Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Freak Like Me

Carnefici and the young lady looked at him curiously, for a moment it appeared like both of them were ready to burst into laughter but they just continued to stare at him like Shimo was a bum who just flashed in front of them.

"I mean, they didn't have a problem with Notasa, they had a problem with you and it's a reasonable one at that. When I was a kid there was a huge outcry when you weren't executed, hell, I'm surprised there wasn't a loud enough outcry when you left the prison at all. You were pretty much the big bad wolf back then, the worst of the worst, mothers would've scared their children with you if they weren't so damn scared of your raids themselves. If they were to protect Notasa and maintain public order as they claim to be doing, they would never allow someone like you to stay in their village." Shimo explained his position. If he made Notasa question his bodyguard's legitimacy and ability, maybe even his morality and his personality she could be left alone with no one to protect her, in that case, she'd be under Shimo's care and open to his suggestions. It was a dirty play but it was the only play as well.

"It's not about fucking protection, it's about control. The Boss is really darn happy about his new fucking bones and body so he goes around telling every merchant to ditch their doormats and change their curtains, he demands the dumbest things because he wants to see people do them just because he says they have to. It was never about fucking safety..." The bodyguard began speaking but then Notasa butt in.

"Didn't you hear what Carne said? Get lost!" She angrily yelled out in Shimo's face with ferocity the young swordsman had not seen coming from the musician. Just what the hell could've been her problem? Just how close could those two have been?

"Wait... I was wrong to take their side... I mean... Damn, whenever someone sides with the Syndicate they're on the wrong side of the argument. That being said, I'm still pretty tough myself and I can provide decent enough protection. Maybe if I helped you two get rid of the Syndicate's tail for good you could help me with our sphere?" Shimo looked at the two questioningly when Carnefici just sighed after giving Notasa a stare. He really didn't like Shimo but he happened to place the girl's well-being really high up on his priority list so he sort of had to factor it into his decisions.

"Fine..." He grunted annoyed by his own decision.

Shimo looked farther into the city center hearing screams, yells and seeing smoke in multiple districts. Was this village always this hectic at nights? It was like the whole damned place was going insane. There was one building that looked toppled down and just outright on a raging inferno of flames whirling up to the sky as if trying to heat God's own marshmallows. There was another – a sky reaching one that looked like it was about to be toppled at any point. The boy had not noticed it before but now that he had time to look around it really stuck out.

"So why are you wearing that fucking getup? You fought the Syndicate in it so you can't be a Syndicate goon, are you from the Diamond Hand?" Carnefici asked. Shimo squinted at him questioningly.

"Diamond Hand?" He wondered.

"It's another criminal organization, similar to the Syndicate, one of many, actually, Diamond Hand is mostly based in Shukuba though, they don't spread out much, still they're conflicting with the Syndicate the most so I thought..." The man explained.

"No. I'm a Konoha ninja and I tried to go see the hall but I have neither the money needed for the ticket nor the threads needed to be let in by the really sassy bouncers. We've already clashed with the Syndicate once, toppled some of their bases of operations actually, I didn't know they had multiple large operational locations like this..." The boy told the truth, something told him that in his current position the last thing he wanted to was to lie.