An Uncanny Land
Nobunaga: We have reconnoitered the area thoroughly and have yet to find a single person. This is fruitless. Have you turned up any clues, Mitsuhide?
Mitsuhide: Yeah, I've got one piece of good news. There was food in that teahouse. The other shops were all full to bursting with meat and fish and rice and whatnot, too.
Nobunaga: Conventional wisdom dictates that where there is food, there are people, and yet...
Nobunaga: Hm. At the very least, we'll not want for sustenance. I admit I was rather ill entertaining the thought of starving to death.
Nobunaga: All this walking about has me quite famished. Perhaps I'll stop in for a bite at the teahouse.
Mitsuhide: You still seem pretty downcast, Nobunaga. What's on your mind?
Nobunaga: I should think the source of my distress obvious! We are no closer to discovering a means of egress from this empty prison!
Nobunaga: I dream of unifying the lands of Hinomoto! Of becoming shogun! And those dreams will crumble to dust if we are left here to rot!
Mitsuhide: Come on, we only just got here. Take a deep breath and chill out a little.
Nobunaga: How could I possibly be "chill"?! I— Wait! That's it! I know what we could do!
Nobunaga: Yes! I'm going back to our world! I will avail the power of my soulpact!
Mitsuhide: Would you cool down for a second, firebreather? If we could do anything about this with a dragon's power, Daikokuten would've already solved the problem.
Daikokuten: Yep! For all my power, I'm about as useless as a parasol in a typhoon right now!
Nobunaga: I'm well aware. My goal is not to escape outright, but to inform my own dragon, Susano-o, of our predicament, and have him assist us!
Nobunaga: If I use the power of my soulpact, he will appear here, using my body as an intermediary. And then, when I release the power, he will return to our original world.
Nobunaga: Once Susano-o is aware of the situation, he will act to rescue us from our plight!
Daikokuten: As ever, you are as sharp as the blade you wield, Nobunaga!
Nobunaga: Hark! My ambition to achieve my dream will overcome even this trial! And now...!
Nobunaga: Susano-o, I call upon you! Thy fearsome power I bid make manifest!
Nobunaga: ......
Daikokuten: ...Meep?
Mitsuhide: Uh... So... Did I blink and miss something, or...?
Nobunaga: I...cannot use my soulpact!
Together: What?!
Mitsuhide: What do you mean you can't use it? Like, Susano-o rejected you?
Nobunaga: N-no, that's not it! My call is not reaching Susano-o!
Daikokuten: Surely you jest! Such a thing ought to be impossible!
Nobunaga: Indeed. A Wyrmclan leader and dragon are inextricably soulbound. No matter the distance between them, one's call should reach the other without fail.
Nobunaga: So long as one of those souls has not passed on, that is...
Nobunaga: Could it be that we are...already dead?
Daikokuten: My goodness, that IS a frightful notion.
Mitsuhide: Both of you, dial it back a little. You're overthinking this. We're alive.
Mitsuhide: And the proof is in the pudding—or, well, whatever you're craving right now, Nobunaga. You said you were hungry, no?
Nobunaga: Ah! You speak true! To think I let my anxieties spiral out of control so rapidly...
Mitsuhide: Look, let's hit the teahouse to grab a drink and calm you down.
Nobunaga: A cold drink is exactly what I need right now. That being said, a teacup will not suffice.
Nobunaga: Ah, there was a water pail at the storefront. I'll just take this, and...
Nobunaga: DRAGONS, GRANT ME STRENGTH! *splash*
Mitsuhide: Wh-whoa! Nobunaga, what are you doing?!
Nobunaga: That should serve to cool my head. Soulpact or no, I must still act the part of a leader.
Mitsuhide: When I said to "chill out," I didn't mean it literally. You'll catch a cold, y'know! And we can't call a doctor here, either.
Nobunaga: Hmph, me? Catch a cold? I have never in my life required the services of a physici—
Nobunaga: ...Hm? Wait... Mitsuhide. Why do you think we cannot call a doctor?
Mitsuhide: Er, I mean, there are no people here besides us, right? This is the empty world we were spirited away to, after all.
Nobunaga: Suppose that's not necessarily the case. Assuming that we vanished from our world and ended up here...
Nobunaga: Would the missing shopkeeper couple not ALSO be here, in the same predicament?
Mitsuhide: Ah! I think you're onto something! So if they ARE here, where exactly would they be? The same place their house was in the real world?
Nobunaga: An appropriate supposition. Mitsuhide! Show me the way to that home!
Nobunaga: Excuse us, are the man and woman of the house home?!
Husband: Ack! P-people?! How? We saw no signs of anyone!
Wife: Could it be...that the same thing happened to them as to us?!
Wife: Wait, what?! Looking at her more closely... Is that not Lady Mitsuhide, leader of the Wyrmclan?!
Husband: I-it's true! Why are you here in this world, my lady?!
Mitsuhide: Based on the way they're speaking, there's little doubt these are the folks who disappeared.
Nobunaga: Indeed! Now we have but to escort these people back to our world, and the matter will be resolved!
Wife: N-no...! You've come to take us back?!
Wife: Please, mercy! I beg you, leave us!
Husband: H-hey, calm down! We're in the presence of a Wyrmclan leader! Mind your manners!
Wife: A-ah! Forgive my impertinence! I am unworthy!
Nobunaga: Please, my lady, be calm. More importantly, I would hear your testimony. It beggars belief, but do you truly not wish to be returned to the real world?
Wife: ...Yes. I realize how it sounds, but we wish to remain here.
Nobunaga: Why would you possibly...?
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