In the world of Type-Moon, it all begins with becoming Morgan's husband!

"..."

Although it was just a simple sentence, Ian sensed the subtlety in it.

"she?"

"Kintaro, you mean..."

Before Ian could even ask the question, Kintaro exclaimed with immense delight:

"Boy!"

"I want to show this beautiful thing to Tongzi too!"

"Do you have any way to help me?"

123. Shuten-dōji's "Invitation" / Kintaro's Sake Gourd (4,000-word chapter)

Seeing Kintaro's excited expression, you realize that the "child" he mentioned might be something quite important to him.

But you don't know what it is.

You decide to find out what happened.

"Kintaro."

The burly man beside Ian asked again.

"Perhaps I can help you."

"But the premise is that you have to explain to me clearly what exactly this 'child spirit' you mentioned is all about?"

Upon hearing Ian say he could help him, Kintaro immediately became interested.

He held the gold in his hands, gesturing excitedly as he pointed outside, looking very excited.

"Over there! Over there!"

"The boy is over there!"

Ian looked in the direction Kintaro was pointing and saw the road leading out of the capital.

He immediately realized that Kintaro's "over there" referred to a place outside Heian-kyo.

To put it in a more understandable way: it means that you have to take him out yourself.

to be honest--

This is a somewhat risky move.

After all, it would be very easy to stop Kintaro if they were in Kyoto.

But once you go outside, the variables that arise are far more numerous than you might imagine.

But is it really necessary to doubt him?

After much deliberation, Ian decided to give it a try.

After all, if something really happens, I'm not without ways to handle it.

"That--"

"Kintaro, can you take me to see it?"

"Sure! No problem!"

Holding the gold, Kintaro appeared extremely excited.

After briefly explaining your whereabouts to Minamoto no Yorimitsu, you and Kintaro left Heian-kyo the following day.

Since you don't know his destination, you can only let him lead the way.

Fortunately, Kintaro is true to his word and a very simple person.

He didn't have any bad intentions; he was genuinely just leading the way.

You and he arrived at the foot of a mountain.

That's where your adopted son, Sadamitsu Usui, fought.

"..."

As soon as Ian stepped into the forest, his brows furrowed.

Because he saw the forest full of signs of destruction.

The tall trees were covered with shocking claw marks, so the fallen leaves almost filled the entire path.

obviously.

This battle was not as simple as Usui Sadamitsu had described.

To avoid worrying himself, he deliberately omitted a lot of information, only reporting good news and not bad.

Ian realized that his relationship with his adopted sons was not entirely based on self-interest.

I worry about them.

They also worry about themselves.

"This way, this way!"

After shouting that, Kintaro ran towards a small path in the mountains.

Despite his imposing physique, he acted as lively as a child.

Ian had no choice but to hurry up and catch up.

You are moving through the woods.

Kintaro, back on the mountain, was frighteningly excited.

This is probably the environment he was born and raised in.

You followed him around for quite some time.

You finally stopped in front of a wooden cabin.

"This……"

Ian was somewhat surprised as he looked at the wooden house in front of him.

This doesn't look like a mountain where people live, but there's a house like this there.

Something is wrong.

While Ian was still pondering why, Kintaro had already revealed the answer to him directly.

He pushed open the door with a happy expression and shouted inside:

"I am back!"

however--

There was no response from inside the house.

Kintarou looked at the empty room, looking somewhat puzzled.

Seeing this, Ian asked:

"Was someone supposed to be waiting for you here?"

"Mm." Kintaro, who was holding the gold, nodded.

"Grandma should be waiting for me here."

"..."

Ian realized something was wrong.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice:

"Kintaro, is this what the old lady you're talking about looks like?"

You described the appearance of the monster that Usui Sadamitsu described to Kintaro.

You hope the outcome won't be what you expect.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

After hearing Ian's description, Kintaro clapped his hands happily.

"Yes! Yes! That's it!"

"You know Grandma!"

"..."

Ian was at a loss for words.

He did not want his description to correspond to the "Grandma" mentioned by Kintaro.

But now it seems that the two are consistent.

This also signifies a painful truth.

The monster killed by her adopted son, Usui Sadamitsu, was "Grandma," who lived with Kintaro in these mountains.

She is indeed doing evil.

But at the same time, it's probably because of Kintaro that he did this.

He himself was unaware of this.

After learning that Ian seemed to know his "grandmother", Kintaro became very concerned.

Where did Grandma go?

"..."

千.;寻!免"'费:;小!说;裙!;2:5;5?5,;9:5',3"0;,0? '千,.寻;?小,!说':中!转;裙,5:5,4:?7?0!;7!,5"5!,5伊恩并无法确定自己要是把事实说出来的话，金太郎会是怎么样的反应。

Let's try to smooth things over for now.

"Oh...she went to a very far place and won't be back for a while."

"That's why I had someone take you back to Heian-kyo."