In the darkness, a young hunter is frustrated. As he desperately moves along the mountain path in the darkness, his face gradually turns into the color of despair.
Desperation consud him as he pondered on the matter at hand. It was true that there was a rumor that youkai had been increasing their number of victims in recent years. However, this does not an that he should stay at ho. Autumn has already begun. Peasants have to harvest the harvest of their fields. As for vendors, the sale of stored goods to those who hibernate for the winter is a valuable source of inco, and for hunters, the fat beasts of autumn are the perfect prey.
So, people have to work to survive. Moreover, it is autumn now, and winter is coming. People cannot cower timidly in their houses, no matter the dangers. Needless to say, even though the number of people attacked by youkai has increased, it is still a minority in the whole. That is why many of them work under the illusion that they will not be attacked, or under the false pretense of fear and insecurity. They believe that only the unlucky ones will be attacked or eaten.
And in that sense, the young hunter was unlucky.
He did not know how long he had been in the trap. Before he knew it, the hunter found himself lost. As if after all this ti, he realizes that the charm he had been carrying in his pocket is broken. When he beca aware of this, he was lost, not knowing which way he had co from or which way he was going.
In a panic, he returns the way he ca. He had left early in the morning and realized it before noon. Although it was not a deep mountain, he still could not reach the hut where he had been staying even as the sun was setting.
Even after the sun had completely set, he desperately kept going. He has no choice but to go. He did not intend to look behind him. There was no room for that. No, he was more afraid than that. He felt that if he turned around, he would never be able to go back.
"Ah, d*mn it...!!"
On and on, he kept going... even though his feet hurt. After all, instinct and his sixth sense as a hunter warned him that if he stopped, it would be the end.
However, it was nothing more than a desperate attempt.
"Huh...!?"
The hunter stops, breathless. He has no choice. Ahead of him is a cliff. Before he knew it, he had arrived at a place he would not normally set foot. A cliff so steep that even a hunter who has lived in the mountains for many years would find it difficult to climb over it... His escape was completely lost.
"D*mn, d*mn it...!!"
The hunter picks up his bow with a trembling voice. He fires his arrow. He does not intend to die here. Even if he does, he doesn't want to just be monster food. At least let him take the monster with him.
"I'll do it... I'll do it!! Co at , you monster! I'll beat you to death and skin you alive!!"
The young hunter shouts with fear overpowering him. Still, he inspires himself. Motivates himself.
And when he sees the bushes sway, the hunter imdiately fires his bow. Again and again, and again. He madly shoots his arrows until there are no more arrows left.
After shooting all his arrows, the hunter cos to his senses. At the sa ti, he turns pale. But... nothing happens?
"......"
Now, he switch to his dagger from his pocket and goes to the bushes. He shakes the bushes. And then he sees. A deer with several arrows piercing its flesh.
"Uh...? Ha, haha... Did I, misunderstand? It's not a monster?"
The hunter is taken aback. He drops his dagger and is relieved. Was he mistaken if the presence from behind him was just his imagination...? The hunter laughs awkwardly, as if he were possessed by a fox or a raccoon.
A mont later, a violent gust of wind blows. At the sa ti, the hunter "rolled over" from the pain in his shin.
"Ughh! ...What!?"
The hunter looks at the shin of his leg to see a wound if he had been cut. But there was neither a wound nor bleeding. There was only a piece of cloth that had been cut without any wound.
Soon after, the hunter notices a shadow that literally "suddenly appears" behind him. Then he turns around.
"Ah..."
In his last monts, he saw. Death itself, in the shape of an approaching wolf's fangs.
And he realizes. It was all a trap. The fact that he let himself get lost and exhausted, the fact that he was so relieved that he let his guard down, it was all a cunning trap. But, people knew that, didn't they? Youkai are cowardly and sneaky to the end.
So it's not surprising that they would join forces to humiliate others.
Soon after, the sound of crunching flesh and bones echoed through the mountains.
* * *
The Kizuki family's estate is located on a large plot of land. It was a collection of buildings such as huts and warehouses, blacksmiths, and various processing facilities built in the northeast of the main hall... And in one corner of it was the tallurgical facility where I stood, carrying a teguruma (yo-yo like) apparatus with a coil of earth spider silk.
"Excuse , I'm the Yun-shoku, the servant. Is the curse tool maker leader here?"
After asking a few craftsn and curse tool maker, I finally found the place, and as soon as I opened the door, I heard a sound.
It was the sound of tal clanging, but as soon as I turned to the people inside and asked them a question, the noisy sound imdiately died down. Then I see it. At the back of the room, which is not brightly lit, I see a man with a bar of iron in his hand, examining its quality. Without looking at , he beckons and commands, "Co in."
"Then..."
I bow and enter, and the room begins to echo again with a tallic clang. I ignore it and approach him, and this ti, the desk nearby is struck with the back of his hand.
I understand what it ans, and I place it on the desk where it was tapped. Then he finally turns his head to look at . With a grin. I responded by looking at him again.
"How? How's this guy doing?"
"Not bad. I'm still afraid of self-destruction and friendly fire."
"Well, it's too bad that the thread is too sharp. You know how hard it is for to process it? And do you know how many tis I almost cut off my finger?"
I take one look at the teguruma on the pedestal, wrapped in layers of cloth for safety, and the man dressed like a craftsman stops all work and cries out with a cowering shoulder, showing his thick palm, which bears the marks of several cuts.
"Anyway, let's have a look, shall we?"
The man put his special gloves on his arms and began to carefully examine his work, the teguruma I had placed on the desk.
...The Kizuki family curse tool users are one of the subsidiary organizations organized by the exorcist clan Kizuki family, and for many mbers of the Kizuki family, they hold a much more important position than the lower servants.
Even for exorcists, it is extrely difficult to fight against youkai without any special clothes on. No, the average exorcists in Kizuki can probably beat or kick to death small youkai, depending on the number of youkai, even if they are naked. However, it is difficult to kill higher than that. ...Though, if it was Gorilla-sama, she can beat a dozen of great youkai to death with only her bare hands, but that is an exception.
And since most of the equipnt used by exorcists is designed for use against youkai, not against humans, it is not easy to manufacture. In many cases, special processing is required. Therefore, mass-produced military swords and spears that were not even cursed by the smiths in those areas were very inefficient for use against the dium youkai, but not for use against the larger youkai.
In addition, the Imperial Court forbade the manufacture of private curse tools, regardless of their actual state. This was to secure tax revenue and to prevent rebellion by controlling weapons and other necessities.
In defense, the quality of the black-market charms varies widely, and so of them are dangerous, so it is not completely wrong, but the quality of charms made by the governnt is also generally good, so in that sense it is still a vested interest.
...Aside from the private sector, the problem is the exorcists. The standardized governnt-made charms are insufficient in terms of performance and variety for them to be able to penetrate into youkai's den. Therefore, the exorcists were given special privileges to manufacture curse tools, and they gathered or trained their own craftsn and created a skilled group to produce curse tools to equip themselves or to sell to the surrounding villages and cities. This is the beginning of the so-called Kizuki family's curse-tool maker group.
Kizuki family's curse tool maker group has a leader like Yun-shoku, and Kuga Sarujirou is the na of the leader who examines the teguruma in front of . He is about two years older than , a distant relative of the Kizuki family, and one of the sub-characters in the ga "Firefly of the Dark Night (Yamiyo no Hotaru)" on which the ga is based. In the ga, he does not participate in battles and does not join the party, but he sotis provides the main character with items or advice depending on events. He is a completely safe character with no landmines. I made his acquaintance when I was still a miscellaneous man.
"Hmm, the chanism doesn't seem to be damaged. I guess, materials are important. I used scraps of teorite and sacred wood, but with this, it shouldn't break even with long-term use."
Kuga checks the parts of the teguruma to see if they are worn out. He asked if the spider threads I had recovered could be used for so kind of equipnt, and among several prototypes I made, he finally selected a dark instrunt with a wheel as a final candidate, but the problem was its material. As was the case with the other ideas, the string of the Tsuchigumo was too sharp to be used as a weapon, and it would easily damage if it were used with a half-finished tal fittings or wood.
After making several prototypes and changing the materials, he finally succeeded in making sothing out of the materials used for making armor and protective gear that were offered to the Kizuki family mbers, as well as scraps and leftovers. From there, after several actual battles to identify problems and defects, the weapon finally seed to be ready for full-scale use. The only weapon that could inflict a decent wound on a great youkai or stronger had been the dagger (tantō), so even though it was not easy to use, this teguruma was going to be a very reassuring weapon.
"It will be very helpful. These gloves must have been difficult to make, too, right?"
I show him the gloves that I made by unraveling and sewing elastic threads one by one, which were also spit out by the tsuchigumo, and express my gratitude. This is also the work of the man in front of , and I cannot use the teguruma without it. It cuts even iron. With re gloves, my fingers might fall off even if I don't do a bad job.
"Hey. You should thank in so way. You're that kind of guy, right? You're bringing them, right?"
The craftsman smiles at with a wicked grin, and I give him a devious grin across my face as well. Then I slowly pull it out of my pocket.
"Hey, hey, that's..."
"At first I was going to buy so sake in the city, but I t up with a group of Tachibana rchants on the way. As a thank you for escorting them, they gave a little souvenir."
Saying this, I show him a glass bottle that can be held in one hand. Inside the bottle is a clear liquid containing highly purified alcohol... that is, an imported distilled liquor that was called vodka in my previous world.
Made from barley or wheat and finally filtered through charcoal, this imported liquor is known for its particularly high alcohol content. In Fusō-kuni, sake is first of all made from rice, a sweet but muddy liquor that is easily intoxicating and unpleasant to the palate, and then cos the luxury of sake made from rice lees and other ingredients. And neither of them had an alcohol concentration that could hardly be called sake in the presence of the imported sake I had in my possession. ...No, in fact, it is almost a mass of alcohol with a concentration of more than 90%, isn't it?
In any case, many imported goods are expensive. And considering the treatnt and circumstances of the curse tools maker, this small bottle would be a sufficient bribe.
"Hmm, this certainly has a strong aroma of liquor. Just take a sip... it sure looks like it will get drunk soon."
Pulling out the bottle cork and slling the contents, the curse-tool maker leader take a sip and then say what he thinks of it. He seems to be shocked at the taste, which is quite different from the sake he usually drinks.
"I'll accept it gratefully... I'm sorry, it's always the sa with you. Thank you very much."
"No, I'm also the one who is always getting help from you with equipnt. I have to keep the connection with you."
For him, the souvenirs I buy when I go away on a mission are valuable enough. After all, the curse tool maker can't go out. And depending on the family of the exorcists, there are many secret arts and legends, and each toolmaker creates their tools with them in mind, or by using them. Their skills and knowledge are confidential.
Therefore, basically, the curse-tool makers are not allowed to leave the house. They spend most of their lives in the estate, and can go out with their attendants to nearby places in the territory (in the case of the Kizuki family, to the Kizuki valley village which can be seen from the estate) if they are authorized, but that is about it. The rest of the ti, they could accompany their master's family to the capital's artisan city or to the imperial court's curse-working departnt for study. In any case, there is little danger of death, but there is little freedom. So the bribes I can offer will work.
And in fact, the payoff is enormous. I would have died sooner than I did without the explosives and the charms he offered . It's not that I approached him for that in the first place, but... everything in life is a good thing, I suppose.
"Oh, by the way, there was a supply of sothing that would go well with booze the other day. Let's see... Oh, here it is..."
Suddenly, as if rembering sothing, Kuga begins to look in the tool cabinet in one corner of the room. He takes out a sake cup and a small burlap sack, which were hidden behind the tools, and shows them to .
"What's that?"
"Well, just take a look."
Kuga opens the contents of the sack with such a manner. The contents were imdiately recognized by its peculiar sll: dried food. It was dried at and dried squid, which could be used as a snack. Kizuki Valley is located deep in the mountains, so I could recognize dried at, but... dried squid?
"I got so left over from the ritual."
"Oh, I see..."
It is surprisingly one of the ingredients used in ritual offerings. Perhaps this is the leftover from an offering, or perhaps it is the offering itself that was collected after it beca stale.
"Well, would you like a drink?"
The curse-tool maker shows a cheap sake cup and tempted with it. It was a tempting offer, but unfortunately I could not take it.
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