025. Hide the chest.

I might be able to explain away the blood somehow, maybe a bloody nose or maybe I cut myself, but there was no way to explain away a massive chest of gold and jewels, much less the stolen sword; it all had to go! With the sword in one hand and grabbing a handle of the chest with the other, I hauled hard on it, hoping to just get it out of the sight somewhere. Apparently, my superhuman strength had also not been a dream, since moments later I was dumbly looking into the sky as the chest went flying, not just across the yard, or even over the field, but it went right off the cliff a quarter-mile away, raining gold coins and precious stones as it tumbled and flew since the lid hadn’t been latched shut.

"Shit!" I exclaimed angrily gripping the katana’s scabbard and wringing it nervously with both hands, though being cautious now not to squeeze too hard lest I break it in half.

"What’s wrong?" Kouki asked poking her head out the window, still wiping the sleep from her eyes. I hid my bloody hands and the sword behind my back and just hoped that she would think the blood on my feet was just dirt and mud.

"I…Nothing I just..." I fumbled for something to tell her. "I forgot that Azami told me to rock pick the back field."

"She’s gonna have you plow that one too?" she asked confused since that field had laid unplowed for several years now.

"Yeah," I answered, glad that bluff was actually a lot better than I could have hoped.

"Alright," she sighed, "I’ll get my boots and gloves."

"No!" I shouted too loudly. "I got this."

"Really?" Kouki asked suspiciously of me offering to do work.

"Yeah, I mean…" Damn, I really hadn’t expected my lie to work that well. Kouki did often help me with the easy fieldwork like just picking up rocks and carting them to the cliffs to dump them, so my lie grew even more complex. "I also forgot to tell you she wanted you to start work on Setsuko’s wedding dress today."

"But she won’t need it until Shinji comes back, and that won’t be until the war is over, and who knows when that will be?" she sighed.

"Sooner than you might think," I chuckled under my breath.

"What was that?" she asked.

"So you might as well get started," I said louder. "Since, you never know…"

She rolled her eyes and ducked back inside. At least the fickleness of Azami was something we both knew quite well so she seemed to believe me. Before anything else could happen I tucked the sword under my arm, grabbed a basket, and started running, scooping up any loose treasure I could spot as I didn’t want to be anywhere near the house when she spotted the mess I’d made of her floor. I honestly wondered how she didn’t see it already. Seconds later the screeching came, but I moved quickly to get out of sight.

By the time I was to the edge of the cliff I had the basket pretty full of mostly gold and silver coins with only one notable jewel, a massive red ruby that was the size of my closed fist. That one gem alone was probably worth more than everything and everyone in Greytown twice over. With the rest of the chest gone, lost into the waves, I was richer than I could have ever hoped to be in my wildest dreams, just I needed to find a way to capitalize on it. Gold and gems weren’t food, and if I tried to sell or trade them people might ask where they came from, and I still didn’t have a good answer.

Also, I still had to get cleaned up. As it got later in the day I’d have a harder time getting away with doing so unnoticed. And on top of that, I’d have to explain to Kouki all the blood on her floor eventually. My windfall seemed to be causing me more problems than it fixed, but one problem at a time.

I decided to bury the treasure I had left except for a few silver and gold coins that I could easily hide in my pockets. With my supernatural strength that was the easy part. I could practically lift up any large piece of sod by just digging my fingers into the soil and scooping out some dirt with my arm. The dirt also actually covered up the blood quite well.

"Shit," I murmured. I must have dropped the sword somewhere, but I didn’t see it. Well, Kouki already found the floors. If she found the sword it’d be just one more thing I’d worry about when it came to that. I looked for it as I walked calmly to the Takahashi manor, but didn’t see it. Though I stayed well away from my shack. Quietly I entered the servants' kitchen and proceeded to use the large sink to wash myself clean.

The upside was I was pretty assured that neither Azami nor Setsuko would notice or bother me. The downside was Chizu was walking by and did come right up to talk with me. "Good morning Kenji-san," she began, "Kouki-san looking for you. Was very worried."

"Oh, yeah?" I said as if it was news to me.

"Yes," the little foreign maid answered. "She is in Mistress Setsuko's room now. Chizu will fetch her."

"No, wait!" I said a little too loudly and grabbed her tiny arm powerfully to stop her from leaving. She cried out in pain and I again said, "Oh shit!" I’d forgotten my strength again and quickly let her go, "I’m sorry Chizu! I didn’t mean to hurt you."

She shrank away from me, a red handprint on the flesh of her arm. Luckily it didn’t look like I’d done any permanent damage, but I knew I’d hurt her and that guilt weighed on me. Then I had an idea. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a gold coin, hoping to buy her silence.

Her eyes went wide when I held it up to her and she beat me to the punch, gibbering in her language, then asking me in desperation that made her forget the honorifics, "Where Kenji get this?"

I didn’t answer that, instead of saying, "Look, you can have it, just don’t tell anyone about... any of this." She took it in awe that looked more reverent than excited over the monetary windfall. She just kept looking at the face of the coin and again looked on the edge of tears. "Look, it’s no big deal," I tried to explain.

"No Kenji-san deal is big," she sighed as she just looked at the face on the coin and smiled at it like it was an old friend. Either way, I hoped she would be satisfied and not tell anyone, so I ducked out of the house before she could respond further.

With quick steps, I walked down into town fondling the remaining gold and silver coins in my pocket. I pondered what I should do with them and the rest of my buried treasure and started coming up with ideas. Make all my dreams come true? Where was I going to start? The possibilities were limitless as long as I could get away with fencing them.