How did I, an Onmyoji, become the Lord of Yokai?

Kidomaru has great talent; he is the strongest among this year's Onmyoji students.

Hmm... perhaps it should be said that he is the strongest among all the students in the Yin-Yang Guild.

In at least the dozens of times Shimizu Asahi fought him, he never won once.

Besides being incredibly strong, Kidomaru is also gentle and polite, never speaking ill of others, and sincerely offering help to classmates in need.

This child is even more outstanding than Qing Shui Chao Yang.

If this were a game novel, he would definitely be the protagonist.

However... such a child, who is even more outstanding than Shimizu Asahi, has not received the treatment he deserves.

Logically speaking, Kidomaru is handsome, powerful, and has the strongest Onmyoji behind him. His future is bright, and both nobles and commoners would be happy to curry favor with him.

but no.

From the moment Kidomaru entered the Onmyo Bureau until now, he has only had one friend, Shimizu Asahi.

Apart from Shimizu Chaoyang, no one else wanted to associate with him.

Because his hair is different from other people's.

His hair color is red, not black.

In this era, most people have black hair and black eyes, and other hair colors are extremely rare. Anyone with such an unconventional hair color would be ostracized by others.

Since people with other hair colors are basically monsters, people who don't have black hair will naturally associate them with monsters.

In this dark and rampant era, everyone hates monsters. Anyone who has even the slightest connection with a monster will be ostracized and rejected by the crowd.

Even though Kidomaru was Kamo no Tadayuki's adopted son.

No, it should be said this way.

If Kidomaru didn't have the most respected Kamo no Tadayuki standing behind him, he would have been defeated by the other Onmyoji long ago.

Even so, Kidomaru still endured rejection and insults from other students.

Shimizu Asahi strongly disapproves of this behavior of rejecting others based on their appearance, especially when he sees Kidomaru standing alone under a big tree in a daze, he can't help but feel an urge to help him.

Although he cannot change other people's thoughts, he can choose not to care about their opinions.

Therefore, he took the initiative to become friends with Kidomaru.

When he first came into contact with Kidomaru, Kidomaru seemed very surprised. After expressing his happiness and joy, he gently reminded Shimizu Asahi not to come near him.

Kidomaru knew that Shimizu Asahi would be ostracized if he stayed with him.

But Shimizu Asahi never changes his mind about what he believes is right, so under his somewhat forceful approach, the two became friends.

After that, many people advised him to stay away from 'monsters'. But he ignored them and continued to act according to his own will.

And that's how the rumor of 'Shimizu Asahi being bewitched by a monster' came about.

The fact that a student who was originally an excellent student was easily bewitched by a monster due to his weak will became a breakthrough point for many people who disliked Shimizu Asahi. At the same time, Kidomaru further solidified his reputation as a monster.

Despite the rumors flying around, Shimizu Asahi didn't pay much attention.

It's just a few words from others; it won't hurt you, so what's the big deal?

But perhaps because of their tolerance, the students became increasingly outrageous. At first, they were just talking behind people's backs, but now they were saying it to Kidomaru and Shimizu Asahi's faces.

They even deliberately turned up their voices, as if afraid the two of them wouldn't hear them.

Shimizu Asahi had several moments when he couldn't take it anymore and wanted to confront the other person with his fists, but Kidomaru always stopped him and said, "Never mind, don't worry about it."

At times like this, Shimizu Asahi would sigh that Kidomaru was too gentle... even gentler than him.

Such a gentle person was turned into a 'monster' because of other people's prejudices. The world is so unfair to him.

He once told Kidomaru not to be too gentle, because such gentleness would hurt him sooner or later.

He always says "I know, I know" but he never takes any action.

It's basically about admitting your mistakes but never repenting.

Asahi Shimizu was helpless against Kidomaru's unrepentant behavior...

Ah, we've gone a little off-topic.

Keke, get back to business.

As mentioned earlier, Kidomaru is superior to Shimizu Asahi in every aspect. The reason he has made such great progress in the past year is largely due to the most accurate experience and reminders he received from Kidomaru.

Therefore, Kidomaru can also be considered half a teacher to him.

His purpose in coming here was to improve his weakness—observation skills.

During this assessment, Shimizu Asahi was unable to find the monster's whereabouts due to insufficient observation skills, so he could only judge whether the monster had appeared at night by observing its aura.

If his observation skills were good enough to find the monster's lair directly, then he wouldn't have had to stay in the Ancient Wine Village for five days.

It is believed that Kamo no Tadayuki saw this point, which is why he deliberately reminded him to communicate and learn more from Kidomaru.

In the corridor, Shimizu Asahi quietly watched Kidomaru without saying a word.

Seemingly sensing the arrival of a guest, Kidomaru, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened them.

Upon seeing the figure in the corridor, he revealed a gentle smile.

Why are you just standing there without saying anything?

"Isn't it because I didn't want to disturb you while you were blowing leaves?"

Shimizu Asahi responded with a smile.

Kidomaru lived alone. Although Kamo no Tadayuki wanted him to join the Kamo family, the other members of the Kamo family strongly opposed it.

They disagreed with a red-haired 'monster' entering the Kamo family.

After negotiations and a stalemate, both sides compromised.

The Kamo family agreed to let Kamo Tadayuki adopt Kidomaru as his son, but Kidomaru was not allowed to enter the Kamo family or have the Kamo surname.

Subsequently, Kamo no Tadashi placed Kidomaru here.

But that's alright, at least Kidomaru won't be treated coldly at home.

Moreover, Kamo no Tadashi often came to see him and keep him company, so he wouldn't feel lonely.

Come to think of it, Kamo no Tadayuki seems to have spent more time with Kidomaru than at the Kamo residence...

Hmm... Shimizu Asahi sometimes wonders, between Kamo no Yasunori and Kidomaru, who is the real son? (Chapter 15, Section 15: Kidomaru's Mission)

Regardless of the era, when a host entertains guests, they will first invite the guests to a guest room and brew a pot of good tea for them. After the host and guests are seated, they will politely greet each other before finally discussing business or gossip.

However, young people generally don't care much about etiquette. For example, Shimizu Asahi and Kidomaru simply sat down by the aisle.

"Hoo..."

The young student let out a groan of enjoyment.

"Kidomaru, as expected, your tea is still the best."

"Really? I'm glad you like it."

Kidomaru smiled quietly.

Unlike Shimizu Asahi, who has nothing to do when he's not cultivating, he would often sit alone in the courtyard in a daze when he wasn't cultivating. However, since simply sitting in a daze was too boring, he decided to drink tea while doing so.

There was no one else at home, so if I wanted to drink tea, I had to brew it myself. Although I didn't deliberately practice, over the past ten years, this skill naturally came to me.

Because of his personal preference, he preferred bitter tea, so his bitter tea was brewed to perfection, and even Kamo no Tadashi praised it after drinking it.

It's a pity that Shimizu Asahi doesn't appreciate the flavor of bitter tea.

"By the way, is there something you wanted to see me about?"

Taking a sip of the tea in his cup, Kidomaru looked at Shimizu Asahi beside him.

"Oh right, I had forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it."

As Shimizu Asahi sipped his tea, he said in a 'helpless' tone, "I'm here to learn."

"study?"

Kidomaru tilted his head slightly and made a questioning sound.

"Well, actually, I failed the assessment task..."

Shimizu Asahi briefly explained the mission, and finally spread his hands, saying, "Because the teacher said that we all had the same type of mission, and you completed the assessment, I came here to learn from you."

"I see... It seems you haven't been having much luck lately."

"But you don't seem to care much about this... I initially thought you came to complain to me."

If a student with a poor mindset encounters this situation, they will definitely be very unhappy, start cursing, and then hold a grudge for months. Even those with a slightly better mindset will keep complaining about how unlucky they are.

Although Shimizu Asahi's words just now revealed 'helplessness', there was not a trace of resentment in his tone.

"How could that be? My mentality isn't that bad."

The young student waved his hand and smiled: "Besides, this assessment task made me realize that my observation skills are lacking, isn't that a good thing?"

“Thinking that way is indeed a good thing.” Kidomaru couldn’t help but smile. “But you’re probably the only one who would think that way.”

"Who said that? Isn't this the other one right in front of me?"

Shimizu Asahi immediately retorted with a righteous indignation.

Kidomaru paused for a moment, then chuckled.

"Chaoyang, actually I'm not as open-minded as you are. I... never mind, let me tell you about my assessment task first."

The red-haired youth took another sip of tea and then briefly explained his mission.

Kidomaru's assessment task was to drive away the monsters that were disturbing the peace of the village.

A dozen days ago, a yokai who liked to play the drum ran to a village north of Heian-kyo.

When the night is deep and quiet, it will make a loud "dong! dong! dong" drumming sound, which can wake up the sleeping villagers in just a few beats.

Moreover, the drumming continued all night, making it impossible for the villagers to sleep.