Chapter 76.2

Chapter 76.2

"Eh...!? Uh, yeah. Thank you!"

For a moment, Tamaki looked confused, but when she understood the situation, she turned to me and expressed her gratitude. Her smile was like a flower, without any worries. A sweet fragrance tickled my nostrils.

"......"

I silently push her feet off the ground and remove my hands from her back and shoulders.

"Miss, I told you so! Please be careful!"

"I know. I'm sorry, okay? I'll be more careful next time."

Suzune approaches her with a pale expression as if her blood has drained from her face, and the main character apologizes to her with a troubled expression. The scene was less like a master-servant relationship and more like good friends.

"Well, well, you've been very helpful. We owe you one, servant-san."

I hear a voice from behind me, and I turn around to see the guards approaching me, looking relieved.

"If anything had happened to the young lady, we would have been killed on the spot. We really appreciate it."

"We may have had a grudge against you about the betting, but we're grateful for this."

The guards thank me verbally. Perhaps they are afraid of Kehiko that much. Their words were quite forceful.

"No, I was partly responsible for the young lady's slip. Anyway... Let's continue climbing."

I suggest to them as the main characters resume her ascent. Suzune, on the other hand, took the broom and water bucket from Tamaki. It seems that she is thinking of her master and wants to help her. Well, I've got to get up there too...

"......"

Just I was about to climb up, I glanced at the warmth still lingering on my palm.

In the near future, the fate of many people in this country will depend on that slender and fragile body that could be broken at any moment. And her own future would be riddled with numerous obstacles and pitfalls.

Despair and sadness lay in wait for her.

"...But I have no right to sympathize with her."

I couldn't help but ache for her fate, even though I knew it was nothing more than a kind of self-indulgence...

* * *

The shrine depicted in the game or manga version was not much different from the real thing.

Originally, a shrine in Shinto refers to a simple shrine that does not have a resident priest or shrine maiden. However, there are many exceptions and ambiguities in the definition.

In fact, the shrine, located near the top of the mountain behind the house of the Hotaruya family, was closer to a shrine in size than a simple shrine.

"Alright... you guys can rest there. It's my job to clean up."

After placing the luggage on the ground, Tamaki faced us and offered a prayer in front of the shrine before opening the curtains.

Inside the shrine, there was a statue of a glowing golden firefly, which was a replica of the local land god that purifies water and earth and decorated with sake, sakaki branches and leaves, and a Shinto staff.

It is described in the novel version by the official name of 'Kiyomizu Fudo Hotaru Kami (清水富土蛍神)' as a land god imitating a firefly, a nature god who purifies the water and soil and was sealed by the people who migrated to this land.

The Harvest Festival in this world, in this country, is slightly different in nature from thanking the gods for a bountiful harvest. Since Fusō-kuni was established in pursuit of a world centering on human beings, and placing human beings first, people were extremely averse to the idea of bowing down to 'gods' and other non-human beings.

As I have mentioned before, shrines in this world serve as a kind of prison for gods. They seal the divine power and extract their immense power to enrich the land as "fertilizer." This is no different in this land. The local deity, though powerful, was not so good at fighting, and it was not so difficult to seal the power and to extract it as a fertilizer.

And worshipping the gods during the harvest festival is just a kind of feeding. In order to extract out as much as possible and make the land rich for the next year, people will worship the deities who have been exhausted by the autumn to restore their power. That is the purpose. It's absurd...

"It was impressive dedication for someone like her."

Sitting in a corner of the shrine, I glance over at her and mutter about the main character's work.

She was very enthusiastic about cleaning up the shrine and the grounds, even though she knew the purpose of the work. She poured new water into the bottle and added a new sakaki branch. She also refilled the sake, and wiped the entire shrine with a cloth to remove the dust. After bowing, the she takes a broom and brushes away fallen leaves and other debris. It was a pure form of respect for the enshrined deity.

"She's quite diligent, isn't she?"

"...Hey, what are you guys doing!?"

"Hmm? Suzune, want to bet too? You can do it for as little as 10 mon."

The young girl narrowed her eyes further in annoyance at my lack of response, but the next moment she noticed the commotion behind her and turned around to shout. Of course, the guards had started cho-han gambling in the grounds of the sacred shrine before I knew it.

"Betting!? What do you think this place is!? At the land god's premises in Hotaruya Village, doing gambling of all things!! Please take your work seriously!!"

Suzune angrily accuses the guards in a fit of rage. She is literally furious. Her face is flushed and her voice is hoarse.

"What good does it do to say that?"

"Yeah, it's impossible for youkai to come this far, right? There are many layers of boundaries around here, aren't there? Furthermore, Kizuki's exorcists are patrolling the area."

"That's right. And this isn't any old gambling, either. We're using dice to receive an oracle from the land god. It's not every day we get a chance to come to such a sacred place."

"You guys are so brazen...!!"

Suzune's face tightens at the deceitful words of the guards.

Gambling has been discouraged by many religions since ancient times in my previous life, but at the same time, its origins are said to be in various divination methods such as the Meishin Tantou (盟神探湯), which began with the practice of seeking the favor of the gods, and To-Sen (a form of divination using arrows).

Furthermore, historically speaking, it was not uncommon for the religious institutions that discouraged it to actually manage gambling establishments. And it is the same in this world. In this sense, their words cannot be denied.

Well, it was clear that in this situation, it was nothing more than an excuse...

"!?"

I was watched at the scene of the maid biting the guards from a distance, but the next moment, I sensed a presence. It was youkai presence. And it was at close range. I instinctively turned in the direction of the presence and witnessed a sight that left me in shock.

About sixty steps away, Hotaruya, who was cleaning the surroundings, faced an entity hidden in the bushes with a startled expression.

An entity emanating with youkai energy.

"......!!!"

Almost as a reflex, I ran toward her, leapt toward her and reached her at an incredible speed that could not be compared to when I supported Tamaki on the stone steps earlier. I slipped between Tamaki and the shadow, pointing my spear at the entity or whatever it was, taking maximum precautions.

"What...!?"

"Miss, please step back now!!"

I shout at the main character, who mumbles quietly, as if she doesn't understand what's happening. Then I glare at the being in front of me. Immediately afterward, a gust of wind rushes up around us. The wind ruffles Tamaki's hair, the shrine maiden's outfit, the bushes, and some ragged cloak of whatever this creature was.

And then I caught a glimpse of the creature's true identity. Black hair, wolf ears sprouting from its hair, and deformed arms covered with rough animal hair wrapped in bandages. Its body was burned by the shrine's boundary. Its appearance. It made me astonished. After all, I recognize the half-youkai before me, and the grudges between us.

"You...!!?"

Why are you here? Before I can ask him, he looks at me in surprise for a moment, but then quickly shouted at me with bitterness.

"That doesn't matter right now! We need to get out of here quickly before...!"

He says that much with a desperate look on his face, but suddenly he shuts up. His wolf ears twitch, and he turns around. A delayed roar comes from far away. And I sense it. I feel it. The pressure. The youkai's power.

"Oh, this tastes awful."

The half-youkai's mumbled to himself and the words rang in my ears uncomfortably. Immediately afterward, a loud explosion rang out, causing trees to fly up into the air and scatter in all directions.

"Kyaa!?"

"Miss! What on earth is happening...!?"

I, who was protecting the main character from the scattered sand and leaves, look up at my head when I notice a huge shadow. I see its red eyes, full of hostility, murderous intent, and malice. After a moment, I realize what it is. And I mutter to myself.

"...Seriously, this can't be happening."

The change of the original event from the very beginning made me laugh.

It was a pitch-black boar - a monster that was half-dead and half-alive, covered in cuts and bleeding. Its entire body was as black as steel, and I knew exactly what it was. No, I knew it well. It was the cursed beast that had ruined and defiled the main character's sweet and gentle world, the one who had initiated the story of despair and paved the way for the difficult journey ahead.

It was the infamous creature known as "Magaaju (禍獣)," the very same creature that had destroyed Hotaruya Tamaki's life and taken away her hometown - the embodiment of calamity that was now charging towards us, roaring with ferocity...