A Good Man Driven Mad
As she traveled across Yashiori Island and witnessed the suffering caused by the flames of war, Yae Miko's expression grew extremely grim.
Yashiori Island might not have been particularly prosperous in the past, but at least it had never been this... desolate.
Its residents were either dead or had fled, leaving hardly any locals behind.
Following the directions given by the surviving villagers of the ruined Higi Village, she eventually arrived at the edge of a cliff.
"Are you listening to me?"
Yae Miko saw a young girl with long bluish-purple hair standing before a shrine. From this angle, she could only see the girl's back and the two sharp Oni Horns atop her head.
"Please do not interrupt me. 'He' is displeased by the disturbance of speech and has veiled the wisdom of the 'Heart's Voice.'"
Beside the girl, a samurai clad in purple armor tried to persuade her. "The usefulness of speech has already been exhausted. It only disturbs the mind, while the 'Heart's Voice' naturally stills the spirit and gently drifts into the place where 'He' resides."
"Do not speak with words. Do not use your ears. Come here with only your heart, worship, pray, and then listen. You must worship three times. Remember, three times."
Yae Miko silently stopped and decided to see how the girl intended to handle this.
"He is powerful because He listens. Because He is powerful, He can see all and hear all. Thus, nothing escapes His sight, and nothing escapes His hearing..."
"Whether it is the fools of Sangonomiya or the madmen of Narukami Island, none of them understand or feel any of this. All they know is how to slaughter one another and let blood blind their eyes..."
An unmistakable fanaticism filled his voice. "Worship at the shrine, traveler."
"The path to salvation lies within—pfft!"
Before he could finish speaking, a purple Tachi pierced straight through his chest. Violet lightning spread through his body, leaving the madman before her without the slightest chance of survival.
"Worship..." Washizu murmured weakly as the light gradually faded from his eyes.
"I thought you would exchange a few more words with him," Yae Miko said as she slowly approached. "You did listen to him ramble for quite a while, after all."
"A pitiful yet hateful man." Xia Yu looked at the samurai's corpse and said calmly, "A man driven mad by war. Why allow his madness to continue?"
Two bloodstained sheets of paper fell from Washizu's clothes. Yae Miko beckoned with one hand, and the papers flew into her grasp.
'The war is still continuing. The proclamations from both sides are nothing more than empty words. They cannot spare any attention for us at all... Higi Village has taken in too many people who fled from the mines, and our food is beginning to run out. We had no choice but to gather everyone's valuables and distribute them according to plan. We must at least save some money to buy food from the nearby pirates...'
'No matter what, someone must maintain the shrine near the Serpent's Head. Since everyone is afraid of the "Tatarigami," something that cannot be seen or touched, then as the village chief, I am the only one who can do it...'
'Many people have fallen ill, and even more suffer from one ailment or another, making physical labor difficult. This cannot continue. That fellow Yasumoto is nothing but a fraud. All he does is boil Violet Melons with sugar and make us drink the soup, yet it cures nothing. That boy always used to idle around doing nothing. As expected, he cannot be relied upon...'
Yae Miko paused when she reached this point, then looked at the next sheet.
'The village's only Doctor has also lost his mind. We tied him up and locked him in the cellar. Only then can we prevent him from hurting others or himself.
'At present, the only thing we can do is pray. We can only hope our wishes reach the ears of Her Excellency the Shogun and bring an end to this war...'
'We should gather everyone near the shrine. In circumstances like these, everyone's minds are fragile. As the village chief, I am deeply troubled by my own incompetence, but I should at least give everyone some hope. Yet Shingo claims that he heard the "voice of a god." How absurd...'
'Chouji's Mother came again. Every day, she prays alone at the shrine. Is it because of her illness, or because of her husband? I am sorry that I could not help her Family as the village chief. It was truly my failure! All I could do was apologize to her on behalf of Higi Village...'
'We locked Shingo up. He tried to attack Chouji's Mother. He has truly gone mad! There are always voices speaking in my ears, buzzing so noisily. Perhaps I have not slept well these past few days. I should rest...'
'The auditory hallucinations have not improved. The headache is unbearable...'
The writing ended there.
"Actually, he was a good man before he went mad." Xia Yu sheathed her Tachi, crouched down, and opened the samurai's faceplate. She reached out and closed his eyes. "According to the people of Higi Village, Village Chief Washizu used to be a good man who devoted himself to protecting the villagers. He took the initiative to watch over the shrine that suppressed the Tatarigami and helped refugees."
"He took in refugees who had fled from Tatarasuna and the Serpent's Head mines, distributed food and supplies among them, and voluntarily guarded the shrine that suppressed the great serpent's resentment. He made regular offerings, hoping that worship would keep the Tatarigami stable. He also treated the apothecary Yasumoto kindly. Even though he did not approve of Yasumoto using Violet Melon soup to comfort the patients, he still trusted him to treat their illnesses."
"He did everything within his power. War, mining disasters, the Shogunate's oppressive taxes, and raids by the resistance—he bore the pressure of keeping the entire village alive all by himself."
Indeed, Washizu had once been a good man. He had even warmly entertained Alice when she came to visit.
"Then, after the villagers fell ill one after another and mortal medicine proved useless, despair and the Tatarigami eroded his mind. He became convinced that only sacrificing living people to the great serpent could appease the curse. He began capturing passersby, villagers, and lost Shogunate samurai as offerings, until he finally went completely mad."
"Doctor Yasumoto asked me to grant this once-good man release." Xia Yu stood and said, "He said that the good village chief was already dead. He could not allow the lunatic now wearing the village chief's skin to destroy everyone."
"You saw the notes just now as well, Yae Miko." She turned around and looked back at Yae Miko. "Until the moment he lost his mind, the good Village Chief Washizu continued praying to Her Excellency the Shogun, whom he believed in. He prayed for the war to end and for this disaster to pass."
The moment she saw Xia Yu's face, Yae Miko understood how Kujou Sara had felt. Truly, had she not been so familiar with Ei, she might also have mistaken the two at first glance.
"But nothing he waited for ever came. In the end, a good man was driven into madness while still alive."
"Tell me, whose fault was that?"
"...As the Electro Archon's Retainer, I should not overstep my bounds by saying this." Faced with Yashiori Island's tragic condition, even someone as eloquent as Yae Miko could find no excuse. "But the truth is that Ei's obstinacy caused all of this."
"You know how she is." Every word seemed to seek Xia Yu's agreement. "That blockhead has room only for her Eternity in her heart. There is no longer space for anything else."
It was both a lament and a probe intended to test how close the puppet before her was to Ei.
"What would I know?" Xia Yu tilted her head. "Eternity? What a boring thing. Where in this world does true Eternity exist? Even this fragile ecosystem created by the Heavenly Principles has been breached before, hasn't it?"
Yae Miko sharply inhaled upon hearing this.
Seriously, sister, are you really that fearless?
"Eternity? Her? The Heavenly Principles cannot obtain it even in their dreams, so what makes the Electro Archon think she is qualified?"
"My, my, you really shouldn't say things like that." Yae Miko's expression stiffened, and she hurriedly added, "There are some matters we would be better off not discussing."
I am not nearly that reckless.
'One dares not speak too loudly, for fear of startling those in heaven,' is that it?" Xia Yu chuckled and lightly tapped the eye-shaped ornament at her waist. "Heh. What a coward."
"After all, I am merely a weak and powerless little fox." Yae Miko sighed. "I cannot compare with mighty Archons like you, who summon thunderstorms at the slightest provocation."
As she spoke, she narrowed her eyes, and a trace of doubt flashed through them.
Kujou Sara had said that the person before her could summon a thunderstorm with the slightest movement, yet Yae Miko had never sensed even the faintest trace of elemental power from her.
Much less an Archon's Authority. How had she summoned a thunderstorm?
Furthermore, Inazuma was the territory of the Electro Archon. Had she truly mobilized enough Electro elemental power to accomplish something on such a scale, the Puppet Shogun could not possibly have ignored it. Her fundamental programming was to eliminate anything that obstructed Eternity.
Just as even Yae Miko, the Electro Archon's Retainer, could not overstep her authority to handle Yashiori Island's problems, anyone wielding power comparable to the Electro Archon's Authority would undoubtedly be the greatest possible challenge to the order Ei had established in Inazuma.
If Yae Miko personally told the Puppet Shogun everything currently happening in Inazuma, the puppet would merely regard it as factional infighting. When Ei wrote her code, she had rigidly established that the Shogunate's Tri-Commission must each perform its own duties, and that the Grand Narukami Shrine could not interfere with any of their responsibilities.
Likewise, they had no authority to interfere with the Grand Narukami Shrine's responsibilities.
All such actions would be regarded as transgressions against Eternity, and the Puppet Shogun truly would cut people down. Otherwise, Yae Miko would never have needed to make such a wide detour and use the Traveler as a weapon just to meet Ei, who had shut herself inside the Plane of Euthymia.
By the same logic, the Puppet Shogun should have transformed into a flash of lightning and appeared the moment Raiden Mei used her Authority, then attacked the transgressor who had defied Eternity.
But she had done nothing, while no trace of any Authority or even elemental power could be seen on Raiden Mei.
This forced Yae Miko to reconsider the relationship between them. Could it be possible... that Raiden Mei's actions had also been permitted by Ei and the Puppet Shogun?
An unrealistic hope flashed through her mind. Perhaps Ei had not truly shut herself away completely and had left a contingency outside. Now that she had seen the people of Inazuma suffering so terribly, perhaps she had finally been unable to restrain herself and intended to step in and set everything right?
"The surname Raiden is no ordinary name in Inazuma," Yae Miko probed. "Miss Raiden Mei."
In Inazuma, Raiden was not the surname of an ordinary Family. It was the national surname of Inazuma, the divine title of the Electro Archon, and the unified symbol of the Shogunate's legitimacy and authority over thunder. It represented the supreme divine right to rule the entire Dominion.
Ordinary villagers did not understand such things. They would only think that anyone bearing the surname Raiden must be important, without comprehending just how important.
But practically everyone among the upper ranks understood what that surname signified.
In present-day Inazuma, only one person was qualified to bear it.
"What does that have to do with me?" Xia Yu spread her hands. "I am not from Inazuma. I am merely a Herrscher stranded in a foreign land."
"Then, Miss Traveler," Yae Miko asked with a smile, "why did you summon me here?"
"Oh, what happened here is simply too appalling to ignore." Xia Yu raised her head and said coldly, "You. Go solve all of this for me!"
Of course, she could cure the local villagers, just as she could cure Oripathy in Terra.
Or rather, if she could even cure Oripathy, mere Tatarigami contamination was nothing.
But reality was just as awkward as it had been with Oripathy. Xia Yu could only heal an individual's body, treating the symptoms but not the cause. Originium particles were everywhere. The moment she cured someone, they would simply become infected again.
The current situation on Yashiori Island was the same. She could exhaust herself curing the villagers, but as long as the great serpent's resentment continued polluting the land, they would fall ill again soon afterward.
It was rather embarrassing. Xia Yu possessed many methods, but eliminating this kind of Tatarigami contamination left her somewhat at a loss.
The main problem was that it lay outside her area of expertise. The most direct solution she could offer was to blow the entirety of Yashiori Island away. Then there would naturally be no need to worry about contamination.
But people still had to live on the island. Things could not possibly be handled in such a simple and brutal manner.
Different fields required different specialists. They would still need to rely on the methods of the locals: first seal the Archon's resentment, then treat the bodies of the local people.
She truly was not very skilled at sealing this sort of thing. She had plenty of ways to destroy it, but finding a method that would leave no harm behind for this world was... Hmm.
"Forgive me, but I refuse." Yae Miko shook her head. "It is not that I am unwilling. The Shogunate does not permit it."
"Under Her Excellency the Shogun's plan for Eternity, every branch of the Shogunate must perform its own duties without interfering with the others. This should be the responsibility of the Tenryou Commission. If I overstep my authority, I really will be struck down!"
"Oh, you mean you're worried that the Electro Archon might cut you down in the future?" Xia Yu drew the Herrscher of Thunder's signature weapon, Domain of Sanction. The purple Tachi was immediately pressed against Yae Miko's neck.
"Choose. Disobey me and be cut down now, or be cut down by your Electro Archon later."
Yae Miko was completely dumbfounded.
Seriously, sister, are you really that irritable? You drew your sword without another word?
Tsk. Why do I feel like you resemble Ei even more than the Puppet Shogun does? This is purely the behavior of a military commander...
Moreover, although Yae Miko could not sense any elemental power or Authority, all forms of energy were ultimately connected. There was no elemental power, but an incomparably dangerous force lingered within the blade.
Yae Miko cautiously sensed it for a moment.
Mm. That feels about right.
One strike from that blade could probably carve out another Musoujin Gorge.
And now, that incomparably powerful blade was resting against my neck.
Without the slightest hesitation, Yae Miko immediately raised both hands.
"I'll do it! I'll do it, all right?!" she said with an aggrieved expression. "Please hold that sword steady. Whatever you do, don't let your hand slip!"
If she lost her grip for even a moment, I would be going to meet Lady Kitsune Saiguu!
"Wise choice." Xia Yu withdrew her Tachi and nodded in satisfaction. "In that case, I will leave Yashiori Island to you."
"You had better not disappoint me... Lady Guuji~~~"
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