Chapter 119: Surprise: Discovery


    "Mmnngh....what the fuck...?"


    Waking with one of the worst hangovers he had ever experienced, the only preventing Nobu from staying in bed was the absence of Yui at his side.


    Taking a few deep breaths, Nobu attempted to recall what happened the previous night. He could remember talking with his old man and grandfather, but, after that, everything was a blur.


    "I didn''t expect that watery shit to kick like a donkey..."


    As this was far from the first time he had gotten ckout drunk, the first thing Nobu checked was his bedding. One of the first things to go when you clocked out from excessive alcohol was dder control.


    "At least I didn''t piss myself..."


    Taking some smallfort in the fact his futon was dry, Nobu didn''t even bother to question how he had changed into the rtively thin yukata he was currently wearing. He was far more concerned with the absence of Yui, so, after massaging his temples for a bit, he called out, "Anyone there...?"


    Though it was a bit slower than he was used to, Nobu was unsurprised when a soft and feminine voice answered, "Excuse me..." before sliding open the door to his room.


    Squinting at the petite figure through slightly blurry eyes, Nobu was able to make out that she had dark-purple hair loosely tied up in a bun, rose-pink eyes, and a dainty frame wrapped in a modest, highly constrictive purple kimono.


    Compared to the Kunoichi he had interacted with, the girl didn''t really stand out. She gave off a kind of ''childhood friend'' vibe. It was kind of like the feeling Nobu would get whenever he met a girl that grew up in a small and religious town deep in the countryside.


    Ignoring the other questions that had entered his mind, Nobu did his best to remain focused on the most important thing, asking, "Where''s Yui...?"


    With a slightly fretful expression on her face, the servant-girl lowered her head to the point her bangs could sweep the floor before answering, "Forgive me, Young Master. I am not familiar with anyone named Yui..."


    Furrowing his brows, Nobu did his best to remainposed as he asked, "Do you know who I am?" before asking, "Where is this ce...?"


    Without raising her head, the purple-haired girl meekly replied, "Forgive me...I have not been made aware of the Young Master''s esteemed designation or title. As for your second question...this is one of the rooms reserved for extraordinary guests and personal friends of the Great Lord and Lady. It is this little one''s duty to preserve the state of this room and attend the people staying within..."


    Since it was virtually impossible for anyone to prate this deep into the primary estate of one of the Great Noble ns, the servant girl didn''t bother to question Nobu''s license to be there. All she knew was that the room was upied when she came by toplete her morning chores, so, with no other servants posted outside, she gently closed the door before sitting down and awaiting the upant''s summons.


    Feeling his headache worsen, Nobu pulled out the stone tablet to confirm that Yui wasn''t injured or under the influence before running his hand through his hair, exhaling a sigh, and asking, "What''s your name, kid...?"


    "This lowly one''s name is F-Fuwa Kaede..."


    Raising his brows, Nobu asked, "What kind of family name is Fufuwa...?" before shaking his head and adding, "Whatever. It doesn''t really matter. You can raise your head."


    Though she wanted to correct the misunderstanding, Kaede''s instincts were telling her that the person in front of her wasn''t someone she should offend. He gave off a simr impression to the Great Lord, and, now that she was able to get a better look at him, there were a number of obvious simrities between the man seated before her and the more prestigious members of the Oda n.


    Seeing the fretful look on the girl''s face as she kept her head slightly bowed, Nobu nearly shook his head a second time before his brain pulsed in protest. This was a tell-tale sign that he was severely dehydrated, so, before anything else, he said, "Right...Kaede...san? Mind getting me a ss of water and something to eat?"


    Without any hesitation whatsoever, Kaede bowed her head in a respectful manner, answering, "As you will." before backing out of the room on her hands and knees. This caused Nobu''s left brow to twitch, but, having learned a bit about Noble society, he wasn''t too surprised by Kaede''s behavior.


    ording to what Nobu had learned from Kumiko, a single mistake could cost a servant their life or their job. As a result, the more inexperienced maidservants went about their daily routine as if they were treading on shards of ss. Since Kaeda appeared to be around 14-15 years old, it was safe to assume she had only recently begun working as a domestic servant.


    If Nobu had used the stone tablet to scan her, he would have been surprised to learn that Kaede was actually twenty-three years old. She was a daughter of the Fuwa n, one of the Oda n''s many retainers, so, while her cultivation base wasn''t particrly impressive, it had helped to slow her aging and preserve her youthful appearance.


    Inexperienced attendants would never be allowed to work in the Inner Sanctum of the Inuyama Castle.


    Unaware that he had addressed a woman four years his senior as ''kid'', Nobu decided toy back down and focus on his breathing. Circting Aura could drastically decrease aches and pains, so, while waiting for his water, he did his best to address his growing migraine.


    "You''re pretty shit at that, ain''tcha...?"


    Recognizing the voice as his grandfather''s, Nobu just grunted before forcing himself to a seated position and glowering at the middle-aged man standing in the doorway. In response, Senichi just returned a cheeky grin that didn''t suit his age before saying, "Once the servant gets back with your meal, have her escort you to the Dragon''s Chamber. If she refuses, just show her this."


    Catching the thumb-sized stamp his grandfather had thrown him, Nobu''s brows perked up as he asked, "Isn''t this the Oda n''s Family Seal? I don''t recall agreeing to be the next Patriarch..."


    Snorting through his nose, Senichi quipped, "Considering you fell into an alcohol-induceda, I don''t imagine you remember much, brat."


    Furrowing his brows, Nobu was about to retort when Senichi just shook his head, adding, "Rx. That particr seal is known as the Lesser Mark of the Dragon. It was supposed to be entrusted to you on your eighth birthday. Unless you intend to officially disim your inheritance, you''ll need to keep it safe. That thing is just about as important as your own life so don''t lose it."


    Without waiting for Nobu''s response, Senichi ceased leaning against the frame of the door before promptly shutting it with a loud ''tok''.


    Though he was briefly tempted to throw the surprisingly heavy stamp through the bamboo door, Nobu ultimately just clicked his tongue before motioning to ce it into the sleeve of his yukata. Before he could, however, the stone tablet that had fallen off the side of the futon began vibrating with an intensity that couldn''t be ignored.


    "Who the fuck would message me at four in the morning...?"


    To Nobu''s surprise, the notification on the tablet wasn''t a message. When he saw what it said, his heart began pumping with increasing vigor. This caused his headache to be worse, but, no longer paying attention to that, an excited grin spread across Nobu''s face as he navigated back to the home page.


    "Hell. Fucking. Yes...!"


    While the icon was a little strange, resembling a vault door with aplex seal carved into it, Nobu didn''t have to be a genius to understand what the app was used for. What he didn''t expect was for the screen to disy an empty room that appeared to be constructed from brown y. It also had a window and a door, but, like the rest of the room, they were also pretty shitty. The windowcked a pane, and, as far as he could tell, the door was literally made from some kind of thatch material that had been woven together to produce an entrance p...


    "The fuck...?"


    Ignoring his misgivings about the room''s appearance, Nobu thumbed the screen with the hope of opening some kind of menu. Instead, he felt a wave of heat spread through his body as his stomach proceeded to perform an acrobatic routine that would make an Olympic gymnast blush.


    Landing, hard, on a dirty brown floor, Nobu expelled the contents of his stomach in one fell swoop. Then, despite having a pretty good idea regarding what just happened, he looked around with a stupefied expression on his face as he found himself in the same room that had appeared on the stone tablet''s disy...


    Shifting his attention to the ceiling, Nobu''s expression paled as he found a massive, greyed-out version of himself staring down at him through what he assumed to be the tablet''s disy. There was a literal rectangr hole floating in the middle of the air, almost like someone had cut a piece out of the fabric of space-time or some other fantastical shit.


    "Is this what I look like from below...?"


    Though he didn''t have a double-chin or anything, Nobu couldn''t help grimacing as he saw his stubble-covered face from the perspective of an ant. He wasn''t exactly unpleasant to look at, far from it, but it clearly wasn''t his most ttering angle.


    Shaking such pointless thoughts from his mind, the first thing Nobu noticed was that his migraine had magically disappeared. When he looked down, even the vomit he had ejected was nowhere to be seen. In fact, now that he was looking more closely, his body was literally fucking transparent. If he looked even closer, he could literally see his fucking veins, bones, and all kinds of other shit he couldn''t even begin to describe.


    "Well, that''s fucking creepy..."


    Ignoring the morbid curiosity that pretty much demanded he inspect his junk, Nobu did his best to make sense of the situation. He could deduce from the persistent and somewhat stupid-looking grin on hisrger self''s face that time had basically stopped while he was inside the strange room. The real question was, what was the point ofing inside? He couldn''t even sense his Aura, and, despite trying to call it to him multiple times, the stone tablet had yet to manifest.


    With nothing better to do, Nobu decided to take a look through the window rather than trying to pass through the door. This ended up being the correct decision, as, even after leaning his head through to look around, the y chamber seemed to be floating in a white void. There was clearly some kind of oxygen present, but, when he tried to extend his hand outside the foot of the door, he could reach around to the underside of the y room without issue.


    "Hmmm...if this is anything like those gimmicks that appear in cultivation novels, I should be able to expand this ce using my Aura or some kind of Heavenly Treasure. At the very least, I doubt it will remain a y room..."


    Since there was nothing else for him to do within the room, Nobu took a moment to inspect his junk. He immediately regretted it, but, after the initial disgust, he just shook his head, epted that his body was ugly as fuck on the inside, and moved on. More specifically, he jumped up to smack the screen that had been hovering over him even as he moved around to inspect the window and door.


    Experiencing another lurching sensation, Nobu expelled the contents of his stomach a second time. Fortunately, he had anticipated something like this might happen. As a result, he willed himself to hold it down before pressing the seal his grandfather had given him to the screen. It immediately disappeared into motes of bluish-white light, which, upon fading away, revealed that the seal was now sitting in the exact center of the room...


    "Noice..."


    ...


    ..


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    (A/N: He said the thing! Roll credits...!)