The rambling words drifted on the wind as Nurarihyon exhaled a long breath of pipe smoke.
The smoke unraveled in the night breeze, curling toward the shrine still burning in the distance — as if following the sound of his words.
"Look at that old man."
He pointed his pipe toward the hunched village elder crouching in the corner of the yard.
The old man was folded against the base of the wall, his already-bent back curved lower than before, as though something heavy had settled on top of him and refused to let him rise.
"What's he afraid of?"
Nurarihyon asked.
"Demons? No — that toad is dead."
"Afraid of you two? Even less likely. You saved his life."
"What he's afraid of —"
The golden-haired demon paused, his slit-pupiled golden eyes reflecting the firelight.
"— is tomorrow."
Kōbe Hikaru said nothing.
He already knew what Nurarihyon was about to say.
"The lord who rules this area — what was his name again…"
Nurarihyon scratched his head, affecting the look of a man who couldn't quite remember.
"Doesn't matter. Some sword-bearing samurai with a family name, technically a vassal of the Hōjō clan nearby. Apparently he's been getting rich fast these past two years — and doing it without an ounce of shame."
"Without an ounce of shame?"
Kikyō spoke, her voice calm.
"Annual tribute — seventy percent."
Nurarihyon held up the number with his fingers.
"Seventy percent?"
Kōbe Hikaru's brow furrowed.
Annual tribute — the harvest tax that peasants in this era paid to their lord.
In normal times, forty percent was already considered crushing.
Seventy percent — that was all but driving farmers into the grave.
And that was just the annual tribute — the most modest line item in the whole ledger of what could be taken.
Nurarihyon continued: "On top of that — corvée labor, military conscription, road tolls, head taxes… every scheme he could think of, he ran. If you couldn't pay, he hauled you away. If there was no one to haul, he burned your house down."
"This village got off easy — at least there are still a few roofs standing."
"The village next door was burned to the ground three months ago. Every man was dragged off to build castle walls. The women…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to. Everyone present understood what he meant.
"So now you understand why that toad could play 'god' around here?"
Nurarihyon looked at Kōbe Hikaru.
"It wasn't that the thing was so powerful. It's that these people needed a 'god.' They needed something that could protect them."
"Even if that something ate one of them every month — it was still better than being dragged off by the lord's soldiers."
"At least being eaten only costs one life. When a lord sets his sights on you, it costs the whole village."
Kōbe Hikaru fell silent.
So did Kikyō.
They both already knew this, of course.
"While that toad was alive, the lord's men didn't dare come near — even when he once made a real show of it, hiring a whole team of Demon Slayers. But against a toad that had already built up its 'dread,' none of them were a match."
Nurarihyon said this, then gave a small shrug.
"But now…"
He glanced at the still-smoldering ruins.
"The toad is dead. The 'god' is gone."
"Take a guess — what do you think the lord does the moment word reaches him?"
Kōbe Hikaru already knew.
He'd come to collect. He'd come to take people.
He'd wring the last drop of blood from a village that was already drowning.
This was the price they'd paid for killing the demon.
"So that's why I said what you did was pointless."
Nurarihyon tucked his pipe back into his sash. "Killing demons feels good. But the rot in this world doesn't come from demons."
"It comes from people."
"'The hearts of men are darker than any demon' — that's not just a saying."
"The way I see it, the best outcome after all this is over — another demon shows up, and the whole cycle starts again."
"Nothing much changes."
In the corner of the yard, the village elder finally rose to his feet.
He walked over slowly, his clouded old eyes carrying something tangled and hard to name.
"Benefactors…"
His voice came out rough. "This old man has something he wishes to say — if he dares."
"Say it."
Kōbe Hikaru said.
"The kindness you two have shown tonight — this old man will carry it to his grave."
The village elder bent at the waist and bowed deeply.
"But… but this old man presumes to ask…"
"After you leave — what becomes of this village?"
His voice was trembling.
"That toad was a demon, yes — but while it was here, the lord's men truly didn't dare come."
"Now it's dead…"
"When word reaches the men in the city, they will come. They will say we hoarded offerings meant for a deity. They will say we owe three months of back taxes…"
The old man's eyes reddened.
"This old man is already old — if I die, so be it."
"But there are still children in this village. Young people with their whole lives ahead of them…"
He sank to his knees.
"I am deeply grateful to you both for exterminating that demon. I mean no reproach — none whatsoever. We know a demon is a demon. And the path we walked was absolutely a wicked one — nothing more than drinking poison to quench our thirst. But I had no other choice. Now, I have only this one plea for you, our benefactors — please, save the others in this village. For that, we will do anything. Even lay down our lives, and we would do so willingly!"
Kōbe Hikaru looked at the old man kneeling in the dirt.
The firelight made every groove and furrow of that weathered face look older than it already was.
Beside him, Nurarihyon bit down on his pipe with the expression of a man watching a very entertaining performance.
"See?" he said. "What did I tell you. Killing demons is easy. Cleaning up the mess they leave behind — that's the hard part. The righteous-hero approach, in a world like this…"
"I have a way."
Kōbe Hikaru cut him off.
Nurarihyon blinked.
"You have a way?"
"From the moment I decided to act, I already knew what came next."
Kōbe Hikaru looked down at the village elder, then lifted his gaze to the shrine still burning behind him.
"You think I didn't know what would happen after killing that toad?"
He said.
"The lord would come. The officials would come. This village would end up worse off than before."
"All of that — I knew."
"And so did she."
He glanced sideways at Kikyō.
The shrine maiden said nothing — only gave a small, quiet nod.
Nurarihyon's expression shifted.
The breezy amusement drained away, replaced by something that looked a great deal like genuine curiosity.
"If you knew — then why act at all?"
"Because —"
Kōbe Hikaru helped the kneeling village elder back to his feet, his voice low but clear.
"From the very beginning, I never planned to just kill that toad and walk away."
Though he had said that saving them was no concern of his — when it actually came down to it, Kōbe Hikaru found he couldn't just finish the job and dust off his hands. Nor did he need to.
He had also, genuinely, already thought of what to do.
If evil must be cut out, cut it out completely.
Either don't start — or see it through to the end.
He turned to face Nurarihyon.
The fire danced at his back, the light falling across that pale face in shifting flickers of shadow and flame.
"This village needs a 'god,' right?"
"It needs something to protect it — right?"
"Simple enough."
Kōbe Hikaru smiled.
It was an odd sort of smile in the dark of night — and yet, somehow, it was the most reassuring thing anyone there had seen in a long time.
"Then let us be the ones to stand watch over this place."
"What?"
The village elder went blank.
Nurarihyon's eyes narrowed, a glint of something flickering in those golden, slit pupils.
"You mean…"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
Kōbe Hikaru rested a hand on Muramasa at his hip.
"This village needs a 'god' to hold the lord's men at bay — needs a demon powerful enough that the officials don't dare set foot here."
"Everything that toad could do — I can do."
"And —"
"I don't eat people."
He looked at Kikyō.
"Neither does she."
Kikyō did not disagree.
She simply stood there, her black hair stirring lightly in the night wind, her dark eyes unreadable.
But Kōbe Hikaru knew — she had agreed.
From the moment she picked up her bow and followed him out of that crumbling building, she had already agreed.
Anything Kōbe Hikaru could think of, Kikyō would not have had difficulty thinking of either.
Killing the demon was only the beginning.
What came after was what mattered.
"From now on, this village stands under my name."
Kōbe Hikaru addressed the village elder.
"Anyone who comes to collect taxes, anyone who comes to haul people away — give them my name."
"As for whether that means anything… in the days ahead, you'll see for yourselves. And so will they."
It was clear he still had something else in mind — something that was going to shake the heavens.
The village elder's mouth hung open, and stayed that way for a long moment.
"This… this…"
Beside him, Nurarihyon watched the whole scene unfold, his golden eyes blinking slowly.
He let out a low whistle.
"Well, well. Interesting, Ghost Warrior."
He fixed his gaze on Kōbe Hikaru, something evaluating in that look.
"What exactly is this — appointing yourself as a local deity?"
"But do you actually have a plan — a name alone, and you think you can drive off soldiers and demons alike?"
Nurarihyon asked: "Say you spook the foot soldiers into running. What if that lord decides to come himself, and brings an army?"
"Then I'll kill him."
Kōbe Hikaru's tone was perfectly flat.
He added: "Don't forget — same as you, I'm a demon."
Demons didn't only prey on their own kind.
They could kill humans too.
And that, precisely, was what he intended to do next.
[Shikon Jewel — Naohi: Affection +2]
[Current Affection: 46 (Trust)]
[It conveys a message to you: 'Now that is the right way to get things done.']
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