SideQuest!

Act 2 - The Path to Manjeong

The route to Manjeong was treacherously cold as my men and I traversed the misty dirt road ahead cutting through the forest, with a handful of fellow Magyu swordsmen lining up on the flanks of the army with the blaze of the blue flame flickering on their fists to light the way and keep our company warm as we marched on to the town. The path certainly felt lonely, but is not by any means barren. There is always something to come across every minute or so. At first, we didn't mind the sights that we encountered. Abandoned wooden carts and reed baskets can be seen scattered along the path, along with a handful of broken arrows, discarded clothing and the rotting carcasses of cattle laying on the side of the road - nothing too serious. It was something to be expected, knowing what fate had befell the town of Manjeong. But as we marched on, the air grew more and more ominous. The buzzing of the flies grew plentiful as the stench of death became more pungent with every step. The harrowing sights of death and decay surrounded our every flank, and beneath the veil of the fog, I can hear unearthly moans and shrieks coming from all directions as the air grew colder around us.

"We shouldn't have come here." muttered one of the spearmen, his eyes nervously twitching as his pupils scanned every direction. At this remark, I noticed some of the men began to grow weary. I signaled them to hold their ground and form a defensive sea urchin formation.

"Steel yourselves, men!" I declared loudly as I drew my sword, planting it on the ground. "These creatures are just cowering behind their wall of mist. All they do is shriek, there's no need to be afraid of them."

I then hear an otherworldly echoing giggle of a man coming from the direction of the trees, as if mocking my words. It unnerved the men, and they began to whisper among themselves talks of retreat or escape. At this moment, scanning with the naked eye is very difficult and ascertaining the enemy numbers, much less their location is nigh impossible to achieve. Taking hold of my sword, I sent out my thick, inky tendrils slithering outwards to scout out the perimeter. Slowly, I closed my eyes to concentrate.

"Commander, I see movement to the west." called out one of the Magyu bladers from the left flank. "There! Shuffling through the bushes."

"I see something here on the southern flank, sire!" announced another, throwing a fireball in front of him.

"Steady, men! Hold your positions!" I commanded them as steered the tendrils to crawl to the left to scan for enemies. I can feel the presence of an entity, but so far my tendrils seem to only manage to get ahold of nothing but an empty grassy field as they continuously sought out for anything that might come running towards their direction. The giggling grew louder and more often by the minute, and for the expanse of time that we've held our ground, the air grew increasingly colder that before we knew it, we can see our mouths belch out warm foggy breaths. Having no luck in finding anything around us, I withdrew my sword from the ground, sucking in the inky tendrils as the blade rose.

Not a moment too soon, I saw a large, dark-winged figure fly out of nowhere, casting a faint shadow as it circled around the skies above us. The men gasped in awe as the creature made its first pass, making a shriek that sounded like a cry of a thousand voices. The features of the creature was very hard to make out at first, as the mist was obscuring its appearance. But then, as it made its second pass, the entity started to fly lower, revealing a shape not too different from that of gigantic bat, screeching distortedly as it immediately swooped down in front of us with force like an oversized blanket falling down in a torrent of black smoke.

As the black fumes start to dissipate, a distinct form begins to solidify. It was a figure of a man with a wide black cone hat, wearing an old, thick plate armor, damaged and in poor condition. It looked as if years of neglect had corroded the breastplate and the vambraces, the composition of the steel discolored and rusted. He wraps a ghastly gray cape around his back, and on his right hand he holds a huge, metal naginata spear with the blade arching like a huge cleaver. He gave a maniacal laugh as he rose, spinning his weapon to taunt us before pointing the blade towards me in a very daunting stance.

"State your business." he ordered in a deep voice. "Speak quickly and speak truthfully."

"Who's asking?" I responded defiantly as I slowly readied my sword.

The man laughed menacingly as he stowed away his scythe, resting it upon his shoulders. "You puny mortal presume to speak with Onimaru, the Winter Demon and the Shepherd of Lost Souls? You imperial soldiers have the audacity to come back here in Manjeong after desecrating the bodies of the people you've massacred. You denied the citizens of Manjeong the rights to a proper burial, and now their souls wander aimlessly across the plains. I never was interested in concerning nor involving myself in fights with your kind,  but if you take one more step forward into the town, I will kill you all."

"Wait, you are...?! No! You have it all wrong." I explained as calmly as I can as I sheathed my sword. "We are from the resistance. The people of Manjeong were our allies. We're here to collect and bury our dead." 

"Of course. Why else would you bring those spears and swords." he sarcastically replied. "Stay away! I shan't allow any further disrespect of the dead."

"We are not here for any of that. As an act of good faith, we are willing to surrender our weapons for the meantime...if you allow us to go into the town and do what we need to do." I proposed. "Surely, that would be more than enough guarantees for you. We do not wish to fight."

The men immediately gave me looks of disapproval upon hearing my suggestion. "Sire, are you sure you want to surrender our weapons to a DEMON?" whispered one of the men to me.

"We have no choice." I whispered back. "You're not going toe-to-toe with an immortal, would you? Besides, the Shepherd of Lost Souls is not a malignant demon. He will not harm us if we do not provoke him."

"I hope you're right, sire." he muttered between his teeth. 

I turned to the demon. "So, do we have terms?"

He paused for a moment, as if to consider my offer. Soon after, he slowly lowered his weapon - taking a more non-threatening stance.

"...We have terms." he replied calmly.

To set an example to my men, I slowly slid off the swords tucked to my waist, held them up and set them down on the ground. The rest followed suit, cautiously putting their weapons down on the ground.

After the deed is done, the demon ordered us to step away from our weapons. We immediately followed, moving about three paces back as we are now at the mercy of the demon upon disarming ourselves and we do not want to invoke his wrath.

Upon noting our compliance, the demon then raised his hand. Gradually, the fog begins to subside and the temperature starts to normalize, revealing the lush green forest in front of us. At this, the weapons that we set on the ground also started to dissolve into thin air. With the scenery completely unfolding before us, the demon spoke.

"Walk with me." he muttered in his human voice.