Update 1
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
Once upon a time, a girl learnt to be a swordsman.
She was self-taught, mostly. While she had been taught to fight briefly, by various teachers, she never stayed in their tutelage for long. Her inherent talent was enough to defeat trained samurai even at a young age, and once she stumbled across the basis for her own sword style, she honed it to perfection across many duels.
For most of her life, she wandered and duelled. Along the way, she picked up many other arts. Calligraphy, philosophy, art, they came easily to her. The difference between the art of the sword and the other arts she picked up were not as large as one would have believed.
Over the span of her life, she faced many warriors, and fought in many battles. Towards the end of her known life, she wrote of her experiences, and the wisdom she had discovered. Shortly after publishing her books, it is said that her life came to an end.
But that is just what history has said, of the one called Miyamoto Musashi. The truth, as it tends to be, is more complicated.
If one looked to the proper history of this world, then the one inaccuracy worth noting would be the gender. In this world, Miyamoto Musashi was male. His history from this point matches that history had recorded, and according to history, he died a hermit’s death at age sixty-two.
For the girl known as Musashi Miyamoto, the truth is more complicated. Her world was not this world; She had left that world behind long ago. Such a thing would usually be impossible for a human being, but for one with the Empyrean Eye, universal travel was a mere consequence of an unfulfilled vision.
One day, she would strike down the strongest foe. That was an effect that had been pinned down and made certain, etched into reality, and now merely awaited its cause. Such a cause could not be accomplished while she remained in the world she had been born into. So instead, she began to walk, and a path opened itself before her.
Miyamoto Musashi did not know if she could return to the world that had once been her home. She did not mind much, either. She had never stayed in one place long anyway, and the few places she had settled in briefly had always been left behind. This was not much different. And besides, that ‘Strongest Foe’ would not be found in her original reality.
She had experienced many things, since that day. Fought many foes, and honed her skills further. Not once had she been defeated, even if she had needed to make a few tactical withdrawals against overwhelming armies of opponents. In the end, her skill had grown even more.
Every once in a while, she would even find a foe that she could not defeat with the force of her Empyrean Eye. Of course, that would never last long. It was just a matter of honing her skills further, and learning more about her opponent, until she was able to determine a method through which they could be defeated.
For many years, such was the life of Miyamoto Musashi.
And now, she had wandered into another world. One that seemed rather different to any other she had stumbled across in her life.
She had learnt some time ago, that different worlds do not necessarily match up with the timeline. Once, she had even met a young boy who she had later realised was that world’s version of her own father. Another time, she had found herself in a world where swords were new.
Now, however, she appeared to be in a world that was further to the future than the world that Musashi knew.
As she took her first steps in this new world, Musashi observed the road she walked on.
The first thought that passed through her mind was that it was a concrete road, more advanced than anything she had seen in her world.
The second was that she somehow knew what concrete was, despite never seeing it before.
Strange, that.
But before a mystery could even begin to evolve, the answer presented itself.
Miyamoto Musashi was a figure of legend in this world, from the ancient past, and her existence was one that did not make logical sense from a mundane point of view. Previously, her existence had been questioned by the world, but eventually accepted. Here, an alternative, easier answer was offered, and regardless of it’s untruth, the world accepted the one it acknowledged first.
A Holy Grail rested within this town, calling forth existences such as that of Miyamoto Musashi to engage in war. The knowledge implanted in the woman’s brain was awareness given to every hero of the past summoned, granted to her by the world as part of its rationalisation for her presence.
...Well, that sounded like nonsense, but it was really convenient for Musashi, so let’s just go with that! An adventure where she didn’t need to constantly question confusing aspects of this world was an adventure where she could focus on the things that mattered more anyway, so who cares if the excuse didn’t make that much sense?
Nodding to herself, Musashi went over a few thoughts, to see what answers the relic within this town would give her.
She was, apparently, in Scotland. She remembered the name from her travels, though she couldn’t remember if she learnt of this place before or after she started walking between worlds. It was the place north of England, right?
...Yep, that was confirmation from the Grail. Such convenience.
Still, the Grail also gave the impression that it was originally made in her home land of Japan. And she wasn’t getting any cheat-sheet answers on how it had gotten to this place. There was probably a nice little mystery behind that. Maybe Musashi should look into it.
On top of that, Musashi mused, it sounded like there was a lot of strong people in this place right now. They could be fun to fight. Maybe one of them would even be the ‘Strongest Foe’ that Musashi will defeat?
And besides, apparently there was stakes in this fight. A wish to the winner. Perhaps Musashi would qualify for said wish, but if that was the case, it would be the wish of the winning human. She didn’t have the spiritual properties of a ‘Servant,’ as they were dubbed. And regardless, she had little desire for a Holy Grail to grant her any wish. It was a thing of no use to her. Her true desire, to perfect the art of the blade and achieve a state of zero, was not something she could use a crutch to achieve.
Ah, but these heroes sound like they might be a real fun fight! It wasn’t as if Musashi had to kill them anyway, so she could challenge them and hone her skill against them without having to take this chance at a wish away from them.
Though, if any of the Servants present had less than noble goals in mind, then Musashi might be forced to put them down. It’d hardly do to let some bloodthirsty dog run loose, would it?
As she made her way down the road and towards the buildings of the town, Musashi took a moment to stop thinking about fighting and start thinking about what she was gonna do here. Unlike the Servants of the Grail, she couldn’t just become a ghost and walk through walls, and neither could she make her swords disappear.
It probably wasn’t legal to just carry around a bunch of swords in this place, was it?
Hm, that sounded like it could be bad. Musashi didn’t want to be a lawbreaker, but she also didn’t want to have to give up her swords. She’d have to get new ones if these got broken, and this place didn’t have the same quality of materials and blacksmiths.
Hm, this was a difficult situation. Musashi didn’t want to go to jail. She’d already been there a few times, it wasn’t very fun. Maybe she could pretend to just be carrying recreations? If someone tried to test the blade to see if it was sharp, that excuse would fly right out the window, though…
Well, Musashi would just have to be sneaky then. Avoid the roads.
Instead, as she approached the buildings, she leapt, and jumped onto the rooftops.
As long as she stayed above everyone, nobody would think to look up! And then if Musashi had to go to the ground to do something, she could just leave her swords on a rooftop so she didn’t get caught with them.
Of course, it’d be bad if she got ambushed while without her swords, or if they were stolen while she wasn’t looking, but nobody should be looking for Musashi anyway. She wasn’t one of these ‘Servants’ anyway, so why would anyone here be trying to fight her if she didn’t start the fight first? People probably wouldn’t even know she exists for a while, so she didn’t need to come up with another solution just yet.
Hm, yeah, this’ll work!
Leaping onto the next roof over, Musashi let her thoughts return on to the important topic here.
Seven really strong heroes of legend were wandering this town too. A swordsman, bowman, and spearman for sure, and most likely, a cavalryman, spellcaster, assassin and raging berserker as well. Possibly someone else subbing in the last four, but those four were the most common, apparently?
If any of those were being subbed out, Musashi was hoping it was the Berserker. A mindless foe could be fun, but it just wasn’t the same, y’know? At least the ‘Knight Classes’ were in for sure. Musashi was looking forward to finding the Saber of this war.
The spellcaster and assassin, less so, but maybe they’d be really good at martial arts and make it fun for Musashi. As long as the Assassin wasn’t just a cheap instant-kill dispenser. That’d suck.
Still, for now-
Musashi felt her stomach rumble, and she got the sudden sinking feeling that it was a while since she had eaten anything.
And no, Holy Grail Infodump System, now wasn’t a good time to learn that Servants didn’t need food, that didn’t help her in any way at all!
Well, no matter. She just needed to go buy some food with the money she had on her.
...Which had come from Japan. In a timeframe which, according to the Grail, was several centuries ago.
This was cruel. Clearly, there was some kind of force opposing Musashi, forcing her to deal with the fact that she had no way of legally acquiring food.
It wouldn’t be hard for her to steal some food, or some money, but then she’d be a lawbreaker. It seemed like so much of this situation was designed around forcing Musashi to be a lawbreaker. That was the worst.
Well, maybe she could go hunting. She knew how to do that, at least a bit. She had no idea what kind of animals she would find in the wild out here, but there had to be something.
Or maybe she could get a job? There were apparently human mages attached to the Heroic Spirits here. Maybe if she could find one, she could offer her blade in exchange for food. Or even disregarding that, maybe she’d be able to find somewhere that needed a set of hands. On short notice. So that she could have money right now.
Okay that was less likely. But Miyamoto Musashi was nothing if not determined, so she had to have some way of coming up with food!
Okay, think Musashi. Use that beautiful brain of yours. There had to be something!
...Well, it wasn’t unlawful to follow a band of lawbreakers and take their food, was it? Perhaps it would be overkill, but if Musashi could find some kind of criminal gang here, it would be just for her to beat them up and take stuff, right?
The Grail was informing her that the majority of gangs in this city were just dissatisfied youth rather than actually bad criminals, but that just made things easier. In that case, she just had to look scary, and maybe she could set them straight as a side benefit. Or, if they had a good reason to be dissatisfied, Musashi could lend a hand.
Yeah, that could work too.
So, hunting, waiting for a gang, or looking for a job. No options that would get her food immediately, but all would lead to food eventually. Hopefully.
Decisions, decisions…
[X] Hunt animals for a meal
[X] Hunt criminals for a meal
[X] Hunt jobs for a meal
She was self-taught, mostly. While she had been taught to fight briefly, by various teachers, she never stayed in their tutelage for long. Her inherent talent was enough to defeat trained samurai even at a young age, and once she stumbled across the basis for her own sword style, she honed it to perfection across many duels.
For most of her life, she wandered and duelled. Along the way, she picked up many other arts. Calligraphy, philosophy, art, they came easily to her. The difference between the art of the sword and the other arts she picked up were not as large as one would have believed.
Over the span of her life, she faced many warriors, and fought in many battles. Towards the end of her known life, she wrote of her experiences, and the wisdom she had discovered. Shortly after publishing her books, it is said that her life came to an end.
But that is just what history has said, of the one called Miyamoto Musashi. The truth, as it tends to be, is more complicated.
If one looked to the proper history of this world, then the one inaccuracy worth noting would be the gender. In this world, Miyamoto Musashi was male. His history from this point matches that history had recorded, and according to history, he died a hermit’s death at age sixty-two.
For the girl known as Musashi Miyamoto, the truth is more complicated. Her world was not this world; She had left that world behind long ago. Such a thing would usually be impossible for a human being, but for one with the Empyrean Eye, universal travel was a mere consequence of an unfulfilled vision.
One day, she would strike down the strongest foe. That was an effect that had been pinned down and made certain, etched into reality, and now merely awaited its cause. Such a cause could not be accomplished while she remained in the world she had been born into. So instead, she began to walk, and a path opened itself before her.
Miyamoto Musashi did not know if she could return to the world that had once been her home. She did not mind much, either. She had never stayed in one place long anyway, and the few places she had settled in briefly had always been left behind. This was not much different. And besides, that ‘Strongest Foe’ would not be found in her original reality.
She had experienced many things, since that day. Fought many foes, and honed her skills further. Not once had she been defeated, even if she had needed to make a few tactical withdrawals against overwhelming armies of opponents. In the end, her skill had grown even more.
Every once in a while, she would even find a foe that she could not defeat with the force of her Empyrean Eye. Of course, that would never last long. It was just a matter of honing her skills further, and learning more about her opponent, until she was able to determine a method through which they could be defeated.
For many years, such was the life of Miyamoto Musashi.
And now, she had wandered into another world. One that seemed rather different to any other she had stumbled across in her life.
She had learnt some time ago, that different worlds do not necessarily match up with the timeline. Once, she had even met a young boy who she had later realised was that world’s version of her own father. Another time, she had found herself in a world where swords were new.
Now, however, she appeared to be in a world that was further to the future than the world that Musashi knew.
As she took her first steps in this new world, Musashi observed the road she walked on.
The first thought that passed through her mind was that it was a concrete road, more advanced than anything she had seen in her world.
The second was that she somehow knew what concrete was, despite never seeing it before.
Strange, that.
But before a mystery could even begin to evolve, the answer presented itself.
Miyamoto Musashi was a figure of legend in this world, from the ancient past, and her existence was one that did not make logical sense from a mundane point of view. Previously, her existence had been questioned by the world, but eventually accepted. Here, an alternative, easier answer was offered, and regardless of it’s untruth, the world accepted the one it acknowledged first.
A Holy Grail rested within this town, calling forth existences such as that of Miyamoto Musashi to engage in war. The knowledge implanted in the woman’s brain was awareness given to every hero of the past summoned, granted to her by the world as part of its rationalisation for her presence.
...Well, that sounded like nonsense, but it was really convenient for Musashi, so let’s just go with that! An adventure where she didn’t need to constantly question confusing aspects of this world was an adventure where she could focus on the things that mattered more anyway, so who cares if the excuse didn’t make that much sense?
Nodding to herself, Musashi went over a few thoughts, to see what answers the relic within this town would give her.
She was, apparently, in Scotland. She remembered the name from her travels, though she couldn’t remember if she learnt of this place before or after she started walking between worlds. It was the place north of England, right?
...Yep, that was confirmation from the Grail. Such convenience.
Still, the Grail also gave the impression that it was originally made in her home land of Japan. And she wasn’t getting any cheat-sheet answers on how it had gotten to this place. There was probably a nice little mystery behind that. Maybe Musashi should look into it.
On top of that, Musashi mused, it sounded like there was a lot of strong people in this place right now. They could be fun to fight. Maybe one of them would even be the ‘Strongest Foe’ that Musashi will defeat?
And besides, apparently there was stakes in this fight. A wish to the winner. Perhaps Musashi would qualify for said wish, but if that was the case, it would be the wish of the winning human. She didn’t have the spiritual properties of a ‘Servant,’ as they were dubbed. And regardless, she had little desire for a Holy Grail to grant her any wish. It was a thing of no use to her. Her true desire, to perfect the art of the blade and achieve a state of zero, was not something she could use a crutch to achieve.
Ah, but these heroes sound like they might be a real fun fight! It wasn’t as if Musashi had to kill them anyway, so she could challenge them and hone her skill against them without having to take this chance at a wish away from them.
Though, if any of the Servants present had less than noble goals in mind, then Musashi might be forced to put them down. It’d hardly do to let some bloodthirsty dog run loose, would it?
As she made her way down the road and towards the buildings of the town, Musashi took a moment to stop thinking about fighting and start thinking about what she was gonna do here. Unlike the Servants of the Grail, she couldn’t just become a ghost and walk through walls, and neither could she make her swords disappear.
It probably wasn’t legal to just carry around a bunch of swords in this place, was it?
Hm, that sounded like it could be bad. Musashi didn’t want to be a lawbreaker, but she also didn’t want to have to give up her swords. She’d have to get new ones if these got broken, and this place didn’t have the same quality of materials and blacksmiths.
Hm, this was a difficult situation. Musashi didn’t want to go to jail. She’d already been there a few times, it wasn’t very fun. Maybe she could pretend to just be carrying recreations? If someone tried to test the blade to see if it was sharp, that excuse would fly right out the window, though…
Well, Musashi would just have to be sneaky then. Avoid the roads.
Instead, as she approached the buildings, she leapt, and jumped onto the rooftops.
As long as she stayed above everyone, nobody would think to look up! And then if Musashi had to go to the ground to do something, she could just leave her swords on a rooftop so she didn’t get caught with them.
Of course, it’d be bad if she got ambushed while without her swords, or if they were stolen while she wasn’t looking, but nobody should be looking for Musashi anyway. She wasn’t one of these ‘Servants’ anyway, so why would anyone here be trying to fight her if she didn’t start the fight first? People probably wouldn’t even know she exists for a while, so she didn’t need to come up with another solution just yet.
Hm, yeah, this’ll work!
Leaping onto the next roof over, Musashi let her thoughts return on to the important topic here.
Seven really strong heroes of legend were wandering this town too. A swordsman, bowman, and spearman for sure, and most likely, a cavalryman, spellcaster, assassin and raging berserker as well. Possibly someone else subbing in the last four, but those four were the most common, apparently?
If any of those were being subbed out, Musashi was hoping it was the Berserker. A mindless foe could be fun, but it just wasn’t the same, y’know? At least the ‘Knight Classes’ were in for sure. Musashi was looking forward to finding the Saber of this war.
The spellcaster and assassin, less so, but maybe they’d be really good at martial arts and make it fun for Musashi. As long as the Assassin wasn’t just a cheap instant-kill dispenser. That’d suck.
Still, for now-
Musashi felt her stomach rumble, and she got the sudden sinking feeling that it was a while since she had eaten anything.
And no, Holy Grail Infodump System, now wasn’t a good time to learn that Servants didn’t need food, that didn’t help her in any way at all!
Well, no matter. She just needed to go buy some food with the money she had on her.
...Which had come from Japan. In a timeframe which, according to the Grail, was several centuries ago.
This was cruel. Clearly, there was some kind of force opposing Musashi, forcing her to deal with the fact that she had no way of legally acquiring food.
It wouldn’t be hard for her to steal some food, or some money, but then she’d be a lawbreaker. It seemed like so much of this situation was designed around forcing Musashi to be a lawbreaker. That was the worst.
Well, maybe she could go hunting. She knew how to do that, at least a bit. She had no idea what kind of animals she would find in the wild out here, but there had to be something.
Or maybe she could get a job? There were apparently human mages attached to the Heroic Spirits here. Maybe if she could find one, she could offer her blade in exchange for food. Or even disregarding that, maybe she’d be able to find somewhere that needed a set of hands. On short notice. So that she could have money right now.
Okay that was less likely. But Miyamoto Musashi was nothing if not determined, so she had to have some way of coming up with food!
Okay, think Musashi. Use that beautiful brain of yours. There had to be something!
...Well, it wasn’t unlawful to follow a band of lawbreakers and take their food, was it? Perhaps it would be overkill, but if Musashi could find some kind of criminal gang here, it would be just for her to beat them up and take stuff, right?
The Grail was informing her that the majority of gangs in this city were just dissatisfied youth rather than actually bad criminals, but that just made things easier. In that case, she just had to look scary, and maybe she could set them straight as a side benefit. Or, if they had a good reason to be dissatisfied, Musashi could lend a hand.
Yeah, that could work too.
So, hunting, waiting for a gang, or looking for a job. No options that would get her food immediately, but all would lead to food eventually. Hopefully.
Decisions, decisions…
[X] Hunt animals for a meal
[X] Hunt criminals for a meal
[X] Hunt jobs for a meal
