I'm raising a fox fairy wife in Tokyo

It's normal, everything is normal.

It's the 21st century after all; monks and priestesses still watch anime and play games.

in this way.

Takagawa Takayuki asked Takahashi Daigo.

Have you seen him?

"No."

"Haven't many villagers seen it?"

If you can describe it verbally, you can create a portrait, right?

The topic ended abruptly there.

Daigo Takahashi suddenly stood up to answer a phone call, bowed apologetically to himself, and said that someone from his department had arrived and he needed to go and greet them.

Local policing in Japan is called the "Koban system".

in short.

This means that the station is only set up in the city, while in the village, there are usually only one or two rural police officers who can bring their families to live in the village and are responsible for daily patrols, dispute mediation, lost and found, assistance to lost elderly people, and other work.

If any major incident occurs, the local authorities in a nearby city will need to send someone to handle it.

"Um... Mr. Takagawa... is he going over there?"

"No, I have something I'm concerned about and need to investigate later. Don't worry about me."

"Okay, please feel free to call me if you need anything."

The middle-aged man left in a hurry, and his flustered appearance made it clear at a glance that he seemed to have something he hadn't explained.

In the conversation just now.

Takagawa Ryu heard the man say that this was indeed a village located in the mountains north of Kurama, but it was quite far from Kyoto.

and so.

Is this village a real place?

What does what happened here have to do with the tengu at Kurama-dera Temple? Could it be...?

……

It's like I suddenly remembered something.

Gao Chuanlong walked towards where he had parked his car, and then prepared to drive to the back mountain to investigate the monk who was suspected of cursing and killing the villagers, as mentioned by the middle-aged policeman.

Could that guy be a Tengu?

In Japanese folklore, the tengu are very special yokai (supernatural beings).

They are powerful, holding feather fans, wearing luxurious clothes, and have an arrogant and unfathomable demeanor. Most of them are regarded as mountain gods and are also worshipped by many Buddhist temples.

For example, Mount Kurama, as well as Mount Atago, Mount Hiei, and so on, have a rather "ambiguous" relationship with Japanese Buddhism.

However, there is another view that...

Tengu was actually the ancient name for those who practiced asceticism. They were ascetics who would choose to go deep into the mountains to cultivate themselves and acquire supernatural powers.

This has nothing to do with Buddhism or Shintoism—monks, Onmyoji, shrine maidens, and even ordinary people can all engage in this kind of practice.

Its origins may lie in Japan's primitive mountain worship or something similar.

In conclusion, Japan's religious beliefs are actually quite diverse, since most of them are foreign.

To put it bluntly, it's a hodgepodge; it's no wonder it's chaotic...

……

Facing the drizzle.

There is a winding mountain road that goes uphill from the back of the village.

There were many forks in the road. Using the basic techniques that all Onmyoji knew, Takagawa Ryu summoned many small paper doll shikigami, then transformed them into paper cranes and began searching in the mountains.

quickly.

At the end of one of the mountain paths, they found the monk's dwelling.

The tree branches along the way were wrapped with colorful cloths, as well as carefully stacked stones and ropes wrapped around them.

Looking at this familiar scene, Takagawa Ryu was certain that the monk was indeed practicing Shugendo, because the layout here was the "Iwakage" of Shintoism.

It means that the gods will dwell among the rocks and maintain the sanctity of this place.

As a form of mountain worship, it is also an arrangement made by practitioners of Shugendo in their training grounds.

Upon reaching this point, it was no longer possible to continue driving, so Gao Chuanlong had to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way.

Rotting bones were everywhere along the way.

They looked like some kind of animal, but it was impossible to tell. Some were already rotten, and you could even vaguely see teeth marks on them.

Continuing along the path towards the end of the mountain, you will soon see a simple, dilapidated thatched hut.

Is nobody home?

I cannot sense any presence of its aura.

At this moment, a light rain was still falling. Gao Chuanlong, holding an umbrella, walked to the front of the thatched hut where the monks lived.

Open the sliding door.

You can see the Noh mask displayed in front of you immediately.

The eerie, pure white mask had lips painted in bright red, making it look at first glance like the pale face of a woman who had hanged herself.

It hung there in mid-air, and behind it was a dark room that reeked of a foul odor.

Is it even possible for people to live in a place like this?

Not scared at all—if it were an ordinary person, they would probably have been startled and run away.

Gao Chuanlong silently walked into the house. By the light emitted from his phone, he quickly saw the layout of the house. There were all kinds of garbage piled up everywhere, which he could not identify. This was probably the source of the stench.

Subsequently.

In a room on one side, I discovered a strange altar.

On the altar sits a black Buddha statue missing half its head, and on the offering table in front of it is the strange head of some kind of wild beast.

The ground was littered with the long-decayed carcasses of crows.

The small candles were still burning, emitting a faint light that illuminated the dark red and bright red bloodstains around the altar—a sign that someone had been performing blood sacrifices here for a long time.

Another hodgepodge...

The outer area is Shinto, with Buddha statues, animal heads on the altar, and crow carcasses scattered on the ground, showing signs of demon worship or ancient nature shamanism.

But no matter what, it looks very suspicious.

Let's not talk about ourselves.

If that middle-aged police officer on duty had seen this...

what.

In another room, on a tatami mat floor, Takagawa Takayuki discovered that the walls were covered with photos.

The images on the wall are likely of the villagers from the village at the foot of the mountain who were cursed to death, showing both their lives and deaths. There is one image of each, and they are pasted together haphazardly.

Among them, Gao Chuanlong also saw the woman who had cut off her own head earlier.

"Seeing this scene, wouldn't everyone assume the monk is the murderer?"

So, finding him and killing him will solve the problem?

What were those colleagues who went missing doing?

Takagawa Ryu hadn't forgotten that the "shrine master" who had just died at the funeral was the same Kyoto Onmyoji who had come to Kurama-ji Temple to seek help from the tengu.

"Did they discover the problem here, so they're preparing to perform rituals to exorcise evil spirits for the villagers?"

And most importantly.

What is the purpose of this village nestled deep in the mountains?

"Let's find that monk first."

Where is the other person?

Stepping out of the house, I looked at the endless, undulating mountains. Even with the help of the paper crane, it wouldn't be easy to find someone in such a vast mountain range.

and so……

"If only Moroha were here."

The dog demon girl has a very keen sense of smell. In a way, this situation is a good match for her expertise.

Think of this.

Gao Chuanlong quickly took out his phone and found that there was no signal at all, and he could not connect to the outside world.

Strange, the person who usually answers the phone just now, could it be because I'm an "outsider"?

In that case, we can only try to see if we can get out.

in this way.

Gao Chuanlong quickly left the thatched hut, returned to the car along the mountain road, then turned around and headed out of the village.

Unbeknownst to them, they had actually returned from the deep mountains to the outskirts of Kyoto.

"So we can get out after all."

Looking around at the city, which had transformed into a bustling and classical metropolis in the blink of an eye.

Takakawa Takayuki quickly headed towards home. Next, he needed to take Moroha with him before continuing the investigation...

……

It was getting late.

The rain continued to drizzle, turning into a fine curtain of silver threads in the dim night. After handing the crime scene over to his colleagues from the police station, Daigo Takahashi put on his raincoat and headed home.

He had been stationed in this village as a police officer for more than ten years, and he had never encountered anything so bizarre.

in particular……

"I am back."

As soon as he pushed open the gate to his house, Daigo Takahashi saw his wife, Reiko, crouching in a corner, shivering, and suddenly grabbing his raincoat.

"Dawu, Mitsuki... Mitsuki, she..."

"..."

I knew it was because my daughter had gotten into trouble again.

Daigo Takahashi comforted his wife, and then walked towards home.

Upon opening the front door, there were scattered bloodstains in the entryway, extending down the hallway towards the living room. The wife stood outside the door, soaked by the rain, but dared not enter the house.

Takahashi Daigo mustered his courage, took off his shoes, and went inside.

During a rainy night.

The soft chewing sounds gradually became clearer.

Daigo Takahashi saw his daughter, Mizuki, sitting at the round table in the living room, holding a dead cat and eating it nonstop.

She turned her head.

His face was covered in blood, and there were even remnants of a dead cat's entrails in his mouth, but he spoke calmly.

"Dad, welcome home."

"!!!"

After saying that, the little girl, who was only five or six years old, turned her head back to gnaw on the dead cat in her hand, as if this was just an ordinary daily routine.

【ah……】

【Aa ...