In retrospect perhaps Tetsuya hadn't been the best pick for this job. He had all the enthusiasm needed to serve his lord and the willingness to do whatever asked, but that hardly made up for knowledge and experience. The fact of the matter was he was still a child, political negotiations and espionage were hardly anything he was trained for. It might have even been a huge mistake in asking his questions so directly like that, particularly in front of Eri and Rii. He couldn't know what they might do with the information, knowing that their relics had gone missing and they were clueless as to where. Far as he knew the Naji were hardly malicious towards Shima, but could that change if they found out about this? It didn't help that Lady Ru was awfully... Open with how she dressed. Though he was seventeen Tetsuya had very limited experiences with women, and the Lady's dress was much more casual than what he was used to.

Being accosted for how he was acting made the young Neko feel pretty idiotic, lowering his gaze as his ears folded down in embarrassment. Lady Ru was right, he was supposed to be a guard of Shima, someone who was confident. Instead here he was blabbering all because of a woman not having a shirt on, and a slightly (or very) off color comment about placing something between her legs. He wasn't used to this sort of thing but then it shouldn't get to him, he couldn't lose his composure whenever something unexpected came up. Lord Shima would probably be embarrassed of him right now, he really needed to do better if he wanted to represent Shima better. Meeting Lady Ru's gaze steadily he gave a nod as she berated him, trying to take it all in stride as he knew he was wrong here.

"Right, sorry about that. I was just surprised is all, it won't happen again," Tetsuya said, bowing his head slightly before giving Lady Ru a curious look. Damn, so she had heard nothing about their relics then? That was extremely disappointing, though maybe he was being a bit naive in thinking his first search was going to give him answers. Lord Shima would know it was unsuccessful when he didn't return with news, which meant now he would have to move to the next town over. Maybe he'd try and find someone to give him a ride there, he really didn't want to have to walk again. Those bastards... If they hadn't come through Ru then where did they go? If he wasn't quick enough the trail might go cold and then he'd never find the relics, they couldn't afford that.

"I'll kill them... How dare they do this to Lord Shima..." Tetsuya cursed, gritting his teeth as he clenched his hands into fists. Anyone that would dare cross his Lord deserved to be punished, and stealing the relics was one of the more terrible things to be done. Realizing he might be slightly out of line he blinked once, looking up at Lady Ru and smiling slightly, giving his head a scratch before letting out a sigh. "Thank you anyways, Lady Ru. I'll be sure to pass the word along, but we won't abuse your generosity. I'll be sure that Lord Shima learns of this." So... Now what then?

Lady Ru stared at Tetsuya as he seemed to have a minor break down over her having any information that he needed. She could tell he felt strongly about such things and truly was loyal to his lord, still there wasn't really anything she could do without involving herself further in Shima affairs and that was something she wasn't willing to do. "I am sorry I can't be of much more help, but if you'd like to stay here until morning I can have some of my servants collect information from the village, maybe they can point you in the right direction. If you'd rather just continue your journey now though, I understand and simply hope that you and your lord also understand my position." She felt a little bad since it was serious to the Shima people, but Ru had to come first to her.

From behind Tetsuya, Princess Eri stepped closer and raised her hand to lightly rub the fur on his ear, feeling a little sad herself when she saw how he took the news for a moment. "It'll be ok, I'm sure you guys will find your relics and everything will be back to normal!" She said in a cheerful tone. "I'll even send my father a message about it, I'm sure he'll be willing to help out. At the very least some additional scouts to look around, maybe monitor areas where the thieves may try to sell such things." The princess hoped her words would help some. She didn't know if Shima wanted their help since they always turned down Ryuu's offers for the new nation, but she was confident her father would want to help Shima since it involved an important part of their history. Rii on the other hand stayed silent, if she cared about what Tetsuya had said she wasn't showing it. She instead kept her eyes focused on Eri, watching her to make sure she didn't offer anything that would mess up her own purpose and goals.

Gin felt confused after he managed to completely slice that man’s legs in half, probably because he didn’t even make a move to stop him or even make a proper reaction. At least he managed to take down one without too much effort, but now the attention was on his travel buddies and how one was now in submission mode. Yuudai was being held in a rather painful way, the evil woman only gloating over her catch. He couldn’t let this happen, Yuudai was their companion and didn’t deserve this. Growling angrily he looked to Jiang when he spoke but cared little about his begging, instead losing his temper. ”Let her go…let her go!” he growled, sounding oddly dark. His own Ki levels were increasing as he gave the woman a rather vicious glare, looking like he really hated seeing his companion in pain.

The woman took a deep breath once she was finished talking, the legless body of her minion looking around at both Jiang and Gin who wanted him to stop. Jiang especially got her attention as he was actually pleading. The Zhuni grumbled something to herself before letting go of Yuudai, her aura returning to normal as she reached out towards the inactive minion on her side. One of the bone like shapes shot out of her hand and into his head, causing him to suddenly jump to his feet and looked around at everyone. At the same time the legless one suddenly deactivated, the bone falling out before being absorbed into the ground. "As I said, I have a mission to complete so I'm not going to kill her. I was just trying to have a bit of fun by having these guys attack you, a little test of sorts before I actually did my job. My mother said if you broke so easily we could find someone else, I figured after some minor trouble you would take them out and I'd say I was just playing. Until what just happened and she said some things that offended me. But whatever." She shrugged before her smile returned to her face and she simply picked up her other weapon so she could sheath it.

"I was sent here to make sure you guys aren't wandering around and wasting your time. She may not be active much in this region but My mother is Nohime the Ki Witch, and nothing escapes her sight. She knew about the thieves before they set out for your relics and we know where they are now. They are small fry, hired on by two women who have been after similar things from other more distant clans. My mother supports you in the journey to get them back, having some theorizes of her own about what they are up to. We play the long game and as such are waiting for more concrete information on the women behind them and other strange occurrences. The thieves will have a long journey with the relics and they have more things to take on this Island, and beyond that more chaos will spread here and beyond. My mother recommends focusing on getting nearby places prepared for their own issues, and maybe helping with them. It doesn't matter though the only thing we insist on is being prepared to have to do some really terrible things at some point in the future. I will also leave you with some help on searching, one of the thieves has been partially corrupted and now has a purple tint to his skin that is getting worst. And within Ru is a traveling woman who plays music from a foreign instrument, she may have more information on what is happening in the more distant clans and their own relics."

Kenji was about to finish off Yuudai's former opponent but then something caught everyone else's attention which also caught Kenji's. Looking over, the Yang found Yuudai completely at the smiling, though not anymore, woman's mercy. It was no doubt that the woman was strong enough to hold the half-Oni with one hand. Jiang recognized this and immediately threw himself before the woman, begging for her to spare Yuudai. It was not at all dignified but Kenji was about to do the same but then the woman released the half-Oni and started explaining.

It seems the woman was simply there to assess the group and make sure they were not fooling around. Apparently she and her mother know of the thieves that stole the relics who were hired by a pair of women who aim to do similar things across the isles of Baji. Kenji was not sure what these people want with the relics across Baji but at least it was clear the woman and her mother supported the group. While they were also not sure what the thieves' aims are, they know that one of the thieves are partially corrupted and now has a purple tint in his skin.

Kenji moved over to Jiang helping Yuudai back up but his attention still on Thxng. "Thank you for not bringing harm to our friend. As well as the information on the thieves. But I must ask, why not join us in our quest? From what I understand, our interests align." Kenji proposed.

The Yang then turned to Yuudai. "Are you alright, Miss Wakahisa? Any injuries sustained?"

*Smack*

Yuudai brushed aside Jiang's hands as he attempted to help her, choosing to instead to stand up under her own power with a low growl of discomfort. It was not that she was ungrateful but something else had her attention at the moment... Moving over she picked up the hilt of what remained of the sword that she once held, and she could feel a sadness swell within her chest. She did not expect such a feeling to overcome her of all people. The blade was just meant to be a piece of iron rotting away that she would never think about, but she could not hold back the knowledge that it was really the only connection she even had to the unknown woman that hed birthed her.

"I'm fine."

She gave a blunt answer to Kenji, her face purposefully hidden from view and was clearly lieing about being hurt as blood was coming from her wounds. She allowed her grip to loosen from the hilt of the sword, casting it to the ground in a weak manner along with the remaining pieces. With that she started to leave with some of the others towards Ru, her gaze now returned to the mask of indifference as she ignored both her wounds and the small fact she had left her shirt behind as well.

"Don't call me or my mother anything. If she wanted the other clans to do what she said, she would simply force them to do it. If I'm telling people like you to do it, then don't bother saying who it came from. Dress it up like something you discovered if you want, we don't really care. You also won't be able to contact us, if we want to talk to you we will find you ourselves." To her that was pretty obvious, that they didn't actually need people to spread things in their name, people would do what they were told if needed. "As for your so called family back home? I can't and won't make any promises, if they get in my mother's way they will be dealt with like anyone else would. Right now they aren't even on our radar though, their goals and our own have very little overlap and they are safe until that changes. If it does change, then no one will be able to save them." She didn't care if it wasn't what Jiang was looking for, and just gave him the honest answer that they would only be safe if they themselves stayed out of their way. She then turned her attention to Kenji who asked a question that she expected one of them would ask. Thankfully her family didn't team up with others often, because she had interest in actual spending prolonged time with the group.

"As I said, my mother plays the long game. Going directly after people is a last resort, she observes and tailors tactics for the specific threat when the situation is stacked in our favor the most. Also our goals are only the same in that we don't want those women either destroying or controlling the island, my mother's interests in Baji are very different than those of Shima's." She didn't know what all they knew about her family, but expected they would eventually see that despite the common goal that the two groups were not real allies.

"I think I'll remain here in Ru, if you're offering it. I'd rather make sure I'm not missing anything before I leave," Tetsuya responded, smiling slightly, "And besides... I'm really not sure where I'm going next anyways, so I'd just be wandering until I decided that too." Aside from Shima the young Neko had really not traveled much at all in his life. The trip from his home to Shima itself had all been on one road, avoiding most major areas in case of fighting which meant he'd experienced very little of other clans. All he had to go on now was the general direction, as for the actual location of other towns he had no idea. Pretty damn embarrassing if he had to be honest, he'd not admitted to Lord Shima that he was clueless when given the job either, a fact he was now regretting. A guide might have been really nice for this, or even just someone with more idea of where to go.

Tetsuya hadn't even been paying Eri any mind for a moment, a bit surprised then when she stepped up behind him. When he felt her beginning to rub his ear he had to bite back a happy sigh, his cheeks lighting up again as he squirmed slightly. Darn it, why were people always touching his ears? They weren't playthings! The sensation was awfully nice and he almost felt like nuzzling his head into the princess' hand, but instead he took a small step away, giving her a nervous smile as he turned to face Eri.

"That would be very nice of you, thank you. Lord Shima is in your debt," Tetsuya said, bowing yet again for the millionth time today. At this rate his back was probably going to go out, but this was how you showed gratitude to nobility, wasn't it? He'd seen plenty of people do it towards Lord Shima so that must be the case. Come to think of it though should they be accepting Eri's offer? Having the Naji involved would give them far more resources, but at the same time it meant outsiders would become involved. Tetsuya couldn't say if this was a good idea or not, yet could he really deny a princess when he was just a lowly guard? "Could you just... Please try to keep it secret? It would not only shame Lord Shima if word got out, but people might use it as a chance to do harm. I can't allow Shima or my Lord to be placed in danger because of this, I hope you understand."

Hiding out in the bushes behind the Zhuni woman, Metou carefully watched the fight, but it didn't last long. The woman was holding Yuudai up threateningly, seemingly about to finish it. She still had her back turned to Metou, and both of her hands were occupied. Seeing that as her chance, Metou readied her gun, pointed it at the woman's back, and brought her finger in to pull the trigger, but the instant she was about to fire, Yuudai was dropped, and the woman started talking. She said that they had the same goal, that she wanted them to find the relics, she gave them some hints and revealed herself to be the daughter of the Ki Witch. Metou had never had the displeasure of running into her or her disciples before, but it was hard to avoid the rumors of her omnipotence.

Metou had potential questions she could ask, but so far the Zhuni hadn't given any sign that she had noticed Metou's current position, and the sniper didn't trust this woman one bit, no matter how much she claimed they had similar goals. The main thing that stuck out to Metou was that the Zhuni said she knew where the relics were, and she wanted the group to find them, but she didn't just come forward to tell them where the thieves were. However, Metou wanted to maintain her position in case this was a trick, and the woman attacked again. Hopefully one of the teammates would pick up on that, not that Metou actually bought that this woman already knew where the thieves were.

The only thing that this woman's words confirmed for Metou was that these relics were more important than she originally thought, that they must've had a great deal of power if the Ki Witch was interested in them. But she trusted the Zhuni woman no further than that, so even though the battle seemed over, Metou held her position and kept her rifle steady.

Eri didn't see what the big deal was with people knowing, especially if her father was going to be helping. She doubted Shima's enemies would be foolish enough to draw his ire, but she wasn't going to press on it and simply smiled. With what he wanted out of the way, it was time for her and rii to explain what they were there for and what they needed. The kitsune turned to Tetsuya before speaking in a serious tone. "What I am about to say concerns your Lord as well, pay attention and rely this message to him and anyone else who needs to know." She addressed him before speaking to both him and Ru. "With Naji's war with Nakkki consuming her home island it has become a more dangerous place than before, on top of their being unexplained incidents and behaviors in other clans that have both sides stumped. Fearing for her safety especially with an unknown force at work, the princess has been relocated to this island where she will be the leader of the Naji clan and all of its vassals within the region. I am currently her teacher as well as her protector, but there is something I need from you. Strange things will follow her and for the time being I will be enough to protect her, but eventually you may be needed. I'm not asking for an alliance with Naji, as said before I'm not part of their clan. But Your clans and others need to help keep an eye on the princess and help protect her from what may come if it brings armies behind it." She knew her words wouldn't mean much to Ru especially so she motioned to Eri. "Show them, what makes you so special."

"Yes, Rii-Sensei." Eri said before moving a few feet away from the others and taking a seat on the ground. She closed her eyes and after a few seconds her eyes shot open as spiritual energy began to swirl around them. Suddenly both Lady Ru and Tetsuya were no longer in the same place, instead they were spirits in two separate locations. Both of them watching their respective mothers holding them as babies, with whoever was around at that moment doing exactly what happened on that random day in their infancy. It only lasted about 30 seconds before both were right back in the courtyard, with Eri sitting on the ground still. "That is just a simple example. I know secrets that you thought no one else knew, I can also tell you the last words your great grandparents said to your grandparents." Eri said while seated, there was now a strong aura of both magic and spirit energy all around her one that dwarfed anything either Tetsuya or Ru would have encountered before.

"This girl is no simple medium or summoner, she doesn't call forth lingering spirits or make deals with old family members who tethered themselves to a shrine. She can see everything, and with focus can draw it out. From what my family can see, she is connected to every soul in Baji no matter who it once was. Females in particular are easy for her to see, and even channel into her own body. With some effort she can see into a living soul as well even someone like me who can normally defend against such things. Once she masters it we will be able to finally see and understand the true nature of this land, maybe understand what is really going on. Maybe even change things for the better, or at the very least know if something worse is planned for us." Rii explained in a little more detail.

Gin had become rather hot tempered in such a short time, but he had every reason for his mental state to get to that point. He was watching a warrior harm his friend in a cruel manner and that infuriated him, seeing it as plain bullying. He resented bullying and this was the height of it, forcing someone into a vulnerable position and making everybody watch you humiliate them. Growling angrily at the woman he raised his own fists before watching the woman release Yuudai, but even then his eyes didn’t go off her. Keeping his focus on her his anger slowly cooled down with his own Ki levels dropping, his expression slowly changing back to his gentler more human one.

As the woman finally explained herself he was hardly able to listen to the whole story as he was brought into a world of his own for a moment as he tried to clear his head. He certainly didn’t feel fantastic after that but giving his head a rub helped a lot. Finally calming down he sighed heavily, giving his head a quick shake before looking to the others with concern. He didn’t know what had been happening but they were apparently okay with the woman now despite what she had done. He wouldn’t had forgiven her so easily, not by a longshot. Staring at the woman he gasped when Jiang decided to start posing, stepping away from him quickly as if to avoid being seen as supporting these movements. They were still weird for him and a little embarrassing, not sure if he had the confidence to ever do stuff like that around people even if he was proud of what he was doing.

If Tetsuya could just make it through one day without being petted or doted on, that would be just lovely. Honestly, he wasn't a child anymore, he shouldn't be treated like one. It was even more humiliating in that he was being treated like this by a princess, it was like she wasn't taking him seriously; the fact that being pet felt nice made it all the worse. Trying hard to come back from that he cleared his throat awkwardly, looking at Rii as she began to go into a long explanation. Was he hearing this right, she was asking him for help? That was a bit much, Tetsuya hardly considered himself worthy or capable even of protecting a princess. To ask a stranger to protect someone important too, was his help really going to be needed that badly? Furrowing his brow in confusion he looked over at Eri when she was prompted to put on a display, not wholly sure what he was going to see.

Magic was nothing new to the young Neko, he was very well acquainted with it; summoning, healing, elemental magic, he'd seen tons of it growing up in Neko communities, but never anything like this. Just what kind of magic was this? He had never experienced anything like this, and now that he was in a completely new setting he was completely out of mind. It was very brief, but seeing himself as a child in his mother's arms was really quite a bit stunning. When the world proper came back into view Tetsuya looked around utterly confused, blinking as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen. So that had been Eri's doing then? That had to be some extremely powerful magic and yet she was the same age of him, or very close at least, how was she so powerful then? With an ability like that he could definitely understand now what made her so special, and why people might come after her. Learning things that were never meant to see the light of day could bring some really nasty facts out to the public eye, and there would no doubt be some leaders who would rather keep personal information as just that, personal.

"Connected to every soul... That's ridiculous..." Tetsuya mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. He had just experienced it first hand though, there was no denying what he had just seen. Looking back at Eri for a moment he smiled warily, lifting a hand to rub at his neck with a small chuckle. "Uh... Please don't go prodding into my life? I've got nothing to hide, but there's things I want to keep to myself, you understand? I can see why you're special though, and I'll gladly help if you ever need it. That is... If my Lord allows it." If Shima needed him that would always have to be priority, but then again if Eri was so important then maybe he'd have to make an exception. "I should probably start looking into finding a place to stay, if I'm going to wait for news. Thank you again Lady Ru, and princess. I'll be sure to keep that magic of yours a secret."

Thxng simply stood there as Jiang responded in an odd and silly way, it was weird and his flirtation at the end was even more strange. She didn't feel the need to tell him that her and her siblings only went on dates with those they needed to kill or use for a very unpleasant purpose. They knew what was going on and that her family would be watching, so her job was done. With no more reason to be around, she jumped into one of the trees and began to hop from tree to tree in a different direction than the rest of them, her remaining minion following her. They moved quickly and were quickly out of sight for anyone still looking at them. With them gone Takumi did as Jiang said and began to lead them towards Ru again, waiting until they were farther away to speak about what happened.

"I'm sorry about not being able to tell you much about her, but the Ki Witch has her hand in Naji land. Even if she didn't kill me it was a risk for the people back home, and the witch can be very cruel in how she punishes people." Nohime was something that was a very real fear where Takumi was from, and while she didn't normally bother low ranking people he still had to be worried. "But at least it means we won't have to deal with people that strong, assuming she is telling the truth about supporting us." There was no telling how true the statement was, but any one weaker would be a nice change of pace.

Kenji sighed with worry as Yuudai gave an answer completely contradicting her condition. He would interject but given the half-Oni's current mood and his relatively minor relationship with her, he thought it best to leave her alone for now. But if the wound does not get well soon he will do something about it even if he was receiving a wound for it. Kenji then turned to Jiang and Thxng who looked like they parted with good feeling but a sour look befell on Jiang. The Dog was clearly not happy about the news the smiling woman brought.

The group had began to leave for Ru once more and Kenji took one last look at the small battleground that only had several casualties, thankfully none from his side. His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted something odd. It was a shirt that seemed familiar. Glancing at the group, he noticed one of them was a bit more exposed. No one else had seemed to notice and Kenji wondered if his current idea was going to be a good one. The group was already leaving and with little thought given, Kenji momentarily broke off to get it.

Once he had picked it up, it was then he got a good look of the strong, muscular, slain men that fought the group. He wondered who those men were. Were they people held against their wills? Or did they willingly serve the smiling woman? Were they human in the first place? Whatever the answer, they were certainly not anymore, in terms of abilities and appearance, and they were certainly not important to the woman. They were now bound to rot and be forgotten in this forest as casualties of the conflicts in Baji, not unlike the Oja Clan and those who served them.

It was darkly amusing, that these men and those men were two very different men yet they shared the same fate with little discrimination.

Putting the shirt away, Kenji rejoined the group and decided to return the shirt when Yuudai is in a more agreeable mood. He had gotten back just in time for Jiang to talk about splitting up to look for or talk to specific people. "A sound plan. Who shall be with who then?" Kenji was open to ideas.

When she saw that the Zhuni woman fled, Metou crawled out of the bushes she was hiding in and rejoined the group. Jiang was discussing what to do next, based on the clues they had just been given by their attacker. When Metou approached she had a bitter and embarrassed look on her face. She almost wished that the woman was an actual enemy, rather than someone who attacked them and then suddenly decided to help them and run off. Having to follow the advice of someone who had just tried to kill them felt intensely disgraceful to Metou.

"Although we'd be foolish not to follow the leads she's given us, I hop-" Metou tried to say, but she was interrupted when her time as her younger self ran out. Metou's left eyeball spontaneously popped out of her skull, and suddenly she was an old woman again, holding a jar and a metal scoop. The rifle she was holding as her other form was still be held by that body, and she'd need to transform again to retrieve it. In an instant Metou dropped the jar and the scoop and dove forward to catch her eye before it hit the ground. She grasped the eye and fell forward, and crawled around until she grabbed the jar, and with some fumbling opened it up and popped the eye back in, muttering the whole time.

When she stood up and brushed herself off, Metou continued. "I hope we're not all planning to trust that monster at her word, or anyone affiliated with the Ki Witch. I will be with the group pursuing the woman with the foreign instrument, as I'd like to watch the situation." Additionally, though Metou had been to Ru before, the leadership had changed since the last time she was there, so her familiarity with their streets was stronger than her familiarity with their leader. Metou turned to look at Jiang, who wanted to talk to Ru's clan leader with Takumi. "If you aim to request that Ru keep an eye out for our relics, or donate resources, I'd advise you to warn them of the Ki Witch's involvement, and of the chaos that the Ki Witch's daughter implied the thieves will bring. If it doesn't help convince them, they at least deserve to know what's happening."

Metou glanced at the mutilated bodies they were standing around. It crossed Metou's mind to take one of their eyes, but quickly dismissed it as a bad idea. While they seemed strong, she would gain the form they had before their deaths, with that bone implanted in their skull. At best, Metou assumed she'd become a killer who could feel no pain, which would be bad for her long term well-being. At worst she might become a slave to the woman they had just fought, if only temporarily.

Lady Ru was stunned by what happened to her, suddenly seeing things from the past just because Eri seemed to wish it. She had encountered shared visions before but they normally weren't on command like that and none had involved going to the past to see things none of them would have witnessed. It was both fascinating and frightening, especially when Rii explained a little more about what exactly the ability was. She didn't want to simply go and believe it had that far of reach without some more tests, even if Rii was normally a very trustworthy person. But she didn't want to do a test involving very sensitive information with an outsider nearby, so she held her tongue for the time being. Watching as Eri simply smiled at everyone.

"It isn't easy for me to pull out info directly from you, so I don't try to. But I'll make special care to avoid stealing your secrets." The princess said to Tetsuya in a friendly tone of voice. She could see Tetsuya was a little nervous about the power but he could have taken it much worse, so she was glad about that. She hoped he took the information to his lord and that Shima clan would help with what Rii had said.

"Tell one of my guards around the village when you find a place to stay. I'll make sure to send what we find out that way. Once again I'm sorry I can't be of much more help but while here you will be considered a guest, and any supplies or anything you need to purchase will be given to you buy a fraction of the cost." Lady Ru didn't want to force people to give away free stuff, be she would send word to give him a good discount due to the nature of his mission.