Chapter 282: Otome Sakagami

This hare was gnawed on for a full five minutes. Kimura Kazuki stayed and watched for five minutes expressionlessly. When he first saw this, he wanted to stop the person and interrogate the person. However, after thinking for a while, this person’s condition might be related to the so-called “tradition”. Clearly this so-called “tradition” was quite possibly not the case, but something was definitely wrong with the anatomy of the Sakagami villagers.

These were all that Kimura Kazuki could think of for these few minutes. Whether it was the truth, he wanted to take a look at the person’s condition first. He planned to follow the person and find out what happened.

However just as Kimura Kazuki was thinking hard, he felt a gaze upon him. He lifted his head and saw that the silhouette was staring straight at him at the moment. The person had already lost the white of the eyes and they were replaced with blood. Only the black pupil in the middle was left normal.

This fellow has lost his mind. Kimura Kazuki thought to himself as he wondered, How did he notice me?

When he hid his presence to a certain limit, he had the confidence that he would not be found out even if Sei Shigeru was there. However, the silhouette in front of him had shifted his gaze toward him after finishing the hare. That person’s senses were far too sharp.

Does that person rely on smell and not vision?

That would not make sense either. As his presence was hidden, the smell of his entire body would be blended in with the surroundings, so how could such a flaw be exposed? However, he did not get the chance to think further because just when he thought that that person was going to attack him, he unexpectedly turned around and ran away after giving him a glance.

Kimura Kazuki was caught off guard, so he was startled for a while. The next moment, he quickly moved to follow the person, but when he looked around, he appeared conflicted. That person is gone?

That person’s speed was not exactly that fast. Between him and the other, there was a distance of about 30 meters. With his speed, if he wanted to catch up with that person, it would only be a matter of seconds. But even before he started chasing, that person had vanished without a trace.

A precious opportunity just slipped away from his hands. Kimura Kazuki felt defeated in his heart. He carefully checked his surroundings, but even after twilight had arrived, still he could not find any trace of that silhouette. Besides, he had been moving around the entire night and had yet to eat anything, he was famished.

When Kimura Kazuki returned to Unto Shrine, he saw Sei Shigeru at his door. Just as he was going to knock on the door, he saw Kimura Kazuki coming back and asked in surprise, “Kimura-sama, did you not rest last night?”

Kimura Kazuki groaned. He did not hide a thing about the happenings at midnight, he told Sei Shigeru the entire truth. Sei Shigeru was anyhow older than himself and was more knowledgeable, so he might know something.

However, when Sei Shigeru learnt about this, he was shocked as well. Looking at Kimura Kazuki, he slightly shook his head/ “If it’s only eating raw flesh for living, there are monsters like that in this world. But one who could vanish without a trace under your very eyes, this creature is one that I don’t know about.”

Sei Shigeru knew that Kimura Kazuki’s question was not about the flesh eating silhouette, but how it could escape without any trace under his observation, even with his presence gone.

“Shall we go down the mountain and take a look?”

“Yes!” Sei Shigeru nodded in reply. Hearing what Kimura Kazuki described just now, he clearly felt the uneasiness of the Sakagami Village. He was extremely curious, especially about the silhouette mentioned by Kimura Kazuki!

Sei Shigeru and Kimura Kazuki woke Harunaka and others afterward. Although the strength of the silhouette that he saw at midnight remained unknown, Kimura Kazuki did not dare to let Harunaka stay here any longer. He was hungry at the same time anyway, he wanted to leave the village and get something to eat.

After they washed themselves for a bit, they went down the mountain. When they reached Sakagami Village, they found out that there were still people up and about. Stumbling upon this, they slowed their pace and stopped for a while. When the sun shone strongly, the village with a few people around a moment ago had become a ghost town in an instant. Even Harunaka felt that there was something unusual about this.

As Kimura Kazuki paced, he was also sniffing around with his consciousness. He remembered the smell of blood last night, so if that silhouette was indeed a villager of Sakagami Village, then even if the person had washed his mouth, there would still be a bit of smell left.

But after walking around the whole Sakagami Village, he did not find any smell of that hare’s blood.

Little did Kimura Kazuki and the others know that as they were leaving the village, halfway up Mount Unto, a pair of arms reached out of the wet ground, and a silhouette slowly sat up. If Kimura Kazuki were here, he would have recognized this person in front of him as this person was precisely the silhouette that midnight.

The silhouette had pale white hair, a tough face, and strong stature. That person got up, looked toward Unto Shrine at the top of the mountain and strolled toward the mountains.

Reaching Unto Shrine, that person sensed that there was no presence of humans. With little disappointment in the eyes, the person walked toward the brick house, quickly triggered the switch and went into the underground pathway, to the side of the pond. Without hesitation, that person jumped into it.

After staying in the pond for nearly half an hour, that person appeared from under the surface.

“The Jade of Four Souls is gone, looks like Kimura Kazuki took it.” The silhouette might have a male-like figure, but shockingly, the voice was that of a female. Shockingly, this voice belonged to Otome Sakagami. “Without the great power of the Jade of Four Souls, how could my wish come true?”

Grandma Sakagami had hoped that Kimura Kazuki could take the Jade of Four Souls away in order to remove the curse upon Sakagami Village. When Kimura Kazuki left last night, Otome Sakagami was still agreeing with her grandma.

But in truth, Otome Sakagami wanted to obtain the Jade of Four Souls for herself. She already knew that the Jade of Four Souls was in the pond, but her power was not strong enough to touch it. Otherwise, her evil body would be exterminated just by touching it.

This was also the reason why Grandma Sakagami wanted Kimura Kazuki to take the Jade of Four Souls away. As for the myth about evil men turning into wraiths upon obtaining the Jade of Four Souls, it was all made up.

The Jade of Four Souls was the purest power in the world. Any evil would be turned to ashes upon touching it. Without enough power to control the Jade of Four Souls, even if it were a worn Jade of Four Souls, one would be devoured by it instead.

Sakagami Village had long been cursed whereby the villagers would become monsters that only appear at night, feasting on blood. All these years, they had tried everything to lift the curse but none prevailed. At last, they put their hopes on the Majin that was sealed in Unto Shrine because in their opinion, it was the Majin who made them this way, as according to what their ancestors said.

Only those who tied the bells could untie them. So, the men of Sakagami Village threatened the Onmyojis and shrine maidens of Unto Shrine to destroy the Jade of Four Souls so that they could talk to the Majin.

However, when the seal was slightly broken, something strange did happen. The villagers of Sakagami Village did not see the so-called Majin…

Instantly, they only felt cheated! But they had no idea that Majin had long possessed a little girl’s body, and that girl was Otome Sakagami.