Snippet #2505653

"Aiee! I told you already, I don't have anything worth taking."

Along the roughly hewn road leading from Chūbāzu Township north towards Lake Yosai, a small group of rough-looking men and women were gathered around a disgruntled looking boy with mid-length black hair and a pretty golden hat sat cross-legged with his arms folded on the ground. Despite the fact that two of the men had blades out and pointed at him, Seiji appeared decidedly unfettered, with his nose in the air and his lip set in a disapproving pout. One of the others was rooting through the travellers pack that he had been wearing shortly before he was set upon by the little group of bandits. "You guys are real jokers. I don't think your mothers would be proud of you robbing a lone kid!"

"He's not lying, man. There's nothing but useless doodles in here." the man going through the pack said, turning the bag upside down and sending a flurry of scrolls tumbling out to scatter on the ground.

"Hey!" Seiji exclaimed, moving to scramble and collect them but being halted by the swords levelled at him. "Those aren't useless doodles! They're my const-"

"Shut up, kid." another of the men interrupted, "Or I'll cut your tongue out."

"Hey, what's this?" The man with the bag pulled a metallic object out from a pouch within it, a two-pronged device fitted with a small spike and some sort of screw. It shimmered in the light. Alongside it was a small eyeglass.

"No idea what the pronged thing is, but looks like it's made of gold. And the eyeglass looks antique. I count that as a score."

"No fair! I need those!" Seiji whined from the ground, scowling furiously. There wasn't really much he could do about it, unfortunately. "Aieee... I knew I should've waited for a caravan."