"Him… the demon I saw earlier was him!"
Ruki shrank back into Amari Nobunaga's arms in fear, clinging tightly to him, her voice trembling.
Suddenly embraced by the woman he adored, Nobunaga's face instantly turned red.
He couldn't stop the grin spreading across his face as he laughed foolishly.
"To be relied on like this by Lady Ruki… I can die without regrets!"
"Tch. Pathetic."
Inuyasha snorted disdainfully and turned his gaze back to Retsu.
"Hey, where's the lord of this place?"
"First of all, I have a name. It's not 'Hey,'" Retsu raised an eyebrow, clearly displeased. "Second, shouldn't you introduce yourself before questioning someone?"
"S-Sorry!" Kagome hurriedly stepped out from behind Inuyasha and smiled apologetically.
"My name is Kagome—Higurashi Kagome. He's Inuyasha."
Then she pointed to the tiny, elderly-looking flea demon on Inuyasha's shoulder.
"This is Grandpa Myōga."
Next, she gestured toward the still-grinning Nobunaga.
"And he's Amari Nobunaga."
After finishing the introductions, Kagome asked curiously,
"Mr. Retsu, what happened to the lord of this castle?"
"The one who was possessed by a demon? I killed him," Retsu replied calmly.
He pointed toward the door.
"I buried the body in the courtyard out front. Just today. It shouldn't smell yet. If you want, I can dig him up for you."
"Uh… no, no need!" Kagome froze for a second, then waved her hands awkwardly.
She couldn't help thinking: Why is this guy so blunt?!
"M-My husband… he's really dead?" Ruki asked softly from Nobunaga's arms, her eyes reddening.
"Yes. He was possessed for too long. There was no saving him," Retsu said lightly.
He didn't bother explaining the whole truth.
The man was dead anyway. He couldn't crawl out of the ground to argue.
"I cut off his head in one strike. You could say I freed him."
Ruki lowered her head, her voice filled with sorrow.
"He really did become strange… Not long after I married him, he collapsed by the pond in the courtyard and had a high fever for days.
"After that, he was like a different person. Every word and action felt wrong… like he'd turned into something else."
"By the way, Myōga," Retsu suddenly remembered the three girls in Kamui space and looked toward Inuyasha's shoulder.
"You've lived a long time and seen a lot. I have something to ask you."
"Huh? Me?" Myōga was startled, then looked curious. "What is it?"
"Kamui."
Retsu's eyes transformed into crimson Mangekyō.
The space before him twisted into a rotating vortex.
Three unconscious girls slowly emerged and landed gently on the floor.
Everyone in the room was stunned.
They stared at his glowing red eyes and the girls appearing from thin air in disbelief.
"Is… is that another dimension?" Kagome blurted out, instantly thinking of anime and novel tropes.
"The demon that possessed the lord was a toad monster," Retsu continued, ignoring their shock.
Pointing at the girls, he explained to Myōga,
"I found many huge egg sacs in a hidden room. Inside were young girls taken from nearby villages. Most of them woke up after being rescued, but these three won't respond no matter what."
After explaining the situation, he asked quietly,
"Can they still be saved?"
Myōga hopped onto one girl's cheek and examined her carefully, then sniffed.
His expression grew heavy.
"That toad demon was probably a Ninety-Nine Toad. It traps girls in eggs and eats their souls once they 'mature.'"
He sighed deeply.
"Their souls have already been consumed. Their bodies are still alive, but without souls, they'll fade away in a few days. There's no cure."
"So they're basically 'living corpses' now," Retsu nodded, understanding.
He took a money pouch from his ninja bag, walked up to Kagome, and stuffed it into her hands.
"In a room on the west side of the castle, there are other girls I rescued. Some were just captured, others were saved from the eggs."
"Please help escort them home. Consider this your payment."
"Why does Kagome have to do that?!" Inuyasha complained loudly as she stared at the pouch in confusion.
"We still have things to do!"
"It's inconvenient for me," Retsu replied, pointing at the cracks on his face.
Then he thought for a moment and took out a Shikon Jewel fragment, holding it between his fingers.
Pink light glowed in the dim room.
"Plus this, as a bonus. How about it?"
"A Shikon Jewel fragment!"
Just as Kagome was about to return the money, her eyes lit up.
She stared at the fragment instinctively.
Then she looked at Retsu's pouch in shock.
"There are… so many more in there?"
"What?!" Inuyasha instantly perked up.
He stepped forward and pointed at Retsu's pouch.
"Hey! If we help send those girls home, give us all the fragments!"
"No. Just this one," Retsu shook his head without hesitation.
"I still need the others."
"You bastard!" Inuyasha's face darkened.
He stepped in front of Kagome, raising Tessaiga slightly.
"I knew it. You're not alive, are you?! What are you collecting so many fragments for?! Trying to resurrect yourself with their power?!"
"You look stupid, but you're surprisingly sharp," Retsu replied coldly, spinning the fragment between his fingers.
"More or less."
Using fragments to attract demons also counted as using their power.
"You jerk! Hand over the Shikon Jewel!"
With a furious roar, Inuyasha drew Tessaiga.
White demonic energy surged along the blade as it transformed from its battered form into a majestic fang sword, pointing straight at Uchiha Retsu.