Book Two: Friends and Foes

Now a Level 10 ronin, Seiki is slowly coming to terms with the death of Master Tsujihara and his new life in Shinshioka.

Spending his days in the Wilderness, he’s venting his remaining frustration while staying away from the city drama and those griefers, like the Rogami Clan, who had made his in-game experience so challenging thus far. He has even taken up a trade skill.

But when he’s presented with an offer he can’t refuse and accepts a simple mission to deliver a message to Kano Castle, he will quickly find his troubles are only just beginning. Caught in an imbroglio that will only get worse the more he tries to do well, Seiki will set off a series of events that will lead to chaos, death, and the eventual destruction of an entire territory.

Surrounded by betrayal, hidden agendas and people looking to take advantage of him, who can Seiki really trust? When everything is not what it seems, it can be impossible to differentiate between friends and foes.

“Bushido Online: Friends and Foes” is the second book in the Bushido Online series, a work of litRPG fiction.

Plot Summary (spoilers)
The prologue shows Tom, Seth’s former coach, angry at the employees at VirCo for allowing Seth to spend an excessive amount of time in the game, to the point of it affecting his health. They agree to lower the threshold for the game’s safety override and set a time limit for his gaming hours, but also manage to convince Tom to let Seth stay in the rehab program.

In the game, Seiki is struggling with the loss of Master Tsujihara, which he considers and spends most of his time alone in the Wilderness outside of Shinshioka, venting his frustration on trees and therefore leveling his Woodcutting skill, a trade skill he has picked up. After reaching Level 10, he receives an official message from the Shogunate, and Lieutenant Kato shows him that a special chamber has been set up for Master Tsujihara at Mani Shrine in West City.

At the shrine, Seiki meets a young NPC priest, Mitsue, who asks him to go investigate an underground library. Mitsue later turns out to be a thief, who has disguised herself as a priest. After stealing documents from the library, she leaves Seiki trapped, which he ultimately escapes by using a new ability he has unlocked: Upslash.

Ippei convinces Seiki to join in a world event against a giant skeleton, as well as a mission at a haunted house, presumably as a way to get him more involved in the game. During this time, Seiki also spends his time helping Kentaro with his charms-selling business at the Kakigouri shop, which he and Ippei agree to do in exchange for free repairs of their gear.

Fuyu, the Ichikeya ninja, shows up at the shop and offers Seiki a job to deliver another blood-locked box containing a piece of paper to a clan called Kano Castle out in the Wilderness beyond the East Gate. Seiki accepts, but before he gets there, he meets a houshi named Akari, who tricks him into helping her enter the White Crane Hall.

The White Crane Order later reveals that they have initially hired Akari to act out an RP role, as part of a recruitment test for Seiki, but the houshi double-crosses them and manages to invite her colleague Teruo into the territory. The White Crane Order successfully kills the intruders, but discovers nothing stolen. Upset by the lie, Seiki refuses to join the clan and leaves.

Seiki runs into a group of NPC villagers, who ask him to help fight a man-eating demon. Seiki at first refuses, since his level is much too low, but eventually gives in. Unable to kill the monster, Seiki lures it out of the instance, ultimately using a spirit tree’s self-defense mechanism to finish it off. This rewards him a Sheathed Blade, which will give him an undisclosed named weapon, but which he must be Level 18 to claim.

Seiki runs into several other inhabitants of the Wilderness, including a group of outlaws, led by a ronin called Renshiro, who have apparently been tipped off about the blood-locked box Seiki is carrying.

The outlaws believe that the box contains a certain key that belongs to their allies, the Fuoka Army, and refuses to let Seiki leave until he gives it to them, leading to a series of encounters, where an uneasy friendship start to develop between them. The Rogami Clan ambushes the group and manages to unlock the blood-locked box, but with help from the outlaws, Seiki retrieves the piece of paper and escapes.

Renshiro gives up on his attempt to steal the content of the box. After they part, Seiki runs into the Rogami Clan again, and discovers that their real motive has not been the box, but his Sheathed Blade. The clan traps Seiki in a spirit shrine, promising to keep killing him until he gives them the prized weapon. Seiki eventually manages to send a message to his friends, and Ippei and Mairin come to help. They escape by phasing into a quest instance.

The three later run into the Fuoka Army, where several incidents involving Akari lead the clan to believe that the White Crane Order has been responsible for stealing their key. Seiki learns that the two clans were once allies, and together obtained a very rare Pottery scroll that requires max-level Pottery to learn. Since neither clan had a member with that skill, they put the scroll in a box at the White Crane Hall, while the Fuoka Army kept the key. The Fuoka Army was later ambushed by the assassins from the Shadow Manor, who stole the key, which was what Seiki unknowingly delivered to Ichikeya at the beginning.

Convinced that the White Crane Order is responsible, the Fuoka Army prepares to launch an attack at the White Crane Hall. Seiki, Ippei and Mairin continue to make their way to Kano Castle to deliver the piece of paper, but are coldly received by the high-level players.

On their way back, Seiki accidentally phases into a quest in a bell tower involving the thief Mitsue, and the swordsman Shousei. Seiki unlocks a new ability Vertical Spike, and figures out Akari’s motive in the process. He and his friends go back to the clan territory, which is now under siege by the Fuoka Army.

With the help of Kentaro, they manage to convince the Fuoka Army of the White Crane Order’s innocence and that it has been Akari and Teruo who have stolen the key in the first place just so they can make prized scroll disappear in order to pitch the two clans against each other. After opening the box to check, however, they find that instead of stealing the scroll, the intruders have replaced it with a rare-summoning scroll, which will summon a rare monster to attack the territory from within should someone be careless enough to unroll it.

The Rogami Clan takes this opportunity to attack the already-weakened White Crane Hall. Tricking the Rogami Clan with a duel, Seiki and his friends manage to unleash the rare in the midst of their army. In the meantime, Kentaro asks Yamura to alert casual Shinshioka players to the presence of the rare. Hundreds of enthusiastic players rush out of the East Gate as a result, starting a chaotic large-scale brawl, which eventually forces the Rogami Clan to withdraw their troops.

Through the encounters and events, Seiki slowly sorts through his feelings of anger, despair and acceptance and learns to trust his friends and find strength in continuing to live. The Fuoka Army and the White Crane Order both extend invitations to him to join their clans, which he leaves open.

At the end, Seiki realizes it has been Fuyu all along, who has tipped both the outlaws and the Rogami Clan off about various happenings, and that the real recipient of the delivery was actually Renshiro. She reveals the Kano Castle has wanted Renshiro to have the mysterious piece of paper without the outlaw himself knowing where it is from. She also hints that it is the Kano Castle who is behind Akari and Teruo’s efforts to start a war between the clans. The book ends with Seiki inviting Ippei and Mairin into his private territory in Shinshioka with the intention of telling them ‘something important’.