As we were escorted through the castle complex, I noticed many stone statues of foxes, especially placed at gates and doorways, as if they were watching over the entrances.

We were led to the main castle building and then told to leave our katanas with the guards before being taken into a large room. Kuro almost threw a fit, but with all the guards we didn't really have a choice.

There were already two men in the room sitting on the left and right sides, near the end of the room, facing the center, as well as samurai guards standing along the side and back walls.

A minute after we arrived, a voice called out.

"You will now address the Lord of Nishihara Castle."

The wall at the end of the room slid open to reveal another room hidden behind. The flooring in that room was on a higher tier than our room, and there was a middle-aged man with greying hair and goatee sitting in the middle of that room.

"It's good to see you again, Takuro." The man said with a smile before turning to Jiroemon's group. "Thank you for escorting my nephew back here safely, we've been worried ever since he's gone missing."

"It's our honor, Lord Sakamoto." Choubei bowed politely.

'So this is Kuro's uncle.'

Kuro's uncle gestured at the man sitting on the right. "This is Lord Ochiai, our commissioner of treasury. He will discuss your compensation with you."

The commissioner nodded as he stood up and walked out of the room.

"This way please." A guard stepped up and led the way for Jiroemon's group after the commissioner.

We exchanged nods with them as they began to leave the room. Choubei dropped my pocket watch into my hand as he passed by.

"You should stop getting involved with so many dangerous characters if you want to live long." Jiroemon whispered and patted my shoulder as he walked by.

'So he does remember the meeting in Shimamaki...'

The smile on Kuro's uncle immediately went away after everyone left as he loosened his posture and sat back.

"First, I had to pay that insatiable Kamitani to bail out three of my men from his prison. Now I have to reward a bunch of mercenaries for ferrying a nuisance to me." He spat. "You're truly a huge headache for me, aren't you?"

"I'm here to reclaim my place as heir to the Sakamoto Clan." Kuro said as he stepped forward.

"Oh? You can try. You are free to do so as is your right, but who in this town will serve a child they hardly know?" He asked as he looked around.

All the adults in the room kept a straight face, indicating they had no intention of switching sides.

"You are also free to try and convince the Daimyo to appoint you as lord of this town as well." He said a little smugly.

Kuro clenched his fist as he realized this wasn't turning out as he had planned. He suddenly noticed something on the floor right next to his uncle.

"That's my father's sword, return that to me!" He shouted as he moved forward.

All the guards in the room moved forward and slightly raised their swords out of their sheaths, the noise made from all of them together sounded threatening, causing Kuro to stop in his tracks.

"This is too good for a child like you. I may have to tolerate your presence here for the Inspector General, but that doesn't mean I must indulge you, let alone return this cursed blade. Now if we are finished, I have affairs to attend to rather than entertain a bunch of children." He said as he got up, walked towards the side door before glancing back and speaking in a mocking tone. "And welcome back, Young Master Takuro. Do be careful of the food served here, I hear a couple kakuran no mushi has escaped captivity by some means."

The other man, who was sitting there quietly the whole time, stood up and adjusted his swords before following Kuro's uncle out of the room.

Kuro stood there, staring at into space for awhile before he snapped out of it. "Let's go."

"What's a kakuran no mushi?" Sena asked after we left the room.

"I don't know." Kuro said after he calmed himself down.

"It's a malevolent parasitic yokai that seeks to inhabit the stomach." Basho said as he appeared. "They are very painful and can cause symptoms similar to severe food poisoning. They are also known to come up through it's hosts mouth and poke it's head out."

Sena's face twisted up as she held her arms and shivered.

'Kuro's uncle is unexpectedly petty.'

"What do we do now?" Hirokazu asked.

"Young Master Kuro, you should introduce yourself to Inspector General Kisoya firstly before anything else." Basho suggested. "Although no one doubts your uncle or any of the various Castle Lords around the country, the position of Inspector General has always represented the Daimyo's will more than anything else and carries the utmost loyalty to His Excellency."

'From what I'm hearing, it sounds like part of their job is oversight and they keep the Castle Lord's in check.'

"Let's go and do that." Kuro agreed.

Basho led us around the castle to a guarded room with a set of double wooden doors.

"Tell the Inspector General that Young Master Sakamoto Takuro is here to see him."

The guard nodded and entered the room shortly before coming back out.

"He'll see you."

We entered a large room that was filled with work desks and bulky electronic equipment. The equipment looked a lot like those old radios. They were connected to dashboards with a bunch of knobs and switches, and there were a bunch of officials with headsets operating and communicating through them.

'So the top levels are already running this kind of technology. I wonder how much it cost them.'

An elder man, who was supervising all this, turned to us as we entered the room.

"You must be the young Sakamoto Takuro." He said as he nodded at Kuro.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Inspector General Kisoya." Kuro bowed politely and we all followed along.

"Excellent timing, I was just about to send my daily report over to the Capital."

I sent out my periodically random detection pulse at that time.

*Bzzzzt*

Suddenly there was a bunch static noise coming from all the radios.

"Hey! Whose using their energy in here? Stop that, it's messing with the equipment." One of the officials called out as she glared at our group.

'Oops...' I thought, holding a neutral face while everyone else was looking around to see who he was referring to.

"The signals sent by the equipment here are rather easily influenced by other forms of energy, so you'll have to be mindful around them." Inspector General Kisoya patiently explained. "Now, I know what you are back here for young Sakamoto, but I must explain that Lord Sakamoto has run this town rather prosperously in place of your late father. The Daimyo is rather pleased with this and won't acknowledge your inheritance until you can prove yourself able enough to competently take command of this town."

"How can I prove myself?" Kuro asked.

"That's up to you to figure out." The Inspector General said. "This is a test of your abilities after all."

"Can I receive help from others?"

"A great leader should always have an eye for talent. They should always have competent people working under them, and should know the best way to utilize these people."

"Thank you Inspector Genera Kisoya, I'll do my best to prove myself to the Daimyo."

"I shall be looking forward to it." He nodded.

"Let's go see my mother." Kuro said as we were leaving the room.

Basho took us to retrieve our katanas and then led us back to the Sakamoto Clan compound. A middle-aged lady with sharp looking eyes and a young girl about the same age as me and Sena were waiting for us at the gates with some servants when we arrived.

"Lady Otsuya, I have brought Young Master Takuro." Basho bowed politely.

"Takuro, my son. It's so good to finally see you again." Kuro's mother strode up and pulled him into a tearful embrace.

"Mother..."

"Elder Brother Takuro." The young girl greeted politely with a bow.

"Chikane. It's good to see the both of you." Kuro said before turning to us. "These are my friends."

"It's nice to meet the three of you. Thank you for sticking with Takuro after all this time. You all must be tired after your trip. Come, you can rest easy at the estate."

We were led to a large mansion inside the compound and shown to our own rooms. Kuro went to visit his fathers grave while we relaxed in our rooms. After a bath, we had dinner together, which I noticed was served by Lady Otsuya and Chikane themselves, rather than the servants. Kuro and his family spent the time mostly catching up while we ate.

"Is it true? No one will help us take back what was stolen from father?"

Lady Otsuya nodded solemnly. "It's true. The town has prospered under your uncle and the people are content with that, the influential clans and families among them, and especially the other Sakamoto clan members."

"What should I do now, mother?" Kuro asked at one point after we finished eating. "I came all this way to inherit what was taken from father but I couldn't take anything back. Inspector General Kisoya said I had to prove myself but I don't know how."

"Like many lords these days, your father became complacent after a long period of peace and was schemed against by his brother. You mustn't get complacent, you mustn't become content. Power is everything in this world. Only with power can we take back what was stolen from us, and only with power will others acknowledge you." She said as she stood up. "Come, I'll shall take you to the clan's sanctum."

Lady Otsuya and Chikane carried lanterns as we stepped outside the mansion into the night. We followed as they led us deeper into the compound, past a small forest to an old looking small stone shrine. There were a pair of large stone foxes guarding the gate to this shrine.

Opening the gate to the shrine revealed stairs leading underground. Our steps echoed as we descended into the depths in silence. At the bottom of the stairs was a large circlular chamber with stone foxes placed about 2 meters apart each as they faced the middle of the chamber. There was also an archway that led into a second chamber.

We entered the second chamber and found that there were multiple levels of stone shelves surrounding the chamber with only paper lanterns occupying them and the walls. There was an alter at the front of the chamber with a stone bowl on it.

Lady Otsuya and Chikane began lighting up all the lanterns in the room. Once that was done, Lady Otsuya directed Kuro to stand in the middle of the chamber as the rest of us stood by the entrance. She then took out a container from her robe and began pouring some sort of liquid into the stone bowl.

"Drink this." She said as she passed the stone bowl to Kuro.

Kuro followed his mother's instructions and drank it all up.

"The first Sakamoto, our Sakamoto Clan Ancestor was an accomplished priest, he was especially gifted in exorcisms. He travelled around far and wide, met and dealt with numerous and extremely dangerous beings. Because of that, those dangerous beings held a grudge."

As she spoke a chill crawled up my spine as the lanterns around the chamber began to extinguish on their own, one by one.

"There are 100 andons in this room. They represent the 100 evil spirits, yokais, and demons that tyrannized the continent in the past. The 100 beings that gathered together and cursed the Ancestor...'Since you find so much delight in meddling with our kind, we shall curse you to do so for all eternity,' those 100 beings communicated to the Ancestor.

And so, he was doomed to a fate of endless harrying from spirits, yokai, and demons of all kind. And that fate was passed on to his descendants after he passed away. But before the Ancestor passed away he did two things.

First, he developed a special type of constitution from dealing with those beings over the decades. This constitution allowed him to become resistant to the various kinds of powers those beings used.

And second, he tracked down those 100 accursed beings. Those same 100 that cursed him and his descendants for eternity. The same 100 that the Sakamoto Clan Ancestor sealed within this very shrine." Her voiced reached a crescendo at the end.

The chamber suddenly turned pitch black as all the lanterns died out. I couldn't see anything but I could feel the temperature in the room drop.

"Ahhhhhh!" Kuro's screaming suddenly rang out from the center of the chamber.

"Leave him." Lady Otsuya said, just as I was wondering whether I should do anything. "I know it hurts but you must endure, Takuro."

His screaming lasted for about a full minute before it finally stopped. Lady Otsuya then reignited her lantern which revealed Kuro kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily.

Kuro looked up at us and I immediately noticed his eyes. His sclera had turned completely black while his iris had turned pale blue.

"You've now awakened the Sakamoto bloodline and along with it, the cursed eyes—the Reigan."

'Reigan...as in eyes of the ghost?'

The translation for kakuran no mushi said "vomit and diarrhea bug" but the translation for kakuran said "sunstroke;heatstroke".

So even though kakuran no mushi sounds a bit awkward I decided to keep it in Japanese.