Kisei no Shinryaku

Chapter 12

When they set foot inside the clan city, they were awed and stupefied by the glorious site of the beautiful Mizu. There were countless rivers and streams inside the hollowed inside of the mountain. There seemed to be an insurmountable amount of black cracks in the rock face, but upon closer examination, Azuma found them to be caves, possibly where the inhabitants lived. The rocks were bathed in blue light,making it seem as if there was a clear blue sky.

“It’s amazing,” Azuma said, being the first one to break the silence.

“Y-yes,”Mitaehl said, seemingly taken aback himself. “The blue light is artificial, and it comes from a bluestone-a special rock that emits a sky-blue light. The bluestone is only found high up the inside of the mountain, and we have carved it in such a way that it will make it seem like the sky. It has taken a long time and much work to make a settlement here, but it was well worth it.”

“It seems like it has been a long time since you have set foot here,” Orokan'zao put in.

“Yes. My duty is at the entrances. I have all of my needs and supplies there. I rarely set foot outside. Our clan does not see much of the outside as well. We receive all of our supplies and needs from couriers,” Mitaehl replied. “However, it is very unusual that it is this quiet. Though the  children have their lessons, the adults are usually working outside. I wonder what is going on.”

“What are the children taught?” Dai asked.

“The children are taught all the normal subjects, along with Martial Arts, Weapons Training, Mizu History, and the Arts of the Water. All clans have a special subject-such as Water Arts- that they do not like to indulge in, so please do not ask,” Mitaehl said.

Suddenly, a young man frantically ran up to them. “The Lord, he is been taken hostage, and won’t return until we turn all of our valuables to them! They are in the Great Water Palace, and he is held at knifepoint! Please, help,  Master Mitaehl!” the man said hurriedly. He was wearing a blue tunic with plain white pants.

“Very  well. I shall do everything on my power,” Mitaehl said calmly. “May I use your home to plan our attack?”

The man consented. They quickly ran over a series of rope bridges to get to the man’s living quarters. As soon as they entered, the group began planning on how to stop the man. After a little while, Mitaehl came up with a good way to stop the man.

“I am a Master of Water, meaning I know how to manipulate it. I can pretend to offer the man the Sacred Bluestone-which is the first one ever to be mined, by the way- but it is actually only water inside. As soon as he opens it and makes contact with the water, a bubble of water will envelope his head. When he accepts to tell us information about who ordered him to do this, I will release and bind him to the wall. Any objections?”

No one said anything.

“Let’s get on with it, then,” Mitaehl said cheerfully.