Kiyomaro
AFTER REVIEWING EVERYONE'S subclasses and skill levels, Satan informed Lilly Nova that she had something made for her, over in Snapdragon Village and that the others should go with them to retrieve it.
It's there that Leo Blackbriar, Luna Crestfall, Alice Rose, Abby La-Tif, and Lilly Nova is reunited with Kiyomaro Kurosaki after being apart for two months.
"Why does this place seem familiar?" Asked Leo.
"It's where we first met," I said, "I asked Rin to show me some places that had land for sale."
"Wow! How much land did you buy?"
"Actually, I purchased all of Snapdragon Village, the surrounding villages, and the surrounding lands.
"You did what?!" Shouts everyone, except for Abby who asks the simple question of, "why?"
"Well it all started two months ago."
Snapdragon Village two months ago
It's early morning when Kiyo steps into the adventure's guild, and immediately notices it's not as busy as it was last time he was here with his sister, Kino. Which is odd.
Snapdragon's Adventurers Guild has an outstanding record for helping newbie adventures get their start.
Normally the guild is packed with rookies waiting for any new quests to be posted. It's always first come first served.
Surveying the room, I take note of three different parties, seven members in each. A mix of humans, demi-humans, and beast-kin. More men than women.
𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔? 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
Shrugging it off I head to the receptionist desk.
"Hey Rin, long time no see."
"Kiyo, welcome back. How's Kino and everyone else?"
"Kino has temporarily left the party to travel. Otherwise everyone else is training for the upcoming tournament."
"Oh wow, how exciting. If you don't mind, can I update your party information?"
"Sure. What do you need me to do?"
"Just put your hand on the Black Mirror, and I'll do the rest."
I comply. Rin is about to get started when she sees Kino has been removed from the party's roster already.
"It looks like your sister has already been removed at her request."
"How long ago did that happen?"
"Doesn't say. There's a note attached to her file. Let's see, Kino Kurosaki has joined the mercenary guild, and is now a member of a group known as Crimson Moon as their assassin."
"Who's their leader?" I asked.
"Sorry, doesn't say that either. You'd have to visit a mercenary guild and ask them. But they won't divulge personal information without proper paperwork."
"No worries then. My big sister can handle herself just fine."
"….." Rin is left monetarily dumbfounded at Kiyo's statement, but like the professional receptionist that she is, she recovers quickly, "come again?"
"Kino is my big sister."
"Never would've guessed. Anyways would you like to see a list of available assassins?"
"That won't be necessary. Lilly Nova has agreed to join us."
"Is she here?"
"No, she's currently training for the tournament with the others." I explained.
Rin nods her head in understanding, "very well. I can add her, but she'll need to stop by any adventure's guild in person to officially register as a member of your party. I will add a note to your file as a reminder. Now is there anything else I can help you with?"
"There is. I'm looking to buy some land."
"Alright, give me one second." Rin disappears into the back. When she reappears she has five thick books.
With a mighty heave she places them on the counter.
"These are all the properties that are currently up for sale throughout the area.
Now is there anything in particular that you are looking for, and what's your price range?"
"Lots of land, preferably nothing built on it, and money is not a problem. We came into quite the windfall on that escort quest we did."
It's at that moment someone behind Kiyo lets out a loud whistle, signaling everyone in the room.
"Did I hear you right? That you and your little party came into some money?"
Turning around, I crane my neck skyward. A mountain of a man, with a massive red beard and a nasty claw scar running diagonal on his face is staring down at me through bloodshot eyes.
The smell of booze permeates the air around us. Out of my peripheral I catch everyone else moving to block any means of escape, and I can hear more coming in.
Without taking my eyes off the man, "Rin, what's going on?"
"I'm so sorry Kiyo. These guys took over the guild as soon as I got here this morning."
"I see. Where are your coworkers?"
Before Rin can reply, someone throws a dagger from Kiyo's right. Catching it, Kiyo throws it right back at the sender.
The man catches his own dagger with his face instead of his hands. He falls backwards dead. This gets the others all worked up.
"Nicely down," said the big man, "you have some skill. Good, I need a challenge."
"Hey Rin, what's this guy's rank?"
"I take that as an insult. Why not ask me directly?"
"You could lie." I replied.
Stroking his massive red beard, the man mauls over Kiyo's remark.
"Fair enough. Hey sweetcheeks, go ahead and tell him my rank, and tell him the lowest rank in this building."
"Your rank Mr. Barbarossa is S, and the lowest rank is B."
"There you have it. Now make a choice, give us your money, or after we kill you, we'll hunt your sister down and pass her around like the street whore she… ooof… huegh eurghhh!"
When Kiyomaro is the target of someone's ire he doesn't let it bother him. However, going after his family, especially his last remaining blood relative, and threatening sexual violence towards them. Well that's all the justification he needs.
Kiyomaro had slammed Onyx's pummel into the Barbarossa's gut causing him to vomit up last night's dinner—-mostly liquor, dropping him to his knees. Stepping past Barbarossa, Kiyo removes his leather jacket—letting it drop to the floor.
Barbarossa's allies surround him, but maintain a healthy distance.
Barbarossa struggles to his feet. "Now your fucked, you have nowhere's to go boy."
"This situation reminds me of a quote I once heard. It comes from a military officer by the name of Lewis "Chesty" Puller. And I quote,
'We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem. They're to the left of us, they're to the right of us, they're in front of us, they're behind us. They can't get away this time.'
"Rin, go ahead and tell these guys my rank, and remember, no lying now."
"Kiyomaro Kurosaki. Rank…SS."
As soon as those words leave Rin's lips, and reach the ears of everyone in that room. Kiyo vanishes. No one moves. No one speaks.
If this was an old John Wayne film, it would be taking place outside—at high-noon. A random tumbleweed would roll by with a 𝑊𝑎ℎ 𝑤𝑎ℎ 𝑤𝑎ℎℎℎℎℎ playing in the background.
𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑑!
One of Barbarossa's men had been rendered unconscious.
𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑑! 𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑑! 𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑑!
More bodies drop.
"Kill the girl!" Shouts Barbarossa.
The closest one to Rin is a woman who attacks Rin without hesitation. Unfortunately for the woman, Rin is a former A-rank assassin, and still has the training and muscle memory.
Rin parries the women's knife with a sai in one hand and thrusts the sai in her other hand up threw her attackers submentum, the floor of the mouth, the deep vascular & nerve network, her tongue, and soft palate.
The monouchi (central shaft of a sai) tunnels through the frontal lobes of the brain, destroying major blood vessels, and erupts through the very top midline of the skull.
More and more bodies continue to drop, until Barbarossa is the only one left standing.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"You must be hard of hearing. Rin already told you who I am, but I'll reintroduce myself anyways. My name is Kiyomaro Kurosaki. I'm a SS-ranked warrior."
Barbarossa breaks for the door. He gets there just as they're thrown open, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Hey Kiyomaro, let's fight. I won't lose to you this time." Declares Satan.
"Yeah fine. Just let me finish up here first."
"I thought you were done, that's why I came in."
"No, not the fight. I was looking to buy some land when these jackasses tried to rob me."
"How long is that gonna take? I'm already bored."
"I don't know. Why don't you play with Barbarossa there, until I'm done."
Satan starts circling him, like a hungry wolf circling its prey. "Alright fine I'll play with this man here for a bit. Come on you." Satan grabs him by his red beard and drags him out the door.
"What should we do with all these bodies?"
"They're not dead. Well except for that guy with the dagger in his face."
"And the woman I skewered. So you what, just knocked them out?"
"Yeah pretty much. There was no reason to kill them."
"Can you help me tie them up?"
"Sure thing, got any rope?"
While in the process of tying everyone up Rin reveals that her coworkers had left to go help out other guilds train their new hires, and wouldn't be back for another week.
Leaving only Rin and Guild-master Momo–who comes in later in the day, to manage the place.
"Oh my, what do we have here?"
"Guild-master, good morning. You're here early."
"Good morning to you too Rin. And I'm here because I saw a grown ass man groveling before Satan, one of The Seven. When I asked her what was going on, she said to come here. So Rin, I'd like an answer to my question."
Standing at an even five feet. MoMo has curly silvery-blue hair with light brown eyes behind a pair of silver framed spectacles. A pearl necklace with matching earrings hangs above her laced collar floral print short-sleeved dress. White loafers adorned her feet.
Thinking to myself. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙, 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟.
After listening to Rin's explanation, Momo nods her head in understanding.
"Kiyo, thank you for saving my employee. Rest assured any bounties that they may have is yours."
"That's not necessary. I just happened to stop by in hopes of finding some property to buy around here."
"I have it on good authority that Countess Bathory is looking to sell most of the region she governs and sadly Snapdragon Village is on the list." Said MoMo.
"Is that even allowed? I thought the empire held the fiefdom that Countess Bathory governs?"
"They do, but as long as taxes are paid, and military support provided when asked, the empire doesn't get too involved with these matters.
Allowing those who govern the lands to do with as they please. Like selling land to an otherworlder for instance."
"If that's your way of asking me to purchase Snapdragon Village then I'll do it."
"…Come again?"
"I said I'd buy Snapdragon Village, and all the land she's selling."
"Kiyo, do you know what that entails?" Rin asked me.
"My party is getting ready to enter the tournament. And with my sister off exploring. I have plenty of time on my hands to learn the ropes."
"Will you be going to the tournament to support your friends?"
"Of course I will. I'm not a monster."
Momo looks over at the group that's tied up and sitting along the wall, "could've fooled me."
"They threaten sexual violence against my sister."
"And you let them live. How commendable. If it were me I'd punish the males by placing a tight rubber band around the base of their shaft and scrotum, cutting off the blood flow until everything withers and drops off."
Every single male—-myself included, instinctively flinched at Momo's idea of punishing sex offenders.
𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑒. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔. 𝑆ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙, 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟.
Hell even the woman flinched upon hearing this. Who knows what she'd have suggested as punishment for them. Luckily, one of the tied up dwarves speaks out sparing them from finding out.
"That was all Barbarossa running his mouth. Most of us don't care for that kind of thing."
"Yeah that's right."
"Yeah. Fuck Barbarossa!"
"He sucks."
More of them join in on throwing Barbarossa to the wolves. Their voices grow louder with each protest. Until Momo's heard enough.
"Regardless of how you feel about the man, you all still held my employee hostage, and threatened violence against this young man and sexual violence against his sister. So, you all will sit there quietly and wait for the Templars to come cart your sorry asses out of here."
"Actually, I am a Templar." I say, "Lieutenant Jamison or Crown Prince Jamison is the one who swore me in."
𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡.
"Bullshit! There's no way you're a Templar!" Shouts the dwarf from earlier.
It's Rin who comes to my defence. "Kiyo really is a Templar. It's listed in his guild file, along with his sister. Who by the way is also SS-ranked."
"Then why ain't he dressed like one."
"When you get to my level, you're granted some leeway on your appearance. I was dressed like this when I first met General Fiora Elyra."
𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑗𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡.
The dwarf along with the others have a sudden look of dread on their faces.
"If that's the case, then the crime for assaulting a Templar soldier is either life as a slave, or…"
"Execution." I said, picking up where Momo left off. "If I'm remembering correctly that last one can be waved if the following applies:
The offender(s) does not have a long and severe criminal history.
The severity of the crime.
If any victim(s) choose to not have the offender(s) killed. However this ruling can be overturned.
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒. 𝐴𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑎, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠.
"I think they get the picture, Kiyo."
"I suppose you're right Rin."
I turn my back and let them stew for a bit before giving them my decision.
Rin turns her back as well and hands me a piece of paper. It says that she was lying about my being a Templar being listed in my guild file. As that is a military matter. Nodding my head in understanding I turn back to the group.
"Depending on the outcome of an investigation, I'll take you guys on as slaves."
"You'd really do that for us?" Asked a very surprised demi-human."
"I would."
"Why?"
"I believe in second chances, but not thirds."
"What would you have us do?" Asked a beast-kin cat.
"That all depends on your skill set. I wouldn't have a dwarf skilled in smithing out plowing a field."
"Ironically I am a skilled mason," said the dwarf from earlier.
"I grew up on a farm." Said another.
"I'm a skilled craftsman."
Everyone starts shouting over one another what their skills are, except for two beast-kin women, and a human female.
This gets my attention so I ask, "what about you three? Do you not have any skills?"
The human female speaks up, "I'm wanted for murdering my spouse."
"What's your name, and why did you kill your spouse?"
"Names Ivy, and I killed my husband because he constantly beat me and my two girls." Ivy points to the two beast-kin women next to her.
"How are they, your kids? They look older than you."
Ivy touches the necklace she's wearing. The two beast-kin women do the same. The illusion spell is dropped.
"These are my teenage daughters. Oak is thirteen, and Sumac is twelve."
With the illusion gone, clear signs of bruises in different stages of healing cover their exposed skin. The entire room goes silent. Shocked and angry expressions all around.
Momo says, "if murdering an abusive spouse is the only crime you're guilty of then I see no reason why you couldn't work here as a guild receptionist once you've served your time."
"We can even help set you guys up at the inn until you have enough saved to get a place of your own." Offers Rin.
Ivy, Oak, and Sumac burst into tears. Rin unties them so they can hug one another.
Momo whispers to me, "I bet you feel like an asshole for knocking them unconscious?"
"When I hit Barbarossa, all three of them flinched as they huddled together. So while I was dealing with the others, all three collapsed to the ground on their own. That clued me in on them having some kinda sordid past."
"Is that why you signaled them out?"
"That wasn't my original plan, but when the opportunity presented itself I shifted tactics."
"You are a very kind hearted young man."
"Thank you. Now about my purchasing of Snapdragon Village and all the other lands for sale."
****
Present
"Once everything with the guild was wrapped up. Momo and I sat down and went over everything I needed to know about purchasing Snapdragon Village and everything else that Countess Bathory was selling.
Because of this, Countess Bathory informed His Imperial Majesty of my vast purchases and he granted me the title of baron, in exchange for military service. Now I'm the baron of this region. But just address me like normal."
Everyone is seated at a table in the dining area of the Snapdragon Inn.
Its owners are Masato and Nanasay. They along with their daughter Erica and five employees run the place. All of them are Red Panda beast-kin.
"What happened to Barbarossa?" Luna asked me.
"Don't know. Never saw him again after Satan dragged him away."
Leo then asked, "was Barbarossa blackmailing the others into committing crimes with him?"
"Yes. All his criminal activities have been brought to light during the Templars investigation."
"You said that building is to be our new home. But why is it so massive?"
"That was at your father's request. He said he couldn't let his daughter sleep in…"
Abby slams her fist into the wooden table—destroying it, and scaring the shit out of the other guests in the process. One of them being Oak, who bolts out of the dining room.
"I have always been fine sleeping wherever I pleased. Why would you listen to that piece of shit in the first place, Kiyo?!"
Before I can answer Abby's question, Nanasay comes storming in. "What the hell is going on in here?!"
Abby goes over and apologizes for breaking the table, and pays for having a new one made. Leo brings over a new table, while the rest of us take the broken one out.
Sitting back down, "Like I was saying Abby, your father couldn't have you sleeping in a commoners inn when your mother and siblings come to visit. It would put an undue burden on the inn keepers and the staff."
Abby is so taken aback by what I told her that she fell into a stupor. "My father actually showed concern for someone other than himself?" She mumbled to herself.
"Does that mean that big building is a castle?" Asked Alice.
"Yes. It's based on one from my world with a few design tweaks."
"Can you tell us more about it?"
"Sure. The castle from my world is known as Azuchi Castle. It was one of the primary castles of a man who was regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
"He is sometimes referred as the 'Demon Daimyo' and 'Demon King of the Sixth Heaven'. That man's name is Oda Nobunaga."