"He... he's the demon I saw earlier!" Tsuyu shrank back into Amari Nobunaga's embrace in terror, clutching him tightly, her voice filled with fear.
Suddenly hugged by the lady of his dreams, Amari Nobunaga's face turned beet red. A grin he couldn't suppress spread across his lips as he chuckled foolishly. "To be relied upon by Lady Tsuyu like this... I can die happy!"
"Boring."
Seeing Amari Nobunaga's behavior, Inuyasha gave a disdainful snort and turned his gaze back to Retsu. "Hey, where did the lord of this castle go?"
"First of all, I have a name, and it isn't 'Hey'," Retsu raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with annoyance. "Secondly, shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking someone a question?"
"Sorry, sorry!" Kagome quickly stepped out from behind Inuyasha and gave Retsu an apologetic smile. "I'm Kagome, Kagome Higurashi. This is Inuyasha."
She then pointed to the tiny, old-man-like flea demon on her shoulder. "This is Grandpa Myoga." Then she pointed to the still-grinning Amari Nobunaga. "And he is Amari Nobunaga."
After the introductions, Kagome asked curiously, "Mr. Lie, what exactly happened to the lord of this castle?"
"That demon-possessed lord? I've already cut him down," Retsu said flatly.
He pointed toward the door. "The body is buried in the open space in the front courtyard. I just buried it today, so it shouldn't smell yet. If you want to see him, I can help you dig him up."
"Uh... no thanks, no thanks!" Kagome's expression froze instantly. She waved her hands with a dry laugh, silently complaining in her head: This guy is way too blunt!
"My husband... is my husband really dead?" Tsuyu, still hiding in Nobunaga's arms, asked with reddened eyes and a choked voice.
"Yeah. He was possessed by a demon for too long; there was no saving him," Retsu said nonchalantly.
He didn't tell her the whole truth. Since the man was dead anyway, the lord couldn't crawl out of the ground to refute him. "I cut off his head with one strike; you could say I set him free."
Tsuyu lowered her head, her tone dejected. "My husband's behavior did indeed become very strange. Not long after I married into the family, he suddenly collapsed by the pond in the courtyard and then ran a high fever for several days."
"From then on, he was like a different person. Every move he made was eerie, as if he had turned into some other kind of living creature."
"By the way, Myoga." Retsu suddenly remembered the three girls in the Kamui Dimension. His gaze fell upon Myoga on Inuyasha's shoulder. "You've lived a long time, so you must be very knowledgeable. I have a question for you."
"Hmm? Me?" Myoga hadn't expected to be addressed. He blinked, then asked curiously, "What is it?"
"Kamui!"
Retsu's eyes suddenly transformed into the crimson Mangekyo Sharingan. The next second, a swirling vortex appeared in the space before him. Three unconscious girls slowly emerged from the vortex and landed gently on the floor.
Everyone in the room was instantly stunned, staring in shock at his red-glowing Sharingan in the dim room and the three girls who had appeared from the spatial vortex.
"Is... is this another dimension?" Kagome, coming from the future, immediately thought of the pocket dimension abilities from anime and novels and cried out in surprise.
"The one possessing the lord was a Toad Demon."
Ignoring everyone's shock, Retsu pointed at the three girls on the floor and said to Myoga:
"I found a large number of giant egg sacs in a secret room in the castle. They were filled with young girls the lord had kidnapped from his territory. Most of the girls woke up after being rescued, but these three won't respond no matter what I do."
After explaining the situation, he looked at Myoga and asked, "Can they be saved?"
Myoga hopped onto one of the girls' cheeks, observed closely, and leaned in to sniff. His expression gradually darkened.
"That Toad Demon was likely a type of demon called a Ninety-Nine Toad. It traps girls in eggs and eats their souls once they've 'ripened'."
He sighed, his tone heavy. "The souls of these girls have already been consumed by the demon. Although their bodies are still alive, their souls have dissipated. In a few days, their bodies will follow suit and die. There is no saving them."
"In other words, they are just 'living corpses' now, right?" Retsu nodded, understanding the situation.
He took a coin pouch from his ninja tool pouch, walked up to Kagome, and shoved it directly into her hand.
"In the rooms on the west side of the castle, there are other girls I rescued. Some were just captured, while others were saved from the demon's egg sacs. Please help me send them home. Consider this money your payment."
"Why should Kagome have to help send them back!" While Kagome was still holding the coin pouch, confused by the situation, Inuyasha began to grumble impatiently. "We have things to do!"
"It's not very convenient for me in this state," Retsu explained, pointing to the cracks on his face.
He thought for a moment, then took a shard of the shikon jewel from his ninja tool pouch. Holding it between his fingers, its pink glow was particularly prominent in the dim room. "How about I add this as an extra reward?"
"A shard of the shikon jewel!" Kagome was about to return the money, but her eyes lit up when she saw the shard in his hand, and she spoke subconsciously.
Then she looked at Retsu's ninja tool pouch in surprise, where several faint pink glows could be seen. "You... you actually have so many shard of the shikon jewel on you?"
"What?!" As soon as Inuyasha heard "shikon jewel," he immediately perked up. He stepped forward and pointed at Retsu's ninja tool pouch. "Hey! We'll help you send those girls back, so give us all the shards!"
"No, only this one." Retsu shook his head, refusing without hesitation. "I still have use for the other shards. I can only give you this one."
"You bastard!" Inuyasha's face darkened. He stepped in front of Kagome, slightly raising the tessaiga.
"I noticed it from the start—you're not a living person, are you! Why are you collecting so many shard of the shikon jewel? Are you trying to use their power to come back to life?!"
"You look like an idiot, but I guess you're actually quite sharp. Something like that," Retsu said in an abrasive tone, twirling the shard of the shikon jewel between his fingers.
Using the shard of the shikon jewel to attract demons could indeed be considered utilizing the power of the shikon jewel.
"You bastard! Hand over the shikon jewel!"
Hearing his words, Inuyasha suddenly drew the tessaiga. The blade glowed with white Demonic Power, transforming from its tattered appearance into a majestic Sword of Fangs as he pointed it at Retsu.