Thus, Renko began questioning Shinmyoumaru while simultaneously trying to calm Mokou down. She was for the most part successful, I suppose you could say, as Mokou refrained from starting a physical confrontation (if only just barely) and Shinmyoumaru answered all of her questions (though the answers were largely inconclusive.)

"We met in the place where I grew up, the land of the oni, where the rest of my people were imprisoned along with this castle."

"The 'land of the oni,'" Renko repeated. "By that do you mean the Underworld? Or Hell itself?"

"I'm not sure. I had never been anywhere else before and I don't really know where we are now. Seija told me that Gensokyo had lots of oppressed youkai that we could recruit to our cause, so we came here first. She told me that my people had lived in this world originally, but had been banished and sealed away by those who feared the power of the mallet. I had lived my whole life without even knowing that my people came from somewhere else! Now that I know though, I want us all to be able to leave freely! Seija taught me the truth. She taught me a lot of things! I thought that being oppressed by the oni was just the way things were, but she taught me that my clan used to be proud and noble warriors!"

Shinmyoumaru then went into great detail about the plight of her people, the trials they had endured and the history of their oppression in the land of the oni. As you might have guessed by now though, all of these stories were something that were something that she had only ever heard about from Seija and as such are likely to be complete fabrications. I'll summarize them very briefly here, just so you can understand how Shinmyoumaru might have come to view the world through the lens that she did.

-.-.-.-.-

According to her, the story of Issun-boshi fighting an oni and taking the Miracle Mallet from it was true. The little warrior was celebrated for his bravery and skill as the oni he had defeated had long terrorized the people of that land. Through the power of the the oni's mallet he attracted a modest fortune for himself and grew as tall as a human man. Having done so, he married the daughter of a reputable nobleman and was soon seen as a valued retainer in that noble's household -an upstanding and loyal samurai like any other. After years of service and many more brave deeds he rose through the ranks and was eventually awarded lands of his own along with a castle on the outskirts of the imperial capital. That castle became known as 'Shining Needle Castle' in honor of Issun-boshi's famous triumph. Of course it was a normal castle on the ground back then.

Among the people of the imperial capital there were many that were unhappy with Issun-boshi's appointment though. People began to say that he was a youkai and that inchlings were less than human. When Issun-boshi's wife gave birth to an inchling child they were able to stir up enough of a riot that several rival lords stormed Issun-boshi's castle. Issun-boshi remained loyal to his own lord and wouldn't take up arms against his fellows, and so he allowed himself to be captured. The rival lords took the Miracle Mallet from him and Issun-boshi warned them that the mallet was an oni tool, and like all oni magic it was incredibly powerful, but prone to cursing or betraying those who would use it. Only an inchling like him could be skilled enough with tools to wield its power without fear of blowback. Issun-boshi's captors didn't believe him though. They used the hammer to wish that Shining Needle Castle and all of its lands belonged to them. Instead, the hammer rejected their wish and hurled the castle into the sky where they would never reach it. All of the armies and rioters who had surrounded the castle fell to their doom, and though it was no fault of Issun-boshi's, he and all of his descendants were banished from ever again setting foot on any of the emperor's lands for the crime of killing his fellow retainers.

Issun-boshi and his family therefore remained in the flying castle and drifted away, eventually ending up in Gensokyo. They lived here quietly for several generations, but the youkai dwelling here envied the splendid castle in the sky and persecuted the inchlings for living in it despite being small and weak. Even without knowing about the mallet, they despised and oppressed Shinmyoumaru's people simply because of who they were. Eventually, Issun-boshi and his castle were either banished or forced to flee from Gensokyo to the world of the oni. Centuries had passed since then, during which time the inchlings were more or less enslaved by the oni and forced to labour for their benefit in exchange for protection and not permitted to leave.

-.-.-.-.-

"That was what things were like up until Seija found me," Shinmyoumaru said, completing her story.

"And so in order to right those historical wrongs, Seija convinced you that the best course of action was to use the power of the mallet to bring about a revolution, starting with Gensokyo?"

"That's right! Our cause is just! Once lesser creatures like us are free, this world will become a homeland for creatures like Seija and I to live without fear of persecution or exploitation!"

"I see, I see." Renko said, nodding along, the fingers of one hand playing along the brim of her hat.

Behind her, Mokou was not so accepting. She was leaning against the wall of the room with her arms crossed and a dissatisfied expression on her face. "What a load of bullshit," she scoffed.

"How dare you!" Shinmyoumaru shouted, standing up in her floating bowl.

"Whoa there, calm down, calm down." Renko said, extending an arm out to each of them She was still floating in mid-air, suspended by her trenchcoat, but it had at least seemed to have settled on a comfortable altitude to keep her at, about a meter above the ground. "Let's just assume for the moment that Shinmy's story can be believed. IF it were true, you can at least admit that she would have a legitimate grievance in that case, right Mokou?"

Mokou didn't say anything but grunted, rolling her eyes.

"Good enough," Renko declared. "Now we can move on to the question of determining the veracity of the tale and how much of it can be trusted. Miss Shinmy, please excuse me for asking this but I'm just a simple Outsider with little knowledge of history. If your people have been opposed for generations and enslaved by the oni, why did none of them think to use the power of the mallet to stage a rebellion before now?"

Shinmyoumaru blinked at Renko in surprise.

"The mallet has been in your people's possession all along, hasn't it? Surely someone else must have thought to try and save your people in the past, right?"

"They didn't know it was the Miracle Mallet! No one did. After Issun-Boshi used it, it was sealed away in this castle and no one was told of its true power. It had been in my family for generations but no one knew what it was capable of until Seija told me everything. That's why this time our revolution will be successful! Seija is an amanojaku who can turn anything on its head, even the hierarchy of the world!" Shinmyoumaru's eyes were shining as she stared into the distance, an indignant fist clutched to her chest. She spoke with passionate conviction, but with an almost panicky fervor that sounded to me like she was trying to convince herself. Renko wasn't really arguing against her at all, but just by calling a few facts into question it seemed she had shaken the princess' resolve to the point where she had to reassure herself of the righteousness of her cause.

"By the way, Shinmy, how did you learn all of this fascinating history about the persecution of your people? Was there a written history of the inchlings, or maybe an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation?"

"I heard it all from Seija!" She said with a happy, clueless smile.

Mokou snorted. "Like I said. A load of bullshit."

"Not everything Seija says is a lie!" Shinmyoumaru shouted.

"Let's leave that question alone for the moment. I'd like to ask you something else, miss Shinmy," Renko interceded.

"How is it that Seija came to be so knowledgeable about inchling history? After all, she's an amanojaku, not an inchling. And what's more, you just told me you never heard any of these stories from the rest of your clan. So how did she learn this much?"

"Eh?" Shinmyoumaru blinked in surprise, clearly having never considered such a question.

-.-.-.-.-

Ultimately though, all of those questions and answers would soon be rendered meaningless. For as important as the question of how far Seija could be trusted was, the situation would soon be drastically re-contextualized. This is because at that very moment three Incident resolvers were all making their way toward Shining Needle Castle.