“M-my. .a. . .a-apologies, P-Prominence,” the monk gasped, pushing himself upright. He dabbed at his leaky eyes with the hem of his sleeve. “I was. . .overcome. How else may I assist you?” The corners of his mouth kept twitching up as he spoke, but he seemed to have himself back under control.
“I originally came to set up an account and make a deposit,” Justin said, sitting down cross-legged on the other side of the Kokyu’s desk.
“Of course, Prominence,” Taiko said, removing a slab of white jade and a small case of the silver-green wood from a lower drawer behind him. He put them on the desk and opened the case to reveal a set of silver needles and two tiny, cork-stoppered bottles of clear glass. Barely an eighth ounce each, if that, tucked into little enclosures of yellow felt. One of the bottles held a clear fluid, the other a red one.
“Disinfect needle, prick finger, regist-” Justin started to ask, pointing sequentially. He stopped short when the jade slab began glowing the moment his finger approached it.
“Or it appears you could register yourself directly, Prominence,” Taiko said. He leaned down to study the jade. “Would you oblige me by moving your hand closer but not touching the register yet, please?”
Justin indulged him. The glow intensified, concentrating at the slab’s center to form a rough-edged circle with a smaller curved arc, even rougher, hovering above it. A sun and prominence, Justin deduced.
“Thank you, Prominence,” Taiko said. “At your convenience?”
Justin pressed his hand to the slab, which flashed white – not blindingly, but far from softly – then resumed its glow.
“Will your deposit fit upon this register, Prominence?” Taiko asked.
“Oh, right,” Justin said, pulling his security pouch out and removing the 5000-ri bill.
“Please place your palm on the register and rotate it slightly to open your account, Prominence. Either direction will do.”
He palmed the slab and twisted, and it turned into a starry void contained within the slab’s original shape. “Oh, that’s cool,” Justin said, with sincere admiration. “Huh. The truth is revealed in the light, but the night protects our secrets - no; our privacy?” he asked.
Taiko perked up, and he pulled a small scroll and charcoal pencil from under the desk to record Justin’s unintentional epigram.
Justin double-facepalmed, this time more gently. “That wasn’t – I didn’t mean – oh, never mind,” he mumbled. He took his hands away. “Put my deposit on the slab?” he asked.
“Yes, please, Prominence,” Taiko said.
Justin set the bill down and it vanished instantaneously. No fading, no sinking in, just – poof, gone.
“Very cool,” Justin said. He resisted the urge to say or even seriously think My compliments to the gods, in the same way one made sure to refrain from even appearing to flatter the bench.
Excellent, he thought, as he caught himself catching himself. The gimmick’s working already.
“Please close your account, Prominence,” Taiko said. “The register will deactivate on its own after a short period, but-”
“ -it’s poor practice and a bad habit to not do it immediately yourself?” Justin finished, doing so at the same time with a reversed twist. The slab turned glowing white again, then dulled to normal when he removed his palm.
“Exactly so, Prominence. Is there anything else with which I may assist you?”
“Yes. What does being a Prominence entail? Do I have duties? Authority? A stipend? What’s expected of me?”
“A Prominence is one whom the Dawn has favored with a gift of supernatural power. I cannot advise you on that aspect further; if I was meant to know useful details, I would have been granted them. What I was given to know is that you are almost completely separate from the ecclesiastical hierarchy; you answer directly to the Dawn Himself, but have been assigned no authority over others. And no mention was made of a stipend, so I doubt that you have one.
“Your unofficial status is another matter, however,” Taiko continued, with a sly look. “Prominences, having been singled out by the Dawn, and demonstrably meriting His approval through bearing and wielding His power, invariably receive great respect and deference from both the clergy and even the less devoted laity. Which naturally comes with consequences of their own the more one makes use of them.”
“Yeah, let’s not,” Justin said, shuddering. “I’ll pass on that. So. . .I can’t order you to keep quiet about me?”
“Not with authority, no. But if that is your desire, Prominence, I will gladly respect your privacy. To have been made so immanent with the Dawn is already a benediction for me beyond compare. All other ambitions are now but petty shadows beneath it. You have my word that no others will learn of today’s events from me; I so swear it, by the Light of Dawn.”
Justin huffed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Kokyu. I just arrived this morning, you know? I have too much on my plate as it is.”
“It is my honor to serve, O Blessed One. May I assist you otherwise?”
“Can you give me a quick review of the Ling Fei advocacy office?”
“Yes, Prominence. I am told they are a respectably senior firm with a reputation for integrity more than victories, working across the boundary between the middle and upper classes. According to my sources, they have remained on the smaller side for many generations because their higher standards for their clients limit their growth. If I was seeking representation, I would be more than satisfied with their services.”
“Sounds perfect. Next, this slip – am I correct in thinking it’s a potential object of veneration?”
“It definitely is an icon, Brother. Not to the degree that a sanctum would be dedicated to it; such Divine relics as this are far from common, but they are not unheard of either. And I believe I can anticipate your next question,” Taiko smirked. “The Ling Fei office would be ecstatic at being allowed to retain it after discharge, which would be permitted at your discretion. Whether placed on public display, or held privately, it would be a great source of pride and honor for them.”
“Good. Turn their little five-hundred-plus gi-ri tactic around on them. What about certification – oh. That would happen at deposit, wouldn’t it.”
“Just so, Brother.”
“Then last would be. . .um. . .agricultural magic? What was it – Blessing of Leaf? Is that a thing? I’m hoping I’ll need one or more practitioners who can either raise a limited supply of raw seeds to productive, and more importantly re-productively healthy adult plants. Or, in the worst scenario, revitalize old or processed ones into being fertile, and raise them from there. Possibly to begin very soon, as in hours to days, although the process itself can take as long as needed. Is that at all feasible?”
“Ah, your ‘raw seeds play’? As the Gods favor it, Brother, I am certain something can be done. Let me think. . .hmm. May I know the reasons for the haste?”
“I strongly suspect the Contract will strongly object. If it hasn’t or doesn’t notice the technicality ahead of time, and renders the seeds irreversibly infertile somehow, the first batch still might be the only one I get, and be at risk of senescence before they can be productively planted.”
“I thought as much, Brother. I believe the simplest solution would be to store them in one of the Sky or Stars Temples’ deeper Vaults, where the passage of time is slowed to a crawl. Very expensive – unless, of course. . .” he paused for effect, beaming, “. . .one has a recently Inlightened senior clergyman to attest to the Gods’ favor. Then we may investigate further measures under less pressure. Would that do?”
Stasis, Justin thought, and then experienced another of those moments of insight where an entire case strategy or other plan would occur to him as a complete, working whole all at once.
“Yes. Good,” he said distractedly, keeping the concept at the forefront of his mind. “Paper and pencil, please,” he told Taiko, holding his hand out.
The Kokyu pulled a blank scroll and the pencil out of whatever receptacle he had tucked under his desk and passed them to him. Justin hastily scribbled down the elements of his idea, passed the pencil back, and rolled up the scroll to tuck it into his pouch.
“Very well, then; I think that’s it - oh! No, I mean, yes, one more thing! Listen, I met a couple of orphans earlier; siblings, Daigo Kon and Kim. From the Shrine of the Fist and the Rod?”
Taiko’s face crinkled up again. “Yes, Prominence, I am aware of them,” he said.
“Nice kids, you know? Very helpful. But when I mentioned them to someone earlier, their reactions were a bit odd,” Justin said, observing the monk’s similar response. “Do you know of them? Or what that might be about? They aren’t being – that Shrine name; it isn’t some kind of, of disciplinarium or something, is it?”
Taiko shook his head as he started chuckling again. “They-they’re Demons, Prominence!” he choked out. He leaned on the table with one arm, palming his shaved head with the other as he fell into another fit of giggles.
“Oh, come on,” Justin scoffed, “Aren’t you exaggerating? They didn’t seem anywhere near that bad to m- wait, you mean literally!?”
And that's why I couldn’t post this back in Chapter 3, despite how much I wanted to. Too much of a giveaway!
Remember Chapter 3's favorite line?
All right, I have no idea what's going on with the publishing hitches. Chapter 8 was supposed to go up this morning - OK fine, around noon - and I come back to check after bathing Chapter 17 and dressing it in its footie PJ's and tucking it into bed with a kiss and mug of cocoa (no, you; marshmallows are the devil's dingleberries, we are a sheol's-syrup-and-gehenna's-gelatin-free household, people, and don't you forget it!) and 8's still there, still only in draft form, unshaven and slumped on the couch in sweats and a pile of empty Top Ramen wrappers and Red Bull cans playing Fortnite. Badly! What the hell, 8? You're all grown up! You're supposed to move out of the house and start building a social network and a life of your own! Get out! Get out this instant!
I dunno, maybe I'm clicking away too soon and interrupting the posting process? Well, whatever; here's Chapter 9 too, and I'm going to spend the rest of tonight familiarizing myself with the scheduled publishing system.
Patreon
dm, another author for help?
Also many thanks for the chapter.
Well, at least it's working now. I did find out today that copypasta of published markup from elsewhere reacts differently to that taken from text in editing mode, which is why Chapter 10 is this late, but still, progress?
Thanks for the suggestion, for reading, and for commenting!