Hearing the fox woman's statement, Mikado laughed instead of getting angry.
“Little girl, you're just a prisoner. You're being awfully presumptuous, aren't you?”
She snorted coldly, “Could it be that you, who are imprisoned and bound here, still have a way to reverse the situation?”
As Mikado spoke, the thorns binding the fox woman stirred like living things. These thorns were formed from demonic power. They wrapped around her body, tearing at her slender frame.
As if searching for a way to invade, the thorns twisted around the half-demon's body, wriggling back and forth, stroking her hair and caressing her cheeks. Their poisonous needle-like thorns could pierce deeply into her body, ready to burrow even further and destroy her.
“No, I don’t have any such intentions.”
The fox woman, Miyazuki Kaoru, coldly replied, “Now that I’ve fallen into your hands, I won’t indulge in such fantasies. However, the Black Princess Mountain clan, and Mutsu Province as well, will be completely destroyed—”
“Why?”
Hearing her words, Hyakusuke frowned, an ominous premonition crawling up his spine.
The fox woman, Miyazuki Kaoru, didn't stop talking, a mocking smile still on her face.
“Old man, you’ve been complacent for too long and have lost your sense of danger.”
This time, even Mikado frowned.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“There’s no point in hiding it,” Miyazuki Kaoru said with a cold smile, “The 'Nightingale God' from the Ezo lands in the north, is awakening from its slumber. It has traveled a long distance to reach the northern tip of Mutsu, seized Miyagaro’s spiritual veins, and has been biding its time, just to accumulate its own power.”
“Y-you said what?”
Yoake let out a shocked voice. It was about her old territory, something she cared about more than anyone.
“The Nightingale God was originally a deity worshiped by the Ainu people. It is said that it was originally a gentle guardian deity, but now it has fallen from its divine seat and transformed into a horned owl-like demon king, the most vicious monster.”
A hint of triumph was revealed in the fox woman's words.
“It was injured in the siege battle a few years ago. However, after years of recuperation and absorbing the spiritual veins occupied by the Miyagaro clan, its past injuries have completely healed. It is gathering its army, preparing to attack south at any time.”
Her smile at that moment made those who saw it feel a chill down their spines.
“Exorcists will be its best food, and villages and cities will be razed to the ground by its owl army. The fertile spiritual veins occupied by the Black Princess Mountain clan, needless to say, it will definitely not let them go. Devouring the dragon vein energy in the earth will make it even stronger than before.”
“I can say with certainty that you, the Black Princess Mountain clan, and the people of Mutsu… don’t even think about escaping this disaster. Everything in that land will be devoured by that Nightingale God.”
“Nonsense.”
Black Princess Mountain Mikado said this, but her face was a little pale.
“No—”
The Aware demon standing beside her also changed color.
“Mikado-sama… This is not good. What she said is true. She’s not lying. These are indeed the ‘facts’ she’s thinking—”
The Aware demon's answer also made Yoake and Hyakusuke nervous.
“You don’t have much time left.”
The fox woman, Miyazuki Kaoru, continued, “The Nightingale God will descend upon the Black Princess Mountain clan's territory before long. This is your end. You guys will definitely not escape this disaster and will only embark on a path of eternal damnation.”
She spat out words of curse, and her gaze towards everyone was full of mockery.
“I don’t understand.”
Hyakusuke felt something was off, and he quickly asked his question, “If you really foresaw all of this, or rather, the Eight Fortunes Association grasped this information, then why did you come to the Black Princess Mountain clan?”
He asked in a deep voice, “Since the Black Princess Mountain clan is about to be destroyed, what is your intention in disguising yourself as the young master of the Miyazuki family and marrying the head, Miyuki?”
“Heh heh.”
The fox woman laughed.
“I definitely have my own goals, but there’s no way I would tell you that, right?”
“Not good!”
Mikado realized something was wrong, and she waved her hand, preparing to do something. However, the fox woman's entire body turned to stone.
“Petrification curse!?”
The Aware demon also widened his eyes.
“It seems that’s the case.”
Mikado clicked her tongue, her expression somewhat distressed.
“Someone set up a special curse on this fox woman’s body. It’s a curse that turns her into stone if she leaks information.”
She deeply regretted not investigating the fox woman's body carefully.
‘No, I should say this curse is more hidden than I imagined. Even with my power, I can’t thoroughly investigate it…’
In that instant, Mikado keenly realized that the person who cast this curse was even more powerful than any curse-knowing person she knew, and even her granddaughter, Kuzuha, was far from comparable.
In the Eight Fortunes Association, it is indeed possible that there are such powerful figures, such as the eight “Fortune Gods”.
“I’m very sorry.”
The Aware demon said, “If I could have read her intentions sooner, we wouldn’t have missed more information.”
“Forget it, this petrification curse may be a pre-designed curse.”
Mikado explained helplessly, “As long as she says a certain sentence, it could be activated instantly, and we wouldn’t have time to break the curse at all.”
“Is there no way to forcibly break the curse?”
Hyakusuke blurted out the question.
“Breaking the curse isn’t easy. This is a very high-level curse.”
Mikado shook her head.
“I’m not good at this kind of spell… Kuzuha might have a way, but I don’t think Kuzuha can break this petrification curse in a short amount of time.”
“This has become a troublesome matter.”
Hyakusuke sighed deeply as if he wanted to exhale all the air in his lungs, “I originally thought that if we caught this guy, we could find a way to make the head, Miyuki, ‘lay down her arms’, but now it seems that things are not that simple.”
“It’s not that troublesome.”
Mikado chuckled and then said, “It’s not like I didn’t prepare. The fox woman’s remarks just now were all recorded by shikigami. Just with this as evidence, it’s enough to make the six branch families stop supporting Miyuki.”
She lowered her voice, “Next, I will rush back to the clan to impeach Miyuki. This child has committed a serious crime this time, and no one in the family will be with her anymore. However, Miyuki still has a group of vassals and subordinates who are loyal to her, which is also a troublesome matter, so this matter cannot be done with great fanfare.”
She coughed lightly, “Also, the matter of the Nightingale God, that Ainu ‘Fallen God’, the fox woman should not have lied.”
The Aware demon also nodded.
“This is a dangerous signal, not to be taken lightly…” Black Princess Mountain Mikado murmured to herself, “If this demon king-level existence really sets its sights on the spiritual veins occupied by the clan, then it will indeed become a catastrophic disaster for our Black Princess Mountain family.”
