that dwell within the deeper Astral.”

I nodded my agreement. “Yeah, you are right in that regard. I sure wish I could regenerate like a troll.”

“Bah, if you were a troll I would be quite disgusted. I much prefer more elegant males-males.”

“I’m sure you do.” I managed a grin. Taking one of the beers Shaeula offered I wiped down my wounds. Even over the course of the day they had noticeably improved, the one in my abdomen starting to close up, though my thigh was still an angry mess. Yeah, going to have to take it easy for a few days. At least I don’t have too much to do until we fly out on Thursday…

We spent a couple of hours drinking beer and eating snacks before we decided to enter the Boundary, now we were back in our Territory. Hopefully nothing bad had happened in our absence… closing my eyes I found myself next to the Territory Anchor, which was shining in an array of rainbow colours, slowly growing and changing. Well, at least the Anchor still stands… I wasn’t sure if being so far from my Territory would mean I didn’t receive warnings about attacks… I guess I still don’t know…

“Delightful. We still have spoils of war…” Shaeula crowed from beside me. I turned to her to see that the doll was here in the Boundary too, still motionless. But besides that… Shaeula was holding the set of pink stone bells and a small glass mirror framed in carved wood, while beside me was the ornate dagger and the vestments I had used during the battle with the ooze abomination. In contrast the armour of wyrmscale we both were wearing before were now just shattered fragments, completely irreparable.

“I see. Since these items were like the knife I found my first time in the Boundary, they exist here so we can take them with us. Not sure how they moved with my Astral body from all the way over there to here… do you know?”

Shaeula shrugged. “The mysteries of the Astral are many-many. Perhaps some of the scholars of the Seelie Court might know?”

I’ll put that aside for later then. I recognised all of the items except for the mirror. Seeing my gaze Shaeula puffed out her chest proudly. “I saw it as we were retreating and as it was in my path I grabbed it-it. I do not know what it does, but I feel it has some sort of power.”

An antiques shop in the Material, and a treasure trove of items in the Boundary… what a strange place it was. I’m tempted to call the store since I have the number and make some enquiries, but that Takakura girl might think I’m just doing it to hit on her… no time now anyway, the trip is coming up…

I tried examining the items in a similar way to how I used Self-Appraisal or Kin Appraisal, but even as aether was expended I got no results. Damn, I thought that might work…

In any case we gathered the items. Shaeula kept the bells and the dagger, though she tried to push the blade on me, I preferred her to have a decent weapon to secure her own safely, as seeing the slime monster injure her was bad for my heart.

“These bells-bells are meant to amplify the abilities of the voice such as banshee cries or siren charms-charms.” Shaeula said, admiring them. They sure did look pretty, if impractical, being a little like Kagura suzu. “But I have been studying your mortal ways, so I now know that sound is but a flow of wind, a movement of the air-air! So I knew it could amplify that too!”

She was clearly looking for praise so I ruffled her hair gently while she flushed pink. Moving on we looked at the other items. The dagger seemed to give off bursts of light, perhaps being of the rare light element. The vestments also seemed to have some sort of power, I could feel energy within it, but again we had no way of knowing what it would be. To that end we stored the doll by the anchor, and put the vestments and mirror in the Warehouse.

It was then that Grulgor, the white snake kami and the kamaitachi turned up.

“Grul says you have come back.” He observed. “Grul reports little man-things came so he broke them. Be pleased.”

Uh, not very helpful… “Can you explain?” I asked, and the kamaitachi took over, after bowing to Shaeula.

“While you have been gone we have-have defended the Territory as you requested. It has been mostly calm-calm, only a few stray beasts to defeat, yet over the last few days more and more roving bands of pig-headed monsters have been spotted to the north. They appear poorly co-ordinated but many-many, and Grulgor and his trolls… they grew tired of ignoring them and wiped out several gangs of them.”

I turned to look at Grulgor who only appeared proud. Damn, he really is a bonehead. We are trying not to draw attention to ourselves while the Anchor is upgrading, as our Territory is a sitting duck. Speaking of… I quickly checked how long the Anchor would require to upgrade… Ugh, nearly 88 astral days still… this sucks…

“That is typical of you stupid trolls.” Shaeula complained. “Always thinking with your fists, not your brains-brains.”

“Enemies must be crushed, Grul says. Break them, stomp them, smash them!”

Before the situation could escalate further the kamaitachi intervened. “The situation is not so dire-dire. Grulgor was roaming about outside the Territory, so-so the battles happened quite some distance from our borders. We may-may have passed undetected. The enemy did not seem organised, merely roaming at random.”

I see. I’m not happy Grulgor was out looking for fights while he was supposed to be defending our base, but… hmm, poorly co-ordinated disorganised forces en-masse… it couldn’t be, could it… it may just be… If my hunch was right this meant trouble.

“All right then, no more hunting trips, got it Grulgor? We have to keep a low profile. I don’t want to draw attention to us yet, until we are ready. When we are I daresay you’ll have all the battles you’ll want.”

At his grumbled complaints I had to sigh, but still… He only needs to behave while Shaeula and I are in Las Vegas. When we get back we can keep an eye on things until the upgrades are done…

“Is there anything else we need to know about? If not we have things to do.” I asked.

“There wassss one thing.” The white snake kami spoke up suddenly. “The koboldssss working the mine at my sssshrine wissssh to ssssee you. They have tribute to offer.”

“Tribute? Fitting indeed for such lesser Fae to give gifts-gifts to their princess!” Shaeula preened.

You know, I think they are giving it to me, not you. but whatever, you’re cute, anyway…

“All right then, let’s go see what they have for us.”

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