"Monsters?" China asked sounding interested. Gembu nodded, "yes, you see, these mountains you see before you were...well, they weren't ever really this small. They used to be huge, bigger than anything Kumo has now days. They were so big people often called this land the tallest peak. But you see, those mountains weren't just mountains, they were alive."
"Mountains that are alive?!" Zumo asked in awe, "that is so cool!"
Gembu nodded, "indeed. And they were very difficult to deal with. We called them the Stone Faced, for obvious reasons. And they kept constantly fighting with the natives of this land. My people were a migratory race, moving from place to place to avoid the giant stone monsters. We fought them by breaking them with our hammers and maces, hence the name, land of the crumbling stone."
"What happened?" I asked curiously. "Well you see, eventually the fighting got bad, very bad. There were a lot of casualties on both sides. Until one day, the leader of the greatest tribe, prince Zimzim, offered a peace treaty. He met with the leaders of the mountains and offered him peace, peace in the form of tea."
"Tea?" China asked skeptically.
Gembu nodded, "yes, tea. Tea so perfect and potent it put even stone to sleep. You see Zimzim has tricked the stoneface, placing them all into a deep sleep and we built our villages on the surface of their backs. And every year we hold a festival where the shrine maiden will prepare this special potent tea and use it to keep the king of the mountains asleep, that festival is happening right now."
"So cool!" Zumo said with stars in his eyes. He turned to Ko, "hey sensei! Do you think we can see the festival? Please?! Please?!" Ko smiled, "if that's what you want to do, then sure. What about you China? Are you interested as well?" China nodded, "of course!"
"And you Yami?" I groaned, "something doesn't make sense." Gembu blinked, "what do you mean?" "How did humans fight off mountains?" I asked, "it doesn't make any sense!"
Gembu chuckled, "well you see hood boy, the weapons my ancestors used were very very potent. Some called it them storm hammers as they allowed their wielders to use the very powers of nature. Similar to your jutsus in fact."
"So they were all made out of chakra metal?" I asked in surprise.
The man nodded, "yes, I belive so." "Do any of them still exist?" China asked in thinly veiled curiosity.
"No, sadly all relics we have of our past had been lost," Gembu sighed, "you see, after the mountains had been put to rest Zimzim decided that our weapons were too dangerous to be had. The war of ninjas were at our door step, the only reason they hadn't come in yet was because of the mountains, and now that they were gone...well, back then power was everything and our storm hammers were legendary.
"So Zimzim ordered the destruction of every hammer and all records to make them anew. He changed the entire political landscape of the land, making it a land of peace, rather than a land of violence. For Zimzim truly believe that the only way anyone can be happy in this world, is if someone gave peace a chance."
I had to admit, that was a nice story. It actually made me excited for the festival as well. We entered the town and went to Genbu's home, which was a nice looking shop in the richer part of town. Ko got the man to sign off on our mission scroll, officially completing our mission here.
Ping!
Quest completed!
Ensure the cargo is delivered to the land of tea!
Reward:
+5000 EXP Not bad, only six thousand more EXP to go and I can then level up. "Alright now that that's done, can we please go to the festival?!" Zumo asked, practically begging.
Ko chuckled, "sure, come on kids," he said putting the scroll away safely in his vest before turning to Gembu and bowed, "thank you for relying on us, we hope to see you again soon." Gembu smiled, "no, thank you. Oh, and if you are at all interested, I would suggest the tea houses in the temple, they are simply divine!"
I raised an eyebrow, really? The tea in the land of tea was good? Well one can only hope so.
Ko lead our little team towards the mountain temple. There was only one road leading up to it, and so we were surrounded by people dressed up in traditional clothes, going with friends, family or loved ones. Meaning we four, dressed in ninja gear and covered with dirt from the mission, stuck out like a sore thumb.
The temple wasn't that far up, it was quite manageable actually. I looked around, there were several stands all around, food stands, even games and the like.
"Come on! I want to try that game!" China said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me over. "Okay okay, sheesh, calm down would you?" I smiled as she pulled me along with Ko and Zumo following right behind.
China stopped in front of a shooting range where they used bb guns to shoot down items off a self, "step right up! Try your luck! See if you can't hit a prize down!" the sales man cried out.
"I want a try!" China cried out pushing to the front with me right along side her.
"Alright then miss! That's ten ryo for five shots!"
China payed the man and received her bb gun. She shot five time, hitting and toppling down one snowglobe.
The man whistled, "nicely done miss! Sir, would you like to give it a shot?"
I shook my head, "no, I'm bad with guns." "Oh come on Yami! Give it a shot!" China said as she received her snow globe, "see! I got a prize! You can get one too!"
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