14 Chapter 14
The search party that went with Jake Smithson in search of Seamus and his entourage started out hopeful that they would eventually find them camping out in the wilderness in between their monster hunting.
What they found was something completely different… and a lot more disturbing.
The six Awakeners they sought to find were found dead, lying in pools of their blood in a clearing a short distance from Mount Mushin.
They were among the strongest in the 11th region of Nohas, the town of Brino, and also took part in the climactic battle with the Werecrocodile and its escort of elite goblin scouts.
But it seemed like they weren't strong enough to handle the Iron-Beak Eagles who made their nests in Mount Mushin.
The female Awakeners broke down in near hysterics at the sight, with their male compatriots vainly trying to hold them together.
Jake, meanwhile, was seething inside.
If he had assisted Seamus and his group…
…saw them through to the trip back to town…
…they'd still be around to bother him.
His line of thought was broken when he felt a gloved hand on his shoulder.
"You okay there?" the knight heading the search party asked, and when Jake turned to look at him, he saw that the knight's eyes were rimmed with red, too.
"Yeah," Jake replied, though his voice remained hollow.
"Unbelievable... "
"We can't leave them out here… let's move the bodies back to the village. And make a plot where they can be laid to rest… it's not right," the magic user said in between sniffles.
"Yes, let's move them," the female knight concurred.
But as the knights were about to lift the body of one of the healers, Jake's eyes widened, as if an idea suddenly came to him.
"Could you guys give me a moment? I need to take a look at them."
The knights didn't seem convinced, but the male wizard nodded. "You think the birds here got to them?"
"Only one way to find out," Jake said as he reached for one of the healers' corpses.
Despite Jake's standoffish attitude towards his fellow Awakeners, all that was put by the wayside when he wordlessly assisted the other Awakeners in burying their dead after the battle with the Werecrocodile not too long ago.
He had also been surrounded by the corpses of all the monsters he hunted, so the smell of death was something he could handle.
But as soon as he moved the robe of the dead healer aside to look at the wound that killed her, he was suddenly struck by something that even he couldn't handle.
'Could this be...?'
Jake saw the unnatural-colored blood oozing from what appeared to be a stab wound in the gut, and froze.
'This is NOT the kind of wounds an Iron-Beak Eagle would inflict. I'd know, I fought them. Even the monsters don't inflict wounds like this. It looks like a wound from a bladed weapon, not a monster's fang or claw – and the only monsters here are the Eagles.'
'What the hell is going on here?'
He stood up and motioned to the knights to wrap the corpses of the healers, and moved onto Seamus' dead body, looking for the same type of wounds.
Jake saw the scratches and gouges in his armor that he recognized was made by an Iron-Beak Eagle diving at him with its beak.
'If they were able to handle something like one Iron Beak Eagle without dying, then something else happened. At least I know now the vultures wouldn't wipe them out – that would be absurd,' Jake thought after analyzing the wounds on the other Awakeners.
"What are you looking at them for? Found something interesting?" the knight leading the search party asked Jake, who he saw was sporting an inscrutable expression.
"It's nothing," Jake replied. "You can move them, right?"
Normally Jake would balk at being an escort for something like this, but the incident so thoroughly shocked him that he just nodded when the knight asked him to keep them safe on the long trip back to Brino.
'Right now, I need to keep this knowledge close to my chest. It's unlikely that there's a town nearby or a group of former Awakeners turned raiders… so what happened here was that someone killed Seamus and his group soon after fighting the Eagle. The culprit used a bladed weapon that had some substance on it to do the deed – but the question is, who? And why?'
He looked to the search party beginning their return to Brino, and a conclusion he didn't want to draw became clear.
'It was another Awakener.
I'll need more information.
Even better if I had the culprit's head on a spike, but that's wishful thinking on my part.
I'm going to have to play this like Bogart and observe how things are going for now.'
The dead weight barely registered to him as the search party was a third of the way back to Brino, but this incident and the questions it asked weighed heavily on Jake.
'Murder.
Cold-blooded murder.
The Awakeners aren't changing… no, they're showing who they really are.'
This wasn't the first time an Awakener died, but this was Jake's first time to see an Awakener kill his fellow Awakeners.
'And it has begun.
The thing I was guessing would happen has finally come to pass.
With no one to keep the peace – okay, Seamus and his group were dicks, but they were the closest ones to that role – what will stop Brino from erupting into anarchy?
Like I give a hoot.
At least I was right – they could handle a Eagle on their own.
Still, though, this will make invasions harder…
…but it will mean more points for me.
Silver linings, as always.'
'I wonder if that murderer is going to mess with me next. That will probably be the biggest – and last – mistake of his life,' Jake thought as he unloaded the bodies for the search party to lay to rest.
'Speaking of which… curiosity is the only thing driving me to find out the facts I need.'
'But fuck all that. The Awakening Store's Black Label is open and I have a ton of stuff to buy – why, of all times, does this shit have to happen now?' Jake asked, ignoring the gasps and cries from his fellow Awakeners as he made his way back to the tent and get some well-deserved and utterly-needed rest.
'As soon as I'm done with this, I'm going to window shop for some time before going to sleep so I can take a break from all this pointless drama.'
But alas, Jake still has yet to realize the fact that even if he tries to go out of trouble's way, eventually trouble will come to find him.
***
"Amazing," Jake whispered to himself as he checked out the details on the offer.
[Cherry Blossom Sword Art Package
(Note: Although this package is limited to only a one-time purchase per customer, this package will be a permanent part of the Black Label Awakening Store as a courtesy to your achievement. Congratulations.)
Item Description:
Cherry Blossom Sword Art Manual: The Cherry Blossom Sword Art is a school of weapon wielding that specializes in swordsmanship. Based on the legend of the Warring Blade Master Clans, this school revolves around a secret group of swordsmen who honed their skills and passed along their secrets of swordsmanship in flowing poetry describing flowers.
As such, masters of the school wield their weapons in a manner of refined elegance similar to viewing cherry blossoms fall.
This art is a fine blend of strength and finesse, and will greatly improve its wielder's combat potential.
Even Flow Manual: This is a required component to learn the Cherry Blossom Sword Art. Not only must the body of its wielder be strong and flexible enough to perform the stances and attacks, the wielder must also be attuned to his or her own inner energy.
Reading the Even Flow manual will unlock your ability to use your inner energy, attuned to your stock of mana.
The use of one's inner energy is a core requirement for using the Cherry Blossom Sword Art, so for every purchase of the former will grant you the latter – and for your patronage, a gift of a tome to increase your mana by 2 to start you on your journey of the flowers!]
Jake considered the Awakening Store as a sanctuary that no murders, boss fights or annoying Awakeners could enter.
It kept the uneasy feeling he had about the murder he witnessed at bay.
The new event helped him a lot in that regard.
'Wonderful… this deal is unbelievable. 40 per cent off? This is crazy.'
And as usual, the new event had an amazing discount.
'With a free gift, too, I might add! This Awakening Store really knows how to push my buttons.'
But at the moment he scrolled the screen down to see the requirements, he stopped short: it was at this point where he saw the machinations of the Awakening Store's back office.
'Okay. Let me get this straight. You need a Cherry Blossom divided into 16 pieces? And the Cherry Blossom itself is a rare drop from the monster called a Cherry-Shell Snapper?
Now this is shaping up to be a challenge. Thirty thousand points is the easy part. Remove the discount and it's closer to fifty thousand, but that's not even what makes it easy.
It's what comes after.
I'll need to successfully cut a Cherry Blossom into sixteen pieces in midair… which means I can't buy my way into getting this manual.'
And, to top it all off, the Cherry Blossoms are a rare drop from a monster called a Cherry-Shell Snapper.
Jake used his status screen to take notes on what he needed to do, and wrote down the name of the monster.
The Cherry-Shell Snapper is the next calamity-class boss for the town of Brino, just like the Werecrocodile.
According to script of the tutorial area, the Awakeners are supposed to face it far in the future; because besides the 11th tutorial area, no other tutorial districts have defeated the Werecrocodile yet.
However, he needs to take down the second calamity-class boss in order to acquire the Cherry Blossom.
Why?
Because the tree that is planted on the center of its shell is the Cherry Blossom tree, the only Cherry Blossom tree existing in the tutorial district.
In other words, in order to meet the requirement of the new event, Jake needs go find the boss monster, unless he insists to wait until it comes to besiege Brino.
'How suspicious,' Jake thought. 'Why is this event so generous? It gives out a gift, has no time limit, and has a great discount, too.'
Of course, it had to be generous.
Remember, the Awakening Store playing a gamble with this event, to balance the power among the Awakeners of the tutorial area.
Thus, they had to make this ridiculously difficult event enticing enough to hold the attention of Jake and make him waste significant amount of time, hoping others can make some improvement in the meantime.
'Who cares. I'm going for it.'
Incredible discount rate as well as giving out gifts; the shoppers who would turn their backs to such even should return their title of the Shopping Addict.
And predictably, Jake went for the sales pitch hook, line, and sinker by sending an inquiry to the 1:1 Support service.
"Where can I find the Cherry-Shell Snapper?"
As he waited the five to ten minutes needed for the service to answer his inquiry, he was beginning to get giddy with excitement.
The days off he'd spend window shopping would now begin to pay off, as he would be a fool if he let this event pass him by.
'I'm bringing you home. Just give me some time.'
The reply to his inquiry came ten minutes later.
[The Cherry-Shell Snapper resides in and around the Island of Delusion. It is recommended to purchase a boat, to access that location. Black Label Awakening Store members can acquire a Turtle Ship for only 15,000 points. Awakening Store members can buy a sailboat at 6,000 points, but the lack of creature comforts and support will probably be taken into consideration by the customer who only wants the best.]
Upon looking at the details for the Turtle Ship, Jake found himself smiling at how much it looked like a Turtle Ship model he bought on a whim during his first year on the job.
"Oh, I'm going for the Turtle Ship," Jake blurted out as soon as he made up his mind. "I better start working on my best General Yi impression."
***
"I'm on a boat," Jake sang as he got up from the tent and swaggered his way through town. "Everybody look at me, 'cause I'm sailing on a boat!"
Once Jake's mind was made up, he was dead set on seeing it through, no matter what.
"I'm on a boat!"
He himself was amazed at the extent of which the Awakening Store operated: not only did they do their research into history, they also promised to provide a wonderfully crafted and historically accurate product.
'If they're going the extra mile for this, then I have no choice but to meet their expectations. I'm buying the boat and no one's getting in my way.'
He walked out the door of the tent, his injuries recovered and the dark rings under his eyes gone after a good night's sleep, only to notice the looks of hostility other Awakeners were giving him as he passed by.
Jake didn't need a Ph. D to figure out why they were giving him those looks.
'It figures,' Jake thought. 'They're right. I know something. But they're wrong, because what I know and what they think I know are two completely different things.'
'But again, it's not my problem.'
"Going somewhere?" a voice asked him, and when Jake turned to the voice, he saw an Awakener leaning on the stone gates of Brino.
"Hunting monsters," Jake replied neutrally as Liam moved off the wall and began walking towards him.
Jake found the scrutiny he was suddenly subject to rather jarring, but he thought that it was a good thing he wasn't being attacked right off the bat.
The swordsman approached Jake carefully and began looking him up and down, sizing him up for some reason or another.
And then he asked a question.
"Did you do it?" Liam asked quietly.
"Do what?"
"Did you kill them?" he asked again, Jake momentarily being thrown off a loop by how calm Liam sounded when asking a question like that.
'If looks could kill, Liam would have vaporized me a few seconds ago. As I suspected. They think I'm the murderer.'
"If you're talking about Seamus and his party, then no… I did not kill them."
"A lot of your fellow Awakeners seem to think so. They went to me so I could get the answers from you," Liam replied.
Jake nodded. 'Of course. This was to be expected.'
"Why do they think I did it?" he asked.
"When I talked to the search party, they said that the monsters you were hunting were strong, but not enough to kill Seamus and his entourage. They thought that even if they were mobbed by those monsters, at least one or more could have escaped," Liam answered, still giving Jake a very thorough look, analyzing not only his words, but his body language, too.
"Agreed," Jake said. "It's also what I had in mind."
"Then you can understand why your fellow Awakeners think of you in this way. If the monsters didn't kill them, another Awakener would. Do you know anything about who would have reason to kill them?"
"I don't," Jake answered, and he could see Liam's brows furrow.
'This is the only honest answer I have. But honestly, I'm this close to setting up a crew for the boat I'm about to buy, and this happens? Unbelievable.'
Liam couldn't make out the frustration Jake wanted to express, almost as if he was hiding something…
"Look," he said. "You were the only one who knew they were there. Aside from you and me, they were the stronger Awakeners Brino had. You could easily have done this, you know."
"But I didn't. And you weren't involved in this, either," Jake said carefully, not letting his emotions show as it would not bode well for him if he did.
Liam nodded. "I was organizing hunting parties for the other Awakeners yesterday, well into the evening. The search party can vouch for me. Where were you last night?"
'The circumstances of this event are not painting a good picture of me,' Jake thought.
'Killing them never crossed my mind.'
"Hunting monsters," Jake explained, keeping his words to a minimum lest he give away something, "all night."
Oddly, Liam nodded, and he was about to ask Jake another question when someone yelled from behind the swordsman.
"Do you have proof of that?"
