Before I even read the article, a smell of blood mixed with ink entered my nose.
Kamisato Ayato was stunned for a moment.
"Why is there..."
"Mr. vomited blood twice while writing. She used blood as ink to complete these three masterpieces. Brother, don't let her down, okay?"
Kamisato Ayaka said in a slightly hoarse voice.
Kamisato Ayato had already imagined the situation where her sister would carry Wen Zhang out of the house, then squat in a corner and cry for a while before coming to her.
Kamisato couldn't help but reach out and touch her sister's hair lovingly.
"Okay, I will do my best to have the palace lady hand these documents over to the general!"
And if even the Eightfold God Son doesn't care about this matter, or if the Eightfold God Son can't care about it, and even the General-sama looks at it and pretends not to see it...
"Ugh!"
Kamisato Ayato sighed softly.
If this is the case, then he will probably have to make some unprecedented plans for the future of Kamisato's family and his sister's future.
'Father, mother, I will protect Ayaka no matter what. But if...if it really comes to that, please forgive me for not being able to protect the honor of the Kamisato family. If Inazuma is destined to be unable to escape from the abyss, then the Kamisato family cannot be buried with Inazuma.'
With the thought of being extremely rebellious towards the Shogun and Inazuma, Kamisato Ayato took a deep breath and walked to the table with the article in her hand.
He lit two more candles and read Hui Ye's article carefully in the brighter light.
After a full hour, he finally put down all the papers in deep thought, turned his head, and looked at the shadows facing the mountain. His eyes, which usually kept a gentle smile, now showed a bit of trepidation and determination.
……
"Master Palace Secretary, do you have time? I want to find a quiet place. I need to discuss something with you."
"Is it the kid from Kamisato's family? If it's about the celebration and borrowing the miko, just ask Ayuki. Don't bother me, it's meaningless."
The charming pink fox lady stood in front of the sacred cherry tree which was also shaped like a sacred fox, spinning the sacred wooden stick in her hand casually and without any dignity, looking very leisurely and cynical.
But Kamisato Ayato knows that this is not the case. The shrine is mainly engaged in entertainment ceremonies and festivals, and is closely connected with Narugami Taisha. So he knows that since the general closed the country, for some reason, the country of Inazuma has been plagued by frequent dangers such as demonic resentment and underground pollution. Narugami Taisha specializes in fighting pollution, suppressing evil spirits, and removing pollution, and Yae Kamiko is the best onmyoji and shrine maiden of the time.
So despite her seemingly leisurely and lazy appearance, Yae Shinto was actually almost going crazy with work.
Even for this visit, Kamisato Ayato had found out a few days in advance and confirmed that Yae Kamiko would be there today, so she came only then.
Kamisato Ayato smiled slightly.
"Master Yae Shinko, I want a quiet place to talk."
"Oh?"
Yae Goddess finally raised his head, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked up and down at the nobleman who looked no different from usual.
There are some tacit understandings between smart people that need no words.
After a while, the two came to a meditation room inside the shrine.
Before Yae Kamiko could ask, Kamisato Ayato had already taken out three articles from her arms and placed them in front of her.
Yae Kamiko blinked in confusion and picked up the document. Before she even looked at it, her fox-born keen sense of smell had already sensed the faint smell of blood emanating from the paper. She then turned her head back in disgust, looked at Kamisato Ayato, and said:
"You're not trying to disgust me on purpose, are you?"
"Please read these three articles and you will understand why."
"..."
The Eightfold Divine Son was silent.
She didn't like this kid from the Kamisato family. He was too scheming, always hiding a lot of things when he spoke, and it was exhausting to analyze him - in short, he was just a tacky person and not smooth at all.
However, looking at it from another perspective, she admitted that he was an outstanding young man, much better than the other two corrupt followers, and at least he didn't have any real bad intentions.
Yae Shinko then turned the pages of the book and began to read carefully.
From being nonchalant, to gradually becoming serious in his eyes, and then to his fox ears that couldn't help but rise higher.
A full hour later, Yae Shinto slowly put down the article, raised his head, and looked at Kamisato Ayato with murderous aura.
There was no intention to target Kamisato Ayano. But the Thunder God's follower, the great fox demon with 500 years of cultivation, even if there was no intention to target, still made Kamisato Ayano, a mortal, feel cold in the heart and break out in a cold sweat.
"Has the situation in Inazuma become so devastated? Are you three magistrates useless? Where did you get this information?"
"We stole a large number of records from the Tenryo Bugyo and Kanjo Bugyo, and compiled the data from them."
Kamisato Ayato responded truthfully. He never thought that he could hide the fact from Yae Kamisato, who was a fox demon.
Then, a hint of hesitation appeared on Kamisato Ayato's face again.
Yae Shinko slammed the table.
"What time is it now? Just tell me what you want to say, stop hiding it!"
"You are right. I think that given the level of corruption in the two major sectors, a lot of the data may be quite different from the actual situation. For example, a considerable portion of imported grain may have been avoided from record keeping in some way, thus evading tariffs. For example, a considerable portion of registered workers may have been concealed to evade the head tax."
"So, the actual situation is likely to be more serious and more critical than what is written here?"
"You are right, Lord Palace Master."
Kamisato Ayato let out a long sigh.
Now that things have come to this, he has put aside his political tactics of not offending anyone and has told Yae Shinto all that needs to be said.
Next, it depends on what answer Yae Shinko will give him.
The Eightfold Son of God stroked these bloody documents for a long time, and then asked:
"Who is this person who signed as Horaisan Kaguya?"
"This all started with a personal request from Kujo Sara. Let me explain it slowly."
Kamisato knew that there was no room for concealment at this moment, and he revealed everything except the worst plan in his heart.
Then, Yae Kamiko heard a story that moved her.
The wise man who foresaw the Inazuma famine in advance collected high-yield grains and tried to save the people from the disaster, but everything was destroyed by the foolish war. In a fit of rage, he almost died on the spot.
He was entrusted by Kujo Sara to the Kamisato family for care, and later raised the practical issues of Inazuma, gaining the attention and respect of the Kamisato brothers and sisters.
At the very end, he was spitting blood while reading the summary data, and even used blood as ink to produce these three documents with every word being precious.
"My Inazuma, is there such a person?"
"The paperwork was completed last night. When I left home this morning, she was still in a coma. The doctor we called in said that her life was in vain and she might not have much time left."
"I gonna go see."
Just as Kamisato Ayato finished speaking in a heavy voice, Yae Kamiko left a few words and disappeared into the room.
Chapter 37 What do you think of a duel in front of the emperor?
"I just arrived at the shrine, and you arrived at Kamisato's house right after me. Isn't this clearly arousing suspicion? Well, the Palace Master is very smart and should know how to handle things. Ayaka can handle it, right?"
Kamisato Ayato was a little helpless, but not too worried.
However, in order to end it safely, he sat inside for a while longer before walking out.
When we arrived at the gate of the shrine, a shrine maiden came to greet us.
"Sir, may I ask where is the lady of the palace? I just saw her go to the meditation room with you."
"Um, excuse me, has the palace lady been very busy these past two days?"
"That's true. There are a lot of reports of evil spirits from all over the place, and it's very busy to deal with them."
"No wonder. I just wanted to discuss some recent celebrations with the palace lady, but she dragged me to the meditation room without saying anything. After chatting for a while, she left on her own and told me to sit in the room for a while to hide from others... Now, I'm afraid she has gone to an unknown place and is alone, right?"
Kamisato Ayato patched it up without changing her expression, turning this visit into a routine meeting that didn't need to be taken seriously.
The dignified and pretty witch's face immediately changed.
"What? Lord Palace Administrator, you can't run away. There are still many things waiting for you to deal with!"
The shrine maidens became busy, searching quickly around the shrine, trying to find the lazy Yae Goddess.
This kind of scene occasionally happens at Naruto Taisha Shrine, so it is not uncommon and will not arouse suspicion.
Only then did Kamisato Ayato walk down Yingxiang Mountain gracefully and calmly to do her daily work.
……
Yae Kamiko knew that she shouldn't visit Kamisato's house openly, otherwise it would easily make people think of her. She wasn't afraid of anyone, she just didn't want to cause unnecessary turmoil because of herself.
She calmly avoided everyone's attention, walked through the mansion, and soon found the unconscious Mr. Kaguya that Kamisato Ayato mentioned.
"Mister Palace Administrator?"
"Hey, Ayaka-chan, long time no see. Speak softly, don't let anyone see me coming."
"Ok, I see."
Kamisato Ayaka was also very smart and figured out the situation quickly. She went out to send the servants away to ensure that no one could pay attention to the situation in the guest room for the time being.
After coming back, he found that Yae Shinko was holding the coin and slowly rotating above Kaguya, and some soft pink fluorescence fell into Kaguya's body.
As the chief priest of Narugami Taisha Shrine, Yaegamiko naturally understands the purification and healing spells of the shrine maidens, and is the one with the highest Inazuma rank.
After casting a spell, Yae Shinko slowly frowned at Kamisato Ayaka's nervous expression.
"I'm afraid her foundation has been damaged. Her vitality has been severely depleted and is still draining away. I have done my best to heal her body, but magic is not omnipotent, just like medicine cannot cure aging."
Coming from the mouth of Yae Shinko, these words basically sentenced Kaguya to death.
"How come?"
Kamisato Ayaka's legs immediately went limp and she sat paralyzed on the ground, tears filling her eyes.
Yae Shinko pursed her lips, feeling very uncomfortable. The Seven Gods are always there, but it is rare to find such a great talent who cares about the people and is so devoted to the country. Seeing this scene, even if Yae Shinko is used to life and death, he can't help but feel sad.
"To be honest, I'm afraid I can't hand these documents over to our Thunder God."
"Why? This is the result of your hard work, sir? You are the general's family member!"
Kamisato Ayaka stood up. At that moment, the anger and light burning in the little girl's eyes made Yae Shinko so ashamed that he was speechless.
In the eyes of the world, Inazuma has only one Thunder God.
But the Son of God clearly distinguished them. In fact, there were three: the original one who had passed away, the later one, the shadow, and the later one, the puppet general.
The shadow will isolate himself in the spiritual world, and the puppet general will control the political situation in Inazuma.
Unable to see his friend closing herself off to herself like this, Shen Zi tried various ways to attract Ying's attention and bring her out of her isolation.
However, Yingshi is too dull and stubborn.
After many times, the shadow regarded the attempt of the child as a disturbance to prevent her from visualizing the eternal way. Therefore, the child's ability to set foot in the castle tower was cut off. The child of the Yae God can't get close to the castle tower now. If she gets close, the puppet general will cut her down with a sword. It won't hurt the child, but it will knock her away.
If the fox doesn't go in and just throws the document in, the puppet general will see it as a new way of harassing the shadow and will chop it into pieces without even looking at it.
As for standing outside and reading aloud, passing on the teachings through words, Yae Shinko had no doubt that the puppet general would simply block out the sound and not listen to a single word.
Yae Shinko was sure that if these three articles fell into Ying's hands, they would definitely shock her greatly, at least making her come out to see Inazuma in person. Even if they fell into the hands of the mechanical puppet general, there was a high possibility that the puppet general would come out and take care of Inazuma in person.
But the problem now is that even if we hand it over to Ying, it will be impossible to do it even if we hand it over to that puppet general!
"Ying, Ying, your Inazuma has become like this, why, why can't you just look out a little bit?"
Yae Shinko lowered her head, not daring to look directly at Kamisato Ayaka's question.
Kamisato Ayaka's eyes gradually dimmed.
"It's almost lunch time. The mistress might wake up soon. I'll go prepare food for her. Your Excellency, please help yourself."
"……Um."
After Kamisato Ayaka left, Yae Kamiko looked at the documents in her hands and felt very bitter.
"Den!"
From behind I heard someone trying to stand up, but then failed and fell back down again.
Yae Shinko quickly turned around and went over to support Kaguya who was trying to get up.
Then, she saw Kaguya's eyes, which were calmer and deeper than she had imagined. Like the Shadow Mountain that had stood for a thousand years, silent, but spoke of invisible determination and strength. In her hand, she felt Kaguya's hand, which was thin and weak, but a little rough, with some old scars and old cobs, which were traces of being used for farming.
At this moment, facing such a person, Yae Shinko could not show her usual impropriety. She could only look at Hui Ye gently, with a hint of regret in her eyes.
