"The day after tomorrow, huh..."
Shiki's eyes lowered slightly. It seemed she had plenty of time, provided Hana Sanri would stand next to the Tenko Statue leading to Ritou, just like in the game.
She planned to talk with this shrine maiden before the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual to see if there was any way to save her in the end.
Arriving at Kamisato Estate halfway up the mountain, Shiki did not enter Chinju Forest but stopped in front of the Waypoint nearby.
"Hm? Why aren't you going on?" Ioroi was a little confused.
"Just an experiment. Stand on my shoulder first," Shiki said, placing her hand on the Waypoint.
Although Ioroi was confused, he still complied, jumping onto the girl's shoulder with a push of his short legs.
At this moment, the intricate Ley Lines had already outlined a map of Narukami Island in Shiki's mind. After skillfully focusing her consciousness on the Konda Village node, accompanied by a familiar sensation of weightlessness, she returned to Konda Village.
However...
Where was Ioroi?
At the same time, at the Kamisato Estate Waypoint, Ioroi plopped onto the ground, his tiny eyes filled with great confusion.
"???"
Seemingly not realizing what had happened, Ioroi was bewildered for a while before exclaiming, "Shiki! Where did you go!"
But then, the girl reappeared before him, muttering something:
"How can I not bring it over..."
"What can't you bring over? No, Shiki, where did you go just now? I thought you were eaten by some land demon!"
"There's no land demon here. Ioroi, change back to your true form first; I want to try again."
Shiki found it a bit funny. Could it be that Ioroi's intelligence changed with his size? The smaller he was, the more foolish?
Back to the main topic, the recent teleportation gave her a conjecture. Whether she could bring people with her in the future depended on this moment.
"Oh."
Ioroi transformed back into his true form with a thump. The enormous Tanuki was very conspicuous. Taking advantage of no one being around, Shiki quickly connected to the Ley Line, then focused her attention on the node leading to Ritou.
If a normal-sized Tanuki were to teleport directly into the village, that would be fine, but if it were in its true form, it would probably scare the villagers to death.
Although Shiki found Ioroi foolish and cute, with such a large Tanuki, who knew what those villagers would think.
Shiki tightly hooked one of Ioroi's claws. Accompanied by the sound of crashing waves in her ears and the furry giant beside her, she knew it had succeeded.
"But from now on, I can only teleport here first!" Shiki was a bit helpless.
It took half an hour to travel from here to Konda Village, which was neither too long nor too short. It was acceptable, but it just felt awkward.
It was like being able to take the subway directly to your doorstep, but instead, you could only get off two stops early and walk the rest of the way. There was a faster method, but you couldn't use it, which was very frustrating.
"All right, shrink down. I'll take you home first."
One person and one Tanuki walked along the official road towards Konda Village. As they passed the Tenko Statue, Ioroi seemed to sense something, but he only felt it was very familiar and didn't recognize what it was.
Looking at Shiki, who did not stop, Ioroi had no choice but to temporarily suppress his curiosity and follow her.
No big deal, he could come back at night anyway! After all, this statue wouldn't run away from here.
The summer midday sun was the most scorching. Well, it should have been, but Miss Ryougi didn't feel hot at all right now.
"Ioroi, your Tanuki spells are too convenient!"
That's right, Shiki's comfort in the middle of the day was entirely due to Ioroi's magic.
Even though the sun was directly overhead, the temperature Shiki felt was still as cool as in the morning, completely unaffected by the sun.
"That's natural. Warding off cold and avoiding heat are the basics of basics. Don't mention me; even the little ones among our kind can do it."
Upon hearing someone praise him, Ioroi's tail shot up to the sky, but he indeed had the ability to make it soar.
After these two days of getting along, Shiki completely understood Ioroi's role. Despite his plump, tank-like appearance, he was actually a mage.
And he specialized in support magic.
For example, illusion spells, acceleration, transformation spells; Ioroi didn't know many attack-type spells.
To be precise, attack-type spells were rare among the Tanuki clan, which explained why they were driven out of Mt. Yougou by the foxes a long time ago.
How could a bunch of supports fight against a damage-dealing mage? In a fight, the Tanuki would either transform or put up shields, while the foxes would directly use elemental attacks. It would be a miracle if they could win.
It's not that the importance of support is small; the key is that if you have no output, what can your support do?
Upon returning to the village, Shiki found Tejima standing at the door anxiously searching for something. When he saw her, his eyes lit up, and he quickly ran over.
"Oh my goodness, you're finally back! I didn't see you return all last night, and I thought something had happened to you!"
Listening to Tejima's complaining tone, Shiki felt a warmth in her heart. After coming to this world, Tejima had been like an elder to her, and he had also unreservedly taught her his swordsmanship.
One must know that Tejima could have simply left her there to fend for herself.
The law never stipulated that one must save someone who is injured and lying on the ground. Tejima chose to save her entirely because he had a very good character.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited for thirty years and guarded Konda Village against monster incursions.
Tejima was a respectable person; Shiki, at least, respected him greatly in her heart.
"My fault, my fault. But my trip wasn't without Gains, was it? Let me introduce you to a companion I met, Ioroi!"
Shiki first meekly admitted her mistake, then unethically lifted Ioroi to try and divert Tejima's attention.
Although she respected Tejima, that didn't mean she wanted to be lectured.
"Hello, little one, I am the world-renowned Tanuki, Ioroi!"
"!!! A talking Tanuki!"
Tejima exclaimed, clearly his attention had been successfully diverted.
Shiki, standing to the side, imperceptibly let out a sigh of relief. She planned to keep the matter of gaining Lightning element a secret for a while, and only tell him after performing the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual and getting a fake glass orb.
As for who to find to make it, of course, it was the Master Zheng Sheng mentioned in the game.
His craftsmanship in faking things could even fool Shogunate soldiers; it was enough for disguise.
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