Why can't humans do it too?

Suer and Xinke had already made a secret decision: when Yakumo Yukari once again revealed a weakness and appeared in front of them, they would strike with lightning speed and kill the golden-haired monster, leaving no trace of future trouble.

Perhaps sensing the malice of Suer and Xinke, even though the green-haired banshee who seemed to have an inexplicable connection with Yakumo Yukari had been dead for a long time, and even when winter came and snow was falling, Yakumo Yukari never appeared again.

It was as if nothing had happened, and during this time, no other unusual monsters appeared.

While waiting for a certain golden-haired banshee to come and die, Su'er and Xinke were comfortably hiding in their bamboo house, enjoying the first snow they had seen since arriving in this world. Instead of waiting for a head to be delivered to their door, they received a new life that made them almost question their existence.

Oh, of course not their child, that would be too early. The so-called new life is the bamboo house that Suer built with his own hands—well, he meant the house they are living in—that has finally come to life in this world where spiritual energy is so abundant that everything can become sentient at any time.

The small green figure, with a human-like outline, but composed of constantly emitting a faint light, was circling around the hearth fire in the middle of the bamboo house.

It's fortunate that its becoming a spirit didn't cause the entire bamboo house to disappear; otherwise, Su'er probably wouldn't have been able to guarantee that he wouldn't have the urge to send it on its way.

Chapter Fourteen: Yukari Yakumo Finds It Hard to Accept

In the world where Riku lived, after a long period of time, Sur had long lost the joy he had felt for snow in the world he had in the beginning. The impressions in his mind had changed from games like snowball fights, building snowmen, and rolling snowballs to cold, hunger, and death.

In the previous world, perhaps only snow was a weather phenomenon that never disappeared, yet it did not evoke any nostalgia or comfort in Suer.

When it snows, the already scarce wild animals on the mainland become even more difficult to catch. The wild animals that are occasionally encountered are more ferocious than usual due to hunger. And the temperature is so high that it feels like your fingers will freeze off. Just thinking about it is a nightmare.

Perhaps we should also add the black ash that mostly falls with the snow?

In short, when the seasons changed imperceptibly in this world, when Su Er woke up one morning and looked out the window at the land covered in white, he was momentarily stunned and didn't realize what had happened.

The winter sun shone on the snow, reflecting a dazzling golden light. This snow scene under the sun was something Xin Ke had never seen before. To use Su Er's description, which he secretly thought of but did not tell Xin Ke, the forest elf, who was now a semi-transparent soul, was like a husky seeing snow for the first time.

After roughly sweeping the snow in front of the bamboo house, Suer and Xinke then built two snowmen on the left and right sides of the door, like two door gods.

At this point, minor changes in temperature no longer affected Suer, but he still lit a fire in the house, quite fittingly—snowy scenery, a fireplace, wisps of smoke rising, a peaceful mind…

Xin Ke poked at the glowing red firewood in the stove, watching as sparks flew up with her movements. Finding it amusing, she poked it harder, and then watched with satisfaction as even more sparks rose into the sky like fireworks.

Normally, at this time, Su Er would patiently mutter a few words to put out the fire, but this time Xin Ke did not hear a man's voice for a long time. When she turned her head, she saw Su Er wrapped in a quilt, staring blankly at the stove.

She knew what he was thinking.

"Haven't thought of a name yet?" she asked, slightly bored. Xin Ke flicked the little figure that had just run up to her and knocked it to the ground. The little guy didn't seem angry at all; instead, he happily got up and continued running around the stove.

“…Ah, more or less,” Su’er replied blankly, realizing for the first time that she was terrible at naming things. Then she suddenly turned to Xin Ke and said, “How about we call her ‘Wu Mei’? What do you think?”

"...Are there no other options?" After a moment of silence, Xin Ke chose to attack from the flank.

"Let's call him Yashiki-dō!" Having already exhausted countless brain cells in the matter of naming, Suer couldn't take it anymore. He simply clapped his hands and said, "It also fits the land we're in right now perfectly, and the name even has 'Yashiki' in it. It's just perfect."

"Yashiki-dō? What does that mean?" Xinke asked, tilting her head, not understanding.

"A hand-shaped hole can be used to break the legs of anyone who comes near our house."

"Hand pit?"

"I'm sorry, I was just talking nonsense. Please don't mind it."

Even though they couldn't understand what Suer meant, the little green figure still adopted Yashiki-warashi as its name and was now happily waving two thin, long things that looked like arms.

In this wondrous coincidence, a new life came into Suer and Xinke's home, making the atmosphere inside the bamboo house even more vibrant.

Winter has arrived, but Yukari Yakumo has not yet come.

"Let's go to Yamato after winter is over."

"……it is good."

--------------

Yukari Yakumo still couldn't believe it—Yuuka Kazami was dead just like that?

In just a few breaths, that annoying flower fairy died.

Yukari Yakumo was a sensation for a whole year.

Bloodthirsty and warlike monsters are not uncommon in this world and this era. Rather, in this most wonderful era where everything can freely become spirits and monsters, there are not many complicated relationships between them, and there is no powerful being to suppress the whole world and set rules. Monsters and spirits who are so simple that their minds are filled with nothing but killing and fighting are everywhere.

It's all about action from the moment you meet; the winner takes all, the loser loses everything. The world is as simple as a blank sheet of paper, without so much laughter and merriment; it's filled with the breath of nature.

Generally speaking, this kind of youkai is the one that Yakumo Yukari despises the most. It is just a bunch of brute force and can't do anything important. Although it looks extremely fierce and imposing when it rises up, it usually dies very quickly.

However, when the base number becomes large enough, there will always be a group of very special monsters. They uphold the belief of fighting and killing, and have survived countless battles, big and small. These kinds of monsters are usually very troublesome and very stubborn. Even Yukari Yakumo is unwilling to provoke them.

Kazami Yuuka is the best of these yokai—she is a yokai that grew from the corpse of a powerful yokai after its death, possessing power far greater than her kind and a fighting spirit that is not typical of flower yokai.

Most importantly, there's that strong physique and the vigorous vitality of plant-type youkai—that being said, even Yukari Yakumo doesn't know if that flower youkai can survive with a huge hole in its chest and its internal organs crushed into a pile of minced meat. After all, no matter what race it was, it's now just a youkai with a physical body.

Moreover, in the end, she and Kazami Yuuka were not familiar with each other. Their acquaintance was only due to a few unexpected battles. Thanks to the special nature of Yakumo Yukari's own abilities, after several attempts, she found that she could not get a satisfactory battle, so Kazami Yuuka became too lazy to pay attention to her.

Hmm... From this perspective, relying on her abilities, Yukari Yakumo has a rather stinky, disgusting quality that makes the youkai (demons) dislike her. As long as she doesn't touch them, they're too lazy to touch her either.

To be honest, there was no hatred between her and the male demon with the strange soul, and they were not in a hostile relationship. Yukari Yakumo initially only wanted to investigate because she accidentally discovered that the male demon did not show any demonic aura when using his abilities. After that, she was curious about what kind of demon he was, whether he was a rare species of demon like her, and what level of power he possessed, and how it would affect her ideal of leading demons to unify the world.

Yes, although she always calls herself the Gap-Gap Fairy, anyone who actually believes her will be in trouble. The only race with the name Gap-Gap that has existed since ancient times is hers, and that race is Yakumo Yukari.

Yakumo Yukari tried to entice Yuuka Kazami, who was constantly searching for powerful enemies, to go and check the situation. However, no matter what, she had no intention of letting Yuuka Kazami die. According to her plan, Yuuka Kazami should be able to escape with her vitality and fighting strength.

However, she really did die.

Chapter Fifteen: A Courteous Visit

When Suer and Xinke confronted the uninvited Kazami Yuuka, Yakumo Yukari secretly watched from the very edge of her field of vision, hiding her whole body in the gap, leaving only a small opening the size of an eye to look out.

In the blink of an eye, without even seeing the specific details of the fight, Yukari Yakumo saw the male demon's arm pass through Yuuka Kazami's chest, with the green-haired corpse hanging from his arm—in Yukari Yakumo's memory, it was usually Yuuka Kazami who hung other people's corpses like that.

This is too sudden, and it shouldn't have happened.

In Yakumo Yukari's plan, which she has never revealed to anyone else, on this arduous path of expelling or eliminating the gods who descended into Ashihara no Nakatsukuni and refused to leave, or even more fantasizing, leading the youkai along the Milky Way that connects heaven and earth all the way up to Takamagahara, where the gods reside, and the moon... In short, in this process, Kazami Yuuka, who possesses immense power and is bloodthirsty and warlike, will play an irreplaceable role, and she should not be lost here.

If Yakumo Yukari had known earlier that the male demon possessed such power, she would never have rashly lured Kazami Yuuka over to test her. However, now that things have already happened, there's no point in making such hindsight judgments. After all, before this scene actually occurred, neither Yakumo Yukari nor Kazami Yuuka would have believed that a demon could kill them in just a few breaths.

For these powerful demons who have carved out their own niche in this era, if they don't even believe in their own power, what can they believe in?

Not daring to risk approaching the bamboo house, Yukari Yakumo could only approach it slowly and harmlessly, trying to confirm whether she could still sense that familiar demonic aura from the field where Yuuka Kazami had been thrown down—after all, she's a flower spirit! Show some courage!

If Kazami Yuuka is still alive this time, then I can probably use this incident to mock her for a long time.

Yukari Yakumo chuckled to herself.

Reversing the concept, she advanced at the slowest pace possible, so that the male demon and his soul would not sense her, until Yukari Yakumo sensed a trace of fresh demonic energy again in the field—weak and so faint as to be almost imperceptible, but it was indeed there, unaffected by the demonic energy emanating from the corpses of the dead demons.

But it's already pretty good.

Relieved to some extent, Yakumo Yukari silently estimated the time needed for that faint wisp of demonic energy to recover... so she decided to postpone the meeting for the time being.

It's really not very safe for her to be the only demon.

--------------

"I am deeply ashamed to have come to disturb you. This small gift is nothing but a token of my respect. Please accept it."

Countless snowfalls occurred during the winter. When Suer yawned and pushed open the door early in the morning, amidst the rising white breath from his mouth and nose, he saw the blonde banshee in a purple robe bowing slightly and speaking earnestly.

Two exquisitely woven wicker baskets were filled with various things that Suer didn't recognize, probably fruits. They were floating in front of Suer as Yakumo Yukari slightly raised her arm. Not only that, but the blonde banshee had also swept the snow in front of the door clean, saving Suer the trouble of shoveling snow. In addition, she had even thoughtfully piled up two rows of snowmen of the same size on both sides of the door with the swept snow, with red fruits for eyes, mouths and noses, and wearing small purple vests.

"...", there were too many things to complain about, and Su Er didn't know what expression to make for a moment.

As if afraid that Sull would not give her a chance to speak and would choose to attack directly, Yakumo Yukari was still standing a few steps away, and the fruit basket was sent out from a distance. But to be honest, there was no need for such superficial pretense.

Regardless of Yakumo Yukari's ulterior motives for appearing here and putting on this pretentious act, Sue's determination to kill her remained unchanged—provided that the person standing in front of him was indeed her.

There is no doubt that it is a fake body. Even Yukari Yakumo herself did not completely conceal the fake body, as if she was deliberately claiming that it was fake.

She came in a false form, yet feigned fear; this banshee was truly a mysterious being.

"What's this?" Su Er fiddled with the fruit in the basket a couple of times. Good, Su Er realized he couldn't recognize any of them. He was truly unworthy of being a farmer.

"Ah~, it's just a possession technique, nothing special," Yakumo Yukari replied with a smile, straightening up.

“No, I meant these things,” Suer said, picking up a red fruit and flicking it with her finger, her expression not changing much.

"These fruits? They are all fruits favored by the gods and deities of Yamato and Izumo... I was extremely rude when we first met, and considering your interest in 'humans,' I specially went to collect them as an apology," Yakumo Yukari said, raising an eyebrow at the fruit in Su's hand. "For example, the one in your hand—is the favorite fruit of the god of Yamato, Amatsuki no Hidaka Hiko, Nobita no Nijigoro, named Asahikaze."

"……what?"

For the first time, he showed a blank expression in front of Yakumo Yukari. To be honest, the second half of the blonde banshee's sentence sounded like a tongue twister to Sull, making it all the more confusing.

"Huh?", seemingly not understanding what Su Er was wondering, Yakumo Yukari tilted her head and made a sound.

"...A god?" Putting aside that ridiculously long and nonsensical name for the moment, Su Er flicked the red fruit in his hand back into the fruit basket, selectively skipping over the question.

“Yes, gods…and gods-humans.” After careful consideration, Yukari Yakumo had realized that this male demon who called himself a human actually had no knowledge of Yamato and Izumo provinces and had never been there. So she said in full, “Amatsuki no Mikoto Amatsuki no Mikoto Amatsuki no Mikoto Hidaka Hijikata no Mikoto Noni Nigi no Mikoto is the grandson of Amaterasu Ōmikami and is the most noble of all the gods who currently reside in Ashihara no Nakatsukuni.”

"And the God-people, as their name suggests, are a hybrid of gods and humans... Although it still sounds incredibly noble, in reality, due to the rampant and absurd actions of various gods, their numbers are no longer scarce." At this point, Yukari Yakumo suddenly gave a contemptuous sneer, it was unclear whether she was favoring the gods or the God-people, then she seemed to remember something and added, "Of course, the original God-people were always noble, their half-divine blood still granting them long life and great power—except for the lineage of Amaterasu Ōmikami's grandson."

Chapter Sixteen: Affairs of the Yamato State

"Why?" Even though he knew that Yukari Yakumo was saying these things to pique his curiosity, Sue couldn't help but ask the question.

"Hmm~", without answering, Yakumo Yukari simply lifted the fruit basket that was currently being held up a little higher.

"..." Having understood her meaning, Suer could only let out a long sigh.

What to do? He seems to have taken the bait. Regardless of what Yakumo Yukari specifically wants to do, she has certainly piqued Suer's curiosity.

"Come in," Suer said, stepping aside to make way for the doorway.