Dokeshi March ~ 3!

The crowd surrounding the starving man had reached well over a dozen people by the time Grant got close enough to try to break things up, but by then, it was too late. Someone kicked the man in the back of the leg, dropping him to one knee. Then, in the oddest fashion Grant had ever seen, the people started beating the man.

It was like the kick was some kind of signal for the entire throng. They formed an almost perfect circle around him, taking individual turns to land a punch or kick on the fallen man. He did almost nothing to try and protect himself, beyond curling up an inch at a time between hits in an effort to somehow lessen the blows.

When Grant finally stepped in, he quickly discovered why he had received all those warnings about not fighting; he grabbed the shoulder of a hefty woman he had seen selling cakes and pulled her back before she could hit the downed man with a surprisingly sharp-looking spatula.

Warning: You have initiated combat with Peasants of Gambling Center 7. As the instigator, your ability to defend will be reduced to every second turn used to attack.

“What is even happening?” Grant tried to move, but for some reason, he was stuck in place like a fly in amber. An invisible force was holding him in place, making it impossible for him to do anything beyond strain back and forth. “Why can’t I move? Sarge!”

Actions: Please select one option from the following list

Attack: Lethal, Non-lethal, Spell.

Defend: With Weapon, Without Weapon.

Run: Attempt Escape.

“Sarge! What’s going on?” He wasn’t sure what to do, but he did notice that everyone else was moving just like he was, lightly bobbing back and forth in place. “Why can’t I move?”

The nonchalant council he received was not the direct order he had been hoping for. <Well, kid, you’ve really stepped in it now. I don’t know how he did it, but it looks like Lord March figured out some way to add to the barrier system. You better pick something fast; I think things are about to get interesting.>

“Pick something? What should I pick?” The man directly across from Grant sprang forward, striking him across the face with a bag of onions. Grant hoped that was what it was; otherwise explaining that smell wasn’t going to be something he wanted to deeply investigate. “That didn’t even hurt!”

Damage taken: 0 blunt (4 mitigated)

<Of course it didn’t hurt, ya simpleton! You’re wearing armor. Getting hit with a sack of laundry better not hurt.>

“I really wanted that to be onions.” The person standing next to the bag-wielder was a different story. They jumped forward and hit Grant with a steel-spiked cudgel, smashing him across the stomach hard enough to double him over; but he couldn’t even move enough to make that happen.

Damage taken: 0 blunt (24 mitigated)

Grant tried to unsheathe his sword to deflect the blow, but a red message flashed across his vision, preventing him from moving.

Please select an action-

<Select ‘Defend: With Weapon,’ and hurry! These weaklings are going to finish you faster than your mother finishes a buffet table!> Grant did as he was told, and his sword seemed to practically jump into his hand just as the next person in the circle flashed forward to attack. By reflex, Grant lifted his sword into a high guard, and the man attacking him slammed his fist onto the edge of February Twenty Nine hard enough to risk losing fingers. Unfortunately, it also resulted in shooting blood straight into Grant’s eyes and open mouth.

Action: Defend: With Weapon

Result: Critical Success, attacker takes 13 slashing damage—bleed effect active, defender momentarily blinded.

Actions: Please select one option from the following list

Attack: Lethal, Non-lethal, Spell.

Defend: With Weapon, Without Weapon.

Run: Attempt Escape.

<I recommend doing that again.> Sarge paused as Grant once again selected ‘Defend: With Weapon’. <Now, try to see if you can do more damage to the next one. These are just peasants; it won’t take much for them to turn tail and run away. If they hit you, they’ll literally start to kill themselves.>

“Stop this!” Grant shouted at the next person in line, a muscular young man barely older than Grant himself, garbed in the leather apron of a blacksmith. “I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Then you shouldn’t try to defend someone accusing another of cheating!” The young blacksmith swung a heavy hammer at Grant’s chest, clearly holding nothing back. “Now take this! In your next life, maybe you will be able to see Mount Tai!”

Grant couldn’t move his feet, but he could lean to the side. He perfectly positioned his uchigatana to deflect the hammer, while simultaneously allowing the other man’s momentum and force to guide the first two inches of its chisel-tipped point into his attacker’s thigh. The man gasped in pain and fell backwards off of Grant’s sword.

“The Tuesdays are comin’! Everyone get outta here, see!” The shout from the nearby alley sounded suspiciously familiar. Just as the warning ended, the sound of booted feet stomping in unison and chainmail armor jingling in time were clear indicators of an organized force approaching the square.

Congratulations! Your new battle count moves from [0 Wins / 0 Losses] to [1 Wins / 0 Losses]. Remember, the lucky rise to the challenge!

“What is wrong with this place?” Grant sheathed his sword. “Sarge, did my cultivation improve at all?”

<I’m upset to admit the fact that you did cultivate some time in your Armor cultivation.> He seemed to grumble a bit, as if Grant was the cause of all the problems. <It shouldn’t have jumped at all, given how weak they were. There wasn’t even a Vassal in the whole bunch! Maybe it was the fact that you were resisting a barrier effect the entire->

“Don’t just stand there; help me!” Suki had already made it over to the man still lying on the ground, and she was doing her best to get him on his feet. Even with her prodigious strength, an unconscious body could be awkward to carry. “We need to get out of here before they see you!”

Suki nodded at a faded and worn poster nailed to the side of a nearby building. It was weather-stained, difficult to make out, but Grant still recognized himself.

Wanted by House Monday

Dead or Alive

Grant Monday

For the murder of Lord January

Reward: 5 Decades

“Five Decades!” Grant felt like someone had struck him between the eyes, because he was certainly dazed and confused. “Who would pay that much for me? That’s enough Time that I’m almost tempted to turn myself in! I didn’t even kill Lord January. All I did was take his position! This is bonkers! No place will be safe for us now… Suki, you need to get away from me before you get arrested too.”

<Why would they draw your teeth like that? You look like a horse.>

“Calm down.” She raised an eyebrow at him and motioned for him to grab the other man’s arm so they could carry him away. “Look at that picture again. It doesn’t look anything like you. That version of Grant Monday looks like an overstuffed sausage. You must have lost almost a hundred pounds since that was drawn? No one could possibly recognize you.”

She patted her pack with her free hand. “We’ll both even take a potion to hide our identities. We should be safe after that.”

<If you don’t hurry, it won’t matter what you do. Those guards are getting close.> Reminded of their situation, Grant picked up the pace. They quickly disappeared into the twisty alleyways and dark side streets of the poor district, only a few buildings away from the apparent largesse of the market district.

Even with the assurances from Suki, and Sarge analyzing the combat situation, Grant couldn’t help but feel like a noose was growing ever tighter around his neck.