Chapter 18: The Darkness Hidden Beneath the Golden Age
"Release them."
Hagoromo drew a slow breath. In the end, he simply could not force himself to accept it. His voice was steady, but it carried unquestionable authority.
"This is an order."
The samurai in front of him hesitated. Only for a moment.
Then, with a stiff expression, he lowered his head and complied.
"Release them."
He stepped forward personally, gesturing for the others to follow. Together, they opened the prison cart and unlatched the restraints, letting several children out.
The children seemed to sense Hagoromo's intent immediately. They scrambled away from the soldiers, then instinctively rushed behind him, clutching at his clothes and hiding at his back.
They were begging for protection without daring to say it.
Hagoromo looked down at them, and his heart tightened.
Even if they were the descendants of rebels, they were still children. None of them were old. Their clothes were little more than rags, and their faces and limbs showed how poorly they'd been treated.
They shrank behind him, heads lowered, avoiding the gazes around them. Yet every so often, one of them would peek out, staring at the samurai with eyes full of hatred so deep it didn't belong in a child.
Hagoromo's chest felt heavy.
"Lord Hagoromo…"
The lead samurai watched Hagoromo's actions and finally spoke, his voice strained with restraint. "Bringing these rebel clansmen to be sacrificed to the God Tree is His Majesty's command."
"I know." Hagoromo nodded. His expression did not change. "I will explain this to my father later."
"Right now, stop what you're doing."
Even if the samurai resisted in his heart, he had no choice but to abandon the mission.
There was no other path.
The man standing in front of him was a prince.
The eldest son of Yuu, the Crown Prince of the Land of Ancestors, the most legitimate successor once Yuu was gone.
When someone of that stature gave an order, obedience was the only answer.
And so, that day, a cruel sacrifice was stopped by the Hagoromo brothers.
But neither of them felt relief.
Their hearts were tangled, and the emotions churning inside them were anything but simple.
After that, the same sort of sacrifice continued to happen.
Each time the process began, the brothers would arrive as if on schedule, waiting beneath the Divine Tree's shrine. They would watch closely, then intervene when they judged someone to be innocent.
The more times they interfered, the wider the ripples spread.
Finally, one day, Yuu learned exactly what they had been doing.
That day, he summoned them.
When they arrived at the royal palace, both Hagoromo and Hamura felt a tightness in their stomachs before they even saw him. They had prepared themselves for anger, for fury, for harsh punishment.
But when they met Yuu, he was calm.
There was no rage in his eyes.
"Your willingness to step forward and help the weak is compassion," he said softly. "There is no reason to criticize that."
Then his gaze sharpened slightly, his tone still gentle.
"But if this continues for a long time, it will become problematic."
Because of their repeated interventions, dissatisfaction had already begun to brew in the country.
Some people argued that the brothers were being far too sympathetic toward rebels.
To them, these families had once raised blades against the Land of Ancestors. No punishment was excessive. Merely sending them to the Divine Tree, without torture or humiliation, was already mercy.
And yet the brothers kept stopping it.
At first, it was tolerated.
Later, it became resentment.
Hagoromo and Hamura thought Yuu would agree with those voices. They were ready to defend themselves, ready to explain.
But Yuu shook his head.
"Being dissatisfied with the current state of things, and wanting to change it, is not wrong," he said. "There is nothing to condemn."
"The reason I called you back is only because your methods are incorrect."
He looked at them steadily.
"Since you want change, then I will give you the power to make it."
With that, he produced an appointment letter and issued it on the spot.
From that day forward, the brothers became the commanders responsible for managing all prisoners in the Land of Ancestors.
In other words, they now held the authority to investigate and handle all matters related to prisoners across the entire realm.
If such power were given to an ordinary person, it would be like stepping into heaven in a single move, instantly joining the highest ranks of authority.
Even for them, it was unexpected.
In the Land of Ancestors, they were princes. Their status was indeed exalted.
But because of their age, they had always remained in the palace, studying and learning, far from the stage where they could truly command a department.
Yuu's decision was a pleasant shock.
"Thank you, Father."
Their faces lit with excitement. They bowed deeply, expressing their gratitude, swearing they would carry out their duties well.
This was exactly what they had wanted.
They believed that under their administration, fewer tragedies would occur. They believed they could reverse the fate of innocent children who were dragged into the punishment of their bloodlines.
And so, change began quickly.
Under the brothers, the judicial laws of the Land of Ancestors began to shift. Trials grew stricter, procedures tightened, and the handling of prisoners became far more rigorous.
At first, the results were excellent.
The number of prisoners in various regions dropped sharply.
Aside from those sentenced to death, all other prisoners were given the best treatment the system could provide.
But soon, Hagoromo and Hamura realized something was wrong.
No matter how hard they worked, there was always a portion of people who violated the law and ended up condemned as sacrifices.
No matter how many public awareness campaigns they organized, no matter what reforms they pushed through, the total number of convictions each year did not fall.
No matter what they did, they could not reduce the number of people being sent to the Divine Tree.
Worse, as the population grew, the number of sacrifices increased steadily each year.
It kept rising.
They felt a chill creep into their bones.
They began to investigate more carefully, to reflect more seriously, and to dig deeper into what was happening.
And then they found it.
Across the Land of Ancestors, there seemed to be an unspoken rule.
A quota.
Every region, every year, had to provide a certain number of names.
Each area had to deliver enough people to meet the sacrifice quota to the Divine Tree.
The quota never decreased.
It only increased with time.
That was why the brothers could not change the outcome.
Because no matter how cleanly they ran the courts, no matter how carefully they handled each case, the quota still demanded bodies.
It demanded names.
It demanded lives.
When they finally grasped the truth, both brothers felt cold all the way to the core.
And at that moment, the words from the Great Toad Sage surfaced in their minds again.
The darkness hidden beneath the shining prosperity of the Land of Ancestors revealed itself to them for the first time.
"Why…" Hagoromo stood beneath the Divine Tree, staring at the shrine with a face full of doubt and confusion, his voice hoarse. "Why would Father do this?"
"What does he want by sending so many living people into the God Tree every year?"
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