Chapter 197: Correction

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“Greetings, Lord Shinto!”

“Welcome, Lord Shinto!”

Amidst the welcoming voices of the practitioners, shrine maidens, and maids, Minamoto Kiyomoto descended with the wind and landed in the shrine square.

“Thank you for your hard work. Everyone, please go about your business,” he said with a laugh, and then said to a maid, “Take me to the main hall.”

“Yes,” the maid was the head housekeeper in charge of the daily affairs of the shrine.

The maid led Minamoto Kiyomoto, and Kamibayashi Miko and the others followed behind him.

“Lord Shinto, my name is Yoko. I am the temporary housekeeper appointed by the Ogosho. The Ogosho has instructed me to inform you that once you arrive, all appointments in the shrine will be decided by you.”

“Hmm,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.

“The shrine has two hundred and one maids, one hundred preparatory shrine maidens, and three thousand four hundred practitioners.

“The maids are in charge of daily life; the preparatory shrine maidens are in charge of contacting the major shrines and also undertake subjugation missions; the practitioners come from all over, and there are also people from the Onmyoryo, who convey your orders to various places, and are also responsible for documents, supervising subjugation, participating in subjugation, and serving as messengers.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto listened silently…

He knew.

He even knew whether a certain maid was serious in her work, which shrine a preparatory shrine maiden came from, and had a clear understanding of all these things these days.

“I wonder how many spies and undercover agents are in here,” Himegami Izayoi said with a laugh, as if she were watching a good show, and also as if she were reminding him.

“There are pros and cons,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face had an ambiguous smile.

The maid continued:

“Behind the main hall is your bedchamber. Inside, there is a quiet room, a study… The kimono shops have sent some yukatas, including old brands like Chikusen. After Lord Shinto tries them on, you can tell me which one you like… There are two kendo dojos. The one on the left is yours, and the one on the right is for the practitioners and shrine maidens…”

Walking from the shrine square to the depths, they passed a long stone path. On both sides of the stone path were lined with pine and cedar trees, so lush that they looked like a forest.

Leaving the forest, there were layers of steps—or rather, platforms. On each layer of steps, there were several buildings.

The Tokyo Daijingu was also a secret realm. There was a small mountain, and the top of the mountain was flattened. The main hall was on the platform at the top of the mountain.

These buildings on the steps were either residences, office locations, or training grounds, each with its own use.

Walking all the way up, at the top of the steps was the courtyard. The main hall was in the back of the center of the courtyard.

Clear water flowed in the courtyard. There was a pond where a small river gathered, and also a slender waterfall.

“The government is still good. When I was a Shinto sect leader, I had to hide everywhere and didn’t even have a place to live,” Itomi Sayaka put her hands in her coat pockets and looked around.

“This isn’t mine either,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “Only if you buy it, like the Divine Medium, will it truly belong to you.”

After he finished, he looked at Kamibayashi Miko and added with a smile, “But you have to take out a loan.”

“Two people paying it back, it’ll be fast,” Kamibayashi Miko’s tone was full of longing and anticipation for life, but she was actually laughing at Minamoto Kiyomoto, this hard-working white-collar worker.

“Humph, this place isn’t natural at all,” Shirako’s competitive spirit was aroused.

She asked the maid, Yoko, in a challenging tone, “Where is the earth spirit here?”

“Lord Earth Spirit is over there,” Yoko pointed at the pond, where many colorful koi were raised.

The earth spirit was not a koi, but a calico cat squatting by the pond, trying to catch a koi to eat.

“Lord Earth Spirit, Lord Shinto is here,” Yoko called out to the calico cat softly.

The calico cat withdrew its claws, walked over in the air, and then squatted in mid-air, its gaze level with Minamoto Kiyomoto’s.

“Oh, it’s you, kid,” it was old-fashioned, and its voice could not be distinguished between male and female. It was like a child, too tender.

“Please take care of me in the future,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile and reached out his hand.

The calico cat did not shake his hand. Because its claws were wet from catching fish, it wiped them on his new kimono.

That was the kimono Ayako had prepared for him.

Minamoto Kiyomoto smiled even more happily. His hand, which he had originally intended to shake, opened its five fingers and grabbed the calico cat’s head.

“Ah! Let go of me! It hurts! You stinky kid! I’m going to kill you! It hurts so much!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto, as if throwing away trash, threw the calico cat into the pond with a flick of his hand.

“Waaah, I can’t swim! Help! Glug, glug!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto flicked the water-stained sleeve of his kimono and said to the stunned Yoko, “Let’s continue.”

“…Yes!” Yoko shivered.

The main hall was magnificent and majestic. This was where Minamoto Kiyomoto handled daily affairs, received practitioners, and held meetings.

On the heavy door of the main hall, there were paintings of the Hakone fire dragon and the red-gold dragon. The corners of the dragons were like waves of clouds and mist.

“It’s not symmetrical,” Minamoto Kiyomoto muttered to himself.

“Change it to the same,” he ordered Yoko.

“Yes, change it to the Hakone divine dragon?” Yoko asked softly.

Hakone divine dragon?

Not to mention this title, Noi, who was playing a game, raised her head and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Forget it, let’s just leave it like this,” Minamoto Kiyomoto could only restrain his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

If he said to change them all to the red-gold dragon, he would be reluctant to part with the Hakone fire dragon. After all, it was his first demon body, and he was a nostalgic person.

Entering the hall, it was very spacious.

On both sides were lined with cushions, and in the middle was a long aisle. At the top of the aisle was the main seat.

On the golden screen behind the main seat, a huge coral demon moth was embroidered.

“The enemy who killed her mother is even enshrined,” Himegami Izayoi looked at Kamibayashi Miko and found it very amusing.

“Change it?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked Kamibayashi Miko.

“No need,” Kamibayashi Miko looked at the screen embroidered with the coral demon moth and shook her head gently. “The mission of a divine medium is to protect the people. Private grudges are irrelevant.”

‘This unfilial daughter!’ Tamahime, who was lying on Minamoto Kiyomoto’s bed on Shodoshima Island, turned into a ‘big’ shape in anger.

She suddenly sat up, as if to vent her anger, and chugged a large bottle of Coke.

‘Ha—, it’s better to be dead. Can a forty-year-old person drink carbonated drinks and eat carbohydrates like me? Humph, humph.’

She was talking about Ayako.

During the New Year, Ayako ate sushi and did not dare to eat too much rice.

“Kiyomoto,” not long after entering the main hall, Itomi Sayaka looked at him impatiently.

Minamoto Kiyomoto knew what she wanted to say and ordered Yoko, “Have someone go to Taiso-ji and bring the people from the Shinto sect over.”

“Yes,” Yoko slowly retreated a few steps, then turned around and walked out of the shop.

“You little brat!” the calico cat bared its teeth and walked into the main hall step by step in a tiger’s hunting posture.

Minamoto Kiyomoto glanced at it and then said to them, “I have to deal with things. What about you?”

“I’ll go to the back hall to train. I’ll go back with you tonight,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“Hmm,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.

“Call me if you need anything.”

“I know,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed.

Kamibayashi Miko bypassed the main seat and went to the back hall. Shirako, Little Butterfly, Noi, and the Hokkaido Miko also followed.

“You’re not going to rest?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked Himegami Izayoi.

“It’s the first day. I’ll help you,” Himegami Izayoi said.

“What about you?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked the Itomi sisters.

“I’ll stay,” Itomi Sayaka said.

Itomi Yuki wanted to stay, curious about the upcoming trial, but after thinking for a moment, she still decided to go to the dojo to train.

“Hey, kid, I want to fight you to the death!” the calico cat’s throat let out a hiss.

Himegami Izayoi drew the fan from her belt, opened it with a swish, and a flame flew out, turning into a fire fan.

“Take this cat away,” she said.

“Yes.”

The fire fan picked up the calico cat and walked out of the hall.

“Let go of me! I want to fight him! Today, only one of us can live…”

“What do you want to eat?” the fire fan asked.

“Fish!” the calico cat replied immediately.

“Humph, I’ll let you go for today!” the calico cat withdrew its claws and lay comfortably in the fire fan’s arms.

The hall was silent for a second.

The “startled deer” in the courtyard was full of water, and the bamboo tube hit the stone with a bang.

“Are all earth spirits so strange?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was puzzled.

“Only earth spirits that have lived for a long time will have such rich emotions,” Himegami Izayoi explained, fanning herself.

At this time, the preparatory shrine maiden and the practitioner asked for an audience.

“Come in,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied and turned to walk towards the main seat.

Himegami Izayoi followed beside him. Itomi Sayaka thought for a moment and sat down on the right side closest to the main seat.

“Lord Shinto,” nine preparatory shrine maidens and thirty-four practitioners walked into the main hall.

There were nine shrines of the twelve shrine maidens in Honshu. These nine preparatory shrine maidens represented eight of them, and also represented all the shrine maidens in Honshu—including the preparatory shrine maidens of Ise Jingu.

The thirty-four practitioners were representatives of the thirty-one prefectures of Honshu, as well as Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

The current administrative division of Japan was, the capital, the circuit, the prefecture, and the prefecture were the first-level administrative districts, and below them were the city, the town, and the village.

Yokai only had county, town, and village, and lacked the city level.

Minamoto Kiyomoto thought of the “Eternal Life Jade Fan” on Mount Fuji, the “Konohanasakuya-hime” of the cherry blossoms, and the “Akan” of Hokkaido. If these three yokai were to be divided, they should be at the level of the capital, the circuit, and the prefecture.

Without the three divine artifacts to restrain them, any one of the three could destroy the whole of Japan, and even affect the surrounding countries.

“Lord Shinto, Nishinomiya Shrine is preparing to select a new shrine maiden. This is the list. Please approve it.”

“Lord Shinto, Hiryu Shrine has a tradition of moving the shrine once every thirty years. In order to move the ‘Ichinotaki’ waterfall, the entire Nachi Mountain needs to be moved. Please approve it.”

“My lord, this is the yokai from Aomori Prefecture last month, and the response.”

“Lord Shinto, two yokai appeared in Shizuoka Prefecture last month, both at the village level. Two people died and twelve were injured.”

Most of them were simple approvals and intelligence, as well as documents that some local Kasen and practitioners with more than thirty subjugations had asked them to hand over.

The documents filled the desk that Minamoto Kiyomoto had just placed his brush on.

“I’ll finish reading them as soon as possible,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Just as the group was about to leave, the representative of the practitioner from Yamagata Prefecture, who belonged to Kanto, spoke hesitantly, “My lord.”

Kuwayama, who represented Yamaguchi Prefecture in Kansai, glanced at that person. It was Ishikawa, who knew his identity.

What is he going to do? Expose me?

Minamoto Kiyomoto was spreading out the documents, picked up a red pen, and was about to correct the documents. Hearing the voice, he raised his head.

“Lord Ishikawa, is there anything else?” he asked.

“Lord Shinto,” Ishikawa knelt on one knee and lowered his head.

Kuwayama’s heart pounded. He stared at Ishikawa and then secretly glanced at the main seat. The Honshu Shinto Lord had a smile and looked very kind.

The gorgeous Ise Miko beside him was flipping through the files of Okayama Prefecture in Kansai, her lips curled in a sneer, as if she were saying, ‘what is this all about’.

In the next second, his vision blurred, and the two of them disappeared, leaving only the coral demon moth on the screen, looking at him coldly.

Kuwayama lowered his head, his throat rolled, and he swallowed nervously.

“If you have something to say, say it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto urged Ishikawa again.

Ishikawa glanced at the Ise Miko, made up his mind, and said, “Lord Shinto, the Ibuki Kasen of Shiga Prefecture, his youngest son, Ibuki Manjiro, as a new leader, humiliated the male newcomers and bullied the female newcomers!”

Himegami Izayoi, who was writing “I know. It’s not lost at all. What can a yokai do? It’s just asking for death. You, Haruteru Kasen, be more careful!” on the Okayama Prefecture file, raised her head.

Shiga Prefecture was adjacent to Kyoto, and the Ibuki Kasen was one of her confidants.

It was not strange that Ishikawa, who belonged to Kanto, knew about this. Practitioners from Kanto often went to Kansai, and those from Kansai also went to Kanto.

But to say that this was simply exposing a colleague, she didn’t know if Minamoto Kiyomoto believed it, but she didn’t.

Himegami Izayoi immediately thought of the Ogosho. This was aimed at her, and also at Minamoto Kiyomoto, to give him a headache and a show of force.

She smiled and said nothing, letting Minamoto Kiyomoto have a headache on his own.

She picked up another file.

It was written on it: two prefectures at the junction of Kansai and Kanto were arguing with each other over a yokai incident, about whether they needed central approval for mutual support.

“All who are Kasen should think that within the universe, there are no people who are not from Japan. They should be regarded as one body. How can there be a distinction between them! Change it.”

“Is there any evidence?” While Himegami Izayoi was reviewing the documents, Minamoto Kiyomoto also really started to have a headache.

Ishikawa took out a new document from his suit. A preparatory shrine maiden from Ise Jingu handed it up.

Minamoto Kiyomoto did not open it immediately and said to the group, “If you have nothing else, you can leave first.”

“Yes.”

Only after they left did he open it to read.

Himegami Izayoi picked up another one. It was Minamoto Nagatoku’s document, recommending his son and daughter to come to Tokyo and be at the disposal of the Shinto Lord.

“Come to Tokyo first. I will examine them and promote them according to their abilities.”

After Minamoto Kiyomoto finished reading the document that Ishikawa had reported on the son of the Ibuki Kasen, he asked Himegami Izayoi, “What do you think I should do?”

“Isn’t that your business?” Himegami Izayoi’s tone was light, and she didn’t care at all.

Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed.

He naturally wanted to win over the Kasen of Kansai, but Ishikawa had “reported” the son of the Ibuki Kasen in front of so many people. If he didn’t deal with it, he, the newly appointed Honshu Shinto Lord, would probably be looked down upon.

Of course, he could also favor the Ibuki Kasen and completely stand on the side of Kansai, or favor the Kasen and stand on the side of the strong, but was that still the Honshu Shinto Lord?
What he wanted was everyone’s support, or rather, he didn’t need anyone’s support—except for the few people around him.

“Give me the pen,” Minamoto Kiyomoto made up his mind.

He wrote on the document: inform the Ibuki Kasen to send his son over before January 5th and hand him over to the Judiciary Bureau for handling.

“…You’re writing this?” Himegami Izayoi watched from the side.

“Do you have a different opinion?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked strangely.

Himegami Izayoi looked at the few documents she had handled and felt the cultural difference.

She took the document, took the pen again, crossed out what the Honshu Shinto Lord had written, and changed it to:

“I know. The old bully the young, and the young in turn abuse the even younger, causing trouble. They are stubborn and ignorant, close to beasts! Everything should be treated at the root. Send Ibuki Manjiro to the Judiciary Bureau for interrogation immediately. Report the results to me. If there is any disagreement, you will be held responsible. In addition, inform all the Kasen of this case. Whenever such cases are encountered, they should be carefully investigated. Let the old never bully the young, and everyone live in peace!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto finished reading.

“Do we have to talk like this?” he asked with a frown.

“This is the rule,” Himegami Izayoi scolded. “From today on, you better learn it well.”

‘Hahahaha!’ Tamahime burst out laughing.

Minamoto Kiyomoto rubbed his forehead.

At this time, a maid knelt outside the hall and reported that she had brought Yuka and the others.

Itomi Sayaka looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto. She had been waiting for a long time and had drunk several cups of tea.

“Come in,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed, still worried about the days to come.

And, could Tamahime not be so noisy? Shouldn’t the dead be quiet?