To avoid alerting anyone, Tendo carefully skirted the outermost edge of the village. The girl's house was on the far side of Uroko Village.
It was a somewhat dilapidated wooden hut, standing quietly about a hundred meters from the shore, as if forgotten by time.
Weathered by years of sea winds, its outer walls had peeled away, exposing the wooden framework beneath, giving it an air of desolation and neglect.
The hut's layout was odd, set hundreds of meters away from the rest of the village—almost as if it didn't belong there at all.Tendo glanced at Seiken in the sky and teased mischievously, "Blade-boy, you didn't follow that girl here, did you?"
"Otherwise, how would you know she lives here?"
Seiken shot Tendo a glare, his cold tone laced with irritation:
"I'm just checking on my savior. Unlike you, useless master."
Tendo didn't argue back—a debt of gratitude for a meal was indeed something to repay.
Suddenly, a strange thought flashed through his mind. With Giyu around, maybe he could play matchmaker?
Hehehe! ＜(ΦωΦ)＞
"Giyu, do you want a wife or not?"
Just imagining Giyu's expression at that moment made Tendo giddy with excitement.
Watching his master's shifty eyes, Seiken was utterly disgusted. This guy was definitely up to no good, scheming trouble again.
A moment later, Seiken perched on the roof of the wooden hut while Tendo crouched beneath the window like a thief.
Sneaking around under someone's eaves like this really did feel like stealing.
But one thing bothered him—the light inside was still on. Staying up this late in an era without smartphones or the internet was highly unusual.
A glance at the distant village confirmed it—not a single light was on there.
"Kanzaburo, see what she's doing," Tendo whispered, poking the elderly napping crow on his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"Ghosts?"
Kanzaburo blurted out a confused trio of questions, his voice loud enough to pierce the heavens. Tendo hurriedly tried to cover his beak, but it was too late.
The girl cautiously peeked out, her brows furrowing tightly at the sight of Tendo. After all, discovering a stranger crouching outside your window in the dead of night would startle anyone.
Once she recognized him, she spoke softly, puzzled, "Traveler, if you're hungry, just knock. Scaring people like this could kill someone."
Pouting, she withdrew her head. Soon, the door opened, and she eyed Tendo, noticing the crow on his shoulder and the sword at his waist. Instantly wary, she demanded:
"Traveler, what exactly do you want?"
"Didn't I already tell you? Stay away from this village!"
Tendo scratched his head awkwardly, shooting a resentful glance at Kanzaburo.
That old crow really knew how to screw things up.
"Well, I wanted to ask you about someone," he said, standing up with a smile. Since he'd already been caught, honesty was the best policy. "A guy who looks like he's asking for a beating, around my age, male."
Feeling his description was lacking, he added, "The one who smashed your village's shrine. I'm his friend."
But the moment Tendo finished speaking, the girl slammed the door shut with a loud bang. Her displeased voice rang from inside:
"Traveler, I've never met your so-called friend, and I don't know how the shrine was broken. Please leave my house right now!"
Her agitated tone made it clear—she knew something.
"Ugh!" Tendo sighed deeply. Why did she turn into a different person the moment Giyu and the shrine were mentioned? She was clearly hiding something.
Before he could press further, the door opened again. This time, the girl emerged with a kitchen knife, glaring at Tendo.
"I don't want to fight. Get away from my house now!"
Seeing this, Tendo was completely dumbfounded because the little girl had a knife pressed against her own neck.
"Alright, alright!" Tendo backed away while trying to calm her down. "I'll leave right now, just put the knife away. It's dangerous—kids who play with knives wet the bed at night!"
"Hurry up and leave! Don't even think about threatening me with force. I know you people know some martial arts..." As soon as the words left her mouth, the little girl regretted it. This was practically admitting she had seen others like Tendo before.
Her face flushed red as she urged, "I'll count to three. If you don't leave, I'll die, and then you'll be indirectly responsible for killing someone!"
Hearing this, Tendo turned and ran, vanishing from the village in the blink of an eye.
"Ugh!" The little girl sighed, helplessly closing the door behind her and muttering, "Why won't any of them just listen?"
At three in the morning, when everyone was sound asleep, Tendo lay flat on the beach, observing a small wooden hut by the shore through his binoculars.
Just as expected, the door of the hut opened. The little girl, carrying a fish basket, tiptoed out, carefully shut the door, and after scanning her surroundings warily, quickly headed toward the cliffs on the other side of the village.
Seeing her move away, Tendo swiftly followed. She definitely knew where Giyu was being held.
After trailing her for a while, Tendo entered a small grove. Through the dense branches, a dilapidated shrine emitting a faint glow came into view. In front of it, two grown men—likely villagers from Uroko Village—were fast asleep.
The little girl quietly pushed open the shrine door without making a sound.
"I remember now! Giyu is in there!" Seeing the familiar place, Kanzaburo suddenly had an epiphany—everything came back to him.
Tendo shot it a glare and sighed in exasperation. "Uh… yeah, I figured that out too!"
"Right—" Before Kanzaburo could continue, Tendo clamped its mouth shut, signaling it to stay quiet. The incident at the hut was still fresh in his mind.
Please, just rein in your divine wisdom, Lord Kanzaburo!
Tendo circled to the back of the shrine. Damn it—there wasn't even a window. Left with no choice, he climbed onto the roof. The rundown shrine wasn't even as tall as his house back on Mount Momo, so scaling it was a breeze.
He shifted aside a tile and peered through the gap. The flickering candlelight revealed two figures inside.
One was Giyu, bound up like a caterpillar. The other was the little girl.
It was clear the villagers were truly afraid Giyu might escape. Aside from wrapping him tightly in rope, they had also chained his hands and feet.
The little girl repeatedly urged Giyu not to make a sound. Only after he nodded in agreement did she remove the cloth gagging his mouth.
"Let me out. There's a ghost in the village!" Giyu didn't shout—he simply stated it calmly, his demeanor completely unlike someone who had been kidnapped.
"Also, I only smashed one shrine. The rest wasn't me—"
Before he could finish, the little girl pressed a finger to his lips, her face full of guilt. "I know it wasn't you. But please, just eat properly."
"Once I steal the key to the chains, I'll let you out."
Giyu nodded. The little girl smiled, then pulled rice balls and water from her fish basket.
Holding a rice ball to his lips, she couldn't help but murmur,
"Good boy, open up. Aaaah~"Giyu expressionlessly took a bite. The other person was right—he needed to fill his stomach, or he wouldn't have the strength to slay demons.
Once he got out, he would absolutely hunt down that demon.
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