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Oops, I think I let it slip. A certain "girl" who claims to be forever 17 years old took out a folding fan. If it was someone else, she would have fanned them into oblivion.
But there was nothing she could do, because the other party was Reimu, the guardian of Gensokyo, and the suppression of the rules was totally unreasonable. She couldn't win in a fight, but of course she couldn't lose either.
She hid in the gap and no one could find her.
So Yakumo Yukari could only use the fan to cover her face and half retreat into the gap in the shadows.
"I heard that the shrine maiden of Hakurei Shrine usually has the responsibility of balancing Gensokyo and resolving the anomalies in Gensokyo?"
"That's true, but don't speak in such a 'ghostly' way."
It looks so eerie even in broad daylight.
"He is a monster after all. Monsters and ghosts are the same thing. Let me ask you, Reimu, what if it is an incident outside of Gensokyo?"
Outside Gensokyo? That's the outside world, and Reimu has no control over that.
Her Yin-Yang Jade only gives her power in Gensokyo. Once she returns to the outside world, she is just the daughter of the chief priest of Izumo Taisha Shrine, an ordinary human girl.
"There are Team TAC and Ultraman outside, so it's not my turn to do anything."
Indeed, they, the monsters, have a deeper understanding. The outside world is completely human. If it weren't for the mercy of the gods, who gave them this fantasy land to live in, the monsters would soon disappear from the world, leaving only a few words in the stories.
"Why, Zi, you want to go out too? Even if it's you, you have to pay if you want to go out. This is the only thing we can't compromise on."
"I have no intention of going out. Gensokyo is so nice. It's too filthy outside." Yakumo Yukari reached her hand into the gap and took out a bottle of sake when she pulled her hand back.
She didn't want to go to the outside world again. After hundreds of years, she was already tired of that world. It was fine like this now. Even if she needed anything, she could just let other little monsters provide for her.
"Want to drink together?"
"Okay."
Strangely enough, in the outside world, Reimu never drinks alcohol. The spicy smell of alcohol is unpleasant, and one sip is enough to make her drunk.
But in Gensokyo, she is not afraid of alcohol at all. No matter how much alcohol she drinks, she cannot get drunk. For a body that is immune to all poisons, alcohol is probably considered a poison.
Drinking here feels completely different from drinking outside.
Yakumo Yukari didn't use a cup to drink, but a large bowl. Reimu didn't mind and also picked up the large bowl.
"I just like your personality." Yakumo Yukari drank the wine in one gulp, her face flushed. "Hakurei Miko, I find that I like you more and more."
"Thank you, no thanks, I'm normal."
"Ah, that's a shame. Let's get back to the previous topic. What's happening outside? Can't you do anything about it?"
"what did you say?"
"The evil god."
Hearing this, Reimu paused with the bowl she was about to bring to her mouth. She wasn't sure if what she heard was the same thing as what she imagined.
"Evil God? You don't mean super beast, do you?"
"Chaojuu, is that what you call it? But it's probably something different. A while ago, Yaqi left your place and returned to its previous village. Do you remember it? It has nothing to do with Yaqi-no-Orochi, it's the snake demon with eight heads. It just likes to give itself stupid names like that."
An eight-headed snake demon. Reimu had some impression of it. It was a little guy with little demonic power.
"But Yaqi escaped back. He said that the village that used to worship him was occupied by an evil god."
Reimu didn't know this. After signing the contract to allow the monster to go out, the Yin-Yang Jade was only used to monitor whether the monster did evil. Apart from that, even if it encountered something, it would not report everything to her.
"In that village, the temple that originally worshipped it was destroyed, and the villagers began to worship 'God'. There is a girl who always holds a water bottle and claims to be a messenger of God. Now the whole village believes in this."
There is no God in this world, it's just an evil god.
Chapter 321: Merry
Girl holding a water bottle.
Generally speaking, this image reminds people of ancient Egypt.
On the banks of the Nile, women walked gracefully holding water bottles. That was their daily routine.
Or in ancient Greece, there is also the legend of Aquarius.
Such an image does have some mythological color, but those are foreign. There are no such myths in the island country.
"Is it an imported religion? Where is the village you are talking about?"
Zi glanced at Reimu with a playful expression.
"Over there in Kununaki-cho."
Reimu was secretly surprised. Wasn't that near Izumo where she was?
Yunnan Kiji Town is the name of this era. Thirty years later, this place is Yunnan City. 'Yunnan' means 'south of Izumo', adjacent to Izumo.
There are people worshiping evil gods near their Izumo Taisha Shrine?
"How about it? Even if you want me to go to the real world to help, that's fine."
Yakumo Yukari's words echoed in her ears. Reimu had refused at that time, but now she was on a cross-city bus to the neighboring city.
Although that old woman Zi (I only dared to call her this in my heart) was very powerful and was one of the top monsters in Gensokyo, she always seemed like a big trouble.
She should probably call the TAC team, but Reimu doesn't know how to convince the TAC team. Including things like Gensokyo, it's too unscientific.
Reimu only planned to take a look by herself. Kiji Town was not a mysterious place, and there were many pilgrims and believers of Izumo Taisha Shrine.
Last year, she followed the priest Zhemu to the village to perform rituals.
Besides, it was already the 1970s. It was hard to say about super beasts, but the 'evil gods' really didn't inspire any awe in people.
If you really encounter any trouble, just call the police. If there is really a worship of evil gods, the police will take care of it.
The inter-city bus was traveling on a bumpy dirt road, and sitting next to Reimu was a blonde girl.
A little older than Reimu, about fifteen or sixteen years old.
It doesn't look like dyeing, so is she a foreigner? But looking at her face, she doesn't have obvious European or American features.
Perhaps because Reimu's gaze was too obvious, the girl turned her head away. Reimu quickly looked away to avoid embarrassment.
But the girl took the initiative to say hello.
"Hello, I'm Maelubelli Hearn."
Great, it's in Japanese. Reimu's English is not very good, if it was French or German, she would have surrendered immediately.
"I'm Boli Reimu, Mabe..."
"Just call me Merry. That name is hard to pronounce, right? My classmates all pronounce it wrong, and even the professor did it at first, so everyone calls me Merry."
"Professor? Is Merry a college student?"
Reimu thought she was a high school student.
"Don't you think so? Haha, I'm already 17 years old and a freshman at Kyoto Prefectural University."
I am 17 years old again. But this 17 years old is real. I really want Yakumo Yukari to come and see what 17 years old is.
"Reimu is also going to Kijimachi?"
Did he just call her by her name right away? Actually, Reimu had a hard time dealing with someone who was so self-indulgent.
"Yes, something."
"It's really strange, such a remote place." Meli smiled meaninglessly.
In fact, the entire bus was empty, with most of the seats unoccupied.
Kijimachi is indeed not a place that attracts tourists, and the same is true for the surrounding villages, which still maintain the same life of chickens and dogs hearing each other as they have for hundreds of years.
"What about Merry?"
"Me? I'm doing research for a university club."
"Is it about folklore?"
"It's a little different. Our club is called the Secret Sealing Club, and it studies super mysterious phenomena. It lives in another world in the shadow of the human world, which is similar to dreams, but also beyond the edge of dreams."
To be honest, Reimu couldn't understand all these words put together. College students are different.
"In short, it is the study of mysterious phenomena that really exist."
In this case, Meili's purpose seems to be similar to hers. If it were before, Reimu would not believe that there is really a supernatural thing in this world, but now she herself has experienced it firsthand.
What surprised her was that there was actually someone in this world who would seriously investigate these things.
After more than half an hour, the car stopped beside a country road.
There was just a wooden sign in front of the field, which was considered a station. It was too simple, just like the village. Looking around, there were only scattered dilapidated houses at the end of the sight, except for the field.
This is the terminal. Most of the passengers got off along the way. Only Reimu and Merry remained at Kiji-cho.
Watching the bus turn around and leave, Reimu walked to the wooden sign.
The sign said the next bus would be in four hours, at 3pm, which was the last bus. There were only two buses a day, so if you missed it, you would have to go back tomorrow morning.
"Four more hours."
"Why, you don't plan to stay here for a night?"
"Stay here?" Reimu looked at him in disbelief. "Is there a hotel in this village where people can stay?"
"Just ask the villagers for a place to stay."
There are only two members in the Secret Sealing Club, besides Merry, there is Usami Renko. The two are not in the same major, Merry's major is relativistic psychology, while Renko's major is grand unified physics.
The two of them just had similar interests, so they founded this club together.
The Secret Sealing Club often investigates these strange places between folklore and science, most of which appear in remote villages. And the strange phenomena often appear at dusk or early morning.
Therefore, Meli and his partner Lianzi often needed to stay overnight during their past investigations.
It’s good to have a village, but sometimes we even go to the legendary ghost village and sleep in the wild.
Lian Zi didn't come this time, it was a private action of Meili. It was rare to act alone, but for Meili, it was an emergency.
Reimu and Merry were walking on a dirt road in the countryside. The first thing they realized was that it was suddenly getting dark.
"It is going to rain?"
But it didn't seem like that. There was a strange dark cloud hanging in the sky, completely blocking the sunlight. But as soon as you left the village, it was sunny again.
The dark cloud just hovered in the air, covering only the area of a village.