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Chapter 9: Books and Freedoms

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So, I want to say that Watatsumi took personal care of the children beyond Sparkle, but I have to confess I am now a parent myself.

Of about two dozens kids.

Age-wise, that made absolutely no sense. Yet the way this came to be was already nonsensical, so I can give leeway to the circumstances that put me in charge of a little army of kids.

The issue now was 'how' I was meant to treat this new responsibility.

I was already worrying on how I was meant to teach Sparkle to be a normal child (especially since this one was meant to be a troublemaking gremlin in the near future - well beyond the one she was now), and yet I now had around 24 kiddos that had been put through a few months of pseudo-Crucabena due to Efim's worshiping the dead woman's doctrine to the very end.

So, I had moved in just in time to avoid full indoctrination from taking hold of the youths' minds, but I really had no clue whatsoever why Granny Kiku thought it clever to saddle me with their situation.

Sure, she was willing to give resources because like hell I could sustain this on my own but it was clear that she was doing this for deeper and more malicious reasons: she saw the opportunity to raise an army for Watatsumi and she was willing to invest a little to see how well it would fare.

My reaction to this was... to roll with it. After all, I knew Kiku's survival rate was low within the next few years. Little Komi-hime was going to inherit very soon, so that wasn't going to be an issue as the next priestess found the children under my care to be more of her childhood friends than a possible new army for the island.

Sparkle was her closest confidant, the two being the enablers of each other: The future priestess growing familiar with the potency of some 'harmless firewark' as they were both caught throwing bombs at some old vases behind the temple, and Sparkle growing less rowdy around others.

The girl was still a menace, but she had calmed down a little bit since I took her under my care.

I could already tell that Kiku had in mind to intensify Komi-hime's training in regard to 'hating the old enemy' just so that the tradition could be upheld beyond her reign, but I had a good feeling that wasn't going to happen before Kiku passed away.

Still, back to the kids- I love them. A frightened bunch for the first few weeks under my care, the group soon mellowed when I adopted a more kinder approach.

I turned this more to something close to a school experience, creating a schedule for lessons and even instituting breaks.

Not all subjects were combat-related or... really, anything close to the classic House of the Hearth's doctrines both under Crucabena or Arlecchino.

Art, Literature, History, Grammar- Everything was addressed dutifully while also giving the kids the time to do some limited homework and still have some fun.

That being said, this status quo was not perfect: we needed real books.

Books that Watatsumi didn't have around as education was clerical preachers at best and archaic scrolls at worst.

After butting heads with Kiku over the need of actually smuggling some actual good stuff to fix the issue, I was given permission to go on a quick trip to Narukami Island and get those through the Yae Publishing House.

The 'walk' was a little more risky than usual. I mean, I wasn't just skirting around the border, but actually crossing it to make it to the heart of Watatsumi's centuries-old foe - the Shogunate.

Took me two lengthy days, and I really hoped that Sparkle wasn't being too much of a gremlin while I was out. I promised her I would teach her how to use a weapon of her choice if she behaved, but I knew her short attention span was going to mess that hope up for her.

All I had to do was to get to the Publishing House, place the order and then return when it was time to recover the books.

Simple quest- I should have kept in mind that I was not a lucky guy. After all, what I got once I arrived in Inazuma City, dodged several guards and spoken to the Publishing House's clerk was:

"I am sorry, sir. All education-related books are preserved in the Grand Narukami Shrine. If you truly need them, you should ask to the priestesses located there."

Fuck, I don't want to talk with Fox Mama just yet!

Yae Miko, the ultimate teaser, the smut writer, the man-feminizer. I was but a simple Sampo guy, and I didn't need to be subjected to R63 via pink-haired kitsune!

Still, a mission is a mission. And I refused to go back to Kiku empty-handed and thus have my privileges in checking further deep behind the 'enemy lines' revoked.

All I had to do was... go to the damn shrine sitting atop that blasted mountain and, hopefully, not find Yae Miko.

That was the plan, that was supposed to be still a simple but tedious plan considering that I had to actually climb my way to the top for most of the approach. I was lucky to stop by the staircase leading up to the shrine itself and... I arrived to find its gates.

No Yae Miko in sight (thank Aha) and yet... no one else. No other priestesses around.

Something didn't feel right at all. Sure, no Foxy Mama was good but... it was deserted. Why the hell was the shrine deserted?

I looked around, tensely crossing the gates and giving it a quick look over the fox tree and then I had to stop as I think I found a corpse.

Actually, no. Not a corpse. Just an unconscious miko. The funniest thing was that I recognized her on the spot because... how many green-haired young miko were around at this time?

Still, while that was a curious discovery, I also frowned while crouching over her body. She was indeed deep in a slumber, her skin too pale to be healthy and vines had been wrapped around her neck and all over her arms and upper body.

Now, this last bit was confusing, but I realized why this was the case- this wasn't an attack of sort. These thorny vines were present in Watatsumi too and they were once thought to be healing vines. The issue is that this was a misconception: the thorny vines were actually known for their sedative effect which was much needed at a time when better ways to soothe one's pain were invented.

I could say this misconception was present in this shrine too as it took me a while to prove this was the case to Kiku when I caught some of her priestess trying to heal their cold like this.

Checking the girl's forehead, I found out she now had a fever so... I carefully cut the vines, picked her off the ground and wandered until I found where the dorms where.

Once I had her resting inside one of the available futons, I fetched a towel, prepared some warm water and I started to carefully clean her upper body before putting her back to bed. A small wet cloth on her forehead while I finished preparing all necessary medicines on me that could help with a fever.

All I could do beyond this was waiting and wondering where the hell was the rest of the miko brigade of the Grand Narukami Shrine.

Oh, and keep an eye on the greenette so that she doesn't die on my watch.

Kuki Shinobu was... possibly dead.

It felt ironic that the last intense talk with her mother had seen some heated words exchanged.

"You either die doing your duty for your family, or you will be disowned!"

She could remember those words, the vindictive tone now haunting her as she felt her own life spiraling out of reach. Was this how she would die? Alone and doing what she was told would work?

The mountain's thorny vines were known by the priestesses to be an effective method to heal most illnesses, so it felt odd that, as she tried to fix her cold, she had only worsened her conditions.

Shinobu had tried to hold on. She knew she couldn't expect help for another day as Lady Guuji had left to attend some businesses with the Shogun. It was an annual affair, and one of the rare times where the Great Priestess was forced to interact with the government.

While the girl had no clue on why someone as socially-active as Lady Yae was upset over going through simple procedures of the government, but she had a feeling there was far more to it than just some disagrements.

It was also not a topic she was truly thinking much about, focusing first on her survival as she had rushed to try and heat up her body... only for her to collapse somewhere in the courtyard in front of the Sakura Tree.

From there to a few hours later, Shinobu was unconscious and thus, possibly, on her way to an early grave.

Kuki Shinobu, 14, dead because of the common cold. She could tell her family would not think this could have been avoided, perhaps blaming her for 'being too obtuse' or 'causing the Archon to curse her'.

After all, her opinion mattered not. How come she had to join her sister in the Shrine when before her only a single member of the family had to serve the shrine? How come she, of all people, had to be the one forced to join even earlier than Miyuki?!

All those questions, when forced to her parents, yielded only a furious tirade from her mother.

"These are traditions! And I shan't hear any excuses from you, Shinobu!"

The harsh tones always made her fold. Maybe it was filial duty, or maybe it was childish fear.

Shinobu could definitely take her mother on... if she wanted. It was always a matter of 'wanting' something.

She wanted to no longer be a priestess, she wanted to not be burdened by plans made by others, and she definitely wanted to live.

Perhaps in a rare miracle well-beyond what Shinobu was familiar with, the girl did survive. But it wasn't by divine intervention.

No, her savior was... some guy with blue hair, green eyes, and a propensity to dig into people's stuff without permission as she opened her tired purple eyes at the sight of him reading into her diary.

It was such a sudden situation that she was speechless over this invasion of her privacy, and her irritation triggered a coughing fit that got the attention of the young man.

"Oh, you're finally awake. And definitely alive. I thought your suicide attempt would have succeeded."

She scoffed (and coughed) at that notion. "I-I wasn't trying to kill- kill myself."

"Yet you sure did yourself a thing or two by using a paralyzing plant as 'medicine'. The thorny vines you tried to use? Painkillers with a sedative action."

Shinobu opened her mouth, ready to push back on his rebuttal but... she paused over his explanation. The vines were... painkillers?

"H-How do I know-"

"I have seen similar around Watatsumi. The priestesses there too believed they were good for the common cold and I had to bravely save them too by employing some of the goods I borrowed around."

Shinobu slowly relaxed. "...Who are you?"

"Thought you wouldn't ask. My name is Sampo Koski, smuggler, believer of peace, vision holder and... I am kind of in need of educational books that are stored there. I have an interest of buying some."

Ah, this guy's a client from the publishing house?

Shinobu didn't exactly have the duties to assist him, but it felt a bit compelling she did that because he helped and-

She coughed again. This time she was introduced to a bottle and a spoon.

"Open up."

Scowling as she was treated as a child, the green-haired girl accepted the medicine. Then she had to put a towel over her head as she had to inhale the vapors of a basin filled with hot water.

She soon had a running nose, which needed some handkerchief.

What should have been a simple interaction meant to eventually see Sampo leave ultimately brought up quite a lengthy hours-long circumstance where a feverish Shinobu admitted to her many regrets- her regret to not stand up to herself, to keep quiet about her doubts, for her attempts to fit in when she clearly was ill-suited for the life at a temple, and...

"You sound just like me, you know? And most of the kids where I came from, really," Sampo spoke up. "See, we were all forced to undertake a path that would have lead us to doing stuff we didn't want to do, and I ultimately broke free when it became too much. Now, here I am, happy and accepting of what life gave me."

"You're a smuggler. You are literally a criminal."

"By choice. And not a heartless monster at that."

Her mouth opened and yet closed at the counter's counter.

"So, while this isn't a message to urge you to join a gang or something, perhaps what you truly need is to just 'break the rules' in a way that gives you the option. Do you want to be a puppet to your parents' expectations, or do you want to see what the world has to offer to you before drawing a choice?"

This very question... it left her in a pensive mood. In the end, however, Sampo had to leave with the books. He left behind a bag of Mora she had to count, but she knew he hadn't lied about paying the full price of the books. She saw him leave, wondering if he ever felt worried of what expectations he crushed by his own decisions.

A few days passed, she felt better and life returned to... normal. For a time.

Miyuki, who had been busy on a far afield test, returned with a warm smile for her good work, ignoring that Shinobu had told her she came close to dying and swatting that away as a 'childish overstatement'.

Which was... really, the tipping point of what she had been feeling up to that point.

A few months later, the now-former priestess had packed her things, left a letter to lady Yae to explain her decision to leave and to not have her found, and then took a dingy to reach Watatsumi - while she wasn't sure of what life could give her, she was definitely going to pester Sampo to give her some instructions on what she had to do next.

Kuki Shinobu was now free but... what next?

AN

Next time, Komi-hime becomes the Head Priestess of Watatsumi Island, Sparkle has a role in the new 'government', and... Shinobu becomes Sampo's second in command. Which, in turn, will see a certain gang being pulled into the Watatsumi Camp. Also yes, Shinobu found the 'paralysis vine experience' (which is canon) one of many reasons to leave her job as a priestess.