The imperial match in which the shrine maiden reclaimed the dead’s honor spread throughout all of Heian-kyō by the very next day.
The saintly shrine maiden favored by the gods, the genius chess player who had been forced into a corner by malicious rumors, and the strange chance encounter between them all gave people endless material to discuss and made them long for more.
In this era sunk deep in darkness, even the smallest glimmer of hope would stir countless echoes. Hime’s story was so popular with the common people probably because they saw their own reflections in the chess player.
And as the protagonists, Hime and the chess player actually did not hate their opponent the way everyone imagined after the match ended.
For Fujiwara Satoe, all he cared about was the way of chess; everything else was nothing more than passing smoke. Even when he threw himself into the water to die, there had never been any hatred in his heart.
This imperial match, just as the princess had said, was only a battle to reclaim dignity and the way of chess, unrelated to hatred.
The shrine maiden’s attitude seemed even more indifferent than his. After placing the final stone, she merely brushed the wisteria petals off the board, bowed to the emperor, and left with a smile.
The imperial court chess player opposite the board, pale-faced and with his cap and robe askew, was already no longer the object of her concern… as if the one who had spent a whole month sleepless and running around for this match in the first place was not her at all.
…
Sakurai Hoshi had just walked out of the hall when she saw a boy covered head to toe in blood.
His pure white kariginu had been dyed red by blood, with clots of blood congealed into the fabric fibers. Even his pale cheeks and short hair were dotted with a lot of dried blood, making that handsome face look a little frightening.
The boy stood in front of the hall doors holding a long box. The dark circles under his eyes made it look as if he had not slept well for a long time, somewhat gloomy. But after seeing her, he revealed a gentle, shy smile, looking as if he had specially been waiting for her.
At first sight of him, Sakurai Hoshi was lost in thought.
…He reminded her of Yuta.
Their appearances were clearly not that similar after all, because Yuta was still a child, but…
“Hime.”
The boy bowed to her, but the face covered in blood was calm. “I am Sugawara Yuu, a jujutsu sorcerer of the Sugawara family. I have been exorcising demons outside the capital all this time and have not yet had the chance to pay you a visit… Thank you for taking care of my junior. I, Yuu, find this kindness difficult to repay.”
Yuu…
‘I will always be by Hoshi’s side. No matter where we go, don’t be afraid.’
The promise the boy had made to her in the world made of blankets still seemed to echo in her ears.
But…
“Sugawara… you mean Sugawara Nobutada…?”
Sakurai Hoshi’s expression could not help but become a little subtle.
Before she could think further in the wrong direction, Sugawara Yuu also seemed to realize something and gently shook his head. “Princess, you have misunderstood. The junior I mean… is the severed hand you brought back when you entered the capital.”
His wording was very restrained, but tragic things would not become beautiful just because of that. When the slender shrine maiden brought back the severed hand, the dead man’s mother nearly cried herself to death.
“…I did not save him, and toward you as well there is no kindness from me.”
Mentioning this matter, the shrine maiden’s expression grew much lighter, and she seemed unaccountably somewhat lonely.
But Sugawara Yuu shook his head.
“You preserved the last part of himself for him, allowed him to be laid to rest in the earth, and also answered his final plea for help… The head of the family already knows that when he attained Buddhahood, his fear had disappeared, and he left very peacefully.”
“As for Sugawara Nobutada… this also involves struggles between families. The Sugawara family once had an elder who was demoted because of Fujiwara slander and ultimately fell into a vengeful spirit… The grudges between the two families have continued ever since. Although the Fujiwara chess players do not take part in family affairs, they were still affected… Please forgive the spectacle.”
He calmly and slowly recounted the family secrets, seemingly not minding that the shrine maiden knew about them.
“The tragedy came from poor discipline in the family, which is why such a tragedy arose… The grievances of the past should have been settled long ago.”
The boy who said such words had a very indifferent expression, seeming to reject the struggle for power within the family very much.
Having finished speaking, Sugawara Yuu held out the long box in both hands, and his face once again wore a slightly youthful smile. “This is a little bit of my heart… I hope Princess will accept it. I only have this to repay Princess’s kindness.”
Facing the boy who bore a somewhat subtle resemblance to Yuta, Sakurai Hoshi was slightly silent. She looked into those black-obsidian-clear eyes for a while, and finally took the long box from his hands.
After opening the box, there was actually a tachi inside.
“…I know Princess has always wandered everywhere, exorcising demons and slaying evil, but some sinister and crafty people are probably not something purification power can deal with… Princess still needs some force to protect herself while out and about,” the boy said, his expression extremely serious, even somewhat stubborn, those pure eyes staring at her without blinking. “If Princess does not mind, I am willing to teach Princess swordsmanship.”
…It was a very beautiful tachi.
From within the wide, layered sleeves, a hand as beautiful as white jade reached out and gently stroked the long blade. The girl lowered her gaze, seeming to be thinking about something.
“I have received your feelings,” she said, gathering the tachi into her arms. Her gentle gaze finally fell on him once more. “…Although I do not think I have done anything, this ability is very important to me. If Sugawara-kun needs anything, you can tell me.”
“Hime can just call me by my name directly. If you come to my dojo, you will inevitably run into clan members, so only calling the surname may be a little inconvenient.”
Seeing her agree, the short-haired boy showed a look of delight, his sparkling eyes seeming to speak for him, if not for the fact that his face was covered in filthy blood.
Perhaps his request was a bit forward for a princess he had just met, because the shrine maiden, who always appeared before others with a refined and sacred image, actually seemed a little at a loss.
“Really… then, Y, Yuu…?”
Halfway through saying it, she seemed to abruptly want to stop some kind of sound, or perhaps simply found it hard to say. A blush suddenly appeared on her porcelain-white face, and light shimmered in her wisteria-colored eyes, enough to dazzle and enchant anyone.
As if realizing her own embarrassment, she averted her gaze somewhat unnaturally, revealing only a red and adorable ear.
“Then, you can just call me by my name too. My name is Hoshi. As for Hime, everyone calls me that. If you get used to it, there is no need to deliberately change it.”
Long before she had spoken her own name, Sugawara Yuu had already gone red. Now, looking at the princess’s rare shy appearance, Sugawara Yuu actually felt his chest tighten for a moment and was speechless.
“Hoshi…”
“Princess has kept you waiting.”
Just as the boy’s throat felt slightly dry and he carefully uttered her name, a clear, gentle voice came from behind Sakurai Hoshi.
Onmyōji Abe no Seimei once again showed that flawless smile of his, his kariginu neat and spotless, his eboshi straight and dignified, as if even his hair was exuding a fresh and clean air, forming a stark contrast with the boy whose appearance could be described as frightening.
“I was speaking with a few colleagues just now and did not expect Princess to actually be waiting for me.”
He apologized to the slightly bewildered girl with a nod, speaking so flawlessly that not a single leak could be found, leaving Sakurai Hoshi too embarrassed to say that she had actually planned to slip away alone, and could only nod randomly with some guilt, saying “Mm, mm.”
Abe no Seimei wanted to laugh when he saw her dodging gaze, but handling the other person was more important at the moment. He sized up the blood-soaked boy and showed some hesitation on his face. “Did Sugawara-san just finish a request and come back?”
The dark-haired boy, who had been shy and bashful just a moment ago, returned to his tired and gloomy demeanor in front of Abe no Seimei. He did not care about the other man’s heavily suggestive words and answered plainly and directly, “Yes. The nest with a bunch of special-grade cursed spirits was a little troublesome, so it took some effort. Then, Hoshi, tomorrow at the hour of the dragon, I will wait for you at the Sugawara South Dojo there is my private dojo, so there is no need to worry.”
After saying this, Sugawara Yuu turned and left decisively, seeming unwilling to waste precious rest time on anyone else, even though he had just stood in front of the hall for several hours for Hime.
“…Does Princess want to learn swordsmanship?” Seimei naturally walked to the girl’s side and took the sword from her, not at all surprised when she subconsciously took his hand. He only felt that the heart that had been constantly sinking had finally been pulled back. “Indeed… you are somewhat delicate. If you are going to walk outside, you will still need some self-defense skills.”
“Can Seimei also use self-defense techniques?” Sakurai Hoshi looked at his body with some curiosity. The wide kariginu completely wrapped around the young man’s tall frame, and one could not tell the amount of muscle at all. “I thought Seimei was also a mage role?”
“Mage role?”
“Just standing in place doing damage, only capable of long-range combat and not melee, and if you get punched, you might die.”
“…So in your heart I have such an image.”
Seimei sighed, then could not help but laugh, his eyes narrowing a little dangerously. “Hoshi wants to try? My skills…”
“…Mm.”
The player lady sensed some dangerous aura, looked at the attribute panel, and then quietly closed it again.
“…No need. I was too naive. I’m sorry.”
Sakurai Hoshi sincerely repented.
Who would want to go melee with some big shot whose attributes were all question marks!!!
But if one were to say, as expected of a genius from the Heian period… both Sugawara Yuu and Seimei noticed Sakurai Hoshi’s shortcomings beneath her dazzling halo. Ever since [The Fool’s Faith] mutated into [The Fool’s Cult Leader], the boost given by the trait was no longer faster leveling, but a direct increase in strength.
Take strength as an example. Her initial base strength was only 8, and her constitution was only 9, so by reason she should not have been able to walk for several days without sleep or rest. But under the trait’s amplification, especially after gaining a large amount of faith, this level of physical activity no longer placed any burden on her body.
The change in the innate skill [Itchy Monster] was even more obvious. Originally, she could only clear negative emotions through physical contact, but after the strong blessing of faith, [Itchy Monster] could not only unleash remotely, it could also attack in groups. This area-of-effect attack was truly very useful. On the road to Heian-kyō, she had basically swept forward with group attacks turned on the whole time.
But even so, [Itchy Monster] only worked on cursed spirit resentment and had no effect on real flesh and blood. Although in theory she could eliminate all negative emotions in an enemy, including killing intent, but…
What if, in this world, there really existed… someone who could kill without any killing intent?
Or perhaps, a child of a cursed spirit and a human existed…?
Did such a “person” really exist? Would such a “person” become her enemy?
…She could not gamble on it.
Therefore, learning swordsmanship from Sugawara Yuu was a very important thing, because she had to take advantage of this time gap and quickly master more abilities.
Thinking this way, Sakurai Hoshi wrote her reply on the request letter.
‘Lord Ubuyashiki, I have understood your son’s situation and will visit tomorrow at the hour of the rooster.’
Author’s Note: Somehow, we’ve already written 5 chapters in the Heian period (hesitates). Why does it still seem like there’s quite a lot of plot left…
So far, two past lives have already appeared. Who are they?
Satoe was slandered by Sugawara Nobutada during the imperial match and was driven out of Heian-kyō, while Sugawara no Michizane (Yuta’s ancestor) was historically demoted because of Fujiwara Tokihira’s slander to the emperor, and he died not long after being demoted, becoming one of the Four Great Vengeful Spirits… It is really interesting when you think about it carefully!! So I privately set up a struggle between the two families.
In this story, the Gojo family is a branch family of the Sugawara family. At present, the jujutsu world’s Three Great Families do not yet exist, and there are many wild route practitioners like Seimei among the onmyōji.
Writing while in a scenic area these past two days has really been painful, and my stockpile is gone… There are probably quite a few bugs that need to be fixed later. Tomorrow I will try hard to write the ten-thousand-character chapter for the V launch, but I may not necessarily be able to update… Thank you to all the little angels who cast mines or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-11-11 22:58:14 to 2022-11-12 35:35:17!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: Divine Outflow, (●???●) No Money 1 each;
Thank you to the little angel who threw the hand grenade: Midnight Is Always Hungry 1;
Thank you to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: Lazy Machine 215 bottles; nana 125 bottles; flash, Yuan Nai 50 bottles; Jun Ni Jia Qi Ru Meng 43 bottles; Jinse 38 bottles; Sen Sen 37 bottles; Bitter Returning Wind 35 bottles; Orange Seven Seven, ll, Panda Cat, Windbreaker, (●???●) No Money 30 bottles; zoe 25 bottles; Mute, Wan Hongyan, Lying Flat Together, First Meeting, 49195392 20 bottles; Zoumingscao 15 bottles; Peony, Study of Knocking 11 bottles; Ah~ Ah~ Sneaking Big Chicken~, Supreme Savior of the High School Level, Flowing Reeds and Swaying Shadows, Feibai, Clear Water Green Leaves, love cute little short stories, Drunk Lying in a Beauty’s Lap, Mikastuki, Want to Die Together?, Feeding Thoughts, Red Sir’s Wife, Yunmengqiu, Xixi 10 bottles; Indifferent 9 bottles; Nemo 8 bottles; Shuangjiu, Huacishu 7 bottles; Gojo’s Wife 5 bottles; Qinglan, Mint Control of Sugar, Ya Ya, February, Has Sister, Old Bookworm in a Book Drought 5 bottles; A Ba A Ba, Ruiya 3 bottles; Mountains and Seas Cannot Be Flat, Clear Pool Dream Is Gone, It’s Time, Flying Cat, Group Chief King, Wanting to Become an European Emperor to the South 1 bottle;
Thank you all very much for your support. I will keep working hard!”