Because of the "blind" Watanabe, Tsukasa Kurihara walked slower, making sure that Watanabe would be able to keep up with his pace.

In fact, he could have left Watanabe here. Anyway, it's not real life, and if you die, you're dead, it's nothing more than multiple missing people. But for Tsukasa Kurihara, a living Watanabe is definitely more valuable than a dead Watanabe.

After all, we have to return to real life. And Watanabe, who is alive, is a policeman with power who can help him with a lot of things.

There is a dirt road in the mountains.

Tsukasa Kurihara asked Watanabe to walk along the dirt road with his shoulders on his shoulders. There are footprints, paw prints, and hoof prints of different shades on the road, and it seems that all kinds of creatures are walking on this path.

For example, less than two kilometers in front of Tsukasa Kurihara and Watanabe, there is a young man in a loose kimono leading a bantam.

The young man had a small head, a whip for whipping bantamas at his right waist, and a katana pinned to his left. He is about 1.65 meters tall, wearing white socks and stepping on clogs, a proper Meiji style. The appearance is also a more heroic type, with thick eyebrows and a national face.

His short feet were immediately tied to a middle-aged man in pajamas, his eyes were closed, and he had no tendency to wake up from the bumps in the road.

It was Sato that Tsukasa Kurihara had seen before.

The young man led the bantam horse and walked unhurriedly on the dirt road, and after ten minutes, the dirt road that turned the corner suddenly opened up. A small village of mud houses and stones appeared in front of me.

The hamlet is built in a ravine, a rare plain area, with a narrow rugby shape in front and back. In the middle of the village there is a small river one meter wide, and a stone bridge is built in the middle to pass through it.

The youth and the bantam entered the village, and there were people greeting them along the way.

"Kichijiro, you're back."

"Hmm." Kishijiro replied in a muffled voice.

"Yo, what's that one on your horseback?"

"People."

"People?" The "person" who greeted him was shocked, "Wouldn't it? Someone? ”

Loud words resounded through the village, and a voice kept ringing out: "What? Where, where are the people? ”

From the first villager to recognize the middle-aged man's species, many creatures suddenly appeared in the silent village. A closer look at the moment reveals that these villagers are unusual.

Some have snake bodies, some have only one eye and no other organs, and some have sharp scythes. All in all, they are not human things, and it is no wonder that they are so curious about the real person on the bantam horse in front of them.

"It's really human!" Some villagers sighed, "How long has it been, how long have I not seen anyone?" Let me think about how many years ago it was from the time I entered this space. ”

"A hundred years ago, old fellow!" The one-eyed villager next to him responded, "Since the beginning of the war, there is no room for us to live in the human world outside. ”

"It can't be counted like that." Another villager said, "It's one thing to come here, but it's another thing to not be able to get out at all." If you really want to count, you still have to start with the last entrance disappearing. Not as old as a hundred years. ”

"Hey, it's good that we survived, have you forgotten the tragic situation of chasing and killing at that time?" I don't know who suddenly mentioned it, and the lively debate suddenly fell silent, and no one spoke and fell into boundless silence. When there was no sound, the village was like a dead place.

All that remained was the sound of the hoofs of the bantam on the stone slabs.

As if they appeared suddenly, the villagers all disappeared and disappeared into the shadows or walls. At the back, only Kishijiro was left walking around the village with a bantam, and he led the horse across the stone bridge and continued to the end of the village.

There is a small shrine with a wooden torii gate painted in red, followed by a gently angled 12-step stone staircase. If you go up the stairs, you will find a walking approach, and there is a clean hand pond next to it.

Kishijiro tied the bantam to a pillar in the torii gate, and the bantam also stopped to graze beside it. He easily carried Sato on his shoulders and walked into the shrine, and halfway through to wash his hands in front of the clean hand pool. On both sides of the road there are carved stone horse statues that act as oracles, in pairs. But at the moment only one side remains, and the other half is left only with a stone base.

The bantam horse that Kishijiro is tied to the shrine is exactly the same as the remaining stone horse statues.

Continuing inside, Kichijiro walked around the wooden box and the worship hall and entered the main hall dedicated to the gods.

Generally speaking, the main hall is not entered, except for the clergy who are in charge of cleaning. Visitors can only enter the main hall unless they have communicated with the worshipping gods in advance, accompanied by the chief priest, bathed and cleansed their bodies, removed their filth, and completed a complete set of rituals to be physically and mentally peaceful.

But these were not binding on Kishijiro in the slightest, and he even entered the temple with a sword on his shoulder.

The first thing you see when you enter the main hall is that the shrine that is supposed to be dedicated to the gods is empty, and all the furnishings are gone, and even the spring lanterns are so dilapidated that they look like perfunctory pieces of rotten wood.

Only the clean floor of the main hall can be seen.

Kishijiro placed the five-flowered Sato in front of the shrine, dusted off the ashes from his body, untied the saber and horsewhip at his waist, and took off his coat to reveal the white undershirt inside. At this time, there was a sudden sense of piety.

After doing this, Kishijiro knelt in front of the tent. He lowered his knees, straightened up, sat back on his heels, and finally humbly folded his hands on his forehead and bowed.

One, two, three.

After bowing three times, Kishijiro looked up at the empty deity offerings, and his pupils fell silent.

At this time, Sato woke up leisurely.

He didn't react to the sudden change in his surroundings, thinking to himself that he wasn't sleeping at home. What's going on with this place that looks like a dojo now?

Dreaming? Sato just wanted to rub his dizzy head when he found that he was tied up, and subconsciously struggled hard, and the rope did not move at all. On top of that, he found himself stuffed with strips of cloth in his mouth, and he could only whine. There was a man kneeling in front of him.

Sato frantically glanced at Kishijiro and wanted him to help him untie himself. But Kishijiro didn't care about any movement of Sato, who woke up. He tied the whip around his back to keep the wide sleeves of his undershirt out of the way, and then took his katana and walked to Sato.

Sato didn't know what was going to happen next, he thought that Kishijiro was here to help him untie and was very excited, who would have thought that Kishijiro would cut his neck directly, not deep, but also began to bleed. Kishijiro took a bowl and put it underneath it, and then the blood that flowed from Sato.

It's like the act of killing a chicken and wiping its neck and letting it bleed.

"Woo woo woo !!!!"

Sato was stunned before he began to struggle frantically, but the blood on his neck was flowing faster and faster. He was horrified to find that his hands and feet could not swing sharply, only his head could swing back and forth.

But he didn't dare, and his whole body stiffened with intense fear.

Kishijiro completely ignored Sato's movements, knelt down again and said, "Lord Mosu, boy Kishijiro, I hope to be able to get your protection." If you are satisfied with the offerings, please relight the spring lanterns. Believer Kishijiro participated. ”

After reading it, Kichijiro looked up and was about to continue solving Sato, when he saw that the fog in the room was flourishing, and it quickly dissipated.

Two people appeared in front of the shed.

Tsukasa Kurihara and Watanabe.

For the first time, Kishijiro's normally calm face had a different expression, with the fervor of an apostle.

Tsukasa Kurihara, who couldn't figure out the situation, looked left and right, and saw Kishijiro who was kneeling and Sato, who was tied up with five flowers and looked frightened like a chick.

Sato snorted and tears smeared his face.

"Lord Demon." Kishijiro said with a shudder.

"Hello." Tsukasa Kurihara said hello.