Vermilion.

It's a traditional Japanese tapode.

Its appearance is like its name, and its large face is like a wooden basin, and it is as blood-red as red paint. There was a small horn on his forehead, his hair was straight like a needle, and the mouth of the blood basin was cracked all the way to the base of the ear.

In the corresponding weird stories, the temperament is generally more ferocious.

Other than that, there's not much to say.

After all, it's a monster that isn't too well-known.

In the cemetery in the mountain forest in Zhitou Town, the little old man found a total of two vermilion pots, probably both of which were about D-level strength and had strong aggressiveness.

This should be the goal of this extermination.

Now it can only be said that the two vermilion pots here in Chitou Town are really unlucky.

If it weren't for the fact that he had to take the apprentices to experience this time, this level of strange talk would definitely not be handled by the ceiling combat power of Kamiyagawa.

After confirming the strength level of the target to be retreated, Kamiyagawa asked Oishi to stop the car in a secluded place, and pretended to explain to the two apprentices: "The matter here in Totori, one of the little old man's outer bodies will assist the two of you to solve it on your own, and go back quickly." ”

Of course, Tsurumi would not have any objections to Kamiya's orders, so he got out of the car with Nanquan's words and a smiling face.

Shikanoya first blinked and looked at the master, and then quickly slipped out of the sacred incense burner and strode to catch up with the senior sister.

Kamiyagawa: ......

Although before the fawn left, the eyes cast on the master did not show any emotion as much as possible.

But Kamiyagawa, who was in charge of emotions, could still feel that in a moment just now, the girl seemed to be poking and laughing in her heart.

Nothing big or small!

After the figures of Kanoya and Tsurumi disappeared into the lush mountains and forests on the side, Kamiyagawa slowly followed them.

Although it is to let the apprentices solve the strange story of Zhitou Town on their own......

But here they are, so let's take an extra look at the battle between the two of them.

……

About thirty minutes later.

In a cemetery in the mountains.

Bang.

The small but heavy incense burner fell to the ground, rolling up a cold fragrance like the autumn wind.

The brass furnace was stained with blood, and when it hit the ground, it knocked a small hole in the wet ground of the cemetery.

Kanoya lifted his right foot lightly and skillfully towards the incense burner, and the copper chain flipped and slashed in a faint arc in the air.

The incense burner fell heavily into her palm.

While putting away the copper furnace, the fawn looked not far to the side, only to see that Tsurumi Aoi was already carefully wiping the blood stains on the smiling Qingjiang.

Each of the two girls poured a vermilion basin beside them.

The monster was short, with a round crimson head that was unusually large, and the hair on its body stood on end like sharp needles.

It's a little scary, but that's what it is.

Now both vermilion pots have been retired. One of the skulls had obvious blunt smash marks, the other had several slash marks from sharp weapons, and the bodies of the two youkai began to slowly turn to ashes.

The battle between Kanoya and Tsurumi lasted for a short time, in fact, only a few minutes. The vast majority of the half-hour spent trekking through the mountains and forests to reach the cemetery where the monster was hiding.

"Little grandpa, aren't there any other weird things here?"

The fawn sniffed the humid air of the cemetery again, and then asked the little old man who was traveling with him.

"Abaaba!"

The scout gestured and nodded, replying in the affirmative.

It's just a D-class weird talk.,It's not at all the opponent of the two eldest ladies who are serious about fighting.。

"Aoi-chan, let's go back to Master, it seems that dinner is going to be eaten in Hokkaido." Shikanoya greets the junior sister.

Tsurumi replied simply, leaned down again, and picked up a small object from the ground.

It was a wood carving with a dull color.

The craftsmanship of the maker is somewhat crude, and the wood carving does not appear to be complete, but it can still be seen that it is a dragonfly that has landed on the bone of a lotus flower.

This wooden dragonfly was left behind by the vermilion basin that Tsurumi had killed when it turned to ashes.

That's a trophy.

It's just that it doesn't seem to have much value.

"Senior sister, look at this."

Tsurumi shows the wooden dragonfly he just picked up to the fawn.

The younger sister approached and sniffed the fan, but she only felt a little fishy smell left over from the wood carving.

"Since you won the battle and got it, you will hand it over to the master after that, right?" Fawn proposed.

"Hmm."

The two sisters from the same door returned the same way under the guidance of the little old man.

And on the side of the ghost car parked at the foot of the mountain, I saw the Kamiya River again, which had been waiting for a long time.

The apprentices briefly reported the process of retreating from the Zhu Pen, and then gave the wood carved dragonfly to the master.

In Kamiya's opinion, which is extremely rich in "looting experience", this rough carved wooden dragonfly is not worth talking about, at most it is dyed with some strange atmosphere.

However, when he took the wooden dragonfly in his hand, "Strange Tales of Things" gave the information of identification-

[Honda Tadakatsu's Wood Dragonfly (Mortal): A wooden dragonfly carved by Honda Tadakatsu in his later years after he lived in seclusion. A failed unfinished work with no artistic value. But because it is contaminated with the atmosphere of strange talk, it may be used as a thing to rely on for some very weak little wandering spirits. Or can it be used as a family display to highlight the unique taste of the owner's home? ]

"Oh?"

Kamiyagawa didn't expect that this inconspicuous wooden dragonfly would have a certain background.

Looking at the identification information, this wood carving came from the hand of the famous Daimyo Honda Tadatsu of the Warring States period.

Honda Tadakatsu was a powerful general of the Tokugawa family.

The name is very loud -

The flying general of the three rivers, the flat eight of the ghosts, the warriors of ancient and modern solitude. It is also known as having both flowers and fruits, and it is unparalleled in the East.

He has never tasted defeat in his life, experienced 57 occasions and fought unscathed, and has been repeatedly praised and praised by the generals of various forces, and later generations will call him "Japan's Zhang Fei".

However, it is said that Honda Tadakatsu was fond of wood carving after living in seclusion in his later years, and that he was cut by a carving knife and the wound became infected, causing complications and eventually dying.

Half-lifed, he was invincible on the battlefield, but he died of tetanus brought by a small carving knife.

Such a life experience is quite embarrassing.

"This wooden dragonfly belongs to Honda Tadashi Katsukatsu...... It seems that this Mikawa flying general is really obsessed with doing handicrafts in his later years? I don't know where the two red pots picked up these things. ”

Kamiyagawa took the wooden dragonfly in his hand and looked at it for a while.

Although the maker of the wood carving is famous in the world, and belongs to the kind of heroes who will definitely leave behind the ashes of war after death, it is a pity that this wooden dragonfly still does not have much practical value to the current Kamiya.

Occasionally, you will pick up gadgets like this and don't need them.

In fact, there are a lot of things like this.

As for this wooden dragonfly, although it is a "failure", it is better to preserve it quite completely. And when I think that its creator is Honda Tadakatsu, the humanistic style of the little wood carving suddenly improves!

If you really don't need it, you can also put it in the living room of the home as an ornament.

Anyway, Kamiyagawa's family has never been taboo to put some strange collectibles.

They are a big family of fierce and vicious, and they can suppress everything.

……

Let the two apprentices dispose of the Zhu Pen, and Kamiyagawa and his party set off again.

As a member of the Countermeasures Department, he went to visit the old mage who had reported the situation to Tottori Prefecture.

He also showed the other party the newly obtained [Honda Tadakatsu's Wood Dragonfly].

In the end, the old mage determined that the strange atmosphere left on the wood dragonfly was indeed the same as what he had felt in the dead before.

In this way, the matter on Tottori's side is officially resolved.

Kamiyagawa arrived at Chizucho at around 1 p.m. and left at around 3 p.m.

The soldiers are fast and efficient.

The experience of taking apprentices this time is still a little too easy.

But in the end, it is actual combat, so it will always be beneficial to let Xiaolu and Tsurumi have more contact and accumulate some experience.

Then their next stop is to go to the Nemuro Peninsula in Hokkaido.

After arriving in Hokkaido, Kamiyagawa first contacted the local police, who had been notified in advance, and obtained more detailed information about the recent "disappearance of young men".

The state of affairs here is still unclear, and it is not even certain whether the disappearance is really related to the strange story.

When I came out of the police station, it was already dark.

As usual, Kamiya asked the scouts to send out their own legions to investigate the situation around the Nemuro Peninsula.

The "disappearance" has not yet found a direction to investigate, and no one knows where the young men who disappeared have gone.

Since they have all appeared in the northeastern part of Hokkaido, that is, around the Nemuro Peninsula...... That Kamiyagawa doesn't need to "reason to solve the case", just use force to solve the trick, let the little old man rummage through this place, and he should be able to find some useful clues.

The search for the peninsula took much longer than Chito's Town, and the scope of the investigation also included other areas along the coast, so Kamiyagawa took his apprentices to settle into a local hotel first.

It doesn't matter if he has the physique of the Aragami, but the apprentices need to eat and rest.

The first day of the experience passed like this.

At six o'clock the next day, Kamiyagawa, who got up early, was drinking coffee as usual while flipping through the large number of dossiers he had brought yesterday. The little old man, who had been busy working all night, finally reported back an important piece of information-

One of his outer bodies found a somewhat strange shrine on the site of the original Hamai Village around the root room.

It is up to the host to check the situation in person.

……

Hamai Village was originally a second-class village in Hokkaido formed by the merger of several villages.

Later, it was included in Nemuro City.

And the "strange shrine" that the little old man called is located near the village of Rashi, which once formed the village of Hamai.

Of course, the so-called "Luoshi Village" no longer exists.

The target shrine is located in the middle of a hill facing the sea to the east, and it is very remote.

Even in an otherwise desolate area like Nemuro City, the remoteness is particularly prominent.

Climb the longer approach and pass through the faded torii gates.

Kamiyagawa and his apprentices came to a shrine that had been abandoned.

The idol enshrined in this shrine is ......

It is about two meters tall, and the shape is quite realistic, and it belongs to the human body organ of a woman alone.

The Japanese generally refer to this idol as "Hime-no-ho".

Before Kamiyagawa came to the target shrine to check on the situation, he obtained the prefectural records from the local contact person in Nemuro and learned about the situation in Raishi Village in advance.

When the village was still in existence, fertility cults flourished.

This Himeho Shrine is a product of this belief.

In fact, fertility cults are not uncommon in Japan, and they can be found in many places.

There are those who worship the treasure of Ji, and there are those who worship the male root. There are more than 400 shrines in Japan.

And the culture of belief in fertility cults goes far beyond that.

For example, the Asuka Shrine in Nara holds the "Ota Matsuri" every year, which is said to be a religious performance that has been handed down since ancient times.

During the performance, one person wears a "tengu mask" to represent men, and one person wears a "Tofu mask" to represent women. The "Tengu" pounces on "Tafu" and performs various actions with "sexual" connotations.

As for why it is a tengu that represents men.

In fact, the long nose on the tengu's face was first associated with "sexuality".

Moreover, Saruda Hikomei, who was buried by Kamiyagawa and received the bones of the gods, is itself a male representative of fertility worship.

Kamiya is also a "top student" who studies folklore, and he actually knows a lot about these things.

And this ancient fertility cult has indeed flourished in the main island of Japan. However, the indigenous people of Hokkaido are Ezo, the tribes related to the Ainu controlled by Kamiya.

This belief in Luoshi Village has nothing to do with Ezo.

This is because the villagers who gathered here first migrated from the Atago region after Hokkaido came under the control of the Japanese shogunate.

"Uh, this...... Pretty much like that? ”

The deer who came with him saw the statue of "Ji no Bao" in the abandoned temple, and immediately leaned forward curiously.

As a little painter who often draws books, she has no taboos.

And Tsurumi is not as calm as his senior sister.

Although she still had a cold face, her eyes had nowhere to rest, so she turned her face away and looked away.

Where Tsurumi Aoi was looking was a side hall that was also dilapidated.

Kamiyagawa, who has read the prefectural records, knows that the side hall is called "Miscellaneous Fish Dormitory".

What should I say about the side hall......

It's not as good as the main hall.

Because of the strong fertility cult in Luoshi Village, there has been a custom of sexual indulgence.

On festivals that commemorate the harvest, sexual restrictions are not strict. On the night of the festival, the whole village, young and old, go to the side hall of Himenoho Shrine to sleep together.

[Whether it is the village chief's wife, daughter, maid, or male servant, all young and old, everyone sleeps in the side hall.] Only tonight, you can do anything. ]

Because everyone is lying together, like all kinds of miscellaneous fish that have just been fished up, it is called "miscellaneous fish bed".

In fact, after the Meiji Restoration, similar customs were explicitly banned.

However, the remote location of Luoshi Village and the custom of the festival of miscellaneous fish sleeping were maintained until about 1950.

Kamiyagawa briefly recalled the contents of the prefectural chronicles he had just read, and then launched Kanoya, which was interested in observing "Hime's Treasure" in the main hall.

Immediately after, he condensed his eyes and carefully looked around the entire Hime-no-Treasure Shrine.

"It's no wonder that the little old man noticed this shrine...... There is the power of faith and the remnants of the breath of the Aragami here. ”

(End of chapter)