The Lost Shadow

Chapter 5 - The Book

Coin conversion: 100 copper = 1 silver → 10000 copper = 100 silver = 1 gold   

*Knock *Knock*

"Hideaki wake the hell up! If you don't get up in the count of 5 I will throw you back into your mother's womb!" Outside the room that Hideaki slept in, a man was roaring repulsive phrases. Hideaki opened his eyes very slowly, his hair was in a mess, so he quickly shouted out to tell the man to hold on. He tied up his hair and quickly slid the door open. "Why were you sleeping so long? You need to head over to the farmhouse with me. I need to find some work for you until you figure something else out yourself."

The man that was screaming outside the door was Isamu, who had woken up much earlier then Hideaki. He led Hideaki away from the room and towards the front gate. While leaving, he saw Amaya in the garden that was in front of his room. She was picking out weeds, then suddenly she looked towards him. She gave a very provocative glare that most likely meant 'don't do anything stupid to my father'. Hideaki gave a slight nod and then turned around, his back drenched in sweat.

"Isamu, why are we going to the farmhouse?" Hideaki then remembered Isamu talking about going to the farmhouse. "You leach, you can't live in this village without working. So I am placing you as the maintainer of a farm that grows wheat. I just need to sign your name and give you your own place to stay near that farmhouse." Isamu started to talk about making Hideaki work on a farm. Although it was temporary, Hideaki felt that something like this should be done by a person who had more experience.

"Don't you guys have some sort of mercenary department or something? Like farming sounds fun and all, but I don't think I am cut out for that kind of job." Although Hideaki did not want a life full of murder, he would rather be a mercenary than a farmer. When he said this, a fist came crashing onto his face. "What mercenary? You are going to be a farmer first, and that's that. We need more farmers than we need mercenaries. Plus, we are a mountain village, the only thing threatening us is the lack of food." Hideaki understood what Isamu meant. There weren't any bandits so it's not like the village would be pillaged. Plus, the only other threat that wasn't said was the dojo and mysterious person who threw blades at them.

"Alright fine, I will start as a farmer. But remember this, I will work on the farm my way. You will get the food that you want, but you can't interfere with what I do." Isamu nodded towards Hideaki. It didn't matter what he did on the farm as long as they got food that would let them survive. After settling this argument, Isamu took Hideaki to the farmhouse. They registered his name for a farm that was outside the village and close to the mountains. It was a very large plot of land. But sadly, it was destroyed. The house looked like it would break at any moment, and there was nothing growing in the field.

"What the hell is this Isamu?! This can't and even be considered a field. Everything is in ruins. How am I supposed to do anything here?" Hideaki started to complain quickly, but when he turned around he saw Isamu running towards the village. "This little..." Hideaki was beyond annoyed. The only thing here was a small hut of a house, a large but spoiled field and a bag of seeds. Hideaki gave a long sigh but just accepted his fate. It wasn't like it was the worst thing in the world. So Hideaki entered the broken down house. It was similar to Isamu's but it was on a much smaller scale. There were only two rooms, the main and the chambers. There was nothing else. The only upside was that Hideaki could get some privacy. Hideaki got out the house and circled around the back. In the back, there was an ax stabbed into the ground. There was a small forest that connected to the mountain. Also, in the forest, a small pond or some sort of river could be seen from afar. 

Next, Hideaki went to the field where he would be working most of the time. The ground was spoiled with the whole field looking like a battlefield. This was going to be a rough journey. Hideaki was starting to worry if he would be able to accumulate enough coins to even survive. The only thing that Hideaki had with him at the moment was 5 gold that Isamu gave him, a sword and this useless farm.

"Maybe the light will shine on me in this situation." Hideaki could only think positively now. The more time he took to think the happier Hideaki got. The farm was not in complete ruins. It was moist because of the river area, which was good for planting the seeds. The mountains weren't really blocking the sun during the day so the field was getting the right amount of sunlight.

Hideaki wanted to get an early start on this field and so he found a four-tined hoe in the back and started to level the field up properly. He dragged and created different sections and dugout areas he would put some water and seeds in. Because the field was too large, Hideaki worked for hours and only finished around a third of the field. The sun was setting so Hideaki thought about going into the village to buy some more items for agriculture.

Slowly he approached the village, but in front of the gate, there was an old man. It was the same old man from yesterday. This time the old man did not vanish, rather he walked towards Hideaki. The distance was still too great for Hideaki to see his face properly. However, Hideaki noticed that the old man was putting his hand into his robe to pull something out. Hideaki got into a defensive position with hands in front of him. He didn't know what this old man was going to pull out, and he seemed to be related to the blades from yesterday. So being more cautious felt safer. 

The old man suddenly pulled out a very thick black book. He then threw it up into the air. Hideaki looked at the book which was thrown into the air. It flew towards the ground that was in front of him. When he looked back to where the old man was standing, Hideaki noticed that he was gone. He looked everywhere around himself to see if he could find the old man. To his surprise, the old man was gone. 'How did he disappear like that?' It was an open area. The only place he could have gone to would be the village, but even that was a little further back. 

Hideaki picked up the book that the old man threw to him. Before he could read the title, he heard a shout in the distance. "Hey Hideaki, you wanna go and get a drink?" Isamu was standing by the gate calling him over. There seemed to be an apologetic look on his face. It seemed like Isamu wanted to take Hideaki for a drink to make up for the crappy land he gave him. "Maybe some other time, I need to go and buy some things. I will catch up with you later." Hideaki wanted to grab a drink, but he needed to buy some supplies quickly. If it got too late, then it might not be safe to walk all the way to his home. The mysterious blade man could attack again at any time.

"Hideaki, don't be like that. I know what I did was wrong, but what else could I do? That plot may be in ruins, but the location itself is one of the best. Also, it is the most isolated land, meaning it is the safest from the village..." Isamu gave a look to Hideaki. He tried to tell him that 'the further away you are from the dojo, the better'. Hideaki took the hint and nodded slightly. He also had a feeling that the blades were mostly aiming towards him rather then Isamu during that incident.

"Isamu, I am actually very busy at the moment. I need to buy some things and then leave to go and repair the land you gave me." Hideaki walked by Isamu with a smile. He also had a look of urgency on his face. 'What is the book that the old man gave to me?' He wanted to know what it was, but he couldn't check it in the open. It was too dangerous.

The core of the village was bustling with activity. Most of the shops were still open, and so Hideaki was able to get most of what he wanted rather quickly; seeds, tools, and herbs. After getting all that he needed, Hideaki decided to also buy a horse. It was fairly cheap because no one really needed them. From the 5 gold that Hideaki had initially, he was now left with 3 gold. The horse and items he needed cost the most while some food items took the rest. 3 gold was still fairly good for someone who just got to the town.

The horse that Hideaki bought, was black, except the mane, hooves and from the nose to the forehead were all white. It was bought for 93 silver. It was a good price since outside the village horse would be bought for more than a gold at least. Hideaki sat on the horse and headed back to his home. It took a little more than 10 mins to get back. Luckily, nothing happened on the way. When he got off, he put everything except the food items in the back. He tied the horse to a wooden pole that held up the house outside. He gave the horse some food that he got for free (he got some horse food, and a leash with the horse). After feeding the horse, Hideaki went into his room. He shut all the doors and blocked every opening into the room. He got out a candle and lit it up. He then pulled out the think black book that he got from the old man. Taking a closer look, the book had some ancient writing that seemed really confusing. Surprisingly, Hideaki knew how to read these ancient letters. The title that the book had was:

"Refinement of Soul Shadows"