Chương 57: Hunger

It would have been nice to say that things went back to normal in the weeks that followed, but that was never the case with anything in my life. The first change was the soldiers, coming along to Tiode as a steady trickle. Small numbers at first, strongly built men in professionally crafted armour. And they had set up some distance from the village, building their encampments as their numbers grew a little more by the day. I suppose the idea was to build a fortress of some kind.

A defensive outpost for any yokai attacks, seeing as the yokai seemed particularly taken with this region. But they kept to themselves and did not bother me, so I suppose I could not complain too much. I walked the land, checking my crops and feeding them as needed. As I did so I became aware of the other large change to my life, watching as chickens in my recently built coops. He bore no emotion on his face as he fed them. I had a small empty room in my house that acted as a guest room, and so he slept there.

He had nowhere else to go and the other members of Tiode, though they wouldn't say it aloud, did not feel comfortable housing a member of the now-defunct Snake Flower Sect under their roof. Maybe I was just getting soft in my old age.

"Are they well?" Smoke called to him from my side.

"They seem to be," he replied simply. He did not do his hair in a top knot anymore, the dark locks just fanning loose about his head. His ornate robes he had traded in for the simple tunic and dark trousers and footwear of a farmer. He made no attempt to mask the disfiguring wounds on his face either. Still, being down an eye didn't seem to bother him much. No doubt magicka helped compensate in that regard.

"Good, good," said Smoke.

"They must be well if they are to be eaten. When can we eat them, Father?"

"Not yet," I told him, as I had every other time he asked. Smoke huffed.

"Those fat clucking birds live only by your mercy."

"Those fat clucking birds are going to produce a lot of eggs for me."

"Another morning in paradise, eh?" Yomi asked. She'd crept up in her usual silence and was leaning outside the fence.

"Still here?" I asked.

"Still camping in the wilds. Like I said before, this place really needs an inn," Yomi said, shrugging. I regarded her for a moment, particularly her coy smirk.

"I just don't see what's keeping you here. Sha's gone, and I doubt more demons will be visiting us any time soon."

"Can a woman not take a holiday from time to time? I've spent so long killing beasts and hunting criminals, I've scarcely had time to catch my breath." She looked up as Yamato approached, and her smile became a touch more genuine.

"Holding up well?"

"Absolutely not," Yamato replied tonelessly.

"You'll find your path," she assured him.

"I've been lost more than once but... I always found someone to help guide the way." Yamato's good eye slid toward Mount Gruai. It no longer smoked, but the yawning wound in the stone was just as visible.

"I don't think the path exists anymore," he said. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I frowned at him.

"Smoke, you mind helping Yamato tend the cows?" Sometimes when you're stuck in a pit, you needed to busy your hands to stop focusing on said pit.

"Come, dear brother, I shall guide you through the act of the milking, and the feeding, and the cleaning of the horned beasts," Smoke said as they strode off.

"I know how to tend cows," Yamato grumbled. Yomi looked up to watch them go, briefly tightening her jaw.

"I hope he'll find some peace. Losing everyone an' everything is already a huge blow, but for someone born into sect life? It's a damn hard transition to find yourself living from outside one."

"Speaking from experience?" She nodded grimly.

"Grew up as part of a sect of assassins. And I was damn good at it. They said I had the potential to be one of their bests. But..." Yomi worked her jaw briefly.

"Guess I got tired of killing folks who didn't deserve it. Plus the heads of the sect were a perpetual pain to deal with. Even so it was... an adjustment, living without them. Not always a pleasant one." I watched her closely.

"You ever regret it? Changing paths?"

"Nah," she replied, shrugging.

"Time comes when everyone has to ask themselves if they're doing what they wanna do with life. And if not, why. And even if the change to something is hard... it's worth doing, in the end." There came a slight clamour from up the road, enough to have Smoke raise his hackles. I glanced up to see a wagon... no, a carriage being pulled up the road by a pair of regal looking white cassowarys. My jaw tightened.

"What fresh hell is this."

"Rich folks is my guess. Damn rich. You wouldn't get birds like those at any cheap roadside stable." The driver was a a stocky man, dressed in a similar kind of breastplate and robe to the soldiers. Though his robes were a crisp black colour, with white lines drawn along his sleeves. A small bolthole was pulled aside at the back, and whoever was inside murmured something to the driver.

They pulled to a halt near Yomi and myself, and the door opened to reveal a man in an ornate pearl-hued robe, and an incredibly pale woman in a red robe that had golden lotus flowers upon the fabric.

"Good heavens," the woman said, tittering behind her fan.

"You were right dearest, it is a westerner!" The man nodded sagely, tugging the dark braid of his beard.

"You do truly have odd things out in the countryside. Ah, well. You there, would either of you be able to help us?"

"Depends on the help," Yomi said before I could reply.

"Well," the woman said, conspiratorially lowering her fan, "Tsukiyo is all abuzz with tales of a great yokai being felled here. It's some of the most exciting news we've heard in some time. We came along, just in the hopes to see the battlefield." Yomi's gaze drifted to the ruined peak of Mount Gruai.

"It's a bit of a hike," she said.

"Oh we saw that from far away. It would be impossible not to," the woman tittered.

"Even spending time in the shadow of such a mountain, offering prayer to those who slew the agents of evil, would be a fine act for us." The man offered them a smile.

"Is there an inn we can use in this... Tiode?"

"None that I'm aware of," I replied.

"Oh, you speak our language so well!" the woman said, raising her brows. Somehow I felt a little insulted by the compliment.

"A damn shame. Perhaps we will be camping for a spell... good thing we brought our gear for it. Tammo, back on the road we go." The burly driver gave the reins a flick, and they were off again.

"Ah... seems Tiode here might soon be drawing in rich tourists. People love that sort of thing, you know, yokai being killed. Even people who don't pray to the Goddess get all... religious when the topic of dead yokai comes up," said Yomi.

"Understandable," I replied.

"Seems a good time to be the one to make an inn. A little seaside bed and breakfast."

"I'd need more land for that, to say nothing of the building supplies, and I'm not exactly swimming in money." Yomi's grin broadened, almost sharklike.

"How lucky you are, then, that I am a very wealthy woman." I raised a brow, quietly regarding her.

"You'd want to run an inn? With me?"

"Well, I need a change in my life. Ideally a few months without having to go headhunting," she replied, shrugging.

"And if Tiode here becomes a pilgrimage site? All the better." There had been a growing number of visitors of late. Even more traders in the village too. There was a market for a local inn.

"Guess we could talk to the Iudex, see if we can buy more acres adjoining my land."

"That's the spirit. I'll leave you to consider the offer." Grinning, Yomi turned and padded away. I sighed. Suppose it would be nice, having a new project to work on. My stomach rumbled, and I took that as my signal to go back and grab a bite to eat. I froze, then, a few paces toward the house. A strange chill ran down my spine, confusion dawning on me at a rising rate. I felt... hungry?