"Sister, is it possible that your son isn't actually your son?"
Hagoromo Gitsune's first reaction wasn't shock but concern. She pulled Kyokotsu close, pressing the back of her hand to the girl's forehead. After checking, she frowned. "Child, you don't have a fever. Why would you say such strange things?"
Had she overburdened Kyokotsu? But that couldn't be—the girl had always served competently as her attendant, handling numerous tasks. How could she start babbling nonsense after less than a day managing intelligence?
"Sister~~" Kyokotsu cooed, flushing at the sudden closeness before stammering: "I... I..."
With a hard swallow, she finally confessed: "I secretly bought some intelligence from dealers... There were certain records..."
Hesitating, she gently extricated herself from Hagoromo Gitsune's embrace, swapped the USB drives, and hurriedly opened a document.
"About Minagoroshi Jizō—how much do you remember? His exact responsibilities?"
"Minagoroshi Jizō?" Puzzled by the sudden shift, Hagoromo Gitsune replied: "Isn't he the head of our tengu intelligence division?"
Kyokotsu clenched her teeth. "Then, sister, do you remember what kind of yokai Minagoroshi Jizō is?"
"He's a tengu... Wait. Tengu—"
The realisation struck Hagoromo Gitsune at last.
Tengu were manifestations of mountain divinity in Japan's folk beliefs, essentially representing mountain gods.
Japan's Shinto hierarchy was rigid: lower-ranked tengu obeyed higher-ranked ones, with only the supreme Great Tengu answering to other beings.
Though Abe no Seimei secured the tengu clan's loyalty by subduing Minagoroshi Jizō, fundamentally, the lower-ranked tengu still served Minagoroshi Jizō himself.
"Great Tengu clan, who do you serve? Minagoroshi Jizō?" Hagoromo Gitsune finally noticed the discrepancy in her memories.
Lower-ranking tengu only obeyed higher-ranking tengu. Was Minagoroshi Jizō a higher-ranking tengu? No, he was a Legend Yokai, a yokai born from human Fear.
So the question arose—could a yokai born from Fear truly be a tengu, akin to a mountain god?
"My memories... have been tampered with!!"
In that instant, Hagoromo Gitsune realised the gravity of the situation, her expression turning icy as she spoke:
"Minagoroshi Jizō is not one of the organisation's elders. He is another yokai who usurped an elder's position!!"
"Who—who is scheming against me?!"
Seeing Hagoromo Gitsune's frost-cold face, Kyokotsu gritted her teeth and said:
"Sister, do you remember that Great Tengu who caused trouble when you first revived?"
"The one who kept shouting about how he had bled and fought for the organisation, only to be driven away in the end?"
"...Him?" Hagoromo Gitsune froze, then immediately grasped the implication, her expression shifting into something complicated.
There was guilt, anger, and even a hint of embarrassment.
If her memories had been altered, if the organisation's chief elder had been replaced through tampered recollections, allowing Minagoroshi Jizō to seize his position... then perhaps that Great Tengu she had cast out was the true elder who had loyally served her for a millennium, aiding her in her attempts to resurrect Abe no Seimei.
And because Hagoromo Gitsune often needed to reincarnate to accumulate power, the Hagoromo Group had largely been maintained and operated by the chief elder throughout the centuries.
In other words, Hagoromo Gitsune had personally expelled the very steward who had dedicated a thousand years to the organisation.
"This..."
Even someone as cold-hearted as Hagoromo Gitsune couldn't help but feel a pang of shame.
After all, that tengu had toiled for the organisation for a millennium—if not merit, then at least hardship. Yet despite that, she had casually cast him aside. Such ungrateful behaviour was unbecoming, even for a yokai.
Seeing Hagoromo Gitsune's reaction, Kyokotsu quickly added:
"When sister entrusted me with the Intelligence Division, Minagoroshi Jizō claimed the tengu had been completely wiped out during the Metropolitan Police Department's sweep of Tokyo. He said the organisation's intelligence network had collapsed entirely."
"That's why I was persuaded by Minagoroshi Jizō to purchase the intelligence sister needed from Tokyo's information brokers."
"The tengu, famed for their speed... completely annihilated?"
Hagoromo Gitsune found the excuse utterly absurd.
It's true there are many powerful humans, but the tengu who serve the Hagoromo Group are no weaklings either.
The tengu involved in intelligence work are among the elite yokai of the Hagoromo Group.
These yokai might be slain, but they would never be completely wiped out.
If there truly existed a being capable of annihilating all these tengu, then destroying her, Hagoromo Gitsune, wouldn't be difficult either.
Having reasoned through the situation, Hagoromo Gitsune was now certain that Minagoroshi Jizō was absolutely problematic – and that this problem was so significant she herself might be his pawn.
"Who stands behind Minagoroshi Jizō?"
"It's..." Kyokotsu almost blurted out the answer instinctively, but restrained herself at the last moment, changing her response: "Sister should see for yourself."
Kyokotsu stepped aside, allowing Hagoromo Gitsune to operate the laptop herself.
Seeing Kyokotsu's cautious demeanour, Hagoromo Gitsune felt a chill. If the schemer were an outsider, an enemy, Kyokotsu would have shared the information readily with united hatred, not worn such an expression.
Yet Kyokotsu's hesitant, conflicted manner instantly made Hagoromo Gitsune's heart tighten unbearably.
"Surely not... No... Why would that child do this..."
Hagoromo Gitsune instinctively recoiled from the laptop as if the black device contained something utterly terrifying.
At this moment, Kyokotsu called out worriedly:
"Sister!"
Hearing this, Hagoromo Gitsune regained her composure. Taking a deep breath, she mimicked Kyokotsu's earlier actions, her slender pale arms trembling as she opened all the intelligence files.
As she scrolled through page after page, her eyes gradually grew vacant.
"So it's truly... Seimei, who commanded Minagoroshi Jizō... My poor child... But why... Why would he do this to Great Tengu? Did Great Tengu betray his loyalty?"
She instinctively excluded herself from suspicion, convinced her child would never harm her. If he had, she must have done something to hurt him.
Just like with Great Tengu.
Seeing Hagoromo Gitsune's vulnerable state, Kyokotsu's heart ached, and she quickly voiced her speculation:
"Sister, I too struggle to believe Lord Seimei would treat you this way, but perhaps... just perhaps..."
Pausing, she continued:
"Perhaps the current Lord Seimei isn't the real Lord Seimei?"
Hagoromo Gitsune froze at these words.
Then Kyokotsu murmured ominously:
"Among the Hagoromo Group's intelligence, the most expensive commodity isn't information about Lord Seimei, but about another man – one called Hao Asakura."
"He is considered by information dealers to be Lord Seimei's prototype."
"That is to say..."
"The true Lord Seimei unknown to the world."