Chapter 49: A Generous Tsuchimikado Family Head?
Under the star strewn night sky, the room in the southwest corner of the Tsuchimikado estate was finally beginning to quiet.
The dazzling golden radiance spilling from the window was fading. The divine script, older and more profound than Sanskrit, slowly dimmed as well, retreating inch by inch until all that remained was the soft yellow glow of lamplight inside the room.
Thud.
The sound of someone collapsing rang out at once.
Tsuchimikado Chizuru, who had been standing guard outside the door with her heart strung tight, went pale. She pushed the door open and rushed inside without hesitation.
"Husband! How are you?"
The moment she entered, she saw Tsuchimikado Hirotaka sprawled on the floor.
She hurried over, helped him up, and half carried him to the nearby sofa. Only after settling him down did she immediately begin channeling spiritual energy into his body.
"Hah... hah..."
Hirotaka's breathing was weak and ragged. His face was bloodless, frighteningly pale. Even with Chizuru steadily feeding spiritual energy into him, it still took quite some time before the color in his face improved even slightly.
Only then did Chizuru dare speak again.
"How do you feel now?"
"Do not worry."
Though his voice was weak, Hirotaka still lifted a hand and patted hers in reassurance.
"I only overtaxed myself using [Gyo Ten Shin Gen]. The blockade formed by Yamata no Orochi's power was even stronger than I expected. If the family head had not joined me from the inside, I would never have broken through it."
Chizuru's shoulders loosened at last.
"That is good, then."
Only after hearing that did the fear lodged in her chest finally ease.
So the technique had succeeded. The risk had not been taken in vain.
Then her expression turned serious again.
"Did you report everything to the family head?"
"Yes."
"And what decision did he make?"
Hirotaka leaned back against the sofa and let out a tired breath before answering.
"The family head instructed us to unseal the [senji ryakketsu] as soon as possible and let Gin Tsumugi read it. It seems he believes the [senji ryakketsu] may be able to judge something through him."
He paused, then continued.
"As for Zenki and Koki, so long as they remain within the Tsuchimikado estate, he told us not to interfere with them too much."
Chizuru's brows drew together at once.
"So that child really does have some connection to the Tsuchimikado Clan?"
The more she thought about it, the stranger it became.
The [senji ryakketsu] had been left behind by the Great Onmyoji Abe no Seimei himself. It had sat within the Tsuchimikado estate for over a thousand years, and never once had she heard anyone claim it possessed the power to identify a person.
And yet Yasuzumi's response made it clear that he had connected Gin Tsumugi to something tremendously important.
Hirotaka did not answer right away.
Instead, Chizuru's thoughts continued to churn on their own.
After marrying into the Tsuchimikado Clan, she too had once been granted a single chance to read the [senji ryakketsu]. Perhaps because of her aptitude, or perhaps because her understanding was still lacking at the time, she had only managed to turn five pages. Even so, those five pages had been enough to break through the bottleneck that had trapped her then and helped her define the path of her own Onmyodo.
The value of the [senji ryakketsu] to an Onmyoji was far greater than the outside world imagined.
In truth, the rumors barely scratched the surface.
And there was another point.
The [senji ryakketsu] had remained fixed in the Tsuchimikado estate for over a thousand years. Countless members of the clan had tried to move it, but none had succeeded. It was said that Abe no Seimei had reinforced it with his own power, making it impossible to take elsewhere.
Otherwise, when the Tsuchimikado family rebuilt the ancestral grounds centuries ago, they would not have been forced to leave it in Mitsuwa Town.
That immovability, along with the seal binding Zenki and Koki, was one of the fundamental reasons the estate itself had to remain where it was.
And then Hirotaka spoke again, his tone turning strange.
"The most baffling part was the family head's final instruction."
Chizuru looked at him.
"What did he say?"
Hirotaka met her gaze and answered slowly.
"He said that if Gin Tsumugi takes the [senji ryakketsu], we are not to stop him."
Chizuru froze.
"Takes it?"
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Since when had the Tsuchimikado family become so generous?
That was not some ordinary archive scroll. That was the [senji ryakketsu], one of the greatest treasures in all of Onmyodo, an inheritance passed down directly from their ancestor. If an outsider carried it off, was Yasuzumi not afraid of being denounced by the entire clan?
In a very real sense, the [senji ryakketsu] was part of the Tsuchimikado Clan's very foundation.
And yet Yasuzumi had said it plainly. If Gin Tsumugi took it, they were not to interfere.
Even Chizuru, who had followed Yasuzumi for years and knew his judgment better than most, found that order almost impossible to understand.
Hirotaka gave a bitter smile.
"We can only follow the family head's instructions."
Chizuru let out a quiet breath.
"I suppose we have no choice."
Then, just as the room was finally beginning to settle, hurried footsteps came pounding from outside.
"Lady Chizuru! Lord Hirotaka!"
The shout was urgent enough to make both of them turn sharply toward the door.
Their eyes met.
Something had happened again.
A few breaths later, a member of the Tsuchimikado Clan appeared before them, bent over and panting hard.
"Hah... hah... Lady Chizuru... Lord Hirotaka... something has happened!"
Hirotaka forced himself to remain calm.
"Slow down. What happened?"
The clansman swallowed, trying to steady his breathing.
"It is Evil Spirits! More than a hundred of them! They have appeared all throughout Mitsuwa Town and are causing chaos everywhere!"
Chizuru's expression changed immediately.
"That is impossible. The barrier around Mitsuwa Town shows no sign of having been breached."
Even as she spoke, she extended her Spirit Insight to inspect the barrier covering the town.
There was no damage.
Not even the slightest crack.
Yet at the same time, she clearly sensed a massive concentration of Yin energy spreading through Mitsuwa Town. It was thick, chaotic, and unmistakably real.
Hirotaka's eyes sharpened.
"It was done by human hands."
He spoke the conclusion almost instantly.
"Someone sealed those Evil Spirits inside talismans and brought them in that way. Only then could they bypass the barrier unnoticed. And for over a hundred Evil Spirits to appear at once, the chance of this being a natural occurrence is practically zero."
Chizuru's face turned grim.
This was no coincidence.
Someone had planned it.
Hirotaka looked at her.
"Chizuru, gather the Tsuchimikado Clan Members and wipe out the Evil Spirits in Mitsuwa Town. We cannot let them continue ravaging the town."
Then he added in a lower voice,
"I will remain here and guard the estate."
Chizuru understood immediately.
The enemy had gone to considerable effort to send Evil Spirits into Mitsuwa Town without damaging the barrier. That meant these spirits themselves were probably not the true objective.
They were bait.
A diversion.
A screen thrown over something else.
Hirotaka clearly understood that as well.
"The other side must be after something," he said. "Be careful. This uproar may only be the beginning."
Chizuru nodded at once.
"I understand."
Then her gaze softened slightly.
"You be careful as well."
Hirotaka gave a faint, tired smile.
"Do not worry. Even with my spiritual power not yet fully recovered, this is still the Tsuchimikado estate. It is not a place just anyone can force their way into."
His expression darkened after that.
"I am only worried that what they are truly after is something dangerous."
"I will stay alert."
With those words, Chizuru turned and strode out of the room without another moment wasted, already beginning to assemble the clan members who would purge the Evil Spirits spreading through Mitsuwa Town.
The door closed behind her.
Silence returned, but only on the surface.
Hirotaka sat alone on the sofa, recovering his spiritual power bit by bit, his brows tightly furrowed.
"One wave after another..."
He muttered bitterly to himself.
Zenki and Koki breaking the seal.
Gin Tsumugi appearing at the estate.
The [senji ryakketsu].
And now, over a hundred Evil Spirits suddenly flooding Mitsuwa Town.
He could feel it. All of it was connected.
There was a line running through every event.
A hidden hand.
A hidden purpose.
Yet no matter how many times he turned the matter over in his mind, he still could not grasp the crucial point that tied everything together.
For now, he had no choice but to set it aside.
And wait.
.....
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