A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Chapter 66: Chapter 65

Perhaps they\'re doing something right though, if they\'re so easily recognizable. Still though, just looking at these \'golden doors\' encrusted with \'jewels\' is just....bleh. Well, seeing the Cornucopia engraved right above the entrance, I could tell who was backing such a place. No doubt there were probably many branches all around the world.

Plutus, Greek god of wealth and abundance.

Need anymore be said?

The inside wasn\'t much different from the outside, even if there were many interesting things I might actually want at some point.

"Greetings, sir." A woman bowed as I entered. "May I ask if you are selling or buying?"

"Little of both." I replied. "Though I would like to change some gold to Yen if possible as well."

"Of course, Sir." She gestured towards the counter. "Please follow me."

Well, service is good.

"Welcome to the World\'s Cornucopia, we have everything and anything you could want, how may we be of service." I was led towards an older gentleman, he appeared to be the true \'representative\'.

"Gold exchange, then I wouldn\'t mind seeing some goods." I thought for a moment. "Also, do you all deal in real estate?"

"Yes, we have many plots of lands, buildings, and other such things if needed." He nodded. "We also posses a catalogue of our showrooms, though some may need to take a couple days to transfer from elsewhere. And lastly, we do provide an exchange of gold to your desired currency, but we do take a 1% fee."

"Sounds fair. Do you have somewhere I can empty a large amount of gold coins into...?"

He held out a bucket, pulled from under the table. I just eyed him and lifted my hand up, allowing a couple thousands septims to fall out. They never overflowed, seemingly a bottomless enchantment.

"Very good, sir. I will have these sorted and priced in a few moments, please browse our selections while you wait." He bowed and ducked out to what I assumed was the back room.

Whatever, I\'m kind of curious what they have for sale....lets take a look at swords.

This \'catalogue\' was enchanted as well, I could apparently search things up and it was much bigger than it appeared on the surface. Without much effort, it filtered for weapons, then towards swords.

Hmmm....some good stuff already.

Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar, an Anti-Demon weapon from the middle east, interesting, but not my style.

A nameless katana forged by Sengo Muramasa, my interest was slightly more piqued, but I once again disregarded it after another thought. It didn\'t quite match up to my other weapons, regardless of it\'s creator\'s status, it was still a failed product.

Oh, there\'s a sword I recognize, Dyrnwyn. A holy sword that ignites with holy flames when wielded by the worthy, with a Celtic origin. I\'m surprised the church hasn\'t snapped this up, they usually hoard any and all \'holy\' items that originated from Europe, even if they have \'pagan\' births.

There were some more, that managed to grab my attention, but none that really brought about my \'greed\'. Mostly they were all about this level, which wasn\'t too surprising, anything more than this and they would be grabbed immediately or never come up in a market like this one in the first place.

Well, I mostly just made a mental note of anything I thought was interesting for later. They did have more than just weapons, ingredients and alchemic supplies were among their best sellers apparently.

"Excuse me, sir." The man bowed again, and I never caught him name, but I think that was on purpose. "Your gold has been weighed and measured. This is the total." He handed me a slip of paper, and my eyes briefly widened. I had forgotten how much gold was worth here again.

Well, I can make some nice money by bringing gold back from Skyrim if I were inclined.

"Very good." I tapped a place on the catalogue. "Would it be possible to give this place a look through?" I gestured towards a specific house within West Kyoto."

"Of course." He said without a second thought. "I\'ll make all necessary preparations."

Outside of the décor....this place is alright. I\'ll definitely be coming back here if the need arises.

***

With a hefty amount of cash in my ring, I held onto a piece of paper that gave me directions on where to go. Surprisingly, they had that much cash on hand, I would have thought they do bank transfers or something.

Fun side note, there are supernaturally inclined banks in the world. Granted, the ones that cater to specific supernatural entities are limited, most just have a few branches here or there for that purpose.

I\'m really learning a lot of fun little things about this place that I didn\'t know before.

You know, today has been a good day....

*BOOOOOOM*

.....is what I would have loved to say, had not everything started exploding around me.

I just sighed as a building down the street literally caught fire after what looked like a man in a mask ran out of it, throwing something inside and having it explode into pieces.

Literally, almost everything was on fire at this point.

There were many groups of people running around, what looked like armed guardS, civilians, and a third group in masks and cloaks that were causing all sorts of chaos and damage.

I just continued to walk, staring at the destruction around me, practically apathetic to it all. I had come here to essentially relax. To some small errands, walk around my birth world, and perhaps find some kind of spiritual peace while working through my own issues.

Fuck it, this doesn\'t concern me, I\'ll just—

"MOMMY!"

I stopped in my tracks, turning to the side, some masked individuals were dragging off a female youkai, a little child being held away by another. They began pawing at her clothing, still almost in the middle of the street.

Between that brief moment it took me to contemplate what was happening, and allowing anger to set it, my swords already flashed out.

I withdrew my hat, putting over the kids eyes in time so he didn\'t see the bloody scene. The woman looked at my fearfully as I quickly cleaned up the new-decapitated bodies around her with a few fire talismans.

Magical fire, great for getting rid of bodies.

"Mommy" The little boy whispered as he hugged his mom, but the mother still eyed my warily.

"Go." I ushered, flipping my hat up and putting it onto my head.

"Thank you." She said quietly, picked up her son and running at speeds more in line with a non-human.

I sighed again, my swords floating around me. I seemed to draw more attention onto myself as well, I saw a few people shouting and pointing at me, but their voices were lost in the background somewhere.

I don\'t consider myself a hero, but some things I can\'t let slide.

There are lines, ones I won\'t cross and ones I will not allow others to cross as well.

"YOU BASTARD!" One of the masked people attacked me, blood literally covering his hands yet he said something like that.

I just shook my head, not giving him any attention as his head also rolled on the ground after Whisper passed by.

"Kill him!" Another shouted as a dozen or more followed his words, some started casting spells, a few ran at me with weapons and a couple relied on their enhanced physiologies to attack me. The first one to reach me, I merely knocked his weapon away after reinforcing my body. It almost made me pause, to see how strong I\'ve actually become in a physical sense.

I\'ve been training with someone who could kick my ass, so I wasn\'t used to fighting mooks like this. I just grabbed his throat with my hand, keeping him locked in place.

Snapped my fingers, several Runic Circles appeared behind me. "Lightning" I said lazily. The volley of magically enhanced lightning discharged towards my enemies, burning and blasting them to shreds. One or two managed to escape this initially bombardment, but my swords made short work of them.

Not even enough to warm me up, hell, not even enough for me to actually wield one of my swords.

I dropped the only living one to the ground, pulling a chair out of my ring and sitting down.

He rolled on the ground, gasping for breath until his face had some color return to it. He saw me as he tried to stand up and run away, only for Ascalon to fly down from the sky and impale him through the chest and onto the concrete.

"AAAAHHHHH!" He screamed in pain, my sword not budging from its spot regardless of how he tried to pull at it.

I withdrew an apply, staring at him intently while I took a bite.

"WHAT DO YOU—"

"Shhh." I held a finger to my mouth, shushing him.

Ascalon pushed slightly deeper into the ground. Making him whimper even more in pain, I saw his body flicker, the illusion he was apparently wearing seemed to dissipate. Ears appeared on his head, two tails poked out from behind him, pushed out either side from his smooshed form.

"A kitsune." I spoke, not to him but to myself, taking another bite. "Who are you?" I finally asked.

"You\'ll never –"

A second sword fell from the sky, impaling his right thigh. His screams echoed out again. "I asked a question."

"B-bastard." He grit out, blood flowing from his mouth.

"Ah" I wagged my finger at him, making him shut up. "My question."

"W-we are the—" He coughed, blood flying from his throat. "T-true rulers of the night, we serve the true—"

Mirage finished him off, his eyes widened as my sword stuck out of his head.

"Cult of Tamamo-no-Mae, got it." I sighed, trying to pick through the vast amount of information I usually ignored that got added when my memories returned.

I do vaguely recall this annoying bunch, particularly because they are active in the country I was born in. It was pretty cut and dry, a cult dedicated to Tamamo-no-Mae. Their main purpose is to resurrect her...somehow, and then have her usher in a new age of....something. Honestly, I\'m not entirely sure on their motivations, only that they\'re stupid and their goals are probably equally stupid.

But, well, now I have some target to work out some pent of frustrations on I suppose. Sometimes you just need to look at the bright side of thi—

"ROOOOOOARRRRR" A massive figure burst out of the ground a few hundred meters away. Several heads swayed back and forth, dark green scaly skin almost consuming all light in the area. Slit-eyes took in the surrounding, multiple serpent heads opened their mouths and exhaled a deadly miasma.

This thing was huge, alteast three times the size of that dragon I fought back in Skyrim.

A hydra....no. From Greece mythology, there exists \'The Hydra\', the divine beast that Herakles took care of. In Japanese mythology there is a similar beast, perhaps superior to its western counterpart.

Yamata-no-Orochi, the divine serpent that required the skills of Susano\'o, the storm god to slay. It possessed eight heads and eight tails, a beast massive and deadly, and even considered a dragon in every meaningful regard. Perhaps that\'s why it differed from the Hydra.

This one isn\'t the divine creature, the dragon serpent.

But if I had to guess, this had some relation with it, what specifically, I don\'t know. It had 5 heads and 6 tails. Was it like a kitsune where its appendages represented its strength? I actually didn\'t know much about the physiology of this creature.

Well, regardless.

"A volunteer." I smiled lightly.

***

Oh baby, what the fuck is going on in Kyoto?

Anyways, if you want to support me or read 5 chapters ahead, visit my /Astoryforone.