Seed Pocket

Chapter 36: A Sticky Encounter with General Kumo

When we got back to the guild, the girls and I split up to figure out the Evil King's whereabouts.

"Sorry to bother you, but do you know where the Evil King resides?" I asked the worker who registered us.

"I do, but why are you asking? You can't possibly be thinking of storming his castle alone," she asked worriedly.

"I'm not going to be alone. My party is going with me. Can you tell me where it is?"

Unfortunately, the worker had already fainted before I finished talking. Now that I think about it, I really chose a bad person to ask. I mean, she faints over everything!

I left the comatose worker and walked over to Touwa, who was reading some books.

"Have you learned anything yet?" I asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately, the Evil King's castle is a long way away from Kaishi Town. We're going to have to walk a long distance to get there."

"Couldn't we rent a vehicle?"

"No. Unfortunately, nobody offers rides to that area or allows anyone to rent a vehicle to go there. We'll have to walk."

"A little walking never killed anyone. Why don't we go ahead and head out? The sooner we get this over with, the better."

Touwa agreed so I got the rest of the girls together so we could get a move on. Once we were all gathered, Touwa spoke.

"I have determined the location of the Evil King. Now that Hana has the proper equipment, I believe we are ready to take him on. Are you all ready?"

"Who do you think you're talking to? Of course we're ready! Let's kick some *** (butt)!" Mari exclaimed, raring to go.

Chuckling, we left the guild, starting our final adventure on the new Kaiyo. As we walked to our destination, we were attacked by a weak monster that looked similar to a bear cub.

"Hana, you should try out your new sword before we face the King," Yuri suggested, looking excited.

"O-ok. Promise you'll back me up if I need help? I've never used a sword before," I replied nervously.

"Of course!"

I charged at the little bear and clumsily swung my sword down. The bear dodged by rolling to the left. The bear then leapt at me, baring its fangs. Panicking, I swung my sword at it. Since the bear couldn't dodge, it was cut in two. Blood covered the end of my sword, almost making me throw up.

"You did it, Hana! It was a little touch and go there for a while, but you did it!" Yuri exclaimed, running over to me.

"Yeah..." I said weakly.

"Are you ok? You look pale."

"I'm fine. I never realized that taking a life like that would be so... disturbing."

"You get used to it. Honestly, we all really don't like killing either. Well, Shitai's an exception of course," Yuri explained, eyeing the sadist as she examined the dead monster. "Anyway, we try to avoid killing, but it's a necessity sometimes."

I nodded, understanding why Yuri asked Shitai to kill Hebi instead of doing it herself.

As we journeyed on, the girls left defeating weaker monsters to me so I could get used to Kojomaru. After what seemed like the hundreth monster, I finally got the hang of using my sword.

"What's that?" Akino asked on the fifth day of our journey, looking ahead of us.

We all looked to see what she was pointing at. In the distance, I could make out a town with what looked like a white veil over it. As we got closer, I saw that the veil was not actually a veil at all. It was something a lot more sinister.