The Weight Part 1

													The Weight
Tags: monstergirl, nurarihyon, ochimusha
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	When one first touches a sword, it can feel uncomfortable. The steel is cold, heavier than the wielder expects. They shift their grip on the sword too far and they notice the sword easily falls to and fro. Their hands too close, the sword is awkward to move and feels like balancing plates on a pole. Fortunately, the sword is subject to the will of those who bear it, so it can never feel fiddly for long.

	With time the sword becomes lighter. Practice makes the swing easier, practice makes the thrust natural. Application of techniques, a decent teacher, and training makes the sword and it's handler one. Above all, the most important aspect of becoming adept with it is time. Surely one who dedicates their days to using the sword knows how it is used. Surely, one who has held a sword close nearly all their life has learned something from it?

	Avery had taken something from his time with the sword, he had to, he was a mercenary. A sword was his lifeline, among other tricks and tools, that never failed him. A sword had ensured him sustenance and a dry place to rest, or to put it simply, to live. In his eyes, he and his sword were one.

	The weapon allowed him the ability to live a straightforward life. He could've become a farmer, a serf to a nobleman in the amber fields to the west and lived a much simpler life. He could've, though being born the son of the famed jouster, "Flynn the Sturdy", naturally had him steered to a living as a swordsman. Especially when his father's seemingly natural promiscuous behavior with the wife's of farmers, merchants, bar-goers, guardsmen, noblemen, and once the wife of a foreign prince from an eastern province often resulted in him becoming accustomed to the furious visits of men ready to beat a certain someone to a mushy pulp on the street.

	Avery wasn't particularly bothered by his upbringing, the murderous husbands were always guaranteed to come through the door, unlike his father. Had his father not taken to lifting up the dresses of ladies, he most certainly would have been drinking. The absence of a mother and a father would've most definitely made him into a recluse, so the shaking fists and distorted faces of angry visitors made him very familiar and good at one thing: violence.

	Avery didn't like to think about his past, mostly because their was nothing particularly pleasant worth remembering. He couldn't even vision the face of his mother. This was all kept in the back of his mind. His immediate focus was finding a job, getting paid, and restocking his supplies. Regardless, one thing always lingered across his mind: what was he living for?

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	"You there! Fur man! Sword man!"

	Avery ignored the shrill voice and kept on walking. He knew how this worked. Whoever was calling him was a peasant from some village, that was going to beg him to help stop small time bandits or a monster (which usually ended up being a stray animal) that was terrorizing their village. They would promise him his pay, and yet when the deed was done, they would have nothing of value. He would leave tired and penniless.

	"Please, all I ask is you face me and heed my call. It's in your interest swordsman, this I promise!"

	"If you have a request you report it to the nearest guild hall." Avery said curtly. He turned his head and eyed the person behind the voice up and down. He was right, a chubby teenager dressed in a dirty undershirt. Time to move on.

	The chubby fellow jumped in front of him. "I know you're type, you want a real fight right? Tired of bread thieves right? Well sir I tell you, no small time thieves here, there is a monster loose!"

	Avery lidded his eyes downward. "No bread thieves? I think you've hidden all the bread in your village in there."

	Avery's dry comment was met with a blush and a not so subtle tugging of his shirt around his waste. He huffed angrily "Now you listen here ya little b-"

	He simply looked the boy in the eye and moved his hand to his belt. Avery was a normal fellow, somewhere above six heads, and lean. However the fur pelts that covered his form made him look larger, more ragged. His belt had his sheath hooked into it, a long black leather sheath. This was enough to stop the boy in his tracks.

	"A-ah ha... I mean please listen! There something nasty in the woods, three of our men never returned." He stuttered out. Out from his straw pack he pulled a bloodied cloak, with tears down the middle in three. "Look, it as I tell you, a monster! No normal creature could leave a mark so big!"

	Avery rubbed his chin with his gloved hand, considering the ruined garb. "That is a rather compelling piece of evidence, definitely not a wolf. What is your name boy?"

	"Boy? I'll have you kno-" He growled, but Avery's dead stare hushed him. "My name is Mikhail of Brunwick. You're interested now aren't you! It isn't a wolf, a werewolf maybe? A harpy? Oh, a griffon!'

	"Mikhail, report the incident to the nearest guild hall". Avery started walking off down the road.

	Mikhail didn't let the mercenary off so easily, he knew exactly what he wanted. "You can fuck my cousin, she doesn't have a bad body for a lass. Fat tits, a little chubby, but her rump more than makes up for it!"

	Avery stopped and turned, and Mikhail bore a toothy smile, not shy to show how smug he was. "You look at your cousin like that? I'll pass..." Avery grimaced and increased his pace, not keen to stay in the sticks with such a foul person.

	"No no no! I w-would never, that's just wrong..." He became flustered and stumbled over his words. The mercenary was getting farther now, so he had no other choice. "GOLD! We have gold, the whole village can pitch in. I swear on my mother's life!".

	Avery didn't show it, but he a thin smile formed from his lips. "Thirty pieces, and a meal".

	Mikhail ran up to the man and giddily shook his hand, "You sir have a deal, thirty gold pieces and the finest grub in the village, yes sir, it is a deal. Now if you'll follow me...". Avery loosened his hand from his sweaty grip, and followed him. "Finally someone to take this job, uncle will certainly consider me in good favor. Now, where in the hell am I gonna dig up thirty gold coins..." Mikhail thought as he hobbled up the stone lined trail to Brunwick Village, skilled swordsman in tow.

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	"I keep telling you, there is something evil there! The darkness in the woods will descend upon this village, it will swallow it whole just like it did the guardsmen!"

	"So we abandon the village? Uproot these people from their lives and make them nomads? You still don't understand, we CAN'T just let our home fracture like this! I refuse it!"

	Mikhail burst through the door and the yelling stopped. Before him was a young man dressed in partially rusted chain mail, holding a helmet missing it's visor. Opposite to him was an elderly man, his skin pale and his eyes bearing a slight milky layer. "Elder, Ivo. I come with great news. The monster in the woods will be slain, I found a travelling swordsman!". Mikhail tugged on Avery's gauntlet and pushed him into the room, suddenly the center of attention.

	Ivo's blue eyes narrowed and he sneered. "Mikhail, I see your head is empty yet your stomach is ever full. We've not only a monster on our hands. If this could be solved by a sword, we wouldn't be in this debacle now".

	Avery glared at Mikhail, as it seemed he had held something back from him. "What do you mean 'not only a monster'? Is there a spirit, bandits?"

	"Evil. Every night since we lost our men a deep, black darkness comes over the village, like a blanket, blocking out the stars and of our torches. Only the moon is visible, and it bears a dark omen." Ivo stated curtly. "I apologize for Mikhail wasting your time, there is nothing yo-".

	The elder raised his hand slowly, which caused Ivo to close his mouth and roll his eyes. "Swordsmen, how do you fare with a blade?". The elder's voice was slow and smooth, a stark contrast to the hoarse barks he heard through the door.

	"As long as I have my sword with me, whatever man, beast creature of the night, or what have you, I can best them." Avery stated, his green eyes never leaving the pools of milk in the elder's.

	The elder held the stare for a few moments longer. Avery couldn't make out if he was truly seeing him, as his gaze held firm despite his apparent blindness. The old man's eyes reflected Avery in them, giving off the impression of a mirror in which the old man was judging him in. The elder closed his eyes and sighed "You're hired. Kill the monster, and you'll have your reward. Only, if you're a man of your word. Ivo's mouth went agape and his eyes wide, yet the elder ignored him, instead turning his head towards Mikhail. "How much did you promise him?"

	"A meal sir!" Mikhail nodded and smiled, until he saw Avery's jaw clench.

	Avery narrowed one eye at him. "And?"

	"A-ah...haha....thirty..." he mumbled.

	"Thirty what Mikhail?"

	"THIRTY GOLD COINS. There, are ya happy ya greedy bastard? Thirty gold coins..."

	Ivo's jaw dropped and his wide eyes now bulged. The elder sighed and rested his face in his hands. Ivo rushed across the room and grabbed both sides of Mikhail's head between his shaking hands. "Mikhail you fool! You buffoon! Did you eat your brain too?"

	"S-stop it Ivo! I was just trying to help. Stop shaking me head, i'm gonna hurl...." Mikhail cried, his voice changing in volume as Ivo shook his head from side to side.

	"Enough, Ivo, stop it, he was only trying to help. Now Swordsman, I can promise you your thirty gold, after you kill the monster. There will be no down payment, the fate of this village cannot rest on such a weak foundation as faulty promises."

	Avery rubbed the back of his neck and thought about it. He could just leave and save his time, sure. His past recruitment by villages had no down payment as well, and he was always under rewarded after. To keep doing this would be the definition of insanity. On the other hand, he was out in the sticks and wouldn't reach a guild hall for another few days, and he had run out of food. Avery furrowed his brow, he was considerably poor now as well.

	"I'll cleanse your woods, but if I come back, and I find my bag of gold to be even a few grams lighter than what I expect..." Avery stepped over to the wooden table of the elder and bent over him "I will sack this village for whatever i'm owed. This is not a threat Elder, but it is a promise."

	"Ivo, take your hands off your sword. I shall take your word as truth, just as you should take mine. The woods should be a short walk west of the well in town, make sure to bring the beast's head." The elder spoke plainly, never averting his gaze from Avery's own.

	Avery nodded and turned to the door, glancing all the while to see Ivo's eyes burning holes into him with his hand slowly reaching from his sword's handle. Mikhail stood in the corner of the room, red in the face and rubbing his aching ears.

	The elder stood up from his desk "One more thing swordsmen, we found a beached ship on the coast on the northern end of the forest. I believe it was an eastern ship from it's design. We also found several parchments, as well as this" he pulled out a long purple fabric with markings all across it. "I've no idea what it is but they were collected by Ivo during the last investigation into the woods. It might be of use, or not."

	Avery picked up the the fabric, it was silk, soft and smooth. The markings were somewhat familiar, a language he had seen during his childhood in the city. Eastern ship. silk, this writing. It was from Zipangu.