Fantasy Library.

Chapter 478 "Congyu Maru"

After an unknown amount of time, the shrine maiden's Kagura dance ended, and she herself bowed and slowly retreated amidst a series of clear bell sounds.

The atmosphere only returned to its lively state after the shrine maiden returned and disappeared.

"It's so beautiful, the shrine maiden's Kagura dance."

"Yes, it's beautiful no matter how many times I see it."

"After all, it's one of the specialties of our Suizhi. These days, many tourists even come specifically to see the shrine maiden's dance, you know?"

Kurama Koharu, Maten Roka, and Kurama Rentaro freely expressed their thoughts, while the surrounding tourists looked on with longing.

Seeing their expressions, Aize had reason to suspect that perhaps only he could have witnessed that unbelievable scene.

He simply didn't believe that anyone else present would be as indifferent as he was if they saw such a beautiful priestess suddenly sprout animal ears.

Especially for the locals, if they saw the shrine maiden with animal ears, it would definitely cause a huge uproar, right?

The words of the taxi driver when Aize arrived in Suizhi Town flashed through his mind.

"People travel all this way to this land where dog spirits reside to watch the festival. There are so many people with nothing better to do these days..."

Thinking of this, Aize fell silent for a moment.

The possession of a dog spirit is a legend that has been passed down in this area for a very long time.

It is said that after the wars of the Warring States period ended, the lingering spirits of the monsters that had been defeated began to haunt this land, thus giving rise to a particularly severe curse.

Especially the lords of this land, whose female relatives seemed to bear this curse, and had caused quite a few troubles.

The idea of ​​"the cursed land where the cursed princess served" gradually spread in the surrounding area, giving rise to the concept of dog spirit possession.

For this reason, in the eyes of the locals in the surrounding area, Suizhi Town is an ominous place, a cursed place, and is therefore hated and even rejected.

In recent years, Suizhi Town has become increasingly lively, with more and more foreign tourists coming here, but the number of domestic tourists is not large, and is even very small compared to the number of foreign tourists.

This is all because of the belief in dog spirit possession, which makes the area feared and disliked by the locals.

Aize had known about this since he was a child, but he had always been indifferent to it.

Seeing the witch with animal ears on her head, Aize suddenly felt that the idea of ​​a curse might not be entirely unfounded.

"Dong dong - dong dong -"

His heart was still pounding strongly, telling Aize that the abnormality in his body was continuing.

All of this was telling him...

"Perhaps, Suizhi Town is not as simple as I thought it was."

This small town may be hiding some unknown secret.

This secret may even overturn people's worldview.

"Isn't this just an ordinary world?"

Aize rubbed his temples, wondering for the first time if he might have transmigrated into a world that wasn't so simple.

"Hey, Aize." Kurama Rentaro suddenly patted Aize on the shoulder, waking him up, and said, "What are you spacing out for?"

Aize snapped out of his daze and saw everyone looking at him.

"Are you tired?"

"Why don't you go back and rest for a bit?"

Both Ma Tingluhua and Anma Xiaochun spoke up with some concern.

"I'm fine." Aize shook his head, pondered for a moment, and then asked as if he had made up his mind, "Can I go into the shrine to take a look?"

Aize saw that many tourists were queuing outside the shrine and entering the shrine in order.

He wanted to go inside and take a look.

"It should be fine, right?" Although Ma Tingluhua didn't know what was wrong with Aize, she still replied, "There are other activities going on inside, and it's currently the time when tourists are allowed to enter."

"However, if you want to participate in the event, you have to draw a list in advance, okay?" Kurama Rentaro seemed to know more than Maten Roka, and said, "Of course, if you don't want to participate in the event, then that's another story."

"Grandpa's inside the shrine right now." Koharu Kurama habitually tugged at Aize's sleeve, saying with a sweet smile, "Would you like to go in and see Grandpa, brother?"

Kurama Genjuro is the executive committee member for this event, so if Aize and the others enter as related personnel, there shouldn't be any problems.

"Then go in."

Since Aize had already made up his mind, he didn't intend to hesitate any longer.

"It would be good to say hello to Grandpa."

With that, Aize took the lead and headed towards the shrine, urging his friends to follow quickly.

The four of them entered the shrine, encountering obstacles along the way, but arrived at their destination without any problems.

It was a rather spacious interior, seemingly the enshrinement area of ​​a shrine.

The tourists who came to participate in the event were lined up neatly, and the line stretched forward until it finally arrived at a high platform.

This platform is located at the deepest part, and on it sits a rock the size of an artificial mountain.

The rock was fenced off, with shimenawa ropes hanging around it. Something seemed to be stuck in the top of the rock, and someone walked up to it, stood in front of the thing, and reached out their hand.

"Thump thump—thump thump—thump thump—"

In that instant, Aize felt his heart beat even faster.

The rhythm and force of the drumming made him wonder if his heart was about to burst.

Even though that's how it is, he doesn't feel uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, he feels a surge of adrenaline, his whole body warms up, and he feels somewhat excited.

"The thing stuck up there..."

Aize already knew what was stuck in that oversized rock.

However, before he could take any action, a voice rang out first.

"Rentaro, Xiaochun."

It was an old voice.

The owner of the voice was an old man with white hair and gray eyes, wearing a kimono, with a beard, and a face full of wrinkles that was serious and meticulous, as resolute as a rock.

"grandfather!"

"grandfather!"

Kurama Rentaro and Kurama Koharu immediately spoke up, calling out to each other, their expressions turning fearful. "Grandpa."

Aize's attention was temporarily diverted, and he looked at the old man who was walking in this direction.

The old man in front of him was his maternal grandfather, Kurama Genjuro.

"Is that Aze?"

Kurama Genjuro looked at Aize with a stern and sharp gaze.

That gaze was like a sword, so sharp it seemed capable of cutting people, and it was indeed easy to instill fear in people.

Basically, that's the kind of person Kurama Genjuro is. He's quite strict and serious, so Kurama Rentaro and Kurama Koharu are both afraid of him. Even Aizawa's unreliable mother doesn't dare to talk back when Kurama Genjuro gets angry. His father is like a mouse seeing a cat every time he sees Kurama Genjuro, either trying to escape or being as docile as a partridge.

On the contrary, Aize was not very afraid of his grandfather since childhood, because he knew that although Kurama Genjuro was very strict, he also cared about him. Otherwise, he would not have valued him, instructed him to practice kendo, and even made a training plan for him.

"It's been a long time, Grandpa."

Aize greeted Kurama Genjuro.

"Hmm." Kurama Genjuro nodded with a serious expression, glanced at Aize, and said, "Not bad, you've grown quite a bit, much stronger than Rentaro."

Kurama Rentaro couldn't help but glance at Aize, then at himself, and realized that Aize was indeed a bit more muscular than him.

"I've heard that you won the national kendo championship, right?" Kurama Genjuro looked at Aize with a hint of admiration in his eyes and said, "It seems that you haven't neglected kendo all these years."

"It's just the same as before, I'm just practicing my sword routine to keep my skills sharp. I haven't really practiced much," Aize replied honestly. "I just participated in the competition casually for fun. I didn't expect my opponent to be so weak. All they knew was how to show off."

This isn't because Aize is arrogant; it's simply the truth.

Compared to the swordsmanship that Kurama Genjuro taught him from a young age, the kendo he practiced for competitions was really too childish.

It's important to know that when Kurama Genjuro was young, there were still samurai wielding swords and spears in the streets. Therefore, he practiced swordsmanship from a young age and his swordsmanship was superb. The swordsmanship he learned throughout his life was very practical and even specifically designed for killing.

Under the tutelage of Genjuro Kurama, Aizawa, who began practicing swordsmanship from a young age, was also trained in practical combat. Therefore, his swordsmanship is highly practical and far superior to those kendo techniques that exist only for aesthetics and competition.

Unfortunately, Aize is a prodigy who can master all kinds of weapons from a young age. Even if he doesn't touch a bamboo sword for a long time, he can immediately regain his sense of skill and exert 100% of his strength when he does. This has led to his dominance in kendo competitions, with no one able to defeat him.

National Kendo Champion?

For him, it was something he could easily obtain.

"It's good to know that you haven't wasted your skills. Whether you win the championship or not is secondary." Although Kurama Genjuro was very satisfied with Aize's achievements, he still became stern as usual, saying, "You still need to guard against arrogance and impetuosity. After all, no one fights with real swords in this era anymore. Never underestimate the people of the world."

"I understand, Grandpa." Aize accepted the lesson and asked, "What about Zhina Village...?"

"You can move in first." Kurama Genjuro naturally hadn't forgotten why Aize had come back this time, and said to him, "Rest for one night, and we'll talk about work tomorrow."

“Okay.” Aize nodded in agreement.

Seeing his calm and composed demeanor, his friends were quite impressed.

"Aze is still the same as before, completely unafraid of Genjuro-san."

Ma Tingluhua spoke softly.

"Yes, brother is really amazing. I don't even dare to talk to Grandpa like that. I get nervous every time Grandpa stares at me."

Koharu Kurama smiled sheepishly.

"Tch, I'm clearly the biological grandson, but I'm not as favored as the grandson from the other side."

Kurama Rentaro muttered something there.

"That's because you're too frivolous, Brother Lian. Grandpa doesn't like your attitude."

Koharu Kurama started complaining again.

The three of them whispered among themselves, completely unaware that Aize and Kurama Genjuro had changed the subject.

"Is the event that's being held right now the one that's been rumored?"

Aize steered the conversation toward the activity next door.

“Yes.” Genjuro Kurama nodded and said, “Letting tourists try to pull out the sacred sword is a special event that is only held during the Spring Festival.”

As mentioned earlier, Suiori prayed to the gods during the Warring States period and was eventually granted a divine sword, which enabled her to slay monsters, repel invaders, and restore peace to Suiori.

That sacred sword was eventually enshrined in this Kensuke Shrine and stuck in a stone.

According to rumors, only those recognized and chosen by the Divine Blade can pull the blade from the stone.

That's right, just like the sword in the stone in the Arthurian legend, no one can pull out this sword stuck in the stone unless they are qualified.

To attract tourists, Hoori holds a special sword-drawing event during the Spring Festival, where challengers are selected by lottery and allowed to try to draw the sacred sword enshrined at Kenji Shrine.

This is the most famous event in Suiori, and a lot of information about it can be found online, which attracts a large number of tourists, especially those from Europe who are familiar with the story of King Arthur from childhood and are usually interested in this event.

"Can I go over and take a look?"

Aize pressed his hand to his chest and asked Kurama Genjuro a question.

"Go ahead and watch if you want," Kurama Genjuro said without stopping him, adding, "Just don't interfere with the event."

Aize nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly walked towards the rocks.

A while later, he walked through the line of tourists and came to the platform, where he finally saw the knife stuck in the rock.

It was a very standard samurai sword, with a very ordinary hilt and hilt, while the blade was as bright as silver, shimmering with a cold, captivating arc of light.

At this point, half of the knife's blade was embedded in the rock, with only a section of the blade and the hilt protruding from the outside.

Tourists walked up one after another. Whether they were muscular strongmen or slender women, they would exert all their strength the moment they gripped the knife handle, their faces turning red as they tried to pull the knife out, but they could never manage to do so.

That was the divine sword bestowed upon Suiori by the gods, its name being "Muramasa".

"Om..."

The blade of the divine sword stuck in the rock gleamed faintly for a moment, but no one could see this, not even the tourists standing in front of it pulling out the sword.

Only Aize clearly saw the brilliance on the blade.

"Thump thump—thump thump—thump thump—"

His heartbeat became more intense than ever before at that moment.

Suddenly, an impulse arose in Aize's heart.

He wanted to draw his sword.

(End of this chapter)