Mikoto/Stories
Quotes
Adventurer Story Episodes
The Warrior's Revelation
Ranzal: Just don't come crying to me when ya get clawed, Euden.
Euden: Oh, I think we understand each oth... Whoa. The ground is trembling. Is this an earthquake?
Ranzal: Fiend stampede! There's a whole pack of 'em, and they're headed this way!
Euden: We need weapons! Quickly!
Ranzal: There's no time!
Ranzal: We— Huh?
Mikoto: Worry not. I've let none escape.
Ranzal: E-escape?! Ya just took out every last one of 'em!
Mikoto: It was a paltry 43 fiends. Hardly noteworthy. Now as for the cat... Aah, good. I see you're unharmed.
Mikoto: But sadly you are not my Mineuchi. Run along now, and stay clear of fiends.
Ranzal: You tellin' me ya dove headlong into that pack what to save a CAT?
Euden: ......
Euden: What's your name? And your story, if you don't mind me asking?
Mikoto: ...Mikoto. I sat in meditation for three years at the roots of an 800-year-old ash and attained divine revelation.
Euden: Revelation?
Ranzal: So, what? Heaven just sent ya a quick note to lay bare all nature's mysteries?
Euden: We'd love to have you join us, Mikoto. If you're interested, that is.
Mikoto: No.
Euden: Rather blunt, aren't you?
Ranzal: You seen his skill, yeah? I'm sure he's got far richer employers after his services.
Mikoto: Oh, I've no other offers. I'm not even a mercenary for hire. I'm looking for a cat.
Ranzal: A cat.
Mikoto: Yes, a skinny black cat named Mineuchi. So I'm afraid I simply don't have the time to deal with you.
Euden: Wait! Er, what if we help you find him?
Mikoto: ...What?
Euden: Skilled as you are, tracking down a cat is no simple task.
Euden: Surely it would be more efficient if we all worked together. Right, Ranzal?
Ranzal: Hey, if it gets a guy like you to join up, findin' one furball is a damn bargain.
Ranzal: We help you, and you help us. Sound like a fair deal?
Mikoto: Hmm... In attaining revelation, I have become as nature itself. All humankind is but a part of my being.
Mikoto: And you suggest that by using those faculties to the fullest, Providence can be coaxed into a more favorable result...
Mikoto: I understand. Then we shall walk this path together awhile.
Ranzal: Uh...yeah. Great. Euden, this guy's somethin' else. All that skill, and the only thing he wants is a cat?
Euden: Well, it's a nobler motive than greed. At any rate, we've made a deal. Time to go find Mineuchi!
In Search of Mineuchi
Mikoto: Mineuchi?!
Ranzal: One skinny black cat, as requested!
Mikoto: ...That isn't him. Mineuchi's eyes have a sagely, world-weary quality to them.
Mikoto: Also, that cat is female. That much should be obvious at a glance.
Ranzal: Oops! Forgot that little detail. Sorry, lady. Guess yer free to go.
Euden: Mikoto! I found a gathering spot for cats!
Mikoto: A what?
Euden: Just what it sounds like. I followed a spotted cat and it led me to a whole feline congregation—
Mikoto: Mineuchi!
Euden: But it's right next to a whole nest of fiends, so...
Euden: Uh, Mikoto?
Ranzal: He ran off halfway through yer sentence.
Euden: Then he's in danger—the beasts there are not the sort one man can deal with alone. We have to help him.
Ranzal: Guess we can't have him dyin' before we find his cat. So, what sorts of fiends are we talking here? How many?
Mikoto: I forgot to ask where it was!
Ranzal: Oh. He's back.
Euden: It was through the narrow pass to the west, then left at the three-forked road, but—
Mikoto: Got it!
Euden: Aaaand...gone. Again.
Ranzal: So what's the plan?
Euden: We go after him!
Euden: ...Oh. Mikoto.
Mikoto: Ah, you've come. I fear Mineuchi wasn't at this cat gathering place, but I appreciate the tip just the same.
Euden: Wait, what about the fiends' nest?! It was literally crawling with them! Did you clear all of them out alone?
Mikoto: There were only a handful. I cut down a scant 142. Nothing much.
Even Heaven Can Learn
Mikoto: I am.
Cleo: Would you mind some company?
Mikoto: I see no reason to decline.
Cleo: Where do you usually go to look for him?
Mikoto: Unknown places. I train my ears to the wind and listen to its guidance.
Cleo: The wind.
Mikoto: Indeed. Many cast their eyes to the ground when searching. This is a mistake.
Mikoto: Hope resides in the heavens above, and the winds bear heaven's word.
Cleo: I see. When exactly did Mineuchi get lost?
Mikoto: It was not Mineuchi who got lost. It was me.
Mikoto: I became separated from him and was left to wander aimlessly.
Cleo: I'm...afraid I'm not sure I take your meaning. I don't— Oh, my. Look there.
Mikoto: Where?!
Cleo: That massive beast and its cub. Do you see there? I thought I saw something small and black pass by th—
Mikoto: Understood. I shall cut them down!
Cleo: You most certainly will not.
Mikoto: ...I won't?
Cleo: Just how many lives have you taken in your search for Mineuchi?
Mikoto: I am an avatar of nature itself. Should life be extinguished through my workings, it is merely the natural course of things.
Cleo: Be that as it may, those animals pose no danger to us. If we approach them slowly, they'll leave us be.
Mikoto: Truly?
Cleo: It seems even heaven still has a thing or two to learn. Come along now.
Mikoto: ...Indeed. I hope we do find Mineuchi here.
A Journey to Feel Less Empty
Mikoto: You needn't worry about him anymore, Euden. I expect he's died by now.
Euden: What?! Surely if we just keep looking...
Mikoto: Five years have passed since our paths diverged. What's gone by as a moment for me is the better part of a lifetime for him.
Euden: Five years... I see. I would dearly like to tell you he's alive, but as you say, five years is a long time for a cat.
Euden: But why stop now? You've kept the search up for so long.
Mikoto: Perhaps the search itself has become a comfort.
Mikoto: All through my training, he was always by my side.
Euden: It sounds like he was family.
Mikoto: Perhaps so. I had no coin to purchase food and so would fish for meals and share my catch with him.
Mikoto: But my training grew ever more intense, and at some point I noticed he had gone.
Mikoto: I paid it little heed then. Compared to the quest for true strength, a stray cat felt insignificant.
Euden: But now you've spent years searching for him. What changed?
Mikoto: ...When divine revelation did finally come, it brought with it a terrible emptiness. The next moment, I thought of Mineuchi.
Mikoto: Heaven had spoken. He was an integral part of me, and I knew I would never again be whole without him.
Euden: And you came to realize that what really mattered was right beside you all along. It almost sounds like a faerie tale.
Mikoto: But now I've come to learn that what is lost can never be found again.
Euden: If Mineuchi is truly gone, why not find a new companion? Surely any stray cat would welcome your help?
Mikoto: True, countless others share his sorry circumstances—abandoned at the whims of uncaring humans.
Mikoto: Theirs is a sad plight. I do wish to save them, even if it means cutting down all mankind to do so.
Euden: Ummm...isn't that a bit extreme?
Mikoto: When revelation came, I ceased to be a man. This form is but a vessel for the will of heaven itself.
Mikoto: I am human, yes, but I am also all catkind. I am nature in its entirety, the sum of all life in this world.
Mikoto: Just as man devours beast and turns meat into his own flesh and bone, so would I devour man without compunction.
Euden: You feel murder is your right because the heavens have spoken to you?
Mikoto: I do not seek out violence without cause, but all things return to nature in time. Death is not an evil, but a necessity.
Euden: That may be so, but surely there are other avenues for change available before engaging in such wanton destruction!
Mikoto: ...Perhaps there are. I do not know. The revelation I received lay at the end of the search for raw power.
Mikoto: The only path that remains to me now is that which I carve with this blade.
Mineuchi Is Never Far
Mikoto: Think nothing of it. You're certain this is where the rest of them are hiding?
Ranzal: The intel's solid, yeah. So now that we've found 'em, what's the plan?
Mikoto: Their kind merits no pity. We enter and cut down all within those walls.
Cleo: They're petty villains. Once they learn an army's come to stop them, they may well surrender freely.
Cleo: We ought at least extend them the chance. If this can all end without bloodshed, so much the better.
Mikoto: You needn't afford them such mercy. Their lives are but another part of nature. In death, they simply return to the earth.
Cleo: Yet I imagine they would rather not. We—
Euden: Sorry to interrupt, but do you hear that?
Cleo: I do. It's faint, but definitely there. It's...meowing?
Mikoto: A cat? Mineuchi?! That's Mineuchi's voice!
Mikoto: You've grown old, friend. Your voice is raspy, but I recognize it still. You all wait here. I'll go and fetch him!
Ranzal: Wait! There could be people in... Damn, he's already gone.
Mikoto: ...This way. I found the cat.
Euden: Then you've finally found him?!
Mikoto: Alas, no. It was not him. This one's toes are white, while Mineuchi was black as the night.
Euden: He's wearing a collar. Someone's pet, then? That explains why he doesn't fear us in the slightest.
Cleo: If he's out here, I suppose he must belong to one of the thieves?
Ranzal: Hey, criminals are people, too. Ain't so strange they'd keep a pet.
Mikoto: Hmm, if that's the case—
Bandit: Who're you lot, and what're ya doin' with Mister Mittens?!
Euden: I don't know what name I expected, but it sure wasn't that.
Mikoto: I now see why your cat is unafraid. You are clearly quite protective of your friend. A far cry from the way I acted...
Mikoto: You must have quite a love of cats. Perhaps you've seen a thin, black cat, around the same age as yours?
Bandit: What? Why'n blazes should I tell ya—
Mikoto: Then we've no further business. I'll just be slaying you now...
Bandit: Gah?! W-wait! A black cat, right?! Umm... Er... OH! Yeah! Yeah, I saw one in the plaza of a town just east'a here!
Mikoto: What?!
Ranzal: You really think there's a chance it's Mineuchi? He'd say anything to save his skin.
Bandit: H-hey, I don't know if it's the specific cat you people are lookin' for, but that ain't MY fault! Be reasonable!
Bandit: And also please don't kill me!
Mikoto: No... You have my thanks. However faint the hope, you've given me a new lead in my search.
Mikoto: I've swung my blade without thought till now, but even villains have something to offer if you take the time to listen.
Bandit: Yeah? Y-yes! Tons!
Mikoto: Since receiving divine revelation, I am become one with nature. But are not bandits too a part of that whole?
Mikoto: Perhaps to cut you down is to carve my own flesh from the bone.
Mikoto: It may be time I changed my ways. It seems I have much to consider.
Euden: It's nice we got a lead, but this makes yet another near miss with Mineuchi.
Cleo: True, but perhaps finding him is not the important part.
Cleo: Mikoto has pursued strength alone for most of his life. In pursuing a cat, he is learning a new way to be.
Cleo: Mineuchi remains in his heart now as ever, showing him the way forward.