“Lady Ibaraki, are you… are you sure you haven’t gotten the wrong direction?”
Tokyo, late at night, Shinjuku Kabukicho.
Mizuki Mirei, now dressed in the most ordinary casual clothes she had dug out from her closet, stood nervously at the entrance of Ichiban-gai, uneasily surveying her surroundings.
This was her first time setting foot here.
Neon signs of every color lit up the entire night sky as if it were daytime.
Deafening music constantly poured from shops lining both sides of the street, mingling with the clamorous laughter and chatter of pedestrians, forming a suffocating wave of heat saturated with desire and hormones.
Young men and women in revealing clothing walked past her, arms slung over each other’s shoulders.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of alcohol mixed with cheap perfume.
All of this delivered a massive culture shock and psychological pressure to Mizuki Mirei, who had grown up in the quiet confines of a shrine.
She felt like a little white rabbit that had strayed into a pack of wolves.
The way everyone around her looked at her made her deeply uncomfortable.
“A demon’s nose is quite keen, you know.”
Ibaraki Doji’s voice abruptly sounded right beside Mizuki Mirei’s ear.
The shrine maiden was startled and instinctively turned her head, only to see several fashionably dressed women smoking by the roadside, giving her a strange look as she seemed to be talking to herself.
“I told you, didn’t I? I am currently in a spiritualized state. As long as I don’t actively reveal myself, no one in this world can detect my presence.”
Once again, Ibaraki Doji’s voice sounded directly in Mizuki Mirei’s mind through the link of the Command Spell.
This was one of the miraculous effects of the Command Spell.
No matter where the two parties to the contract were or what state they were in, they could use it for unimpeded, telepathic communication.
“Even so… even if that’s the case…”
Blushing, Mizuki Mirei awkwardly averted her gaze and responded softly in her mind.
“I still can’t imagine that the base of a religious group like the Miyuan Cult would be set up in a place like this.”
“Aren’t they at least a publicly active religious organization? Have they become too lazy to even maintain the most basic pretense?”
In her mind, religious sites were all supposed to be established in serene, solemn places like Shifune Shrine.
How could they possibly be connected to such a glitzy, hedonistic entertainment district?
“Hmph, a religious group?” Ibaraki Doji sneered contemptuously.
“In my view, they’re nothing but a bunch of swindlers hiding behind the banner of gods and buddhas to satisfy their own selfish desires. This kind of den of iniquity suits them perfectly.”
“Enough chatter. Follow. The foul stench from those scum who visited your shrine earlier is coming from this direction.”
Guided by Ibaraki Doji, Mizuki Mirei steeled herself and stepped into this bustling street that felt like a maze from another world to her.
She felt like a country girl visiting the city for the first time, both curious and fearful of everything around her.
Handsome men dressed as hosts were enthusiastically soliciting customers on the street; glamorously dressed hostesses giggled in small groups; and some men with unfriendly faces and tattoos covering their bodies leaned against walls, eyeing passersby with scrutiny. Visit novelping dot com for the full chapter.
Mizuki Mirei kept her head down, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.
Following Ibaraki Doji’s mental guidance, she navigated through the labyrinthine alleys.
Soon, they stopped in front of an unremarkable building deep within Kabukicho.
The building looked no different from the surrounding love hotels and izakayas, except it had no sign at its entrance, giving it an air of mystery.
“This is the place,” Ibaraki Doji’s voice echoed in Mizuki Mirei’s mind.
“That nauseating stench is coming from this building. Come on, let’s go in and take a look.”
“Wait! We’re… we’re just going to walk right in?” Mizuki Mirei asked nervously.
“There seem to be surveillance cameras at the entrance, and… there might be security guards too.”
“Security guards? Surveillance?” Ibaraki Doji scoffed.
“What difference do those things make to me? It’s as if they don’t exist. Just walk right in boldly. I’ll take care of everything.”
Without waiting for further objections from Mizuki Mirei, an invisible force enveloped her body, compelling her forward.
She pushed open the heavy glass door.
Sure enough, two security guards sat dozing at the reception desk by the entrance.
However, as Mizuki Mirei walked right past them, the two guards acted as if they hadn’t seen her at all, their heads still drooping, sound asleep.
The surveillance camera at the elevator also flickered with static on its screen as she passed by, temporarily rendered useless.
With the help of Ibaraki Doji’s unfathomable, supernatural power, Mizuki Mirei infiltrated the interior of the building without any effort, completely undetected.
The elevator ascended smoothly and finally stopped on the seventh floor.
With a soft *ding*, the elevator doors slowly opened.
The scene outside the doors instantly made Mizuki Mirei frown.
Completely unlike the quiet, deserted atmosphere downstairs, the entire seventh floor had been remodeled into a massive, high-end club-like space.
Luxurious crystal chandeliers, hallways carpeted with expensive Persian rugs, modern art paintings she couldn’t understand hanging on the walls.
The air was thick with the smell of strong cigars and alcohol, mixed with the unrestrained laughter of women and the crude, flirtatious banter of men.
A group of men in sharp suits, looking like successful businessmen, were entering and exiting a private room at the end of the corridor, their arms around young women in revealing clothing.
This place bore no resemblance to a religious organization’s office.
It looked more like an underground club offering illicit services.
“It seems we’ve come to the right place,” Ibaraki Doji’s voice held a trace of undisguised disgust.
“These wretches are even more rotten than I imagined.”
“Where are we going?” Mizuki Mirei asked in her mind, suppressing her inner discomfort.
“To the private room at the very end,” Ibaraki Doji directed.
“The strongest concentration of that foul odor is coming from there. That fellow named Saito Shigeru we saw this afternoon should be inside.”
Mizuki Mirei nodded, took a deep breath, and walked towards the end of the corridor. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Under the cover of Ibaraki Doji’s spiritual form, she moved like a transparent ghost among the men and women lost in debauchery.
No one noticed her presence.
The further in she went, the more obscene the sounds she heard became.
The elite members of society who usually wore masks of propriety had completely shed their disguises here, revealing their ugliest, most primal sides.
They talked about bankrupting competitors through despicable means; they boasted about how many naive young girls they had toyed with; they brazenly mocked the poor souls they had driven to ruin with usurious loans.
Every word felt like a poisoned dagger, stabbing deep into Mizuki Mirei’s heart.
The education she had received since childhood had given her a clear understanding of good and evil.
But everything she witnessed here completely overturned her worldview.
So, human malice could be so pure, so… unabashed.
Finally, she reached the door of the most luxurious private room at the very end of the corridor.
The door was not closed tightly, leaving a small gap.
Through the gap, she could clearly see the scene inside.
Inside the room was none other than Saito Shigeru, the deputy leader of the Miyuan Cult who had visited Shifune Shrine that very afternoon.
He was currently leaning back on a soft leather sofa, with two young, beautiful girls in his arms.
Holding a glass of expensive red wine, he wore an expression of utter enjoyment.
Opposite him sat several men who looked like his underlings, exuding a thuggish air.
“Mr. Saito, is that piece of land, Shifune Shrine, really that important? Worth all this trouble?” asked a crew-cut underling with a neck tattoo, sounding puzzled.
“I heard the Great Leader recently gave a strict order to acquire that land at all costs, and as quickly as possible.”
Hearing this, Saito Shigeru chuckled softly and took a sip of his wine.
“What do you know?” he said in a tone laced with superiority.
“That shrine is far more than just a piece of land. It’s a Shinto lineage with over a century of history. In the past, such things might not have mattered much, but now… times are changing.”
He paused, a flash of fanatical light in his eyes.
“You’ve all heard about the incident in Bunkyo Ward, right? The one that caused such a huge commotion? That was a real demon god! The Great Leader says this world is on the verge of an unprecedented transformation. Whoever can find and control these ‘mysteries’ first will become the master of the new era!”
“What our Miyuan Cult aims to do is to seize control of all similar shrines and spiritual sites across Japan before the government and those other old fossils can react! Shifune Shrine is just one of our targets.”
Hiding outside the door, Mizuki Mirei felt her heart jolt violently.
She could never have imagined that the Miyuan Cult’s coveting of Shifune Shrine hid such a shocking layer of ambition!
They weren’t just after land and money.
Their true goal was to gain control over supernatural existences… like Ibaraki Doji!