Chapter XXX—The “Simple Task” of Robbing a Grave

“I hate him!” she snapped.

“I understand you well,” Shinjiro said.

“No you don’t—you weren’t the one hurling your guts out all night.”

“Now let’s be fair,” said Hans. “Though a rude prank it might have been, he did allow us to stay the night. And besides, you were afforded every care. His own personal healer came to see you after all.”

“It’s not excuse,” she huffed.

“Look on the bright side,” Hans continued. “He did agree to assist us when the time comes.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Shinjiro said.

“It is all but assured. The task is but a simple one.”

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, Hans,” Rōkura said over her shoulder. “You were in on it.”

He raised his palms in a show of incredulous surprise. “I knew nothing. But when he told me they were Kurri Warriors, I was shocked. My skin near crawled off my back.”

The ground her teeth an made a frustrated sound. While Rōkura was furious still concerning the prank Lord Asher Boon had played upon her, Shinjiro nodded with sympathy, but Hans was still quite amused, though he hid his smile behind a mask of sincere surprise and concern.

The small man sighed contentedly as he glanced up into the morning rays. It was warm and the golden light reflected off of his new glasses with a glint that some unseen person saw even from across the river.

“How do we know your pal isn’t pranking us again?” asked Rōkura.

The morning walk was beautiful as they left the mansion and started up into the hills. Below Shihon sprawled out before them, the razor-line of mountains cutting halfway through the city with the Imperial Palace looming over all, before them.

“’Pal’ is an interesting word, Rōkura,” responded Hans. “I believe I know him well enough to say with complete certainty that he is not pranking us. Before—well he could barely keep the mirth from overtaking his features.”

“And you knew it.”

“I did not. I simply knew he was up to something. What that was, I had no idea.”

Though he kept quiet, because he was not a vociferous man, Shinjiro listened to Hans and Rōkura bicker. Deciding to weigh in, he said, “This is different.”

“What do you mean?” Rōkura asked, glanced toward him.

Shinjiro rested his hand atop his katana hilt. Above it his own wakizashi short sword protruded. “Robbing graves is hardly a prank. Killing monster pests in a cellar is a little different.”

“I could have swallowed by own blood,” she said.

“And it would have been his fault,” Shinjiro said.

She sighed. “So… grave robbing. It hardly seems like a chore we would need to do. Why doesn’t he just send Withersbee? He seems like a capable man.”

“Hmm,” Hans mused. “You heard him. He sees it as an unfitting thing to dig up the graves of his ancestors.”

“Withersbee seems to fall outside of that,” Rōkura suggested.

“Yes,” Shinjiro said with a nod. “But I would wager he has worked with Withersbee for years. He probably served the man’s parents as well.”

Hans smiled, wondering how Shinjiro would come up with something like that? “And pray tell, Sword Swinger, how you’ve come to such a conclusion as that?”

“Yeah,” Rōkura said as she knitted her dark eyebrows together in surprise.

“I just know the type,” he said. “Gaijin lords and their great houses. Their servants often become an extension of their families in a way.”

“I can’t say that I disagree with that,” Hans said through a sigh.

“So we get to do the dirty work.” Rōkura didn’t like it. She had already been covered with Kurri Warrior guts. Now she was going to be sweating and covered with dirt and dead bodies. “It hardly seems fair, and it’s still unseemly.”

“Someone’s got to do it,” Hans said. “He needs that crystal and he trusts us.”

“Can we trust him?” asked Shinjiro.

“Oh, I think so. Lord Asher and I go back a-ways, you know.”

“How far?” asked Rōkura.

“At least ten years.”

Shinjiro stopped as a huge brown bear revealed itself from out of the trees. It looked at them with intent in its stare.

“Well,” drawled Hans, “that’s bad luck.”

“Stay back!” ordered Shinjiro as he put out his hand. “I will take care of this, Rōkura.”

The bear growled and then started charging at him. Shinjiro calmly removed his katana from its scabbard. As the bear lumbered down the hill toward him, Rokura’s heart started beating fast.

While the bear couldn’t kill her, and probably couldn’t even manage to touch Hans, Shinjiro was another matter.

The bear lashed out at him with massive black claws with a blow that would surely kill the samurai, but Shinjiro sidestepped the attack and cried out as she brought his blade down over its neck.

The bear moaned terribly and fell, twitched and was dead.

“Good job,” Hans said. “I have to say, that was rather impressive and enjoyable to watch.”

Rōkura stepped forward. She could smell the huge beast, but what was more, she could smell the blood. She sniffed several times loudly, the fragrance of fresh blood wafting up into her nostrils.

Her mouth watered.

“Are you all right?” asked Shinjiro.

“Hai,” she said with a nod. “I… I am.”

“Well, let’s be done of this and get to the mausoleum then.”

“Aren’t you in a hurry?” asked Shinjiro. “We should remove this bear’s corps so passersby won’t run into it with their horses and wagons.

Hans lifted an eyebrow full of skepticism. “Well then do it, Steel Swinger.”

“I was thinking you could, Cat Man.”

Rōkura sighed, stepped back and charged the bear’s corps. “HnnnaaaahhhH!” she screamed, kicking the thing. The sound her foot made impacting the thick fur sounded like a log smashing a cow as the bear’s corps flew off the road into the trees below.

Dusting off her hands with a noisy slapping of her hands, Rōkura turned and smiled. “Done.”

“Indeed,” Hans said with a laugh.

“Hmph,” Shinjiro sniffed, but Rōkura saw a smile under his otherwise serious demeanor.

The mausoleum was little more than a shrine on the hill with many graves and stone structures housing the bodies of the dead. Rōkura and the others did a quick but careful search of the grounds to make sure no one was about.

“It’s clear,” she said. “There’s no one on the north side.”

“The west is the same,” said Shinjiro.

Hans nodded. “I spotted an old woman, but she left.”

“Then we can get to work,” Rōkura said.

Her stomach growled.

“Really?” asked Hans. “Again?”

“How?” said Shinjiro with a surprised glance. “Lord Boone treated us well with a large breakfast.”

“And I saw you, Rōkura,. You stuffed your face with enough of it to feed three men.”

She laughed with embarrassment and shrugged. “I don’t know!”

“After we the crystal,” said Hans, “I’m sure Lord Asher will treat us to refreshments.”

Shinjiro smiled. “You can eat him out of house and home.”

Rōkura snorted.

“Hardly,” said Hans. “He has enough provisions to feed an army. Have you seen his kitchens? Anyway, the tomb should be on the north hill.” He pointed. “This way.”

They came to the structure. A large marble structure with intricate entablature featuring vines and leaves and a crown embossed and plated with gold above the massive door.

The door itself appeared to be green-grey in many areas where the copper had taken on a patina. There were large rounded bolts in the door.

“Is there a key?” asked Hans.

“Lord Boon never gave us any such thing,” said Shinjiro, and he glanced about. There was no one here, but that didn’t mean no one would come.

As it so happened, none of them were aware that a little girl, perhaps of twelve or so, was coming to the shrine grounds where some new bodies were interred. The girl was obsessed with necrophilia. She derived both dark magicks and pressure by interacting with the dead.

She practically skipped along as she climbed the hill, the upper beams of the shrine house just barely visible through the trees.

Meanwhile, Hans pushed upon the large copper door with delicate hands.

“Here,” said Shinjiro, pushing forward. He shunted against the door with his shoulder, but it didn’t budge.

“Wait,” Rōkura said, looking closer at the door. She touched it where there would likely be a knob or handle, but there was nothing, and there were no signs of one, or a keyhole for that matter.

“That’s just wonderful,” said Hans. “I knew this would be a little harder than I thought.”

“Why didn’t Lord Boon tell us how to get in?” asked Shinjiro.

Hans sighed. “I have no idea.”

“Fine,” Rōkura said. “We don’t have all day.” She stepped back.

“What are you doing?” asked Hans.

She lurched forward and kicked the door with a heavy thump and it cracked off of whatever was holding it down. It slammed, heavy and metallically inside the tomb, but didn’t fall down upon its face.

Shinjiro and Hans looked at the oni with equal measure surprise and shock, but because the small sea-blue-eyed man happened to be more shrewd and practical, he shrugged. “That will work.”

Shinjiro sighed and shook his head with disapproval. He didn’t like these kinds of strong-arm methods.

“What’s wrong?” Rōkura asked.

He glanced about. “I just don’t want anyone to discover us is all.”

She nodded. “Mm. Then we better be quick.”

Chinatsu heard a loud crash and the thrum of something metallic farther up the hill. There were no trees up here, but the many grave stones and tomb structures obscured her view.

Nevertheless, she decided she could come back to the fresh graves in a little bit, so she left them and stalked up the hill, maintaining suppression over her aura as she snuck forward.

Maybe if there were some grave robbers she could have some fun killing them.

She smiled through a giggle.