[Current Balance: 4,755,411,970,800 Mon]
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Dawn over Edo was a breathtaking sight.
Alaric hung motionless in the sky, a silent observer high above the sleeping giant of a city. Below him, the world was a sprawling, intricate tapestry of dark wood and gray roof tiles, just beginning to catch the pale, watery light of the rising sun.
This was the heart of the Tokugawa shogunate, the military and political center of a nation deliberately sealed off from the rest of the world. It was a city teeming with life, a vibrant, self-contained universe.
From his vantage point, he could see the sheer scale of it. It wasn't built upwards like the cities of Europe, but outwards, a seemingly endless expanse of low-lying districts connected by a web of canals and wide, unpaved roads.
He saw the grand estates of the daimyō, the powerful feudal lords, their walled compounds like miniature fortresses within the city. He saw the crowded merchant districts, the temples with their elegant, tiered roofs, and the endless sea of commoners' homes.
And in the very center of it all, surrounded by massive stone walls and a wide, reflective moat, stood the imposing, stark white form of Edo Castle, the seat of the Shogun's power.
The streets below were already starting to stir. He could see people in their kimonos and simple work clothes, merchants preparing their stalls, and the occasional samurai patrol moving with quiet, disciplined purpose. There were no foreigners here, no mishmash of cultures like in Havana or even London. This was Japan, pure and insular.
It was time to see if his ghost was here.
Alaric closed his eyes, his physical senses receding as he focused inward. He drew upon his chakra, a vast, deep well of power, and unleashed his Mind's Eye of the Kagura at full blast.
He pushed half of his immense chakra reserve into the technique, a colossal expenditure of energy. His consciousness exploded outwards, a silent, invisible shockwave that washed over the entirety of Edo in a single, all-encompassing pulse.
He felt everything.
He felt the 1.3 million souls within the city, a sea of individual life forces. He felt the disciplined, sharp energy of the thousands of samurai stationed at the castle and throughout the city.
He felt the quiet, steady hum of the common people, the frantic energy of the merchants, the serene calm of the priests in their temples.
He searched through this ocean of life for one specific signature. Caroline's. Or the potent, corrupting hum of the Apple.
But there was nothing.
The active presence wasn't there. She had come, and she had gone.
A familiar sigh, heavy with resignation, escaped Alaric's lips. 'So, Caroline might now be in Joseon...' he thought, the name of the next kingdom on her list echoing in his mind. The ghost hunt continued.
But as his senses swept back across the city, he felt something else.
A residue.
A faint, psychic stain left behind by the Apple's power.
It was weaker than it had been in Nagasaki, more faded, indicating she had left here even longer ago. But the concentration of it was undeniable. It wasn't spread evenly across the city. It was centered, focused, a dark, lingering smudge on the spiritual landscape, emanating directly from one place. 'It seems like she arrived here from the Philippines before Nagasaki…'
Edo Castle. And more specifically, from a single, powerful individual within its walls.
Alaric let his consciousness retreat, the world snapping back into focus. He opened his eyes, his gaze now fixed on the distant white walls of the castle.
So, that's how she did it. She didn't just pass through. She found a key, a powerful piece on the political chessboard, and used the Apple to turn him into her pawn.
The whispers he'd heard from the bugyō in Nagasaki, of her seeking a sword in Edo, it all clicked into place.
She had used a high-ranking official to get what she wanted, to move freely and without question through the most secure location in the entire country.
It was brilliant. And terrifying.
"Time for a closer look," he muttered.
He descended from the sky, landing silently in a deserted alleyway between a warehouse and a small shrine. The Henge activated instantly, his fine crimson coat and Western features melting away, replaced by the appearance of a wandering rōnin, a masterless samurai.
He wore a simple, dark kimono, slightly worn, with a single, battered-looking katana tucked into his belt. His hair was now a common black, tied back loosely, and his features were harder, more anonymous. It was a disguise that would allow him to move with a degree of freedom and explain his combat prowess if needed, without drawing the kind of attention a gaijin would.
He spent the next few hours walking the city, listening. In a small, crowded tea house near the castle's outer gates, a place frequented by low-ranking officials and gossip-hungry merchants, he found the next piece of the puzzle.
"...and Arai-sama has been... distracted, of late," one merchant whispered to another over a cup of steaming green tea. "Ever since the visit from that strange Western woman months ago."
Alaric, sitting at a nearby table, didn't even look up from his own cup, but his ears were focused.
"The gaijin woman?" the other merchant replied, his voice low. "I heard the rumors. They say she had the bugyō of Nagasaki wrapped around her finger. Is it true she came all the way there from Edo?"
"It is," the first merchant confirmed with a knowing nod. "And was granted an audience with Arai Hakuseki himself, the Shogun's most trusted advisor. Unheard of, for a foreigner. And since she left... Arai-sama has not been the same. He makes… strange recommendations to the council. Pushes for policies that seem to benefit obscure trade routes to the south. Some say he is merely planning for the future, but others whisper that he is a man bewitched."
Alaric took a slow sip of his tea. Arai Hakuseki. The man the bugyō had mentioned providing escort for Caroline. The man whose chakra signature still carried the faint, sickly sweet stain of the Apple's influence.
He now had a name, and a target.
Leaving a few mon on the table, Alaric left the tea house. He didn't head directly for the castle. A direct approach was foolish. He needed to understand the lay of the land, the patrol routes, the defenses. He spent the rest of the day simply observing, a shadow moving through the city, his Mind's Eye mapping every guard post, every wall, every potential point of entry into the Shogun's fortress.
As night fell, he stood on a rooftop across the wide moat, looking at the imposing walls of Edo Castle. He could still feel the faint residue of the Apple clinging to the place, a psychic stain on the heart of the shogunate.
He couldn't use his wide-scale "Kai" jutsu here. This wasn't Nagasaki. Purging the entire castle of the Apple's influence might undo Caroline's work, but it would also cause untold chaos, and instantly alert the entire ruling body of Japan that a being of immense power was meddling in their affairs. It was too loud, too messy.
He had to be surgical.
'Arai Hakuseki,' Alaric thought, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the central keep where the advisor's chambers would be. 'Let's see what the Apple left you with.'
His mission was clear. He had to get inside the most heavily guarded fortress in Japan, confront the Shogun's most powerful advisor, and unravel the last threads of Caroline's passage through this isolated kingdom.
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