My daily life of exorcising demons and falling in love with a witch.

After thousands of years of patient development, the Merfolk Kingdom has become extremely powerful.

Logically speaking, they should have the ability to wage war against humanity to vent their hatred.

But they never even launched an attack on the fishermen.

According to Yoshiyuki, one of the important reasons is that the merfolk do not want to let down Kitajima Sayo and the first Yomi Shrine Maiden, Yoda Erisa.

In reality, the opening of the Gates of the Underworld has almost no effect on the merfolk. Their kingdom exists in another dimension beneath the sea.

However, before the Battle of the Sealed Gate, Kitajima Saeko was already a great heroine of the Merfolk, having resolved countless crises from the deep sea.

The fact that such a revered figure died protecting humanity is difficult for the merfolk to accept, yet they still don't want to destroy the achievements she sacrificed her life for. Therefore, no matter how much they hate humans, they will not actively disturb the peace of the human world.

As for the admiration for Erisa, it was a feeling that simply transcended racial hatred.

According to the ancient texts, although the merfolk initially thought Erisa was great, they were generally waiting to see her make a fool of herself.

After all, in their eyes, humans are all despicable and weak-willed.

Therefore, in the eyes of the merfolk, it was incredibly naive, both pathetic and laughable, for a seventeen-year-old girl to think she could stay behind the door forever.

However, the gates of the underworld remained silent.

Fifty years, a hundred years... Time passed second by second, but the seal remained unbroken.

The merfolk's mockery gradually subsided and turned into respect.

Even though they still loathe humans and are at odds with the Yoda family, they begin to glorify and worship Erisa as a hero.

She is also the only human in the Mermaid Kingdom to receive this treatment.

Erisa may not be able to sense their rituals at all, but she will know.

Because her successors would mention this in their prayers.

Erisa would surely be pleased to know that she has earned the respect of the race most hostile to humanity.

This is why, even when the young lady is unhappy, she will force herself to be cheerful during prayer and tell Erisa, who is always silent, how wonderful it is today, and recount her happy moments one by one.

Of course, Erina would occasionally confide in Erisa, but the young lady was always careful not to give her too much negative emotion.

Because she hoped that Erisa would feel a little comforted after hearing these words, rather than feel even more pain.

Every time Yixing heard these prayers, he felt a little uneasy.

He couldn't imagine how Erisa must have felt listening to them.

Is it relief or jealousy?

It is even more unimaginable what kind of torture she is currently enduring.

Few people remember Erisa's contributions; the first Yomi Shrine Maiden was almost forgotten by the world more than a thousand years later.

People generally take a safe and comfortable daily life for granted and don't appreciate her efforts for it.

But that's exactly what Erisa wanted.

Before stepping through the gate, she left her last words, which were that she would forever guard the gate of the underworld and hoped that the first generation of Maekawa would live well.

And... let the world forget her, and not publicize what happened here today.

Erisa wanted people to live in peace and did not want future generations to live in fear.

If the world remembers her contributions, then Izanami will have achieved half of her goal.

Humanity will forever live in the shadow of Hades, constantly worrying whether Erisa will succumb to torment and cause the gates of the underworld to reopen.

Even today, some people worry that the first Yomi Shrine Maiden may have changed her mind, harboring resentment because her silent dedication did not receive gratitude from the world, and even beginning to be hostile to humanity.

After all, what's harder to bear than endless loneliness and torment is having to endure the pain of knowing you could give up the responsibility and end the suffering at any time, yet choosing not to.

Yoshiyuki believes that one of the main reasons Erisa has been able to hold on until now is probably because she doesn't want her successors to fall into the same situation as her.

Although she couldn't say a word to Erina, she must have cared a lot about the girl who confided in her every day during prayers and told her interesting stories about the world. She hoped that Erina, along with her, would live well and find happiness.

But whenever he thought of this, Yixing felt even more heartbroken.

After all, in the past, every Yomi Shrine Maiden had to make sacrifices to provide power to Erisa and stabilize the seal.

I wonder what Erisa felt when that girl, who had prayed and chatted with her every day since childhood and whom she watched grow up, died in a blood sacrifice.

It would be unsurprising if people felt despair about humanity and thought the world would be better off destroyed.

"It's unbelievable that Kitajima Sayo's parents allowed her to attend school in human society." Yoshiyuki snapped out of his reverie, frowned, and said, "I think I heard before that she was ostracized by many of her fellow humans because of her interest in the human world... Hime, do you know anything about this?"

After thinking for a while, Yaodao-hime wrote down this long passage.

[Shimizu Tamako once said that the Kitajima family's youngest daughter was not only an anomaly among the merfolk, but also disliked by her parents. She believed that humans and merfolk could coexist peacefully and hoped to achieve reconciliation through future efforts. To achieve this, she needed to understand humans better. Her godfather, the Dragon King of the East Sea, doted on her and helped her by allowing her to study in Tokyo. This action seemed to be seen as treason by her own kind.]

"I see." Erina sighed. "It's very dangerous for her to live in the human world! Mermaids are so valuable. If her identity is discovered, she might be kidnapped by some weird uncle. They might even breed her in the name of sustainable development... Little Demon Sword should be careful of those weird uncles too."

Xiao Ji nodded.

"Actually, you should be careful of those creepy old men!" Yixing remarked. "With Ji's strength, what kind of human trafficker wouldn't she take down with a single blow?"

Just as Yoshiyuki was complaining like this, the tram started moving.

Xiao Ji's attention quickly shifted to the view outside the window.

Her joyful expression was exactly the same as when the young lady took the train for the first time—after all, something she hadn't done for over a hundred years was not much different from doing it for the first time.

Upon seeing this, the young lady was immediately filled with excitement and began to suckle her daughter, holding her in her arms and rubbing her all over.

Damn, it looks so good!

Yi Xing watched this scene and felt a strong urge to join in.

He not only wanted to pet his daughter, but also his eldest daughter.

Of course, there is a difference. Because he can't help but wonder if there will be any follow-up plot after he's finished petting the young lady.

"My daughter is so cute! I love her more and more every time I look at her! I want to take a bite!" Erina's eyes lit up: "Hey, little demon sword~ can I bite her?"

Xiao Ji nodded shyly.

"Wow~ That's great! My daughter is so well-behaved!"

Erina chuckled, picked up Hime and let her sit in her lap, then took a big bite of Hime's left shoulder, which was slightly exposed by her kimono.

Of course, just like with Yoshiyuki Otoko, she didn't exert any force at all.

Even more so than biting, he held her in his mouth, perhaps out of fear of hurting her delicate, fair skin.

However, this still startled Yixing. He almost dropped his phone, which he was about to take a picture of.

No, I need to hurry home and cook.

The young lady is so hungry she's ready to eat her own daughter!

It's terrible!