Chapter 25: Off to Battle
He wasn't yelling.
But the shock hit Minato's entire body so hard it felt like
his brain was shaking. His hair stood on end and the blood drained from his
face.
Harima, who'd taken the full force of the divine power, had
gone completely pale.
The beast god lifted his face, and cold divine energy burst
out. All the white fur on his body rose up and rippled. Overwhelming divine
power rushed at them. The spring warmth disappeared from the room in an
instant, replaced by freezing winter cold.
The god's face, full of dignity and completely different
from his melted expression moments ago, looked down quietly at the frozen
Harima. Minato's trembling body unconsciously tried to escape.
Just as the tension was ramping up fast, three marten faces
popped out upside-down from the eaves. They all looked stern. Seri scolded in a
harsh tone.
"Mountain god, that's too much."
"Yeah. Even if you're trying to make sure he doesn't
think you're easy to use, that's going overboard. He's terrified. Poor
guy."
"You could at least hear him out. You're always getting
sweets from him anyway."
"So petty."
"Right, right. Your body's huge but your heart's
tiny."
The mountain god brushed off Torika and Utsugi's noisy
protests with "You're too loud" and relaxed his presence.
Immediately, the tense atmosphere scattered.
With the usual lazy vibe and gently swaying tail back,
Minato let out a deep, deep breath, and Harima slumped forward with his hands
on the table. He was gasping and trembling faintly the scare must have really
gotten to him.
The mountain god raised his chin diagonally and snorted
arrogantly.
"Well, fine. Once in a while is okay. He always has
such admirable spirit, after all."
After taking one big deep breath, Minato turned to the
mountain god.
"So with your power, I can enter that place?"
Harima flinched, but Minato didn't care anymore. It was too
late now. He still couldn't completely relax his tense body, but he tried to
ask in a cheerful voice.
Harima straightened up too. But he couldn't lift his gaze it
stayed fixed on his hands on the table.
The mountain god, no longer holding back, pushed a box of
Western sweets aside with his nose. Harima stared at the box sliding through
the sea of sweets. To Harima, it probably looked like it was moving on its own.
As an onmyoji, he seemed used to weird phenomena and wasn't too surprised.
When he moved aside the package with the strong butter
smell, there was the black box he wanted. The huge black nose sniffed all over
the box. Usually the mountain god was careful not to touch things, but now that
his secret was out, he didn't care.
The rattling box pushed the surrounding sweets around. Poor
Echigoya package it tilted and almost fell off the table.
Then a savior appeared.
Thanks to Harima gently holding it down, the 13th generation
sakemanju package barely escaped disaster.
"Of course. I am the mountain god. Hmm, what is this?
It's definitely sweet bean paste, but... Still, they didn't need to wrap it
this thoroughly I'm just going to peel it off and throw it away anyway."
"You'll lend me your power?"
"Yes, I don't mind. Tell him that. Looks like I scared
him a bit too much."
"Harima. The mountain god says he'll lend his power.
Also, what's that sweet with the silver ribbon?"
"...Thank you very much. It's anko mochi from Suruga
Honpo."
A comet streaked through the golden eyes, and the huge body
trembled.
It was a famous sweet known throughout the country. The
fancy city anko mochi that someone had muttered about wanting to try. You
couldn't order it online.
While feeling warm and fuzzy watching the fidgeting mountain
god, Minato was reminded once again that he really was a scary deity.
Six days later, early morning. In the Kusunoki estate's
brightly lit dining room, Minato stood quietly in front of the table.
Looking down, he saw protective charms made from paper from
the mountain god's mountain. A brush pen filled with sacred water ink. Several
backup pens just in case.
And the original memo paper charms.
The half-filled ones weren't the flimsy paper from before he'd
splurged on slightly thicker stock.
He distributed all of them into the pockets of his down
vest, hoodie, and cargo pants. Finally, he stuffed his body bag full of paper
covered with writing.
He couldn't write that many charms with purification power
in one day. So after getting the request from Harima, he'd spent five days
making these.
"Okay."
Everything fit. His pockets bulged a bit. He'd spent
yesterday resting to be in perfect condition, and he felt great. He was in
excellent health. Still, his voice and movements were stiff. He'd only dealt
with evil spirits once he was a complete amateur.
Plus, in an otherworld full of evil spirits, he couldn't
even predict what might happen. It would be impossible not to be nervous.
The situation was apparently urgent, but an outsider showing
up probably wouldn't help. He might just get in the way. That's why he'd
prepared so carefully. He hadn't expected to end up with so much stuff. It
would slow him down.
"...Maybe fewer pens."
One pen per pocket was overkill. He rearranged them to just
the right-side pockets. He suddenly raised his arms, lowered them. Squatted and
bent his legs, straightened them. No problems with movement. He nodded firmly.
He left through the front door, locked it, and went around
back. His winter clothes, chosen for the outside weather, felt hot in the
spring-filled garden as his trekking shoes moved quietly across it. He stood
facing the mountain god, who sat on his cushion in the center of the veranda.
He tried to sound as cheerful as possible.
"Mountain god, I'm leaving things to you."
"Yes. Be very careful."
He spoke grandly and wagged his tail side to side.
Minato nodded and turned his back. On the large rock jutting
out into the sacred pond, the Sacred Turtle and responding dragon stood
quietly, watching Minato walk down the path.
"I'm off."
The Sacred Turtle nodded his head, and the responding dragon
bowed deeply. Minato turned back to face the camphor tree and looked up at its
lush green leaves.
"I'll come back as soon as I can."
The tree's crown rustled.
A gentle breeze blew toward Minato's back as he raised one
hand and walked toward the back gate. From the very top of the swaying camphor
tree, a single green leaf fluttered down and slipped into his hoodie pocket as
if being sucked in.
Only the gods saw it.
He opened the back gate. The moment he stepped outside the
property, cold air wrapped around his entire body. His breath was white. With
every breath, the cold sank to his core. The outside world was freezing winter.
In the cold wind, the three martens were lined up waiting
outside. They'd go with him to the site.
The destination was a temple in the middle of a town in
another prefecture.
The mountain god was a mountain deity who basically never
left this place. The three who'd been given the mission to show the results of
their training looked dignified and reliable.
Minato smiled slightly and grabbed the strap of his body
bag.
"Sorry for the wait. Let's go."
"Got everything? You didn't forget the snacks,
right?"
"Utsugi."
Torika scolded him in a subdued voice and nudged him, while
Seri on the end held his head.
⟵ Previous | Table of Contents | Next ⟶
No comments:
Post a Comment