This is the translation for the first book of this Light Novel, which can be bought here.

Note: I don’t own this Light Novel, but the translation is my own and helped by my friend.

When I returned to the client’s residence in the basket, I bumped into Teacher who came from the other side. Sweat flowed down from her forehead as if she had been running about in a hurry, and she seemed a little out of breath. Despite exerting herself to such an extent that if it were me, I’d have been too worn out to move, she had an unconcerned look on her face, so something good must have happened. If one were to look closely, her kimono and hakama were both stained with light brown mud, so perhaps it might be related to that ‘good thing’.

“What happened? Were you okay without me there?”

“There was a little fight. But thanks to that, the preparations have been completed. The arm we’re looking for is in that box, right?” I gave a big nod and handed the box to Teacher. “Thank you very much for the help. But, did anyone say something strange or unpleasant to you?”

I had been trying to hide it, but Teacher seemed to be able to read my expression easily.

After considering it for a moment, I honestly confessed to her about what happened at the Hieda’s residence.

“I think I may have fought with the child named Akyū.”

“By Akyū, you must mean the Child of Miare. Huh… whenever she’s in front of others, she always behaved like an adult and smiled in a bashful manner, and I didn’t think she was someone who would quarrel. Perhaps her true nature slipped out due to your similar age.”

“She said that I would definitely be ill or have a cold the next time I came to visit. But her attendant told me to come again.”

“If that’s the case, then you should visit her again. A girl like her can’t expose her true self because of her position, and has to continue presenting herself as a distinguished person. That’s why it would be good if she could do so in front of you, without anything tying her down.”

I thought that her so-called breakdown was a little too aggressive, but maybe there was a need for her to do so to such an extent. She was someone who was very open about her thoughts, after all.

“Well, we’ll talk about the details when we get back home. First we have to exorcise this Youkai.”

Teacher went back inside the house with the box in hand. Inside, there was an old man whose shoulder was being supported by the man who came to the shrine before, and Teacher opened the box in front of them.

“This will be the go-shintai1 of this house from today. Please spread the word, as strictly as possible, to your children and grandchildren that they must treat it with utmost respect.”

The old man glared at the arm, his body trembling greatly, but closed the lid after taking a deep breath.

“I understand, we will spread the word.”

“Now, we will be sealing the Youkai. Will the both of you stay and watch?”

They both gave a small nod in response. The man who came to the shrine gave the box to one of the servants beside him, and ordered him to put it in the warehouse.

“I’ve heard from the workers. It seems that you’ve set up an enclosure to contain that Youkai.”

“That is but a temporary enclosure. The real one will be created right now.” With that, Teacher gave me a look, seemingly telling me to follow her. “Even though it’s temporary, I doubt it would be able to escape from the enclosure that easily, but please do be prepared to flee; it’s pretty mad about being trapped.”

Teacher had a stern look on her face as she said it. It was slightly grimmer compared to when she scolded me, which seemed to show just how troublesome the Youkai she was about to exorcise was.

After exiting the mansion and walking for around ten minutes, the Youkai’s aura – which had previously only been a slight vibration – was now resonating strongly. In the distance, the rice field was being smacked by waves of mud, and I could understand that it was trying to escape. The moment Teacher approached the side of the enclosure and saw the source of the mud, it tried to attack, but the strikes kept bouncing off the enclosure. It then morphed into a humanoid form and began throwing clumps of hardened mud. However, because the attack was infused with Youkai energy, it too could not reach outside the enclosure.

It was just a confused muddy field Youkai that stopped moving, but that was only until it spotted the old man. The furious attacks suddenly stopped as it took a clearer humanoid form that was almost indistinguishable from a real human. It was a bit unstable since it was made of mud, but it was clearly a naked man with his ‘object’ dangling.

When the old man saw that, he knelt down and pressed his head against the ground.

“Please forgive me. This has to be done, or the starving masses would definitely commit acts against your family far worse than the decline of a clan.”

Slightly lifting its head, the man made out of mud showed a gentle smile and tried to reach his arm over the shimenawa. The old man stood up as if he was possessed by something, walking unsteadily towards the outstretched hand. I immediately reacted and tried to stop him from grabbing the arm, as the Youkai aura coming from the mudman turned malevolent, and was swelling rapidly. However, the old man possessed a lot of strength, so much so that one would not have thought that he had already grown weaker.

The mudman’s expression had long changed from a smile to one of hatred. However, the old man seemed to be unaware of it. He still appeared to think that he would be accepted. He almost touched the Youkai’s hand, but it was violently sent flying, beautifully done in by a running kick from Teacher. She went inside the barrier, glaring at the area where the mudman had fallen. Then, the surrounding mud suddenly began to gather, forming into a giant snake. The old man dropped to his knees in sheer shock, and I was completely frightened by its sheer power, unable to do anything but continue to look upon its figure. Teacher was the only person who glared straight at the mud snake, not an ounce of fear in her body. The snake stretched itself upward as if it were standing up and opened its mouth wide, approaching Teacher in an attempt to swallow her. Despite that, Teacher held her ground, and in the blink of an eye her body was swallowed by the snake’s mouth… the next moment, its head was sent flying, and a rain of mud poured down on the surrounding area.

Having lost most of its power, it now tried to launch an assault from all sides as numerous snakes, but Teacher fled to the skies and evaded the attack, slapping an ofuda onto each of their heads. The snakes all crumbled to pieces simultaneously, and it proceeded to transform into an abnormally large humanoid possessing only a right arm. Teacher exchanged fists with that arm head-on, crushing it and returning it back to mud, then stepped on it when it tried to rise again from the ground.

“Reimu, the malice within this rice field is gathering in this spot. Seal it before it’s too late!”

After she shouted the instruction at me, I took a deep breath and imbued the talisman with power. Just before the Youkai-sealing barrier activated, Teacher flew away from the muddy ground. Perhaps it was because it had already been weakened, but even the simplest box-shaped barrier that could be assembled with just eight talismans was able to completely seal away the mud monster. Since it was my first time using a technique, I was uncertain if I could pull it off, but it seemed to succeed without a problem.

“You’ve done well. Now the foundation of the land where the Youkai is to be worshipped is complete.”

The mud’s resistance ceased, and the malice that filled the surroundings were completely sealed away.

“It helped that it didn’t exhibit as much power as I thought it would. It must have been using its power unconsciously to curse the house.”

“So that there won’t be scary things happening anymore?”

“No. If it remains in the ground and continues accumulating power, it will eventually escape from your barrier. We have to build a small shrine here and worship it regularly. Fortunately, one could say that the fear stopping people from doing so has now been scattered.”

Teacher reached out her hand to the old man, who was still down on his knees in shock. However, he was so afraid of her mud-soaked appearance that he could only back away.

“It’s only been sealed off. The act of continuing to fear that vicious spirit may eventually cause it to change into a guardian deity, or perhaps its nature may remain unchanged forever. But one thing I’ll say is that, had we not done this, it would have definitely sought vengeance against your clan. Please take some time to hold a memorial service. To be reduced to such a thing, no matter how much of a brute he was, is a painful experience.”

By continuing to fear it, its mind might eventually change to those of guardian god and stay like that. One thing I’ll say is that it might stay as your enemy if it stays like this. Please take some time to do a memorial service for it. I understand it’s hard to do it for such a brutal person, but please.”

However, the old man said nothing and simply continued to stare at the rice field. Teacher took a small breath and left the man who came to the shrine to take care of the rest, and after wiping her hands with the paper folded in front of her kimono, she stroked my head.

“Thank you for your hard work. Let us get some quality rest for today. To tell you the truth, I wanted to visit my family today for the first time in a long while. I’ll introduce you to them as well.”

I felt a little afraid of meeting Teacher’s family. By right she should have been at her family’s side, and I was aware that I was monopolizing her attention. But after seeing Teacher’s vulnerable side, I could not say I disliked that fact.

“Some of them might do stupid things, but I’m sure they’ll give you a warm welcome.”

Hearing her say that, it made me regain just a bit of hope. Hope that someone like me, who has no memories of her family, might be able to experience even a little bit of the warmth that came with it.

However, it soon became clear that that hope was a mistake.

—

In public, everyone in Teacher’s family seemed to welcome me warmly, but I quickly realized that there were many cautious gazes pointed towards me. There were also some children who were clearly hostile towards me, so the mood quickly soured. Moreover, Teacher, who always had a sharp intuition, never seemed to suspect her family – who she had lived with since childhood – and whenever I saw a smile from her that she would not show when I was around, my mood quickly sank.

It was shortly after Teacher went to the kitchen to cook a meal that those feelings reached their limit. Some of them surrounded me, saying they wanted to play while forcing me out of the room, then quickly driving me into the corner of another room. It was the same thing as what the other children did to me back when I was at Terakoya.

“You’d better not have been causing any problems for big sis, just like last time!”

One of the boys shoved my shoulder, making me fall on my butt. I shook my head with all my might, but it seemed like no one believed me. From how he phrased his sentence, he might have been in the same classroom as me back when I was still going to Terakoya. I could not remember most of the people from back there. Including who this person was. That might have been another reason why he disliked me.

“Disturbing the class, not listening to the teacher, losing your temper easily… the teacher told us to be patient, but we all hated it! And in the end, you still got kicked out of Terakoya. Anyone would hate taking care of a selfish bastard like you!”

That was not true at all. I had been trying my best not to cause trouble to Teacher, and she praised me a lot for my efforts. I should have improved a lot compared to how I was in the past. I wanted to respond with that, but I was so afraid of his anger that the words were stuck in my throat. Only a hiccup-like scream leaked out, and that caused the anger surrounding me to grow stronger. All children disliked people who did not say things clearly. I understood that, but no matter how hard I tried nothing would come out. I could barely stop the tears from flowing out, but I endured it, not wanting to make Teacher worry. Even when tears spilled out, I stopped myself from crying out. I buried my screams deep inside my heart, not wanting anyone to hear them.

“Stop staying quiet and say something! What you’re doing right now really pisses me off!” Grabbing my collar and pulled me up, then lightly shoved my shoulders with his palm, slamming me against the wall. “Or are you going to go on a rampage again like last time…? But you know, I’ve learnt a lot from the same place as big sis and grown stronger. If it’s just holding you down, I could easily…”

“What are you all doing?!” Hearing Teacher shouting angrily from the entrance of the room, everyone turned around in a hurry. “I can’t believe it. I don’t remember raising you all to be people who gang up on and bully the weak!”

“But she- I just wanted to know if she was causing any problems for you and she refused to say anything!”

“You idiot!” Teacher mercilessly hit the boy who cornered me on the head. “When you were around her age, think about how much trouble you caused me! Always so restless and noisy, crying me a river whenever you were scolded! And don’t think I don’t remember you running away right after I told you to help me with food preparations!”

After another punch from her – perhaps because he could no longer endure the pain – the boy started to cry loudly. Numerous glares were directed at me, as if trying to say that all this commotion was my fault, and I finally became unable to endure being in this place any longer. By the time I realized that, I had shoved my way out of the human blockade and ran out of Teacher’s home.

Relying on my vague memory, I tried to make my way back to the shrine, but before I knew it I could no longer tell where I was going. I had learnt to tell which direction I was facing using the sun, but my confused mind could not calculate even that, unable to do anything except continue to run.

No longer feeling any sort of presence behind me, I cautiously turned around. There was no one there, but my heart ached even though I should be feeling relieved; I did not want to be stuck here on this empty road, where there was not a single person I could call out to. After I calmed down a little, I was able to quickly figure out which direction I was facing using the sun’s position, and I was confident that I could find my way back to the shrine.

“There are so many things I have to do when I get back. I haven’t studied today, and there’s also food to make…”

Going down that train of thought, I remembered that there was no soy sauce left. One had no choice but to fork out money for luxury items, but if it was a daily necessity, they could borrow it if they wrote down a proper contract. The bill was footed by the taxes collected for the village’s operation so we could not be wasteful with it, though so far we had never been rebuked for doing such a thing.

As I approached the street where all the merchants gathered, I began to grow nervous. I had grown used to this place after visiting it regularly for errands, but even so there was something unpleasant about being exposed to so many gazes on the streets, not to mention all the commotion that was happening around me.

I made my way into the street – all the while telling myself that they were not looking at me, that they were all busy minding their own business – and headed for the soy sauce shop. There, for some reason I caught sight of Teacher lining up at the storefront. I had no idea why Teacher, who should have been with her family, was in such a place, but as I was about to turn back – knowing that I had to get out of here as soon as I could – a man with a merchant-like smile over at a shop that had no business today called out to me.

After that happened, Teacher seemed to notice me and hurriedly chased after me. With my back still turned, I ran away without any regard for my surroundings. It was as if she had anticipated me being there, and it frightened me greatly because I did not know the reason behind it. I entered the narrowest alley I could find, knowing she would easily catch up to me on the wide open road, but the feeling that Teacher was still behind me never disappeared. I then snuck into the premises of another residence, knowing full well that what I was doing was wrong. I managed to find a hole in the fence that was small enough for a child to enter.

The inside was wider than I had thought, and there were many warehouses, though not as many as the mansion from before. The ground was littered with grain-sized stones, and pine trees had been planted at regular intervals. A tree with wide leaves was planted adjacent to the small old warehouse on the far left, and there was also a flower bed nearby, though there did not seem to be anything planted in it at the moment.

As I absent-mindedly checked out what was within the premises, at some point I realized I could no longer feel Teacher’s presence, and I tried to leave from the same place I entered.

“Young lady, what might you be doing over there?’ A high-pitched, child-like voice called out to me, stopping me in my tracks; I turned around to find a girl with fluffy black hair, tied together with a red ribbon. She wore a black checkered vest over her white shirt, and her skirt had the same pattern as well. There were children at Terakoya who also wore western clothes so it wasn’t something unusual, but since I was a trespasser, a creeping sense of inferiority was making me lose my nerves. “You don’t seem like a familiar face… Wait a minute, that white kimono and red hakama, could you possibly be a shrine maiden?”

“Y-Yes, that’s right.” It seemed like the girl lived here, as unlike me she did not look nervous at all. “Um, you are…?”

“Huh, so you’re around the same age as me. You should’ve grown more mature since the last time we met…” As if she had no intention of listening to my response, she continued to one-sidedly pepper me with her words. “If a shrine maiden is here, does that mean you’re currently in the middle of a youkai extermination?”

If I spoke about my situation, the girl would no doubt be disappointed. If she lost her interest in me, she might not be willing to overlook my intrusion. I looked around me, wondering whether there was anything noteworthy, and eventually landed my gaze on the small old warehouse. That was the only spot where the atmosphere felt off.

“I thought I sensed a strange presence inside that warehouse…”

After I said that, the girl’s expression faded away as she nervously turned towards the warehouse. I thought that it was a matter that should not have been touched upon, but the very next moment, she had an even friendlier smile on her face than before.

“I knew you’d also notice it! That’s correct. After all, my mother was…” After exclaiming loudly, she dropped her volume and proceeded to whisper the rest of her sentence into my ear. “A very splendid magician.”

I jumped when I heard the word ‘magician’. They were capable of using various kinds of techniques involving magical power, and were people who exorcists such as myself had to always be on guard around.

“Although I say that, she’s nothing like those evil witches that appear in stories.” It seemed like the girl knew about that fact as well. It was for that reason that she lowered her volume and continued to try and persuade me. “She made items that would benefit the people, and was adored by everyone around her. That’s why she had a reputation as the ‘good magician’ of the village. Lots of those kinds of magical tools made by Mother are lying dormant inside that warehouse.”

After saying that much, the girl suddenly moved away from me, showing me a flowery smile. Unlike me, she seemed to be the kind of girl who would let out a genuine smile when she felt happy.

“To be able to detect something like that, you seem to be the real deal despite your small figure. Would you mind telling me your name?”

I thought that it would be dangerous to reveal my name here, but considering she already knew about my identity as a shrine maiden, it would likely not make a difference whether I told her or not.

“Reimu. I’m an apprentice shrine maiden at the Hakurei Shrine.”

She got a little grumpy after hearing that, pouting her cheeks. “Of course I know your shrine maiden name is Reimu. What I’m asking for is your real name.”

“I don’t have anything like that,” I replied immediately; she had touched upon a sore subject. “I was born an outsider, and was picked up by someone. I don’t have any memories from back then.”

Although Teacher had told me that it could not be helped since I had gone through a very traumatic experience, considering that I had no past to speak of, I felt strongly indebted to her. Among the children who went to Terakoya, there were some who had lost their families, but no one suffered from complete memory loss. This time, the girl looked like she was about to cry from what I had said, and hurriedly moved on to another question.

“How old were you when you arrived here?”

“I think I was around seven.” That was what whoever brought me here had told Teacher, so I was not sure whether it was true. “I’ve been living together with Teacher in this village’s shrine for just over a year now, for the sake of becoming the next Hakurei.”

I knew that talking to someone about this during our first meeting was pointless, much less to a child around my age. But looking at her constantly-changing expression, for some reason I could not help but blurt it out. The girl just continued to stare at me, before placing her hand on her chest.

“My name is Marisa Kirisame. You are Hakurei, and… what characters do you use for ‘Reimu?’”

“Just ‘Reimu’. As I have yet to inherit my role as a Hakurei, my name is simply written in hiragana, an empty ‘Reimu’ without any meaning.”

“Reimu.” Marisa made sure to say it without intonation, so that the words were said without any meaning. She was the first person other than Teacher to have done so. “So, Reimu, do you truly believe that the items my mother left behind are lying dormant in that warehouse? My father locked it tightly and never allowed me to enter, so I could never confirm my suspicion.”

‘Items my mother left behind’, Marisa had said. I had no understanding of the story behind it, but Marisa currently had no mother. It was not as if she had absolutely nothing like me, but I could feel that she too was missing a piece of herself. That was why I felt like I wanted to be her strength, and searched for presences inside the warehouse Marisa had pointed out more attentively than before.

At that moment, a chill ran down my spine. I was reminded of that vague fear, that within there slept a being that should not be let out at any cost. However, I could not put my thoughts into words, as I felt like I would hurt Marisa if I told her honestly.

“Yes, I think that… something is sleeping in there.”

“I see, thank you for the help!” Marisa squeezed my hand tightly. Normally I would not be able to stand someone touching any part of my body during our first meeting, but for some reason I was fine with it this time. I had felt nervous, but not once did I think it was scary. “I thought that there might not be anything in there at all, but that wasn’t the case, right?”

There was likely no doubt that something was in there. But as to whether that ‘something’ was a good thing, I strongly believed otherwise.

As I was considering how to explain that fact, a voice calling out ‘Marisa, where are you!’ could be heard from afar. Marisa was surprised upon hearing the voice, and hurriedly pointed towards the hole I entered from.

“Kōrin came looking for me. Your presence here and the hole’s existence will be exposed at this rate, so please escape quickly!” After she said that, I shoved myself back through the same hole I came from. “It would be nice if we could hold a proper conversation next time.”

After thinking about it a little, I replied with a yes. I then gingerly made my way outside, and after confirming once more that Teacher was not pursuing me, I went back to the shrine. As I walked alone on the path back, I was thinking about how Teacher must be laughing happily with her family, having forgotten about me by now after I had done all that and ran from her back there. My heart began to ache as my mind imagined such a scene, the setting sky serving to intensify that feeling more and more.

Because of that, when I returned to the Shrine and saw smoke coming out of the kitchen’s chimney, I could not comprehend the reason behind it. Secretly poking my head in to take a peek, I realized that Teacher was preparing dinner, and was so surprised I could not utter a single word. The moment Teacher noticed me, she hurriedly ran up to me; I could tell from her expression that she was worried sick about me.

“Um, I’m sorry… for running away…” Because of that, an apology quickly came out of my mouth. “I… was having a hard time staying there.”

“I should be the one apologizing. For having caused so much suffering to you, and having believed that things would be fine since I had talked to them in advance. I didn’t think those children would go that far. For having caused you so much trouble… I’m really sorry.”

Teacher smiled at me; after seeing that, my bitter feelings cleared up all at once, replaced instead by a feeling of hunger as my stomach growled.

“You made dinner because you expected all this, right?”

“I knew that this was the only place you’d come back to. That’s why I wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t have any bitter feelings left when you returned.” Although Teacher cared greatly for her family, she cared a lot about me too. That was why she welcomed me back without reprimanding me for running away. “Since you didn’t eat lunch either, I figured I should prepare something you could eat right away. I went to the store to get some condiments I was lacking.”

“So that’s why I ran into you back there…”

“Mm. I was in a panic after losing sight of you, but I thought about the reason why you went to that store, and decided that it would be better for me to wait back here than to chase after you.”

I said nothing, simply giving a big nod as I stepped into the kitchen. Together with Teacher, we prepared dinner, took a bath, studied a little, and went to bed afterward.

And starting tomorrow, I would once again go through the same routine. No, I have to push myself harder than ever before. That terrifying monster, and those people who surrounded me – I must train my heart and body even more so that I will not lose to either of them. To that end, it would be necessary for me to learn more about Teacher’s fighting style.

That powerful, courageous, and fearless fighting style.

1. Go-shintai or shintai are objects of worship housed in a Shinto shrine, and are believed to contain the spirit of a deity.

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