📍 The Ship — Beverages Section | Afternoon
Sakura had gone to their room to rest.
Kiyoshi found a seat in the ship's lounge and ordered something warm, watching the water through the porthole. The room was comfortable — maybe thirty people, the low noise of conversation, the smell of something spiced being poured at the counter.
He noticed the group at the far table the way he noticed most things now — not with the old analytical distance, but with the quiet awareness that had grown out of two months of knowing when something in a room was worth paying attention to.
Five of them. The way they sat said team before anything else — the particular ease of people who had been in danger together enough times that being at rest together felt natural. Three carried the weight of B rank. Two sat slightly lighter — C rank, still serious.
[ Eye of Wisdom — Active ]
[ Warrior — B Rank ]
[ Tank — B Rank ]
[ Mage — B Rank ]
[ Space User — C Rank ]
[ Priest — C Rank ]
He was still reading when the warrior looked over.
"Hey." Her voice had the edge of someone who had been looked at the wrong way before and didn't let it pass. "You're staring."
"Sorry." He glanced down at his drink. "I was looking at what you ordered. It looks good."
"You — what?" Her face went through several expressions quickly, settling on something flushed and sharp. "You didn't even notice—"
"Ame." The tank was grinning. "Don't take it personally. He probably thought you were a man."
"I will end you," she said.
"Your chest is just very—"
The bump to his head was audible from across the room.
"Both of you," said the mage, with the tired tone of someone who had been moderating this conversation for years, "show some maturity."
"Please don't fight," said the priest softly.
Kiyoshi looked at his drink and kept his expression neutral.
The tank turned to him with the undiminished good humour of someone who had just been hit and didn't mind. "You're an adventurer. What rank? What type?"
Kiyoshi touched the badge on his collar. "D rank. Healer."
"Healers are rare these days." The tank extended a hand. "Team Hakuri. I'm Tentor. That's Ame, Ren, Keiko, and—" He looked around. "Where's Asahi?"
"Probably doing something inadvisable," Ren said.
Team Hakuri. Kiyoshi kept his recognition off his face. One of the most capable teams operating out of Ramiya. B-rank core, clean record, known range. He had read about them in a mission board context three weeks ago and filed it away.
"Going to Elfior?" Tentor asked.
"Delivering something. First time seeing it."
Tentor leaned forward with the expression of a man about to share something important. "Elf girls," he said, lowering his voice slightly, "are extraordinary. I'm telling you, kid—"
"Tentor." Ame's voice was a warning.
"I'm just saying the kid should be prepared—"
A figure appeared in the doorway and promptly fell sideways into the frame, catching himself with visible effort and not quite succeeding.
He was young — Kiyoshi's age, maybe a year older — and his balance had made a decision without consulting him.
Ren stood up. "Asahi. What did you—"
"I had one glass," Asahi said, with great dignity and very poor coordination. "One. I have minor alcohol resistance. Something is wrong."
He sat down heavily. Keiko moved to him immediately, pressing both hands to his temples, lips moving in a low incantation.
She stopped. Looked up.
"This isn't alcohol," she said. "It's a potion. Something that drains MP."
A sound — soft, then not soft — spread through the room. Someone at the counter slumped forward. A woman three tables over put her head down and didn't lift it. One by one, the people around them were going quiet.
Kiyoshi was already on his feet.
📍 The Ship — Multiple Locations | Afternoon
A hundred and fifty people down. Three hundred on the ship total.
Keiko worked fast — MP restoration magic, systematic, methodical, the kind of skill that became efficient through repetition. Kiyoshi worked beside her without being asked — Healing Kiss wasn't designed for this, but the purification component worked on the drain, slowed it, gave Keiko's magic something to build on. They moved through the affected passengers in a circuit.
The rest of Hakuri moved the other direction.
Tentor, Ame, and Asahi — recovered, furious — shut down the beverage service and locked the food section. Ren cast a detection spell across the room.
"Someone mixed this deliberately," Ren said. "Talk. All of you. Now."
A kitchen worker stepped forward. "The head chef — he was acting strange today. Wouldn't let anyone near him. Prepared the drinks alone."
"Where is he?"
"Storage room. I saw him go in."
They ran.
The chef was alive — barely conscious, slumped against the wall when they found him. Kiyoshi crouched and pressed his hand to the man's forehead. The impression that came back through the skill was wrong in a specific way — not illness, not injury. Something layered over the mind like paint over glass.
"He was controlled," Kiyoshi said. "Mind magic."
Keiko confirmed it. Slowly, carefully, she walked it back. The chef blinked. Looked at the ceiling. Looked at them.
"A man," he said. His voice was unsteady. "White hair. Glasses. Right eye — green. There was a tattoo on his neck."
He described the shape before any of them asked: a red inverted triangle inside a larger triangle, a vertical line through the centre.
Asahi went very still.
"Inner member," he said quietly. "Warisus Gang."
Tentor turned. "Daichi."
Ren was already moving. "Find him. Now."
📍 The Ship — Upper Deck | Afternoon
Sakura found them on the stairwell. Kiyoshi gave her thirty seconds of explanation and she had the shape of it before he finished.
"White hair," she said. "Top floor."
She had already seen him.
They went up.
The rooftop was open to the sky. Two figures stood at the far end — one holding a magic core that hummed with stolen energy, its light pulsing in an irregular rhythm. The other stood slightly apart, hands loose at his sides, watching them arrive with the comfortable expression of someone who had been hoping for exactly this.
[ Eye of Wisdom — Active ]
[ Name: Daichi ]
[ Rank: ░░░░ — System Error. Classification unavailable. ]
[ Name: Kage ]
[ Rank: B — Level 7 ]
[ Type: Necromancer ]
Classification unavailable. Kiyoshi had never seen the skill return that. He filed it and kept moving.
"You're here to catch me," Daichi said pleasantly. He was looking at the core, not at them. "I'm flattered. All these ranks, for one ordinary commoner." He smiled. "But the core is almost full, so I'm afraid I can't entertain you long."
Asahi lunged. Then stopped — his hands went to his head.
"He's draining me," Asahi ground out through his teeth. "Directly."
Daichi didn't even look over.
"Ame. Tentor." Ren's voice was sharp and flat. "Now."
Ame went forward like a blade. Tentor came in low. Ren opened his hands and fire came — three streams, controlled, angled to cut off the edges of the barrier Daichi had constructed around himself. Kiyoshi and Sakura moved with them, hitting the barrier from two sides.
Nothing connected.
Every attack bent around him like water around a stone.
Kage watched this with genuine delight. "Finally," he said. "I was bored."
He bit both thumbs. Let the blood fall to the deck.
"I, the master of death, order you to rise from the depths of hell."
The shadows moved.
Not the ship's shadows — something beneath them, something that didn't belong to the afternoon light at all. Shapes climbed out of the dark: bone and fire, crimson flame where eyes should have been.
[ Eye of Wisdom — Active ]
[ 11 Goblins — E Rank ]
[ 4 Water Lizardmen — D Rank ]
[ 3 Green Orcs — C Rank ]
Ame and Tentor took the front line without discussion. Kiyoshi moved with them, sword drawn, working the goblins and lizardmen with the focused efficiency of someone who had fought C-rank monsters and found E-rank undead considerably less surprising than they were meant to be. Sakura vanished.
She reappeared in the spaces between the orcs.
Ren's fire came in overhead — controlled arcs, each one landing where someone wasn't standing. Keiko's voice behind them, steady and clear: "May god grant you his blessings—" The holy enhancement settled across them all like a second skin.
It was a real fight. It lasted long enough to matter.
Then Daichi looked at the core in his hand and his expression shifted.
"Kage," he said. "Full."
"Come on, I was just getting started—"
"Next time." Daichi's voice was final. "I'll let you kill them all. Come."
A red circle opened in the deck — geometric, precise, nothing accidental in it. Kage stepped in with the reluctance of a child leaving early from a party. The undead dissolved with him, bone and flame unravelling mid-motion.
"Bye," Kage said. "Next time is your last."
The circle closed.
The rooftop was just the rooftop again.
Tentor stared at the empty space. "Cowards," he announced to the sky.
"We're lucky," Ren said, and meant it. "If they'd stayed—" He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.
📍 The Ship — Lounge | Evening
The passengers were recovering. The kitchen had been cleared, a new batch of drinks prepared under supervision. The evening was quieter than the afternoon deserved to be.
Kiyoshi sat with Ren.
"The Warisus Gang," he said. "Tell me what you know."
Ren looked at his cup for a moment. "Evil gang. Organised, patient, reaching further every year. I don't know their full objective — no one does. What I know is the tattoo means inner member, and inner members are not the people you fight alone." He turned the cup in his hands. "Daichi was one of the best students the Alchemy Guild ever produced. Trained under Ramato himself — the Guild Master. Then he sold proprietary formulas to Warisus and walked away." A pause. "He doesn't have an awakening. No rank. But don't let that mislead you. He's modified his own body using alchemy — compounds, enhancements, structural work. Whatever Eye of Wisdom reads on him, assume it's wrong." He looked at Kiyoshi. "The gang's leader is named Namura. No confirmed rank. No confirmed face. Nobody who's gotten close enough to know either has come back to report it."
Kiyoshi listened. Filed every word.
📍 The Ship — Their Room | Night
Kiyoshi checked his screen in the dark while Sakura slept.
[ Name: Kiyoshi Cari ]
[ Rank: D — Level 6 ]
[ HP: 100% | MP: 200 ]
[ Type: All ]
[ Title: Holy Sword Healer ]
[ Skills: Luck (B), Healing Kiss (B), Eye of Wisdom (A), Back Sword (B), Purification (B), Night Vision (E) ]
Purification. Acquired during the mass treatment — he had felt it click into place somewhere around the fortieth passenger, the skill solidifying from repeated use into something the system decided had earned a name.
He put the screen away and looked at the dark ceiling.
Warisus Gang. Namura. No rank. No face.
He wasn't afraid of that. He noted that he wasn't afraid of it, which was different from the first week, when he had been afraid of most things and managing it.
He closed his eyes.
📍 Their Room | Dawn
The light changed.
He was at the window before he was fully awake — some instinct pulling him upright, and then he stopped moving because of what was outside.
Elfior.
The forest caught the sunrise the way forests do in stories — the light coming through the canopy in shafts, the whole treeline glazed amber and gold, the shapes of spires or towers visible above the leaves in the far distance. It was enormous. Quieter-looking than anything this size had the right to be.
He stood at the window for a long moment.
Then he turned back.
Sakura was still asleep, face toward him, one hand loose near her chin. There was something on her expression that didn't appear when she was awake — not a performance, not a mask, just a face at rest. She was smiling slightly. Faintly. At whatever she was dreaming.
She's cute when her eyes are closed, he thought, with no drama attached to it. Just the plain fact of it, sitting there quietly.
He let her sleep. Checked his status. Waited for the ship to dock.
When Sakura woke, she checked her own screen without being asked:
[ Name: Sakura ]
[ Rank: B — Level 6 ]
[ HP: 100% | MP: 500 ]
[ Type: Assassin ]
[ Title: Lightning Reaper ]
[ Skills: Hide (B), Target (A), Lightning Speed (B), Night Vision (E) ]
"Good morning," she said.
"Good morning," he said. "We're here."
📍 Elfior Docks | Morning
The goodbye took longer than expected because Tentor had things to say.
He pulled Kiyoshi aside while the others were gathering their packs.
"Make a move on Sakura," he said, at a volume that was technically a whisper.
Kiyoshi kept his expression stable. "She carries two daggers."
"So?"
"She's used them."
"Be a man, bro." Tentor hit his chest with a fist, which was affectionate and also solid. "One more thing." He glanced around with the conspiratorial energy of someone about to do a good deed that they were also slightly ashamed of. "There's a hole. Sixth wooden plank under the waterline on the east side of the public hot spring — the one under the great tree. They caught me through the drain once but they never found the—"
"You're a terrible person," Kiyoshi said.
Tentor's eyes lit up. "The elf girls are like goddesses, kid. I'm doing you a favour."
"Mmm," Kiyoshi said, with great neutrality.
Thank you, he thought, privately and with considerable enthusiasm. This was a dream for years.
They said their farewells properly after that — Ame with real warmth she wore like it embarrassed her, Keiko with both hands pressed together in a small bow, Asahi with a grin and a promise to share drinks that were actually drinks next time.
Ren was last. He stood for a moment and just looked at Kiyoshi.
"You're going to be a big deal," he said. Not a compliment exactly — more like something he'd worked out and was reporting. "Next time we meet."
"You don't know that," Kiyoshi said.
"No," Ren said. "But I'm usually right."
He turned and walked back toward the ship.
Kiyoshi watched them go. Then turned toward the forest.
Elfior.
He took his first step onto the land and felt the air change — something in it, something old and green and attentive, the way very old places sometimes feel when you walk into them.
Beside him, Sakura looked up at the trees.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Yes," he said.
He wasn't sure that was entirely true. He walked forward anyway.
✦ CODEX — Chapter Eleven ✦
World Archive: Entries Relevant to Chapter Eleven
ENTRY 043 — TEAM HAKURI
A five-member adventurer team based in Ramiya. One of the most capable teams operating in the region at their rank.
Ame — B rank. Warrior-type. Close combat specialist.
Tentor — B rank. Tank-type. Defence and physical power.
Ren — B rank. Mage-type — specifically fire element. Long-range support and detection.
Keiko — C rank. Priest-type. MP restoration, holy enhancement, status purification.
Asahi — C rank. Space-user type. Skills not fully demonstrated in this encounter.
Their mission: escort AMO goods to Elfior. Returning to Ramiya by noon ship.
ENTRY 044 — ON DAICHI
Former student of Ramato, Alchemy Guild Master. Once considered among the most talented alchemists of his generation.
He sold proprietary formulas to the Warisus Gang and defected. His current rank reads as a system error — Eye of Wisdom cannot classify him. This is because he has no awakening. His power comes entirely from self-modification through alchemy: compounds, physical enhancements, structural alterations to his own body.
The magic core he carried on the ship was engineered to collect ambient MP from anyone who consumed his preparation. Mechanism: the drink weakened the MP barrier of the consumer, the core pulled passively from any weakened source within range. For non-awakened people with no MP, the drain targeted HP instead.
He is an inner member of the Warisus Gang. His tattoo confirms it.
ENTRY 045 — ON KAGE
B rank, Level 7. Necromancer-type.
Necromancers summon and control undead — reanimated remains of creatures, bound to the summoner's will. Kage's method requires blood contact with a surface and a spoken invocation. The undead he raises retain the combat ability they had in life.
He appears to treat combat as recreation. This is noted as relevant for future encounters.
He is travelling with Daichi and is likely an inner Warisus member as well, though no tattoo was confirmed.
ENTRY 046 — ON NAMURA AND THE WARISUS GANG (UPDATED)
Leader: Namura. No confirmed rank. No confirmed appearance. The name is all that is publicly known.
Inner members carry the tattoo: red inverted triangle inside a larger triangle, vertical slash through the centre. Inner members are not the gang's weakest — they are its committed core. Encounters with outer members are survivable. Inner members are a different category.
Gang objective: unknown.
ENTRY 047 — NEW SKILLS
Purification — Rank B (Kiyoshi)
Acquired through repeated use during mass MP-drain treatment. Cleanses status effects, poisons, mind control residue, and foreign magical compounds from a target.
MP Cost: variable by severity.
Target — evolved to Rank A (Sakura)
Weak point identification now functions against A-rank opponents and below.