Dokeshi March ~ 16!

“The labyrinth?” Grant had heard the word before, but he didn’t know why a hedge maze would be a difficult proposition. “If we have to go through a bunch of bushes, I can just chop them down.”

“Shh!” Suki put her finger up to her lips and dragged Grant deeper into the building. “They might still be close by. Keep your voice down.”

He ducked his head in shame, paused, and met her eyes, ready to argue against directly agreeing with her. She gave him a glance that told him that she knew what he was about to say, and to just stay quiet. He slowly closed his mouth, internally grumbling against the back-and-forth between training and reality. After a few minutes had passed with no further sounds coming from the street, Suki risked a cautious glance onto the road. “It isn’t that kind of labyrinth. Or the regular dungeon kind, either.”

“Dungeon labyrinths?” Grant had never heard of one before, but he could guess what it meant. “There are dungeon labyrinths? Non human-made ones? I thought that was a myth.”

“Perhaps a myth in a weak place like January—my apologies. That’s uncalled for. No, what is important is that we have to take a different, unexpected route.” Suki crouched down and used a gloved finger to draw a rough map in the dirt on the floor. “Now, I’ve never seen it in person, but from the maps of the area we had in February, this District is laid out as three layers of gambling houses. The two of us were taking the trade road to avoid them, but it looks like that isn’t an option anymore.” She glanced up to make sure Grant was paying attention. “We are in the outside layer right now, and the quality of life is apparently far higher as you get closer to the center of the District. The gambling houses are nicer and there are higher payouts for winning, as well as more severe punishments for losing.”

Grant nodded slowly as he pieced together the fragmented information he was gleaning. “You’re thinking that they guessed that we wouldn’t risk going through that way? Probably because of what happened with the food vendor we went to when we first arrived. I’m betting that they completely wrote me off as a gambler… that explains how they’re all over us right now. But, how does gambling get us deeper into the District? I’m looking at the ring-shaped layers, and I don’t understand why we couldn’t just jump over the wall or something?”

“The rings are actual buildings. Instead of just building a wall, the old Lord March had his people build giant casinos that serve the same purpose. The security on them is so tight, so deadly, that there is only one way to avoid them besides the trade road gates.” She pointed to the ‘wall’ drawing. “Three total options. Win enough games at the casinos to buy in to the next area by proving you belong there, get through the trade gates… or test your luck in a more personal way. A labyrinth of luck and death.”

“Hold up a moment. How could we possibly win enough to get through these places? Won’t their guards recognize us?” Grant wasn’t convinced that Suki had all the facts. “I still say we try to just climb over the casino walls and make our way to the Dokeshi that way.”

“If we get there and we see a way to do it, I’m all for it.” Suki held up a bulging purse stuffed with jingling coins. “This may seem like a lot of Time right now, but it will run through our fingers like water if we let you start gambling the way you have been.”

“I’m not really that bad, am I?” Grant’s only answer was a quiet chuckle from Suki, and a not-so-quiet guffaw from Sarge. “Don’t want to be good at it, anyway. What’s so wrong with just earning your way by merit?”

“That mentality is why you’re the Lord of February, and not March. Gambling is eighty percent mindset, and that’s something we can work on, Grant.” Suki stood and brushed the dirt off of her knees from kneeling on the dirty ground. “If you apply the same lessons to life and gambling that I am trying to teach you from the Way of the Noble, you will reach mastery in no time.”

They eased their way out the back of the temple and carefully searched the small yard before passing out a back gate. The overgrown cemetery had caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand straight, but he couldn’t tell why for sure. Was it all the crows silently watching them from the top of the oversized wrought iron fence? The holes pre-dug in the ground awaiting bodies? The silence that blanketed this area to a degree that nowhere else had seemed to generate?

Suki winced when the gate let out a loud creak as they left, breaking that self-same silence, but no one raised the alarm. The other sound was Suki’s stomach gurgling, followed by Grant’s less adorable tiger-snarl as his stomach took up the warcry. He abashedly pulled out a couple of the tasteless granola bars and passed one over to Suki so they could chow down while they moved.

Occasionally, Sarge would bark an order for him to execute an exercise, or throw a monster or rock at him to continue to improve his reflexes. The man was tempted to complain that they needed silence and stealth, but he could feel the gradual gains he was making with his Iaijutsu and Kenjutsu skills. While they walked in a zig-zag pattern through abandoned streets and dark alleys in search of a sign to point them toward a casino entrance, Suki also continued to ask him questions, and got him to agree to things he didn’t really want to do.

“So, you were raised on a farm, right?” She kept idly rolling a fat gold Week coin across her knuckles. Of course, it just so happened to have her face on it, since the District it came from had been hers. She had said she was ‘practicing’, but it did a great job of distracting Grant, causing his attention to his surroundings to lower. “Would you be willing to show me how to operate a farm when all of this is over?”

“I’d love to!” For the first time, Grant was excited at the prospect of spending some time with her, and he wondered why; he would just be giving her lessons in farming and not… other things. Perhaps because it was something he knew how to do, so he could prove his knowledge on the subject, and maybe win her respect? The man flushed at that thought and tried to cover his reaction by speaking. “First, I’ll show you how to care for animals. They are my favorite part of farming-”

Suki flipped the Week up into the air, punched him in the face, and caught the coin before it could hit the ground. “Ow! Why? What was that for?”

“Just because you want to agree to something, doesn’t mean you should.” Suki surreptitiously rubbed her knuckles against her hip to relieve the pain from punching him in the jaw. She hadn’t activated her gauntlets this time, and she hadn’t noticed before that his face was as hard as granite. Next time, he was getting the full-metal treatment, even if it did mean the battle system would be activated again. “By the time this is all over, you will be the Calendar King. You have to learn to be a good steward of your time. What do you think the best use of that time would be? Giving farm tours? You’ll be managing the farms for the entire planet!”

Grant was once again struck by the size of the task before him. This mess wasn’t going to simply end when he defeated all the Lords and Ladies. That was just the start. His pack suddenly felt really heavy again.

<That’s why it’s so important that you become a Dao Cultivator. Personally, I’m still pushing for the samurai route.> Sarge seemed to at least understand what kind of weight Grant was feeling at the moment. <If you can balance your thoughts and actions, it will help you be a kind and just ruler. One the people of this world need. It also won’t hurt that your lifespan becomes ‘until killed’. You wanna raise farm animals for a few decades? Why not, when the world is at peace?>

“Thanks, Sarge.” Grant rubbed his face to alleviate some of the throbbing pain from getting punched in the face again. “At least you’ll be there to help me when I need you.”

Sarge didn’t answer. Grant took his silence as acceptance. Suki had taught him that: silence in the face of a question, especially an ethical one, was the same as indirectly agreeing.

“There! A sign! I knew we were going the correct direction.” In the distance, a glowing advertisement for ‘Patty’s Perfect Palace, Poolroom, and Pavilion of Perfect-Pick Poker and Pinochle’ was poking over the pointed roof of a poorly maintained post office. Suki was almost bouncing with excitement at having finally found something to point them in the right direction. “It’s large enough to serve as a wall, I think. How much do you want to bet that place is where we need to go?”

“I don’t know… maybe it’s just another gambling house? They seem to be a dime a dozen around here.” Once again, he didn’t see the fist coming. Thankfully, his training brought his weapon into his hands like magic, just in time to stop her from socking him in the cheek. The attack by the metal gauntlet was enough to activate the system, but Grant just ignored it as he glared at her, sparks flying as their weapons ground against each other. “Again with this? I didn’t agree to anything, and I hope you know I’m not about to let you punch me.”

“That’s for trying to ruin my good mood.” He didn’t bother to argue with her, simply raising an eyebrow that she ignored. “It’s good that you’re getting better at blocking them. Another lesson from the Way of the Noble: even your companions could attack you at any moment. Before the Wielder Wars, assassinations of Lords and Ladies was commonplace. We are all taught from a young age to expect the unexpected. Trust no one, and you won’t be taken by surprise when they try to betray you.”

<I can’t argue with that idea.> A slime dropped out of the sky, and Grant stepped to the side to dodge the offending glob, which splattered and disappeared a few moments later. <Maybe it’s time to adjust away from the color orange? Hmmm…>

“I think that’s a sad way to live, if I’m being honest. As to the casino? There’s only one way to find out.” Grant took off before the two of them could attack him in some other way he wasn’t expecting. Perhaps they’d tell him he needed to wear more colorful clothes, but not that color, since he would have been the one to choose it. Who knew? “If we’re going to make it to the casino before we’re caught, we’d better get a move on.”