CH 73.2

On the other hand, the other lady was dressed in a young lady outfit that was in some ways the opposite of Kayo. In a word, it is similar to the costume of a mountain ascetic. Her outfit, suitable for mountain climbing, was unadorned, but it harmonized well with her straightforward, androgynous appearance.

"Oh, Tomobe-san! What do you think of this outfit? Is it cute?"

Kayo seems to have noticed my eyes on her, and asks me a question in a mischievous way. While asking me, she spins around and shows me. Well, it's a cute trick.

"...Yes. It suits you well."

"That's a very bland comment. It makes me pout a little."

Kayo's replied, half-jokingly. There was no real anger visible in her reaction.

"Look, my lady. You know how important it is for a woman to have some charm. With such an unattractive outfit, you'd fail the test."

"But, I'm showing the guest around the village. Besides, I need to be able to move easily in case of danger, right?"

And after a quick glance at Kayo, Kehiko pokes his young lady on the shoulder and points out that she is not like a lady. It was a genuine reaction. It was the tone of one who does not consider any of his choices to be wrong.

"Don't you think so, Suzune?"

The main character then asks the maid to agree with her.

"I think so. Certainly, it would be better to have clothing that's easy to move in, just in case something unexpected happens. ...Though I'd like Miss to have a sense of her position and the danger she's in in the first place."

The black-haired maid glances at her lord with a wary stare and then speaks stinging words to her.

(This person is...)

When I hear this name, I feel a shock and a dull pain in my stomach, comparable to the pain I felt when I met the main character in the hot spring. Even if I had not met the main character first, I would have vomited as well. Well, I knew her name, her existence, more or less.

Suzune was the exclusive maid of the main character who lived in this village, a girl who was more than a friend and just barely less than a lover, and when the village was attacked, she tried to escape with the main character and failed, and when the main character found out, she was raped by a gang of vulgar youkai and slaughtered as a meal right in front of him.

What's worse, in the novel version, her tragic backstory is further explored in a bonus story. Her hometown suffered from a bad harvest and tax collection, causing her family to starve to death. She wandered as a homeless person until she was picked up by the young main character, who she had a crush on. Their hearts finally connected after a chance encounters at a Hotaruya pond, only to be brought back to the harsh reality of being attacked by youkai... At least let her die in her dreams.

Anyway, Suzune was recognized as the first sacrifice to let players and readers know how cruel this world is by dying tragically in such a tutorial. It was considered to be...

(But wait, something feels off?)

I couldn't help but think that to myself.

"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that? It's disgusting."

As if noticing my gaze, the maid spits out.

"Suzune, that's rude!!"

"How is it rude? I mean..."

After saying that much, she turns silent with a shocked expression on her face. Kayo and my subordinate are suspicious of Suzune's attitude. Kehiko, on the other hand, cowered his shoulders with a wry smile. I don't think he knows that his lord was seen taking a bath in the hot spring. Anyway, Suzune glares at me again with a reproachful look.

"Ahem! Well then, shall we go now? My lady, could you lead the way?"

"Oh, sure! Got it. Suzune, you're going to join us, right?

Kehiko changes the subject, and the main character hurriedly remembers her role and takes the lead. Suzune, who could not disobey her lord daughter's order, also accompanied her while keeping an eye on this side.

"I'm sorry. She's not a bad girl, but..."

"No, that reaction is natural. Actually, I'm more surprised by her nonchalant attitude."

Kehiko whispered to me, trying to defend the person in question, but it was clearly misguided. Indeed, Suzune's reaction is more normal. The main character and her family who easily forgive me are the exceptions. However...

(I didn't expect her personality to be so different...)

I was surprised to see that the weak-willed, timid, and not very assertive maid of the main character in the original story had become so strong-willed. I suspected her to be a stranger with the same name... but she was the very person I knew, with her dark hair and that face, though her eyes were indeed bad.

(Is she like Gorilla-sama? No, it's more like...)

Her personality reminds me of a family member I will never see again. The spoiled, selfish, and rough youngest sibling, but certainly a dear family member to me. Seeing the servant girl who reminds me of her, I find it difficult to direct my hostility toward her.

"......"

For a while, I watch the backs of Suzune and the main character as they discuss something. Come to think of it, she would be around this age if she had grown up safely...

"Hmm? What's wrong, Yun-shoku?

"Tomobe-san? Are you feeling unwell?"

The guard and Kayo each call out to me, perhaps sensing my suspicion at the strange silence, and I come to my senses. I then feel sharp gazes on me again. Tamaki looks back at me again, and she tilts her head at me curiously, and Suzune looks at me hostilely, as if she were staring at dust. ...Well, this is starting to become dangerous.

"No, it's nothing. ...Shall we go then?"

And so, to get on with the job at hand, I announce that we should depart and get started on our work, shouldering our supplies.

...

...

Tamaki, our guide, holds an old map passed down through generations of the local village, leading us to the key points of the protective boundary surrounding the Hotaruya village.

The boundary that protects Hotaruya village, consists of a total of twenty-six key points. They are constructed to connect the central point of the village, an underground point where the spiritual veins flow, various other points around the village, and entrance/exit points to ward off evil.

"Even so, it is a complicated shape. I guess "Kagome-mon (✡︎)" pattern is the closest one? I think a simple square would have been fine... Does it have any special meaning in terms of a curse?"

"No, it's probably more for tactical reasons than for mystical ones."

I look at the old map spread out by Tamaki and understand the intention of one of the seven great exorcists who have formed a boundary system to protect this village.

If I connect the key points, which are the base points and the connecting points of the boundary, a carefully calculated figure emerges. The closest shape to it might be a ten-pointed star. This shape requires many key points, but it has clear military advantages.

In my previous world, the Hotaruya boundary's design and purpose are similar to the star-shaped fortresses of Europe, also known as Vauban-style fortresses. The fortress was built with multiple star-like projections to reduce blind spots that could be weak points, and at the same time, the boundaries of this village were formed so that the lines of fire would overlap on both sides when intercepting an incoming enemy.

A boundary is only a boundary. The invisible wall prevents the invasion of youkai and can burn them if they touch it, but it itself does not actively get rid of youkai. If they do not touch the boundary itself, youkai will not be harmed in any way.

There are different kinds of boundaries, but the most common one is the one that repels only evil beings. And because of this characteristic, bows and arrows, stones, bullets, and cannonballs, which have neither youkai power nor spiritual power, pass through them without being affected.

Using this characteristic, Sue Harukata, who was a boundary master, a technician, an architect, and a strategist, designed a boundary that not only protected but also actively eliminated youkai by luring them in and attacking them with projectiles from multiple directions, leaving them no chance to escape. During the Great War, when many cities and castles were under attack by youkai, this boundary proved its effectiveness... At least, that's what I heard from Gorilla-sama.

"The boundaries of this village are still in their early stages. There are still many rough edges. If it were me, I would place the key points in the mountainous areas rather than the mountain tops. Also, having only one layer of the boundary is fragile and not good. The later version has three or four layers to make it deeper. It's a vicious system that dares to create a weak point in the first layer of boundaries, and when the weak point is breached, the fire points are concentrated from the front, back, left, and right to destroy the enemy."

"You know a lot, don't you?"

"I'm still a warrior, you know."

Kehiko was also looking at the map and boasting. It was only natural. If he were a warrior, he would have learned the features of boundaries and how to use them even if he couldn't form them to protect his castle or fortress from youkai. In fact, his family's castle and the boundaries set in it are one of the masterpieces designed by Sue Harukata in his later years. The castle and its surrounding castles, forts, turrets, fences, outposts, hidden passages, etc. are connected by boundaries so that they can support each other thoroughly, and even the youkai mother and her hungry youkai' "tsunami" couldn't breach it, despite causing many casualties and attacking the main stronghold.

"Wow, I didn't know there was such a reason... I'm surprised."

Tamaki, on the other hand, is frankly impressed by the structure of the boundary and looks a little down. It must have been a shock to her to find out something she did not know about the village where she grew up.

"Don't worry about it. It just means that our village is peaceful. There's nothing wrong with not having to use it. Besides, it's not like a young lady would be interested in something like that."

Kehiko roughly pats his lord's daughter on the head. Tamaki's cheeks puff up sulkily at his father's retainer.

"Don't make me sound like a sheltered girl! Sure, I may be a girl. But I don't want to just sit around doing nothing and eating sweets. I want to be useful to Father and to everyone!"

"But that doesn't mean you have to work in the fields or do martial arts."

Kehiko looks slightly troubled by Tamaki's words.

(I see, that's the same as in the original.)

Listening to their conversation, I analyze the situation of the main character. In the original story, Tamaki is a boy, and according to his family register, he was born as the third son of his father, Hotaruya Yoshinori. He was cherished by his family, and he also cherished his family and hometown, so he devoted himself to farming and training in martial arts to help them. However, his father and other family members tell him to live freely.... which led to a vague sense of anxiety that he might be useless to them, and in some routes, triggers a bad ending.

Especially in the middle of the route where the main character discovers that he is not his father's real child, he begins to feel despair and even consider self-harm. Well, that's understandable if such a terrible fact is revealed at a time when the main character is suffering from anxiety that his existence might attract youkai. Depending on his sanity value, he may start to cut his wrist.

(Well, I wonder how being a woman would affect this fact... No, the April Fool's version may not have the same setting.)

In any case, it would be best if this fact is not known to her, since it would be unbearable if she commits suicide or falls into the dark side. If possible, I should intervene in the event and destroy the evidence...

"You say so, but even Kayo-san here, who is younger than me, is working for her family. And she lives alone. Even I..."

Tamaki then turns her eyes to Kayo. Kayo smiles at her with a business smile.

"Hehehe, I'm certainly struggling, but with the support of everyone around me, I'm managing somehow."

"No, no, you're doing great. You're much more impressive than me. I envy you..."

Tamaki looks at the girl who is a few years younger than her with deep envy. To her, Kayo advises.

"There's no need to rush. Even if you try hard without clear goals, you will end up with nothing. You just need to find a clear goal first and take steady actions to achieve it."

"A clear goal, huh? What's your clear goal, Kayo-san?"

"Hehehe, unfortunately, that's a trade secret. The price for buying information will have to be negotiated, you know?"

Kayo smiled cheerfully with her hand over her mouth. It was a very gentle and comfortable way of handling the situation. Just in this one moment of conversation, I could see how well she usually runs her mouth.

"Muu... you're so mean. Oh, speaking of which... Ah, could it be that?"

The main character looks a little dissatisfied with Kayo's answer, but in the next moment, she compares it with the map and finds it.

"That's it."

I recognized it in the mountain forest colored with autumn leaves. It was thicker and stronger than any other tree in the forest and was definitely one of the key points of the boundary.

According to an old legend, the Sakaki tree (the Shinto religion's Sacred Flowering Evergreen) separates the boundary between man and god. Perhaps, by applying this legend, they are trying to cut off the land where people live against youkai, the things that are not of this world.

"At any rate, it's not a normal tree, is it..."

The Sakaki tree is not very resistant to cold. There is no possibility for it to grow naturally in the northern region. So, it is easy to imagine that this huge tree... is obviously not normal. Well, whatever it is, something has to be done.

"Chidori (the servant), keep an eye on the perimeter. ...And excuse me, Miss Tamaki. I'd like to check the status of the key point here. Is that all right?"

"Ah... y-yeah. Please do."

Although I already knew it, I obtained permission once again before going to the Sakaki tree. I can't let anything happen to the key point of the boundary and make it my responsibility. At least, it would be possible in another village or city.

"This place is... The shimenawa (used in Japanese Shinto rituals to denote a sacred space or object) is a little bit damaged, but overall there doesn't seem to be much of a problem. Well, I'm an amateur, so I can't make a judgment."

The tree is firmly and strongly rooted, and there is no evidence of decay in the trunk, branches, or roots. The shimenawa was probably replaced hundreds of years ago, but the person who did the work before I seemed to have done it diligently, and there is nothing to complain about, at least from my point of view.

(But that might not be the case for other areas.)

In the original story, the village was overrun even though it was supposed to have had a strong boundary. There are several possibilities, but the most plausible one is that a part of the key of the boundary had been neutralized without being noticed.

It was quite possible. According to what I heard, the last inspection was about half a century ago. If the previous inspector did a poor job and did not notice the breakdown of the boundary... the residents of this village might not be aware of the danger posed by youkai. Even the guards probably wouldn't have deep knowledge of the boundary. If that is the case, then...!

(Well, it is only one of the possibilities. And even if the prediction is true, I don't have the expertise to be held responsible for it...)

I'm just a servant, who is not an expert, and whose knowledge is only a rote one. So I can't be blamed for that kind of responsibility.

(By the way, that demon went somewhere, but if my speculation is correct, she will enter through the broken key point.)

At least if she appeared in this village, she must know where it is. Well, I can't risk asking her where it is. That demon is too much of a pain in the ass to ask for help from others, even though she's always trying to ingratiate herself into other people's affairs. Considering the eccentricity of the demon, I can't even ask Botan who is accompanying her. I just hope Botan won't be killed by her angry mood.

...In any case, I had to investigate the key points one by one first. I judged that there was nothing wrong with Sakaki's condition and suggested that we go to the next key point.

By noon, a total of eight key points are investigated, and all of them are confirmed to be free from any serious problems.

"Let's take a break around here, shall we?

Kehiko suggested before heading for the ninth key point.

"Huh? Already? There's still at least one more..."

"It'll be tough for the trading company girls. Right, Yun-shoku?"

The south native turns to me. I agreed, having finished investigating the eighth key point.