Chapter 1187 – 1187. Day 15
The day had dawned.
No, looking out the window, it wasn’t just dawn; it was around noon. I grabbed my throbbing head and sat up. Honestly, I wanted to lie back down and sleep for another five hours, but… the situation wasn’t that relaxed. I had to deal with the yakuza coming up to the village.
I got up. Nakagami Risa, Hagawa Ryoko, and the shrine maiden, who should have been by my side, were nowhere to be seen. I looked at the folded clothes right next to me. Black clothes. It was a traditional Japanese outfit similar to what Shibata was wearing. I didn’t know the name.
‘They must have prepared it for me to wear. Well, the clothes I was wearing were covered in blood.’
I put on the clothes. The blood bead and weapons were next to the clothes, so I took them. It seemed the yakuza hadn’t arrived at the village yet. That was why I was able to sleep until now.
‘Even so, there are still a few hours left until the full recovery cooldown.’
I opened the door and went outside.
The shrine, which had been eerie in the dark, felt somewhat sacred in the daylight.
I was walking inside the shrine when I met the shrine maiden.
“You’re awake.”
The shrine maiden was there. She wasn’t alone. Ten people in black clothes were standing quietly around her.
The image of her groaning with a grimace under me was nowhere to be seen. She was neatly dressed in her shrine maiden outfit, her long black hair was tidy, and her face was calmer than ever.
I deliberately stared into the shrine maiden’s eyes. Usually, she would feel embarrassed, but she was completely unfazed.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m a little tired.”
I touched my side. It was the area where Wada Kyoshiro had hit me, leaving a bruise. It wasn’t enough to hinder me in battle, but the pain was quite annoying.
“Take this medicine. It will make you feel a little better.”
I took the medicine she handed me. It was a clear liquid, about 10ml.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a secret medicine from the Kaminoyama family. It’s effective for external injuries and will relieve some fatigue.”
“Is it a drug?”
“It’s different from the blood bead. It’s a medicine made purely by combining and refining herbs. Compared to the blood bead, the effect is less, but there are no side effects.”
The shrine maiden and I were in the same boat. There was no reason for her to betray me and kill me now. It was dangerous for her too. I poured the potion into my mouth. It tasted very bitter, enough to make me grimace.
“It doesn’t taste good at all.”
“They say that bitter medicine is good medicine. How is your body?”
“I do feel… less tired than before. Does it usually work this fast?”
“It’s the Kaminoyama family’s secret medicine, after all.”
“The Kaminoyama family is amazing. They even made the blood bead.”
“No. I made the blood bead. I made the prototype of the blood bead about ten years ago.”
“Wasn’t the material a drug? You managed to get it.”
“Even back then, the Kaminomiya family was trading with the yakuza. Getting drugs wasn’t difficult. Getting human corpses was a little more difficult, though.”
I nodded vaguely.
It was logically absurd, but this was a world in a fictional work. Almost anything was possible. The shrine maiden was probably a genius of pharmaceuticals or something.
“What about the yakuza?”
“They haven’t arrived yet. I contacted them, but they just kept repeating that they would arrive soon.”
“That means they’re targeting you, right?”
“Yes. They seem to have roughly grasped the situation in the village.”
“What about Risa and Ryoko?”
“They’re having a meal in the dining hall.”
I looked around again.
“Are the people here all of them?”
“There are about five more, though not here.”
“How many yakuza do you think will come?”
“Probably more than 100. They know we’re not easy to deal with.”
“The power difference is too big. Can’t we use the villagers?”
“I’ve already taken care of them.”
“Taken care of… you killed them?”
“Yes. They knew too much to leave them alone.”
“The villagers would have been loyal to you, though?”
“That’s different when the opponent is the yakuza. I don’t trust the loyalty of toys.”
“So, the brainwashing wasn’t perfect.”
“I didn’t brainwash them. Even without that, I could play with them enough.”
She was truly an amazing woman.
I nodded vaguely. 100 yakuza. I wasn’t afraid. I had the blood bead and weapons. I was confident I could handle about 100 yakuza. The problem was that the yakuza would have guns.
If they shot at me head-on, I could roughly dodge them. I could predict the direction of the bullet from the finger pulling the trigger and the muzzle. But it required concentration, and even I had no answer to a gun fired from a blind spot.
Clang!
I pulled out a katana from my waist. Despite the sudden unsheathing, the surroundings were quiet. The shrine maiden was one thing, but the men in black clothes were also standing still. They were well-trained dogs.
“Are you going to cut me?”
“No, I was just checking the katana. Look, the blade is a bit chipped. Don’t you have any decent weapons?”
“We have a few pistols.”
“What about katanas?”
“…We do have some, but does it have to be a katana?”
“I’m not good with guns. Katanas are more comfortable.”
The shrine maiden turned her head to the side and gave an order to the people standing still.
“Bring all the katanas in the village.”
“Yes, Shrine Maiden.”
The men in black clothes answered and moved in unison.
“Oh, do you have bulletproof vests too?”
“…Bring the bulletproof vests as well.”
“Yes, Shrine Maiden.”
In 20 minutes, they brought 11 katanas and 3 bulletproof vests. I took the best-condition bulletproof vest and carefully examined the katanas.
“This one is the best.”
“Is there a difference from the other katanas?”
“The aura you feel is different just by looking at it. This is at the level of a master craftsman.”
“……I don’t see it.”
I grabbed the hilt and swung it a few times in the air. I was satisfied.
“What happened to Wada Kyoshiro?”
“…You mean the man Ms. Hagawa mentioned. We haven’t found him.”
It was probably one of two things. He either went down the mountain or was hiding in the village or the mountain.
I thought he was probably hiding in the mountain. Wada Kyoshiro would also know that there were outside forces below the mountain.
“Oh, right. What about the women in the carpentry shop?”
“The carpentry shop… you mean the place where they rape women. There were only corpses in the carpentry shop.”
“So, those women escaped… but they were being raped regularly?”
“It was for stress management for the villagers. If they were trapped in the village, various desires could arise and act as variables. They used the village women as a means to control those desires.”
“That’s crazy. They could have controlled those desires.”
“They had already experienced murder, and it was difficult for them to suppress their desires due to the drugs. It was easier to manage them by letting them release their desires appropriately.”
“But wouldn’t that cause problems?”
“If it seemed like it wouldn’t work out, I just got rid of them.”
“I see.”
I nodded vaguely.
***
I looked down at the village from the shrine with the shrine maiden. The shrine was in a high place, so it was perfect for looking down at the village. It was also easy to monitor the inside of the village with binoculars.
Cars were entering the village in a line through the village entrance. The types of cars varied. There were luxury sedans and cheap compact cars. The most common type of car was a van. The cars parked appropriately near the village entrance.
The car doors opened, and burly men poured out.
They all had dirty looks and were carrying weapons such as katanas, crowbars, and hammers. There were also men who weren’t carrying weapons, and their pockets were bulging. They walked confidently toward the shrine with a menacing aura.
“About 120 people.”
“It’s quite powerful when you see it in person. If Shibata were here…”
“Stop looking for the dead guy. I killed Shibata. That means I’m stronger than him.”
“…Can you win against them?”
“I’ll have to try. It would be great if I had something like a bomb.”
“We don’t have bombs.”
“I know.”
The yakuza stopped in front of the shrine.
The man with sunglasses at the front held up a walkie-talkie.
Chzzzz.
The walkie-talkie in the shrine maiden’s hand reacted.
“Yo, Kaminoyama. I heard there was a commotion in the village, but it’s quieter than I thought?”
“Mr. Kizaki, you came in person. Aren’t you busy?”
“I am busy. But what can I do? The boss ordered it himself. And it’s about our Kaminoyama. I have to step up. You know I like you a lot, right?”
My lips twitched. How dare he target my woman…
The shrine maiden’s expression didn’t change.
“You’re too late.”
“Kaminoyama is smart, so she knows how the situation is going, right?”
“Do you want the blood bead recipe?”
“That’s what the boss wants. You know how great and cruel our boss is. Let’s go easy. You don’t want to become a cheap prostitute and live a life worse than a dog, do you?”
“Do you think I don’t know anything? If I hand over the recipe, you’ll kill me to shut my mouth. Or you’ll lock me up somewhere forever.”
“I told you, I like Kaminoyama. Become my lover. Then you can gain freedom. It won’t be the same level of freedom as now, but you won’t have to go through anything rough.”
“I’m sorry. I have no feelings for Mr. Kizaki.”
Kizaki took off his sunglasses. I narrowed my eyes and looked at the man’s face. His skin was tanned, and there were wrinkles around his eyes. He looked to be in his early to mid-40s.
“…Well, you’re kicking away an opportunity. I should take back the word ‘smart’. It’s your choice. It’s no use regretting it later.”
“……I’m a little surprised you came so openly. Don’t you think I’d commit suicide?”
“The boss said this about you. That you’re a woman who would cling to life even if you were rolling in shit and look for an opportunity. He also added that if you were born a man, he would have made you his successor.”
“…That’s an overstatement.”
“Anyway, just wait there. I’ll be up there soon.”
Kizaki hung up the walkie-talkie. Then he gestured to his subordinates. The subordinates began to climb the stairs.
“What are you going to do now?”
The shrine maiden asked me. Not only her, but also Nakagami Risa and Hagawa Ryoko were looking at me. The men in black clothes were quietly on guard. There was no guarantee that the yakuza in front of us were all of them.
“These stairs, were they intentionally made so steep and high?”
“Yes. It’s easier to monitor the village, and it’s hard to climb hundreds of stairs with a relaxed mind. Above all, it has authority because it’s close to the sky.”
“I don’t know about authority, but it’s definitely a shitty staircase. The slope is steep, and there are a lot of stairs.”
“You’re planning to fight on the stairs.”
“If we fight on flat ground, the chances of winning are less than 20%. Oh, I’m the only one fighting on the stairs.”
