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

As seasoned sailors, one difficulty may not defeat them, but what about two or three?

They are ultimately just ordinary people; it's impossible for them to be truly invincible.

If such calamities occur every day, they will eventually have to leave this sea.

What will they do then?

Just as the sailors were worrying about their future, a young man in a wetsuit suddenly walked over.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but I have something I'd like to ask you. Do you have a moment to spare?"

The sailors looked up somewhat dejectedly, their eyes filled with doubt.

"you are?"

"My name is Shimizu Asahi, you can just call me Shimizu."

As if oblivious to the atmosphere around him, Shimizu Asahi smiled naturally.

"I came from Heian-kyo. I originally planned to stay here for a few days and go out to sea, but I didn't expect to see what just happened as soon as I arrived. Was it done by a yokai?"

The sailors exchanged glances, their faces showing even more bitterness.

"No one but a monster could create such a large vortex."

A weathered man who looked to be in his forties or fifties smiled bitterly and said, "Shimizu, you should just stay in Kyoto Port for the next few days. It's too dangerous to go out to sea now."

"But when I arrived, weren't you gentlemen all busy going out to sea?"

"Things are different now. Before, the monster only stirred up minor waves, which did affect our seafaring, but not to the point that we were afraid to go out to sea. But you saw what happened just now, who would dare to go into the water now..."

After the middle-aged sailor finished speaking, he shook his head helplessly.

Seeing him like this, the other sailors sighed in empathy.

"Before?"

As if unaware of anything, Shimizu Asahi uttered a questioning sound.

"Ah, that monster has been here for a month now."

"Alone for so long? But the siren was only causing minor disturbances before, why did she suddenly create such a huge whirlpool today?"

"How could we possibly know what the monster is thinking? Perhaps the sea monster thinks that we are not taking it seriously because we go out to sea every day, so it deliberately created this whirlpool to show us its power."

"Are monsters really that wicked?"

"Child, you are still young and haven't seen many monsters, so you don't know how evil monsters can be."

The middle-aged sailor's tone became increasingly serious as he spoke.

"The monsters are a bunch of haphazard bandits. They not only steal the fresh fish we desperately catch on the sea, but also capsize our ships and send us to our deaths at sea."

“When I was young, I encountered a monster with a fish head and a human body, carrying a cane. It not only stole the fresh fish that I had spent two days catching, but also drove me out of that sea area and told me not to go near it for three days.”

"When I refused, it opened its mouth wide and tried to eat me. I was so scared that I quickly rowed away."

"Fortunately, I was lucky that time. The fish demon didn't catch me. Not only did I survive, but I also caught just as many fish as I had."

"Hahaha, that fish demon must be furious!"

At this point, the middle-aged sailor laughed smugly, as if he could see the fish demon's furious expression.

“Zhuchuan, why didn’t you tell me this story?”

“Yes, I didn’t expect you to have such an experience... I’ve been in Kyoto Port for so long, and I’ve never encountered a yokai on my own.”

"If I were you, I would have brought it up long ago."

The middle-aged sailor's story caught the attention of the other sailors, who all stared at the man with curiosity and surprise in their eyes.

The previous bitterness has long since disappeared.

"It's nothing to brag about."

Zhu Chuan sat up straight, waved his hand casually, and continued, "For the next three days, I stayed at home every day. Although I really wanted to go out to sea, I was afraid of encountering that fish demon, so I just hid at home."

"If a friend hadn't told me later that the monster had disappeared, I wouldn't be sitting here telling you all this now."

After saying that, Takekawa looked at Shimizu Asahi and said earnestly, "So, child, monsters are all bad. They won't reason with you, and they won't care about your feelings. If you encounter them, just run away."

"I see, thank you for your guidance, Uncle Takekawa."

The young student pretended to be receptive to the lesson, then looked puzzled.

"Uncle Takegawa, was the monster you encountered chased away by the Onmyoji?"

"I don't know, since I was hiding at home at the time and had no way of knowing what happened at sea. However, I think it must have been done by the Onmyoji."

"After all, only Master Yang can deal with such a ferocious monster."

Takekawa stroked his chin, his tone somewhat uncertain.

"It must have been done by the Onmyoji. Such a ferocious monster would definitely attack the next person, and we common people have no way to deal with monsters, so it can only be the Onmyoji."

Upon hearing this, the sailors instinctively exchanged glances.

The child is right. Evil monsters don't leave on their own, so the reason it disappeared must be because the Onmyoji (a Taoist priest) subdued it.

"So, uncle, I plan to stay here a while longer. I believe that the Onmyoji will soon be able to defeat this monster."

“This… well, Shimizu is right. We should trust the Onmyoji. With the Onmyoji here, this sea will surely be restored to peace.”

Smiles finally appeared on the sailors' faces. They looked at each other, and the worry and fear in their eyes disappeared without them even realizing it.

Seeing their laughter, Shimizu Asahi also smiled.

I never expected that Uncle Takekawa had such a story, but thanks to his story, I was able to cheer up the sailors so easily.

I just feel a little sorry for that fish demon... for calling it a vicious monster.

Uncle Zhuchuan felt that it was divine protection or good luck that he escaped a calamity, but in reality, it was the fish demon who spared Uncle Zhuchuan.

After all, even Kamo no Tadayuki couldn't possibly overpower the fish demon with brute force alone, especially since Uncle Takegawa's boat was laden with fresh fish. (Chapter 22: It's All Genji's Fault)

After calming the sailors down, Shimizu Asahi left satisfied.

Afterward, he returned to his room and began his work.

During his conversation with the sailors, he obtained a very important piece of information—the siren's emotional changes.

For the past month, the siren had only stirred up minor waves, at most capsizing a few small boats and hindering cargo ships from setting sail, but otherwise had no other impact.

However, today, it stirred up a whirlpool that was 50 meters wide, destroying more than 20 cargo ships in one go.

This sudden and unexpected change caught the sailors completely unprepared, leaving them empty-handed as they stepped into the disaster it had brought.

This sudden change left Shimizu Asahi puzzled.

Although monsters are naturally free-spirited and unrestrained, they are still intelligent beings with their own reason, and such drastic changes cannot happen without cause.

Uncle Takegawa's reason that "it looked down on it, so it got angry" is not impossible to explain, but Shimizu Asahi thinks it is unlikely.

After all, the sailors had looked down on it every day for the past month. If it really wanted to lash out, it would have done so long ago. Why wait until now?

"call....."

He exhaled a soft breath, cleared his mind, retained the information he needed, and then began to analyze it.

"First of all, emotional changes must be caused by external forces. The most important reasons are instigation from others or unexpected accidents. If we want to speculate on the reasons for the siren's emotional changes, we can only consider these two aspects."

"I know nothing about sirens right now, so I should think about both aspects more broadly."

"However, the premise of being instigated by someone else is that there must be someone else, that is, there must be a second monster. If the information on the commission form is correct, then there is only one monster in this sea area, so the possibility of being instigated by someone else can be ruled out."

"After ruling out instigation from others, all that's left is unexpected change."

"Sirens only experience drastic mood changes when they encounter unpleasant things."

"But there are no other monsters in the sea, so the sea monster can only get the information it needs from Kyoto Port."

"However, ordinary people would run away immediately upon seeing it, and Onmyoji would attack immediately upon seeing it, thus ruling out the possibility of face-to-face contact."

"And since it wasn't face-to-face contact, it must have been observation in secret."

"In Kyoto Port, the only ones worth the siren's secret observation are the Onmyoji."

At this point, Shimizu Asahi frowned.

If this conjecture is true, it means that the siren and the Onmyoji of Kyoto Port had a grudge, and its purpose in coming here was not simply to play a prank.

It is retaliating against the Onmyoji in Kyoto Port.

"But if the goal is revenge, why not kill?"

"And what did the Onmyoji of Kyoto Port do yesterday to make it so irritable?"

The young student covered his mouth, somewhat embarrassed.

The existing intelligence is only enough for him to analyze this much; he needs more information.

"Phew... Judging from the analysis just now, the Onmyoji in Kyoto Port obviously know something; at the very least, they recognize the siren."

"However, the fact that there was more information that wasn't written on the commission form suggests that they didn't want others to know this information."

"So, you're saying there's something being hidden..."

"It seems we won't find the answer by going directly to their door. We'll just have to sneak in tonight and take a look."

Shimizu Asahi rubbed his face. He had thought this task would be relatively simple, but he didn't expect that he would have to investigate the Onmyoji in Kyoto Port first.

......

On the other side, on the west side of Kyoto Port, in the living room of a luxurious mansion, Minamoto no Mitsuaki sat in the main seat with a look of irritation on his face.

The statistics are in.

In this disaster, a total of 27 cargo ships were destroyed, including 12 small cargo ships fully loaded with goods and three large cargo ships that had just returned and had not yet unloaded their money.

The combined losses of these goods and cargo ships exceeded one month's tax revenue from Kyoto Port.

In addition, a total of 323 sailors fell into the water. Although the medical expenses for one person are not much, the total cost for more than 300 people is still a considerable sum.

The losses we incurred today are greater than the losses we incurred in the entire previous month.

"Damn monster!"