Maxim's Go-Quest Begins

Life, Milestone

After his keeper stalked off further into Ago Manor, Maxim decided that he did, indeed, feel a little bad about how that encounter with Haures had ended. Thinking back on it, he realized that she'd been offended not just by his words, but his teasing and attempts to give her orders. A Wrath Demon she may be, but Haures was also among the most prideful of those he had met. Fitting for a lioness.   Following Haures' path back into the shadowed hallways, Maxim was surprised to find her loitering just around the next corner. It seemed the other had not left entirely, but merely skulked away out of view. Unconscious or uncaring of all that he'd just realized, Maxim proceeded to give the lioness another set of orders. He was going to Mount Ōe, he proclaimed, to meet a certain Oni, and Haures was coming with him. The demoness obviously chafed under this new declaration, but she accompanied him without complaint. The Oni were demons of a sort, Haures mentioned, and their assistance might well be helpful to both their goals. With a final command to Kashirin to stay in Ago, Maxim hailed Shigeaki Fujino and they were off.

Upon their arrival at the base of Mount Ōe, Maxim paused before scaling the peak. He first turned to Haures and bluntly apologized, calling her a friend and ally. His change in plans, a shift in focus toward Bishamonten, was only a result of orders from the Hashinara Clan. It had nothing to do with her. Although his apology did seem to soothe Haures' pride a bit, she answered quite coldly. They were not friends, she claimed. Only allies who served the same Mistress. For now. That almost sounded like a challenge, and Maxim's Sheele Evaine rose to it, claiming that they would someday best Haures, whether by blade or friendship.   When asked if he'd be climbing to the very peak, Maxim answered in the negative. He'd be seeking the lord of the mountain eventually, but not this time. Instead, he asked whether Haures would like to accompany him, or if she'd prefer to wait and enjoy the festivities. Perhaps thinking of the great hunk of meat she'd enjoyed on her first visit, Haures chose the latter. She made Maxim swear to collect her before he left, but then allowed him to climb the rocky slope on his own. The last Maxim saw of her, Haures was being approached by a swaggering oni man before his view of her was obscured by the clouds. That was worrying, but he told himself that she was capable enough on her own and pressed onward.   Many travelers found the labyrinthine mists around Ōe's peak to be impassible, but they welcomed Maxim like an old friend. Soon he arrived at Myoroguma-dōji's home, a simple and rough but cozy cave set into the mountain's face. Evaine pulled herself up shortly after, and Myoroguma appeared from the cavern's depths to greet them. As a friend, Maxim was made welcome. Even more welcome, perhaps, thanks to the food that he'd brought up from the Feast below. Myoroguma was unable to abandon his duties for the festivities, but he had an appetite to rival any oni. The three sat around the host's rough stone table and spoke as they ate.   Maxim first had to explain that Evaine was not his daughter, but his squire. That, Myoroguma took, meant something like "servant." Perhaps surprisingly, Evaine did not seem offended, and instead offered that description as close to the truth. Soon, they turned to the true reason for Maxim's visit. The Knight Commander explained that he'd recently come to acquire the lands of Shima Province, and had come to ask Myoroguma's advice on how best to approach Shuten-dōji for a trade deal between their two domains.   That seemed to interest their host, but his answer wasn't promising. Many had tried, Myoroguma explained, to strike up diplomatic relations of one sort or another with Shuten-dōji. The great ruler of Mount Ōe no longer had any interest in politics or alliances, however. Supplicants were, without exception, turned away. That explanation surprised Maxim, who couldn't fathom why the oni went to such great lengths to separate themselves from humans. Myoroguma was happy to explain, launching into a brief description of the history of his race:   Oni did not always live peacefully alongside humans. Rather, there was a time not too many centuries ago when they were the monsters that folklore often paints them. Raiding, plundering, and destroying for the sake of destruction were all great joys to the Oni. They would rampage through human settlements with impunity, their great strength and tough skin rendering them invincible to all but the greatest of human warriors. Shuten-dōji was the worst of these. He was like a god of debauchery, to hear Myoroguma tell it, leaving a trail of drunken ruin in his wake everywhere he went. When his mate, rival, enemy, and lover Ibaraki-dōnyo got involved, it would take humans years to recover from the destruction they brought.   Then, at some point a few centuries ago, Shuten-dōji just... calmed down. He used his great power to draw all the rampaging oni to Mount Ōe and somehow created the Eternal Feast to slake their hunger for fighting and debauchery. The slaughter of humans was now, for the most part, off-limits. The great Onigami then retreated to his place on the peak of the mountain and rarely showed himself again. Nobody, Myoroguma included, was entirely sure what had happened to cause such a transformation. Maxim, however, got a flash of a great, horrible presence he'd met under Mount Ōe, and the kindly Shuten-dōji who had implored him not to interact with it. That might just be connected somehow.   Finally, Myoroguma explained the current disposition of the Oni race. There were now two dominant philosophical thoughts among their kind. Traditionalists, like Shuten-dōji, treat Mount Ōe like a haven for oni culture, a place where they can be themselves free of the growing influence of humanity. The other major group, Civilizationists, or Civilized Oni, sought instead to integrate into human feudal society. There were many such clans in Chūgoku already, with Mōri Motonari being among the most famous and powerful of the faction. When asked why Shuten-dōji, who seemed to favor separation from humans, allowed Civilized Oni to pass freely in and out of human society, Myoroguma had to admit he didn't know. There were rumors that, with the cooling of Shuten-dōji's head, the great Onigami had lost much of his power and could no longer enforce his own ideals. That didn't seem right to Maxim, however. Having met Shuten firsthand, he felt confident in calling the ancient warrior the strongest man he'd ever known.   Perhaps most surprisingly from their discussion, Maxim noted that Myoroguma seemed genuinely nostalgic for the old days of debauchery and destruction. Still, he was not dissuaded from his desire to reach the mountain peak and speak to Shuten-dōji once again. Normally, humans had to pass a number of trials and brave the thick mists of the mountain in order to reach the summit. In this case, for a friend, Myoroguma was willing to make an introduction, however, on one condition. He would send Maxim to the peak of Ōe once the Knight Commander was able to best him in Go.   They had already played one match while discussing the night's matters, but Maxim found himself hopelessly outclassed. Myoroguma was kind enough to show his opponent where he'd gone wrong, and where the oni himself had made a mistake he could have exploited. This helped, but their second match went little better, with Myoroguma playing nearly flawlessly. Evaine suggested that he apply his knightly knowledge battlefield tactics to this situation, but Maxim merely shook his head. He'd relied on another for that skill, long ago. In this case, he'd merely need to whet his own skill until he could best Myoroguma fairly and win his ascension to the peak.