Volume 2
Chapter 3 Part
1
Each Person's
Respective Speculations, Idle Thoughts 1
Translator : PolterGlast
"―Father, I
hereby report that all tasks have been completed."
"I see. Well
done."
In front of the study,
illuminated by the twilight of the evening sun, Ryota only made a brief report
to his father, Kuga Houri.
As usual, Kuga Houri
only gave a short reply.
"...... Ryota.
Since this is the
usual manner he showed to his relatives, Ryota said nothing, bowed, and went to
close the sliding door leading to the study.
However, just for
today, Houri unusually stopped Ryota from leaving the room.
"Ou."
"How was
Saki-dono's response?"
"...... There's
no problem. With the help of Mikuriya-dono, we were able to pull that commoner
away."
"That was
achieved with the help of Mikuriya-dono, huh? ...... It's not worth it."
Mikuriya Shishin, who
has been invited as an instructor for the Tsukinomiya school, originally came
from a noble family that had made a name for itself in the Hisashi Province.
In fact, even though
he has aged, he still has a certain amount of influence and connections among
Karen's nobility, so he cannot be disregarded as a mere pawn in maintaining the
balance in the political dynamics of the Hasebe territory.
However, the old man
is a member of Hiasashi's nobility, not that of Shumon Province.
He would never offer
free labor, tangible or intangible, for any action other than as an instructor.
It was not his
intention to owe a debt to the old man, but considering the trouble he had to
go through to bring Saki into the Kuga family, he could not afford to cut
corners, so he asked Mikuriya Shishin to intervene.
Although the minimum
goal of separating them was achieved, Kuga Houri was hoping to achieve at least
sharing a dinner with her.
"It can't be
helped. I don't know why, but that commoner is favored by Tsuguho-sama for some
reason. Even after Hyakki Yagyo, she went out of her way to go to the
garrison's camp to protect him. Even our investigations don't uncover anything,
and it's better for us to leave him alone than to poke him and ruin
everything."
"......
Indeed."
Ryota's tone turned
sour.
But there was a point
to that argument. With a snort, Houri crossed his arms.
Houri's aim was to
make Ryota as Tsuguho's groom.
To be more precise, it
was to gain an unshakeable influence over Shumon Province.
Rindo Saki was merely
a stepping stone to this end, and it would be nothing but putting the cart
before the horse to harm the commoner whom Kihouin had taken over guardianship
of in exchange for taking custody of Saki, thereby damaging Kihouin Tsuguho's
impression of him.
After hearing Ryota's
words, inwardly, Houri felt a little relieved.
It might be just a
figure of speech, but it also proved that he had learned to be more thoughtful
when it came to making small decisions.
―Tatewaki Nonoka was too talented for her own good.
Just as Saki had
suspected, Houri was concerned about Nonoka's outstanding ability.
He had forced his hand
and wanted a wood-element practitioner from Kabeju Province to be his Ryota's concubine,
but it was unexpected that a small girl of 16 years of age was so outstanding
that she was entrusted to greet guests after only three months of staying in
Kuga's mansion.
The results were
neither good nor bad, and the rolls of the dice were just too unpredictable.
"The oracle from
Tsuguho-sama is certain, right? The [Holy Church of Guidance] will take action
at the end of next week. If that's the case, we should settle Saki's case by
then.
―If we suppress them before they take action, the weeds
will just burrow under the ground. If so, then we should ignite them with a big
fire and remove all the roots, so there will be nothing to worry about
later."
"―Exactly."
The oracle obtained
from Kihoin two weeks ago was about the uprising of the [Holy Church of
Guidance].
The [Holy Church of
Guidance], which diverged from the [Holy Church of Ariadne] before Kuga ruled
the Hasebe territory, has a history of armed uprisings over the right to
control the dragon vein's origin point, the windhole, on several occasions in
the past.
In the end, after
receiving prosecution and near excommunication from the [Holy Church of
Ariadne], the current [Holy Church of Guidance] has only as much power as a
folk religion.
In addition, it is
said that due to the long-term severance of doctrine, the [Holy Church of
Guidance] has changed to a doctrine far removed from the original [Holy Church
of Ariadne].
Although they had
information that the largest group of the [Holy Church of Guidance] had taken
over an abandoned village on the outskirts of Kamotsu, they thought that the
village's survival would suffer a setback, so even if there was an oracle, the
doctrine did not seem that problematic to the authorities.
In fact, as Ryota
mentioned, they only thought of it as a cause for triggering a simultaneous
uprising to root them out in a single swoop.
"―Are those
people who came earlier from the [Holy Church of Ariadne]?"
"Yeah. They
insisted on proselytizing and conversion as usual.
But today they were
even more intense. They even demanded that we tear down the shrine on top of
the windhole in the center of Kamotsu and build a church.
............ They said
it was our responsibility to abandon our land deities.
Ambrosio, was it? That
bishop, he declared so with a smug look on his face."
The windhole in the
center of Kamotsu is the largest windhole in Hasebe territory and, in short,
the most important place for the Kuga clan.
To give them this
place is tantamount to giving them control over the Hasebe territory.
The fact that they
would even offer such a proposal so seriously showed a lack of common sense and
made one question their sanity.
Thinking back to
Ambrosio's demeanor as he stood up and said that he would negotiate again
later, the corners of Houri's mouth contorted in bitterness.
"...... Father.
Wouldn't it be better to crush the [Holy Church of Ariadne] before eradicating
the [Holy Church of Guidance]? If they join forces, it will be
troublesome."
"Indeed. ......
But it's difficult. In the past, the [Holy Church of Ariadne] has obtained
political non-interference in exchange for cutting off the [Holy Church of
Guidance]. They've also used the guise of being emissaries from Vansuir, which
makes interference from us, at least, next to impossible."
The current Holy Church
of Ariadne had no existential power due to the rampant outbreak of the Holy
Church of Guidance at that time, but when Houri thinks about it in conjunction
with the current situation, he can't help but sigh that they have made a
troublesome contract.
As long as they
physically interfered with Takamagahara, Houri could use it as an excuse to
completely root them out, but the only thing they did every year was to demand
religious conversion, so Takamagahara couldn't do any forceful intervention.
"...... I'm
concerned that their timing is too perfect, but there's no need to worry about
them merging together. The only basis for guaranteeing the freedom of the [Holy
Church of Ariadne] is that they are a separate organization from the [Holy
Church of Guidance]. They are neither so incompetent nor so short-sighted as to
ruin the consular rights they have worked so hard to protect in order to occupy
a mere abandoned village."
"Alright, I get
it. ―But I've instructed the garrison to be on guard. Starting tonight, there
will be a unit stationed at the Gousakura Shrine, and although we'll lose
forces, it's better than nothing, right?"
"That is fine.
That should be enough for the time being."
He nodded in
satisfaction at the safety measures Ryota had taken.
Considering everything
so far, Kuga Houri was convinced that the primary goal of the [Ariadne Holy
Church] was to make the windhole in the center of Kamotsu a bridgehead for the
fall of the dragon den in Shumon Province.
As long as they took
on the appearance of emissaries, the forces that Vansuir could send would be
limited.
In addition, the time
needed to capture Kamotsu was short considering the distance from their
homeland, and if they made the wrong call in pouring their forces into it, they
would be unable to avoid the ruin of their objective at that point.
The authority had no
intention of giving them the leeway to take a detour, such as capturing a
single abandoned village.
"...... Oh, by
the way. Can I throw that commoner into the guarding unit? He's weak. If it
means giving him a place to train, I don't think Saki would say no."
"Right, tell the
protectors of the garrison to train him. If necessary, you can also make it so
that he won't be participating in any actual battles."
Houri still couldn't
figure out why Kihouin had dispatched Akira to him.
Since Tsuguho has her
eyes on him, it seems that his ability is not bad, but it seems that he lacks
ambition.
Although Houri heard
that Akira had achieved great success in purifying and annihilating monsters
during the Hyakki Yagyo, seeing him in person, he seemed to lack ambition to
the extent that he tilted his head.
He suspected that it
was misinformation, but that would not be logical for Kihouin to be paying
attention to him.
The most likely explanation
is that the current head of Kihouin was not willing to allow the Kuga family's
agenda to prevail within Kihouin, and thus decided to put a nail in the coffin.
Questions remain
unanswered, and Houri's mind will never be cleared.
Should he have investigated
Akira himself a little more before he became concerned about the distance
between Akira and Saki?
Their intention in
bringing him into a case involving the oracle was probably to give him
experience in actual combat, but he seemed to be bearing all the signs of a
liability, such as a commoner who has been detained for over a month.
Endless worries
creased his brow. Ryota repeated his words to Houri, who was sinking into
thought.
"I'll use it as
another means of separating him from Saki. ―A~a, speaking of Saki..."
"Hmm."
"She asked me to
do something strange. She asked me to lure an orangutan out of the nearby
mountains. If it's too difficult, she said, at worst, a monkey will do."
"......
What?"
In the dark room,
Houri blinked his eyes at the unusual request from Saki.
――――――――――――――――
*Fwump*. The talismans
that Akira brought in spread out with a rather heavy sound on the fine bedding
that he had never touched before.
"Ha~a. ...... I
knew it."
Faced with a reality
that won't change, no matter how many times he sees it, the same repeated sighs
leak out of Akira's mouth again.
In his hand was a
pouch, containing all the money he had saved up until now, now much lighter
than before.
Although he agreed
that he had to stay in a private room in a Western-style inn because of Saki's
suggestion, even in the cheapest room, 5,000 yen per night was a direct blow to
the reality of Akira's situation.
In any case, even
though he was promised that he would be compensated later, it was also a fact
that he was currently spending his money lavishly.
Akira was now in a
situation where he had no choice but to make money as soon as possible.
In the worst-case
scenario, he was prepared to have to borrow money from the Saki or Kuga clan,
but when the possibility of having nothing but dust in his purse loomed, it was
something that made Akira's heart ache.
"............
I've brought as many of the regeneration talismans that I sold as [Gensei] as I
could, but it would be hard to sell them here."
There were only 20
regeneration talismans left that Akira had prepared in case something happened.
And if the price was the same as in Karen, he could sell them wholesale for
5,000 yen each, which would mean he had 100,000 yen to spare.
However, since he left
the disguise gear for [Gensei] at Karen, and the union has sole control over
the distribution of the talismans, it seemed unlikely that the union would
accept Akira's sudden appearance.
With a sigh, he lifted
up the bag containing the talismans, and a single talisman slipped out from
inside it.
It was a rather poorly
handwritten mantra from Akira's current point of view, and above it were two
characters with vivid ink strokes: [Gensei].
It was the last
remaining piece of the first regeneration talisman he had written when he was a
child.
He looked at it with a
complicated gaze for a while before putting it back in the bag.
The characters for
[Gensei] marked on the talisman were written by Kuro herself, three years ago.
This is the last proof
that Akira is Gensei.
No matter how much
trouble he might be in, Akira had no intention of letting it go.
"I can give
Saki-ojousama recovery talismans to make up the current funds. ...... But, I
don't think she really needs them that many."
The recovery talisman,
which heals one's own spiritual power, is a necessity for guardians.
However, because it is
also the most simple talisman, the union also knew that it was an easy item to
stock up on.
In addition, although
he had the tools to make them, he did not have the materials on hand.
Although it is the
simplest type of talisman, it is not something that can be produced in the
course of a single day's work on a mission, and it is something that Akira
knows all too well.
"...... Well,
I'll just have to find a way to sell the regeneration talismans. In worst-case
scenarios, I can just borrow money from Saki-ojousama using the recovery
talismans as collateral."
In the end, the
conclusion of borrowing money made him drop his shoulders in frustration.
He felt a sense of
hopelessness at the thought of him begging a woman for money.
If Kuga Ryota were to
find out, he would no doubt be mocked to the point of living in disgrace.
Imagining what would
happen at that point made him feel depressed.
He felt like this for
a while, but eventually, with his distress settled, his stomach began to growl
and declare that he was hungry.
"...... I guess
I'll go for a meal."
While feeling sorry
for himself for not forgetting his hunger even at a time like this, he stuffed
the pouch with a noticeably desolate feeling into his pocket.
It would be fine to
skip it for a day or so, but meals were one of the few things that Akira looked
forward to.
While weighing up
whether to go on a tight budget or go hungry, Akira headed out into the city at
night, when the street lights were beginning to brighten up.
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