[Third Person POV]
It didn't take long for Monet and Hajime to reach the shrine.
Landing at the entrance, they saw it was quite similar to shrines they'd seen in the past, though given its size, it was less grand than it should've been.
Despite that, the shrine was still a magnificent sight. Large, intricate stone statues were peppered around the courtyard, showing the large wealth the clan wielded in the past.
According to what Monet had found in the library, after sealing the yokai using a blood ritual, the clan fell into decline. Although the specifics were left out because any clan would refuse to publicize how weak they were, anyone in the village could see their weakness. It was telling that, despite the Masshirona clan being the unofficial rulers of Itose, there was almost no one at the shrine.
The only people Hajime could sense at the shrine were likely the members of the Masshirona clan.
While the people of Itose might visit more often than the average Japanese person, it was clear, whether by the shrine's location or its activity, that the Masshirona clan was nearly gone.
Clans like theirs, which often live on site, would usually have more people at any given time. Even if not everyone was tending to the shrine, Hajime is certain he would've sensed more people working in the back.
At present, he could only sense two people, one of whom was lying down, injured from what he could tell. While a few members might've been out, there wouldn't be too many others.
Nobody would be foolish enough to leave the clan this unguarded, even if they were going to war, but given the guards' actions, he doubted that. It was more likely that the Masshirona were a dying clan, which would explain the low numbers and lack of retaliation.
As the two walked further into the shrine, Hajime could feel there was a difference in the ambient magic. While he could feel there were wards, those were to alert the owners whenever someone arrived. More importantly, Hajime could sense two unique energies that he didn't feel outside the gate.
Though not completely sure what they were, he could guess what they were.
One was almost certainly the sealed yokai. Though the aura was highly suppressed, Hajime could feel where the seal was thanks to the yokai trapped inside. The energy wasn't leaking out, but the seal gave off a tainted feel that had permeated the surroundings.
The second energy was something he was actually somewhat familiar with, thanks to Yasaka. The energy felt warm and inviting, similar to the energy he'd felt at Yasaka's shrine back in Kyoto, meaning it came from the deity the shrine was built for, Amaterasu.
That didn't mean Amaterasu was here or anything, just that she'd notice if anything happened.
As they walked through the main courtyard, taking in the surroundings, Hajime heard footsteps coming from the side of the shrine. Moments later, a teen in a shrine maiden uniform appeared.
"Sorry for the delay! I was busy tending to something."
"It's fine. I wasn't expecting anyone to greet me," Hajime replied.
"Still, I shouldn't leave the shrine unattended, especially when guests appear."
After some small talk with the shrine maiden, Hajime took Monet to the shrine to give offerings to Amaterasu. Though not particularly caring about such a thing with most gods, Amaterasu was an exception he would make because of Yasaka.
Before awakening his sacred gear, he would sometimes visit her shrine with offerings, hoping it might make Yasaka's job a little easier.
Leading Monet through the steps for making an offering, they finished after a few minutes. Before leaving, Hajime took a few trelda from his inventory and left them next to the statue.
Hours later, after they had left the shrine, a pale hand reached through space to grab the fruits before disappearing as if they were never there.
-----
As they were exiting the shrine, the shrine maiden walked up to them.
"Thank you for visiting our shrine. I hope you liked it."
"It was nice, though, if you don't mind me asking, why is this place so empty? I would assume there'd be more than just you for a shrine this big."
"Oh, well, my family is just myself, my brother, and our cousin. My brother isn't feeling well at the moment, and our cousin went to get some medicine for him."
"If you want, I could take a look at him. I'm not a doctor, but I do have something that might help."
"I mean, I'd like help, but I really shouldn't allow anyone near him at the moment."
Hajime nodded, understanding that something bad might've happened to him.
"Do you have a glass of water then?"
"Oh, yes! Give me a second."
Rushing inside, she got a glass of water before bringing it back to them.
By the time she returned, Hajime had already pulled out a bottle filled with a strange, sky-blue liquid.
Uncorking the bottle, he took the glass of water and poured a few drops in before putting it away.
"I'm not sure how injured he is, but that should be enough to help him."
"Thank you for this."
The shrine maiden rushed back inside, careful not to spill a drop. While she was inside, Hajime took the time to look at the statues, each representing a famous yokai species.
A few minutes later, two people walked out of the building, a man supported by the shrine maiden.
"It's you!" The man said, surprised.
"Do you know them, Yutaka?"
"Hanako, they were the ones who helped me escape my captors."
In front of them was the man Hajime had saved over a week ago.
While Hajime and Monet freed him and took on his captors, Yutaka had fled back to the village as fast as he could.
He had already been injured from when they captured him, but after that he was starved and beaten a few times, still, he rushed back as quick as possible before warning the guards about what happened, though in his exhausted state, neglected to mention his saviors.
"Thank you for helping me back then," Yutaka said with as good a bow as he could.
"Would you mind telling us why they kidnapped you then?" Monet asked.
"If I had to guess, Monet, it's because of that sealed yokai, right?"
"Yes, you're correct," Yutaka said. "Our clan was the one who sealed it away centuries ago, using the blood it consumed from our fallen clansmen. The cost of doing so was high.
The seal was imbued with a curse meant to weaken the yokai enough so that it would never be able to break out of the seal, but since it used the blood of our clan, we've suffered from the same effects of the ritual for the last few centuries.
Our magic has been weakened to the point where few of us can reach mid-class anymore. Our lifespans have become so short that the best of us live to 50, which practically cuts our lives in half. Even our clan's ability to produce heirs reached the point that each generation became smaller than the last. We thought we'd have a few more centuries at best, but the last few years have likely doomed the clan to end this in my generation.
We've spent all this time trying to find a way to break the curse, but with the yokai still affected by it, any attempt to fix things would give them a chance to break free. Though if the yokai died, we could undo the curse, we don't have the strength needed to do so anymore.
Why all that matters is that the yokai touched the very beginning of supreme class. A few years ago, the few clansmen we had left started getting ambushed whenever they left the village. A few corpses were found, but the rest all vanished. Since then, we've prevented all our clan members from leaving Itose, but as you've seen with me, that doesn't stop them.
We believe that whoever has been attacking us has been trying to free the yokai so it can wreak havoc."
"Yes, thank you for saving my brother," Hanako said. "Without him, it would be left to my cousin and me to repopulate the clan, though, given the necessity for more clan members, only the men would likely be able to do it. Unfortunately, our cousin isn't very good with women, so most of that responsibility would become my brother's."
"Why not just hire someone to kill the yokai while it's weakened?" Monet asked.
"It's not that simple. As the ones who sealed it, our clan is now responsible for it. To kill it would mean unsealing it, putting the rest of our clan in danger, as well as the town of Itose. Even weakened, it'll likely be around high class, but it's not an easy yokai to kill," Yutaka explained.
"It's called a gashadokuro, a type of yokai famous for their stealth and durability," Hanako continued. "Even at high class, it would likely survive unless we hired an ultimate class to fight it, and even then, it's hard to say who'd win. Gashadokuro are infamous for their unkillability, so only a few people might be willing to try dealing with them, and even if someone did, the cost would be too high."
"I see what you mean," Hajime said.
"Hajime-sama?"
"With how tough it is to kill gashadokuro, the only reward worth dealing with that creature is the servitude of their clan, since it would mean killing what is a weakened, initial-stage supreme class."
"You are correct," Hanako said, depressedly. "At first, the clan refused to do such a thing out of pride. Though we were weakened after sealing the gashadokuro, we were unwilling to be subservient to someone else just because they finished off a weakened beast, still hoping there might be a way we could beat it. Over time, however, we couldn't bring ourselves to beg someone else to deal with it."
"I see," Monet said.
-----
Outside the shrine, several dozen miles from the town, a group of cloaked figures could be seen making their way over.
"Damnit, why do we have to walk so far!" One of them complained.
"Because you, idiot, Itose is hidden in a spatial fold. If we try teleporting nearby, then something could go wrong, ruining the plan. I've worked too hard to have everything fail now.
Hey, boys! How's our guide doing?"
"He's still refusing to talk, boss, but it don't matter now. We're almost at his village," A tall man with a deep, slow voice said.
As they walked, dragging several bodies along, the cloaked figures ran into a patrolling guard.
"Hey! Who are you people?! Why are you- gah!"
Before the guard knew what happened, a sword pierced his neck.
"Insolent whelp. How dare you speak to our boss that way!" Another figure said.
"Hide the body. We can't have them find our location before everyone else arrives."
"Yes, boss," the swordsman said, hurriedly moving the corpse into a nearby bush.
"All of you, prepare yourselves. While the remaining fools from that dying clan are no threat, that yokai they're hiding is different. If we're going to take it on, we can't risk weakening ourselves before we've even seen it."
"Yes, boss!" The four men cheered before being shushed.
__________
Author's Note:
Can't wait to binge season 2 of Hazbin Hotel with the final episodes releasing today.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!