Nausea, dizziness, confusion, vomiting… one negative status after another swept over Nurarihyon like a landslide and tsunami.
He could not understand why, despite being a powerful yokai, he had become as fragile as a mere mortal at this moment.
After confirming that he could no longer endure it, Nurarihyon turned toward Rowan, hoping he would step forward and stop his companion.
However, when he looked toward Rowan's position, his pupils contracted violently.
Because Rowan had already disappeared.
Medea, Medusa, Serie, and the others had vanished along with him.
Sh-Shameless!!!
Nurarihyon had always thought that sneaking into other people's homes to freeload on their food and drinks was already shameless enough. But after seeing Rowan's actions today, he finally realized that he was still far too kind.
At that moment, Nurarihyon wished he could simply roll his eyes and pass out.
The next day, when Nurarihyon met Rowan…
Well, actually, he never got the chance to see Rowan at all.
Rowan was far too shrewd. He knew that Nurarihyon would definitely complain about what he had done the previous night, so he simply went straight home and denied the other party any chance to criticize him.
Instead, when Nero returned, she complained bitterly to Rowan, saying that she had finally sung a song to celebrate, yet Rowan had once again slipped away before hearing it to the end.
"Praetor, did you do that on purpose?"
Faced with Nero's accusation, Rowan openly admitted that he had.
"Other people charge money when they sing. Your singing costs lives. I think it would be best if you stopped singing in the future."
"If you truly keep singing, I'm afraid you won't have any friends left, Nero."
"Huh? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
However, despite Rowan's earnest advice, Nero proudly thrust out her ample chest and declared that such a thing could never happen.
She was the Emperor of Rome.
An emperor did not need friends.
Therefore, she could not possibly sing until all her friends disappeared—
because she had no friends to begin with.
Rowan: "…"
Faced with such astonishing logic, even Rowan did not know how to respond.
While Rowan and Nero were bickering, the entirety of Japan was shaken by a single event.
What event?
Naturally, it was the disappearance of Nijō Castle.
The previous night, EMIYA's Caladbolg II had not only destroyed Hagoromo-Gitsune's trump card, but also reduced the entirety of Nijō Castle to ashes.
All that remained at the scene was a seemingly bottomless crater.
Because Serie and Medea had erected barriers the previous night, the people of Kyoto had not noticed what happened inside Nijō Castle.
But when the barriers disappeared the following morning, the miserable state of Nijō Castle was exposed before the people of Kyoto.
Especially after the television news began reporting it, the entirety of Japan erupted into chaos.
What kind of place was Nijō Castle?
It was not only one of Kyoto's famous historic landmarks, but also a symbol of the Edo shogunate's authority. Its status in the hearts of the Japanese people was comparable to that of the Forbidden City in China.
Although it was not as magnificent, imposing, grand, or sacred as the Forbidden City, their symbolic nature was more or less similar.
Therefore, it was easy to imagine how the Japanese people reacted when Nijō Castle disappeared overnight, leaving only an enormous crater behind.
Countless news outlets scrambled to report the incident, causing everyone across Japan to learn about it. People from every walk of life began frantically investigating the mystery behind Nijō Castle's disappearance, while the scene swarmed with police officers.
Even foreign netizens learned about the incident and began making jokes about it.
Many people suspected that it had been a terrorist attack.
The problem was that completely obliterating Nijō Castle and leaving such an enormous crater would require an extraordinary amount of explosives—or rather, missiles.
Ordinary missiles could never accomplish something like this. It would require repeated bombardment from enormously powerful missiles.
The force of those explosions should have shaken the entire city of Kyoto.
Yet the previous night, the people of Kyoto had not heard even the slightest sound of an explosion.
That was extremely strange.
As a result, experts from every field remained unable to find a reasonable explanation.
The onmyoji and jujutsu sorcerers of the supernatural world found the situation even more baffling.
They knew perfectly well that Nijō Castle had long since become the stronghold of Hagoromo-Gitsune and her forces. That was why it had not been open to the public for a long time.
After a single night, Nijō Castle had vanished.
Hagoromo-Gitsune and all her subordinates had disappeared along with it.
Judging from the current situation and the remaining traces of energy, Hagoromo-Gitsune had most likely been attacked and erased together with Nijō Castle.
That raised the question—
who had erased Hagoromo-Gitsune?
One had to understand that Hagoromo-Gitsune had once been the Lord of Pandemonium. Although she had lost to Nurarihyon once, that defeat had done little to damage her reputation.
In the minds of many yokai, Hagoromo-Gitsune was still the Lord of Pandemonium.
Because she was simply far too powerful.
So powerful that even the supernatural forces of the entire country had been helpless against her and her subordinates. Otherwise, they would never have allowed Hagoromo-Gitsune to occupy Nijō Castle and dominate Kyoto.
Yet now, this towering mountain had suddenly vanished.
Someone had erased her.
The supernatural world also erupted into chaos, constantly wondering who could possibly have done such a thing.
No one in Japan had the power to accomplish it.
Could it have been the work of a foreign force?
If so, why had they done it?
Had Hagoromo-Gitsune offended them, or were these foreign powers attempting to enter Japan and stir up trouble?
And if it was not the work of a foreign force, then who had done it?
For a time, questions emerged endlessly, leaving Japan's higher-ups overwhelmed and exhausted.
On one hand, they had to provide an explanation to the uninformed public.
On the other, they had to investigate the truth behind the incident.
As a result, over the following days, Japan's senior officials were either working overtime or on their way to work overtime.
Every one of them held in a bellyful of anger, wishing they could capture the culprit and beat them senseless.
Naturally, Rowan knew nothing about any of this.
All he knew was that Nijō Castle's disappearance had caused the entirety of Japan to erupt into discussion. Whether in Tokyo or Kyoto, people everywhere were talking about it.
Even Nakiri Senzaemon personally brought Nakiri Erina to visit and ask about the incident.
It was mainly Erina who was curious.
The disappearance of Nijō Castle was far too bizarre. Nakiri Erina suspected that someone with supernatural power had caused it, so she came to ask whether Rowan knew any inside information.
Rowan did not conceal anything from them and bluntly said, "I did it."
"Huh?"
Nakiri Erina looked confused. She did not understand why Rowan would destroy Nijō Castle.
Even if Rowan came from China and wanted to destroy something in Japan, shouldn't he have targeted a certain toilet-like shrine instead?
Why had he taken his anger out on Nijō Castle?
Nakiri Senzaemon cautiously asked, "There must be some misunderstanding behind this, correct?"
Rowan shook his head.
"There's no misunderstanding. I destroyed Nijō Castle because it was Hagoromo-Gitsune's stronghold. I used a little too much force while attacking her, and Nijō Castle ended up being erased."
Nakiri Erina was greatly startled and exchanged a glance with her grandfather.
Nijō Castle was actually Hagoromo-Gitsune's stronghold?
Grandfather never told me that.
Nakiri Senzaemon was also helpless, because he had not known either.
But now he finally understood why Nijō Castle had disappeared.
So it had been dragged into the conflict because of Hagoromo-Gitsune.
What an undeserved disaster.
Nijō Castle: "Speak up for me! Speak peanuts for me!"
"What happened to Hagoromo-Gitsune, Lord Rowan?"
Nakiri Senzaemon's eyes flickered slightly as he asked without revealing his emotions.
Whether Nijō Castle disappeared had nothing to do with him. If Nakiri Erina had not insisted on coming to investigate, he would never have visited.
He cared far more about Hagoromo-Gitsune.
After all, the zashiki-warashi of the Nakiri family had already been targeted by her.
Therefore, compared with news about Nijō Castle, he was much more concerned with whether Hagoromo-Gitsune was alive or dead.
Rowan saw through Nakiri Senzaemon's thoughts and said, "You probably won't ever see Hagoromo-Gitsune again."
Hearing this, Nakiri Senzaemon released a long breath of relief.
Hagoromo-Gitsune had always been like an enormous mountain in his heart, pressing heavily upon his chest until he could barely breathe.
Even after Rowan drove off Hagoromo-Gitsune's subordinates, Nakiri Senzaemon had never truly relaxed.
Now that he had heard Rowan's words, he could finally let go of that burden.
When Rowan saw the old man's slightly hunched back suddenly straighten, he understood that the Food Demon King had been under immense pressure.
But now that the pressure had disappeared, his entire spirit seemed revitalized.
After sending Nakiri Senzaemon and Nakiri Erina away,
Asuna came to visit.
Hagoromo-Gitsune and Nijō Castle had disappeared together overnight. Most people had no idea who was responsible.
But Asuna's intuition told her that Rowan had to be connected to the incident.
Because Rowan possessed both the qualifications and the power to do such a thing.
So she came over and asked whether Rowan had been responsible.
"That's right. It was me."
Rowan had already admitted it to Nakiri Erina, so naturally, he would not hide it from Asuna.
Asuna sat on the sofa and looked at Rowan in astonishment before asking, "Why?"
Rowan had clearly seemed too lazy to interfere before. Why had he suddenly changed his mind, uprooted Hagoromo-Gitsune's entire faction, and destroyed Nijō Castle in the process?
Rowan poured himself a cup of coffee. After taking a sip, he briefly explained his speculation.
"If Hagoromo-Gitsune merely wanted to destroy Japan, I wouldn't have cared. But they wanted to exterminate all of humanity, including the great eastern nation. That was something I couldn't tolerate."
"Although I'm not from this world, that land is still called China."
"By attempting this, Hagoromo-Gitsune had already chosen the path to her own death."
Asuna suddenly understood.
"So you killed her."
"More or less."
"What about Abe no Seimei? He's the true mastermind, isn't he?"
Asuna frowned deeply as she spoke, her eyes filled with confusion and the disillusionment of seeing a legend collapse.
~~~
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