"This kind of misunderstanding resolving into a 'happy family reunion' ending almost feels too cruel to ruin," the system murmured in Satsuki's mind. "Host, what do you think Zenki and Goki would say if they found out the main reason that monk En no Ozunu wanted to ditch them was just to make it easier to sneak around spying on women?"
"See through, but don't expose. That's how you keep friends," Satsuki replied calmly. "Still, I'm more curious about the 'Three Kings' and their next moves."
...
When Miko returned from the shrine and heard that the rumored 'sage,' En no Ozunu, was staying right next door, her mouth dropped so wide she could have fit an egg in it.
"Is there really a need to look that shocked? He just looks like an old man who's forgotten his dignity."
Ruri muttered dryly, half-dozing in standby mode.
"Master En no Ozunu is the most famous Grand Onmyōji of this era—the former Chief Officer of the Kyoto Onmyō Bureau!" Miko said excitedly, as if speaking about her idol. "Even the current Chief, Lord Seimei, once studied shikigami control under him!"
"His past might be glorious, but that's not the main point," Satsuki interjected. "What matters is that black magatama he mentioned—and the Lunar Palace."
At that, Miko's face grew serious. She nodded slowly. "Those black magatama, and the mysterious Lunar Palace behind them—they've been spreading rapidly among shrine maidens and monks. I even heard, when I visited a branch shrine earlier, that several of my colleagues found similar objects on yokai they'd defeated."
"And what happened to them?"
Miko removed her weapon and armor, hanging them neatly on a rack before kneeling down. "Their situations were almost identical to En no Ozunu's. Their power became partially imprinted upon the magatama, and each received some sort of command from it. All of them said that by completing the mission, they would be allowed to join the Lunar Palace and gain immense power."
"Do you know what those missions actually are?"
Miko shook her head. "No. The magatama contains an extremely powerful kotodama curse. While it allows them to reveal the existence of the magatama and the Lunar Palace, any attempt to disclose the details of their personal missions causes their spiritual power to run wild—or kills them outright."
"You tried it?" Ruri teased from the side.
"No, I haven't encountered anyone from the Lunar Palace myself, nor have I received anything like that. But the shrine elders did experiment—on yokai."
That wasn't surprising. It showed the shrine wasn't composed of fools.
After a moment of thought, Satsuki tapped her fingers lightly. "Has anyone actually succeeded in completing their mission yet?"
"According to the reports released by the Grand Shrine, only three known members of the Lunar Palace have appeared publicly so far. That means no new ones have joined yet. It seems no one's completed their mission. Honestly, it looks far too suspicious. Only someone desperate would follow its instructions."
"I see."
Satsuki nodded thoughtfully. Though she didn't know the 'Three Kings' exact plan, it was clear that their operation was still in its preparatory phase. Nothing obvious had surfaced yet.
Still, orchestrating such an intricate scheme should be easy for them—especially if the task looked plausible but was near-impossible to achieve. For game masters like them, that would be child's play.
"Anyway," Satsuki said, shifting topics, "let's put that aside for now. Tell me about your situation."
"What did the shrine say?"
"Although I'm the shrine maiden chosen to guard the 'Shikon Jewel,' I only hold recommendation rights. The final decision lies with the Saigū-sama of the Grand Shrine. She neither agreed nor refused—she wishes to meet you in person first."
"Seems like your shrine takes its selection process quite seriously."
"Of course." Miko's tone grew solemn. "Becoming a shrine maiden requires more than just strong spiritual power. It means giving up ordinary life entirely. Especially for exorcist maidens like me—our lives are spent fighting endless waves of yokai. No matter when or where, we can never let down our guard. Even the slightest hesitation could cost us our lives."
Hearing this, Satsuki could feel the weight behind Miko's words. It reminded her of the King of Knights she had once met in the Fate world—how, upon becoming a ruler, she had been forced to abandon her identity as a woman.
And in the end, such noble resolve often led only to a tragic conclusion. It was the kind of fate that made one sigh in quiet sorrow.
"To place such a heavy burden on shrine maidens like you... isn't that too cruel? If you had the chance, would you choose another path?"
"Satsuki, you're mistaken," Miko replied softly, gazing out the window. "In this era, survival has never been an easy thing." Her tone grew gentle yet firm. "Farmers must face natural disasters and plagues of insects. Soldiers must obey and march to war. Even the lords who sit atop their castle towers live in constant fear—of rival lords, of yokai, of betrayal. In a world where the strong devour the weak, every life drifts like a rootless leaf... a single gust of wind could scatter it to nothing."
She turned her eyes back to Satsuki, smiling faintly. "But I consider myself one of the lucky ones. At least I've chosen a path that I believe in. And along this road, I have my teacher, my comrades... and Lady Midoriko within the Shikon Jewel to accompany me."
"...Is that so?"
Satsuki fell silent.
She understood that much of what Miko said did not quite hold up logically. The path of a shrine maiden was far more perilous than that of a farmer or soldier. They faced yokai—the dominant beings of this world. And more importantly, their mission was not simply to survive as individuals, but to safeguard humanity's very existence—to stand as warriors against the tide of an era.
Their sacrifices served not personal survival, but the continuation of the human race itself. To fulfill that mission, they first had to abandon the fragile parts of their own humanity.
In that process, the conflict between one's human self and the duty of a shrine maiden was inevitable—an inner battle between heart and obligation.
Miko's calm words had only brushed over that truth lightly. If she herself were not bound to walk that same path, she likely wouldn't have spoken of it at all. Yet it was precisely because of that quiet acceptance that her resolve appeared all the more extraordinary.
Hearing all this, Satsuki suddenly felt that she ought to do something.
Finally, she rose to her feet and, for once, extended her hand first. "Then... may I have the honor of inviting the shrine maiden of the Shikon Jewel to join me for a bath in the hot springs?"
...
Time in the hot springs always passed quickly. In what felt like an instant, morning had already come.
Since the main shrine of Katori Jingū was located in Ueno, several days' travel still lay ahead. Thus, Miko, Satsuki, and Ruri had to continue northward. But this time, they were not alone.
Three others had joined them—En no Ozunu, along with the newly disguised Zenki and Goki.
"Why are these guys tagging along?" Ruri grumbled, clearly irritated. For some reason, she found Zenki's mere presence enough to set her on edge—and that annoyance seemed to extend to both Goki and En no Ozunu as well.
"Didn't I tell you?" Miko explained while walking beside them. "The Katori Shrine has always maintained a good relationship with Master En no Ozunu. He's even a special lecturer for our shikigami division. Every year, many senior shrine maidens try to attend his lessons."
"Senior shrine maidens?"
"You can think of them as higher-ranked shrine maidens. Only shrine maidens of that level are allowed to travel abroad to exorcise yokai. However, they're not permitted to take on apprentices."
"Oh? Then are you one of those senior shrine maidens?"
En no Ozunu chuckled. "Hehe, Miss Miko is far more than that. If she successfully escorts the Shikon Jewel back from Kanagawa to Katori Jingū, with her experience and achievements, she'll likely be promoted to a Saien."
Blushing at being praised by her idol, Miko waved her hands modestly. "I'm still inexperienced and not nearly capable enough. I only hope the Saigū-sama won't blame me for the delay in the escort mission."
"It sounds like this Shikon Jewel has quite the connection to Katori Jingū."
"The Shikon Jewel is a relic of our Kashima Shintō-ryū's great shrine maiden, Lady Midoriko. Her strength was so great that even the Saigū-sama of her era praised her as the most powerful in purification arts. Everyone back then believed she would one day become a Saien—or even the next Saigū—and lead us to purge all yokai from this land."
Halfway through, Miko's tone grew heavy. "But it was precisely because of Lady Midoriko's immense power that countless yokai united to ambush her. She fought them for seven days and nights. Exhausted, she finally perished. With her last strength, she drew the yokai's souls out of their bodies, intending to purify them. Unfortunately, after pulling their souls free, she reached her limit. Her spirit became entangled with theirs—fusing into what is now the Shikon Jewel."
"Even now, Lady Midoriko's soul continues to battle those monsters within the jewel."
"Tch, if it were me, I'd have wiped out every single yokai before going down! No way I'd throw my life away like that—ow! What was that for, Goki?!"
"Shut up. No one asked you to talk."
Zenki truly had a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Even Goki, ever calm, knew how deeply such shrine maidens were respected—Zenki's words were nothing short of blasphemy.
But as one of the strongest oni gods by birth, Zenki could never fully understand the heart of a human born weak yet willing to stand against fate. He would never grasp the greatness of Midoriko's sacrifice.
"She died hundreds of years ago, right? And her soul is still fighting inside the jewel? Didn't Katori Jingū ever try to release her spirit?" Satsuki asked curiously. For a shrine maiden of Shinto origin, she expected them to have extensive research into souls.
"I know a bit about that," En no Ozunu spoke up. "In fact, two generations ago, the Saigū-sama herself attempted to collect the Shikon Jewel. She wanted to purify it with her own spiritual power—to free Lady Midoriko's soul and allow her to reincarnate."
"But after studying it, she discovered that Midoriko's soul had fused completely with the collective spirits of the yokai, forming a single 'spiritual entity.' Aside from some fragmented souls, the core four could no longer be separated. Releasing Midoriko's soul would mean releasing all those yokai souls as well—and even Lady Midoriko herself would never wish for such a result. With no solution, the attempt was abandoned. Over time, the Shikon Jewel became one of the shrine's tests for selecting and evaluating Saigū candidates."
As they spoke, the group gradually left Tama City behind, following the winding path into the outer countryside.
Most of the Kantō region was still flat plains. Even beyond Tama City, wide rice fields and small villages stretched across the landscape. But as the group traveled farther north, the towns grew sparse, and nameless hamlets appeared only occasionally.
In their place were heaps of scattered bones piled by the roadside, banners thrust into the backs of skeletal remains. The farther they went, the more human corpses they found. When they passed a massive pit, Satsuki's group saw hundreds of skeletons lying within.
It was a common sight in the Sengoku era—battlefield ruins.
And such places were always beloved by yokai.
Especially when the Shikon Jewel was present.
Speak of the devil—no sooner had the thought crossed their minds than the sky suddenly darkened.
The group looked up to see vast thunderclouds converging from all directions, drawn together by a powerful demonic aura that blotted out the sun.
Thunder rolled and lightning flashed wildly across the sky, illuminating two faint figures shifting within the clouds.
Without a word, one of them raised a weapon shaped like a spear and aimed it straight at them.
A massive bolt of lightning shot forth from the weapon's tip, striking directly toward the group.
"How impolite," En no Ozunu muttered.
With a single tap of his shakujo on the ground, a towering barrier of light rose around them, absorbing the full impact of the lightning strike.
"Oh?" a voice echoed from above, tinged with mild surprise. "Impressive. As expected of the shrine maiden guarding the Shikon Jewel—you can withstand my thunder."
As the two figures descended, their forms came into view—an oddly mismatched pair.
One barely resembled a human: a slender man with long hair tied into a ponytail, holding a spear-like weapon in his left hand.
The other was unmistakably a yokai—bald, long-faced, and grotesque, its gaping mouth lined with jagged teeth.
Even more disturbing, the pair appeared... affectionate. The monstrous, clearly female yokai clung closely to the humanoid male yokai in a manner that made everyone present avert their eyes in discomfort.
"Darling, I can smell it—the scent of the Shikon Jewel! It's coming from that woman! I'm sure of it!"
"Don't worry, my dear," the humanoid yokai replied with a smirk. "I'll get it for you right away."
He turned to Satsuki's group, his tone arrogant and full of disdain. "Hey, you lot! You heard her! Hand over the Shikon Jewel now, and maybe I'll spare your lives. Otherwise... you'll end up nothing but ashes!"
To emphasize his words, the yokai's body flared with light. Gigantic arcs of lightning burst from his back, illuminating the battlefield ruins until the darkness beneath the storm clouds shone like daylight.
However, the reaction he received was far from what he expected.
Normally, at such a display, any ordinary human would have collapsed in terror, and even weaker yokai would have fled instantly.
But the group before him merely looked at him—with expressions that could only be described as... pitying amusement.
They were staring at him as though he were a clown performing a bad act.
—
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