The main hall of the tenshu. As the heavy wooden doors slid open, a wave of air mixed with incense and alcohol rushed out.
Shinji stepped inside, his gaze sweeping the room.
The hall was even more lavish than he'd imagined.
The tatami was woven from premium rushes, soft underfoot. Each mat could have bought a year's worth of food for a family in the villages outside.
The wooden shōji screens were painted with landscapes and flowers, backed with gold leaf. When sunlight filtered through, it cast a dazzling golden glow.
The ceiling beams were carved with intricate cloud patterns, lacquered a bright vermilion that looked freshly painted.
This level of opulence might not be remarkable in a great daimyō's castle in Kyoto.
But for a low-ranking retainer governing only six villages
It was excessive.
Shinji thought of the starving, skeletal villagers outside the castle. The children huddled, shivering, in corners.
And then he looked at this splendor.
Hah.
"Please, be seated." Suda Shigenobu sat on the raised platform, leaning forward with a smile plastered on his face.
The smile seemed warm, but his eyes held a shrewd, calculating glint. "I am Suda Shigenobu, lord of these lands."
"I hear you've eliminated that evil demon which plagued Stone Village for years. Truly a boundless merit."
Shinji said nothing.
His gaze drifted past Suda's round, pudgy face to the wall behind him.
Something hung there.
Large. Yellow. Boomerang-shaped.
It emitted a faint luster, the unique sheen of demon bone.
Hiraikotsu.
So it was here.
Those words formed in Shinji's mind.
He showed no reaction, casually sitting down on the tatami.
Kikyō sat beside him, her white robes and red hakama perfectly arranged, her longbow resting at her knee.
Nurarihyon leaned against a pillar by the door, pipe in mouth, looking utterly indifferent.
"Might I ask where you're from?" Suda continued his probing, his eyes darting. "From the young lady's attire, a shrine maiden, perhaps? Which shrine?"
"Wandering shrine maiden, from Kaede Village in Musashi Province." Kikyō's voice was calm.
Wandering shrine maidens originally referred to those who, in the Sengoku era, forced by poverty, traveled without a fixed shrine.
Now, it encompassed all rural shrine maidens not serving a specific deity.
Kikyō was one such.
Such shrine maidens were often low status.
But at this self-introduction, Suda's expression flickered.
He recognized the name.
"Kikyō?" His tone grew even more humble, leaning forward further. "So you're the… strongest shrine maiden of the Sengoku era!"
"I've long heard of your name, long heard of it!"
"May I ask, Lady Kikyō, what brings you to my humble castle today?"
Shinji watched the short, fat lord, a slight smile curving his lips.
What brings them?
His head, of course.
But he didn't say that.
"We're tracking down something," Shinji spoke instead.
"Oh? What kind of something?" Suda Shigenobu's eyes narrowed that calculating look merchants got when striking a deal.
"Hiraikotsu."
"Hiraikotsu?" Suda feigned ignorance.
He seemed unaware of what hung behind him.
"What is that? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term."
"Is that so?" Shinji raised a hand, pointing at the wall behind the lord. "Then what's that hanging behind you?"
Suda Shigenobu's face changed.
Now he understood.
The atmosphere in the hall grew heavy.
The attendants standing on either side gripped their sword hilts tighter.
In the corner, several figures in onmyōji robes straightened up and began forming hand seals.
Shinji's Inspiration talent let him sense the spiritual energy radiating from them.
Not strong.
Compared to Kikyō, pathetically weak.
"What do you want?" Suda's smile remained, but it had gone rigid. "That was offered up by some passing old man ten days ago. I merely collected it. I didn't know its origins."
"If you want it, I can certainly..."
"Offered up?" Shinji cut him off.
"A demon slayer. With a severed arm. Mortally wounded. Passing through your territory when your soldiers stopped him."
"He entrusted his life's work to that weapon. And you say he 'offered it up'?"
Shinji's voice was calm, but Suda's face went completely stiff.
"How… how do you know all this?"
Shinji didn't answer. He just stood up.
He knew because he'd just "asked" about it at the gate.
His sword was still sheathed.
But the killing intent already filled the air.
"Before he died, he asked me to deliver the Shikon Jewel to someone who could protect it."
"He also asked me to tell his descendants he was sorry."
"You know why he was sorry?"
Shinji walked step by step toward the raised platform. "Because he couldn't bring back the Hiraikotsu. His ancestral demon-slaying weapon."
"Because scum like you took his family's heirloom."
"Because when he died, he had nothing left to pass on."
Suda Shigenobu's face went pale.
He finally realized this young man wasn't here for a reward.
He was here for blood.
"Guards!" He scrambled backward, shrieking. "Seize this madman!"
The attendants on either side drew their swords and charged.
The onmyōji began their incantations, spiritual energy gathering in the air.
But
Shinji's hand settled on his sword hilt.
[Demonic Blade Muramasa (Max Affection) expresses excitement. It says this lord's fat will be nice and greasy.]
"You're right," Shinji murmured in response.
He drew the blade.
A flash of steel.
The two attendants in the lead collapsed in pools of blood before they even saw what hit them.
"Kill him! Kill him now!" Suda Shigenobu's voice had completely cracked.
The onmyōji's incantations finally completed. Multicolored spiritual energy surged toward Shinji.
Sealing techniques. Binding spells. A few shots that looked like offensive spiritual bullets.
Shinji didn't dodge. He didn't need to.
Because someone was faster than those onmyōji.
Twang.
The bowstring vibrated.
A streak of white light shot from behind him, exploding mid-air into countless fine threads.
Those threads spread like a spider's web, instantly enveloping the entire hall.
Every single onmyōji technique, the moment it touched those threads, collapsed.
Spiritual power, suppressed.
Crushed.
Annihilated.
Shinji glanced back.
Kikyō stood where she was, bow still in its post-shot stance.
Her white robes billowed in the radiance of her spiritual power. Her black hair lifted in the invisible air current.
Her entire form blazed with dazzling white light.
So bright, even Shinji had to squint.
Was this the full power of the Sengoku era's strongest shrine maiden?
Shinji's lips curved.
As expected.
With her here, he had nothing to fear.
He turned back to face Suda Shigenobu.
The short, fat lord had collapsed on his raised platform, his face paper-white.
"No… please…" His voice trembled. "I'll give back the Hiraikotsu… and money… lots of money…"
Shinji didn't stop walking.
"You know," he said.
"I came here just to get back Hiraikotsu. Maybe scare you a little."
That was a lie.
Shinji had come here to kill.
But that didn't stop him from making this declaration.
"But when I entered the city, I saw some things."
"Rice piled like mountains on the streets. Fine food and sake in the shops. And in the villages outside the walls, children gnawing on tree roots."
"So I changed my mind."
Shinji raised his blade.
The tip pointed at Suda Shigenobu's throat.
"Today."
"I'm here to kill you."