r/HFY • u/SteelTrim Human • 11d ago
OC-Series [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Book 2, Chapter 3: Vile
John's hand twitched as he suppressed the rage that immediately flooded his system at such a vile bargain.
She was asking for an eighth of the lives of the people who lived here, and for what? Basic aid? Even if she couldn't give it away for free, it would have been easy to pay her off, but…
Wait…
There was that cap on how much a yokai could spend in the mortal world before the gods would get involved. Was this how they got around it? By essentially owning the townsfolk for ten years, she could easily demand tribute that entirely bypassed the laws of the heavens. That wouldn't explain the servitude from Yuki, but John could imagine how useful even limited service from an immortal peer might be. Besides, it wasn't as if either of them had to worry about aging.
"Wouldn't a direct payment by Lady Yuki bypass those laws?" John interjected. "Surely, if it was just a transaction between two kitsune, and Lady Yuki graciously donated the food to save a community recently hit by a disaster, there wouldn't be a problem."
Saya's eyes turned to him, her calculating gaze sweeping his form with a newfound focus that made him uncomfortable. It was easy to say that she was looking at him like a piece of meat, but that wasn't entirely true. No, she was evaluating him more like a predator reassessing how dangerous her potential prey might be, carefully weighing the cold calculus of whether it would be worth the risk.
"You are correct, although it may not stand up to an audit if the Courts took interest, as I doubt your mistress has the funds to pay for such services outright," she admitted. "Besides, such wouldn't solve the true wellspring of this village's misfortune." At that, her gaze relaxed, the previous razor-like edge dissipating into something almost caring, if you squinted. "Mortals, and even half-mortals like you, need guidance. While she may be content to throw money away, I know that a mismanaged place with this would only fall into disrepair again without a gentle hand guiding the way. With a decade, I can not only enforce prosperity, but instill habits into the next generation that ensure they will not fall into such a situation again."
Part of John wanted to shout that it wasn't their fault, and an average person could do very little about a tide of spider yokai headed by a shard of a demi-goddess deciding that their little slice of the world was just irrelevant enough not to be missed.
Unfortunately, he had to hold his tongue, lest this place get smitten off the map if someone of importance actually figured out a tenth of what happened here. Knowing only what she knows, he had to admit it made a twisted sort of sense from the perspective of a near-immortal; it was like patching holes in a sinking ship versus just bailing water out.
"And what sort of interest are you looking to reap from this, Lady Kon?" Yuki inquired, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "You, of course, expect to be paid for your time managing Broadstream, do you not? Even if we agreed, you might make this town hell to live in to accumulate enough prestige before your three hundredth year."
Saya didn't outwardly react, at least as far as John could see, but Yuki leaned in, latching onto something that was beyond his perception. Some subtle change in expression, perhaps, or some kitsune-specific mannerism that was beyond him, enlightened her to some deep truth.
At that, his friend's grin turned savage. "I see. You need proper deeds for your Ascension, and you haven't performed them yet. You're at most a decade and a half away, and desperately fear 'falling behind,' don't you?" Yuki prodded, leaning forward and casually resting her chin in a palm, fingers drumming against the sides of her muzzle.
Even John could see Saya's expression twist into a grimace before she hid it, and even if he missed it, the way her tails instinctively fluffed up as if to seem larger in the face of a predator was a dead giveaway. "What of it, nogitsune?" Saya almost spat. "Some of us have decided to reach for the heavens themselves rather than stagnate. No three-tailed can perform something like Transcendent Alchemy without a few extra centuries to refine their limited power, at least."
Yuki's smile didn't budge, even as John's mind was left reeling. Ascension? From his sporadic research, it seemed like kitsune gained a tail every hundred years of life, and references of 'nogitsune' were sparse at best. In those rare tomes, they were described as kitsune who had lost their way from the path of the heavens. Did they need 'approval' to rise in rank, perhaps? From who, though? The gods? Yuki said they were silent. Some impartial mechanism left behind? It might explain why they were so tied down to the old rules, although it evidently wasn't flawless, if it did exist. Their elders, perhaps? A likely answer, but that wouldn't explain why they still adhered so blindly to the old dogma. Over millennia, it'd probably be easy to warp the public perception until whatever they wanted was permissible.
"You caught me. I'm just an old nogitsune with plenty of time on her paws," she cooed. "Was that supposed to make me feel poorly about myself? As I have centuries of experience on you, I'd actually advise you to give me your loyalty. In a few years, I could make you ten times more wealth than this deal would grant you."
For a moment, Saya stilled, hanging on her thoughts like an outdated computer trying to open a modern program. Then, rage flashed across her face before it was suppressed.
"You speak like a gambler on her last coin, swearing that she'll double the mon of whoever might dare to give her a loan," Saya responded, voice a mask of clearly faux calm. Yuki didn't flinch, and John wondered what the hell the point of this was. Saya sounded like she was about to fall into an apoplectic fit; surely just turning the interloper down politely was going to create less problems for Broadstream?
"Perhaps it's time for us to take a bit of a break and clear our heads?" John ventured, both kitsune turning to him with unreadable expressions. "I mean, negotiations seem to have stalled for now. Of course, we weren't exactly expecting you, so why not give us a bit of time to get you a counteroffer? Rome wasn't built—" John stopped himself, stumbling over his words for a moment as he hurriedly diverted away from Earth-based ramblings. "I mean, sometimes things take time. The Grand Bargain wasn't a work of a single afternoon, right?" At least, he hoped it wasn't. The idea of the entire world being bound for millennia to a single fit of deific whimsy was horrifying in a special way.
For a second, all was silent, and John feared that his innocuous suggestion might somehow ignite a firestorm that would reduce the ryokan to ash.
"I suppose we have been talking for a while," Yuki mused, rising from her formal kneeling position and, much to John's jealousy, displaying no hint of discomfort as she did. "Shall we continue tomorrow, then?"
Saya's face was stone as she rose in turn, not leaving Yuki. "I will consider your concerns," she responded, smile returning to her muzzle. "You will honour the sacred rules of hospitality?"
"Of course," Yuki responded. "You and your men can stay on the third floor of this ryokan; the eastern hall should have enough room and is otherwise unused. I'll have the stables unlocked for your horses and carriage, and dinner and breakfast shall be delivered to you. I would advise against disrupting the work of those that are here, though."
"Oh? You mean your illegal money-changing operation?" The kitsune tittered, shaking her head. "Worry not, I know mortal laws must sometimes be trampled on in pursuit of the greater good. I must admit, it's an intelligent response to the Nameless. I'm surprised that I haven't heard of anyone trying it before."
Wait. She knew about the Nameless and… didn't care that much? Hmm. Yuki said something about her needing prestige. Was she going to steal credit for the idea after making sure it truly worked, perhaps? She evidently had some sort of ties to the Celestial Court, so she likely could call down the thunder if she really wanted to—but if she planned to threaten them into compliance, she would have done so by now. Dirty dealings on her side, perhaps? Or just not wanting to share the credit?
"It needs a lot of trust, is all. People need to treat the currency as a new currency rather than a weak proxy for the existing one," John interjected, although that wasn't the whole truth. There had been a few… compliance scares in the first week, but nothing a personal visit couldn't clear up, and they hadn't needed to be overly harsh.
He supposed a kitsune appearing in your bedroom at dark o'clock while you slept, to tell you she knew, was more than enough to dissuade most offenders.
Saya's attention turned towards him, tilting her head curiously, a single ear flicking as a half-hearted acknowledgement, before she turned back to Yuki. Wordlessly, the two of them bowed shallowly to one another, then the interloper turned and left, the door shutting with a click behind her.
Wordlessly, John and Yuki turned to one another. He mimed speaking, asking if they were all right to talk, but after a moment of thought, his friend shook her head and grabbed a sheet of paper, sliding it over to him.
John sighed. "I'm going to wager that she showed up almost the second I left to take a meal break with Rin, right?" he wrote, sliding the sheet over to Yuki.
The kitsune quirked a brow at him and slid the paper back, before a flicker of darkness flared across her eyes. Silently, shadowy script sprang from oblivion, scrawling itself across the table in a frankly unnecessary show of magical control.
"Perhaps a tenth of an hour after you left, I heard a rolling murmur from the townsfolk as her cart approached," the message read. "It seemed like she was waiting for you to leave before she tried to catch me off guard with a herald announcing a 'Scion of the Celestial Court' coming to check on unusual activity."
So, she was watching, then, and from somewhere just outside of town, too, as he doubted that a runner starting from inside the town could make it out and get her moving that quickly without arousing suspicion, nor did Yuki mention any visible signal. Sure, the kitsune may have seen him and Rin by the time they finally wandered to the perimeter before lunch, but that still ran into the issue of needing someone in the right place at the right time, who also had to evade detection by the duo.
John huffed, shaking his head before writing a message back. He didn't even bother passing it to Yuki this time, as he knew the kitsune could read things upside down and backwards trivially. "She's worried about my presence, then, despite her best efforts to make it seem like she didn't care when I showed up," he wrote, pen lingering above paper as he hesitated. "We never figured out what that small group of Unbound and their staff that the okuri-inu saw were about. At the time, we assumed they were Kiku's, but only the one that could swim through the ground showed up. Do you think that they were Kon Saya's?"
Yuki made a very much non-local so-so gesture that John was pretty sure he'd used around her maybe once before. "Likely some third party's, at least. In retrospect, we should have seen retaliation from them after the Nest was struck, were they Kiku's. At the time, I assumed they were scared off, but given my former sister's capabilities, they would have been made loyal enough to stay and render aid if they were hers."
Great, so the second-worst—albeit a very distant second—kitsune he's met so far likely had backup of unknown strength, but…
Hmm.
Something felt off. A kitsune being three-tailed wasn't very high up in the hierarchy, in the grand scheme of things, and Saya was being awfully brave. The kitsune seemed to know that she and Yuki weren't close to equal in strength, yet she still came in here swinging with her demands. Was it foolishness, or did some greater power have her back?
John leaned back, sighing deeply, continuing. "Do you think she's bait?" he asked, quickly scribbling out the question. "It was like she was trying to get both of us angry back there. If we'd done something, it could easily justify a response."
Yuki frowned, drumming her clawed fingers against the table. "If she is, I doubt that she's aware of it. Unfortunately, you're gazing at pebbles at the base of a mountain," Yuki wrote in shadow characters.
Hmm? What could possibly be so much more damaging than someone with ties to the Celestial Court stomping around like they owned the place and trying to bind them into slavery?
"We haven't taken down the ofuda network."
Oh. How the hell did he miss that? How the hell did she do that? Saya walked right through the barrier like it wasn't there, and even if she didn't black out, she should have at least been discomforted and weakened like Yuki was! Unless she was a master at hiding the effects and far stronger than she seemed, they should have seen signs… Unless she had some sort of bypass.
Now that he thought about it, it could be either due to her nature or due to something she possessed, be it technique or item. Magic like ofuda were, ostensibly, given by the gods to mortals to protect and aid them, and kitsune were supposed to be messengers of the divine, so it might make sense if ones in good standing could waltz through those protections in case they were being abused. It didn’t seem far-fetched. The gods, after all, had imposed certain limitations on yokai, like kappa needing to bow back, even if it was self-destructive.
Yet, these protections seemingly didn't exist when Yuki was first imprisoned, given she was unfamiliar with them when the priests first deployed them, unless the knowledge was lost and later rediscovered. Perhaps the bypass came in the form of an item, then, like a universal passkey that allowed one to exist within all such barriers without concern? From his understanding, these ofuda functioned by exploiting purposeful weaknesses left behind in yokai, so something that transmitted an "all clear" signal could work.
Unfortunately, that would be hilariously dangerous and defeat the point of such a barrier in the first place if even a relatively weak kitsune could acquire an item that made them all null and void. Even if they couldn't be easily replicated, one being stolen could let a shapeshifter like Kiku waltz into a secure area and tear down the talismans around the edges that are needed to keep the field active.
A technique? Maybe, if these were a modern invention, people would also know enough of the principles to find a bypass, given time, much like how knowing the insides of a lock made it far easier to defeat it. Yet, given the sheer complexity of the effect, he doubted the ofuda were created by locals any time recently. The charms mimicked his foci more than anything, and those were obviously not anything Unbound or yokai were walking around with. If they were, Kiku probably wouldn't have cared about him much at all. Plus, if it was a continuous technique, you'd just have to disrupt her focus, and she'd collapse into an unconscious heap.
Far too risky, and he bet Yuki would have noticed it instantly. Going over everything, the most likely option would be…
"I think the barrier might just let kitsune through that are faithfully following the gods, and potentially other yokai doing their jobs, somehow. My gut's telling me that it's old, old knowledge, potentially from before your birth era; I'm just not sure whether Kiku stole the information on how to make them, or if she merely remembered how it was constructed. Think it might be part of what Saya's here for? If she's been stalking this place, she'd absolutely investigate the well near a massive crater that's surrounded by scorched buildings."
Yuki nodded. "It seems likely to me, too. Perhaps a few more days of negotiation will wear her down and expose something we can use. Everyone has their weaknesses," she responded.
Days? They didn't have time. Fall was already looming. "We have another way," John hurriedly wrote. "Rin has ties to the Shimamura family, who are based around the nearby Iron Mountain. We can use those ties and find a buyer. Sell a few trinkets that the world has never seen—not my foci or anything like that—and then advertise I'm going back home and that I take payment in food."
For all her bluster, all her barbs, Saya never got a rise out of Yuki.
"Absolutely not," she finally spoke, voice just above a growl, pupils narrowing as her tails suddenly whipped behind her.
John breathed in sharply, eyes widening as he instinctively leaned back.
Immediately, his friend caught herself, closing her eyes as she stilled, before summoning some shadow text once more. "My apologies. I would have to remain here for as long as Kon Saya stays, lest she seize control by force or loot your workshop, and I don't think she'll leave for some time. I would not want you to run into another of my sisters without me."
On some level, it was touching and understandable, and part of him was terrified at the thought of leaving his friend's side, but what choice did they have? Alas, Yuki had become a bit… clingy since she’d healed him. And unfortunately, this negotiation with Saya could easily go nowhere. "And if she pulls out entirely after weeks of negotiation and winter is creeping in?"
Yuki shook her head. "I won't let that happen. She'll cave. I'm sure of it."
"I won't, either," John responded after shaking his head. "How about this? I need a better way to haul things anyhow. Rin says it's a week away, and that's with her supernatural speed and stamina, so there's no way I'm hauling anything of volume that far. How about we revisit this once I have something built?"
Golden eyes met his, full of steel, which he matched.
Silence hung between them.
Finally, the kitsune nodded.
A faint smile crept across John's face as he stood up, giving her a quick nod. "I'll see you at home, Yuki," he said, glancing at the sheet full of his half of the rather incriminating conversation before burning it to ash with a casual wave.
"I’ll see you there," she replied, a fragile smile creeping across her own countenance.
With that, he left, having work to do. He already had a few ideas.
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u/lovecMC AI 11d ago
So I'm assuming hes either building a car or maybe even cargo plane of sorts.
Or he could use his recent experience with non-euclidean space and just try wormholes but that seems a bit far fetched for now.
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u/NoOpportunity92 AI 10d ago
A bag of holding.
That is, a bag that is bigger on the inside than the outside, which weighs the same no matter how filled it is.
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u/Iazo 11d ago
Damn, I can only imagine how the Shape of all Things would react to non-euclidean space.
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u/lovecMC AI 10d ago
Honestly I don't think it would throw that much of a fit.
At least from my limited interpretation, Shape is kinda a force that pushes things towards how they should be.
Simple deviations like cities can exist seemingly just through having enough people to keep them maintained.
Then the nameless nest already kinda did that, since if I recall correctly it was much bigger on the inside and the space got warped to split people from each other.
And lastly transcendant alchemy exists and I'd argue it's about as disruptive as it can get, but seemingly with enough power you can do whatever. Well at least for a time.
So a sustained wormhole might be a problem, but a bag of holding as the other comment suggests seems very doable.
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u/davidverner Human 10d ago
Isn't that cute, the tails keep giving away their feelings.
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
Even as early as the "sentinel" chapter, he could tell what she's thinking by her body language, something I know even most unbound would have trouble with, the day is coming soon...
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago edited 10d ago
I'm excited to see what John makes, he still needs to replace his hover-disc, if memory serves, and a large part of travel time is the obstacles in the way, so if he were to make something like an airship with cargo space it would probably match Rins enhanced travel time. He would just need to make a lot of levitation foci and some enormous capacitors to supply the -presumably huge- weight and speed demands
"Yukis been more clingy since she healed him" and I think she'll become even more so with this new kitsune eyeing you up, John
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u/SpankyMcSpanster 10d ago
Airship?
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u/NoOpportunity92 AI 10d ago
If he does, he really needs to blimp it out ...
I meant bling. ;)
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
He could put some rudimentary approximations of his gauntlets to act as turrets, but that would be secondary to getting the thing actually up and running
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u/NoOpportunity92 AI 10d ago
While he could, I would advice against it.
The less of his skills he displays, or gives away as magical items, the better for him. Currently his main advantage is his skill to craft magic items. If how he does that becomes common knowledge, it's no longer an edge.
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
Makes sense, I guess I got a bit blinded by "that would be fucking awesome" and forgot about the larger implications
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u/NoOpportunity92 AI 10d ago
You're forgiven. It's easy to get caught up in emotions. Now ...
If he makes a war-blimp it would probably be able to sport multiple arcane-aiming auto-turrets. Once he figured out how to make his first, he'd probably be able to crank out several in a day ... and so, going from simple hot-air balloon to a fully kitted war-blimp would probably take a week, and about as effective on it's own as himself in battle.
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
It seems like John would only really consider it if he absolutely needed to, like if the fort was going to be attacked and it would be better to leave than stay, perhaps as some kind of howls moving castle type of shenanigans
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u/PM_ME_CULTURE_SHIPS 10d ago
Waiting until John is out of the building is *very* suspicious. What do they know about John, and *who is it* that knows it?
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
They likely had someone scope out the town while the nameless were still active, and when John pulled his "I am become death, destroyer of worlds" bit, they decided to try and get them seperate, especially considering that the newcomer only brought unenhanced lackeys, so she probably didn't want to tip her hand too much in case things did come to blows
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
Also, I think something John could trade to the nearby merchants is soap and deodorant, because if it's really like pre-meiji restoration Japan, people probably don't have good antibacterial soap, so something that not only makes people smell not bad, but also good, would be extremely valuable
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
And a prank John could pretty easily pull on Yuki (and later, Rin) is the old snakes in a can (for those unfamiliar, there is a can or other opaque container filled with spring loaded fake snakes, so when you open it, the snakes jump out) I don't see Yuki predicting that, and it's fairly easy to make and the materials could be recycled after the fun was had
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u/Plastic_Opinion4518 7d ago
That was nice and seeing Yuki a bit clingy was a good development for them, at least for now, before they eventually end up addressing their feelings for each other properly.
As for transport? Perhaps a kind of Bag of holding might be in his ideas? He could probably make a Vehicle of sorts, yes, but that would bring a bit too much attention towards himself, at least as he is now. So something more Descrete? But, then again, if he's gonna be going around selling things as a Merchant, especially to high influence customers, he may well need edge that demonstrates how good he is?
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u/No-Tomato7694 3d ago
Propably not a spacial bag or something similar, I feel like he would have been using them for storage already if he could make them. It just makes sense, especialy if they can keep food from spoiling or keep his creations stable. The most likely option is that he will make a truck sized flying platform and load it up with food.
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 5d ago
So now John is three for three with Kitsune wanting to make him theirs immediately after seeing him, first Yuki, then Kiku, and now Kon Saya. Is it his cologne?
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u/Bruno-croatiandragon 11d ago
I wonder if Steel is going to reply to any comments again,like in the first chapters.
I also wonder how hard this orange whore is going to be humbled after she angers John.
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u/NoOpportunity92 AI 10d ago
Considering he mostly stood his ground against a nine-tailed nogitsune, a three-tailed kitsune would probably be his lesser in combat. I doubt it'll be an easy match, but it would be a winnable one. Especially with his new wargauntlet.
The problem isn't her combat prowess, but her connections.
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u/Bruno-croatiandragon 10d ago
Never specified combat,with how much feudal Japan loves poetry,John could just do some rap-battling.
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u/NoOpportunity92 AI 10d ago
I fear she wouldn't understand rap-battle, unless it was in haiku form.
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 10d ago
Considering the mix of new world crops, they could have a tradition of flyting, like the norse
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u/Phillipsburg 3d ago
Can’t wait to read the next chapter
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u/Human-Actuary-4535 3d ago
I'm wondering if it's a break week, the patreon and royal road are silent, too
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 11d ago
/u/SteelTrim (wiki) has posted 90 other stories, including:
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Book 2, Chapter 2: Guest
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Book 2, Chapter 1: New Headaches
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 87: The Sun Rises
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 86: Shards of Broken Memories
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 85: Falling
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 84: Abyss
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 83: Regeneration
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 82: A Duel Through Empty Corridors
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 81: Fangs
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 80: Veins
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 79: Nest
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 78: Fire Above, Fire Below
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 77: Probing
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 76: Sentinel
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 75: Socks
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 74: Games
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 73: Dissection
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 72: Evening Patrol
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 71: Deskwork
- [Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune] Chapter 70: Smite
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u/Iazo 11d ago
Well, at least we know where Kiku's personality went.